Russian troops are advancing near Bakhmout and in Vougledar, a pro-Russian official said.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky estimated that the presence of Russian athletes at the Paris 2024 Olympics would be “a sign of violence and impunity”. Ukraine is up against the possibility of a presence of Russian and Belarusian athletes at the Paris Games, including under a neutral banner, envisaged by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) without anything having yet been decided in that Sens. She threatens to boycott the competition. Franceinfo summarizes the main developments of the day in the war in Ukraine.
Russian troops advance near Bakhmout and Vougledar
Russian forces have consolidated their positions north of Bakhmout, cutting off an important Ukrainian supply route, Russian occupation official Denis Pushilin said on Friday. The Moscow troops therefore continued their attempt to encircle this fortress city from the north, south and east, which they had been trying to take since the summer at the cost of heavy losses on both sides and great destruction.
According to him, Russian units have also “consolidated their positions in the southern part of Vougledar, de facto its suburb”Ukrainians “continuing to transfer reservations” to stop them. Vougledar is another hotspot on the front in the east, where the Russians have increased pressure in recent weeks and are eating into the ground against the Ukrainian army.
Joe Biden in Poland to mark a year of war
US President Joe Biden will visit Poland from February 20 to 22, shortly before the first anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, his spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre announced on Friday. He will meet Polish President Andrzej Duda there. “to talk about our bilateral cooperation and our collective efforts to support Ukraine and strengthen NATO’s deterrent capabilities”, she clarified. The US President will also meet with the group said “Nine from Bucharest”, a collection of Eastern European countries, members of the Western Defense Alliance. Joe Biden also intends to give a speech in which he will repeat that the United States will support Ukraine “as long as it takes”.
Ukraine tries to build a front against the presence of Russians at the Olympics
Tension continues to mount over the possible participation of Russian athletes in the Paris Olympics in 2024. “While Russia kills and terrorizes, represents themmembers of this terrorist state have no place in sports and Olympic competitions,” Volodymyr Zelensky said during a meeting with sports ministers from several countries on Friday. “The mere presence of representatives of the terrorist state is a manifestation of violence and impunity”, even if it was done under a neutral banner as envisaged by the IOC. Thursday, the president of this one, Thomas Bach, had estimated that the position of kyiv was going “against the fundamentals of the Olympic movement”.
A “massive” Russian attack on energy infrastructure
Russia carried out an attack on Friday “massive” with dozens of missiles against energy sites in Ukraine, according to the Ukrainian government. kyiv also claims that two projectiles crossed the airspace of Romania and therefore of NATO, which Bucharest denies. “None” missile entered Romanian airspace, its defense ministry said. According to Bucharest, however, a missile passed 35 kilometers from Romanian territory, which justified the dispatch of two fighter planes.