Did you miss the latest events on the war in Ukraine? 20 minutes takes stock for you every evening. Between the strong declarations, the progress on the front and the results of the battles, here is the essential part of this Wednesday, June 26, 2024.
The fact of the day
The first hearing in the closed-door trial of American journalist Evan Gershkovich, detained in Russia for fifteen months on espionage charges that he denies, took place in a court in Yekaterinburg, in the Urals. Gershkovich, 32, was arrested in March 2023 while reporting in Yekaterinburg by the Russian security services (FSB), becoming the first Western journalist since Soviet times to be accused of espionage in Russia. After this first appearance, a court spokesperson, Irina Tochcheva, clarified that the next hearing would take place on August 13 and that the press would not be allowed to film the journalist again before the verdict was announced, on a date still undetermined.
The Russian authorities have never substantiated their accusations against this correspondent of the Wall Street Journal and kept the contents of the file secret. A Wall Street Journal who wrote this Wednesday that the reporter, arrested according to him for having “simply done his job” and who faces up to twenty years in prison, was facing “trumped up charges”. Washington denounced a “sham trial”.
The number of the day
2. This is the number of arrest warrants issued by the International Criminal Court. They target the chief of staff of the Russian army Valéri Gerassimov and Sergei Shoigu, Minister of Defense until last May, for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in Ukraine, accusations that Moscow rejects. “We do not recognize the jurisdiction of this court,” the spokesperson for the Russian presidency, Dmitri Peskov, told journalists. We consider (these mandates) absurd. »
Today’s statement
“ Ukraine must win this war. For his safety and ours. » »
These are the words of Mark Rutte, whom the 32 NATO countries have appointed as the next Secretary General, at a crucial moment for the Alliance as Russia continues its war in Ukraine. Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, 57, will take office on October 1, replacing Norwegian Jens Stoltenberg, who has been in office for ten years. Mark Rutte is a “strong and principled leader”, reacted Volodymyr Zelensky. Mark Rutte is known for his outspokenness. At the Munich Security Conference, he said: “All this whining and whining about Trump, I hear it constantly these last few days, let’s stop. » It was also he who did not hesitate to describe Vladimir Putin as “cold, brutal, ruthless” shortly after the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Today’s trend
A first direct meeting took place between Ukrainian and Russian representatives on the sidelines of a major exchange of prisoners of war, kyiv and Moscow announced. Moscow and kyiv announced in the evening that they had exchanged 90 prisoners of war from each camp, following mediation by the United Arab Emirates.
“Yesterday, during the exchange of prisoners of war, representatives of the Russian Ombudsman’s Office arrived for the first time to record possible human rights violations,” Ukrainian Human Rights Commissioner Dmytro Lubinets said on Telegram on Wednesday. “During this joint work, representatives of the two offices interviewed the prisoners released on the Russian and Ukrainian sides,” he said. Contacted by AFP to provide more details on this operation, Lubinets explained that “this was a new initiative of Ukraine, to which the Russian side gave its consent for the first time.”
Russia and Ukraine have exchanged hundreds of prisoners since the Russian invasion began in February 2022 and regularly exchange the remains of soldiers killed on the front. At the end of April, Ukrainian and Russian officials met in Qatar for the first time since February 2022 to discuss the thorny issue of children displaced by war.