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
It’s a refrain that has come up regularly since the start of the conflict. Vladimir Putin once again raised the nuclear threat during the May 9 military parade celebrating the Soviet victory against Hitler on Red Square. More than 9,000 military personnel, according to Russian media, armored vehicles, missile launchers and combat aircraft took part.
“Russia will do everything to avoid a global confrontation. But, at the same time, we will not allow anyone to threaten us. Our forces [nucléaires] strategic are always on alert,” declared the Russian president.
He recently ordered tactical nuclear exercises involving troops stationed near Ukraine, facing Western “threats”. On Thursday, Vladimir Putin affirmed that Moscow, which considers itself a counterweight to Anglo-Saxon influence, rejected “the pretension to exclusivity” of any government or alliance.
Today’s statement
“ We Europeans must keep our promises” »
It was with these words that the President of the European Parliament, Roberta Metsola, urged Europe to provide the promised aid to Ukraine and to “further intensify” its support in the face of the Russian invasion, during a trip to kyiv.
Volodymyr Zelensky, whom she met for Europe Day, welcomed European efforts, but stressed that Russia had “benefited” from delays in Western aid. “We know only too well that Ukraine urgently needs more air defense equipment and systems,” said Roberta Metsola.
The number of the day
338. This is the number of Ukrainians arrested at the border with Slovakia during the first four months of the year. According to Bratislava, more and more Ukrainian men of military age are crossing the Slovak border as a new law on mobilization comes into force in Ukraine.
According to Slovak border guards, 338 Ukrainians were arrested and then released at the border during the first four months of the year, compared to 166 during the same period of 2023.
“During the first week of May, we arrested 45 men,” Agnesa Kopernicka, spokesperson for the Slovak border police, told AFP. At this time last year, “there were four of them,” she added.
The trend
Attacks against Russian border regions have increased in recent months. Separate new Ukrainian strikes killed two women in the Belgorod and Kursk regions, their respective governors said.
Our file on the war in Ukraine
The governor of the Kursk region, Roman Starovoit, said that a resident had been killed and another injured by a Ukrainian “bombing” on the village of Tiotkino, very close to the border. Vyacheslav Gladkov, head of the Belgorod region, told him that a Ukrainian strike had killed a resident of the village of Novaya Tavoljanka, also very close to Ukraine.