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
Will there be a presidential election in Ukraine next year? Volodymyr Zelensky says he is “weighing the pros and cons” of organizing such an election, despite the war and the many practical “challenges”, Dmytro Kouleba, his Minister of Foreign Affairs, said this Friday. “It’s not that he doesn’t want to hold elections, but holding elections in the current circumstances would require unprecedented work and would require tackling unprecedented challenges,” he added.
Before the start of the Russian invasion in 2022, a presidential election was planned for 2024. But martial law, in place since the start of the war, hampers electoral functioning. At the beginning of September, Volodymyr Zelensky had already said he was “ready” to organize elections in his country in times of war “if the people need it”. “It is not a question of democracy” but “only of security”, he assured, also emphasizing that there were “many” problems to be resolved. Among these, the vote of soldiers who fight in the trenches, or the arrival of international observers in a war zone, he explained.
The number of the day
8.5. This is the number of years in prison to which Pyotr Verzilov was sentenced by Russian justice. The latter, an activist close to the Russian protest group Pussy Riot which today fights within the Ukrainian forces, was found guilty of having disseminated “false information” about the Russian army, according to an article of the Penal Code introduced after the start of the Russian offensive in Ukraine.
Already classified in Russia as a “foreign agent” and targeted by an arrest warrant, Piotr Verzilov left Russia in 2020 after a series of searches targeting him and his relatives. Also a Canadian citizen, Piotr Verzilov made himself known through performances intended to shock Russian society, including sexual acts performed in public, within the protest group Voïna, then with Pussy Riot.
Sentence of the day
We intend to continue to respect the moratorium on nuclear testing established more than thirty years ago. »
The Kremlin is having fun blowing hot and cold after the revocation of the ratification of the treaty which prohibits nuclear tests. The Russian Foreign Ministry, however, clarified that the potential carrying out of “large-scale tests” by the United States “ [les] would oblige us to do the same. In diplomacy, it is important to never appear as the one who takes the first step towards disaster.
Today’s trend
The Kremlin assured Friday that Russia would “overcome” the new American sanctions announced the day before by Washington. “We have adapted to the sanctions, we have learned to protect ourselves against the risks associated with sanctions,” Russian presidential spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters.
According to him, all major Russian companies have “developed an action plan in case they are hit by sanctions”. The United States announced Thursday a new series of punitive measures against companies involved in supplying arms to Russia. These are 130 people and entities involved in commercial exchanges with Russia to enable the country to supply itself with “necessary technologies and equipment” for its offensive in Ukraine.