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7:52 p.m. : Hundreds of Russian bikers from the “Night Wolves” club, loyal to the Kremlin, gathered in Moscow for the start of a rally “patriotic” which must pass through eastern Ukraine and end in Germany. Several rally participants waved Russian and Soviet flags.
(ALEXANDER NEMENOV / AFP)
4:51 p.m. : Poland announces that it has seized the building of the Russian high school in Warsaw, an act immediately qualified as‘”illegal” by Moscow, which has promised a response. The Russian high school was installed in a building nationalized by the Polish State in 1945, then transferred by the Communists to the Russian authorities in 1953. According to the Polish authorities, this operation had been carried out “without legal basis”.
(Jaap Arriens / AFP)
4:15 p.m. : Five villages in the Russian region of Belgorod, bordering Ukraine, were deprived of electricity after Ukrainian artillery fire, according to local authorities. Localities and infrastructures in this region regularly suffer strikes attributed by Moscow to the Ukrainian army, without kyiv claiming to be the author.
3:01 p.m. : A traveling troupe of musicians visits the Ukrainian battalions engaged against the Russian forces. A team from France Télévisions followed this training, which occurs in extreme conditions. “It’s a real breath of fresh air, a bit like the scent of civilian life”says a soldier.
(FRANCE TELEVISION)
1:35 p.m. : Nova Kakhovka is targeted by“intense” artillery fire, announce the pro-Russian occupation authorities, and electricity is cut in the city, according to the local administration. This city (in red) is located northeast of Kherson (in yellowe). It is on the eastern bank of the Dnipro, which acts as a front line. The Ukrainian forces are still trying to obtain a bridgehead on the other side of the river, which is difficult to cross.
12:25 p.m. : The European Commission announced yesterday an agreement with five EU states, including Poland and Hungary, to guarantee the transit of Ukrainian cereals. kyiv called for recovery “immediate” exports and said the restrictions violated the Association Agreement between Ukraine and the European Union “and the principles and standards of the EU single market”.
12:25 p.m. : Kyiv handed Poland a note denouncing trade restrictions “unacceptable” imposed by that country on Ukrainian agricultural products. Several countries bordering Ukraine have issued temporary bans on the import of grain and other goods from Ukrainian territory, amid protests from local farmers.
11:46 : Poland has seized the building of the Russian high school in Warsaw, the Foreign Ministry confirmed to AFP. “This building will now belong to the Warsaw City Hall”, said spokesman Lukasz Jasina. It is a procedure of “referral by bailiff” on behalf of the municipality.
10:32 : Five minors are among the victims of an attack against a building in Uman (Ukraine), according to the latest report released (in Ukrainian) by Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko. A total of 23 people were killed and 17 were injured in this strike, carried out overnight from Thursday to Friday.
(OLEKSII CHUMACHENKO / ANADOLU AGENCY VIA AFP)
10:13 a.m. : There are also residents who simply refuse to leave their homes. The volunteers try to convince them, between two air strikes. “When we manage to get people out in such dangerous conditions, it’s a huge relief”, says Kuba Stasiak, a Pole who has been working in the Donbass for a year. He testifies, with other volunteers, in this article.
(MAREK M. BEREZOWSKI / ANADOLU AGENCY / AFP)
09:43 : “These towns and villages do not turn into a war zone in 24 hours: the fighting is slowly approaching, the shells too. Residents think they still have time to make up their minds and then one day they realize the situation has become too dangerous to move.”
Evacuation orders were issued several months ago for residents of Donbass. But some, in great precariousness or elderly, could not leave. Others were surprised by the progress of the fighting.
10:14 a.m. : “Last year, I helped a Ukrainian woman, raped by Russian soldiers and whose husband had been killed, to go to Austria. I realized that I could be useful in this way.” Ignatius Ivlev-Yorke is one of dozens of volunteers, foreign and Ukrainian, evacuating civilians near the Donbass front line. Several of these volunteers have told me how they “risk their lives” to exfiltrate residents.
(IGNACIO MARIN / ANADOLU AGENCY / AFP)
09:31 : A drone attack caused a fire on an oil depot in Sevastopol, Crimea annexed by Russia. There were no injuries, according to the local occupation governor (in Russian), Mikhail Razvojaev. About sixty firefighters are mobilized, and reinforcements are expected. Authorities say the fuel supply will not be interrupted on the peninsula.
(MIKHAIL RAJVOJAEV / TELEGRAM)