As every day, Midi Libre takes stock of the news about the war in Ukraine.
Tensions around Zaporizhia
Since mid-June, Ukraine has been warning the international community of a Russian attack on the Zaporizh nuclear power plant with the aim of destabilizing Ukraine and blaming it.
On Monday, July 3, in a joint press conference with Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, Ukrainian President Zelenskyy accused Russia of preparing to blow up the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant. This is assured, according to Olga Kosharna, a former member of the Ukrainian Nuclear Monitoring Body, who met Franceinfo in Kiev the threat is “very real”.
The Zaporiya nuclear power plant, which has been under Russian control for more than a year, has become a central issue in the war in Ukraine. With a small Ukrainian team working on the ground under close Russian surveillance, their job is simply to ensure the maintenance and monitoring of the shut down reactors.
Russian attack in the Kharkiv region
A Russian attack on the town of Pervomaiskïï, some 80 km south of Kharkiv (Ukraine), caused at least 31 injured including nine children, the Ukrainian Presidency announced on Tuesday, July 4. “We are aware of a large number of victims: 31 people were hospitalized, including nine children, including two infants,” head of Ukraine’s Presidential Administration Andriï Iermak told Telegram, whose comments were shared by franceinfo.
Russia has attacked the city of Pervomaiskyi in the Kharkiv region with a high-explosive projectile.
At the moment, 31 people have been reported injured, including nine children, including a ten-month-old and a one-year-old baby – regional military administration.
Residential buildings and cars were also… pic.twitter.com/Kg0IvkLoa3
— Anton Gerashchenko (@Gerashchenko_en) July 4, 2023
In the social network, the Ukrainian emergency services referred to “an air raid on a residential building”. “Several cars were damaged and caught fire,” these services add.
A journalist and a lawyer beaten up
While arriving to attend the sentencing hearing in the trial of a Chechen woman, Zarema Mousaïeva, who was accused of assaulting a police officer, Elena Milachina and Alexandre Nestov were violently assaulted. They had just arrived in Chechnyabetween the airport and Grozny when several masked men intercepted their vehicle, seriously injuring them.
As the journalist “Novaya Gazeta” fights for freedom of expression, the attackers pointed several fingers at her, shaved her head but also covered her face with green paint, according to Memorial, a Russian human rights and nature conservation organization Soviet Power. The pictures speak for themselves.
The investigative journalist who lost consciousness several times and Alexander Nestov were hospitalized in Grozny. “They were brutally beaten, including in the face, threatened with death with a gun to their temples and their equipment was destroyed,” Memorial said in a statement published on Telegram. During the attack, the attackers stated that there were two victims “warned”. The statement said the hooded men had warned the journalist and the lawyer: “Go away and don’t write anything.”
Ukrainian advances
The past few days have been “particularly fruitful” in Ukraine’s counter-offensive against invading Russian troops in the east and south of the country, a senior official said on Tuesday (July 4). Ukrainian.
“At this stage of hostilities, the Ukrainian armed forces are performing their main task: the destruction of manpower, equipment, fuel depots, military vehicles, command posts, artillery pieces and air defense systems of the Russian army,” added Oleksiy Danilov, secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine.
president Volodymyr Zelenskyy On Monday, the Ukrainian military also reported “progress” after a difficult week in which Ukrainian soldiers encountered the density of Russian-built defense lines, particularly in the Zaporizhia region, where the Kyiv army had advanced furthest in recent weeks.
The Ukrainian authorities commented sparingly on their counter-offensive launched a month ago and advocated a “silence” specifically aimed to disguise their true intentions.
A delegation in La Rochelle
“The aim is to support Ukraine in its perspective of reconstruction in preparation for the post-war period.” As part of the participation of the La Rochelle Agglomeration Community (CDA) in the Bridges of Trust 2.0 project, a Ukrainian delegation from the city of Apostolove visited on Monday, 3rd and Tuesday 4th July, La Rochelle.
The objective is to achieve, in collaboration with the AFCCRE (French Federation of Councils of Municipalities and Regions of Europe): Facilitate cooperation between Ukrainian and European cities. “The project already existed before the war started, but the conflict gave it a different meaning,” Valérie Loirat, AFCCRE project manager, explains to Sud Ouest. The project is based on two major challenges for Ukraine: drinking water treatment and energy autonomy.