Caution is in order. Several Ukrainian cities, such as kyiv or Mykolaiv, have restricted celebrations and public gatherings for National Independence Day, Wednesday August 24. Russia could “do something particularly disgusting” and “cruel” on this occasion, warned Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Saturday. The US Embassy in Ukraine says in a security memo that “Russia is stepping up its efforts to launch strikes against civilian infrastructure and government facilities”, and prompted U.S. nationals to leave the country. Follow our live.
kyiv accuses Russia of illegal adoptions of Ukrainian children. “Russia continues to kidnap children from Ukrainian territory and arrange for their illegal adoption by Russian citizens”the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said in a statement. “More than 1,000 children from Mariupol were illegally given to foreigners in Tyumen, Irkutsk, Kemerovo and the Altai district”quotes the ministry, saying that more than 300 Ukrainian children are also kept in “specialized establishments” of the Krasnodar region.
Russia renews its threats after the assassination of Daria Douguina. “There can be no mercy for the organizers, sponsors and performers” of the assassination of the ultranationalist commentator favorable to the war in Ukraine, declared the chief of the Russian diplomacy, Tuesday. Several hundred people gathered that day in Moscow for the funeral of the daughter of Alexander Dougin, himself an ultranationalist ideologue. The Russian security services concluded in less than 48 hours that the attack, which occurred on August 20 in Moscow, had been prepared and carried out by an agent of the Ukrainian intelligence services, which kyiv denies.
Ask your questions to Olivier Kempf. After six months of fierce battles, what state are the Russian and Ukrainian forces in? How could the situation on the frontline evolve? Ask your questions live to Olivier Kempf, director of the strategic cabinet La Vigie and associate researcher at the Foundation for Strategic Research, who will answer you from 4 p.m. in this live.