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 dramatic results of the fighting, here is the gist of the day.
The fact of the day
New attack on press freedom in Russia. Russian-American journalist Alsu Kurmasheva was arrested in the city of Kazan, her employer Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty announced. She was indicted for not having declared herself “as a foreign agent”, a charge for which she faces up to five years in prison, this private media financed by Congress said in a press release. American. The journalist, who usually lives in Prague, had to go to Russia for a “family emergency” on May 20, then was temporarily arrested on June 2 before her return flight to Kazan. Her American and Russian passports confiscated, she found herself unable to leave the country.
In a statement, the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists said the journalist was in a temporary detention center on Wednesday evening, according to information from the official Tatar-Inform news agency. CPJ also calls on Russia to “immediately release” the journalist and “drop all charges” against her. “Journalism is not a crime, and Kurmasheva’s detention is further proof of Russia’s determination to stifle independent journalism,” the organization said in a statement.
Sentence of the day
We are gravely concerned by the intensification of military activities by the United States, Japan and South Korea.
The head of Russian diplomacy denounced the “dangerous” military policy of the United States and its allies against North Korea. Sergei Lavrov is making a two-day visit to the North Korean capital. He was received by North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, Moscow said.
“Like our North Korean friends, we are seriously concerned by the intensification of military activities of the United States, Japan and South Korea in the region, and by the policies of Washington,” declared the Russian minister during from a press conference, cited by Russian agencies. According to him, the Americans are setting up “strategic infrastructure, including nuclear elements,” he said without giving further details.
The number of the day
267. This is the number of Ukrainian elected officials who voted for a bill banning the Orthodox Church dependent on the Moscow Patriarchate, the latter supporting the Russian invasion of Ukraine, deputies indicated. The text, the date of the second reading examination of which was not immediately known, prohibits any activity of “religious organizations” affiliated with “the country carrying out armed aggression against Ukraine”. Moscow, for its part, accuses Ukraine of discriminating against everything linked to Russia, and partly justifies its assault against its neighbor by defending Russophile populations.
Today’s trend
A Russian missile attack killed two people and injured one in Ukraine’s Mykolaiv region, Ukraine’s emergency service said Wednesday evening. “The enemy launched a missile attack on one of the [localités] from Mykolaiv district. Two people died and one person was injured under the rubble of a catering establishment,” the emergency service said on Telegram. “As a result of the impact, residential buildings and an agricultural business were also damaged,” added the same source.
According to the region’s governor, Vitaliy Kim, the strike targeted the village of Stepove, some 45 kilometers northeast of Mykolaiv. Moscow targets Ukrainian towns every night, often located far from the front, and systematically denies causing civilian casualties. France “condemns with the greatest firmness the Russian strikes of recent days which have caused several civilian victims in Ukraine,” said the Quai d’Orsay in a press release.