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
Ukraine imposed emergency power cuts in several regions on Friday after new massive Russian strikes “severely” damaged three thermal power plants. In its daily report, the Russian army confirmed having targeted energy infrastructure during the night but also Ukrainian “anti-aircraft defenses” with missiles, particularly hypersonic, and drones. In total, ten regions were targeted across Ukraine. “The Russian strikes targeting energy production sites confirm that Moscow is not deviating from its strategy of terror,” reacted the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Three Ukrainian thermal power plants suffered significant damage after Russian fire, said Ukrainian energy supplier DTEK, without giving the location of these installations. “The equipment was seriously damaged,” lamented the company, specifying that its engineers had “quickly” reacted to deal with the damage. The national operator Ukrenergo said it was “forced to urgently carry out (power) cuts until the evening” in three regions due to the “lack of production capacity” of electricity following of the attack. “Restrictions” were already in place in two other regions after previous bombings.
Today’s statement
“ Defense forces carry out tasks across the vast front line with little to no weapons or ammunition »
This is what Oleksandr Syrsky, commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian army, declared, as a wake-up call, in a rare interview given this Friday to the Ukrinform agency. “A few days ago, the enemy’s advantage in terms of ammunition fired was 6 to 1,” he added, judging that the situation was “tense” in places.
Oleksandr Syrsky took over as head of the Ukrainian army in February, after the dismissal of his very popular predecessor, Valery Zaluzhny. According to him, the “constant bombings” and the lack of ammunition forced his men to withdraw from Avdiivka, a fortress town recently conquered by the Russians in the Donetsk region (east).
President Volodymyr Zelensky spoke this Friday of the need to “replenish stocks more quickly” of Ukrainian anti-aircraft defense and said “count on the rapid reaction” of his country’s Western allies.
The number of the day
99. This is the number of Russian missiles and military drones launched during the night from Thursday to Friday on Ukraine, according to the Ukrainian army. The latter claims to have succeeded in destroying 84, or 26 missiles and 58 drones, thanks to its air defense system. But those who managed to reach their target caused casualties. A civilian was reportedly killed by a drone in the town of Myrivska, announced the governor of the Dnipropetrovsk region (central-south). A total of six people, including a child, were also injured in these strikes, the Ukrainian Interior Ministry said.
On the Russian side, a civilian was also killed and two others injured by a Ukrainian drone which crashed into an apartment building in Belgorod, a town near Ukraine.
The trend
Russia will launch its spring military conscription campaign on Monday which will involve tens of thousands of young people aged 18 to 30, the Russian General Staff announced on Friday. The army assures that these new recruits will not be sent to Ukraine, but the campaign, which is organized twice a year, comes at a time when many Russians fear a new mobilization.
According to Vice-Admiral Vladimir Tsimlianski, all conscripts will serve their one-year service on “the territory of the Russian Federation”. They “will not be sent to the deployment posts of the armed forces in the new Russian regions”, namely the four Ukrainian regions (those of Donetsk, Lugansk, Kherson and Zaporizhia) annexed by Russia in 2022, and “will not participate in the Russian special military operation, assured Vladimir Tsimlianski.
Russia has already decreed a mobilization of more than 300,000 people in the fall of 2022 as part of its offensive on Ukraine.