War in Ukraine: Macron calls for a “start”, new capture near Avdiïvka, Zelensky's assessment… update on the situation

Des maison détruites à Avdiïvka le 15 janvier 2024. (illustration) https://imagebroker.com/9766218

Tous les jours, Midi Libre fait le point sur la situation en Ukraine. Ce lundi 26 février 2024, découvrez les dernières actualités autour de ce conflit.

Macron calls for "a start" in favor of Ukraine

Emmanuel Macron urged Westerners this Monday to "start up" in the face of the advances of the Russian army in Ukraine, requesting reinforced military and financial support for Kiev, whose fate according to him conditions "collective security". Around twenty heads of state and government gathered this Monday at the Elysée, at the initiative of the French president, for a demonstration of unity and support for the ;#39;Ukraine, entered its third year of war against Russia on February 24.

The objective, according to the French presidency, is to oppose the martial speeches of Russian President Vladimir Putin with the voluntarism of the West, who "will not allow the defeat of Ukraine". The Russian army has recently achieved small successes against Ukrainian forces lacking weapons and ammunition. "On the Ukrainian front, positions are increasingly harsh and we also know that Russia is preparing new attacks, in particular to stun Ukrainian opinion" , declared Emmanuel Macron as he opened the work. "The collective observation is that the security of all of us is at stake today", he underlined. "We are today (…) at the moment of a start which is necessary on the part of all of us given the transformation of the threat from a point of military and strategic view", continued the Head of State.

For Emmanuel Macron, "Russia cannot and must not win this war in Ukraine". "We do not wish to go to war with the Russian people, but we are determined to keep escalation under control", he said, inviting "to see on a national and collective level how we can do more, more in budgetary support, more in military support".< /p>

The Elysée's security agreement signed recently between the two countries, before thanking his "friends" Europeans. "Together we have already saved millions of lives and together we must ensure that Putin cannot destroy our efforts or expand his aggression to other nations&quot ;, says the Ukrainian leader.

At the Elysée, it is emphasized that the objective of the Paris meeting is "to make President Putin doubt, to break this idea that he is tempted to make people believe that he is going to win". And, we add, to be "neither 'doomy' nor 'gloomy'", two English terms with very pessimistic echoes which dominated comments on Ukraine during the Munich Security Conference in mid-February . The Paris summit, which aims to be "operational", should however not lead to significant new military aid in favor of kyiv.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, British Foreign Secretary David Cameron, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte and leaders from Scandinavia, the Baltic States and Poland are among the participants . The United States is represented by Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Jim O'Brien, Canada by Defense Minister Bill Blair.

Russia seizes village near Avdiivka

Russia claimed this Monday the capture of the village of Lastochkin, in eastern Ukraine, which the Ukrainian army admitted had been seized. removed.

Lastotchkin is located a handful of kilometers west of Avdiivka, conquered by Russia in mid-February after weeks of fierce fighting. The Ukrainian army declared that its withdrawal would allow it to better stop the Russian advance towards the west.

"Units of the Ukrainian Armed Forces withdrew from the village of Lastochkin in order to organize defenses (…) to' prevent the enemy from advancing further in the west direction", military spokesman Dmitro Lykhoviy told Ukrainian television.

A new defensive line will be created a few kilometers west of this village, he added. The Ukrainian army is in difficulty on the Eastern Front and its leaders, supported by President Volodymyr Zelensky, complain of a lack of weapons and ammunition that Western countries supporting it are facing. #39;Ukraine facing Russia are struggling to fill in.

Zelensky's record

On February 25, 2024, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky took stock of two years of war during a press conference. Deploring  tens of thousands of victims and a stagnation of the situation, the head of state took the opportunity to relaunch a call for help. Otherwise, he asked: "We don&#39 ;will no longer exist."

"Each of these losses is a great loss to us". The conflict in Ukraine has cost the lives of 31,000 soldiers of the kyiv army. According to Volodymyr Zelensky, "at least 180,000" Russian soldiers died. Furthermore, tens of thousands of civilians were killed in the occupied zones.

He took advantage of this press conference to remind journalists to be careful of the information broadcast: "Our counter-offensive plans were on the Kremlin table before the actions of the counter-offensive begin."

Furthermore, Volodymyr Zelensky returned to the question of Ukraine's membership in NATO, which he is far from# 39;have forgotten. He took the opportunity to emphasize the fact that according to him, this issue only depended on two of his most important allies: " Ukraine's NATO membership now depends only on the United States and Germany."