Did you miss the latest events on the war in Ukraine? 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
It’s tense in Moldova. On Monday, Maïa Sandu, the president of this small country bordering Ukraine, accused Moscow of preparing “violent attacks” against her country. Tuesday, at the beginning of the afternoon, the national company Air Moldova announced the closure of Moldovan airspace, without further details.
A few hours after this announcement, Romania indicates that it took off two MiG-21 Lancer planes to search for what looked like a weather balloon on the radars. But no target could be confirmed, said Reuters news agency. For its part, the Kremlin has denied having a “project to destabilize Moldova”, and accuses Ukraine of being the source of tensions between Moscow and Chisinau.
sentence of the day
The main question is not whether Finland’s and Sweden’s accessions are ratified together, but whether they are both ratified as soon as possible; »
These are the words of Jens Stoltenberg. The Norwegian politician, Secretary General of NATO assured “to work hard” to obtain “as soon as possible” the ratifications by Turkey and Hungary of the accession of the two Nordic countries. But the hypothesis of a separate membership is gaining momentum.
If Turkey is not opposed to the accession of Finland, it blocks for the moment on the Swedish request. The reason ? The decision of the Swedish authorities to authorize a demonstration in front of the Turkish embassy in Stockholm, during which a Koran was burned, provoked the ire of Ankara which put a stop to the negotiations after the postponement of a tripartite meeting scheduled for February.
Sweden and Finland are already very integrated within NATO with their status as guest countries. The two countries take part in all the meetings and have obtained security guarantees from the main powers of the alliance, the United States in the lead.
The number of the day
8. Like the number of Leopard 2 tanks supplied to Ukraine by Norway. Ammunition, spare parts and up to four support vehicles will also be transferred to kyiv, almost a year after the invasion of Russia. The delivery date has not been specified.
The trend
Recent Russian advances in Bakhmout are not enough to retake the city. Fierce fighting continues between Ukrainian forces and their adversaries. Present on the spot, the paramilitary organization Wagner evokes a butcher’s shop. “Bahmut will not be taken tomorrow, because there is strong resistance, shelling, the meat grinder is in action,” said Yevgeny Prigojine, the head of Wagner, who enlisted thousands of Russian prisoners to leave fight on the front.
The head of the Russian occupation in the Ukrainian region of Donetsk, where Bakhmout is located, Denis Pushilin, told him that Ukraine gave no sign of wanting to cede the city. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky did not hesitate to call Bakhmout a “fortress”.