Russians fleeing the conflict in Ukraine more likely to seek exile in France
Deserters or simple citizens opposed to the war in Ukraine, a growing number of people are fleeing the hand of the Kremlin to swell the ranks of Russian asylum seekers in France, while their reception is dividing Europe.
“Since the outbreak of the war in Ukraine, we have clearly seen an upward trend: over the first eight months of the year, the Ofpra registered 1,420 asylum applications from Russian nationals”, indicates the asylum system. French.
That is, between January and the end of August, almost as many requests as over the whole of the previous year (1495), while the conflict started at the end of February. “The trend is there,” says the agency.
Zelensky estimates Ukraine needs another $55 billion to rebuild
The Ukrainian president asked his international supporters to continue their support for him on Wednesday by videoconference during a meeting of the IMF and the World Bank in Washington, reports Reuters.
He mentioned the sum of 55 billion dollars of additional funds necessary for Ukraine to rebuild in particular its homes, its infrastructures and its schools destroyed by the Russian strikes.
“The sooner Ukraine receives this aid, the sooner we will be able to end the Russian war,” he said.
The head of Belarusian diplomacy responds to a possible deployment of international observers at the border
A cautionary statement. Belarusian Foreign Minister Vladimir Makei responded on Thursday on Twitter to the possibility, put forward by Volodymyr Zelensky, of seeing international observers deployed on the Belarusian border.
“If representatives of Western countries are sent to the border between Belarus and Ukraine, this will mark the involvement of these third countries in the conflict with Ukraine,” he warned.
Russia admits deaths of soldiers mobilized in Ukraine
Five Russians enlisted to fight in Ukraine, as part of the mobilization ordered in September, died after joining the army, authorities said on Thursday, after similar announcements which have multiplied in recent days.
“We will provide all necessary assistance to the family and relatives of our fallen soldiers,” said the press service of the Chelyabinsk region, quoted by the public agency TASS, promising to pay one million rubles (16,000 euros ) for each deceased.
Russian officials do not specify the cause of these deaths, nor their location.
Russian lawmaker says elites ‘want to get rid of’ Putin, but ‘don’t know how yet’
The sling threatens in Russia. According to a local Russian elected official, the tide is turning for the president, in power since the beginning of the 2000s. To the point that the Russian elites would now like to “get rid of him”, tired of his presidency which suffers no challenge.
“In Russia, any protest, any disagreement with the official line is repressed very severely,” he explains.
>> Our explanations of his statement can be read here.
The G7 and the IMF reaffirm that they will support Ukraine “as long as necessary”
The G7 and the IMF reaffirmed on Wednesday that they will support Ukraine “as long as necessary” to deal with the economic consequences of the invasion, which amount to billions of dollars, at a time when the country is the target of a new wave of Russian strikes.
“The G7 will continue to support Ukraine for as long as necessary and remain deeply committed to providing assistance to meet the most urgent financial needs,” the finance ministers of the seven most developed democracies announced in a joint statement. .
The Managing Director of the IMF, for her part, announced that the institution was going to work on the creation of a permanent forum aimed at coordinating economic aid.
kyiv condemns new drone strikes on the capital
Early Thursday morning, Russia struck the capital kyiv with Iranian-made drones, said Kyrylo Tymoshenko, the head of Ukraine’s presidential administration.
“Another attack with kamikaze drones on critical infrastructure,” he said without further details.
The mayor of Mykolaiv, Oleksandr Senkevych, said for his part, also this Thursday, on Telegram that this city in southern Ukraine, already massively pounded by the Russian army, had suffered “heavy bombardments” overnight. including destroying the top two floors of a five-storey residential building.
Energy crisis: France began to deliver gas directly to Germany
France began this Thursday morning for the first time to send gas directly to Germany, a step in European energy solidarity to overcome the drying up of flows from Russia, announced the manager of the French gas transmission network. GRTgaz.
“In a context of a sharp drop in Russian gas deliveries to Europe and within the framework of European solidarity on energy security, GRTgaz has mobilized to adapt its network and formalize a proposal in order to market a transport capacity of gas from France to Germany,” GRTgaz said in a statement.
Pro-Russian separatists say Russian army is on the doorstep of Bakhmout, Donbass
Russian forces were on Thursday at the gates of Bakhmout after capturing two villages near the eastern Ukrainian town, pro-Russian forces in the region said.
According to the Donetsk separatist fighters’ Telegram channel, they have taken control of the villages of Opytne and Ivangrad, directly south of Bakhmout, a town they have been trying to conquer since August and the only part of the front where the troops from Moscow are advancing at this moment.
“The less we talk about it, the more credible we are”: on the nuclear threat, Macron defends the French doctrine
On France 2, the Head of State also returned to the risk of escalation of the conflict, and in particular to Vladimir Poutine’s remarks about nuclear weapons.
For Emmanuel Macron, France’s nuclear doctrine “is based on the fundamental interests of the nation, they are defined very clearly”. Asked about a possible tactical strike from Russia, Emmanuel Macron judged that this would not call for a nuclear response.
>> The main points of Emmanuel Macron’s speech summarized here
Macron confirms the dispatch of anti-aircraft defense systems in the coming weeks
During an intervention on France 2 on Wednesday evening, the President of the Republic announced the dispatch to Ukraine of anti-aircraft defense systems.
“We will deliver radars, systems and (anti-aircraft) missiles to protect (the Ukrainians) from attacks, in particular to protect them from drone attacks,” he said.
>> The point in our article
London to donate new air defense missiles to Ukraine
The United Kingdom announced on Thursday that it would provide Ukraine with additional anti-aircraft missiles, including ammunition capable of shooting down cruise missiles, the British Ministry of Defense announced on Thursday.
This announcement is part of the will displayed by the allies of Ukraine meeting on Wednesday in Brussels to help kyiv to strengthen its anti-aircraft defense as soon as possible, after intensive Russian bombardments on the country.
Biden says UN vote ‘sends clear message’ to Russia
“143 nations have stood on the side of freedom, sovereignty and territorial integrity,” the US president said in a statement overnight from Wednesday to Thursday.
The condemnation by a large majority of the UN General Assembly of Russian “illegal annexations” of Ukrainian territory sent a “clear message” to Moscow, he hailed, saying that Russia could not ” not erase a sovereign state from the map”.
Broad UN condemnation of Russian ‘illegal annexations’ in Ukraine
The UN General Assembly on Wednesday condemned with an “overwhelming” majority the “illegal annexations” of Ukrainian territories, and sent according to Joe Biden a “clear message” to Moscow.
The General Assembly of 193 Member States, meeting in emergency since Monday, adopted this resolution with 143 votes in favor, against five countries against and 35 who abstained, including China, India, Pakistan and South Africa. South, despite diplomatic efforts by the United States.
>> We take stock in this article
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