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 devastating strike in the Donetsk region. At least 16 people were killed on Wednesday in a Russian bombardment on a market in Kostiantynivka, a city in eastern Ukraine, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced on social networks.
CCTV footage released by the Ukrainian president shows a quiet shopping alley, when suddenly the whistle of a projectile is heard, followed by a very loud explosion. In another video, you can see buildings in flames. The general prosecutor’s office reported 31 injuries. “The rescue operation is continuing. There are still people under the rubble,” the prosecution added on Telegram.
The number of the day
A billion dollars. Like the new sum promised to Ukraine by Washington to support the war effort. Antony Blinken, the head of American diplomacy, made a surprise visit to kyiv on Wednesday. This is his fourth visit since the Russian invasion in February 2022.
“We see very clearly the significant progress that is currently being made in the counter-offensive and it is very, very encouraging,” said the American leader when meeting President Volodymyr Zelensky, while insisting that the United States remains “at the sides of Ukraine”. Official support that contrasts with the doubts voiced in the press by American strategists on Ukrainian strategy.
sentence of the day
“I will do everything possible and impossible for the victory of Ukraine, when we have liberated every centimeter of our country and each of our people”
These are the words of Roustem Umerov, the new Ukrainian Defense Minister. This Wednesday, Parliament approved by a large majority the appointment of the 41-year-old man. He replaces Oleksiï Reznikov, dismissed after a series of corruption scandals.
A former head of the State Property Fund responsible for privatizations, Oumerov is a prominent figure in the Crimean Tatar community, a Turkic-speaking Muslim population on the Ukrainian peninsula annexed by Russia in 2014.
This practicing Muslim has the reputation of being a fine negotiator, discreet and pragmatic. In addition to Ukrainian, Russian and English, the new minister, who studied in the United States as a teenager, is one of the few senior Ukrainian officials to speak Turkish fluently and to have maintained good contacts in the Muslim world for years. , particularly within the Turkish and Saudi governments. He took part on several occasions in sensitive negotiations with the Russians, in particular concerning exchanges of prisoners of war.
The trend of the day
The United Kingdom will include the Russian paramilitary group Wagner on its list of terrorist organizations, British Defense Minister Grant Shapps confirmed on Wednesday.
“Given the activities they are involved in, it is important that as far as the UK is concerned, it is illegal to be a part of it,” the defense minister said on Sky News television. “I am happy that the Minister of the Interior is banning them today. »