War in Ukraine: Serbian ammunition, evacuated children, European media banned in Russia… an update on the situation

Une école près de Kharkiv le 23 juin 2024. MAXPPP – SERGEY KOZLOV

Every day, Midi Libre takes stock of the situation in Ukraine. This Tuesday, June 25, 2024, discover the latest news around this conflict.

Moscow bans nearly 80 European media from broadcasting in Russia

The Russian Foreign Ministry announced on Tuesday that it would ban dozens of European Union (EU) media from broadcasting in Russia, in retaliation for the ban on several Russian media established by Brussels.

Among the media concerned, include Le Monde, Libération, Radio France, Agence France-Presse, but also Der Spiegel, El Mundo, El Pais, la Stampa and even la Rai and Politico. The EU announced in May that it was suspending the distribution of what it described as four "Kremlin-linked propaganda networks” ;, thus depriving them of their broadcasting rights in the Union, targeting Voice of Europe, the RIA press agency and the newspapers Izvestia and Rossiyskaya Gazeta.

The Russian Foreign Ministry responded on Tuesday by publishing a list of 81 media outlets from 25 EU member states, whose broadcasts would no longer be available on Russian territory. He accused these media of "systematically disseminating inaccurate information" about Russian military operations in Ukraine.

"The Russian Federation has repeatedly warned at different levels that harassment of domestic journalists for political purposes and unjustified bans on Russian media in the ;#39;EU would not remain without a response", the Foreign Ministry said in a statement. "Despite this, Brussels and the capitals of the Union countries preferred to follow the path of escalation, forcing Moscow to adopt mirror countermeasures and proportional".

The ministry said it would review its own ban if the EU lifted restrictions on RIA, Izvestia and the Rossiyskaya Gazeta newspaper, all of which it calls Russian media outlets.

Serbian ammunition in Ukraine

Belgrade is not helping “any belligerent” in the war in Ukraine even if Serbian weapons end up on the Ukrainian front after being acquired by Western countries, Prime Minister Milos Vucevic assured Tuesday in an interview with AFP.

“I do not want to prevent companies from selling our ammunition to Spain, the Czech Republic, the United States… Because it is not forbidden and it is not immoral that we produce weapons and ammunition that, unfortunately, are also used where there is war”, he added.

Start of negotiations for kyiv's accession to the EU: a “historic day”, according to Zelensky

President Volodymyr Zelensky on Tuesday welcomed the official launch of Ukraine's accession negotiations to the European Union, calling the day '"historical" for this country which has been fighting for more than two years against the Russian invasion.

"Today is a historic day", he said on social media . "We will never allow ourselves to be diverted from our path towards a united Europe, towards our common home of all European nations. A house that must be peaceful!", he added.

Ukraine orders the evacuation of children in five villages near the front in the east

Ukrainian authorities on Tuesday ordered the forced evacuation " of children and their parents from five villages in the eastern Donetsk region.

This measure concerns "children with their parents or other legal representatives" living in localities close to the area where Fighting has intensified in recent weeks, Governor Vadym Filashkin said on social media, listing villages near areas where Russian forces have gained ground.

In recent weeks, the governor has urged civilians to flee the region due to the rising death toll from Russian bombing. Shortly after the start of the Russian invasion in February 2022, President Volodymyr Zelensky urged Ukrainians to leave this region devastated by war, recommendations which were not always followed by the population.

Filachkin also announced on Tuesday the death of a person in the south of the Donetsk region, killed by a "bombing". Four other people were injured in the frontline town of Toretsk. In recent months, Moscow has subjected eastern Ukraine to constant assaults, nibbling away at the expense of a Ukrainian army that is undermanned and lacking in weapons. .