The main information at midday
- The Russian parliament is due to vote on Wednesday to lift the age limit for enlisting in the army. Currently, only citizens between the ages of 18 and 40 are allowed there.
- Delegations from Sweden and Finland will take part in a meeting in Ankara on Wednesday to try to find an agreement on the two countries’ membership of NATO.
- Moscow has announced that the question of a prisoner exchange with Ukraine will be considered once the Ukrainian detainees have been tried. According to Russia, 4,000 Ukrainian soldiers entrenched in Azovstal have been captured.
- On the second day of the Council of Baltic Sea States, which met for the first time in nine years, the ten countries represented declared that the war would have a “long-term negative impact” on the region’s security.
11:34 a.m .: The war in Ukraine will have a lasting effect on security around the Baltic
The Russian invasion of Ukraine will have a “long-term negative impact” on regional security around the Baltic Sea, said Wednesday the heads of diplomacy of the riparian states meeting for the first time in nine years, without the Russia.
Ministerial meetings of the Council of Baltic Sea States, a regional cooperation body, had been suspended after Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014 and Moscow’s support for separatists in eastern Ukraine. Breaking with this long break, the heads of diplomacy from the ten countries (Germany, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Poland, Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia) met on Tuesday and Wednesday in Kristiansand (southern Norway) in also the presence of the head of European diplomacy, Josep Borrell. Russia was not represented.
“Russian aggression is completely incompatible with the cooperative model governing international relations in the Baltic Sea region, has a long-term negative impact on regional security and is contrary to the rules-based international order,” they said. said the participants in a joint statement.
“The Council’s relations with Russia and Belarus (observer state, editor’s note) will remain severed until cooperation becomes possible again within the framework of the fundamental principles of international law”, they added.
10:36 am: Moscow will consider an exchange of prisoners with kyiv after a trial
Russia will consider the issue of a prisoner exchange with Ukraine once the Ukrainian detainees have been tried, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Andrei Roudenko said, quoted by Russian agencies.
“We will look into all of this after those who surrendered have been tried, after a verdict has been delivered,” he said. “Prior to that, talks about a trade are premature. »
Last week, the last Ukrainian defenders of the strategic city of Mariupol, entrenched for weeks in the huge Azovstal steelworks, surrendered. According to the Russian Defense Ministry, nearly 4,000 Ukrainian soldiers were captured there.
9:54 a.m .: Russia calls for sanctions to be lifted to avoid a global food crisis
A senior Russian diplomat on Wednesday demanded the lifting of sanctions against Moscow as a condition to avert a global food crisis due to the blocking of Ukrainian grain exports since the start of the Kremlin offensive.
“Solving the food problem requires a collective approach, involving in particular the lifting of the sanctions that have been imposed on Russian exports and financial transactions,” deputy foreign minister Andrei Roudenko was quoted by news agencies as saying. Russians.
9:42 am: Zelensky denounces in Davos a lack of “unity” of Western countries
Volodymyr Zelensky denounced this Wednesday a lack of “unity” of Western countries in the face of the war in Ukraine, more than three months after the start of the Russian invasion.
“My question is: is there unity in practice (in the West, editor’s note)? I don’t see it”, he regretted during a speech by videoconference at the Davos economic forum in Switzerland, claiming to “need the support of a united Europe”.
9:12 a.m.: Zelensky would like to speak directly to Putin
At the World Economic Forum in Davos, Volodymyr Zelensky said he wanted to speak directly to Vladimir Putin, not with intermediaries, reports The Guardian. He added that if the Russian president “understands the reality”, there should be a possibility of finding a diplomatic solution to the conflict.
He also said that if Moscow withdrew its troops, it would be “a first step towards discussions”.
Russian soprano Anna Netrebko will take the stage at the Philharmonie de Paris, after controversy
Russian soprano Anna Netrebko will return to the stage at the Philharmonie de Paris this Wednesday, after the criticism that has been aimed at her since the start of the war in Ukraine.
She was among the first Russian artists to be singled out after the start of the invasion of Ukraine for not speaking out against the war. The prestigious Metropolitan Opera in New York, of which she was the star, thus deprogrammed her for an indefinite period and she then announced that she was temporarily withdrawing from the stage.
On March 30, she “expressly condemned the war against Ukraine”, which led to her being removed from the poster in her own country.
The soprano has never openly proclaimed her support for Vladimir Putin, but she is accused of having traveled to Donetsk in December 2015 to pose with the flag of the pro-Russian separatist rebels. She also caused controversy when she presented a check for one million rubles (about 15,000 euros) to pro-Russian Ukrainian leader Oleg Tsarev.
8:03 am: Delegations from Sweden and Finland expected this Wednesday in Ankara
Delegations sent by Sweden and Finland are expected this Wednesday at midday at the Turkish presidential palace in Ankara, with the hope of convincing Turkey to no longer oppose their candidacy to join NATO.
According to a statement from the Turkish Foreign Ministry, Presidency Spokesperson Ibrahim Kalin and Deputy Foreign Minister Sedat Onal will attend the meeting.
According to Turkish private television NTV, which quotes Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu, Ankara has prepared a “draft agreement” which will serve as the basis for discussions. Turkey wants “guarantees” that can be given in an official and signed agreement.
6:57 am: The Russian army intends to “destroy everything in the Donbass”, says Zelensky
The Russian army is trying at all costs to tighten its grip on the Lugansk region, in the Donbass, in the east of the country. “In the Lugansk region, the Russians are advancing in all directions at the same time,” regional governor Sergei Gaïdaï said on Telegram on Wednesday.
“The situation in the Donbass is extremely difficult,” acknowledged President Zelensky for his part on Tuesday evening. “All the forces that the Russian army still has have been thrown there for the offensive” because they “want to destroy everything”, he said.
5:50 a.m .: The Russian parliament votes this Wednesday on the lifting of an age limit for enlisting in the army
Russia is preparing to remove an age limit for joining the army, according to the agenda for Wednesday in the Duma, the lower house of the Russian parliament. According to this note, only citizens between the ages of 18 and 40 are currently allowed to enter into a first contract with the army. For foreign citizens, the window is 18 to 30 years old.
Faced with fierce Ukrainian resistance, Russia recorded significant material and human losses even if Moscow has never revealed the extent.
5:48 am: The United States lifts the exemption on the payment of the debt of Russia in dollars
The United States has decided to end, from this Wednesday time, an exemption allowing Moscow to pay its debts with dollars. A decision that could precipitate Russia into default.
5:47 am: State of emergency in Hungary
A European Union embargo on Russian oil was also still at the center of discussions on Tuesday, which require the unanimity of the member countries of the Union. Germany and France have deemed it possible to achieve this in the coming days, but Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, whose country depends on Russian oil, deemed this prospect “very unlikely” in the immediate future.
The Hungarian leader, citing the repercussions of the war, thus declared a state of emergency on Tuesday from midnight in his country. The French presidency assured that “different options are on the table to get out of this deadlock” on the embargo.
What are the frightening Russian BMPT “Terminator” tanks, deployed in the Donbass?
Three months after the launch of the Russian offensive in Ukraine, Moscow deploys its “Terminator” BMPTs in the Donbass. Impressive vehicles intended to support and protect the Russian military aboard lighter… and fragile tanks.
>>Find our full article by clicking here.
5:46 am: The latest highlights on the ground
– Russia said on Tuesday that it was determined to achieve “all its objectives” in Ukraine. After having removed the Russian forces from the two largest cities of the country, kyiv and Kharkiv (north-east), the Ukrainians recognize “difficulties” in the Donbass.
– Moscow concentrates its firepower on the Ukrainian redoubt in the Lugansk region, trying to surround the towns of Severodonetsk and Lyssytchansk. Fighting is underway for control of the town of Lyman, an important railway junction whose capture would constitute significant progress in these encirclement attempts.
– The Ukrainian Ministry of Defense also mentioned intense fighting in the vicinity of the localities of Popasna and Bakhmout, the fall of which would give the Russians control of an important crossroads for the Ukrainian war effort.
– In Severodonetsk, four people were killed on Tuesday morning by a strike on a chemical plant where shelters had been installed, and another in the city center.
– The southern front seems stable, although the Ukrainians are claiming territorial gains there.
What to remember from Tuesday
- Three months after the start of the invasion, 85,000 Ukrainians have taken refuge in France. The French Office for Immigration and Integration has indicated that 300 allowances for asylum seekers are currently issued per day.
- The European Union has announced the suspension in 2023 of its budgetary discipline rules because of the war, which is leading to soaring prices.
5:45 am: Hello everyone, welcome to this live where we will follow the situation around the conflict in Ukraine, on the 91st day of the Russian invasion.