Ukraine’s victory “depends on you”, said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, addressing his Western allies. Faced with a shortage of weapons and ammunition, the country deplores the delays in deliveries from many partners. At the same time, almost two years after its application for membership in NATO, Sweden will become, this Monday, the 32nd member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization after a final vote by the Hungarian parliament. This protocol, blocked by Prime Minister Viktor Orban, has been on hold since May 2022.
Information to remember
⇒ A conference in support of Ukraine takes place this Monday in Paris
⇒ The Hungarian Parliament votes this Monday for Sweden to join NATO
⇒ Early voting for the Russian presidential election has started in the occupied areas of Ukraine
A conference in support of Ukraine
Around twenty heads of state and government, mainly European, are meeting this Monday at the Elysée, at the initiative of French President Emmanuel Macron. The objective is to reaffirm their support for Ukraine, in a critical situation facing the Russian army and facing a shortage of ammunition. For his part, President Volodymyr Zelensky will address the meeting organized at the presidential palace by videoconference.
For Emmanuel Macron, who called for a “collective start” on February 16, the time has come for the remobilization of the West against Russia. “Our commitment to him will not weaken,” the French head of state assured X on Friday February 23.
If new aid announcements are not planned, participants will examine ways to “do better and more decisively”, while Kiev affirmed on Sunday that half of the promised Western weapons are delivered late.
Sweden will become the 32nd member of NATO
Sweden’s accession to NATO, which must overcome a final obstacle this Monday with the vote of the Hungarian parliament, will put an end to 200 years of military non-alignment for the Nordic country. Sweden’s NATO accession protocol, which requires the unanimity of the 31 members of the Atlantic Alliance, has been on hold since May 2022.
Indeed, the procrastination of the Hungarian Prime Minister, Viktor Orban, did not facilitate the accession process. He had certainly given his agreement in principle a long time ago. However, he demanded “respect” from Stockholm, considered too critical of his policies before giving his agreement.
The situation has finally resolved in recent weeks. The visit on Friday, February 24, of Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson made it possible to sign the epilogue of a “long process to rebuild trust”, in the words of Viktor Orban. To seal this cooperation, the two countries announced the purchase by Budapest of four combat aircraft from Sweden to strengthen its current fleet of 14 Gripen aircraft.
The vote in the Budapest Parliament, scheduled for shortly after 4:20 p.m. (3:20 p.m. GMT), is expected to come as no surprise given the two-thirds majority held by the ruling coalition. The opposition will also vote for it, with the exception of the far-right “Our Homeland” group. Stockholm announced its candidacy in the wake of the Kremlin offensive in Ukraine, at the same time as Finland, which entered in April 2023.
Ukraine’s victory over Russia depends on the West, insists Zelensky
During a press conference this Sunday, Volodymyr Zelensky affirmed that a victory or defeat for his country “depended” on its “partners” and the “Western world”, from which he expected weapons and ammunition. He was nevertheless positive about the vote by the American Congress to validate aid of 60 billion dollars, currently blocked by Donald Trump’s Republican troops, the majority in Congress.
The Ukrainian president also indicated that 31,000 Ukrainian soldiers had been killed in two years of war since the Russian invasion on February 24, 2022. He also affirmed that Russia had managed to get its hands on the plans for the counter- Ukrainian offensive in the summer of 2023, before it even begins.
Russian presidential election: early voting has started in occupied areas of Ukraine
Early voting for the Russian presidential election, scheduled for March 14, began this Sunday in occupied areas of Ukraine as well as in remote regions of Russia. The Kremlin-appointed head of the occupied Zaporizhia region, where Europe’s largest nuclear power plant is located, posted a photo on social media of soldiers at a makeshift polling station. This site, taken by Russian forces in March 2022, is in a combat zone.
Little information has filtered out on the organization of the vote in the other areas occupied by Moscow since the offensive in Ukraine. On the other hand, the Russian Electoral Commission mentioned the use of “helicopters and all-terrain vehicles” to organize temporary polling stations for a handful of Siberian voters.