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 progress on the front and the results of the battles, here are the essentials of the weekend.
The fact of the day
Fighting lasted all weekend in Chassiv Yar, but the Russian army “was pushed back”, according to Ukrainian forces. This city, perched on a height, extends less than 30 kilometers southeast of Kramatorsk, the main city in the region under Ukrainian control and an important railway and logistics hub for the Ukrainian army. The city is “under constant fire”, according to kyiv.
“The Russians are trying to carry out assault actions both directly on the settlements of Bogdanivka and Ivanivské, which surround Chasiv Yar. They are also trying to carry out offensive actions between these localities,” said Oleg Kalashnikov, the spokesperson for a brigade engaged in the fighting there. According to this source, the Russian army “uses infantry with the support of armored combat vehicles”, supported by “assault aircraft”. “But all their attacks were repelled. They retreated,” he said on television.
The number of the day
15. Russia announced on Sunday that it had destroyed 15 Ukrainian drones over its border regions of Belgorod and Bryansk, regularly hit by attacks from kyiv. “Air defense intercepted and destroyed 15 Ukrainian drones over the Belgorod and Bryansk regions,” the Russian Defense Ministry said, specifying that 12 of them were destroyed over the Belgorod region. .
The statement of the day
“ If Congress does not help Ukraine, Ukraine will lose the war » »
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky warned on Sunday that his country would lose the war if expected US aid of $60 billion remains blocked in Congress, as Russia increases its pressure in the east of the country. “Without the support of Congress, it will be difficult for us to win, or even survive” as a country, he insisted, according to a video of his speech posted on his social networks.
“If Ukraine loses the war, other states will be attacked,” the Ukrainian president further warned, estimating that Russia, which invaded the neighboring state in February 2022, would then raise the nuclear threat to frighten the Western societies.
Today’s trend
While awaiting a decision on American aid, Ukrainian soldiers are forced to save their ammunition and face a confident Russian army, which repelled a major counter-offensive by the Kiev army in the summer 2023. The Russian army, more numerous and better supplied with ammunition, is gradually pushing forward on the eastern front, and has regularly struck Ukraine’s energy infrastructure in recent weeks, plunging thousands of civilians into darkness.
Russian bombings also left three dead in the southern region of Zaporizhia and one in Kupiansk in the east, according to Ukrainian authorities. A double attack by missiles and then Russian drones also left six people dead in Kharkiv during the night from Friday to Saturday.