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5:29 p.m. : A Su-27 fighter escorted German P-3 Orion and French Atlantique-2 patrol planes over the Baltic Sea, according to the Russian Defense Ministry. He then returned to his base. The flight of the Russian aircraft “took place in strict compliance with international rules”specifies the press release, and the machine did not carry out a dangerous approach “of an aircraft of a foreign State”.
4:55 p.m. : Russia has 152,000 soldiers in the occupied territories of Zaporizhia and Kherson regions, says Ukrainian military intelligence. There is no question of Moscow launching a new offensive, says spokesman Andriï Cherniak, quoted by RBK Ukraine (in Ukrainian). “Their only mission is to maintain positions” and they “build defensive structures”.
3:13 p.m. : A pro-Russian official was injured in an explosion in Luhansk, in the occupied eastern territories. Igor Kornet, acting interior minister, was hospitalized in stable condition, according to the Russian agency RIA Novosti (in Russian). The local authorities evoke an attack in a hairdressing salon in the city center. Five people were injured, according to an initial assessment, including three in serious condition.
2:40 p.m. : Nearly a week after the death of French journalist Arman Soldin near Bakhmout, his employer, Agence France-Presse, invites you to pay tribute to him here.
A little reading too: his colleagues and his friends told me who he was.
(BULENT KILIC / AFP)
2:18 p.m. : The Kremlin denounces the “misunderstanding” relations between Moscow and Beijing on the part of Emmanuel Macron. “This approach is absolutely wrong and results from an absolutely wrong understanding of the essence of what is happening” between the two powers.
In an interview at Opinionthe head of state considered that Russia had already “geopolitically lost” the war in Ukraine, and that it was entering a “form of vassalization with regard to China”.
1:44 p.m. : Vladimir Putin has signed a decree to simplify the naturalization of foreigners who have served in the Russian army. This concerns soldiers who have concluded a one-year contract, at a minimum. In September, in the previous version of the decree, it was also asked to have participated for at least six months in the fighting.
12:25 p.m. : The Kremlin reacts to the announcement of new British arms deliveries to Ukraine. They will cause “even more destruction”, warns the spokesman of the Russian presidency, Dmitry Peskov. According to him, the UK “aspires to place itself at the head of the countries which continue to flood Ukraine with armaments”.
12:00 p.m. : In Poland, about fifty soldiers are mobilized to find a “balloon-like aerial object” who took off from Belarus on Friday evening. The Territorial Forces are asking residents to notify them of the possible presence of debris, reports the PAP news agency.
11:45 a.m. : Four people were killed in Avdiivka in a strike attributed to Russia, announces the governor of the Donetsk region, Pavlo Kirilenko. A building was partially destroyed in the morning. “At the time the missile fell, people were in a shelter set up in a disused hospital”said the head of the military administration of the city, quoted by the media Union. The balance sheet is preliminary.
(PAVLO KIRILENKO / TELEGRAM)
11:23 : The founder of the Wagner Group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, submitted a proposal to kyiv, writes the Washington Post, citing unnamed sources. He would have promised to deliver information on Russian military positions, in exchange for a Ukrainian withdrawal from Bakhmout. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky did not comment on the information. Evguéni Prigojine, meanwhile, denied this morning.
11:11 a.m. : Prime Minister Rishi Sunak greets Volodymyr Zelensky as he disembarks from the helicopter which took him to his country residence in Checkers, north-west London. “The UK has been a leader in providing us with additional land and air assets. This cooperation will continue”greeted the Ukrainian president.
08:49 : Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced on Twitter that he was leaving Paris to join London. He is due to meet British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak there, for “important face-to-face negotiations” on the increase in military aid, in particular aerial aid, requested by kyiv.
08:37 : The Ukrainian army welcomed the “first success” of its offensive on the outskirts of Bakhmout, in the east of the country. “The advance of our troops in the Bakhmout area is the first success of the offensive” aimed at defending this city that the Russians have been trying to take since last summer, said the commander of Ukrainian ground troops Oleksandr Syrsky, quoted by the Ministry of Defense.
06:10 : Volodymyr Zelensky was stopping in Paris after going to Rome on Friday, where he met Pope Francis, then to Berlin and Aix-la-Chapelle during the weekend. “With each visit, Ukraine’s defensive and offensive capabilities expand. Ties with Europe grow stronger, and pressure on Russia intensifies.”reacted the Ukrainian president.
06:24 : “In the coming weeks, France will train and equip several battalions with dozens of armored vehicles and light tanks, including AMX-10RCs”, Paris and kyiv announced after a dinner between Presidents Emmanuel Macron and Volodymyr Zelensky. If Paris had committed at the very beginning of the year to sell AMX-10 RC to Ukraine, the announcements made yesterday are new.