An investigation has been opened in France for a war crime, after the death on Tuesday in Ukraine of French AFP journalist Arman Soldin.
A senior Ukrainian military official said on Wednesday (May 10th) that Kiev forces carried out counterattacks in Bakhmout, the epicenter of the fighting in eastern Ukraine, and forced Russian troops to retreat in some places. . At the same time, the National Anti-Terrorist Prosecutor’s Office announced that it had opened an investigation, in France, into the death of French journalist Arman Soldin in Ukraine. Franceinfo summarizes what to remember from this day of conflict.
Ukraine claims counterattacks in Bakhmout that drove Russians back
A senior Ukrainian military official said Kiev forces carried out counterattacks in Bakhmut, the epicenter of the fighting in eastern Ukraine, and forced Russian troops to retreat in some places.
“We are carrying out effective counterattacks. In some areas of the front, the enemy could not resist the onslaught of the Ukrainian defenders and retreated to a distance of up to two kilometers,” said on Telegram Oleksandre Syrsky, commander of the ground forces of the Ukrainian army. According to him, Wagner’s fighters on the spot have been replaced in some places by units of the Russian regular army, which are less well prepared. These assertions were immediately unverifiable from an independent source.
The battle for Bakhmout, a devastated city now almost 95% controlled by Russian forces, is the longest and deadliest since the start of the Russian invasion launched in February 2022. If Russian troops, and in first and foremost the fighters of the paramilitary group Wagner, have gradually and slowly gained ground in recent months in the city, the Ukrainian resistance to the west remains fierce.
The anti-terrorist prosecutor’s office opens an investigation into the death of a French journalist in Ukraine
An investigation was opened in France for war crimes, after the death, Tuesday, May 9 in Ukraine, of AFP journalist Arman Soldin, indicated the national anti-terrorist prosecution.
This investigation, entrusted to the gendarmes of the Central Office for the Fight against Crimes against Humanity and Hate Crimes (OCLCH), will aim to determine the circumstances of this death.
Arman Soldin, French journalist born in Sarajevo, video coordinator of AFP in Ukraine, was killed Tuesday at the age of 32 by a salvo of Grad rockets.
Canada and Latvia to jointly train Ukrainian soldiers
The Canadian and Latvian armed forces will begin training Ukrainian soldiers in Latvia on Monday, the two countries’ defense ministers jointly announced.
This training is part of the extension of Canadian military deployments and training carried out in Great Britain and Europe to strengthen NATO defenses and support Ukraine.
“We must continue to support Ukraine together, because the cost of inaction is much higher than the cost of our military aid”Defense Minister Anita Anand told reporters in Ottawa
US transfers seized Russian funds and directs them to Ukraine
The American Minister of Justice announced that he had finalized the first transfer of confiscated Russian funds, to help with the reconstruction of Ukraine. In February, Merrick Garland had authorized the allocation to Ukraine of 5.3 million dollars seized from the accounts of the Russian oligarch Konstantin Malofeïev.
“I had authorized the transfer of these funds (…) to remedy the evils of the unjust war” led by Moscow in Ukraine, he recalls in a press release. The sum “has now been transferred to the State Department and will be dedicated to this cause”he adds. “This is the first transfer by the United States of seized Russian funds in order to rebuild Ukraine, but not the last”he writes again.