The paramilitary group Wagner claims to have taken control of “all the eastern part” of Bakhmout. In an audio message broadcast on Wednesday March 8, the leader of the group, Evguéni Prigojine, assures that “everything east of the Bakhmoutka River” was conquered by his men. On his side, Volodymyr Zelensky warns: in the event of the capture of Bakhmout, the Russian army would have “the free way” to take over towns in eastern Ukraine. “We understand that after Bakhmout they could go further. They could go to Kramatorsk, they could go to Sloviansk, the way would be clear for the Russians (…) to other cities in Ukraine”said the President of Ukraine, in a CNN interview (link in English). Follow our live.
European defense ministers want “enable war economy mode”. Meeting in Stockholm on Wednesday in the presence of the Secretary General of NATO, Jens Stoltenberg, and their Ukrainian counterpart, Oleksiï Reznikov, they must prepare a plan for delivering ammunition to Ukraine, despite stocks under pressure, with a first part urgently to one billion euros. The Ukrainian army, which fires thousands every day to repel Russian soldiers, faces a critical shortage of 155 mm shells for its guns.
Antonio Guterres on his way to kyiv. Arriving in Poland on Tuesday, the UN chief is going to the Ukrainian capital during the day, where he is to meet Volodymyr Zelensky. The two men must in particular evoke the continuation of the agreement on the exports of Ukrainian cereals. This is the third trip to Ukraine since the start of the war for Antonio Guterres.
Macron and Biden exchanged again on Ukraine. Tuesday, on the phone, the French and American presidents “discussed their support for Ukraine as Russia’s brutal invasion entered its second year, including their commitment to continue to provide Ukraine with security assistance and to impose sanctions on Russia for its aggression”says the White House press release (link in English).
kyiv denies any involvement in the sabotage of the Nord Stream 1 and 2 gas pipelines in the Baltic Sea. On September 26, 2022, four huge gas leaks preceded by underwater explosions were detected on gas pipelines connecting Russia to Germany, all in international waters. The data collected by the American intelligence services suggests that the perpetrators of the sabotage of the two gas pipelines were “opponents of Russian President Vladimir Putin”Write the New York TimesWednesday. “Even though I like collecting funny conspiracy theories about the Ukrainian government, I have to say that Ukraine had nothing to do with the Baltic Sea accident”, tweeted Mykhailo Podolyakadviser to President Volodymyr Zelensky.