More than a million Ukrainians return
No less than 1.1 million exiled Ukrainians have returned to their country since the start of the Russian invasion, spokesman for the country’s border guard service, Andriy Demchenko, announced on Wednesday.
The return of refugees to their country is being felt to the point where the mayor of kyiv, Vitali Klitschko, last week urged the evacuees of the capital not to return for the time being. Local media estimate that around 50,000 return to kyiv every day.
Tens of thousands of people still go the opposite way every day. The bar of five million Ukrainian refugees who have left their country has been crossed, according to figures from the UN High Commissioner.
Finnish Parliament begins debate on NATO membership
The Finnish Parliament began Wednesday to debate joining NATO in order to better protect itself against possible Russian aggression, with a candidacy now “very likely”.
Only the Left Alliance, a minor partner in the ruling coalition, opposed the idea: this party maintains that such a decision would put the Nordic country in the front line in the event of a Russian attack.
Divided on the issue for a long time until the invasion of Ukraine, the 200 members of the Finnish Parliament are still heading towards a clear majority in favor of joining by the summer. Helsinki expects four months to a year to be needed to ratify the various procedures.
Zelensky invites himself to the French presidential election
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky interfered in the French presidential campaign by declaring his preference for outgoing candidate Emmanuel Macron.
“I mean that of course I have relations with Emmanuel Macron and I would not want to lose them,” he told French television in a remote interview from kyiv. “But if Madam candidate [Marine Le Pen] understand that she was wrong [dans son rapport avec la Russie], our relationship could change, ”he nuanced. The Ukrainian president, however, denied wanting to “influence what is happening” in France.
Marine Le Pen was banned from Ukraine in January 2017 after defending the annexation of Crimea by Russia in 2014.
Wimbledon excludes Russian and Belarusian players
Wimbledon Grand Slam organizers are excluding Russians and Belarusians from the 2022 grass-court tournament due to the war in Ukraine, becoming the first tennis tournament to individually exclude these players.
Daniil Medvedev, world number 2, Andrey Rublev (8and), Aryna Sabalenka (4and), Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (15and) and Viktoria Azarenka (ex-number 1, now 18and) will therefore not be able to defend their chances in London.
The major organizations of world tennis have criticized this decision. The ATP called the stance ‘unfair’, while the WTA said it was ‘very disappointed’ with Wimbledon’s announcement, adding that it would ‘evaluate what actions it can take’. following this order.