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
Let’s take a walk in the woods while the Russians aren’t there. And even if they are actually there, for Volodymyr Zelensky. We have known since the start of the conflict that the president is a man on the ground and is not afraid to show himself on the scenes of war. : One of his first brilliant actions was to stay in kyiv while the Russian army was at the gates of the capital. Now that the Moscow troops have been pushed far from the mother city, Zelensky is once again going to the front almost to meet them, this time in the east of the country. More precisely in the area of the localities of Koupiansk and Lyman, target of an offensive by Russian troops in the midst of a Ukrainian counter-offensive.
“Today we are visiting our brigades fighting in one of the hottest zones, Kupiansk and Lyman,” the president wrote on Telegram.
The number of the day
1 per 100. No, we’re not talking about Italy’s chances of beating France this Friday at the Rugby World Cup (we’re crushing them with an offensive bonus at halftime, you’ll have read it here first) , but from the almost historic weakness of the ruble against the dollar. Concretely, it now takes more than 100 rubles to have a dollar in a hypothetical exchange office. Since the economic lull after the first weeks of the conflict, such a gap has never happened, except in mid-August.
If the Russian economy resists Western sanctions much more than expected, it continues to show signs of weakness and cracks.
Sentence of the day
From tomorrow, controls [qui devaient être effectués] at the Ukrainian-Polish border for grain transiting through Lithuania will be carried out on Lithuanian territory »
Chafouins a good part of last week, kyiv and Warsaw are in the process of reconciling again on certain important subjects. While Warsaw has announced its intention to no longer deliver arms to Ukraine, which was one of the most loyal suppliers, an agreement has just been reached for the transition of cereals through Lithuania. It’s well known that good accounts make good friends, and even allow some people to reconcile.
Well, it’s not yet the frank camaraderie of the beginnings, but it’s already a little less frosty than a few days ago between the two countries traumatized by the Soviet past.
Today’s trend
Russia says Ukrainian attempts to break through its defenses have ‘failed’ As winter approaches, the counter-offensive has so far only allowed the Ukrainian army to retake a handful of villages.
And tick tock, time is running out. More than the freezing cold of December-January, it is soon the rainy season, capable of derailing Ukrainian intentions quite a bit. No need to read The art of War to realize that mud and 15,000 puddles are not the best allies for successful offensive charges or the movement of armored vehicles. Time is running out and the outcome of the counter-offensive will be played out in the coming weeks.