Did you miss the latest events on the war in Ukraine? 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:
news of the day
On Friday, Moscow carried out a “massive” attack, firing “71 missiles” and using seven Iranian-designed explosive drones against energy sites in Ukraine. Among these missiles, “air defense forces [en] destroyed 61,” the Ukrainian Air Force said on Friday. According to the Ministry of Energy, energy sites were affected in six regions of Ukraine, with a particularly “difficult” situation in those of Zaporozhye, Kharkiv and Khmelnytskyi.
That same day, according to kyiv, among the projectiles fired, two crossed the airspace of Romania, and therefore of NATO, which this country denies. “None” of the missiles entered Romanian airspace, the Romanian Ministry of Defense maintained. Bucharest, however, indicated that a missile had passed 35 kilometers from its territory, which justified the dispatch of two Romanian fighter planes.
sentence of the day
While Russia kills and terrorizes, the representatives of this terrorist state have no place in sports and Olympic competitions”
These are the words of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky this Friday, pronounced during a meeting by videoconference with sports ministers from several countries. Ukraine is against the possibility of a presence of Russian athletes at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, as envisaged in particular by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), and has threatened to boycott the competition.
“The mere presence of representatives of the terrorist state is a manifestation of violence and impunity”, continued the Ukrainian president, adding that “this cannot be covered up by an alleged neutrality or a white flag”.
The number of the day
500.000. This is the number of barrels of crude oil that Russia refuses to produce daily from March. “Russia will voluntarily reduce its production by 500,000 barrels per day in March,” Russian Deputy Prime Minister for Energy Alexander Novak said on Friday. “We will not sell oil to those who directly or indirectly adhere to the ‘price cap’ principles,” the Deputy Prime Minister added.
The announced reduction of 500,000 barrels per day will represent a drop of about 5% of current daily Russian extractions, which total more than 9.5 million barrels. The fear of seeing the crude run out then pushed up the price of black gold on Friday.
The trend of the day
Russian forces have consolidated their positions north of Bakhmout and in Vougledar, a Russian occupation official said on Friday. Near Bakhmout, the epicenter of the fighting in eastern Ukraine, Russian soldiers have “consolidated their positions in the northern part”, Denis Pushilin, a separatist official, was quoted by Russian news agencies as saying.
The Moscow troops therefore continued their attempt to encircle this fortress city from the north, south and east, which they had been trying to take since the summer at the cost of heavy losses on both sides and great destruction. Vougledar is another hot spot on the front in the east, where the Russians have increased pressure in recent weeks and are eating away ground against the Ukrainian army.
The UK Ministry of Defense stressed in its daily report on Wednesday that “Russian forces have likely made tactical gains in” these two key areas. The paramilitary group Wagner thus “pushed two to three kilometers north of Bakhmout” the front line. “To the south, Russian units advanced around the western outskirts of the town of Vougledar”, where they however suffered heavy losses and abandoned about 30 armored vehicles, the ministry continued.