All eyes are on Kherson these days. Leaving the only capital of the region in their hands, the Russians take away everything they can: ambulances, tractors and cars, archives, paintings and sculptures, and even the stolen bones of Catherine the Great’s friend and lover Grigory Potemkin in a crypt the Cathedral of Santa Caterina. Russian soldiers are hauling everything across the Dnieper, on the region’s left bank, in the face of a possible, probable attack to retake the city from the Ukrainians, who hesitate, fearing the seemingly deserted city could become a trap.
The Russian Army is not having its prime, despite injecting men it has difficulty training. Yesterday morning air alerts went off across Ukraine except occupied Crimea, but the threat went unfollowed apart from a few bombs that hit Donetsk, killing three, and attacks on Ukrainian bases in Kharkiv and Zaporizhia.
While NEC Ukrenergo yesterday announced a rolling blackout in Kyiv and seven other regions to relieve networks after Russian forces attacked the country’s energy infrastructure, the diplomatic front that has been languishing for months is also being invoked. . Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy opened a window in a video message on Friday night: “We are ready for peace, for a just peace, the formula of which we have repeatedly expressed: respect for the United Nations Charter, respect for… our territorial integrity, respect for our people, bring all the guilty to justice and fully compensate for the damage that Russia has done to us ». An availability full of ifs and buts, which, however, echoes the words of the Russian ambassador to Washington, Anatoly Antonov, who tells journalists that “today we need to think not about pumping additional weapons into Kyiv, but about how to find a negotiated solution be able. It is impossible to completely solve the problem on the battlefield ».
Alongside the death of Trevor Kjeldal, known as “Ninja”, a forty-year-old Australian who fought for Kyiv in an action in Lugansk, is the new video from the Associated Press and Pbs TV about the horrors of Bucha , which the Kiev prosecutor’s office has long been concerned about Investigating “mass executions”. Fourteen minutes of images and interviews reconstructing the war crimes of Vladimir Putin’s troops. There are also the touching testimonies of the families of the 450 people, including many children, who were massacred and wiretapped by Moscow’s forces and admit to “cleaning up”.
Another front of the day covering Iran. Yesterday, prompted by protests by Kiev and Western countries in recent days, Tehran admitted through the voice of Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian that it had exported drones to Russia, but before the start of the war with Ukraine. “Should it be proved that Russia used our drones, we will not be indifferent to the matter.” “The consequences of “Iranian complicity with Moscow will outweigh the benefits,” responds Foreign Ministry spokesman Oleg Nikolenko.
Meanwhile, the head of the US military strategic command, Charles Richard, sounded the alarm, telling CNN that Beijing was “developing its nuclear program much faster than the US” and spoke of a “short-term problem”. “As I assess our level of deterrence against China, the ship is slowly sinking,” the admiral said. because they basically use their skills faster than us ». “China is the only competitor with the intent, and increasingly the ability, to systematically challenge the United States across the board militarily, economically, technologically and diplomatically,” another CNN analyst said. According to the Nuclear Posture Review, “Beijing intends to have at least a thousand results by the end of the decade.” And still with a view to China, Chancellor Olaf Scholz defended his visit to Beijing, which had just come to an end, which sparked heated controversy at home: “That the Chinese government, the President and I could say that they don’t have to in this war nuclear weapons are used, this trip alone was worth it. Happy him.