Here is the information to remember for yesterday:
◾ Russia claimed to have launched a fighter jet to intercept three French military aircraft approaching its border over the Black Sea, an incident denied by a French military source.
◾ Ukraine yesterday claimed to have destroyed a Russian warship near the Russian-annexed Crimean peninsula, a new snub to Moscow in this strategic area of the Black Sea. Kiev also said it hit an oil depot in Russia's Belgorod region on the border with Ukraine. Similar attacks on oil sites have followed in Russia in recent weeks.
◾ Two men have been sentenced to 10 to 12 years in prison by a Ukrainian court for passing classified information to Russia during the country's invasion.
◾ The International Criminal Court (ICC) yesterday issued arrest warrants against two senior Russian military officials, the heads of the Strategic Air Force and the Black Sea Fleet, for alleged war crimes in Ukraine.
◾ French President Emmanuel Macron “admitted” on Tuesday that he had called for a “strategic recovery,” recalling the possibility of sending Western troops to Ukraine and warning of the “spirit of defeat” that “lurks.” , during a press conference with his Czech counterpart in Prague.
◾ Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky “never asked for foreign troops to fight for his country,” a White House spokesman said yesterday when asked about French President Emmanuel Macron's comments. “There will be no American troops on the ground in Ukraine. And guess what? This is not what President Zelensky is demanding. It requires tools and skills. He has only ever called for troops to force foreigners to fight for their country,” said National Security Council spokesman John Kirby.
◾ We must “defeat Russia” without “waging war against it,” said French Foreign Minister Stéphane Séjourné in an interview on LCI last night. “We are experiencing a turning point that must make us stand up to Russia and we must maintain the balance of power to protect the French and the Europeans,” he said, adding: “We are convinced that We must continue to support “Ukraine”, a country that was invaded by Russia on February 24, 2022.
◾ French foreign and armed forces ministers and their counterparts from other Ukraine-allied countries will meet via videoconference on Thursday, 10 days after discussing measures to boost military support for Kiev in Paris.