This November 15, 2024 marked the 986e day of the war in Ukraine, which began in the early hours of February 24, 2022. Here is what to remember from the news related to the conflict this Friday.
Telephone interview between Olaf Scholz and Vladimir Putin
Their last exchange dated from December 2022. According to the elements communicated by both sides, the two men stuck to their positions. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke by telephone during the day.
The Russian president told his counterpart that a peace agreement with Ukraine must take into account the “new territorial realities”, thus calling for concessions from kyiv on the regions currently occupied by the Russian army. “Potential agreements must take into account the security interests of the Russian Federation, be based on new territorial realities and, above all, address the root causes of the conflict”according to a Kremlin press release summarizing Vladimir Putin’s remarks during this telephone interview.
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According to the German government spokesperson, Olaf Scholz asked Vladimir Putin to withdraw Russian troops from Ukraine and reiterated that Berlin would continue to support kyiv as long as necessary. The chancellor described the deployment of North Korean soldiers alongside the Russian army as « grave escalade ». According to Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, the German Chancellor told Vladimir Putin that nothing could be decided about Ukraine without the participation of the war-torn country.
Ukraine denounced this telephone interview, which it considers to be a “attempt at appeasement” envers Moscou. Pour Volodymyr Zelensky, “Olaf’s call (Scholz) is like opening Pandora’s box. Now there can be other conversations, other calls. Many words »castigated the Ukrainian leader on Telegram, according to The World .
Intense fighting in Toretsk
More than 27 airstrikes and 56 drones were counted by Anastasia Bobovnikova, spokesperson for the Luhansk tactical operational group of the kyiv army, on Ukrainian television, in comments reported by the news agency Ukrinform . “In the Toretsk sector, the enemy is advancing in small assault groups, there are very intense street battles […] The enemy is carrying out numerous airstrikes in our area of responsibility, literally destroying entire cities”she indicated.
Anastasia Bobovnikova adds that significant deployments of troops and equipment were observed in the Chassiv Yar and Siversk sectors.
Russia to stop gas deliveries to Austria
Russia will stop supplying gas to Austria from this Saturday, announced the Austrian oil and gas group OMV, the result of a dispute with the Russian giant Gazprom.
“We have been informed” by Gazprom that deliveries were going to be interrupted ” tomorrow “, declared a spokesperson at theAFP. This decision thus puts an end to nearly six decades of dependence on the Alpine country, which still imported 90% of its gas from Russia this summer, notably via Ukraine.
“Russia is once again using energy as a weapon”reacted on X the Austrian Minister of the Environment and Energy, Leonore Gewessler.
More “Austria has been preparing for this situation for a long time”she added: energy supply is “assured”with storage tanks “full” and the capacity offered by gas pipelines from Italy and neighboring Germany.
Read also: Can Europe do without the gas that Russia delivers to it through Ukraine?
Ukraine announces arrest of officer accused of spying for Russia
Ukraine announced the arrest of an officer, commanding a unit of the country’s special forces, accused of passing information to Russia on secret military operations by kyiv.
The suspect, a lieutenant colonel, had been recruited by Russia before the start of its invasion of Ukraine launched in 2022, then “activated” last spring by a Russian military intelligence (GRU) agent through his acquaintances in Russia, the Ukrainian security service (SBU) said in a statement.
Since the start of this war, kyiv and Moscow have both announced several times that they have arrested compatriots accused of spying for the other side. But the arrest of a military commander with access to secret information about special operations is much rarer.
The man, arrested “these last few days” according to a clarification from the SBU atAFPwas accused of “high treason” and risks life imprisonment, Ukrainian intelligence services said, adding that they had seized electronic means of communication from his home. « clandestine ».
The suspect’s task was to “transmit the operation plans” from kyiv organized “behind enemy lines”argued the SBU.
His Russian contacts were particularly interested, according to Ukrainian intelligence, in information “on sabotage and reconnaissance raids” led by the kyiv army in the occupied areas of the South.
