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 dramatic results of the fighting, here is the gist of the day.
The fact of the day
A museum in Odessa bombed by Russian forces during the night from Sunday to Monday. Images released by city authorities and the museum showed debris and shards of glass on the floor of the Odessa Museum of Fine Arts, some of which had shattered windows. Walls are cracked and some paintings appear to have been thrown to the ground by the force of the explosion.
Ukrainian Deputy Foreign Minister Eminé Djeppar said she was “deeply outraged” by the strike. “The deliberate destruction of cultural sites is a crime against Ukrainian heritage,” she denounced, demanding “a strong international response and immediate action from UNESCO.” The museum’s interim director, Kateryna Koulaï, for her part told AFP that an assessment of “the damage [potentiels] invisible to the naked eye” was in progress. Fortunately, most of the works on display had been “evacuated,” said Oleg Kiper, an official with the regional authorities.
The number of the day
2. This is the number of Ukrainian defense officials targeted by an investigation for corruption. According to the Prosecutor’s Office, a former Deputy Minister of Defense and one of his colleagues are the subject of an investigation for “embezzlement of public funds” and “are the subject of a suspicion notification”.
The two men, whose names have not been revealed, “ordered personal protective equipment of insufficient quality from abroad” by pre-paying for it in full and without respecting “the planned quality control procedure”, the State Investigation Bureau, an anti-corruption body, detailed in early October. “As a result, the Ukrainian armed forces received poor quality bulletproof vests which cannot be used in combat without endangering lives,” the Bureau of Investigation further denounced, which then estimated the fraud at more than six million euros. The two men, who are in custody, face up to 12 years in prison.
Sentence of the day
Negligent attitude of a serving military official. »
It is for this reason that the Kiev authorities opened legal proceedings after the death of 19 of its soldiers, killed Friday by a Russian missile. According to local media, the soldiers were gathered for a decoration ceremony near the front line in the Zaporizhia region. Volodymyr Zelensky announced on Sunday that an investigation would be carried out into the circumstances of this “tragedy which could have been avoided”, according to him.
Today’s trend
The Russian army counterattacks on all fronts. In the South, “the enemy tried to regain its positions near Robotyne, without success,” announced Andriï Kovalyov, a spokesperson for the Ukrainian army. The liberation of this village at the end of August gave Ukraine a glimpse of a breakthrough in its counter-offensive, in vain.
In the east of the country, Moscow’s troops also “continue” to attack Avdiïvka, an industrial city that they have been trying to surround for several weeks, added Andriï Kovalyov. The Ukrainian army has been carrying out a very difficult counter-offensive in the East and South since June, without succeeding in breaking through the Russian lines. And in recent weeks, it is the Russians who are on the attack again, carrying out assaults in several areas.
The blockage is such that the commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian army, Valery Zaluzhny, recently estimated that the war was “at an impasse”. Remarks of rare frankness, but firmly rejected by the Kremlin as by Volodymyr Zelensky.