Did you miss the latest events on the war in Ukraine? 20 Minutes takes stock for you every evening. Between the strong declarations, the progress on the front and the results of the fighting, here is the essential of this Tuesday, on the 986th day of the conflict.
Fact of the day
Six people were killed and 23 others injured in a Russian strike Tuesday morning on the town of Zaporizhia in southern Ukraine, according to a report announced by the regional governor. “Three people are in extremely serious condition,” Ivan Fedorov said on television. The “missile” shot hit an “infrastructure site,” he added. “The fire that broke out on the scene was able to be extinguished,” the governor said on Telegram at midday.
Shortly before the strike, an air alert due to a risk of ballistic missile attack had been triggered in the region which also houses the largest nuclear power plant in Europe, occupied by Russia since the start of its invasion of Ukraine in early 2022. “The violence must be stopped with firm action. The allies must act more firmly,” responded Andriï Iermak, the head of the Ukrainian presidential administration, calling on the West to do more to help Ukraine.
Sentence of the day
« I want to thank you for raising a true Russian warrior, because Andrei died while fulfilling his military duty. » »
Vladimir Putin officially appointed the mother of a soldier killed in Ukraine on Tuesday as governor of a region in the Russian Far East. The day before, he had promoted a man who had participated in the current conflict to similar functions.
These appointments are the symbol of the gradual rise within the Russian system of a new elite resulting from the commitment to the offensive in Ukraine. Russian military personnel serving in Ukraine benefit from numerous financial advantages, including very high pay, but also facilities, for example to send their children to the best universities in Russia.
The number of the day
11.000. This is, according to Volodymyr Zelensky, the number of North Korean soldiers who are in the Russian region of Kursk, bordering Ukraine, where the Kremlin has been trying to repel a surprise offensive by kyiv forces since August, which Dozens of localities are seized there. “We see an increase in the number of North Koreans but no increase in the reaction of our Western partners,” the Ukrainian president once again quipped.
The Pentagon confirms in any case that “at least 10,000” soldiers from Pyongyang are currently in the Kursk region, adding that there would be “around 11,000 to 12,000” in total in Russia.
Our file on the war in Ukraine
Today's trend
The Ukrainians continue to lose ground on the Eastern Front. Oriental. According to the New York Timescited by International Mail“in October, Russia made its biggest territorial gains since the summer of 2022.” And Oleksandr Syrsky, the commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian army, quoted by CNN, admits facing “one of the most powerful Russian offensives since the start of the war”. Furthermore, after the intensification of Russian bombings on Zaporizhia, illustrated by the deadly strike on Tuesday, several Ukrainian media and military bloggers are discussing, these days, the risk of a possible Russian offensive in this region. As a reminder, the Kremlin, whose forces control part of the Zaporizhia region, claimed the annexation of this entire territory at the end of 2022.
