The President of the European Parliament, Roberta Metsola, visiting Ukraine on Saturday March 4, said “to have hope” that accession negotiations could begin this year between Kyiv and Brussels. “The future of Ukraine is in the European Union”said the Maltese official, who met President Volodymyr Zelensky in Lviv (west). “I am impressed by the speed with which the Verkhovna Rada [le Parlement ukrainien] and the government are making progress in the EU candidacy”she added. Follow our live.
New American aid to kyiv. The United States announced on Friday new military support for Ukraine to the tune of 400 million dollars (375 million euros), during the visit to Washington of German Chancellor Olaf Scholz. VSThis aid includes ammunition for the Himars rocket launcher systems used effectively by Ukrainian forces, as well as Bradley-type armored vehicles and other equipment, according to the US State Department.
Ukraine clings to Bakhmout. Ukrainian soldiers suffer “increasingly severe pressure” according a note from British intelligence posted on Twitter on Friday. “Ukraine sends elite units to the area”explains the British Ministry of Defence, which specifies that the Ukrainian forces in the city have almost no supply chains left.
The Russian Defense Minister visited the front. Sergei Shoigu inspected a “command post” on the front in eastern Ukraine, in “the Donetsk-South direction”, announced his ministry on Saturday, at a time when the battle for the symbolic city of Bakhmout is raging. The exact place and date of this trip were not specified.
Bakhmout practically “surrounded”. The Russian paramilitary group Wagner, whose men are on the front line on the front in Ukraine, announced on Friday that it had taken a further step towards taking Bakhmout, a city-symbol of the East. “Wagner’s units have practically surrounded Bakhmout, there is only one road left” to get out, said his boss, Evguéni Prigojine, in combat gear.