Did you miss the latest events on the war in Ukraine? Do not panic, 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
On Thursday, western Ukraine was hit by a new barrage of missiles. In Lviv, a large western city rarely targeted, at least five people were killed and 37 injured in the bombardments, in the most destructive attack on this region since the start of the conflict in February 2022, say the authorities. More than 30 buildings and other buildings would have been affected, details on Telegram the head of the regional military administration, Maksym Kozytsky. The Russian army claimed to have targeted sites of “temporary deployment” of Ukrainian soldiers. “All designated facilities were affected,” the Russian Defense Ministry said.
sentence of the day
But where is Evgueni Prigojine? Wagner’s boss is expected to be in Belarus according to deals struck with the Kremlin after his failed rebellion. However, according to the Belarusian president, this is not the case. As for Wagner’s mercenaries, according to him, they are “in their permanent camps” in eastern Ukraine.
Asked about these claims, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov replied that Moscow is “not following the moves” of Wagner’s boss. Russian President Vladimir Putin, who had called Yevgeny Prigojine a “traitor”, gave Wagner’s fighters the choice of enlisting in the regular army, leaving for Belarus or returning to civilian life.
The number of the day
9. This is the number of Finnish diplomats expelled by the Russian authorities on Thursday. The Russian Foreign Ministry also announced that it would close a Finnish consulate in St. Petersburg. This announcement follows the expulsion of nine Russian diplomats stationed in Helsinki accused of working for Russia’s “intelligence” services. The Finnish ambassador, Antti Helanterä, summoned to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Moscow, was served with “a strong protest” because of the “confrontational and anti-Russian policy” of the Finnish authorities, which, according to Russian diplomacy, aims to “demolish decades of mutually beneficial Russian-Finnish relations”.
The trend of the day
In Zaporijjia, a town 50 km from the gigantic nuclear power plant, the Ukrainians are preparing for the “worst case scenario”, while Kiev has accused Moscow of preparing a “provocation” on the site, occupied by the Russian army. Large-scale evacuation exercise, distribution of information leaflets: “This is a major threat, people are preparing, the government is preparing, local authorities are preparing”, assured Thursday Olena Jouk, president of the Zaporizhia regional council.
The Ukrainian army warned on Tuesday against “the possible preparation of a provocation on the territory of the Zaporizhia power plant in the near future”. According to her, “objects similar to explosive devices were placed on the outer roof of reactors 3 and 4”. For its part, the Kremlin warned of a possible Ukrainian “subversive act” with “catastrophic consequences” at the plant.
Ukraine nevertheless wanted to reassure civilians and the international community as a whole, which is scrutinizing the situation near the largest nuclear power plant in Europe. “Tensions are gradually decreasing”, the result of “powerful work” by the Ukrainian army and diplomats as well as “our foreign partners who are putting pressure” on Russia, declared Natalia Goumenyuk, spokesperson of the Ukrainian army for the southern front, during a press conference.
In memory, the Zaporijjia power plant has already been targeted several times by shots and cut off from the electricity network, a precarious situation which raises fears of a major nuclear accident.