2023-09-01 19:00:06
Did you miss the latest events on the war in Ukraine? Do not panic, 20 Minutes takes stock for you every evening at 7:30 p.m. Who did what ? Who said what? Where are we ? The answer below.
The fact of the day
For the first time since the start of the conflict, Ukraine has claimed responsibility for a drone attack from Russian territory, as the counter-offensive is in full swing to try to liberate the occupied territories.
During the night of Tuesday to Wednesday, Ukrainian drones had targeted the airport of Pskov, a Russian city located near the border of Estonia, Latvia and Belarus, nearly 700 kilometers from Ukraine. “The drones used to attack the Kresty airbase in Pskov were launched from inside Russia,” military intelligence chief Kyrylo Budanov assured Telegram, again linking to an article from the publication The War Area to which he granted an interview.
This is the first time Kiev has admitted to operating inside Russian territory, where not only multiple drone strikes have occurred but also alleged acts of sabotage, in addition to armed incursions.
The number of the day
3.750. Like the number of schools destroyed “by Russian missiles and bombs” since the start of the war, according to Andriï Iermak, the head of the Ukrainian presidential administration. A communication that comes this Friday, back to school day for nearly four million Ukrainian schoolchildren. The police have also reported bomb threats in schools in kyiv, claiming to inspect the establishments without carrying out general evacuations.
In some large cities, underground shelters have been set up to allow teachers to continue their lessons in the event of aerial alerts warning of possible bombardments. “Schoolchildren and teachers are forced to adapt to these realities,” said Ukrainian army commander Valery Zaluzhny, also on Telegram.
quote of the day
I understood why we won during the Great Patriotic War: defeating a people with such a state of mind is impossible. We were absolutely invincible and today we still are. »
These are the words of Vladimir Poutine, pronounced this Friday during a meeting with teenagers at the start of the school year. Russia presents its offensive against its neighbor as an existential struggle, accusing Ukrainian power of being in the hands of anti-Russian neo-Nazis in the service of a West determined to destroy Russia. She has also reviewed history textbooks for final year students for this purpose. The Russian assault on Ukraine is presented as having consolidated society in Russia, and a large place is given to the exploits of its soldiers.
The trend of the day
Faced with the counter-offensive deemed too slow, criticism is piling up and kyiv is exasperated. For a month, the American media have quoted military officials in Washington, requesting anonymity, critics of the Ukrainian strategy.
They reproach kyiv for a certain dispersion, which would prevent its army from engaging enough forces in the right place to push the Russian troops. “Recently, a new narrative has begun to take root (…) particularly from Pentagon officials that the offensive is actually proving to be a real disappointment,” wrote Lawrence Freedman of King’s College London at the end of August. “There are questions whether Ukraine will ever be able to win.” On Thursday, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kouleba rebelled. “To criticize the slowness of the counter-offensive is to spit in the face of the Ukrainian soldier who sacrifices his life,” he said on the sidelines of a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Spain.
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