A blow for the Russian army
The cruiser MoskvaRussian flagship in the Black Sea, did indeed sink – after being hit by Ukrainian missiles, according to kyiv, or following an accidental fire, according to Moscow.
“When towing the cruiser Moskva towards the port of destination, the ship lost its stability due to hull damage sustained during a fire following the detonation of ammunition. In rough sea conditions, the ship sank,” Russian Defense conceded to local news agencies on Thursday.
“It will have consequences for the combat capability” of the Russians, Pentagon spokesman John Kirby noted Thursday, as the ship was a “key part of their efforts to establish naval dominance in the Black Sea.”
Canadian soldiers in Poland
Canada announced Thursday the dispatch of a hundred soldiers to help Ukrainian refugees in Poland. More than 2.3 million people have taken refuge in this country since the beginning of the Russian invasion.
Between 100 and 150 members of the Canadian Armed Forces will go “to assist Poland in its support efforts,” Defense Minister Anita Anand said Thursday. They will be deployed in reception centers in order to “contribute to the immediate care” of refugees.
Some of the military will also work to facilitate the reception of Ukrainians in Canada.
The war in Ukraine will resonate at the Cannes Film Festival
Ukraine will be present “in everyone’s mind” in May at the 75th Cannes Film Festival, the general delegate for the event, Thierry Frémaux, announced on Thursday when unveiling the official selection.
Two generations of Ukrainian filmmakers will present films evoking conflicts and the displacement of populations. They will rub shoulders with a film by a Russian iconoclast, Kirill Serebrennikov, who has legally left his country and whose new opus will be in competition.
“Everywhere in the world, we continue to make cinema, including in countries like Ukraine, noted Thierry Frémaux. The cinema is not the major concern at the moment, of course. The question of the war in Ukraine is in everyone’s mind and it will be, I hope, in those of the festival-goers as well”.
The Cannes Film Festival announced at the beginning of March that it would not welcome Russian delegations or “the presence of any body linked to the government” of Vladimir Putin as long as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine continued. This measure does not apply to artists breaking with the regime.
The weather on the Ukrainian side
The rainy weather in the Donbass could favor the Ukrainian army against the Russian forces which are preparing for a major offensive in the region.
Heavy rains that will hit eastern Ukraine in the coming days — and warming temperatures — will make it harder for tanks to advance off paved roads, a senior Pentagon official who spoke on condition of anonymity said Thursday. .
The Donbass is favorable for armor movements because it is a large plain, but the Russian army “has a habit of obtaining supplies using existing roads and railways”, he added. “And because the ground is softer, it will be more difficult for them to do anything outside the tarred roads. »