LIVE – War in Ukraine: Russia not capable of “significant breakthroughs” on the front, according to NATO chief

Russia is not capable of making “significant breakthroughs” on the battlefield in Ukraine, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said on Thursday.

“They have tried to launch an offensive again since the spring but so far they have only made limited gains (…) We have no other indication or reason to believe that Russia has the capabilities or the strength to make significant breakthroughs,” Stoltenberg explained in an interview with AFP.

The NATO chief, however, stressed that Russian forces would probably continue to push on the various fronts and increase air attacks.

Prague appealed for new donors to join its initiative to supply ammunition to Ukraine in the face of Russian invasion, stressing that more contributions were needed to reach the target of 800,000 shells delivered to kyiv.

Eighteen countries, including Canada, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Portugal are among the contributors. The first batch of ammunition purchased outside Europe under this initiative has arrived in Ukraine. “If we want to reach the goal of 800,000 units, we need more donors. We know that ammunition is available,” Defense Minister Jana Cernochova told reporters.

Sri Lanka has asked Moscow to allow its nationals participating in Russia’s war against Ukraine to return to their country if they wish, the government announced Thursday.

An official delegation held two days of discussions in the Russian capital this week, where it also demanded compensation for 17 Sri Lankans killed in the fighting, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in Colombo.

In addition, at least one former member of the Sri Lankan army was killed after joining Ukrainian forces, according to Sri Lankan authorities.

Sri Lanka’s parliament last month opened a bipartisan inquiry into at least 2,000 former military personnel who allegedly enlisted, mainly on the Russian side, in the conflict in Ukraine.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, visiting Brussels on Thursday to sign a security agreement with the European Union, considered that this text constituted a step towards “peace and prosperity” on the continent.

The Ukrainian leader’s trip to Belgium comes days after the opening of formal negotiations for kyiv’s membership in the European Union, more than two years after the start of the Russian invasion.

“Thank you to all EU leaders for this historic result. We have been waiting for this for a long time. This is very important for all of us,” Zelensky said, referring to the negotiations as he arrived in Brussels to attend a summit of EU heads of state and government.

Ukraine’s possible accession to the European Union (EU) will be the “probable trigger for a deep reform” of the common agricultural policy (CAP), according to a study by the Institute for Sustainable Development and International Relations (IDDRI) published on Thursday.

Discussions on the agricultural aspect of the EU accession process, officially initiated on Tuesday for kyiv, “are renowned as being among the most difficult”, with the CAP representing around a third of the European budget and agricultural holdings being particularly vulnerable “in the face of intra-community competition”, recalls the document.

They take on even more importance with Ukraine, an agricultural power due to “the size of its territory”, “the wealth of its lands” and “the competitiveness of some of its sectors on the international market”.

Agricultural trade between Ukraine and the EU has already intensified since the annexation of Crimea by Russia in 2014, and the adoption of an association agreement between the two areas.

Volodymyr Zelensky arrived in Brussels this Thursday. The Ukrainian president is attending a meeting of the European Council, after which he will honor several bilateral talks. “We will sign three security agreements, including one with the entire EU,” specified the head of state in a message posted on X.

President Volodymyr Zelensky said he was convinced that the new French government which will emerge from the legislative elections would maintain its support for Ukraine in the face of Russia, Thursday in an exclusive comment made to AFP.

These comments come as elections scheduled for June 30 and July 7 in France could bring to power the far-right National Rally (RN) party, regularly criticized for its proximity to Vladimir Putin’s regime.

“We believe that the French will continue to support Ukraine whatever the political situation,” Mr. Zelensky said in a written comment to AFP.

“Similarly, by the will of the French people, the next government will continue to fully support Ukraine both on the battlefield” and in its accession to the EU, he continued.

France denounced Thursday “the policy of violation of press freedom and intimidation of journalists working in the service of independent information”, two days after Moscow decided to block the broadcasting of 81 European media on its territory .

“France condemns the decision taken by Russia to ban the broadcasting of several dozen European media in Russia,” said a press release from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

“This unjustified decision will not allow us to hide the reality of the illegal Russian war of aggression in Ukraine,” adds French diplomacy.

Moscow announced on Tuesday that it was blocking access on its territory to the broadcasting of 81 European media, including the AFP website, the German media Der Spiegel, the Spanish media El Mundo and El Pais, the Italian television RAI… in “retaliation ” to the EU’s decision in May to ban four Russian state media outlets.

Here is the news from the last 24 hours concerning the war between Ukraine and Russia:

• The trial for “espionage” of American journalist Evan Gershkovich, detained in Russia for 15 months on charges he denies, opened on Wednesday. Mr. Gershkovich, 32, was arrested in March 2023 while reporting in Yekaterinburg by the Russian security services (FSB), becoming the first Western journalist since Soviet times to be accused of espionage in Russia. The US embassy in Moscow called on Russian authorities to release him “immediately”. “We have made it clear from the outset that Evan did not commit any wrongdoing and should not have been arrested,” the embassy said on social media.
• Five Lithuanians were injured on Wednesday in Pokrovsk, in the Donetsk region (east) of Ukraine, by bombings while they were traveling by car and providing material aid to soldiers from that country.
• The Paris Court of Appeal issued an unfavorable opinion on Wednesday against the extradition of a Russian requested by his country for attempted murder, considering that Moscow did not provide the guarantees necessary for holding a fair trial. The suspect, 43, is being prosecuted in Russia for attempted murder in March 2023 and giving a bribe in a penitentiary establishment.

Hello everyone. You will be able to follow in this live today all the information on the war in Ukraine.