Volodymyr Zelensky traveled to Pokrovsk on Wednesday (June 26) to introduce the commander of the joint forces of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, Andri Hnatov, to the region’s defense officials.
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Bombings killed one person and injured eleven people in Donetsk Oblast. A Russian attack on the town of Derhatchi, near Kharkiv, injured eight people, including three children, according to the Ukrainian Interior Ministry.
The Paris Court of Appeal on Wednesday refused the extradition of a Russian wanted by his country for attempted murder. The French justice system believes that Moscow does not provide the necessary guarantees for a fair trial.
The Russian parliament adopted a federal law in June 2022 “under which judgments of the European Court of Human Rights handed down after March 15, 2022 will no longer be enforceable on Russian territory”recalls the court of appeal, which according to it “questions the Russian Federation’s commitment to respecting the principles arising, in particular, from the right to a fair trial”.
The court of appeal also cites the 2022-2023 Amnesty International report which “refers to arbitrary arrests, trials based on fabricated evidence and political prosecutions”.
The suspect, aged 43, is being prosecuted in Russia for attempted murder in March 2023 and giving a bribe in a penitentiary establishment. He was arrested in January 2024 at Orly airport, in the Paris suburbs, when he arrived from Spain. “I have been in business for more than twenty years and I have never had any problems with the law”declared the person concerned on the stand, on May 29, during the hearing before the extradition chamber. “It is arbitrariness that reigns in my country”he said.
The court also ordered the lifting of the defendant’s judicial review.
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First meeting between Russians and Ukrainians
A first direct meeting took place Tuesday between Ukrainian and Russian representatives on the sidelines of a major exchange of prisoners of war. It was an unprecedented operation after more than two years of conflict. In each camp, 90 prisoners were exchanged, thanks to mediation from the United Arab Emirates.
“During the exchange, representatives of the Russian ombudsman’s office arrived for the first time in order to record possible human rights violations. During this joint work, representatives of the two offices interviewed the released prisoners”Ukrainian human rights commissioner Dmytro Lubinets said on Telegram on Wednesday.
Her Russian counterpart, Tatiana Moskalkova, said on Telegram that Russian representatives had “met with a representative of the Ukrainian human rights commissioner. » She added that this meeting was also an opportunity to discuss possible options for the mutual return of civilians currently in detention centers.
Detained journalist
The White House says it “continue to do everything possible” to free the journalist detained in Russia. The trial of American journalist Evan Gershkovich began Wednesday in Russia, as well as that of another American imprisoned in the country, Paul Whelan.
According to John Kirby, spokesperson for the National Security Council, the trial against the Wall Street Journal correspondent, detained for fifteen months on espionage charges that he denies, is a ” simulacrum “. He adds that Mr. Gershkovich did not “never worked for the US government”that he is not a spy and “should never have been arrested”.
