Thousands of Ukrainians paid tribute in Maidan Square in kyiv to a 27-year-old volunteer who died in action on Tuesday, nicknamed “Da Vinci”.
Thousands of people, including the Ukrainian head of state, paid tribute on Friday March 10 in Kiev to “Da Vinci”, a war hero killed by the Russians during the battle of Bakhmout, the hottest point on the front. east of Ukraine. At the same time, the fencing world has approved the return to competition of Russian and Belarusian athletes, a year and a half before the Paris Olympics. This decision angered Ukraine. Franceinfo summarizes the main events of the day.
Ukraine mourns “Da Vinci”
Dmytro “Da Vinci” Kotsiubailo was a 27-year-old volunteer who led a battalion called the Da Vinci Wolves. He took up arms in 2014 to fight Moscow-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine. Volodymyr Zelensky announced his death in a video address Tuesday. Ukrainian President and Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin also made a surprise appearance on the occasion in Independence Square in central Kyiv.
People carrying flowers and waving Ukrainian flags marched down the hill to the iconic Maidan Square. Many wept as they passed his open coffin. For his feats of arms, Dmytro “Da Vinci” Kotsiubailo was the youngest fighter to have received from the Ukrainian president, in December 2021, the Hero of Ukraine medal, the country’s highest honor.
Wagner Group announces new recruiting centers in 42 Russian cities
The boss of the Russian paramilitary group Wagner announced on Friday the opening of 58 recruitment centers in 42 cities in Russia. “New fighters are arriving there, they will accompany us to defend their country and their families”, said businessman Evguéni Prigojine, quoted on Telegram by the press service of his company Concord. This announcement comes as Wagner suffered very heavy losses in the fighting that has lasted for several months around Bakhmout, a city in the Ukrainian Donbass which has become the epicenter of hostilities with the Kiev army.
Against the backdrop of tensions with the Minister of Defence, Yevgeni Prigojine complained several times that he could no longer recruit in Russian prisons, where Wagner enlisted prisoners on a massive scale in exchange for sentence reductions. Changing tactics, he recently turned to sports halls to open recruitment points there to attract potential recruits. His message was accompanied by a list of these recruiting centres.
Fencing returns to Russians and Belarusians a year and a half before the Olympics
The world of fencing approved the return to competition of Russian and Belarusian athletes, at an extraordinary congress of the International Fencing Federation (FIE), a year and a half before the Paris Olympics. Russian and Belarusian shooters will therefore be able to take part in the world circuit events, qualifying for the 2024 Olympics, which begin in early April 2023.
Fencing thus becomes the first sport to reintegrate athletes from Russia and Belarus under a neutral banner, one year after their exclusion due to the war in Ukraine. “It does not mean that they will participate in the Olympics” of Paris 2024delays on franceinfo Bruno Gares, the president of the French Fencing Federation (FFE). “We are not here to play politics but to play sports”, he added.
In response, the Ukrainian Fencing Federation said “deeply shocked”. “We are deeply shocked and outraged by this decision and we immediately convene a meeting of the Presidium to decide on our response to the decision of the FIE and its possible appeal”, the Ukrainian Federation said in a statement.
A meeting Monday in Geneva on the grain agreement
Russia announces the holding, Monday, March 13, of a meeting in Geneva with the UN on the agreement on Ukrainian grain exports, which expires on March 18. The stakes are high, since Ukrainian cereals are intended in particular for many poor countries.