Live – War in Ukraine: After Avdiivka, Russian forces continue the offensive

Rafael Glucksman, head of the Socialist List in the European elections, considered it “crazy” that Europe “did not go into a war economy” two years after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, warning of the medium-term risks of a Ukrainian defeat. .

“The absolutely crazy thing is that it’s been two years since this war started (…) we still haven’t increased our production capacity,” he asserted on BFMTV, adding, “Today, on the Ukrainian front, Ukrainians can shoot. 1,000 shells while the Russians fire 10,000 a day.” He called for “long-term contracts with our producers” and “joint European-wide” purchases of shells on the international market.

And this, “not only out of solidarity or morality: we will do it also out of intelligence and selfishness”. “If we don’t do it now and the Ukrainian front collapses, the questions we will have to ask ourselves in a year or two will be infinitely more painful,” warned Raphael Glucksman, adding that “French soldiers will die” if Ukraine stands up to the Russian giant. lost

Ukrainian forces relinquished the town of Evdivka to Russian troops after months of fighting. According to Kiev, this withdrawal and these difficulties on this front are linked to the shortage of ammunition.

Ukrainian Infrastructure Minister Oleksandr Kubrakov on Monday called the blockade by Polish farmers on the border between the two countries a “threat to Ukraine’s security”.

“Blocking the border is a direct threat to the security of the defending country. Such actions have a negative impact on our confrontation with a common enemy called Russia,” Mr. Koubrakov condemned on Facebook.

• On Sunday, Dipstat, a Telegram channel close to the Ukrainian military, claimed that Russian forces may have shot and killed six Ukrainian soldiers, including four wounded, in a position south of Avdaika on Thursday. Ukrainian authorities have not yet commented on these statements. On the other hand, Kiev’s ground forces accused Russia of shooting and executing two Ukrainian prisoners of war on Sunday in the east, but outside the Avdivka sector.

• In the country’s south, the Ukrainian military reported Russian attacks in the Zaporizhia region on Sunday. According to General Tarnavskiy, Kiev forces thus repelled 13 Russian “attack attempts” near the villages of Robotin and Verbove, one of the rare places where the Ukrainians regained ground during their largely unsuccessful 2023 counter-offensive. Later, spokesman Dmitri Likhovy downplayed the seriousness of the attacks, asserting that Moscow did not have sufficient forces for success.

• Vladimir Putin assured that “what is happening” in Ukraine is a “question of life and death” for Russia, while for the West it is only a question of improving “(its) strategic position”, in an interview broadcast on Sunday. The Russian president said it was “important” for Russians and foreigners alike “to understand our state of mind, to understand how sensitive and important what is happening around Ukraine is for our country.”

• Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi assured his Ukrainian counterpart Dmytro Kuleba that China “does not sell lethal weapons” to Russia, Beijing said on Sunday evening. China “continues to push for peace talks and does not add fuel to the fire,” Wang Yi told Dimitro Kuleba during a meeting on the sidelines of the Security Council in Munich on Saturday.

Hello and welcome to this live broadcast dedicated to events related to the war in Ukraine.