Russia tests next-generation missile, Finland begins to debate NATO candidacy

Did you miss the latest events on the tensions in Ukraine? Do not panic, 20 Minutes updates you every night at 7:30 p.m. Who did what? Who said what? Where are we ? The answer below:

news of the day

The Russian military on Wednesday announced the first successful test firing of the Sarmat intercontinental ballistic missile, a next-generation ultra-long-range weapon that President Vladimir Putin has hailed as “unmatched”. “It is truly a unique weapon that will boost the military potential of our armed forces, keep Russia safe from external threats and make those who try to threaten our country with wild and aggressive rhetoric think twice. “said the Russian president.

This new weapon is part of a series of other missiles presented in 2018 as “invincible” by Vladimir Putin, capable of thwarting anti-aircraft systems. The Sarmat is also supposed to have a range of over 11,000 km. Moscow ‘properly informed’ Washington of the test, in accordance with its obligations under the nuclear treaties, so it was not a ‘surprise’ for the US Department of Defense, according to its door. -word John Kirby.

sentence of the day

” I am optimistic. »

Volodymyr Zelensky slipped these few words in French during an interview with BFMTV. The Ukrainian president also slipped that he had “confidence in France”, to which he says he is “grateful”. “We have received diplomatic and humanitarian aid, we are counting on military aid”, he nevertheless recalled, while indicating a few hours before the debate between the two rounds of the presidential election that he did not want to “lose” his relationship with current French President Emmanuel Macron.

The number of the day

500.000. According to Mykyta Poturayev, Chairman of the Humanitarian Committee of the Ukrainian Parliament, “half a million Ukrainian citizens were deported from Ukraine to the Russian Federation without their consent”. The parliamentarian called on the Red Cross to establish contact with the missing persons, but the figure he puts forward could not be independently verified.

The trend of the day

The end seems closer and closer for Mariupol, even if very little information comes to us from the besieged city. “We don’t know how long they will be able to hold out,” laments Volodymyr Zelensky, both about the few soldiers who remain and the civilians, without water or electricity, unable to leave the place where they are refugees “for fear of being shot. above “. The “final battle” therefore continues to take place, without the assault being clearly given.

Ukraine can all the same be satisfied with the increasingly outspoken support of the West. The President of the European Council, Charles Michel, went to kyiv, and assured that Vladimir Putin “will not succeed in destroying the sovereignty of Ukraine, nor in dividing the European Union”. The EU will do “everything possible” for Ukraine to “win the war”, he added during a press conference with Volodymyr Zelensky. On this occasion, the Ukrainian president returned to his country’s desire to join the European Union, “a priority” according to him.

Another country, another institution, Finland has begun to debate in Parliament its membership of NATO. Usually neutral, the neighboring country of Russia, with which certain disputes on the border have existed for a long time, fears more and more aggression on the part of its neighbor, who continues to send messages of deterrence. A candidacy, unthinkable a few months ago, now seems “very likely”. The debate is closely followed by Sweden, which could also take the plunge.