2023-07-12 15:51:58
On the second day of the NATO summit, the G7 countries pledged this Wednesday, July 12 to provide “long-term” military support to Ukraine, in order to help it fight the current Russian offensive and deter Moscow from any future attack on its neighbour. “We will work with Ukraine on specific, bilateral, long-term security engagements to ensure a sustainable force capable of defending Ukraine today and deterring Russian aggression in the future,” the statement said. declaration of the members of the G7 (United States, United Kingdom, France, Canada, Germany, Italy, Japan). Volodymyr Zelensky hailed these “security guarantees”, an “important victory” for Ukraine, while emphasizing that they could not replace future membership of the Atlantic Alliance. The Ukrainian president also said he was “confident” in the fact that Ukraine will be a member of NATO “after the war”.
“By offering these security guarantees to Ukraine, these countries are undermining Russia’s security,” Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters, adding that these guarantees will make Europe “much more dangerous for years and years”. And to promise “countermeasures” if Ukraine uses the cluster munitions which the United States has promised to deliver to kyiv.
Germany to supply more Patriot systems to Ukraine
Following a meeting with Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Volodymyr Zelensky thanked Germany for sending Patriot systems to Ukraine. In a message, the Ukrainian President writes: “We have continued the conversation on security guarantees for Ukraine with Chancellor Scholz. Thank you for your support! An agreement has been reached with Germany regarding the acquisition of additional Patriot launchers and missiles. This is very important to protect life in Ukraine from Russian terror! I am grateful to Germany for being ready to provide long-term support to Ukraine and our defense of freedom.”
Ukraine claims to have downed 11 Russian drones in second night of attacks
Ukraine claimed on Wednesday, July 12, to have shot down 11 Russian drones over the capital Kiev during a second consecutive night of attacks, in the middle of the NATO summit in Vilnius where Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is to be received by Alliance leaders.
“A total of 15 explosive drones were involved in the strikes. Eleven of them were destroyed in the areas under the responsibility of the central and eastern command” of the country, the air force said. Ukrainian on a social network.
In the Cherkassy region of central Ukraine, two people were hospitalized with burns after a drone hit a non-residential building and caused a fire, local governor Igor Taburets said on social media. “Cherkassy was on alert for more than three and a half hours,” he added.
The kyiv military authorities also indicated that a drone attack had taken place in the capital without specifying the number of machines involved. The air alert triggered in the capital lasted more than two hours.
NATO summit: expected security commitments for Ukraine
The West presents this Wednesday a plan of long-term commitments for the security of Ukraine, during the NATO summit. Volodymyr Zelensky will have talks with several leaders. In an attempt to reassure him, the G7 countries (Germany, Canada, United States, France, Italy, Japan, United Kingdom) should publish a joint statement on support for Kiev in the years to come, in order to help him to fight Russia and counter future aggression. “As Ukraine makes strategic progress in its counteroffensive […]we are increasing our efforts to protect Ukraine in the long term,” said British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.
“This multilateral statement will send a significant signal to Russia that time is not on its side,” White House European Affairs adviser Amanda Sloat told reporters. The plan will “help Ukraine build an army that can defend itself and deter future attacks”, with an emphasis on “long-term investment”, she added.
NATO evokes Ukraine’s membership without a timetable, despite Zelensky’s calls
“The future of Ukraine is in NATO”. The members of the Atlantic Alliance tried on Tuesday to give pledges to Ukraine, however far from the expectations of its president Volodymyr Zelensky who demanded a timetable for membership. At the summit in Vilnius, some 35 kilometers from the border with Belarus, an ally of Moscow, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg defended the “strong” formulation chosen after tough negotiations. “We will be able to send Ukraine an invitation to join the Alliance when the Allies have decided and the conditions are met”: after a meeting lasting several hours, the leaders of the 31 members of the Alliance have opted for a diplomatic formula weighed with a trebuchet.
A few hours earlier, just before landing in Vilnius, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had denounced in a particularly virulent tweet the procrastination of the Alliance, almost 18 months after the start of the Russian invasion. “It seems that there is no will either to give Ukraine an invitation to NATO, or to make it a member of the Alliance,” he said. Deeming it “absurd” that his country did not have a timetable for membership, he felt that this encouraged Moscow to “continue its terror” in Ukraine.
We value our allies. We value our shared security. And we always appreciate an open conversation.
Ukraine will be represented at the NATO summit in Vilnius. Because it is about respect.But Ukraine also deserves respect. Now, on the way to Vilnius, we received signals that…
— Volodymyr Zelensky (@ZelenskyyUa) July 11, 2023
A Ukrainian locked up in a detention center near Paris with a view to his deportation
A Ukrainian, representing according to the authorities a “disorder of public order”, was locked up in a detention center near Paris with a view to his expulsion to his country, we learned on Tuesday, a decision deemed “scandalous” by the association which accompanies it. The 37-year-old Ukrainian, who was issued an obligation to leave French territory (OQTF) on July 3, was placed last weekend in the administrative detention center (CRA) of Mesnil-Amelot, attached to the he Parisian airport of Roissy, where foreigners in an irregular situation are locked up pending their expulsion, according to the association La Cimade.
While the#Ukraine is at war following the invasion by Russia and that France welcomes the thousands of Ukrainian refugees, the @Prefet91 locked up at #CRA du Mesnil Amelot a person to deport him to … Ukraine
— La Cimade (@lacimade) July 11, 2023
“It’s a mind-blowing and scandalous situation on several counts: firstly because it comes at a time when France is offering unconditional welcome to people fleeing the war in Ukraine,” lamented Paul Chiron to AFP. a manager of La Cimade. “Then because even if he comes from a region far from the front and the fighting, Ukraine remains a country at war. This decision therefore seems completely illegal under international law, which prohibits expulsions to countries in war”, explains the head of the association, whose organization has been supporting this Ukrainian for a few days.
Russia says it has advanced 1.5 km on a portion of the front in eastern Ukraine
Russian troops have succeeded in breaking through 1.5 kilometers deep on a portion of the front near Lyman, in the Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine, the Russian Defense Minister announced on Tuesday. After repelling a Ukrainian offensive, “Russian units launched a counterattack, advancing 1.5 kilometers deep on two kilometers of front” near Lyman, a town recaptured in October 2022 by the Ukrainian army, said Sergei Shoigu on television.
Ukrainian troops last week reported Russian assaults around Lyman, an important railway junction located about 50 kilometers northeast of Kramatorsk, the main city under Ukrainian control in the east of the country. Sergei Shoigu added that Ukrainian forces continued to “try to break through our defenses in different areas”, saying there had been “waves of attacks” in the past two days. But “the enemy has not achieved its objectives in any area” since the start of the Ukrainian counter-offensive in early June, continued the Minister of Defense.
Macron announces delivery of missiles in high demand by Ukrainians
French President Emmanuel Macron has announced the delivery to Ukraine of long-range Scalp missiles capable of hitting the Russian army at long range in the east of the country. “We have decided to deliver new missiles allowing deep strikes to Ukraine”, declared the French head of state on his arrival at the NATO summit in Vilnius, thus confirming increased support from France in Kyiv. “I think today what is important for us is to send a message of support for Ukraine, of NATO unity and of determination that Russia cannot, must not win. this war,” he added.
Paris pointed out that the first Scalp have already started to be delivered to Ukraine, without further details on the volumes already sent or to come. “The number delivered to Ukraine is quite significant but it will preserve French stocks very well above the capacities we need,” assured a French military source.
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