Did you miss the latest events on the tensions in Ukraine? Do not panic, 20 minutes takes stock for you every evening at 7:30 p.m. Who did what ? Who said what? Where are we ? The answer below:
news of the day
Ukraine suffered this Friday morning new Russian missile strikes which caused water cuts in the capital kyiv and power across the country, Moscow showing itself determined to destroy Ukrainian infrastructure. According to the Ukrainian authorities, “about 40 missiles” Russian targeted the capital, 37 of which were shot down by anti-aircraft defense.
Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klichko said the damage to the energy infrastructure caused “water supply interruptions in all areas of the capital”. These power cuts also caused the kyiv metro to shut down all day.
The number of the day
2 billion. This is the amount of aid released by the International Finance Corporation (IFC), a subsidiary of the World Bank, to support the Ukrainian private sector. This aid must “meet the immediate needs of the private sector, which has been devastated by the war, and help prepare for reconstruction”, specified the IFC.
According to data from the Ukrainian central bank, 11% of Ukrainian companies have had to lower the curtain since the beginning of the Russian invasion, and half are idling. In addition, five million jobs have been destroyed since the start of the conflict, according to the Ukrainian Ministry of Economy.
sentence of the day
“We go to a certain point in vehicles, then we walk for 4 km in the mud with all the weapons and ammunition. Counting a few short breaks, it takes us two hours, and then the war starts… and you are already tired”
This testimony is that of Volodymyr, a 29-year-old Ukrainian mobilized at the front. After several days of combat, he rests, with other soldiers, in Lyman, a locality in Donbass liberated at the beginning of October after four months of occupation by the Russians. The day before, the group of soldiers was still fighting about thirty kilometers away, in a forest on this front line where the positions of the two camps have been almost frozen for several weeks. “You never know how long you’re going to be at rest. They call us on the radio and we have an hour to move,” explains Volodymyr. The soldiers who fight during the day are replaced by others for the night.
The trend of the day
According to the Ukrainians, Moscow is preparing a major offensive and will try again, sooner or later, to take kyiv. But after ten months of a war that continues to get bogged down, the prospect is difficult to confirm. In an article in the British weekly The Economist published Thursday, the Ukrainian chief of staff Valery Zaluzhny estimated that a major attack could intervene “in February, at best in March and at worst at the end of January”. According to him, the Russians could target the south, the Donbass, or the capital itself. “I have no doubt that they will try their luck again in kyiv,” assured the officer.