This Friday, Libé selects the most important news regarding the war between Russia and Ukraine.
Ukraine targeted by an attack by more than 130 drones and a village taken by the Russians
Kyiv announced this Friday that it had been targeted by 132 Russian drones overnight. The day after massive strikes targeting the country's energy infrastructure, a woman was killed in the city of Kherson and seven injured in the Odessa region, according to the Interior Ministry. On the front, the Russian army has claimed the occupation of a new area in eastern Ukraine, a territory that Moscow wants to conquer and where troops have been advancing strongly since the fall. The Russian Defense Ministry said that “Russian forces” ont “liberated the locality of Rozdolné”a village in southern Donbass.
Russian Defense Minister visits North Korea
Andrei Beloussov, Russian Defense Minister, arrived in Pyongyang this Friday. He was welcomed by his North Korean counterpart, General No Kwang Chol. Andreï Beloussov took advantage of his trip to welcome a strengthening of ties “all-round” with Pyongyang, linked in particular to Moscow by a mutual defense treaty signed in June and recently ratified. The Russian minister affirmed that these talks serve to “further strengthening the Russian-Korean strategic partnership in the field of defense.” General No Kwang Chol, for his part, assured that the North Korean army was determined to “continuously strengthen and develop” cooperation with the Russian army.
Emmanuel Macron denounces Russia's “unacceptable logic of escalation”
During a telephone interview with his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky, Emmanuel Macron “condemned in the strongest possible terms Russia’s indiscriminate strikes which continue to intensify against cities, against civilians and against Ukraine’s energy infrastructure”the Elysée said this Friday. “These strikes, the increased cooperation with North Korea, and the irresponsible rhetoric that accompanies them, are part of an unacceptable logic of escalation on the part of Russia, which continues to pursue a revisionist, brutal and imperialist design in violation of the sovereign rights of Ukraine and the Charter of the United Nations”added the President of the Republic. The Head of State also stressed that this logic of escalation “would not be the reason for our determination to continue helping Ukraine as intensively and for as long as necessary, so that it can exercise its right to self-defense and Russia's war of aggression is put to rest failure”.
Russian opposed to invasion of Ukraine sentenced
Alexei Gorinov, Moscow municipal councilor, was the first in Russia in 2022 to be sentenced to prison for criticizing his country's assault on Ukraine. At the time, he received a seven-year prison sentence. Sentence, which has just been extended by three years for “apology of terrorism”. He was tried this Friday for having conversations with fellow inmates in a prison hospital, where he was being treated for pneumonia in January 2023. Before the announcement of his new sentence, he called for “stop the bloody and unnecessary massacre”.
NGOs call on Ukraine to abandon antipersonnel mines proposed by the United States
The International Campaign to Ban Antipersonnel Mines (ICBL) network, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1997, calls on Ukraine to renounce the antipersonnel mines proposed by the United States, its director said on Friday. Last week, the United States announced that it would supply mines to kyiv to slow the advance of Russian troops. A proposal congratulated by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. kyiv has ratified the treaty banning these weapons worldwide, but not Washington or Moscow. The Russian army is accused by Ukraine of disseminating these explosive devices on a large scale on its territory. Around 25% of the country is affected according to the United Nations.
