Did you miss the latest events on the war in Ukraine? 20 minutes takes stock for you every evening at 7:30 p.m. Between the strong declarations, the advances on the front and the results of the battles, here are the main points of the day.
The fact of the day
Volodymyr Zelensky promulgated the law this Tuesday to mobilize more men in the face of the Russian invasion. Ukraine, faced with a shortage of volunteer soldiers, had been working on this text for many months, punctuated by controversy. On April 11, the Ukrainian Parliament adopted this bill with 283 votes in favor.
This text, which notably increases the sanctions for those who resist, caused a scandal because of the last minute deletion of a clause providing for the demobilization of soldiers who had served 36 months, a hard blow for the soldiers who have been fighting on the front for more than of two years. The authorities assured that the question of demobilization would be settled by a separate law but no date for its preparation and adoption has been set.
Struggling to find volunteers, kyiv has just widened the mobilization, lowering the age of those called up from 27 to 25 years old. From now on, the sanctions for those trying to escape mobilization will be toughened. The text also facilitates enrollment procedures by creating a dedicated digital system.
The number of the day
37,000. This is, at a minimum, the number of Ukrainian civilians and soldiers missing since the start of the conflict, Human Rights Commissioner Dmytro Loubinets indicated on Facebook. “These figures could be much higher,” he stressed, however, as the census work was still in progress. The number of civilian victims is all the more difficult to determine as no reliable information is available regarding the territories occupied by Russia since the start of the invasion.
Today’s statement
“ I am convinced that the first world peace summit in Switzerland can pave the way for a just peace for Ukraine. China’s active role can certainly accelerate our progress on this path. » »
Volodymyr Zelensky was optimistic about the role that China could play at the peace conference organized in Switzerland in June, in which Russia has indicated that it will not participate. The Ukrainian president was reacting to a meeting between German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping in Beijing. During this, the German leader claims to have asked the Chinese president to put pressure on Russia so that Vladimir Putin stops his “insane campaign” in Ukraine because “China’s word has weight in Russia”, he said. -he adds.
Today’s trend
A crucial election for kyiv. The United States House of Representatives will vote this week on separate aid projects for Ukraine and Israel, the leader of this lower house of Congress announced Monday. An envelope of 60 billion dollars for kyiv, requested by the Democratic president, has been blocked in Congress for months, just like another envelope for Israel.
“This week, we will consider separate bills” including those allowing “financing our Israeli ally” and “supporting Ukraine in its war against Russian aggression,” declared the Republican leader of the House of Representatives, Mike Johnson.
Our file on the war in Ukraine
By far the primary military support for Israel and Ukraine, the United States has not sent major aid to kyiv since December 2023, due to the blocking of the file by Republicans in Congress. A package of 60 billion dollars in military and economic assistance for Ukraine was certainly adopted in the Senate, with a Democratic majority, in February. But the Republicans in the House of Representatives refuse to examine the text – due, among other things, to another dispute, on the question of immigration.