what to remember from Sunday March 17

Vladimir Putin largely won his country’s presidential election, while two people died in the Belgorod region, which borders Ukraine and has been targeted by numerous attacks in recent weeks.

Unsurprisingly, Vladimir Putin was re-elected president of his country on Sunday March 17, with a clear score. Earlier in the day, Transnistria, a pro-Russian breakaway region of Moldova, claimed that an explosive drone sent from Ukraine had struck a military base in its capital. A version denied by Moldova. On the front, two people died after strikes in the Belgorod region, bordering Ukraine. Franceinfo takes stock of the highlights of the day.

Re-elected Vladimir Putin, Volodmyr Zelensky denounces a person “drunk with power”

Vladimir Putin was largely re-elected for a fifth presidential term with nearly 88% of the vote on Sunday, according to a first exit poll. According to the Russian Electoral Commission, the master of the Kremlin obtained 87.97% of the votes after the counting of ballots from 24% of polling stations.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was quick to react. “It is clear to everyone that this character, as has happened so often in history, is simply drunk with power and is doing everything he can to reign eternally,” he declared in a message on social networks, believing that the Russian presidential election did not “no legitimacy”. “Everything Russia does in the occupied territories of Ukraine is a crime”he recalled.

“This person must end up on the quay in The Hague. That’s what we need to make sure of.”

Volodymyr Zelensky, Ukrainian President

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The team of Alexeï Navalny, who died in prison, also denounced this score as having “no connection with reality”. “The percentages invented for Putin obviously have no connection with reality. It’s not worth talking about it”, reacted on Twitter Leonid Volkov, former right-hand man in exile of Alexeï Navalny. At least 74 people were also arrested in Russia for having carried out various protest actions during this presidential election, the NGO OVD-Info announced on Sunday.

Transnistria accuses kyiv of drone attack

Transnistria, a pro-Russian separatist region of Moldova, said on Sunday that an explosive drone sent from Ukraine had struck a military base in its capital. “An explosion caused a fire on the territory of a military base in Tiraspol. Preliminary (findings) established that the explosion was caused by a kamikaze drone attack”, assured the Ministry of State Security of the self-proclaimed republic, cited by Russian and local media. According to this source, the device came from the Ukrainian region of Odessa.

Moldova, for its part, rejected these accusations. “The authorities in Chisinau, in contact with the Ukrainian side, do not confirm any attack on the Transdniestrian region,” assures the government in a press release. According to the authorities, these accusations are part of a “attempt to cause fear and panic”. For its part, the Ukrainian Security Council accused Russia of having “carried out a provocation in Transnistria with a kamikaze drone attack against a military unit”accusing him of wanting to provoke “an escalation” in the region.

Two people died in the Belgorod region

One person died and 11 others were injured on Sunday in new strikes on the Belgorod region, bordering Ukraine and targeted by numerous attacks, the local governor announced. A man who was “in a parking lot”, was killed, Vyacheslav Gladkov said on Telegram. “Eleven people were injured to varying degrees of seriousness”he added, after having already announced this morning the death of a teenage girl in a first series of strikes.

“To our great sadness, a 16-year-old girl was killed”, he wrote on Telegram in the morning, explaining that the house she was in had caught fire because of the attack. His father was also injured, he added.

Emmanuel Macron does not rule out sending troops to Ukraine

“I don’t want it, I won’t take the initiative.” In an interview with Parisianpublished on Saturday, Emmanuel Macron returned on the possibility of sending troops to Ukraine. “Perhaps at some point – I don’t want it, I won’t take the initiative – it will be necessary to have field operations, whatever they may be, to counter Russian forces. The strength of France, is that we can do it.”

If Germany showed reluctance, the head of state assured that France is not isolated in Europe in this regard: “Many countries in Europe, and not the least, are totally on our line”he said, implying that it is Poland or the Baltic countries.