Did you miss the latest events on the war in Ukraine? Do not panic, 20 minutes takes stock for you every evening at 7:30 p.m. Who did what ? Who said what? Where are we ? The answer below:
news of the day
Last night, Ukraine announced that it had shot down 21 Russian missiles and two drones. Despite this active anti-aircraft defense, at least 16 people died as a result of these attacks. The city of Uman, in the center of the country, and the city of Dnipro were hard hit by the strikes.
“Every attack, every evil act against our country and against (our) people brings the terrorist state closer to failure and punishment,” Volodymyr Zelensky slammed on Telegram. “Russian terror must get a just response from Ukraine and the world. And it will,” he promised.
At least seven other people were fatally affected by strikes on Donetsk attributed to the Ukrainian army, according to authorities installed by Moscow in the area. The region is one of four Ukrainian provinces which Moscow claimed to be annexed after the Russian offensive began in February 2022.
sentence of the day
We must engage (…) different countries so that they put pressure on the Russian aggressor and terrorist, who has kidnapped so many of our children”
These are the words of Volodymyr Zelensky. Regarding the file of children “deported” by Moscow, the Ukrainian president asked for help from his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping, close to Russia. The head of state, who estimates that at least 20,000 children were rounded up by Moscow, spoke to the Chinese president during a telephone interview on Wednesday.
However, he indicated that he had warned him against any possible sale of Chinese arms to Russia. “Ukraine would like all countries to understand the risks of supplying any type of weapons to Russia,” he argued, saying he had “heard a positive response” from the Chinese president on this subject.
The number of the day
$2.4 billion. This is the sum paid by Warsaw to the British subsidiary of the European arms group MBDA to supply itself with anti-aircraft missiles. “44 iLauncher launchers and several hundred CAMM missiles and associated equipment” will be supplied to Poland for what constitutes the “largest acquisition program of short-range anti-aircraft defense in Europe within NATO”.
Poland, a faithful ally of kyiv, fears to be a future target of the Kremlin. This year, its military spending must reach 3% of GDP, according to the finance law.
The trend of the day
Good news for Kyiv. The governments of the Twenty-Seven gave their agreement on Friday to renew for one year the suspension of all customs duties on Ukrainian products imported into the EU. MEPs still have to give their approval in plenary session to allow the entry into force of this provision, a European source said.
But this agreement is blurred by Poland’s recent decision to ban imports of Ukrainian cereals, accused of destabilizing the national agricultural market. Several other EU countries bordering Ukraine – Hungary, Slovakia and Bulgaria – have followed suit, imposing temporary bans on cereals and other agricultural products imported from Ukraine. A position deemed “unacceptable” by the European Commission.