What there is to know
According to Elysee, Emmanuel Macron will be on the phone with his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskyy at noon today as Moscow intensifies its attacks around Kharkiv. In his previous phone calls, the President of the Republic “reaffirmed his commitment to continue and strengthen France’s support for Ukraine.” Follow our life.
Sergey Lavrov calls on NATO to stop arming Ukraine. “If the United States and NATO are really interested in resolving the Ukraine crisis, then first of all they need to wake up and stop supplying arms and ammunition to the Kiev regime,” Russia’s foreign minister said in an interview published on Saturday. He also claimed that the Russian invasion of Ukraine was proceeding “strictly according to plan”.
Moscow confirms meeting Kyiv during UN Secretary-General’s visit “Russian forces have destroyed the workshops of the space company Artyom in the city of Kyiv with long-range high-precision weapons,” the Russian Defense Ministry said. The head of French diplomacy, Jean-Yves Le Drian, condemned these “indiscriminate strikes” and Germany condemned these “inhumane strikes” which, according to Kyiv mayor Vitaly Klitschko, resulted in at least one death and four wounded.
Zelenskyy and Putin invited to the G20. Indonesian President Joko Widodo announced that he had invited his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and confirmed that he had invited the Russian President to the G20 summit in Bali in November. Vladimir Putin has indicated his participation. “The United States continues to believe that we cannot pretend that Russia’s involvement in the international community or international institutions did not happen,” the US State Department’s deputy spokesman responded. She did not say whether or not Washington would decline to go to the summit because of this invitation.
One American killed, two Britons ‘captured’. A 22-year-old American former Marine was killed in Ukraine, where he left in mid-March to fight Russian forces, family members said. The Pentagon responded by urging American nationals “not to travel to this country.” Two British volunteers were also “captured” by Russian soldiers, the UK-based non-profit organization Presidium Network said on Friday.