War in Ukraine: a new Russian advance, Zelensky’s appeal, drones in NATO airspace… the latest on the situation

La région de Donetsk reste l’épicentre des combats. MAXPPP – PRESS SERVICE OF 24 MECHANIZED BRIGADE/HANDOUT

Tous les jours, Midi Libre fait le point sur la situation en Ukraine. Ce dimanche 8 septembre, découvrez les dernières actualités autour du conflit.

The Russian army claimed, on Sunday, the capture of a town in eastern Ukraine, approaching Pokrovsk, a strategic city in their advance. Russian forces “liberated the town of Novohrodivka” in the Donetsk region, the Russian Defense Ministry announced in a statement, information confirmed by the Ukrainian Osing website DeepState. The Ukrainian general staff announced for its part that it had repelled “forty-four attacks in the direction of Pokrovsk”.

Already the day before, Russia had claimed to occupy the village of Kalynove, west of Luhansk. Novohrodivka, which had more than 14,000 inhabitants before the start of the Russian offensive in February 2022, is located about twenty kilometers from Pokrovsk, the target for several weeks of Russian troops who are getting closer and closer, facing outnumbered Ukrainian troops. Moscow therefore continues to regularly gain ground in this region of Donetsk, which remains the epicentre of the fighting.

“Terror can only be stopped in one way”

While a series of Russian strikes have left several dead in less than 24 hours at different points in the country and faced with this new Russian advance, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has once again urged his partners to give him more latitude to use the weapons supplied against targets in Russia, in a message published on Facebook. “In one week, Russia has used more than 800 guided aerial bombs, nearly 300 Shahed drones and more than 60 missiles of different types against our people.”Terror can be effectively stopped in only one way: by striking Russian military airfields, their bases and the logistics of Russian terror”, he said, in order to push its allies to allow it to use their weapons to strike Russian soil.

Intensify efforts for the peace

“I think it is now time to discuss how we can get out of this war situation and achieve peace more quickly,” reacted German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, judging in an interview that efforts for peace must be intensified.

A new event that occurred this weekend could also push the allies to react. A Russian drone fell on Saturday in Latvia, near the town of Rezekne, while a similar device flew over Romania. These two devices therefore entered NATO airspace.