Vladimir Putin criticizes NATO and its “hegemony”

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The context

Live hosted by Clémence Apetogbor

Cover image: Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks with Chairman of the Turkmen People’s Council Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov in Ashgabat on June 29, 2022. DMITRY AZAROV / AFP

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• NATO pledged on Wednesday to support Ukraine for as long as needed in front of the ” cruelty “ of Russia, during a summit in Madrid, where it validated the future enlargement to Sweden and Finland.
• NATO countries have also announced a reinforcement of their military presence on the eastern flank of the Alliance.which will bring to more than 300,000 soldiers the strength of its “high readiness forces”.
• Vladimir Putin, for his part, denounced, on Wednesday, the “imperialist ambitions” of the Atlantic Alliance which seeks, according to him, to affirm its “hegemony” through the Ukrainian conflict. But the Russian president said he does not see any ” problems “ to NATO membership for Sweden and Finland, with whom he says he has no “territorial disputes”.
• On the ground, Ukraine continues to pay a heavy price for warwith new deadly attacks against civilians, in particular in Mykolaïv (South), where five people died in a strike on a residential building, according to regional authorities.
• In Lyssychansk, eastern Ukraine, the “frequency” of Russian bombardments is “enormous”said the governor of the Luhansk region, Serhi Haïdaï. “We are witnessing a peak of intensity in the fighting”he continued on Ukrainian television.
• Vladimir Putin rejected, Wednesday evening, the responsibility of the Russian army in the strike which ravaged, Monday, a shopping center in Kremenchukcausing at least eighteen deaths. “Our army does not hit any civilian infrastructure site”he assured.
• A few hours after Damascus announced that it recognized the independence of the separatist republics of Donetsk and Luhansk, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced on Wednesday that he was ending Ukraine’s diplomatic relations with Syria.
• According to Amnesty International, the March 16 bombardment of the Mariupol theater, in which many civilians had taken refuge, is “clearly a Russian war crime”. In a report, the NGO estimates that the number of victims is however much lower than what was feared.

Find our live from yesterday here.

Read all our articles, analyzes and reports on the war in Ukraine

Decryptions. Faced with Vladimir Putin, Emmanuel Macron handles the diplomacy of “leaks”

Factual. To support NATO against Russia, the United States is further strengthening its military presence in Europe

Reportage. Shopping center in Kremenchuk, Ukraine: “Moscow is doing this to push us to give up”

Chronic. Alain Frachon: “Between a warmongering Russia and the United States in the grip of a permanent civil war, the European Union is reassuring”

Factual. In Southeast Asia, buying Russian weapons has become “a risky bet”