what to remember from Thursday February 29

During his speech to the Nation on Thursday, Vladimir Putin assured that the Russian military in Ukraine “will not retreat, will not fail, will not betray.”

The Ukrainian air force claimed to have shot down three Russian fighter-bombers on Thursday February 29, bringing to 13 the number of Russian military planes that kyiv claims to have destroyed in two weeks. A first Sukhoi Su-34 bomber plane was shot down shortly after midnight, then two others Thursday morning, near Avdiïvka and near Mariupol, General Oleksandr Syrsky, commander-in-chief of the Kiev armies, said on Telegram.

During his speech to the Nation on Thursday, Russian President Vladimir Putin assured that the Russian military in Ukraine “will not back down, will not fail, will not betray.” In this annual speech, the master of the Kremlin also praised “flexibility and resistance” of the Russian economy, geared towards the war effort. Vladimir Putin also welcomed the advance of his troops, who have achieved several successes in recent weeks against forces from kyiv, on the defensive and lacking ammunition. Here’s what to remember from Thursday.

Moscow warns Westerners of ‘real threat’ of nuclear war

Vladimir Putin warned the West on Thursday against “real threat” of nuclear war, in the event of an escalation of the conflict in Ukraine. During his speech, iHe returned to the controversial remarks of his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron, who this week raised the possibility of sending Western troops to Ukraine.

“They (the Westerners) spoke of the possibility of sending military contingents to Ukraine (…). But the consequences of these interventions would really be more tragic.”reacted the Russian president. “They must understand that we, too, have weapons capable of hitting targets on their territory. Everything they are inventing at the moment, in addition to scaring the whole world, is a real threat of conflict with use of nuclear weapons and therefore the destruction of civilization.”

Washington and Paris react

Emmanuel Macron, for his part, assured Thursday that each of his words on Ukraine was “weighed” And “measure”. “I listened carefully to what the President of the Russian Federation said this morning. When you represent a nuclear power, you have no right to be irresponsible and to escalate.”declared for his part the Minister of the Armed Forces, Sébastien Lecornu.

The United States ruled “irresponsible” the words of Vladimir Putin. “This is not the first time we have seen irresponsible rhetoric from Vladimir Putin. This is no way to speak for the leader of a nuclear-armed state.”, Matthew Miller, spokesperson for the US State Department, told the press. The manager recalled that “In the past, we have communicated privately and directly with Russia about the consequences of the use of a nuclear weapon”. “We have no signs that Russia is preparing to use a nuclear weapon”he added.

Paris will order 2,000 kamikaze drones, notably for kyiv

The French Ministry of the Armed Forces will order 2,000 remotely operated munitions (MTO) of French design in the coming weeks, the first 100 of which must be urgently delivered to Ukraine by this summer, Minister Sébastien Lecornu announced on Thursday.

“I made the decision to order 2,000 remotely operated munitions, both for the needs of the French army and for Ukraine”declared the minister during a visit to the factory of drone manufacturer Delair in Labège, a suburb of Toulouse (southwest). “Kamikaze drones are absolutely fundamental in the conduct of operations” and will be able to constitute a “addition to the Caesar cannon in terms of artillery”he pleaded.

Currently faced with a shortage of shells, kyiv is using drones loaded with explosives on a large scale, particularly small drones from the civilian market DIYed to carry an explosive charge. Paris intends in particular to take advantage of the feedback provided by the use of these drones in Ukraine, to improve protection technologies against electronic warfare and GPS jamming, massively used by Russian forces. These first investments in MTO “participate in an important catch-up effort for our armies”, while France is lagging behind in the development of drones, underlined Sébastien Lecornu.