LIVE – War in Ukraine: Scholz calls on Europeans to send a message of “unity” to Putin

The White House says it is “very concerned” by the difficulty in locating Russian opponent Alexeï Navalny. The politician has not been found for several days, his relatives recently said. “He should be released immediately. He should never have been imprisoned in the first place,” National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky arrived in Washington on Monday, on the eve of a meeting with his American counterpart and a visit to Congress which is currently blocking a new aid package for Ukraine, the Pentagon said.

In the coming hours, he is scheduled to deliver a speech at 12:00 p.m. (5:00 p.m. GMT) at the National Defense University (NDU), after an introduction from US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, the US Defense Department said.

Supporters of Russian opponent Alexei Navalny, who is serving a 19-year prison sentence, said Monday that they have been trying to contact him in vain for almost a week and do not know where he is. His lawyers went on Friday then Monday to “two penal colonies in the Vladimir region (east of Moscow, editor’s note) where Alexeï Navalny could be” but learned “that he was not there”, a declared its spokesperson Kira Iarmich. “We still don’t know where Alexei is,” she said. A little earlier, she had indicated that it had been “six days” since her team had heard from him.

The politician notably missed a court hearing at which he was to appear by videoconference, an absence justified by a power outage according to the prison authorities, added Kira Iarmich.

Until then detained in the Vladimir region, Alexeï Navalny must be transferred according to his new sentence of 19 years in prison for “extremism”, pronounced in August, to a penal colony with a “special regime”. However, transfers from one penal colony to another in Russia often take several weeks of travel by train with stages, with the prisoners’ relatives remaining without news during this period.

Traveling in northwest Russia, Vladimir Putin inaugurated two new nuclear submarines on Monday. According to the Russian president, eight other devices of the same type are currently being built in shipyards.

The largest border point between Ukraine and Poland was unblocked on Monday despite a month of blockage by Polish truckers, following a decision by local authorities in Dorohusk to withdraw permission for protests.

“Entrepreneurs are already suffering very significant losses and, unfortunately, someone had to make such a decision,” Dorohusk Mayor Wojciech Sawa told AFP. The move was not made in consultation with the Ukrainian authorities, he said. “I made this decision myself, after careful consideration and after receiving numerous phone calls from all over Poland, I cannot allow people to lose their jobs in other sectors of our economy,” he said. he declared again.

For its part, kyiv confirmed the reopening of this strategic crossing point. “The blockade of the Yagodyn-Dorohusk crossing point is over. Stable truck traffic resumed at 2:00 p.m. local time” (12:00 p.m. GMT), Infrastructure Minister Oleksandr Koubrakov said on Facebook. “The border must be fully unblocked and no further blockages should be allowed,” he insisted.

In Russia, the Electoral Commission in charge of the poll announced this Monday that the presidential election would also take place in the Ukrainian territories occupied by Moscow. The vote is scheduled for March 17. Russian President Vladimir Putin has just made official his intention to run for a fifth term at the head of the country.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Monday called on his European partners to send a “message“of unity with Vladimir Putin on support for Ukraine at a time when the 27 are discussing the continuation of their military and financial aid and the country’s accession negotiations to the EU. Military support for Ukraine”really requires a joint effort“, declared Olaf Scholz, during a press conference alongside Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte.

“And if we formulate this message from Europe, it is also a message to the Russian president, who obviously hopes that the will of our countries to do what is necessary and to express his support fades, he added. It would be an important message if we told him not to count on it“, he said.

In this video, a Ukrainian soldier assesses the heavy losses experienced by his comrades in recent weeks in the Avdiivka sector, in the east of the country.

The territories occupied by Russia in eastern and southern Ukraine will take part in the Russian presidential elections in March 2024, the Electoral Commission announced on Monday, a vote which should see the re-election of Vladimir Putin.

The members of the Commission adopted the resolution approving this modality, according to Russian agencies. Russia has already organized several elections in these territories (Zaporijjia, Kherson, Donetsk and Lugansk) whose annexation it proclaimed in September 2022 and which it only partially controls.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba warned on Monday against “devastating consequences“what would a lack of consensus among the Twenty-Seven on the opening of negotiations for his country’s accession to the EU have. The European Council, bringing together the 27 heads of state and government of the Member States, must approve or not the decision of the European Commission to open this procedure.

“I cannot imagine, I do not even want to consider talking about the devastating consequences that would occur if the European Council failed to take a decision, not only for Ukraine, but also for enlargement” of the EU, declared Mr. Kouleba upon his arrival in Brussels.

The British government has allocated a new fund of $4.6 million to investigate war crimes committed by Russia in Ukraine. “Through financial support and legal expertise, the UK will continue to support Ukraine in its efforts to hold perpetrators accountable and ensure justice is focused on survivors“, indicated Tariq Ahmad, the British minister responsible for the file.

Find in this article the main facts of the last 24 hours in Ukraine.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will meet on Tuesday with his American counterpart Joe Biden, who invited him to a meeting in Washington. “The two leaders will discuss Ukraine’s urgent needs and the vital importance of continued U.S. support at this critical time“, indicated Karine Jean-Pierre, the spokesperson for the White House.

Ukraine shot down eight Russian missiles flying towards kyiv early Monday, the Ukrainian military said. According to local authorities, several people were treated by emergency services after these strikes.

Eighteen “Shahed” drones were also launched by Moscow during the night from the annexed Crimean peninsula before being destroyed by the Ukrainian defense,”most in the Mykolaiv region“, in the south of the country, indicated the kyiv air forces.

Hello everyone and welcome to this live dedicated to the news of the war in Ukraine.