180 days ago, on February 24, Vladimir Putin announced:special military operation“for”denazize” Ukraine. Six months later, the war continues, the positions are deteriorating. Even on the southern Kherson front, which the Ukrainian army wants to retake from the Russians, routine has resumed. Asked about his hopes for the future during a visit to Odessa on Friday, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres looked grave.a very difficult situation where the prospects for peace are not clear“.
Le Figaro The conflict between Russia and Ukraine does a 180e war day
The war has bogged down in Kherson
It has been more than a month that the General Staff of Ukraine has been promising.counter-offensiveKherson region. In TimesThe Minister of Defense of Ukraine announced the imminent mobilization at the end of July.out of a million menat the beginning of March, to recapture this territory in the south of Ukraine, which was one of the first to come under Russian control.
The minister for the reintegration of temporarily occupied territories also promised “a great battlelooming, while control of Kherson allows Moscow to form a corridor to the Crimean peninsula, which was annexed in 2014. This great counter-offensive, which has been announced many times, is hardly materializing. The defense minister himself later corrected.Let’s say it was a form of misunderstanding. Excuse my English, it’s not my native language.Actually, the Ukrainian attack is rather a strategy of small steps.
Crimean subversive war
In Crimea, a region spared from the war so far, from where most of the Russian planes attacking Ukraine take off, a phenomenon worries Moscow. Several series of explosions destroyed ammunition depots, as a result of which the Russian army condemned A “subversive action” without specifying the responsible person. “Civilian infrastructure was also damaged, including a high-voltage power line, a power station, a railway line, as well as several houses.”detailed the Russian military during the fire that caused the explosion on August 16.
According to a Ukrainian official quoted by The New York Times the saboteurs belong to the elite Ukrainian military unit operating behind enemy lines.
The evacuation order in Donbas remains a dead letter
In eastern Ukraine, Donetsk and Luhansk regions, recognized by Moscow as independent on February 24, are almost entirely under Russian control. On July 3, Russian forces claimed control of Luhansk region after breaking the double lock on Severodonetsk and Lisichansk. They are now focusing on seizing Donetsk province, seizing the entire Donbass. In the cities that came under its control, Moscow conducts a policy of Russification, in particular by importing rubles and issuing Russian passports. Referendums are also planned to formalize the accession to Russia.
Some parts of the Donetsk region are trying to keep the front line, especially in Bakhmut, under continuous Russian shelling. As a sign of the critical situation, on July 30, Vladimir Zelensky called on the civilians of the region under the control of the armed forces of Ukraine to evacuate the area. But this order remained a dead letter, despite the warnings of the government in winter without heating after the destruction of gas pipelines. The city of Bakhmut has been without gas for a long time, and most of the districts no longer have water and electricity.
War on the economic front as well
The ongoing battles in Ukraine disrupt the economic balance of the region. The first is in the energy sector, while Westerners accuse Russia of using energy weapons in response to sanctions against it. Gazprom also stopped supplies to several European customers who refused to pay in rubles. Russian gas exports, crucial to Europe, are steadily declining, especially to Germany and Italy.
As for grain products, the maritime blockade imposed by Russia in the Black Sea prevents Ukraine from exporting about 20 million tons stored in its silos. Since the July 22 agreement brokered by the United Nations and brokered by Turkey, the first cargoes of 26,000 tons of corn were able to leave the Ukrainian port of Odesa, and traffic is slowly picking up again, but the situation. remains fragile, and cargo ships are vulnerable to mines.
The daughter of a Russian ideologist was killed. Putin condemns the “heinous crime”.
On Monday, August 22, Russian President Vladimir Putin condemned “heinous crimeAfter the death of the daughter of an ideologue who supported the Ukrainian attack as a result of the explosion of his car near Moscow, for which the Russian authorities blame Kiev. “A heinous, brutal crime prematurely ended the life of Daria Dugina, a bright and talented person with a truly Russian heart.Vladimir Putin addressed the young woman’s relatives in a condolence message published by the Kremlin. Daria Dugina was killed Saturday evening by an explosion in the car she was driving on a road near the village of Bolchie Vyatsiomi, about forty kilometers from Moscow. A journalist and political scientist, born in 1992, she was the daughter of Alexander Dugin, an ultra-nationalist ideologue and writer who preaches expansionist doctrine and is a fierce supporter of the Russian offensive in Ukraine.
According to the FSB, the car driven by Daria Dugina trapped a Ukrainian woman named Natalya Vovk, born in 1979, who arrived in Russia in July with her minor daughter born in 2010. Also, according to FSS, s. the person, in particular, rented an apartment in the building where Dugina lived, and on Saturday he went to a cultural festival, where the journalist and political scientist were also present. According to FSB, this Ukrainian woman then fled to Estonia with her daughter. After being questioned by Russian media on Saturday suggesting that Alexander Dugin was actually the target of the attack, Ukraine on Sunday denied any involvement in Dugin’s death. “Ukraine, of course, had nothing to do with the explosion (on Saturday) because we are not a criminal state“, Mykhailo Podoliak, adviser to the President of Ukraine, stated.
Kiev acknowledges the death of 9,000 soldiers during the six-month conflict
Ukraine admitted on Monday (August 22) that nearly 9,000 of its soldiers had been killed since the start of the Russian invasion six months ago, in what the EU considers a mission.cultivatein the face of the Ukrainian armya war that lasts“.
Speaking at a forum in Kiev, the commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian army, General Valery Zaluzhny, said that Ukrainian children need special attention because their fathers went to the front line and “were probably among the 9,000 or so heroes who perished“. The previous estimate was in mid-April, when Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky put the number of Ukrainian soldiers dead at 3,000 and around 10,000 wounded since the start of the Russian offensive.
The EU is considering the possibility of sending the Ukrainian army on a training mission
The EU plans to organize a missiontraining and assistanceto the Ukrainian army, which will take place in the neighboring countries, on Monday, August 22, EU High Representative for Foreign Policy Josep Borrell announced. The proposal will be discussed next week in Prague at the Council of Defense Ministers of the EU Member States, said Josep Borrell at a press conference held in Santander (Northern Spain). “I hope it will be approved“, he added.
“The European Union deploys military training missions to the armies of the countries with which we cooperate“, he said. “We did it in Mali not too long ago, we just started doing it in Mozambique and we did it in Niger.“, he continued.
“The war, which is ongoing and seems likely to continue, requires effort not only in terms of supplying equipment, but also in helping to prepare and organize the army.He added about the Ukrainian conflict. “This is what is being discussed among the member states, and which will be discussed at the political level next Monday in the framework of the Council of Defense Ministers in Prague.The EU, said Josep Borel.
The meeting will take place in Prague, as the Czech Republic currently holds the EU presidency until the end of the year. Josep Borel reminded that many countries inside and outside the EU supply military equipment to Ukraine and that “few“It has already brought him bilaterally”training required to use this equipment“.
Zelensky warns of increased risk of “brutal” Russian provocations
While Ukraine will celebrate its independence from the USSR on August 24, Russia may “to do something particularly nasty“and”cruelNext week in Ukraine, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky warned in his traditional address on Saturday evening. “One of the main goals of the enemy is to humble us“, fromsow despair, fear and conflict“but”we must be strong enough to withstand any provocation“and”make the occupiers pay for their horror“, he added.
Mykhailo Podoliak, adviser to the president, estimated that Russia could intensify the bombing of Ukrainian cities on August 23 and 24. “Russia is an archaic state that connects its actions with certain dates, it is a kind of obsession. They hate us and will try to increase (…) the number of bombings of our cities, including Kiev, with cruise missiles.According to “Interfax-Ukraine” agency, he said.
Biden, Macron, Scholz and Johnson call for ‘restraint’ at Zaporozhye nuclear power plant
Presidents Joe Biden and Emmanuel Macron, as well as Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Prime Minister Boris Johnson, had a telephone conversation on Sunday, agreeing. “This support for Ukraine’s defense against Russian aggression will be maintained.”.
The four leaders especially called on the two warring parties.detentionas renewed fighting over the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant in southern Ukraine has raised the specter of a disaster worse than Chernobyl. Moscow and Kiev blame each other for the attacks.
During the talks on Sunday, they also asked to sendquicklyat the site of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspectors’ mission, according to a joint press release. On Friday, the presidencies of France and Russia announced that Vladimir Putin and Emmanuel Macron agreed that IAEA inspectors would conduct an inspection visit to the factory.
Source: Le Figaro
