kyiv reports the largest Russian attack since the start of the year – L’Express

An air raid alert has been issued for the second time in the Crimean city of Sevastopol, the city’s governor, Mikhaїl Razvojaїev, announced. The Russian army has once again blocked the Crimean Bridge connecting Crimea with mainland Russia. Since around 5 a.m. local time, Razvojaev has posted several messages on Telegram to warn of the triggering of air alerts.

Since 8:45 a.m., traffic has been “temporarily stopped” on the Crimean Bridge, authorities announced. “People and vehicles present on the bridge and in the inspection area are asked to remain calm and follow the instructions of transport security officers,” they specify. The governor also reported the presence of smoke in the bay of Sevastopol“the army using classic camouflage techniques”.

“During the last 24 hours, the enemy shelled 118 localities in ten regions,” Ukrainian Interior Minister Igor Klimenko said in a message posted on social networks. “This is the largest number of towns and villages to suffer an attack since the start of the year.”

Since launching their offensive in February 2022, Russian forces have fired millions of artillery shells at Ukrainian towns and villages near the front lines, reducing many to rubble across the country. ‘East of the country.

Emmanuel Macron called this Wednesday to “accelerate” the partnership with Kazakhstan, the leading economy in Central Asia rich in natural resources, during a meeting in Astana with his counterpart Kassym-Jomart Tokaïev. The French president is making a two-day visit to Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, two former Soviet republics where France intends to make its mark against a backdrop of a race for influence between Russians, Chinese and Europeans.

“The vigor (of our partnership) demonstrates the good strategic directions that have been taken but (also) the need to complete and accelerate them, which is the whole point of the visit,” declared Emmanuel Macron, alongside his Kazakh counterpart. He also welcomed the Kazakh “refusal” to take the “road of vassalization behind a few powers”, even though Kazakhstan is an ally of Moscow and close to Beijing.

Russian civil aviation is experiencing successive zones of turbulence due to Western sanctions, fueling fears for air security in Russia. If the Kremlin and Vladimir Putin boast of resisting the punitive measures adopted by the West since the Russian assault on Ukraine in February 2022, the air transport sector seems to be increasingly affected.

The reason is the obstacles companies face in acquiring the parts and software their Boeing and Airbus fleets need to fly safely. Incidents are increasing, such as last August, when passengers on a Red Wings flight were stuck in Yekaterinburg (Ural) for 24 hours due to the simultaneous detection of “technical malfunctions” on the two planes available to carry out a flight. flight to Turkey. In a press release, the company admits difficulties due to “external sanctions” and “restrictions on the supply of spare parts, which complicate aircraft maintenance”.

Two Russian men and a woman were arrested, detained and charged Tuesday in New York for having exported electronic components from the United States that were used by the Russian army and were found in Ukraine, American justice announced. They are suspected of having “sent” in 2022 and 2023 “to the Russian battlefield more than 300 shipments of restricted material, worth approximately 10 million US dollars”, said in a statement from the Brooklyn Federal Prosecutor’s Office Ivan Arvelo, special agent in charge of homeland security investigations in New York.

The prosecution clarified Tuesday evening that “more than $1.1 million in profits were seized today from bank accounts” in the United States. The three suspects allegedly used two Brooklyn-based companies to obtain, under the guise of their legal business, electronic components and integrated circuits that were then illegally exported to Russia, according to the indictment.