Russia has claimed the capture of a new village in eastern Ukraine, a new advance in the face of an army lacking men and ammunition.
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The Russian army claimed Tuesday March 19 the capture of the town of Orlivka, in eastern Ukraine. At the same time, if kyiv deplores the drying up of Western aid in terms of arms to face Moscow, the United States has assured that it “will not let Ukraine fail”. For its part, Russia plans to evacuate 9,000 children from a border area with Ukraine. Franceinfo takes stock of the main information relating to the Russian-Ukrainian conflict.
Russian army claims capture of Orlivka village in Donbass
In Ukraine, the Russian army is slowly advancing in Donbass, in the east of the country. Russian forces “liberated the town of Orlivka”, claimed the Ministry of Defense on Tuesday. This capture comes at a time when the Ukrainian army is short of men and ammunition due to the running out of American aid.
The Russian Ministry of Defense specifies that it has also “improved his positions” in the area around this village, northwest of the town of Avdiïvka, conquered by the Russian army in February. At the end of February, by abandoning the neighboring village of Lastochkyné, the Ukrainian forces had nevertheless assured that they were going to take refuge behind new defense lines in Orlivka, in order to contain the Russian advance.
Moscow wants to “punish” Russian fighters favorable to Ukraine
Vladimir Putin ordered the Russian security services, the FSB, to “to punish” pro-kyiv Russian fighters carrying out attacks in regions of Russia bordering Ukraine, calling them“garbage” and of “traitors”, Tuesday March 19. “We must not forget who they are, identify them by name. We will punish them in an imprescriptible manner, wherever they are”warned the Russian president, in a speech to the heads of this service that he himself headed in the 1990s.
Russia plans evacuation of 9,000 children from Ukraine border area
“We are evacuating a large number of villages, and we now plan to evacuate about 9,000 children due to shelling by the armed forces of Ukraine,” said the governor of Russia’s Belgorod region. He further indicated that in one week, 16 people had been killed and 98 injured in this area, the target of increased attacks since March 12.
US ‘won’t let Ukraine fail’
The United States tried to reassure, through its Secretary of Defense, promising that it would “will not let Ukraine fail”. “We are determined to provide Ukraine with all the resources it needs to resist Russian aggression,” Lloyd Austin told reporters.
This commitment comes despite the blocking of American aid in Congress due to the reluctance of Republican elected officials supporting former President Donald Trump. On Monday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky judged“critically important” approval “fast” of this 60 billion dollars in aid. On Tuesday, he again called for anti-aircraft defenses to counter the hundreds of drones, missiles and aerial bombs that Russia drops on Ukraine every month.
Russians and Belarusians will not parade at the opening ceremony of Paris 2024
This is one of the consequences of the war in Ukraine. Admitted under neutral banner to the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, Russian and Belarusian athletes will not parade on the Seine during the opening ceremony on July 26, the International Olympic Committee ruled. This is the last major decision expected from the IOC after two years of twists and turns: first banned from world sport, the Russians and Belarusians were admitted to the Games last year under strict conditions, but with a protocol which remained define.