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.
The fact of the day
A battle of numbers. This Tuesday, the Ukrainian air force announced that it had shot down 15 of the 35 explosive drones launched against the country by Russia during the night. They were intended to strike “civil energy and fuel infrastructures and military sites”, specifies the army without mentioning possible damage caused by the twenty drones which were not shot down.
For its part, the Russian Defense Ministry responded, claiming to have shot down a total of 21 Ukrainian drones launched against its territory and the annexed Crimean peninsula during the night. He also refrained from mentioning potential damage caused by the devices which would not have been destroyed.
The number of the day
4. This is the minimum number of months during which Russian opponent Vladimir Kara-Mourza will be placed in solitary confinement in penal colony number 7 in Omsk in Siberia. The man was sentenced to 25 years in prison for having conveyed, according to Moscow, “false information” about the Russian army and having maintained links with an “undesirable organization”.
In a letter sent to his lawyer and published this Tuesday by the media Novaya Gazeta, he indicates that he was recently transferred to a special solitary cell, where he should remain until May 26. “But these deadlines can change,” he emphasizes.
His conviction, following a closed-door trial, is one of the heaviest against a major opponent in recent years.
Today’s statement
“We must organize ourselves in such a way that if the United States were to make the sovereign choice to stop this aid or reduce it, it should not have an impact on the ground”
The sentence is signed Emmanuel Macron. At a press conference in Stockholm, alongside his Swedish counterpart Ulf Kristersson, the French president called on Europeans on Tuesday to support Ukraine “in the long term” and to compensate for any possible decline in American aid.
Today’s trend
A Latvian MEP suspected of spying for the benefit of Moscow: the information did not go unnoticed. According to the Russian investigation site The Insider (based in Latvia), Tatjana Zdanoka is said to have collaborated for nearly twenty years with the FSB, the Russian security services. Allegations that the President of the European Parliament takes “very seriously”. Roberta Metsola decided to refer the matter to the Code of Conduct Advisory Committee. Consequence: investigations within the institution will be opened. The question will also be included on the agenda of a meeting of the presidents of political groups on Wednesday.
The Insider notably published, in a long article, emails exchanged between the person concerned and Russian agents including “explicit and detailed reports on her work as an MEP”. These emails involve “physical meetings in Moscow or Brussels” and “requests for funding from Russian sources for his political activities.”