Did you miss the latest events on the war in Ukraine? 20 Minutes takes stock for you every evening. Between the strong declarations, the advances on the front and the results of the fighting, here is the essential part of this Wednesday, the 1008th day of the war.
Fact of the day
Everything for the army! In the midst of an escalation between Moscow and the West, the upper house of the Russian Parliament validated this Wednesday the 2025-2027 budget bill, which provides for a 30% surge in military spending next year. The text, voted by a very large majority by the deputies of the Duma (lower house), must now be promulgated by President Vladimir Putin, a step which leaves no room for doubt. The budget forecasts that Defense spending will reach around 119 billion euros in 2025, or more than 6% of Russian GDP. In total, at least 40% of the 2025 federal budget will be devoted next year to Defense and national security. The national military budget had already exploded over one year by almost 70% in 2024, representing with security investments 8.7% of GDP, a first in Russia since the fall of the USSR more than thirty years ago.
Since 2022, the Kremlin has largely reoriented its economy towards the war effort, developing its military-industrial complex at high speed, in particular by recruiting hundreds of thousands of new employees, a strategy which has, however, pushed inflation upwards. . Military spending is not ready to decrease in the coming months, with Vladimir Putin having ordered a 15% increase in the number of soldiers in mid-September, bringing it to 1.5 million, or 1 in 50 Russian assets.
Today's statement
« I'm a little scared, I'm not going to lie to you, in a war zone you never know…” »
The words are by Alberto Blasco Ventas, a 23-year-old Spanish tourist who came to discover the war with his own eyes in the suburbs of kyiv. He is not the only one to take this astonishing step. In Ukraine, around ten companies offer this type of tour, a marginal but growing phenomenon. These circuits fall under the dark tourism, visiting places associated with tragic events.
To those who consider this morbid or immoral, Alberto assures to act “with respect”. War Tours, which organized his trip, claims to have taken care of around thirty clients since January, mainly European and American. Part of the proceeds are donated to the army.
The number of the day
Two. This is the number of journalists from the German public audiovisual group ARD expelled from Russia by the Russian authorities. A “response” to the closure announced by the television channel Pervy Kanal of its German office on orders from Berlin, which Germany has firmly denied. According to the channel's story, the German authorities consider this state television as a threat to the security of the country and as a dangerous propaganda organ, while millions of Russian speakers live on German territory.
The German Foreign Ministry, however, denied “closing” the Pervy Kanal office. “The Russian claims are false: the federal government has not closed the office of this channel, and Russian journalists can work freely and without hindrance in Germany,” defended a spokesperson for the German Foreign Ministry.
The trend
The Baltic, Nordic countries and Poland are ready to strengthen, with their allies, sanctions against Russia and the states which support its invasion of Ukraine, they declared this Wednesday during a summit in Sweden . “With our allies, we are determined to strengthen our deterrence and defense […] against conventional and hybrid attacks, and to strengthen sanctions against Russia and those who favor aggression by Russia, thus threatening our common security”, write the seven signatory countries (Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Norway, Latvia, Estonia, Poland). Lithuania did not participate in this summit, its government being in the process of being formed.
Our file on the war in Ukraine
“Western sanctions are working despite Russian propaganda, the Russian economy is sinking into an imbalance between increasing war spending and the rest of the economy is struggling,” said the Swedish Prime Minister during a conference of press in Harpsund, Sweden. The seven countries, bordering or close to Russia and members of NATO, also undertake to “strengthen (their) support” for Ukraine “in particular for the Ukrainian defense industry”. They recall that they are the largest contributors to military aid per capita to Ukraine.
