Vladimir Putin is inaugurated this Tuesday, May 7 for his fifth term at the head of Russia, after his unsurprising victory in the presidential election last March. At the heart of his speech, a subject: the war in Ukraine. He promised the Russian people that they would win “together” and emerge “stronger” from a “difficult period”, saying they would “look forward with confidence”.
On the front, the situation is still difficult for the Ukrainian army, still awaiting the increase in Western and particularly American aid. Russian forces continue their push to the east of the country, regularly claiming the capture of small villages not far from Avdiïvka, without achieving a massive or decisive breakthrough.
Information to remember
⇒ Putin promises victory to the Russian people
⇒ “Insufficiently substantiated” accusations of the use of chemical weapons
⇒ One person killed in northeastern Ukraine
kyiv announces the arrest of two “agents” who planned to assassinate Zelensky on orders from Moscow
The Ukrainian security services (SBU) announced on Tuesday the arrest of two security officers suspected of having prepared the assassination of President Volodymyr Zelensky and other senior officials of the country, on orders from Moscow.
The SBU “dismantled a network of agents” of the Russian security services (FSB) who “were preparing the assassination of the Ukrainian president,” this source said in a statement. Other “senior representatives” of the military and political spheres were also targeted, such as the head of military intelligence Kyrylo Budanov, Ukrainian services said.
The arrested suspects are “two colonels” from the Ukrainian state service ensuring the security of public officials, they said. This network was “supervised” by the FSB and the two officials would have “transmitted confidential information” to Russia, the SBU said.
Putin promises victory to the Russian people
Vladimir Putin promised the Russians during his inauguration speech launching his fifth term in the Kremlin that they would win “together” and emerge “stronger” from a “difficult period”, in the midst of an armed conflict against Ukraine.
“We are a united and great people, and together we will overcome all obstacles […] Together we will win,” he said in front of around 2,500 people, including the Russian political elite and fighters participating in the assault on Ukrainian soil. “We will get through this difficult period with dignity and become even stronger “, assured the Russian president, saying “to look forward with confidence”, according to an AFP journalist present on site.
Accusations of the use of chemical weapons in Ukraine “insufficiently substantiated”
The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) said Tuesday that information it has received about the alleged use of chemical weapons in Ukraine is “insufficiently substantiated.”
The organization also said in a statement that it had not yet received a formal request to investigate such allegations, while the United States last week accused Russia of using a “chemical weapon “, chloropicrin, against Ukrainian troops.
One person killed in Russian strike in northeastern Ukraine
Russian shelling killed one civilian and injured at least six others on Monday in the regions of Sumy and Kharkiv, eastern Ukraine, local Ukrainian authorities reported on Tuesday. “The aggressor carried out airstrikes with three guided bombs, according to preliminary information […] A 39-year-old resident died,” the Sumy region prosecutor’s office said in a statement.
He specifies that this deadly strike hit civilian infrastructure in the vicinity of the village of Nova Sloboda, which borders Russia. According to the prosecutor’s office, two boys aged 15 and 13, as well as a 79-year-old man, were injured by Russian artillery fire on Monday in the area of the village of Krasnopillia. The Ukrainian region of Sumy, and that of neighboring Kharkiv, have been subject to very frequent Russian strikes in recent weeks.
UN calls on Russia to ‘immediately stop’ attacks on journalists
Russia must “immediately stop” its attacks against independent journalists, demanded the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk on Tuesday. “The intensifying repression against the work of independent journalists must stop immediately and the right to inform – a key element of the right to freedom of expression – must be respected,” he wrote in a statement.
According to the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, “at least 30 journalists are currently detained in Russia on various criminal charges.” Of these, “12 are serving prison sentences ranging from five and a half to 22 years in prison,” he underlines. Volker Türk calls on the authorities to “immediately drop the charges against journalists detained solely for carrying out their work and to release them.”