Did you miss the latest events on the tensions in Ukraine? Do not panic, 20 minutes updates you every night at 7:30 p.m. Who did what? Who said what? Where are we ? The answer below:
news of the day
Moscow celebrated May 9 as the “Day of Victory” against Nazi Germany. Russian President Vladimir Putin proclaimed that his army was fighting in Ukraine to defend “the motherland” against the “unacceptable threat” posed by its Western-backed neighbor, in front of thousands of Russian soldiers marching in Red Square.
Returning to his decision to launch his forces in Ukraine on February 24, he repeated that the Ukrainian authorities were preparing an attack against pro-Russian separatists in the east of the country, wanted to acquire the atomic bomb and were supported by NATO. “An absolutely unacceptable threat was forming, directly on our borders,” he said, once again accusing his neighbor of neo-Nazism.
sentence of the day
The Kremlin wants to suppress your spirit of freedom and democracy. I am totally convinced that he will never get there”
The President of the European Council Charles Michel delivered a strong message of support to the Ukrainians on Monday, during a surprise visit to Odessa, a large southern city where he was forced to take shelter for a while because of strikes in the region. . “You are not alone. We are on your side, we will not let you down,” he added to the Ukrainians.
The number of the day
105,000 euros. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s sports jacket, which has become iconic, was sold at auction by Christie’s in London for 90,000 pounds (about 105,000 euros). Proceeds from this sale, and the entire fundraiser dubbed “Brave Ukraine”, will be donated to a medical center for Ukrainian children.
The trend of the day
While Russia celebrated the 1945 victory on Monday, the European Union focused on Europe Day. On this occasion, Ursula von der Leyen announced that the European Commission would deliver its opinion in June on Ukraine’s application for membership of the European Union.
French President Emmanuel Macron has called for the creation of a “European political community” which “would allow democratic European nations adhering to our core values to find a new space for political cooperation, security, cooperation” while an EU accession procedure takes “decades”.
However, the EU is divided: Ursula von der Leyen and the French leader have called for a revision of the treaties to make the Union more effective. But 13 of the 27 countries of the European Union oppose such a procedure.