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
An attack in the heart of Russia. “An aerial drone attack was carried out this morning against factories in Tatarstan located in Yelabuga and Nizhnekamsk,” the press service of Rustam Minnikhanov, the head of this republic in central Russia, located more than 1,000 kilometers from Ukraine.
The attack “did not cause serious damage, the technological process of the companies was not disrupted”, assured the press release, without specifying which factories were targeted. The Tatarstan Ministry of Health, however, reported 13 people injured by the explosion caused by the drone who are “students, including two minors”.
A source within the Ukrainian defense sector, interviewed by AFP, affirmed that it “was an operation of the GUR”, the Ukrainian military intelligence, which has in the past claimed responsibility for multiple attacks of this type on Russian soil. “It was a Ukrainian drone attack on a company assembling Shahed drones. Significant damage was inflicted on the site,” said this source, without specifying whether the attack was launched from Russian or Ukrainian territory.
The number of the day
576. This is, in millions of euros, Germany’s contribution to the Czech initiative of group purchases of ammunition outside the European Union to support Ukraine. With this sum, “Germany will finance the purchase of 180,000 munitions” and will provide “nearly 40% of the total amount” promised by the European states participating in this project, the Ministry of Defense explained on Tuesday. These munitions should be delivered “from June” to the Ukrainian front. Prague said in February it had identified 800,000 shells available in non-European countries that could quickly be sent to Ukraine.
Today’s statement
“ In order to minimize the risk of secondary sanctions, Interbank Processing Center […] informs of the cessation of the Mir bank card service in its infrastructure from April 5, 2024.” »
Would Western sanctions against Russia take effect? Kyrgyzstan announced this Tuesday, via its national payments operator, that it would abandon Russian payment cards Mir for fear of secondary “sanctions” from the United States. This announcement comes a few days after two similar decisions taken by Armenian banks and the mobile payment system Samsung Pay. In mid-February, the US Treasury Department implemented sanctions against the Mir system which “allows” Russia, according to Washington, to “escape Western financial sanctions”.
Today’s trend
Slowly, but surely, Russian forces are advancing in Ukraine, taking advantage of ammunition shortages on the Ukrainian side. “In total, since the beginning of the year, 403 km2 of territory of the new regions of the Russian Federation have come under our control,” claimed Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu during a military meeting, according to his ministry. . The latter that his soldiers continued “to push the Ukrainian units towards the west”.
Our file on the war in Ukraine
In recent months, the Russian army has claimed the capture of several villages and, above all, Avdiïvka, a fortress town in the east to which Ukrainian forces have held on as best they could for years. Russian soldiers, however, failed to achieve a major breakthrough, with large sections of the front remaining frozen. They nevertheless seem to have taken advantage of the difficulties of the Kiev army, faced with a shortage of ammunition, recruitment difficulties and the cessation of Western aid.
The US Institute for the Study of War (ISW) estimated last week that Russia has seized 505 square kilometers of territory in Ukraine since last October. “Material constraints” limit the abilities of Ukrainian soldiers to “conduct effective defensive operations,” the institute noted.