War in Ukraine: Zelensky pleads for deep strikes against Russia, new military aid… the latest on the situation

Destruction de la ville de Chasiv Yar dans la région de Donetsk le 3 septembre 2024. MAXPPP – PRESS SERVICE OF 24 MECHANIZED BRIGADE/HANDOUT

Tous les jours, Midi Libre fait le point sur la situation en Ukraine. Ce vendredi 6 septembre 2024, découvrez les dernières actualités autour de ce conflit.

France to receive €300 million from Russian assets frozen by EU to help Ukraine

The European Union will pay France €300 million from the proceeds of frozen Russian assets to supply military equipment to Ukraine in 2024, the Ministry of the Armed Forces announced on Friday. Brussels announced in July the release of €1.4 billion from the interest on some €200 billion of Russian assets frozen in the EU since the start of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, to support Ukraine under the European Peace Facility (EFF).

Of this total, France will receive 300 million euros which will be used to finance the delivery of arms to Kiev in 2024. “The European Commission has agreed with the Directorate General for Armaments to use this funding to rapidly acquire priority equipment for Ukraine from French industry in the areas of munitions, artillery and air defense”, the Ministry of the Armed Forces said in a press release. Further funding from proceeds of frozen Russian assets is expected to be released in 2025.

At Ramstein, Zelensky calls for deep strikes against Russia

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Friday again urged his allies to ignore Russian “red lines” and allow kyiv to strike targets deep inside Russia. The Ukrainian leader was attending for the first time a meeting of the contact group of Ukraine's allies, the Ramstein Group, named after the US air base near Frankfurt where the meetings are taking place. Some 50 countries were due to discuss military aid to Ukraine in its conflict with Russia since February 2022.

The majority oppose long-range strikes against Russia, fearing escalation. “We need a long-range capability, not only on the occupied territory of Ukraine but also on Russian territory, so that Russia has an incentive to seek peace”, said Volodymyr Zelensky, again asking for permission to use the long-range missiles supplied to Kiev for deep strikes. He also stressed the need to speed up the supply of air defense systems in the face of increasing Russian aerial bombardments. “A significant number of them remain to be delivered”, he stressed. U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin announced an additional $250 million in security funding for Ukraine, but dismissed the idea that allowing kyiv to conduct deep strikes would be a game changer.

“There is no single capability that will be decisive in this campaign,”, Lloyd Austin said at the closing press conference, adding that Ukraine already has drones capable of targeting targets on Russian territory. “(Vladimir) Putin's malice runs deep. Moscow is continuing its offensive in eastern Ukraine, particularly around Pokrovsk,”had previously noted the American representative, while welcoming the surprise incursion of Ukrainian forces into the Russian region of Kursk. Pokrovsk, in the Donetsk region, is an essential logistical hub (roads, railway network) for Ukrainian defense. Its loss would be a setback with serious consequences for kyiv. Russian forces would control 18% of Ukrainian territory at this stage. Lloyd Austin estimates that more than 350,000 Russian soldiers have been killed and wounded. Some 6,000 are believed to have been killed in the Kursk offensive.

Thirty-two Russian naval vessels have been destroyed or damaged, he said. “Today we control an area of ​​more than 1,300 square kilometers in the Kursk region, which includes about 100 settlements,”, Zelensky said. German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius reaffirmed Germany's commitment to supporting Ukraine “as long as necessary” and announced the delivery of twelve additional howitzers.

Kremlin says censorship is “justified” in “state of war”

Kremlin spokesman said Friday that media censorship was “justified” due to the “state of war” in which Russia finds itself, which launched an invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

"In the state of war we find ourselves in, restrictions are justified, just as censorship is justified", Dmitry Peskov told the state agency TASS, as the country wages an all-out crackdown on its critics and independent media, which has earned it a bottom spot in the 2024 press freedom index by the NGO Reporters Without Borders.

Washington announces $250 million in new military aid to Ukraine

US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin announced $250 million in new military aid for Ukraine on Friday, as Kiev grapples with Russian forces advancing in the east of the country and devastating strikes from Moscow.

“President (Joe) Biden will sign a new $250 million security assistance package for Ukraine. This will increase capacity to meet Ukraine's changing needs,” Austin said at a meeting of Ukraine's international supporters in Germany.