As the alleged death of Wagner’s chief in a crash agitates Russia, strikes continue in Ukraine, which is entering its 19th month of war. This Thursday, August 24, a nighttime missile attack injured seven people in Dnipro, a metropolis in central-eastern Ukraine, announced the governor of the Dnipropetrovsk region, Serguiï Lyssak.
On his Telegram channel, the city councilor reported “powerful explosions […] in the middle of the night”, also stating that “seven people were injured [dont] three men and four women, aged 32 to 55.” Six of the seven victims were hospitalized, according to the governor, who said the strike also damaged residential buildings.
At the same time, Ukraine celebrates its Independence Day this Thursday, marking the end of USSR control over the country in 1991. In a statement, President Volodymyr Zelensky hailed this Thursday as that of the “free people”. Ukrainian.
Russia shoots down three drones in the southwest of the country
Early Thursday morning, Russia claimed to have shot down three new Ukrainian drones in its airspace. According to a statement from the Russian Defense Ministry on Telegram, the air defense stopped “an attempt by the Kiev regime to carry out attacks” in the Bryansk and Kaluga regions.
In detail, two of the three drones “were destroyed […] over the territory of the Briansk region”, bordering Ukraine, while a third machine “was detected and destroyed […] above the territory of the Kaluga region, southwest of Moscow. The Russian Defense Ministry, however, did not provide information about possible damage or casualties.
US journalist’s detention in Russia extended
Journalist Evan Gershkovich will have to stay in prison for another three months in Russia. This Thursday, the Moscow court announced to extend the pretrial detention of the 31-year-old American citizen. The press service of the Lefortovski court said in a statement that his “period of detention is extended […] until November 30.
Arrested during a report in Yekaterinburg in the Urals on March 29, this journalist from wall street journal is accused of espionage by the Russian security services. A charge he rejects, like Washington, his newspaper, his relatives and his family.
As AFP recalls, Russia has also never substantiated its accusations and the procedure has been classified as secret.
Véran considers the conditions of the Prigojine jet crash questionable
International reactions following the crash of a Russian private jet northeast of Moscow continue to fall on Thursday, August 24. On Wednesday evening, a flight from the Russian capital to Saint Petersburg crashed in the countryside of the Tver region, a few minutes after taking off, according to the Russian air transport agency Rossaviatsia. However, the boss of the private militia Wagner, Evgueni Prigojine, would be one of the ten passengers who died in the air crash, according to this same agency. His deputy Dmitry Utkin is also presumed dead.
If the cause of this accident or the identity of the bodies found have not yet been confirmed, several countries have expressed their doubts as to the responsibility of the Kremlin, while the leader of Wagner briefly rebelled against the state- Russian major at the end of June. Latest: government spokesman Olivier Véran. During an interview for France 2, the French minister said Thursday that there were “reasonable doubts” about “the conditions” of this air crash.
He also echoed the statement of US President Joe Biden, who said on Wednesday that “little thing happens in Russia without Putin having something to do with it”. For the spokesperson for the French government, “it is in principle a truth that can be established”.
Emmanuel Macron reacts to Sarkozy’s comments on Crimea
The two politicians oppose each other over the war in Ukraine. In a statement on Wednesday August 23, Emmanuel Macron reacted to Nicolas Sarkozy’s remarks concerning the status of Crimea, illegally annexed by Russia since 2014.
While the former head of state had judged in mid-August that a “rollback” on Crimea was “illusory”, the French president hammered home that France did not recognize “the annexation by Russia of territories Ukrainians”, “nor the results of the sham elections which have been organised”.
A statement made via a pre-recorded video message, broadcast during a summit of the “Crimea Platform”, an annual event wanted by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to recall Ukrainian sovereignty over the peninsula.
Nicolas Sarkozy also pleaded for a Ukraine which remains “neutral” without joining either NATO or the European Union. For him, “an indisputable referendum […] will be necessary to confirm the current state of affairs”.