LIVE – War in Ukraine: Russians try to take a new city in the east of the country

‘It’s our dream’: Volodymyr Zelensky wants allies to deliver ‘long-range missiles’

The Ukrainian president spoke on Friday after meeting with the NATO secretary general and asking him that allied countries step up their military support for Ukraine.

“We must open the supply of long-range missiles to Ukraine and it is important that we develop our artillery cooperation and we must start supplying aircraft to Ukraine,” he said in a statement. his video.

He then concluded: “This is our dream and our task.”

Ukraine will need an additional $17 billion this year to rebuild its infrastructure

Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal has claimed that the country will need an additional $17 billion this year “for rapid energy reconstruction, humanitarian demining, reconstruction of housing, essential and social infrastructure”, reports Reuters.

They come on top of the country’s $38 billion budget deficit.

This statement comes the next day of a new Russian strike targeting energy infrastructure. Five Ukrainian high-voltage substations were hit, the prime minister revealed.

Moscow asks Latvian ambassador to leave Russia “within two weeks”

Moscow on Friday asked the Latvian ambassador to leave Russia “within two weeks”, four days after Riga ordered its Russian counterpart stationed in Latvia to leave the country, amid extreme diplomatic tensions linked to the ‘Ukraine.

“The Latvian Ambassador, (Maris) Riekstins, has been ordered to leave the Russian Federation within two weeks,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement, lamenting Riga’s “total Russophobia”.

According to Moscow, “full responsibility for the current situation lies with the leadership of the Latvian state”.

Thus, “we do not consider it necessary to wait for the date indicated by Riga for the ambassadors to complete their missions”, announced the Russian ministry in this press release.

Ukraine says it killed 109 Russians in one day in eastern Vougledar

As a “fierce” battle, according to Russian authorities, is underway in the eastern town of Vougledar, the Ukrainian army claims to have killed 190 Russian soldiers and wounded 188 others, during the day alone of Thursday.

“Fierce fighting continues. The enemy is trying to achieve an intermediate success there, but thanks to the efforts of our defenders they are failing,” said Serhii Cherevatyi, spokesman for the Eastern Operational Command of the Ukrainian army.

The head of the Russian occupation of the Ukrainian region of Donetsk, Denis Pushilin, for his part said overnight “to wait for good news” from Vougledar, a mining town which had 15,000 inhabitants before the Russian invasion.

The four annexed Ukrainian regions will be put on Moscow time

The Russian Ministry of Industry and Trade indicated on its Telegram channel that the Ukrainian lands occupied by the Russian army would have to change time and be modeled on that of Moscow.

The annexed regions of Donetsk, Lugansk, Kherson and Zaporizhia will therefore advance by one hour.

“A bill has already been submitted to the government,” the message read.

The attachment of these regions had been the subject of referendums last year, the reliability of which was questioned by many specialists, and considered to be a foregone conclusion.

France is reluctant to supply Mirage 2000s to kyiv

According to information from BFMTV this Friday, if the export of Rafale to Ukraine seems ruled out from the outset, exchanges have started well between kyiv and Paris around a possible French delivery of Mirage 2000, aircraft of hunters built by Dassault, according to a senior officer close to these exchanges.

France is currently resistant to the idea of ​​acceding to the Ukrainian request. “These discussions are only going in one direction for the moment”, specifies the editorialist for foreign policy issues at BFMTV, Patrick Sauce. “Many questions arise but for the moment the answer is negative,” he continues.

However, the summit of the State opposes a triple curtain between the solicitation of planes by Ukraine and their delivery: the opportunity of such a gift or loan, its sustainability for France, stewardship.

Read our article here.

Novak Djokovic ‘hopes’ his father will be in the Australian Open final

Novak Djokovic said on Friday night that he regretted his father’s absence from his box during his semi-final victory at the Australian Open and said he “hoped” he would be present for the final on Sunday.

“It was not nice not having him in the box during the semi-final. I hope he will be there for the final,” said the Serb.

His father Srdjan had decided in the middle of the afternoon not to attend the match so as not to “cause disturbances”, the Ukrainian ambassador having demanded the cancellation of his accreditation for having been photographed with supporters pro-Russians present in Melbourne.

Read our article here

Poland to deliver 60 tanks to kyiv in addition to 14 Leopard 2s

Poland will deliver to Ukraine, in addition to 14 Leopard 2 tanks of German manufacture, about sixty tanks including 30 PT-91, modernized version of the Soviet T-72, a decision welcomed Friday by the Ukrainian president.

“I thank (…) for such important decisions to supply Ukraine with 60 Polish tanks, including 30 PT-91s, as well as 14 Leopards,” Volodymyr Zelensky said on Twitter, two days after the news was announced. Germany and the United States to supply heavy tanks to kyiv.

On Thursday, the Polish Prime Minister said in an interview with Canadian television CTV News that Warsaw was ready to “send 60 of our modernized tanks, including 30 PT-91s”. He also repeated that Poland would send “14 Leopard 2 tanks from our stocks, in our possession”.

Russians storming Vougledar, “fierce” battle underway

A “fierce” battle is underway for Vougledar, a town in eastern Ukraine, which Russian forces are trying to conquer, both sides said on Friday, with kyiv assuring that Moscow “exaggerated” the success of its offensive.

The head of the Russian occupation of the Ukrainian region of Donetsk, Denis Pushilin, said overnight “to wait for good news” from Vougledar, a mining town which had 15,000 inhabitants before the Russian invasion.

“The coming encirclement and liberation of the city will solve some things,” he told the Ria Novosti agency, stressing that a victory would “change the balance of power on the front” by opening the way to an offensive towards the towns of Pokrovsk and Kourakhové, located further north.

More information here.

Day in memory of the victims of the Holocaust: “Indifference and hatred kill”, says Zelensky

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky stressed Friday, on the occasion of the international day of the victims of the Holocaust, that “indifference and hatred” continue to kill, alluding to the military offensive of Russia.

“Today, as always, Ukraine honors the memory of the millions of victims of the Holocaust. We know that indifference and hatred together kill,” said in a social media video. the Ukrainian president, himself a Jew.

Putin accuses Ukraine of neo-Nazi crimes on Holocaust Remembrance Day

Vladimir Putin on Friday accused “neo-Nazis in Ukraine” of committing crimes against civilians, on the occasion of the international day of victims of the Holocaust, a rhetoric that the Russian president regularly uses to justify his military offensive.

“Forgetting the lessons of history leads to the repetition of terrible tragedies. The proof of this is the crimes against civilians, the ethnic cleansing (and) the punitive actions organized by the neo-Nazis in Ukraine”, he denounced in a statement.

“It is against this evil that our soldiers are fighting courageously” in Ukraine, he added.

Ukraine asks Australian Open to ban Djokovic’s father from stadium, who cancels his visit

Ukraine’s ambassador to Canberra on Friday demanded Australian Open organizers withdraw the accreditation of Serbian tennis player Novak Djokovic’s father, Srdjan Djokovic, who was filmed with supporters waving pro-flags. Russians.

Later in the evening, the latter finally gave up attending the match. “I’m only here to support my son. I didn’t intend to make headlines or cause any disruptions (…). So that there are no disruptions during the semi-final for my son nor for his opponent, I chose to watch the match from home,” wrote Srdjan Djokovic in a press release, a copy of which was obtained by AFP.

“I want it to be a great game and I will cheer on my son as always,” he concluded.

IAEA reports explosions near Zaporizhia nuclear power plant in recent days

“Powerful explosions” occurred near the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant, said in a press release the director of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) this Thursday eveningalmost a year after the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

These explosions suggest “military activities near the site located on the front line of the ongoing conflict in the country”, continues Rafael Grossi.

> Our full paper can be found here.

Why kyiv may wait many months before receiving tanks

A dozen European countries have announced their intention to supply Ukraine with Leopard tanks requested for months. But kyiv, which hopes to have them as soon as possible, risks waiting many months before seeing them arrive on the ground. Organizing such an operation will not be done in a few weeks, but rather in several months.

For these modern tanks, it will indeed be necessary to train hundreds of tankers. A Leopard 2 is made up of a crew of four soldiers: a tank commander, a turret operator, an ammunition loader and a pilot. As of yesterday, Berlin, which will send 14 Leopard 2A6s, specified that it “must start quickly” and will take place in Germany.

> Our full article can be read here.

At least 11 dead in last salvo of Russian missiles on Thursday

Ukraine was the target on Thursday of new heavy Russian bombardments, which left at least 11 dead and 11 injured and caused power outages, the day after the Westerners decided to deliver heavy tanks to the Ukrainian army .

In the immediate future, “eleven people were injured and, unfortunately, 11 others died”, Ukrainian relief spokesman Oleksandre Khorounejy told television, according to whom the most serious damage was in the Kyiv region. . According to the Commander-in-Chief of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, General Valery Zaluzhny, Russia fired 55 missiles on Ukraine on Thursday and “47 were destroyed, including 20” near kyiv.

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