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 of this Tuesday, the 958th day of the war.
Fact of the day
The United Kingdom on Tuesday sanctioned General Igor Kirillov, head of the Russian army’s Radionuclear, Chemical and Biological Defense, as well as the entire force and two research institutes “for the deployment of barbaric chemical weapons in Ukraine.”
“Russian forces have openly admitted to using dangerous chemical weapons on the battlefield, with widespread use of riot control drugs and multiple reports of the use of the toxic suffocating agent chloropicrin times during the First World War,” indicates the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
According to London, in addition to his role in the deployment of chemical weapons in Ukraine, Igor Kirillov “is also a leading spokesperson for Kremlin disinformation, spreading lies to mask Russia’s shameful and dangerous behavior.”
“The United Kingdom will not stand idly by while Putin and his mafia state flout international law, including the Chemical Weapons Convention,” said British Foreign Minister David Lammy.
Today’s statement
« “Russia continues to carry out missile strikes against Ukraine’s critical energy infrastructure […] which could face its harshest winter since the start of the invasion » »
The words were signed by the new head of NATO, Mark Rutte, this Tuesday. The Dutchman acknowledged that the situation on the battlefield was “difficult” for the Ukrainian army, however underlining the extremely high cost for the Russian forces (more than 1,000 dead or wounded per day) in addition to “a total of 500,000 dead or injured.
Ukrainians “need our continued support, that’s absolutely clear. They need it now and again afterwards,” underlined Mark Rutte, welcoming the “very important meeting” planned, initially for Saturday, at the American military base at Ramstein (southwest of Germany).
The number of the day
6. This is the number of victims caused by a Russian missile strike on the port of Odessa, on the Black Sea, Monday evening. A Ukrainian employee of a logistics company was killed and five foreigners injured, the Ukrainian Prosecutor General’s Office said. The attack hit a civilian boat flying the flag of Palau, an archipelago in the Pacific Ocean.
The Black Sea is a crucial trade route for Ukraine, one of the world’s largest grain producers and exporters, but it has become a naval battlefield since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine began in February 2022.
Russia also launched a drone attack on the Odessa region overnight Monday to Tuesday, damaging a residential building and a business in the port city of Chornomorsk, near Odessa, the prosecutor’s office said.
The trend
The authorities of several Russian regions have announced in recent weeks considerable increases in salaries and bonuses paid to Russians who volunteer to fight in Ukraine. The Kremlin, which wants to avoid an unpopular mobilization like that of some 300,000 men in September 2022, assures that it only wants to send volunteers under contract to the front.
At the beginning of October, the region of Khanty-Mansiysk (north), rich in hydrocarbons, announced that it would now pay a record annual salary of 5.27 million rubles (around 50,000 euros, or more than five times the average Russian annual salary ) for those who join the Ukrainian front. The signing bonus was set at 2.7 million rubles (approximately 25,400 euros).
The Belgorod region, bordering Ukraine, for its part, announced in October to increase the signing bonus to 3 million rubles (28,200 euros) – compared to 800,000 rubles previously – for those who sign their contract before the 1st January.
In the Moscow region, posters have been promising an annual salary of 5.2 million rubles since July.
Our file on the war in Ukraine
On television, calls to get involved are also increasing, as are public poster campaigns in cities emphasizing the increasing amount of sales.
If the losses of the Russian army are classified secret, the increase in pay and bonuses remains a means of replenishing the ranks of units decimated by almost two and a half years of bloody clashes.
