Europe 1 with AFP
modified to
6:33 p.m., December 12, 2022
The leaders of the G7, meeting in a virtual summit on Monday, decided to set up a “platform” responsible for “coordinating financial aid” to Ukraine, announced German Chancellor Olaf Scholz. “The objective is to quickly build this platform with the participation of Ukraine, international financial institutions and other partners”, explained, during a press conference in Berlin, the German leader, comparing the reconstruction of Ukraine to the Marshall Plan set up by the United States to rebuild Europe after the Second World War.
The leaders of the G7 – United States, Germany, Canada, France, Great Britain, Japan and Italy – spoke Monday by videoconference about Ukraine. A new support conference for Ukraine, on emergency aid and long-term reconstruction of the country, will be held in Paris on Tuesday.
“We are convinced that it was our unity, our determination, which isolated the Russian President (Vladimir Putin) and we again call on Vladimir Putin to stop the senseless killings in Ukraine and to withdraw his troops,” said Mr. Scholz, whose country chaired the G7 this year.
The main information to remember:
– G7 members decided to set up a “platform” to “coordinate financial assistance” to Ukraine
– A Frenchman who went to fight in Ukraine, is awaiting repatriation
– At least two dead in Kherson region after Russian shelling
a Frenchman wounded in combat awaiting repatriation
A Frenchman who went to fight alongside Ukrainian soldiers against Russia jumped on a mine at the end of November in the Donbass (East) and is now awaiting his repatriation, organized by the Quai d’Orsay, AFP learned from the person concerned and of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
“I was wounded on November 27 in a forest, as our battalion began to enter the Lugansk region, northeast of Svatove”, in eastern Ukraine, where fighting is raging against the Russian forces, Maxime Bronchain, 32, who is currently being treated in a military hospital in the capital, told AFP by telephone.
“I jumped on a mine, I am seriously injured in the left foot. An American who was with me jumped on a mine then a second while coming to help me. He died during his evacuation”, details the Frenchman, who was part of a reconnaissance unit of about twenty foreign fighters, “including 5 French”, within the International Legion.
He has undergone 5 operations since his injury, and refused amputation but now fears losing his foot. In contact with the French embassy in Ukraine, he is now waiting to be repatriated to France. “There are high risks of infection, and the Ukrainians are in shortage of morphine”, worries his brother Florent, contacted by AFP.
At least two dead in ‘massive’ Russian shelling in Kherson
At least two people were killed and five others injured Monday in “massive” Russian bombardments on Kherson, a large city in southern Ukraine taken over by Kiev a month ago, said the regional governor. According to Yaroslav Yanushevich, Russian troops hit a neighborhood in the center-east of Kherson. “Currently there are two killed and five injured,” he wrote on Telegram.
Ambulances were heading to another area, also affected by the shelling and where the number of victims was not immediately known, he added. Russian forces occupied the city of Kherson, which then had a population of almost 300,000, and almost all of the eponymous region shortly after the start of their invasion of Ukraine launched at the end of February.
The city of Kherson was recaptured in November by Ukrainian forces in a counter-offensive, which led to the withdrawal of Russian forces that crossed over to the left bank of the Dnieper River. Prior to their retreat in November, Russian forces destroyed basic public service infrastructure in the city and have since shelled Kherson repeatedly, according to local authorities.