The main information at midday
- Volodymyr Zelensky made a rare trip to southern Ukraine this Saturday, in Mykolaiv, near the front, the day after Russian bombardments which left at least two dead.
- Ukraine could resume peace talks with Russia by the end of August, when counter-attack operations have been carried out, according to kyiv’s chief negotiator David Arakhamia.
- A Russian public television channel broadcast videos on social networks on Friday of two former American soldiers who had gone to fight as volunteers with the Ukrainian forces and had been missing for several days.
- The Russian army has strengthened its grip on Serpents’ Island in the Black Sea, deploying several defense systems, suggesting that it does not intend to let go of this strategic point despite the threats posed by new artillery systems and Ukrainian missile fire.
1:01 p.m .: Russia puts the world in danger of famine, accuses the EU
Russia is putting the world in danger of famine with the blocking of grain exports from Ukraine and restrictions on its own exports, accuses the head of European diplomacy, the Spaniard Josep Borrell, in a note on his official blog. “Russia’s war against Ukraine threatens to create a worldwide wave of famine. We must urgently allow Ukraine to export its grain through the Black Sea,” he wrote. “While our sanctions do not target these exports, we stand ready to work with the United Nations and our partners to prevent any adverse impact on global food security,” he continues.
These threats to food security will be at the center of discussions by EU foreign ministers on Monday in Luxembourg.
12:53 p.m .: First trip by Volodymyr Zelensky to Mykolaiv, after bombardments
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is visiting Mykolaiv, in the south of the country, announces kyiv. Friday morning, a Russian strike killed at least two people and injured twenty in a residential area, according to a report communicated by the governor of the region.
This port and industrial city, still under Ukrainian control, is close to the region of Kherson, occupied by the Russians since the start of the invasion. It remains a Moscow target because it lies on the route to Odessa, Ukraine’s largest port, 130 km to the southwest.
This is the first trip of the Ukrainian president to Mykolaiv since the start of the war.
A video, released by the Ukrainian presidency, shows him inspecting a badly damaged residential building and holding meetings with local officials.
12:15 p.m .: German criminal police investigate hundreds of potential war crimes
The German Federal Criminal Police Office will investigate several hundred potential Russian war crimes in Ukraine. “So far we have received more than hundreds of clues” in this direction, BKA President Holger Münch told the newspaper “Welt am Sonntag”. Their investigation does not only focus on the perpetrators of war crimes but also on the military and political leaders of these crimes. “This is the hardest part of our investigation, a complex puzzle job,” he said.
11:10 am: kyiv could resume peace talks with Russia by the end of August
Ukraine could resume peace talks with Russia by the end of August, when counterattack operations have been carried out. The country will then be in a better position to negotiate, kyiv’s chief negotiator David Arakhamia said in an interview with US television on Saturday. Voice of America.
10:45 am: In kyiv, a crowd at the funeral of a Maidan figure killed in action
Hundreds of people flocked to the Saint-Michel-au-Dôme-d’Or monastery in central kyiv on Saturday to attend the funeral of Roman Ratouchny, a young Ukrainian activist, figure of the pro-European Maidan movement, who died on June 9 near Izium, Kharkiv region, killed in action. A gathering is scheduled for midday on Independence Square (Maidan in Ukrainian) and the coffin will be buried in the Baikove cemetery, in the south of kyiv, where many Ukrainian personalities are buried.
9:20 am: Russian public television broadcasts videos of two Americans missing in Ukraine
A Russian public television channel broadcast videos on social networks on Friday of two former American soldiers who had gone to fight as volunteers with the Ukrainian forces and had been missing for several days.
Friday evening, the Russian journalist Roman Kosarev – who works with the Russian public television channel RT – posted on Telegram messaging a video of one of the two Americans, speaking in front of the camera.
“Mom, I just want to tell you that I’m alive and I hope to get home as soon as I can,” said Alexander Drueke, in military fatigues and apparently seated in an office. “The Russian forces took over our positions. We had to retreat,” says Andy Huynh. After hiding for several hours, the two men surrendered to Russian forces, he said.
The circumstances under which the two former servicemen were speaking, and who is holding them, are unclear at this stage.
9:10 am: The Russians consolidate their hold on Serpents’ Island
The Russian army has strengthened its grip on Serpents’ Island in the Black Sea, deploying several defense systems, suggesting that it does not intend to let go of this strategic point easily despite the threats posed by new artillery systems and Ukrainian missile fire. The latest open-source satellite images of this islet off the Ukrainian and Romanian coasts make it possible to distinguish different surface-to-air defense systems, and the Russians have also installed them on ships positioned nearby to further strengthen the protection bubble.
7:55 am: “Ukraine will turn into a semi-colony” of Western countries
Speaking at the Saint Petersburg Economic Forum, President Vladimir Putin said on Friday that Russia had “nothing against” Ukraine’s membership of the European Union, but asserted that “Ukraine will transform into a semi-colony” of Western countries.
The spokeswoman for Russian diplomacy Maria Zakharova was more direct: “For years, the Western community has been manipulating this story of Ukraine’s involvement in their integration structures, and since then Ukraine is increasingly going wrong,” she told Russian agencies.
What awaits Ukraine before hoping to join the European Union?
The European Commission on Friday recommended granting Ukraine EU candidate status. The European Council will validate or not this decision next week. But even if Ukraine obtains candidate status, it will still be a long way from becoming an EU member.
>> We explain why in this article.
7:45 am: 2,000 “foreign mercenaries” killed
The Russian military claimed that nearly 7,000 “foreign mercenaries” from 64 countries had arrived in Ukraine since the start of the conflict and that nearly 2,000 had been killed. Moscow describes Poland as the “absolute leader” in Europe in terms of fighters, followed by Romania and Britain.
6:55 am: The humanitarian drama continues in eastern Ukraine
On the fighting front, Ukrainian forces remain in difficulty in the Donbass, this region in the east of the country partially controlled by pro-Russian separatists since 2014, and which Moscow has set itself the objective of conquering. The UN stressed on Friday that “the humanitarian situation throughout Ukraine, particularly in eastern Donbass, is extremely alarming and continues to deteriorate rapidly.”
The fighting has been concentrated for several weeks on Severodonetsk and Lyssytchansk, two key cities for the control of Donbass, subjected to constant bombardments. The large Azot chemical plant in Severodonetsk, where around 500 civilians have taken refuge alongside Ukrainian servicemen, is impossible to evacuate without a “full ceasefire” due to “constant shelling and fighting”, the governor of the city said on Friday. the Lugansk region, Sergiï Gaïdaï.
6:50 am: The situation on the ground
– In Lysychansk, twin city of Severodonetsk in eastern Ukraine, a missile strike on the House of Culture left three dead and seven injured, according to kyiv. Another civilian was killed in the middle of the street in a bombardment.
– A Russian strike on a residential area of Mykolaiv left at least two dead and 20 injured, according to the governor of the region. A provisional report. This port and industrial city, still under Ukrainian control, is close to the region of Kherson, occupied by the Russians since the start of the invasion. The latter continue to solidify rear positions in the northwest of the region.
– In addition, the Ukrainian Navy claimed to have destroyed a Russian tug carrying weapons and ammunition in the Black Sea to Serpents’ Island.
The main information of the day Friday
- Russia has “already lost strategically” its war in Ukraine and “will never take control” of the country, said British Chief of Defense Staff Admiral Tony Radakin.
- France no longer receives any Russian gas by pipeline, network manager GRTgaz announced.
- The European Commission has expressed its support for EU candidate status for Ukraine and Moldova.
- British Prime Minister Boris Johnson was also on Friday again on a visit to kyiv. A surprise visit which comes the day after that of four EU leaders.
- In the current state of the conflict, Ukraine will not host Eurovision 2023, the European Broadcasting Union announced on Friday.
6:45 am: Hello everyone, welcome to this live where we will follow the situation around the conflict in Ukraine, on the 115th day of the Russian invasion.