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:
news of the day
Vladimir Putin did not change his position for his first address to the nation in two years. During his speech on Tuesday, the Russian president attacked the West many times. According to him, Washington and its allies are using the conflict in Ukraine to “finish off” Russia, believing that the West held “responsibility” for the escalation of the conflict. “The elites of the West do not hide their objective: to inflict a strategic defeat on Russia, that is to say to finish with us once and for all”, he hammered.
But he also denounced Western mores, claiming that the West had made pedophilia “the norm”. “Look at what they are doing with their own people: the destruction of families, cultural and national identities, perversion and child abuse, even pedophilia, are declared to be the norm […]. And priests are obliged to bless marriages between homosexuals,” he said. During this speech, the liberated city of Kherson was hit by bombardments from Russian aircraft, killing at least five people and injuring 16.
sentence of the day
A year later, I would say that NATO is stronger than ever. »
Traveling to Warsaw, US President Joe Biden felt that the Atlantic Alliance is “stronger than ever”. And “I can proudly say that our support for Ukraine is unwavering,” he said during a meeting between the Polish and American delegations, partially broadcast by local television. The American president considered as “really extraordinary” the support given to Ukraine and the Ukrainians by Poland. For his part, the Polish head of state Andrzej Duda insisted on the fact that, thanks to Joe Biden, “we see that America is capable of ensuring the world order”.
The number of the day
-2% or even less? Even though the head of the Kremlin has claimed otherwise, the sanctions imposed by the Europeans and Americans are hurting Russia. “The Russian economy is suffering a lot”, recalled Emmanuel Macron, who said “not to believe” in the “propaganda” of official statistics published by Moscow. Questioned about the official figures on the contraction of the Russian Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of 2.1% in 2022, the French president replied: “They are the ones who say -2%, I say that it is a lot more. »
“They make money off the gas they sell to others but the rest of the economy suffers a lot. So I don’t believe these figures at all,” said the head of state. Russian statistics, “it’s propaganda, it’s a country that is no longer a democratic, free country, with an institute [de statistiques] independent,” he said.
The trend of the day
On the ground, the increasingly flagrant misunderstanding between Wagner’s mercenaries and the regular Russian army could disrupt Moscow’s meager advances. The boss of the Russian paramilitary group on Tuesday accused his country’s general staff of committing “treason” by refusing, according to him, to provide equipment to his mercenaries, on the front line in eastern Ukraine.
Tensions have become increasingly visible in recent weeks as Russian forces attempt to seize the eastern city of Bakhmout, with the army and Wagner each claiming the advances, sometimes contradicting each other.
“The Chief of Staff and the Minister of Defense distribute orders at all costs asking not only not to give ammunition to the paramilitary group Wagner, but also not to help it with air transport”, scolded Yevgeny Prigojine in a voice recording published by his press service on Telegram. “There is a frontal opposition, which is nothing less than an attempt to destroy Wagner. It can be likened to a betrayal of the fatherland, as Wagner fights for Bakhmout, suffering hundreds of casualties every day,” he added.