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 Thursday, the 1,002nd day of war.
News of the day
Did Russia fire an intercontinental missile at Ukraine? The subject has long fueled all the conversations this Thursday, with Westerners fearing a “new escalation” in the conflict. Because kyiv claimed in the morning to have been targeted by the device launched from the Russian region of Astrakhan. The use of such a weapon would have been a first since the start of the conflict. And one more step taken by Moscow.
This Thursday evening, Vladimir Putin put an end to the rumors. During a televised address to the nation, the Russian president confirmed that his troops had struck Ukraine using a “medium-range” ballistic missile, called Oreshnik and presented as the one of the six weapons of the future. “There is no way today to counter such weapons. The missiles attack targets at a speed of Mach 10, or 2.5 to 3 km/second. The air defense systems currently available in the world and the missile defense systems created by the Americans in Europe do not intercept these missiles. This is excluded,” he insisted.
The head of the Kremlin, moreover, considered that the conflict had taken on “a global character”, holding responsible the Westerners who authorized the use of American and European missiles on Russian soil. Putin did not veil his threats. “We consider ourselves within our rights to use our weapons against the military installations of countries that authorize the use of their weapons against our installations. And in the event of an escalation of aggressive actions, we will respond equally strongly,” he said. In other words, this means that he does not rule out hitting all countries whose weapons will be used against Russia.
Sentence of the day
« This is a worrying and worrying new development, it's all going in the wrong direction. » »
A few minutes after Vladimir Putin's speech, the UN expressed concern about the future consequences. Its secretary general called on the parties to take “urgent steps towards de-escalation to ensure the protection of civilians and critical civilian infrastructure”.
The number of the day
645.000. Hundreds of thousands of Swiss small caliber ammunition intended for precision shooting have landed illegally in Ukraine without the knowledge of its manufacturer. This is what Swiss public television SRF revealed this Thursday, based on a report from the Ministry of the Economy. These thousands of cartridges intended for precision shooters – the specialty of the company Swiss P Defense – were delivered in July 2023 to a Polish company UMO SP. The latter then exported them to Ukraine four days later, without the manufacturer being aware. It is unclear whether the munitions were used in Ukraine.
Today's trend
The American government announced Thursday a series of sanctions targeting around fifty Russian banking establishments in order to limit “access to the international financial system” and reduce funding for the Russian war effort in Ukraine. These sanctions, which target in particular the financial arm of the gas giant Gazprom, Gazprombank, also concern around forty financial registration offices and fifteen managers of Russian financial establishments.
Related News :