Russia hit the middle of a contested presidential election

Have you missed the latest war in Ukraine? 20 minutes Takes stock for you every evening at 7:30pm. Between strong announcements, progress on the front and battle results, here are the highlights of the day.

Fact of the day

Russian regions bordering Ukraine faced new attacks on Saturday in the middle of a presidential election, with at least two people killed and Vladimir Putin, promising a victorious re-election, vowing to respond.

In Belgorod, a city very close to Ukraine and often targeted, “two people died, a man and a woman,” the governor of the region of the same name, Vyacheslav Gladkov, said, adding that eight rockets were fired. was slaughtered. According to him, the man died when his truck crashed and the woman died in the parking lot. The latter’s son was seriously injured and doctors were “fighting for his life”. While two other people were injured.

Due to these attacks, shopping centers in Belgorod will be closed for two days, as well as schools in the city and some districts. The governor announced in the afternoon that another fifteen rockets were shot down by air defenses as they approached the city. On Friday, President Putin assured that Ukrainian attacks on Russian territory would not go “unpunished”.

Today’s statement

” I would like to congratulate Vladimir Putin on his resounding victory in the elections »

This sentence, full of irony, signed the Belgian Charles Michel, President of the European Council, on the X platform (formerly Twitter). “There is no opposition. Not freedom. There is no alternative,” he added in this widely shared message. Even if the result of the vote will not be known until Sunday, the victory of Vladimir Putin, who has been in power for 24 years, is in no doubt because no real challenger has emerged as a candidate.

Number of days

fifteen. The number of Russian regions has been the subject of at least one attempt to discredit polling stations since Friday, according to Russian investigative media not close to power, Mozem Obyasnit. By Friday, about fifteen people had been arrested in several cities for pouring paint into ballot boxes, throwing Molotov cocktails at polling stations or setting polling stations on fire. Some of them face up to five years in prison for obstructing the election process, according to authorities.

Attitude

The organization of the Russian presidential election in the united Ukrainian regions does not really gather in the international community. UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres and dozens of member states have condemned the holding of these elections in these regions.

“The Secretary General condemns the efforts of the Russian Federation to hold its presidential elections in the territories of Ukraine occupied by the Russian Federation. He recalls that the illegal attempt to annex the territories of Ukraine has no recognition under international law,” declared his spokesman Stephane Dujarric.

Our file on the war in Ukraine

About fifty countries, including the United States, France, and France, also declared in a joint text read by the Ukrainian ambassador, “To hold elections in another UN member state without its consent is a violation of sovereignty and territorial integrity.” There is a clear disregard for principles.” United Kingdom, Japan, Australia and even South Korea…

“Our cause is just and we will win,” responded Dmitry Polyansky, the Russian deputy ambassador to the UN, assuring that the territories are “administratively and politically part of our country, whether you like it or not.”