On the 80th day of the invasion of Ukraine, Russian forces continued to try to advance in Donbass, a strategic region in the east that pro-Russian separatists have partially controlled since 2014, and which they have made their main objective since their withdrawal from the vicinity of kyiv at the end of March. But Ukraine claims to resist enemy offensives, Saturday, May 14. Franceinfo looks back on what to remember from the day.
Finland soon to be a candidate for NATO
The Finnish president has informed his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin of his country’s imminent candidacy for NATO. “The conversation was direct and direct and passed without annoyance. Avoiding tension was considered important”, affirmed the Finnish Head of State Sauli Niinistö, very regular interlocutor of the Russian President in recent years. Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin’s Social Democratic Party announced its support for this candidacy, with 53 votes for, 5 against and 2 abstentions. Finland’s candidacy must be formalized on Sunday by the executive.
According to Moscow, Vladimir Putin told him that to see Finland end its historic policy of military non-alignment “would be a mistake, since there is no threat to the security of Finland”. Moscow threatened Thursday to retaliate with “technical-military” measures, without specifying which ones. During the night from Friday to Saturday, electricity exports from Russia to Finland – around 10% of the Nordic country’s consumption – were suspended, as the Finnish subsidiary of the Russian group InterRAO had warned, citing unpaid bills.
The Ukrainian army says to hold its ground in the East
Russian forces are still trying to advance in the Donbass, but the Ukrainian authorities say they have repelled offensives. In the morning, the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense recorded around thirty bombardments in 24 hours in the Lugansk region, one of the two provinces of Donbass with that of Donetsk. Ten Russian attacks were also repelled in 24 hours in the two regions, according to the Ukrainian general staff. In particular, the Russians have been trying for three weeks, without success, to cross the Severskyi Donets river, at the level of the village of Bilogorivka, in the Lugansk region.
The situation also seems to have changed around Kharkiv, the country’s second city. The Ukrainian authorities claimed to have launched a “counter-offensive” in the vicinity of Izium. The city itself, strategic for Moscow’s offensive on the Donbass, has been under Russian control since April 1. The war will see a “turning point” in August and Russia will be defeated “before the end of the year”assured the head of Ukrainian military intelligence, Kyrylo Budanov, in an interview with the British channel Sky News broadcast Friday evening (in English).
The city of kyiv wants to “decommunize” its streets
The Arch of Friendship of Peoples, an emblematic Soviet monument in downtown kyiv, became the Arch of Freedom of the Ukrainian People, after a decision to that effect by the city council. The capital’s mayor, Vitali Klitschko, also announced that local elected officials had “approved a list of more than 40 monuments and memorial emblems which must be removed from the streets and buildings of the capital to be transferred to the museum of totalitarianism”. If many places or monuments are to be renamed, Vitali Klitschko indicated that the process of naming new names would take time and involve “specialists”especially historians, “so as not to make a hasty decision”.