Did you miss the latest events on the war in Ukraine? 20 minutes takes stock for you every evening. 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
Ukrainian authorities said Tuesday they had foiled a Russian plot to assassinate President Volodymyr Zelensky and several senior military officials. The Ukrainian Security Service (SBU) announced that it had “dismantled a network of agents” of the Russian security services (FSB) who were preparing “the assassination of the Ukrainian president”, and had arrested two Ukrainian officers who were part of it. Other “senior representatives” of the military and political spheres were also targeted, such as the head of military intelligence Kyrylo Budanov and that of the SBU Vassyl Maliouk, the press release said.
Since the start of the Russian invasion in February 2022, kyiv has already reported several assassination attempts targeting President Zelensky and attributed to Moscow. Russia has long been known to have agents in Ukraine’s military and security apparatus.
This time, the SBU claimed to have arrested “two colonels” from the Ukrainian state service providing security to public officials. “They were arrested a few days ago,” a source within Ukrainian law enforcement told AFP. “They were really high-ranking men, one of them was the head of a department,” she added. These two officials allegedly “transmitted confidential information” to Russia and had been recruited by the FSB before the 2022 invasion, claims the SBU. The suspects risk life imprisonment, added this source.
Today’s statement
“ We are a united and great people, and together we will overcome all obstacles (…) Together we will win »
This is what Vladimir Putin declared this Tuesday, in front of around 2,500 people, during his inauguration speech launching his fifth term in the Kremlin. “We will go through this difficult period with dignity and become even stronger,” assured the Russian president, saying “to look forward with confidence”. “We will determine the destiny of Russia by ourselves and only by ourselves, for the good of current and future generations,” he further underlined in a speech broadcast on all Russian television channels. ‘State.
The outcome of the offensive in Ukraine launched by its army on February 24, 2022, however, still seems uncertain, and many challenges have emerged, between the consequences of Western sanctions, high inflation and the departure abroad of hundreds of thousands of Russians opposed to the conflict.
The Russian president deemed a discussion with the West “possible” “on issues of security and strategic stability”, but “only on an equal footing, respecting the interests of each one”
The number of the day
Three. This is the number of men found drowned this Tuesday in the Tisza River located on the border between Ukraine and Romania, Ukrainian border guards announced. This river is frequently used by those fleeing military mobilization.
In Ukraine, men aged 18 to 60 are prohibited from leaving the country, with few exceptions, under martial law. Since the start of the Russian invasion in February 2022, however, many men have left, illegally or legally, in order to avoid being conscripted into the army.
These fears are growing more and more ten days before the entry into force of a new law which should make it possible to mobilize more soldiers.
The trend
L’Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) said Tuesday that information it has received about the alleged use of chemical weapons in Ukraine is “insufficiently substantiated.”
The organization also said in a statement that it had not yet received a formal request to investigate such allegations, while the United States last week accused Russia of using a “chemical weapon », chloropicrin, against Ukrainian troops.
“The Russian Federation and Ukraine have accused each other and reported to the Organization allegations of the use of chemical weapons,” recalls Elisabeth Waechter, spokesperson for the OPCW, in a press release. However, “the information provided so far is insufficiently substantiated,” she added. “The situation nevertheless remains volatile and extremely worrying regarding the possible resurgence of the use of toxic chemicals as weapons,” she warned.
Russia says it no longer possesses a military chemical arsenal, but the country faces pressure for more transparency over the use of toxic weapons of which it is accused.