While the French Minister of the Armed Forces, Stéphane Séjourné, announced an increase in production of Caesar cannons, the United States, through its Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, says it is working tirelessly to avoid the transfer of arms to Russia. At the same time, with the aim of strengthening his army, President Zelensky signed a bill on Tuesday April 2 providing for the lowering of the age of military mobilization from 27 to 25 years.
Information to remember
⇒ Russian strike leaves 18 injured in the town of Dnipro
⇒ France will increase its production of Caesar, according to the Minister of the Armed Forces
⇒ A fund of 100 billion for Ukraine proposed by the head of NATO
18 injured in Russian strike on Dnipro town
Following a Russian strike on the town of Dnipro, in south-central Ukraine, at least 18 people, including five children, were injured on Tuesday April 2, according to the regional governor, Serguiï Lyssak. The latter specifies that the lives of the victims are not in danger.
According to the emergency services, a business, a kindergarten and a higher education establishment were “destroyed” in this attack. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, for his part, promised in his daily video message that there would be a response to this strike. “The aftershocks will be bigger and bigger each time,” he warned.
Blinken in Paris: France will increase its production of Caesar
Arriving in Paris this Tuesday, the American Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, visited, in the company of the French Minister of the Armed Forces, Stéphane Séjourné, a factory of the arms manufacturer Nexter, which notably produces the Caesar cannon. “This Caesar cannon has become the symbol of this artillery coalition, with a significant increase in production capacities: two per month, now six per month and […] we will increase production to twelve guns per month in the coming times,” said the French minister, without giving further details.
Furthermore, during this visit, the American Secretary of State said “we are working day after day to effectively prevent the transfer of weapons and materials to Russia intended to fuel this war machine and to supply the defense industrial base ” from Moscow.
The Americans are seeking to prevent transfers of arms originating in particular from Iran, China or North Korea, and which are then used against Ukraine. “This is a threat to European security as a whole,” warned Antony Blinken.
A fund of 100 billion for Ukraine
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg will propose the creation of a fund of 100 billion euros over five years to help Ukraine in its war against Russia, we learned from diplomatic sources on Tuesday. The 32 countries of the Atlantic Alliance will talk about it on Wednesday during a meeting of their foreign ministers in Brussels, according to diplomats.
The ministers “will discuss the best way to organize NATO’s support for Ukraine to make it stronger, more predictable and more sustainable”, underlined an Alliance official on condition of anonymity. “No decision” is expected at this meeting but “discussions will continue in view of the NATO summit in Washington in July,” he added.
Zelensky lowers the age of military mobilization from 27 to 25
While kyiv’s armed forces lack the men to face the Russian invasion, President Volodymyr Zelensky signed a bill on Tuesday providing for lowering the age of military mobilization from 27 to 25 years. A first project was adopted in May 2023 but had not been promulgated. The new text will come into force from this Wednesday, April 3, indicated the Rada, the Ukrainian Parliament, on its website.
The government must then, within six months, bring the various regulatory texts into compliance with the new age of mobilization. Enlistment in the army has sparked debate for months in Ukraine. It suffers losses, the extent of which is kept secret, and is struggling today, unlike at the start of the conflict, to find volunteers for the front.
Ukrainian drone attack injures 13 in Tatarstan
A drone attack claimed by kyiv targeted an industrial site in Tatarstan on Tuesday and injured 13 people, announced the authorities of this Russian republic located more than 1,000 kilometers from Ukraine. According to an AFP source, this is “an operation by the GUR”, Ukrainian military intelligence, which has claimed responsibility for multiple attacks of this type on Russian soil in the past.
The leader of this republic in central Russia, Rustam Minnikhanov, indicated that this attack had “not caused serious damage” and the functioning of businesses “was not disrupted”, without specifying which factories had been targeted. .
But the press service of the Alabouga special economic zone (SEZ), located about ten kilometers from the city of Yelabuga, claims that it is this SEZ which was targeted. It has factories and companies, specializing in the production of chemicals, mechanics and metal processing.