what to remember from the day of Saturday June 11

The city of kyiv had visitors on Saturday, June 11. Two months after her first visit, the President of the European Commission again spent the day in the Ukrainian capital. And as at the beginning of April, it was still louser talk about European integration. Eshe promised Volodymyr Zelensky that she will finalize its opinion “next week” on Ukraine’s ambitions to apply for membership of the European Union. Franceinfo takes stock of the 108th day of guwander.

Volodymyr Zelensky calls for an end to Russian blockade of Black Sea ports

The Ukrainian president has launched a new call for international pressure to get Russia to end the blockade of Ukrainian ports on the Black Sea. Speaking via video to the Asia-Pacific security forum, the Shangri-La Dialogue, Volodymyr Zelensky warned that without a resumption of Ukrainian exports, “the world will face a severe food crisis, and even famines, in many countries in Asia and Africa”.

Before the Russian invasion, Ukraine was the world’s largest producer of sunflower oil and one of the main exporters of wheat, and millions of tonnes of grain are currently blocked due to the blockade because they cannot be exported. Russian. The United Nations and some countries are pushing for the opening of a maritime corridor allowing Ukrainian exports to resume.

France says it is ready to help lift the blockade of the Ukrainian port of Odessa. “We are at the disposal of the parties so that, basically, an operation is put in place which would allow access to the port of Odessa in complete safety, that is to say to be able to allow boats to pass despite the fact that the sea is mined”said an adviser to President Emmanuel Macron.

The Ukrainian army has lost around 10,000 men since the start of the war

After three and a half months of war, the human losses are terrible. During an interview on the Youtube channel Feigin Liveidentified by The world, a close adviser to President Zelensky, admitted that the Ukrainian army had lost nearly 10,000 soldiers since the start of the Russian invasion. That is a hundred every day, not counting 500 daily injuries.

While Moscow does not communicate a precise assessment, Oleksiy Arestovych estimated in this same interview that the Russian losses were much greater: “The Russian army lost 1,000 soldiers a day for the first twenty to thirty days. Right now they are losing at least 200-300 people [par jour].”

Russian army shells key city of Severodonetsk

The Russian army continued to shell the city of Severodonetsk on Saturday,in eastern Ukraine, to wrest total control. But the depletion of ammunition is increasingly felt, especially on the Ukrainian side, very dependent on Western military aid.

In the Donbass coal basin, bordering Russia and already partly held by pro-Russian separatists since 2014, “the enemy continues to carry out assaults on the city of Severodonetsk”, indicated the chief of staff of the Ukrainian armies. He reported 14 attacks repelled in 24 hours in the Donetsk and Lugansk regions, which make up the Donbass, but recognized a “partial success” Russian on the outskirts of the village of Orikhovo.

Ursula von der Leyen promises ‘next week’ response to Ukraine’s European ambitions

The European Commission will finalize “next week” his opinion on Ukraine’s ambitions to apply for membership of the European Union. That’s what he promisedPresident of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, on a surprise visit to kyiv on Saturday. “We want to support Ukraine on its European journey”, said Ursula von der Leyen during a short press conference following her meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. She stressed that the Ukrainian authorities had “does a lot” for a candidacy, but that there is “still a lot to do”particularly in the fight against corruption.

First Russian passports issued to residents of occupied Ukrainian region

An administrative paper strong symbol. Russian forces handed over its first passports to residents of Kherson on Saturday. According to Russian news agencies, 23 residents of this city occupied by troops from Moscow in southern Ukraine received the document. This “simplified procedure” has been permitted thanks to a decree signed at the end of May by Vladimir Putin. “All our residents of Kherson want to get a passport and citizenship [russe] as quickly as possibleassured during this ceremony Vladimir Saldo, the head of the pro-Russian administration of the region, quoted by the official agency TASS. A new era is dawning for us (…). It is the most important document a person has in their life.”

According to the pro-Russian authorities in Kherson, the date of the issuance of these first Russian passports was not chosen at random: it coincides with the holiday of Russia Day, June 12, a holiday celebrating the country’s independence. .