The highest distinction for Arman Soldin. The Franco-Bosnian journalist, video coordinator at Agence France Presse, was decorated knight of the Legion of Honor posthumously, according to the Official Journal published Friday morning. Aged 32, he had lost his life in an attack by Russian Grad rockets in eastern Ukraine, not far from the besieged city of Bakhmout. Follow the latest developments in the war in Ukraine in our live.
New dissensions in the Russian army. Major-General Ivan Popov, at the head of troops positioned in the Ukrainian region of Zaporijjia, says he was suspended from his duties after criticism deemed too harsh against the Russian General Staff. In an audio message that has been circulating on Telegram since Wednesday evening, he claims to have been sanctioned for having denounced the heavy human losses on the Russian side, as well as the lack of sufficiently sophisticated equipment.
American cluster munitions for kyiv. Ukraine’s armed forces have already received cluster munitions, a controversial piece of equipment promised by Washington to Kiev to help it in its slow counteroffensive against the Russian army, military officials from both countries said Thursday. “We just received them, we haven’t used them yet, but they can change drastically” the situation on the battlefield, said Oleksandre Tarnavsky, the commander of the counteroffensive in the south of the country, in an interview with CNN.
For Joe Biden, Vladimir Putin “already lost the war”. “He could end the war tomorrow, he would only have to say: ‘I quit'”the US president said during a visit to Finland on Thursday, celebrating the recent NATO membership of the Nordic country neighboring Russia. “There is no possibility for him to win the war in Ukraine (…) He has already lost it”, assured Joe Biden, underlining the lack of resources of Russia and its economic difficulties. Despite the lack of progress in the Ukrainian counter-offensive on the front, the American president said he was convinced that it would lead to a request for negotiations from Moscow. “I hope, and it is my expectation, that Ukraine will make meaningful progress in its offensive and that this will lead to a negotiated settlement at some point.”said the American leader.