Emmanuel Macron persists. The President of the Republic affirmed, Thursday February 29, that each of his words on Ukraine was “weighed”, “thought” And “measure” after his comments on the potential sending of ground troops into the country. The head of state’s declaration earned him a dismissal from his main allies and a scathing response from Vladimir Putin. Emmanuel Macron on Monday called on Ukraine’s allies for a “start” to ensure the “defeat” of Russia, by carrying out faster and more massive deliveries of arms and ammunition. Follow our live stream.
A martial speech. Vladimir Putin appears in better shape than a year ago, when his army was subject to humiliating retreats in the south and north-east of Ukraine. Since then, the Ukrainian army has failed in its counter-offensive launched in the summer of 2023 and finds itself on the defensive, lacking ammunition, due to lack of agreement in Washington, facing more numerous and better armed Russian soldiers.
Major advances on the eastern front. The Russian army managed to seize in mid-February of the fortress town of Avdiïvka and continues its push in this sector, to the great satisfaction of Vladimir Putin, who welcomed “an important victory”. This loss of the city constitutes the greatest Ukrainian defeat after the failure of the counter-offensive.
The themes of the speech kept secret. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov declined to discuss the themes of the speech, saying only that the president wrote it personally. Vladimir Putin, for his part, declared that his speech would take “Of course” take into account the presidential election organized from March 15 to 17 and would make it possible to set “objectives for the next six years at least”either the duration of the mandate of the head of state in Russia.
Transnistria asks for support from Russia. The authorities of this pro-Russian separatist region of Moldova adopted an official declaration on Wednesday demanding the “protection” of Russia against the Moldovan government. According to this statement, cited by Russian news agencies, the separatist authorities are asking Moscow to “implement measures to protect Transnistria in conditions of increased pressure from Moldova”with notably “an economic blockade”.