Moscow announced a ceasefire on the Azovstal steel plant in the Ukrainian port of Mariupol on Wednesday evening. The Kremlin announced the opening of a humanitarian corridor for three days. Meanwhile, Emmanuel Macron continues his diplomatic exercise for peace in Ukraine and the Russians claim to have simulated the firing of nuclear-capable missiles. On the 71st day of the conflict with the Russians, the situation remains critical for Ukraine.
The main information to remember:
- Re-elected on April 24, Emmanuel Macron calls for peace
- Russians simulated nuclear-capable missile fire, Moscow claims
- Intelligence provided by the United States to the Ukrainian army led to the killing of several Russian generals near the front
- Société Générale records good figures in the first quarter despite its presence in Russia
The call for peace by Emmanuel Macron and his Indian counterpart
French President Emmanuel Macron and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on tour in Europe, called on Wednesday for an “immediate cessation of hostilities” in Ukraine. Only France, on the other hand, strongly condemned the illegal and unjustified aggression of Russian forces against Ukraine.
India, seeking a difficult balance between the West and Russia, which provides it with a large part of its arms and energy needs, refrains from openly condemning the Russian invasion of Ukraine but calls for dialogue to put an end to it.
Societe Generale saves its first quarter despite its presence in Russia
Societe Generale announced Thursday a net profit from January to March up slightly, at the end of a first quarter heckled by the outbreak of war in Ukraine by Russia, where the bank officiates but from which it will disengage. The group’s result amounted to 842 million euros over the first three months of the year, an increase of 3.2% over one year, for net banking income (NBI), equivalent to turnover for the sector, 7.28 billion euros (+16.6%).
“This first quarter confirms the solidity and resilience of our business model with a sustained performance of all of our businesses in a more uncertain environment”, greets the group’s general manager Frédéric Oudéa in a press release. Retail banking in France, abroad, financial services to companies or even insurance: all businesses show growth in their NBI. The bank with the red and black logo announced on April 11, at the start of the second quarter, the end of its activities in the country through the sale of its entire stake in Rosbank to the investment fund Interros Capital, the previous shareholder
Volodymyr Zelensky calls on Guterres to ‘save’ Azovstal wounded in Mariupol
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Wednesday called on UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres to help “rescue” the injured at the Azovstal steelworks site, besieged and bombarded by Russian troops.
“The lives of the people who remain there are in danger (…) We ask for your help to save them”, indicated Volodymyr Zelensky, quoted by his press service, during a telephone interview with Antonio Guterres while According to kyiv, hundreds of soldiers and civilians, including dozens of children, are in the underground galleries of this site.
The UN has already participated on Sunday in the organization of the evacuation of a hundred civilians trapped in Azovstal with the Ukrainian soldiers who defend this last pocket of resistance in the strategic port, almost entirely controlled by Russian forces.
Russia announces simulated nuclear-capable missile launches
Moscow said on Wednesday that its army had simulated the firing of nuclear-capable missiles in the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad. During military maneuvers in the Baltic Sea enclave between EU member countries Poland and Lithuania on Wednesday, Russia simulated “electronic launches” of nuclear-capable Iskander mobile ballistic missile systems, said the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement.
Russian forces carried out single and multiple strikes on targets that simulated missile system launchers, airfields, protected infrastructure, military equipment and command posts of a fictional enemy, the statement said.
After having carried out the “electronic” shots, the soldiers carried out a maneuver to change position in order to avoid “a possible retaliatory strike”, according to the Ministry of Defense. Combat units also practiced “operations under radiation and chemical contamination conditions”. More than 100 soldiers participated in these exercises.
Washington’s aid to kyiv
Intelligence provided by the United States to the Ukrainian army led to the killing of several Russian generals near the front, The New York Times reported on Wednesday. Washington’s intelligence efforts to help Ukraine get up close and personal in the fighting have “focused on determining the location and other details of regularly moving Russian military headquarters.” “, writes the American daily, citing anonymous sources within the American services.
According to senior officials quoted anonymously, this information, combined with that of the Ukrainians – and in particular the interception of communications – enabled the latter to carry out artillery strikes on senior Russian officers.