War in Ukraine: Macron reaffirms the hypothesis of “operations on the ground” without “desiring them”

Emmanuel Macron is ready for all scenarios, including sending ground troops. Lorenz Huter/photothek.de – Lorenz Huter

While the conflict continues in the Russian region of Krasnodar, the election which will lead to the re-election of Vladimir Putin is taking place pending a poll expected at 6 p.m.

Moscow announced on Sunday that Ukraine had launched 35 drones against several regions of Russia, and that one of them had caused a fire in a refinery oil production in the Krasnodar region on the third and final day of the Russian presidential election.

The Russian Defense Ministry reported on Telegram that 17 drones had been shot down over this region of southern Russia. Five drones were also shot down over the Moscow region, without causing any casualties, the capital's mayor Sergei Sobyanin said on Telegram, while six others were intercepted over other regions, added the Ministry of Defense.

Putin accuses Ukraine of wanting to disrupt the election in Russia

The Russian state aviation authority indicated that Moscow airports of Domodedovo, Vnukovo and Zhukovsky had subsequently imposed flight restrictions for security reasons, but these were lifted less than an hour later. According to Vladimir Rogov, an official installed by Moscow in the Ukrainian region of Zaporizhia controlled by Russian forces, two of the drones struck a polling station, causing a fire but without causing any casualties, he indicated on Telegram. Reuters was unable to independently verify this information.

The day before, a Ukrainian missile killed two people in the Belgorod region and a separate drone attack caused a fire at an oil refinery in the Samara region. Almost assured of winning a new six-year mandate at the end of this election organized over three days – Russia covers eleven time zones – Vladimir Putin accused Ukraine of seeking to disrupt the voting operations in Russia a little more than two years after the start of the latter's invasion of its neighbor.

"Noon against Putin"

Supporters of Alexei Navalny, who died last month in prison in unexplained circumstances, called on Telegram for Russians to go to polling stations at 12 p.m. local time for a “noon against Putin" protest against the head of state, whom they describe as a corrupt autocrat. Several isolated incidents marked the election, when voters set fire to ballot boxes or poured coloring into them to protest against the situation, earning them accusations of "traitors" from the Russian authorities.

About a hundred people went to a polling station in the Siberian city of Novosibirsk at midday local time – 0500 GMT – but it was not immediately possible to say whether these voters thus intended to protest, or simply vote. The Kremlin hopes for a high turnout to demonstrate the Russian population's support for its president. This reached the 60% mark yesterday. An exit poll will be published shortly after the end of voting, scheduled for this evening around 6 p.m.

"If you don't want war, vote Insoumis"

In France, the conflict with Russia was at the heart of the speech by the leader of La France insoumise during the meeting to launch the LFI campaign for the European election on June 9 . "It's the first time that this election will take on the special meaning of a mid-term vote of an interminable presidency, of a threat to the #39;other, said Jean-Luc Mélenchon.

"This is the first time that your ballot will make you the extended arm that started at the chest of Jean Jaurès, if you don't want war, vote Insoumis."

A ceasefire during the Paris Olympics

In Le Parisien, the President of the Republic Emmanuel Macron reiterated that European countries could not rule out operations to counter Russian forces. "Maybe at some point there will have to be field operations, whatever they may be", he said, before adding: "I don't want it, I won't take the initiative& ;quot;. According to the state news agency TASS, the spokesperson for the Russian Foreign Ministry reacted to Emmanuel Macron's proposal for a ceasefire in Ukraine during the Paris Olympics this summer, proposing to stop arms deliveries to Ukraine.

The evening before, in an interview posted by a Ukrainian journalist on his YouTube channel, the President of the Republic declared: "The request for ;a ceasefire during the Olympic Games. They (the Russians) must do it. This is what has always happened. This will be claimed."

Alongside Ukrainian attacks on Russia, the Kyiv army announced on Sunday that Russian air attacks had damaged agricultural enterprises and destroyed several industrial buildings in the port of Ukraine. Odessa, on the Black Sea, during the night from Saturday to Sunday.