On the 115th day of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Saturday June 18, the United States reacted with caution after the broadcast by the Russian television channel RT of videos showing two captured American soldiers. On Friday, the European Commission recommended granting Ukraine EU candidate status.
► Moscow has blocked the RFI website, which broadcasts information in fifteen languages including Russian. An alternative URL address allows access to the site in French and in Russian. RFI in Russian is also available on Telegram: https://t.me/RFI_Ru via a VPN and in Russia in French via satellite on Hotbird.
► RFI’s Russian editorial site broadcasts Ukrainian public radio (in the Ukrainian language) from home page.
The main points:
► Russian state television aired videos of two US Army veterans, Alexander Drueke and Andy Huynh, left to fight in Ukraine against the Russian army. Although they had not been heard from for several days, they appeared in these videos as prisoners of the Russian army near Kharkiv.
► The European Commission said on Friday it was in favor of granting Ukraine a EU candidate status. It is during the summit of June 23 and 24 in Madrid that the Twenty-Seven must decide whether to grant Ukraine this official status, which opens negotiations likely to last for years.
► Visiting Ukraine on Thursday, French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Italian Council President Mario Draghias well as their Romanian counterpart said they were ready to grant “ immediately to Ukraine the status of candidate for membership of the European Union.
► The humanitarian situation in the Donbass is “ extremely alarming »the UN said, as fighting between Ukrainian and Russian armies continues to rage in the east of the country, particularly in the Sievierodonetsk region.
► The Russian gas tap for Europe is gradually cutting off. Tap cut in Poland, Bulgaria and Finland, greatly reduced flow to Germany, Austria and Italy, and no more cubic meters to France. The Europeans denounce the blackmail of Russia, while 40% of the gas they usually burn comes from Russia.
Times are given in Universal Time (UT), Click here to refresh
6:40 a.m .: Two American soldiers who left to fight in Ukraine captured by the Russian army
The Russian public television channel RT broadcast, Friday, June 17 on social networks, videos of two Americans who left to fight as volunteers with the Ukrainian forces and have been missing for several days.
On Friday evening, Russian journalist Roman Kosarev posted on Telegram a video of Alexander Drueke, in military fatigues and apparently seated in an office, speaking in front of the camera: ” Mom, I just want to tell you that I’m alive and I hope to get home as soon as I can. »
RT’s official Telegram channel also released a video of Andy Huynh in which he explains he was engaged, along with Alexander Drueke, ” in a fight with Russian troops » near Kharkiv. ” Russian forces have taken over our positions. We had to retreat “, he adds. After hiding for several hours, the two men surrendered to Russian forces, he said.
The circumstances under which the two former servicemen were speaking, and who is holding them, are unclear at this stage. A spokesperson for the State Department confirmed on Saturday June 18 that they had seen the photos and videos of the two American citizens. allegedly captured by Russian military forces in Ukraine “. ” We are closely monitoring the situation “, he told AFP.
06:30: Hello and welcome to this live
You can find our live from yesterday by following this link.