Volodymyr Zelensky believes that “it is time” for NATO to invite Ukraine into its ranks

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11:59 p.m. : According to the Russian authorities, the powerful explosion which resounded in the center of Belgorod, a Russian city located not far from Ukraine, is due to the “fall” of ammunition from a Russian combat aircraft.

11:45 p.m. : The Minister of Transport made a stopover in Moldova before beginning, tomorrow in Odessa, a two-day official visit to Ukraine. Clément Beaune returns, in an exclusive interview granted to franceinfo, this first trip of a French minister entirely devoted to the reconstruction of the country.

11:43 p.m. : Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said Saturday in Beijing that the United States must stop “to encourage war” in Ukraine. He also reiterated that the responsibilities for the war sparked by the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 were shared between the two countries. Under the fire of criticism, the Brazilian president nevertheless changed his tone on Tuesday, condemning the “violation of the territorial integrity of Ukraine” by Russia.

11:27 p.m. : Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky today asked for Mexico’s support in organizing a summit with Latin American countries, days after Brazilian President Lula’s controversial remarks on the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

10:25 p.m. : An explosion sounded in the center of Belgorod, a Russian city located not far from Ukraine, leaving an impressive crater, affirmed indicated on Telegram Vyacheslav Gladkov, the local governor, specifying that no victim was to report immediately.

7:42 p.m. : It is a very sad photo which won the first prize of the World Press Photo: the image of a pregnant woman evacuated from a maternity ward in Mariupol, who died shortly afterwards with her baby. The photography of Ukrainian Evgeniy Maloletka “captures the absurdity and horror of war” And “sheds light on the murder of future generations of Ukrainians”according to the jury.

1:48 p.m. : “The main objective of the alliance, of the allies, is to ensure that Ukraine wins.”

The Secretary General of NATO believes that the question of Ukraine’s accession to the military alliance will be discussed in July, during the summit of the organization. It will be held in Vilnius, Lithuania, on July 11 and 12. “The future of Ukraine is in the Euro-Atlantic family, the future of Ukraine is in NATO”he insists.

1:40 p.m. : “It’s time” for NATO to invite Ukraine into its ranks, says Volodymyr Zelensky to Jens Stoltenberg. The Ukrainian president asked for help from the Alliance to “overcome reluctance” allies to deliver crucial weapons to kyiv to fight Russia.

1:24 p.m. : The country is preparing to launch the construction of a national military cemetery in kyiv. It will cover a total area of ​​100 hectares, said the mayor of the capital, Vitaliy Klitschko, on Telegram (in Ukrainian). The former boxer announces the transfer of eight hectares for the good of the project. The decision to create this place was taken by the Council of Ministers in October.

1:15 p.m. : It’s past 1 p.m., here are the articles I recommend on our site if you haven’t read them yet:

• After having endured fighting and power cuts, Mykolaiv now faces another challenge: providing water to its 500,000 inhabitants. Report by our special correspondents Raphaël Godet, Fabien Magnenou and Mathieu Dreujou.

• In Exmouth, Australia, astronomers parked their caravans, set up their telescopes and donned their goggles to watch the Moon slip past the Sun before the total eclipse. See the event in pictures.

• For more than three weeks, about sixty students have refused to go to class at the Vatel hotel school in Paris, to denounce violence, sexual and moral harassment and homophobic remarks. They confided in franceinfo.

12:35 p.m. : The World Press Photo of the Year winner is @EMaloletka, @AP, for this confronting image from the siege of Mariupol, for perfectly capturing the human suffering caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in a single image. Learn more: https://t.co/zLRtQqkU5o https://t.co/fM7HshnAm1

12:34 p.m. : Associated Press photographer Evgeniy Maloletka wins World Press Photo of the Year award! It was his heartbreaking image of rescuers carrying a pregnant woman through the broken grounds of a Mariupol maternity ward that won the top prize.

(Evgeniy Maloletka / ASSOCIATED PRESS)

12:27 : The luminous flash observed in the sky of kyiv, yesterday evening, is “probably due to the fall of a meteor from the Lyrids”, now specifies the Ukrainian space agency. This swarm of shooting stars usually manifests in April, peaking on the 21st. Six days ago, the agency continues, “Earth has entered the plume of Comet Thatcher”, which is the source. Lyrids have lightning bolts as their signature, not long streaks of light.

12:00 p.m. : “The deportation of Ukrainian children to Russia is a form of cultural genocide”warns Robert Badinter, guest this morning of “4 Truths” on France 2. “It is not possible to stop Putin, so you have to save face and wait for another Putin to rise in Russia”believes the former Minister of Justice.

11:25 a.m. : .@AP photographer Evgeniy Maloletka won the World Press Photo of the Year award for his harrowing image of a wounded pregnant woman being carried through the shattered grounds of a maternity hospital in the Ukrainian city of Mariupol. She later died.

11:25 a.m. : Ukrainian photographer Evgeniy Maloletka has won the prestigious World Press Photo, which annually rewards major contributions to photojournalism. This image of the Mariupol maternity hospital, taken on March 9, 2022, shows a fatally injured pregnant woman. She revealed to the world the extent of the chaos in the city. “It’s a moment that I would like to forget, but I can’t”commented the winner, who works for the AP agency.

(PETER DEJONG/AP/SIPA)

11:18 a.m. : A residential building in Vouhledar, a town southwest of Donetsk, was hit last night by a strike attributed to Russian forces, announces the Ukrainian 72nd Mechanized Brigade on Facebook. No human toll is yet available. This small mining town is less well known than Bakhmout, but it has also been the scene of very heavy fighting for weeks.

(72ND UKRAINIAN MECHANIZED BRIGADE)

10:31 a.m. : ⚡️Jens Stoltenberg arrives in Kyiv.The NATO Secretary-General was seen by a Kyiv Independent journalist on the morning of April 20 paying tribute to fallen Ukrainian soldiers on St Michael’s Square in central Kyiv. https://t.co/QhY515J305

10:31 a.m. : The Secretary General of NATO is in kyiv for a surprise visit, reports a Ukrainian media by publishing photos. In these pictures of Kyiv IndependentJens Stoltenberg can be seen meditating on St. Michael’s Square in kyiv, in front of a memorial in honor of Ukrainian soldiers killed in action.

10:22 : Denmark and the Netherlands will deliver 14 Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine, announces the Danish Ministry of Defence. The latter specifies that the tanks would be provided from “early 2024”.

(FLORIAN GAERTNER / AFP)

09:43 : THE mysterious flash glimpse in the sky of kyiv last night is probably due to a meteorite, according to the Ukrainian Space Agency. “The most important thing is the safety of kyiv and its inhabitants. It was not a missile attack”had reacted a little earlier the head of the military administration of the city.

09:10 : The war in Ukraine has also become that of the drones. “The drone operator is a more important target than a sniper”, testifies a Ukrainian pilot. We followed the Orion team, of the Ukrainian territorial defense, on the front line on the eastern front.