This Tuesday, September 27, “20 Minutes” takes stock for you, like every evening, of the progress of the conflict in Ukraine.
news of the day
Out of service due to the war in Ukraine, the Nord Stream gas pipelines linking Russia to Germany under the Baltic Sea have both been affected by spectacular, mysterious leaks preceded by underwater explosions which fuel suspicions of sabotage . Denmark and Sweden confirmed Tuesday morning to be faced with three leaks, spaced between them, on the two gas pipelines. One of the leaks on Nord Stream 1 occurred in the Danish exclusive economic zone, the other in the Swedish zone. The Swedish seismic institute said it had recorded two underwater explosions, “most likely due to detonations”, before the incident.
The Kremlin, towards which many eyes were turned, said it was “extremely concerned”, considering that “no” hypothesis should be excluded, including that of sabotage. But in kyiv, the adviser to the Ukrainian presidency, Mykhaïlo Podoliak, denounced “a planned terrorist attack” by Moscow, without providing evidence. The Polish Prime Minister also suggested Russian involvement, without directly targeting Moscow. “We clearly see that this is an act of sabotage, which probably marks the next stage in the escalation of the situation in Ukraine,” declared Mateusz Morawiecki, who just this Tuesday inaugurated a gas pipeline linking Norway to Poland.
The operator of the pipelines, the Nord Stream consortium, says it has not yet assessed the damage, but acknowledged the exceptional nature of the situation. “An incident where three pipes simultaneously experience trouble on the same day is not ordinary,” a spokesperson said.
The number of the day
“97 to 98%”. Russia’s electoral commission announced on Tuesday that the “yes” won between 97 and 98% of the votes in the “referendums” of annexation, after counting 20 to 27% of the votes, according to preliminary results relating to the offices voting in Russian territory. At the same time, counting began in Ukrainian regions under Moscow control, Ria Novosti, TASS and Interfax agencies reported.
Hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians came to Russia to escape the fighting in Ukraine, and the electoral commission opened polling stations for this diaspora on Russian territory. “It is already clear that the overwhelming majority of people supported the exit from Ukraine and the union with Russia,” commented the head of the occupation administration of Kherson, Vladimir Saldo, on the area under his control.
For his part, the Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs swept away the value of these votes. “This will not change anything in our policy, our diplomacy and our actions in the military field”, indicated Dmytro Kouleba during a press conference in kyiv with his French counterpart, Catherine Colonna.
sentence of the day
We will not, we will never recognize the annexation of Ukrainian territory by Russia”
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Tuesday that the United States and its allies will “never recognize” Russia’s annexation of territory in Ukraine. “We and many other countries have been clear. We will not, we will never recognize the annexation of Ukrainian territory by Russia,” he told a press conference.
A statement in tune with that of NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg: “The fictitious referendums organized by Russia have no legitimacy and constitute a flagrant violation of international law. These lands are Ukraine,” he tweeted after an interview with President Volodymyr Zelensky. On Tuesday evening, French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna also called these annexation referendums a “masquerade”.
The trend of the day
The exodus continues. Georgia and Kazakhstan, two neighboring countries of Russia, confirmed on Tuesday a sharp increase in arrivals of Russians since the mobilization decreed on September 21 by President Vladimir Putin. Arrivals of Russians in Georgia have almost doubled. “The number has increased to some 10,000 a day. For example, they were 11,200 on Sunday and less than 10,000 on Monday”, against “5,000 to 6,000” just before the announcement of the mobilization in Russia on September 21, indicated the Ministry of the Interior of this Caucasus country.
On the border with Georgia, the authorities of the Russian region of North Ossetia admitted a “tense situation” at the Verkhni Lars checkpoint. The local Ministry of the Interior has announced the forthcoming installation of a “military mobilization commission” in the border area in order to recruit reservists who are trying to leave.
For its part, the Interior Ministry of Kazakhstan, a former Soviet republic in Central Asia, said that 98,000 Russian citizens had arrived in the country since September 21. Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev assured him on Tuesday that his country, a traditional ally of Moscow but which has distanced itself since the offensive in Ukraine, would protect the Russians who flee to Kazakhstan to escape mobilization. “We have to take care of them, keep them safe,” he said.