From the military front to the red carpet. On the 83rd day of the war, Tuesday May 17, President Volodymyr Zelensky addressed the cream of French cinema, in Cannes, a few hours after France announced that it was going to intensify its arms deliveries. Franceinfo looks back on what to remember from this day.
Surrender of 265 Ukrainian soldiers in Mariupol
The beginning of the end of the fighting in Mariupol? Moscow has announced the surrender of 265 Ukrainian soldiers entrenched in the huge Azovstal steelworks, the last pocket of resistance against the Russian army in this strategic port in southern Ukraine.
“These Ukrainian heroes” who have “fulfilled their mission” will be exchanged for Russian prisoners to allow them to return home “as quickly as possible”confirmed the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense.
This evacuation makes the complete fall of the city even more inevitable, almost completely destroyed after about three months of incessant fighting and bombing. Its total conquest would allow Russian forces to facilitate the junction between Crimea (south) and Donbass (east).
At least a dozen dead on the Ukrainian side
Eight people died and 12 were injured in a Russian bombardment on Desna, a village located about sixty kilometers north of kyiv known to house a large military training camp, according to local relief.
Another Russian attack hit a Ukrainian military base in the Lviv region, located just 15 kilometers from the border with Poland, on Tuesday morning, according to Maxim Kozitsky, the region’s governor.
Finally, seven civilians were killed “by the Russians” and six others injured in the Donetsk region, its governor, Pavlo Kyrylenko, said on Telegram.
Russian attacks continue in the East
In the east, its priority objective since its withdrawal from the vicinity of the Ukrainian capital at the end of March, the Russian army “continues to carry out offensive operations”underlined the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense.
It is particularly focused, almost encircling it, on Severodonetsk, a regional capital for Ukrainians since Moscow-backed separatist fighters seized part of Donbass in 2014. But Ukrainian units are resisting, according to kyiv, forcing even the Russians deployed near Sirotyne in “fold”.
A “long-term” war
Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov claimed that the war with Moscow was entering a “prolonged phase”the Russians seeking total control of the Donbass region to the east and to occupy the south.
“Russia is preparing for a long-term military operation”he declared in front of the Ministers of Defense of the European Union and the Secretary General of NATO, Jens Stoltenberg. “The war is entering a prolonged phase”he added in this speech, the text of which was published on his Facebook account.
France steps up arms deliveries
France to step up arms deliveries to Ukraine “in the days and weeks to come”promised President Emmanuel Macron to his counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky, during a phone call.
Volodymyr Zelensky appeals to Cannes
The President of Ukraine spoke in a video message during the opening gala of the Cannes Film Festival to say that“we need a new Chaplin who will prove that cinema is not silent” facing the war in Ukraine. “I am convinced that the ‘dictator’ will lose”he added, alluding to the Russian president and the Charlie Chaplin film.