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.
The fact of the day
kyiv’s secret missions, including the one that raised the Ukrainian flag in Crimea, greatly displease Moscow. The Kremlin has therefore taken it into its head to hunt down enemy “saboteurs”. This Thursday, the Russian security services (FSB) claimed to have eliminated a group of Ukrainian saboteurs, killing two and taking five prisoners.
The latter would have infiltrated deep into the Russian region of Briansk, bordering Ukraine. “The objective of the saboteurs was to carry out a series of resounding terrorist acts on military and energy infrastructure,” the FSB said in its statement. On Telegram, the region’s governor, Alexander Bogomaz, said the fighting took place in the Navlinski district, about 40 kilometers from the Ukrainian border.
The number of the day
6. This is the number of Ukrainian soldiers who died in the crash of two combat helicopters in eastern Ukraine. The Ukrainian National Bureau of Investigation (SBI) clarified on Thursday that the crash occurred on Tuesday in the Kramatorsk region, assuring that “particular attention will be paid in particular to the study of the technical condition of the helicopters and compliance with flight preparation rules. The version of sabotage or destruction of helicopters by the enemy will also be studied. »
Ukrainian MI-8 helicopters, which date back to Soviet times, are used at the front to strike Russian lines with rockets. They often fly in pairs low to the ground, before rising sharply to perform their shot, then returning to their base flying low to the ground again.
sentence of the day
I suggest everyone who criticizes to shut up, come to Ukraine and try to free a square centimeter by yourself. »
It is a declaration of the Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Dmytro Kouleba, who does not appreciate the reservations of some on the Ukrainian counter-offensive. The latter, launched in June in the East and the South, is proving very difficult, with reduced progress in terms of km2. It must in particular face the solid Russian defenses, made of trenches, anti-tank traps and minefields established over hundreds of kilometers.
The trend of the day
Evgueni Prigojine is dead but the international presence of the Wagner group is very much alive. However, this state of affairs is causing tension between Belarus and Poland and the Baltic States, neighboring countries but the first of which is allied to Russia and an accomplice in the war in Ukraine, while the latter are members of the European Union and of NATO. On Monday, Warsaw and the Baltic countries demanded that Belarus “immediately expel” the Wagner group from its territory, which they consider a threat to their own security.
But Minsk does not appreciate what it considers “unreasonable and stupid demands”. “The leaders of Poland and the Baltic states are stirring up hysteria about the presence” of Wagner in Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko told his Security Council on Thursday. He accused Warsaw and the Baltics of making “demands” even as they “increase their military budgets and attract large military formations to the borders”.
“There should not be a single foreign soldier in Poland, Lithuania or other Baltic states,” insisted Alexander Lukashenko, referring to the forces deployed within the framework of NATO. After the recent death of Wagner’s boss in a plane crash, Alexander Lukashenko said he wanted to keep up to 10,000 of the group’s fighters in his country. Lithuania closed two of the six border crossings with its pro-Russian neighbor on August 18 in reaction to Wagner’s presence.