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
Russia said on Tuesday that it could not exclude that its forces could strike French instructors in Ukraine, the sending of which is currently under discussion between Paris and kyiv. “No instructor involved in training Ukrainian soldiers has immunity” from the strikes, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitri Peskov told the press.
“Whatever their status: soldiers of the French army or mercenaries, they represent a completely legitimate target for our armed forces,” insisted the head of Russian diplomacy, Sergei Lavrov, during a conference press office in Oyo, Republic of Congo. Sergei Lavrov also affirmed that French instructors “already work in Ukraine”, ensuring that their presence in the country “is confirmed by quite a few facts”.
Last week, the commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian army, Oleksandr Syrsky, affirmed that France would “soon” send instructors to train the troops of this country which has been facing a Russian offensive since February 2022. The ministry Ukrainian Defense Department, however, clarified shortly after that the sending of instructors was “still under discussion” with France and other countries. Officially, France does not have any military personnel assisting or training Ukrainian forces in Ukraine.
Today’s statement
“ “French, do not repeat the mistakes of your ancestors, their fate is known” »
This is what we could read this Tuesday on posters hung in the streets near the French embassy in Moscow. A black and white photo accompanies this call, showing a man in a black beret and sweater, tricolor badge on his arm. He is presented as part of the “French (who) have already fought against Russia alongside the Nazis”. He appears to be French army officer Edgar Puaud, commander of the Charlemagne Division, a French Waffen-SS unit in the service of Nazi Germany sent to fight the Soviet advance and which suffered heavy losses during WWII.
The poster also calls on French soldiers to surrender to the Russian army, by calling a special frequency set up in the summer of 2023 by the Russian authorities to call on Ukrainian soldiers to become prisoners.
A message summarized by Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov during a press briefing in Congo: “Near the French embassy in Moscow, posters appeared calling on French soldiers to become prisoners.” Contacted, the French embassy made no comment.
The number of the day
More than 600 dead and 1,420 injured. This is the number of child victims of war since the Russian invasion of Ukraine a little over two years ago. These are only the cases that the UN has been able to verify while the real figure of victims of this armed conflict, the worst in Europe since the Second World War, is probably much higher, according to this organization.
Ukrainians gathered this Tuesday in memory of the hundreds of children killed, a few hours after a new attack injured two in the city of Dnipro (center-east). “Help us save our children,” Ukrainian First Lady Olena Zelenska pleaded at a ceremony in front of the World War II memorial in kyiv, urging allies to provide her country with more weapons. to repel Russian attacks. “We cannot measure the value of their lives by the cost of air defenses,” she added.
In the center of Lviv, a large western city located hundreds of kilometers from the front line, residents hung bells and strips of white fabric from an installation representing an angel.
The toll of children killed continues to rise in Ukraine, where even areas far from the front line are regularly hit by Russian bombings.
The trend
Emmanuel Macron will receive his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky on Friday at the Elysée, the day after the commemorations of the 80th anniversary of the Allied landings in Normandy, in order to discuss “Ukraine’s needs” vis-à-vis Russia, the presidency announced this Tuesday evening French.
“As Russian strikes continue to intensify on the front and on energy infrastructure, the two presidents will discuss the situation on the ground as well as Ukraine’s needs”, in a “continuation of the Support Conference for Ukraine which was held at the Elysée on February 26,” it is specified.
Our file on the war in Ukraine
Emmanuel Macron then announced measures to provide more weapons to kyiv and did not rule out sending soldiers to Ukraine, sparking controversy among his allies as well as the anger of Russia. He promised new announcements on the occasion of Volodymyr Zelensky’s visit on Friday.
The Ukrainian president, who will be welcomed by the Minister of the Armed Forces Sébastien Lecornu with military honors on Friday morning at the Invalides, will also visit with him a site of the Franco-German arms group KNDS in Versailles, near Paris.