Questions about the solidity of the defense of the Russian border still arise. Russia claimed to have repelled a Ukrainian attack on the border region of Belgorod, where massive shelling left around 10 people injured Thursday, June 1, authorities said, and forced many of its residents to flee.
Several Ukrainian drones were also shot down by Russian air defense near Kursk, a city near the border with Ukraine, the governor of the region announced early Friday, June 2.
An attempted “invasion” in the Belgorod region
Intensely bombarded for several days, the Russian region of Belgorod was the scene last week of a spectacular incursion by armed men from Ukraine. On Thursday, Russian authorities said that Ukrainian forces had tried to “invade” this region and carried out heavy strikes which left around ten injured.
A group calling itself the “Russian Volunteer Corps”, which says it is made up of Russian fighters supporting Kiev and which claimed a role in the incursion into Belgorod last week, said Thursday afternoon that it was fighting on Russian territory near Chebekino. It was impossible to independently verify these claims.
Ukrainian drones shot down near Kursk, says Russian region governor
Several Ukrainian drones were shot down by Russian air defense near Kursk, a city near the border with Ukraine, the governor of the region announced early Friday, June 2.
“Tonight several Ukrainian drones were shot down by an air defense system near Kursk,” Roman Starovoyt said on Telegram. “We ask the residents of Kursk to remain calm, the city is under the reliable protection of our army,” the governor added.
The Russian border region of Kursk has been, since the beginning of the war, regularly bombarded by Ukrainian forces.
In Moldova, Zelensky calls for unwavering support for the “European family”
Volodymyr Zelensky on Thursday urged European leaders to strengthen their support for Ukraine, during an unprecedented summit in Bulboaca, Moldova, a small country which also lives in fear of Russian aggression.
Nearly 50 European leaders gathered just 20 km from the Ukrainian border to send a message of support to these two former Soviet republics.
The Ukrainian President took advantage of the platform offered by the second meeting of the European Political Community (EPC) to plead forcefully in favor of his country’s accession to NATO and the EU.
“Every doubt we manifest is a trench that Russia will try to occupy,” he said. “All European countries which have a border with Russia and which do not want Russia to take part of their territory from them must be full members of NATO and the EU”, he continued. .
Macron sees no ‘useful discussion’ with Putin at this stage
French President Emmanuel Macron said Thursday that he did not see, at this stage, a “useful discussion” with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, while not excluding exchanges in the future. “Today, there is no material for a useful discussion,” he said at a press conference after the second CPE summit in Moldova.
“If the opportunity arises, and depending on the content, I do not exclude it”, continued the French president who had been one of the rare Western leaders to continue his exchanges with Vladimir Putin at the start of the offensive. Russian in Ukraine. “If civil nuclear issues and security at (the Zaporizhia power plant) require it or if there are advances, openings that allow it and justify it, I will do it without any hesitation,” he said. -he adds.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said he was ready on Friday to resume contact “when the time comes” about Ukraine with Vladimir Putin. In the immediate future, Ukraine must obtain “stronger, tangible and very clear” security guarantees at the NATO summit in July, insisted Emmanuel Macron, noting that this would also be a “clear message in the current context to Russia”.
“We will also have to give long-term prospects to Ukraine” on its request for NATO integration even if “full membership is not immediately accessible” because of the war started by Russia, he asserted.
UN ‘worried’ over slowdown in grain exports from Ukraine
The UN is “worried” about the “slowdown” in the implementation of the agreement allowing the export of Ukrainian grain via the Black Sea, the secretary-general’s spokesman said on Thursday, citing “the specter of food price inflation.
The crucial agreement for global food supplies, signed in July 2022 by Russia, Ukraine, Turkey and the United Nations, was once again renewed in May for only two months, until July 17, so that Moscow is demanding guarantees on another agreement concerning its exports, in particular of fertilizers.
“We are concerned about the continued slowdown in the implementation of the Black Sea Grain Initiative, observed in particular in April and May,” said Stéphane Dujarric. “In May, 33 ships left Ukrainian ports, half as many as in April. Only three left from the port of Youzhne/Pivdenny, one of the three covered by the Initiative,” he noted. As a result, 1.3 million tonnes of cereals were exported in May, “less than half of the previous month”.
Switzerland: the lower house against the transfer to Ukraine of weapons manufactured in the country
The lower house of the Swiss parliament on Thursday rejected a proposal that aimed to authorize the transfer of arms manufactured in Switzerland to Ukraine. This vote took place on the day when the President of the Confederation Alain Berset met Volodymyr Zelensky within the framework of the CPE summit in Moldova. The two leaders notably discussed this subject.
The National Council voted against this proposal presented by a parliamentary committee. Historically, Switzerland, a country of 8.9 million inhabitants, maintains a position of neutrality. But a debate on this subject has agitated Switzerland since the Russian invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022.
This rich country – which is not part of the European Union – has adopted all the sanctions taken by Brussels against Moscow, believing that they are compatible with its neutrality. Despite pressure from kyiv and its allies, Switzerland has so far refused to allow countries that have Swiss-made weapons to re-export them to Ukraine.