War in Ukraine: transfer of Mirage 2000-5 to kyiv, Russian refinery on fire… update on the situation

France announces the sale of Mirage 2000-5 to Ukraine. MAXPPP – Sylvain Rostaing/Le Pictorium

Every day, Midi Libre takes stock of the situation in Ukraine. This Thursday, June 6, 2024, discover the latest news around this conflict.

France will supply Mirage 2000-5 to Ukraine

France will supply Mirage 2000-5 fighter planes to Ukraine to support it in the war against Russia, announced Thursday evening Emmanuel Macron.

“We will announce the transfer of Mirage 2000-5” on Friday during Volodymyr Zelensky's visit to France, the French president said in an interview on TF1 and France 2. The head of state was speaking at the end of a day of commemorations of the D-Day landings of June 6, 1944, to which the Ukrainian president was invited.

The pilots of these fighter planes will be trained in France, Emmanuel Macron said. In addition, France plans to train 4,500 Ukrainian soldiers, the head of state continued, assuring that there were no “today" French military instructors on Ukrainian soil. “Our wish is also to train a brigade", he added.

France, stressed Emmanuel Macron, does not want "the escalation of the war". "Peace, he explained, will only happen if Ukraine can resist". "The situation is difficult", conceded the French president, adding that the Russian army was attacking "thrusts" in the Kharkiv region.

"Peace cannot be the capitulation of Ukraine", pleaded Emmanuel Macron, who will receive the Ukrainian president at the Elysée on Friday. "Peace must arrive through negotiation", he said. This moment, he judged, is not yet here "since Russia continues to advance".

Oil refinery on fire after Ukrainian strike

An oil refinery in southern Russia was attacked overnight from Wednesday to Thursday by a Ukrainian drone which started a fire, local authorities said.

The attack occurred in Novochakhtinsk, in the Rostov region housing the headquarters of the Russian operation in Ukraine, regional governor Vassili Goloubev said on Telegram, emphasizing that "according to initial information, there are no victims or injured".  "A fire broke out at the Novochakhtinsk refinery following a drone attack", a he clarified.

Shortly after the emergency services arrived on the scene, a second drone attack targeted the refinery, causing the firefighters to suspend their work, according to the same source. In total, around 120 firefighters were deployed to the site to bring the fire under control, which was finally extinguished a few hours later, Goloubev said.

Considered as one of the most important oil installations in southern Russia, the Novochakhtinsk refinery, located about ten kilometers east of the border with Ukraine, is regularly targeted by Ukrainian attacks.

At the same time, another drone strike destroyed an oil tank in the night at a depot in Stary Oskol, north of the Ukrainian border, said Viacheslav Gladkov, governor of the border region of Belgorod. of Ukraine. The fire was "quickly extinguished" and there's & quot;no victims", he added.

For its part, the Russian Ministry of Defense indicated in a press release that 13 Ukrainian drones had been destroyed overnight above the annexed Crimean peninsula, six others above the region Belgorod and a Neptune anti-ship missile over the Rostov region.

Ukraine, faced with the Russian offensive for more than two years, regularly responds by attacking Russian regions and particularly targeting energy sites.