Meeting in plenary session in Strasbourg, the elected representatives of the European Parliament voted, on Tuesday September 12, the text of a regulation, with a budget of 300 million euros, which will allow at least three Member States to receive financing for joint purchases of weapons or ammunition. This new regulation should make it possible to strengthen the European defense industry by 2025, to enable it to better respond to needs, exacerbated since the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Follow our live.
More than half a million Russians have joined the army in a year to fight in Ukraine, according to the Kremlin. Russian President Vladimir Putin welcomed on Tuesday the fact that 270,000 Russians have voluntarily joined “these last six-seven months” the ranks of the army or volunteers fighting in Ukraine, in addition to the 300,000 soldiers already mobilized last year. This recruitment campaign and mobilization were launched after the Russian army had to retreat in the spring of 2022. Since then, more than half a million Russians have joined Russian forces to fight in Ukraine, the Kremlin welcomed.
The delivery of F-16s will only “prolong the conflict,” says Vladimir Putin. “They’re going to deliver F-16s. Is that going to change anything? I don’t think so,” he told an economic forum in Vladivostok, in Russia’s Far East. Since the start of the Russian offensive, these combat planes have occupied a prominent place in the list of demands of the Ukrainian authorities from their allies. They are supposed to decisively reinforce the Ukrainian army in its counter-offensive, facing the Russian defense lines.
Kim Jong-un is in Russia, where he is due to meet Vladimir Putin. The North Korean leader, who left Pyongyang on Sunday aboard an armored train, arrived in Russia on Tuesday. He must talk about “sensitive subjects” with the Russian president in the coming days, somewhere on the Pacific coast Russian, according to Kremlin spokesperson Dmitri Peskov, quoted by the Russian agency Ria Novosti. Washington fears that Moscow is sourcing weapons from North Korea for its military operations in Ukraine. Kim Jong-un has repeatedly expressed his support for Russia in the conflict in Ukraine.