Zelensky visited a village on the southern front line – L’Express

2024-02-04 15:20:11

The front in eastern Ukraine has barely moved in months, but fighting remains bloody and bombings have intensified on both sides this winter. On the Ukrainian side, the air force declared on Saturday that it had shot down nine of the 14 drones launched by Russia in southern and central Ukraine during the night from Friday to Saturday. Most of the Iranian-made Shahed drones targeted “energy infrastructure” in the central Dnipro region, where thousands of people were left without electricity, according to the same source.

Information to remember

⇒ At least 28 dead in bombing in occupied eastern Ukraine, according to Moscow

⇒ Volodymyr Zelensky visited a village on the southern front line

⇒ Ukrainian authorities have opened a war crimes investigation after the death of two French humanitarian workers

Zelensky visited the village of Robotyne, on the southern front line

Volodymyr Zelensky said this Sunday that he had visited troops in the village of Robotyne, on the southern front line, which kyiv had liberated this summer, raising hopes – since disappointed – of a breakthrough. “Zaporizhia region. Robotyne. Location of the 65th mechanized brigade. I spoke with the defenders, thanked them and presented state awards,” the Ukrainian president said on social media.

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He posted a video on Facebook showing him in uniform, going to meet soldiers in a dark room that resembles a cellar. “I have the great honor to be here today to reward you, because you have a difficult and decisive mission on your shoulders to repel the enemy and win this war,” Volodymyr Zelensky told the fighters. Robotyne was recaptured from Russian forces in August last year, during an assault led by the 65th Brigade, which was described as a major success by kyiv in its counter-offensive against Russian forces. But since then the small village has been attacked relentlessly by Russian forces and is one of the main hotspots on the southern front.

At least 28 dead in bombing in occupied eastern Ukraine

The death toll from Saturday’s strike attributed to Ukraine on a bakery in the occupied town of Lyssychansk, in the east of the country, rose to 28 dead, including a child, Russian emergency services announced this Sunday, February 4. Lysychansk, in the Lugansk region, fell to Russian forces in the summer of 2022 after a violent battle. Russian emergency services have indicated that search operations are continuing, after having worked all night, to find victims under the ruins of the bakery. “Approximately 65% ​​of the destroyed structure has been dismantled […] Unfortunately, 28 people, including a child, died,” the Russian Emergency Situations Ministry said this Sunday on Telegram.

Journalists arrested in Moscow during a demonstration by soldiers’ wives

Russian police briefly arrested at least twenty journalists on Saturday during a rally organized under the walls of the Kremlin by wives of soldiers fighting in Ukraine, who are demanding the return of their husbands from the front. An Agence France Presse videographer arrested during this demonstration indicated that around 20 to 25 journalists, all men, found themselves with him in a police van and were taken to a police station for identity checks. About three hours later, all these journalists were released after receiving a warning from the Russian Interior Ministry, according to the AFP videographer.

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Among those arrested were several employees of foreign media, including the Canadian news agency Reuters, the Dutch media NOS, the German magazine Spiegel and a French independent reporter. Before these arrests, between 40 and 50 mobilized women had placed flowers on the tomb of the unknown soldier under the walls of the Kremlin, near Red Square. For several weeks, these wives of soldiers mobilized to fight in Ukraine have met regularly, as a sign of protest.

French humanitarian workers killed in Ukraine, an investigation for “war crimes” opened

After the death of two French humanitarian workers in a Russian bombing in Beryslav on February 1, Ukrainian authorities opened an investigation for “war crimes”. The investigation entrusted to the gendarmes of the Central Office for the Fight against Crimes Against Humanity also accuses a “willful attack on the life of a person protected by international humanitarian law”. In France, the anti-terrorism prosecution has taken up the case.

READ ALSO: Ukraine: the difficult count of French deaths since the start of the war

In Russia, the attack was presented in a more paradoxical way, in the context of information warfare against France. “Two French mercenaries were killed in Beryslav, which is under the control of the Ukrainian army,” were the simultaneous headlines on Friday by Argoumienty i Fakty and Moskovsky Komsomolets, two Russian media outlets with a large audience, according to our colleagues in Le Monde.

The White Lotus series parts ways with actor accused of supporting Putin

American television channel HBO announced that it had canceled the presence of a Serbian actor in its hit series The White Lotus after Ukraine accused Milos Bikovic of supporting the war started by Russian President Vladimir Putin. Ukraine said at the end of January that Milos Bikovic supported Russia “since the start of the invasion”. “HBO, does it not bother you to work with a person who supports genocide and violates international law?”, protested the Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. “We have decided to part ways with Milos Bikovic and his role will be redistributed,” said an HBO spokesperson in a terse message sent to AFP on Saturday, without giving further details.