In this region, the fighting is very intense. But in recent days, the number of Russian attacks has “dropped slightly” around the town of Avdiivka, in eastern Ukraine, where Moscow’s forces had recently carried out intense assaults, a security official said on Thursday. -spokesperson of the Ukrainian army. “The enemy continues to try to surround Avdiivka, but in a less active manner for the moment,” added Oleksandre Chtoupoune.
“The fighting continues, the enemy has not stopped attacking,” said this spokesperson, however, indicating that Russian forces were trying to prevent the Ukrainians from gaining ground. Russian advances “compared to their losses are rather insignificant,” continued Oleksandre Chtoupoune. But, according to him, this very relative calm could only be temporary. “The enemy is gathering its forces, regrouping, perhaps in the near future it will try to advance with a new wave.”
Putin signs Russia’s exit from treaty banning nuclear tests
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday signed the law on the revocation of the ratification of the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT), against a backdrop of conflict in Ukraine and crisis with the West.
The document, which was published on the official legal information portal, was approved by the upper house of the Russian Parliament at the end of October.
Ukrainian aid to Congress
Will the United States limit itself to financial support for Israel? Or will they adopt the huge envelope wanted by President Joe Biden with funds for Gaza, Ukraine and partners in Asia? The American Congress begins Thursday to discuss this thorny issue. The institution, finally functional with its new “speaker”, is split in two on the type of support to provide to its allies abroad.
Democrats and Republicans alike want to immediately adopt military aid for Israel, a long-time partner of the United States, at war with Hamas. However, things get complicated when it comes to Ukraine. Washington is the largest provider of military aid to Kiev, having committed tens of billions of dollars since the Russian invasion in February 2022. But Joe Biden’s promise to continue financial support to Ukraine, reiterated during the President Volodymyr Zelensky’s visit to Washington in September is in jeopardy.
Three Russians indicted in New York for exporting Russian army drone components
Three Russians have been charged with illegal export of electronic components of drones used by Moscow’s army in the war in Ukraine, American justice announced Wednesday, the day after three other indictments of Russians in a related case. Four charges – including conspiracy to illegally export components for companies linked to the Russian army – were handed down Tuesday by the Brooklyn federal prosecutor’s office against Nikita Arkhipov, Nikolai Grigorev and Artem Oloviannikov, according to a press release.
Nikolai Grigorev, a resident of Brooklyn, New York’s largest borough, was arrested and charged before being released on Wednesday and placed on an electronic bracelet, on bail of $250,000. But his two alleged accomplices remain untraceable.
Putin calls for fighting inflation in his country
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday called on the government and the Central Bank of Russia (CBR) to take action against inflation, warning that pressure on the Russian economy from Western sanctions would increase. “I once again draw the attention of the government and the Bank of Russia to the importance of effective coordinated action to reduce inflation,” Vladimir Putin said during a televised meeting. “This directly impacts the well-being of Russian families and our fellow citizens,” he added. The Russian head of state also warned that the pressure exerted by Western sanctions would increase and that the government must prepare for it.
Suspicions of money laundering: a Russian oligarch indicted in France
A Russian oligarch, Alexei Kuzmitchev, close to Vladimir Putin, was indicted on Wednesday in Paris, notably for laundering aggravated tax fraud and presumption of money laundering. He was placed under judicial supervision and had to pay bail of eight million euros. Alexei Kuzmitchev, 61, is presented as “a large shareholder of the Alfa Group conglomerate, which includes the Alfa Bank, one of the largest taxpayers in Russia”, according to the European Union which classified him on the list of people targeted by sanctions on March 15, 2022 after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The oligarch “is considered one of the most influential people in Russia, with well-established ties to the Russian president.
Life in prison for Ukrainian soldier accused of killing civilians in Mariupol
Pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine on Wednesday sentenced a Ukrainian soldier to life imprisonment for murders of civilians allegedly committed between February and April 2022 in Mariupol, when this port city in the southeast of the country was attacked by the Moscow army. Two other soldiers, Dmitri Dobrovolsky and Alexander Romachine, received prison sentences of 30 years each, according to a statement from the Russian Investigative Committee, in charge of the main investigations in the country.
The first, Oleg Kolmitchevsky, is accused of having given the order to “detain and kill civilians seen near their combat positions”, according to the Committee. In total, the three men are accused by the Russian occupation authorities of having killed eight civilians from February 24 to April 12, 2022. On Tuesday, three other Ukrainian soldiers had already been sentenced to life imprisonment by a Donetsk court for murders committed in Mariupol.