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 results of the battles, here are the main points of the day.
The fact of the day
The UN condemned this Thursday the “cruel and unacceptable” attacks against emergency services and the wounded in Ukraine, describing a “disturbing pattern” of the use of double strikes. “We have seen in recent weeks a particularly disturbing pattern in the sequence of attacks,” Edem Wosornu, speaking on behalf of the head of the UN humanitarian affairs office, told a meeting of the UN Security Council ( Ocha) Martin Griffiths.
“While first responders or emergency services rush to the scene of an attack, a second wave hits the same location, killing the injured and causing death and injury to members of the emergency services,” she said. describe. This aggravates the suffering of the injured and prevents emergency services from doing their work. »
“Attacks targeting the wounded and those who come to their aid are prohibited by international humanitarian law,” recalls the UN. They are cruel, unacceptable and must stop. “.
Ukraine has accused Russia several times in recent weeks of carrying out such attacks, called “double strikes”, which consist of bombing a place first time, then a second time when emergency services arrive on site.
Today’s statement
“ We have said many times that a negotiation process without Russia makes no sense »
This is what Kremlin spokesperson Dmitri Peskov said on Thursday about the planned conference “for peace in Ukraine” organized by Switzerland in Switzerland on June 15 and 16. Russia will not be present. Russian diplomatic spokesperson Maria Zakharova, for her part, affirmed that any action for Ukraine which “ignores Russia’s position” was “detached from reality” and had “no perspective”.
She also estimated that we could “not trust Switzerland either”, which “defends Ukraine’s positions, supports the Kiev regime, applies anti-Russian sanctions and adopts strategies which exclude Russia from the system of European security”. Moscow had already estimated on Wednesday that this conference was a project by the United States intended to put pressure on Russia.
The number of the day
80. This is the number of missiles (40) and drones (40) launched by Russia on Ukraine during the night from Wednesday to Thursday. “Some Shahed missiles and drones were successfully shot down. Unfortunately, only a part of them,” said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Industrial equipment, including a power plant near kyiv, was damaged, according to Russian authorities.
Furthermore, a strike left two dead and four injured Thursday in Mykolaiv, a large city in southern Ukraine, the regional governor said.
The trend
Fearing the outbreak of a military conflict, in particular with Russia, the Swedish government announced this Thursday that it would devote an additional 385 million crowns (33 million euros) to strengthening its anti-atomic shelters, its emergency services. emergency and its civil defense, after warning that the country must prepare for war.
Sweden, which joined NATO in early March, is investing to improve the operating capabilities of emergency services in the event of conflict, strengthen its cybersecurity and supplement stocks of medicines, said Civil Defense Minister Carl- Oskar Bohlin. The minister sparked controversy in January, declaring at a defense conference that “there could be a war in Sweden.” Shortly after, the Commander-in-Chief of the Swedish Armed Forces Micael Biden said that the Swedes must “prepare mentally for a war”.
Swedish authorities reactivated their concept of “total defense” in 2015 and intensified this effort after the invasion of Ukraine in 2022, appointing a Minister of Civil Defense, alongside the Minister of the Armed Forces, to mobilize all of society.