UPDATE ON THE SITUATION – Le Figaro provides an update on the latest information from journalists, Ukrainian and Russian official statements, Western sources and international organizations.
Almost six months after his invasion by Russia, United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres is due to meet Ukrainian Presidents Volodymyr Zelensky and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Thursday in Lviv, western Ukraine. On the menu of the discussions, the export of cereals, but also the possibilities of a political solution to the conflict.
In Crimea, a logistics rear base for Russian forces, targeted attacks, in particular at a Russian military depot on Tuesday, initially considered an accident, ultimately stem from a Ukrainian attempt to weaken Russian rear bases. Further east, the fighting continues without any major advances. Demotivation peaks among the pro-Russian militias. Here is an update on the situation on the 175th day of the war based on information from AFP journalists on the spot, official Ukrainian and Russian statements, Western sources, analysts and international organizations.
Meeting between Guterres, Zelensky and Erdogan in Lviv
Antonio Guterres, Volodymyr Zelensky and Recep Tayyip Erdogan are due to meet in Lviv, western Ukraine on Thursday. The three men will discuss the recent agreement on the export of Ukrainian cereals, but also “the need for a political solution to this conflictsaid UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric. “I have no doubt (that) the question of the nuclear power plant (of Zaporizhia) and others will also be discussed“.
In his traditional evening statement, Volodymyr Zelensky said on Wednesday that Antonio Guterres was “already arrived in Ukraine. We will work together to achieve the results needed for Ukraine“. The Secretary General is also due to hold bilateral talks with the Ukrainian President. He then planned to travel to Odessa, one of the three ports used under the grain export deal, on Friday before traveling to Turkey to visit the Joint Coordination Center (JCC) responsible for overseeing the deal. .
Crimea under attack again
On Tuesday, the Russian military revealed that a military depot near Jankoy in northern Crimea had “been damaged (…) as a result of an act of sabotage“, without however naming responsible. On a video obtained by AFP, we can see several large plumes of smoke, from which spring many balls of fire, the ammunition having caught fire, in an intense backfire. “A number of civilian infrastructures, including a high voltage line, a power station, a railway line, as well as several houses, were also damaged.“, told the Russian army.
Andriï Iermak, the head of the Ukrainian presidential administration, hailed on Telegram a “demilitarization operation as goldsmith’s work by the Ukrainian armed forces“. According to the British Ministry of Defense quoting Russian media, smoke was also visible on Tuesday over Gvardeyskoye, whose installations and those of Jankoy constitute the “two of the most important Russian military airports in Crimea“.
The explosions come a week after another Russian military airfield was damaged in Saki, Crimea. Moscow then mentioned an accident, when experts and satellite images seemed to reveal the result of a Ukrainian attack. At least nine planes were destroyed, according to Danish analyst Oliver Alexander.
Nuclear fear in the South
NATO called on Wednesday for a “inspectionurgent by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) of the nuclear power plant of Zaporijjia (south), the target of several strikes of which the two belligerents accuse each other, raising fears of a nuclear disaster. “There is an urgent need to authorize an IAEA inspection“, judged the Secretary General of NATO Jens Stoltenberg, who also called for “withdrawal of all Russian forcesof the largest nuclear power plant in Europe, which they have controlled since the beginning of March.
On Tuesday, the Ukrainian public operator of nuclear power plants Energoatom denounced a Russian cyberattack “unprecedentedagainst its online site, stating that its operation had not been disrupted. The Russian groupPeople’s Cyberarmy“had used 7.25 million internet robots which attacked the Energoatom site for three hours, had assured the Ukrainian company, but without “considerable impact“.
Valentyn Reznitchenko, the governor of the Dnipro region, for his part reported on Wednesday eight Russian strikes on Nikopol, which faces the Zaporijjia power plant, and 40 others in Chervonogrygorivka. No casualties were reported, he said.
Read alsoRenaud Girard: “Stop the nuclear danger in Zaporijjia”
Russian strike on Kharkiv
At least six people were killed and 16 injured on Wednesday in a Russian bombardment on Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second city, local authorities announced, President Volodymyr Zelensky denouncing a “despicable and cynical attack“. “There is a powerful fire at the scene of the strike in an apartment buildingsaid the mayor of this city, Igor Terekhov. Volodymyr Zelensky referred to an apartment building “totally destroyedby typing.
Located about 40 kilometers from the Russian border in northeastern Ukraine, Kharkiv has been regularly pounded by the Russian army since the start of the invasion on February 24, but troops from Moscow have never succeeded. to take the city.
A video raises doubts about the motivation of the pro-Russian forces
Part of the pro-Russian militia of the “Republicfrom Lugansk (LNR), which makes up the Donbass with that of Donetsk (DNR), refuses to fight in the DNR, believes the ISW, based on a video visible on Ukrainian social networks. “Soldiers say they celebrated victory on July 3, when NRL forces reached Lugansk borders, and their job was done“, Says the American research center, which, if it says it cannot verify the authenticity of the video, ensures that it is part of a “broader trend of decreasing investmentof pro-Russian militias.
Some of the DNR troops had complained in a similar way in recent months when they had been reassigned to the Lugansk region or to Kherson (south), notes the ISW. On Wednesday, the pro-Ukrainian governor of the Donetsk region, Pavlo Kyrylenko, reported several Russian bombings that locally left at least two dead and 13 injured.