The paramilitary group Wagner claimed Wednesday the conquest of part of the city of Bakhmout, which could fall “in the coming days”, according to NATO.
Bakhmout could fall “in the next few days”, according to NATO. And for good reason, thehe Russian paramilitary group Wagner claimed Wednesday March 8 the capture of the eastern part of the city, at the heart of fighting for months in eastern Ukraine. For its part, American intelligence judges that the Russian army will probably not carry out “major territorial gains” in Ukraine this year. Franceinfo summarizes the main events of the day.
Volodymyr Zelensky invites the head of the US House of Representatives to kyiv
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has invited Republican Kevin McCarthy, leader of the House of Representatives in the United States Congress, to visit Kiev, as protests begin to mount among American conservatives over the aid given to Ukraine.
“Mr. McCarthy needs to come here to see how we work, what’s going on, what the war has done, what people are fighting now and who they’re fighting. And only after that, make up your mind”, said the head of state. He was speaking during an interview with the CNN channel, which will be broadcast on Wednesday evening, according to excerpts broadcast by television.
For his part, the Republican boss of the House, laboriously elected in January, told CNN that he did not need to go to Ukraine to understand the situation. He can, in his position, hinder President Joe Biden’s massive aid program for Ukraine to fight Russia.
US says Russia unlikely to make ‘major territorial gains’ in 2023
The Russian army is unlikely to carry out “major territorial gains” in Ukraine this year, US Intelligence Director Avril Haines told a Senate committee on Wednesday.
The Russians are inflicted “high levels of losses” and President Vladimir “Putin probably better understands the limits of what his army is capable of achieving”she said, adding that he seemed to focus “on more modest military objectives for the moment”.
The Wagner group claims the capture of part of Bakhmout
The Russian paramilitary group Wagner on Wednesday claimed the capture of the eastern part of Bakhmout, a town that has been at the heart of fighting for months in eastern Ukraine, and which could fall “in the next few days”according to the Secretary General of NATO.
For now, “Wagner units took the whole eastern part of Bakhmout, everything east of the Bakhmoutka river” crossing the small town of Donbass, said in an audio message the boss of the paramilitary organization, Evguéni Prigojine.
European defense ministers want to “activate war economy mode”
Meeting in Stockholm on Wednesday in the presence of the Secretary General of NATO, Jens Stoltenberg, and their Ukrainian counterpart, Oleksiï Reznikov, the European ministers must prepare a plan for the delivery of ammunition to Ukraine, despite stocks under pressure, with a first emergency component to one billion euros.
The Ukrainian army, which fires thousands every day to repel Russian soldiers, faces a critical shortage of 155 mm shells for its guns.
Antonio Guterres on his way to Kyiv
Arriving in Poland on Tuesday, the UN chief is going to the Ukrainian capital during the day, where he was to meet Volodymyr Zelensky on Wednesday. The two men were to discuss in particular the continuation of the agreement on Ukrainian grain exports. It was the third trip to Ukraine since the start of the war for Antonio Guterres.
kyiv denies any involvement in the sabotage of the Nord Stream 1 and 2 gas pipelines
On September 26, 2022, four huge gas leaks preceded by underwater explosions were detected on the Nord Stream 1 and 2 gas pipelines linking Russia to Germany. The data collected by the American intelligence services suggests that the perpetrators of the sabotage of the two gas pipelines were “opponents of Russian President Vladimir Putin”wrote the New York Times on Wednesday.
On the same day, a first official breakthrough was brought to light: the German Federal Prosecutor’s Office announced that it had “searches a ship from January 18 to 20, 2023”suspecting it may have “been used to carry explosive devices” that were used to blow up Nord Stream 1 and 2.
For its part, the Ukrainian presidency denies any involvement. “Even though I like collecting funny conspiracy theories about the Ukrainian government, I have to say that Ukraine had nothing to do with the Baltic Sea accident”tweeted Mykhailo Podolyak, adviser to President Volodymyr Zelensky.