Live – Ukrainian army claims to have surrounded several thousand Russian soldiers in Lyman

Lyman, in the east of the country, is known to be partially surrounded by Ukrainian forces seeking to retake the Russian-occupied town. This Saturday, they say, “several thousand” Russian soldiers were rounded up at this critical rail junction.

“Russian forces are surrounded in Lyman,” Serhii Tserevaty, spokesman for the Ukrainian military in the east, was quoted by the Interfax-Ukraine agency as saying on Ukrainian television. He counted “about 5,000-5,500 Russians” in and around Lyman in recent days.

The foreign ministry said on Saturday that Turkey “rejects” the annexation of new Ukrainian territories to Russia after refusing to recognize the annexation of Crimea.

“Turkey does not recognize the annexation of Crimea during the illegal referendum in 2014 and has always expressed its strong support for Ukraine’s territorial integrity, independence and sovereignty,” the ministry stressed in a press release issued overnight. In Moscow of connections.

“In line with this position adopted since 2014, we reject the Russian decision to annex the regions of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhia. This decision is unacceptable as it seriously violates the principles of international law.” The Turkish ministry had already condemned the “illegal” referendums held in these four regions last week.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who has not spoken directly on the matter, has been trying to maintain ties with Kyiv and Moscow since the beginning of the conflict and has offered his mediation to open talks between Russia and Ukraine. Drones.

But after meeting with his counterpart Vladimir Putin on several occasions, notably on gas supply deals that cost him some roubles, he now seems to be taking his distance more clearly, calling for a “dignified exit for all” from the UN. War.

Under U.S. pressure and fear of retaliation, Turkish banks that accepted it this week phased out the Russian mir payment system, allowing Russian citizens to continue withdrawing money in Turkey.

The facade of the Russian consulate in New York was vandalized with red paint, in what appears to be a protest against Russia’s annexation of four Ukrainian regions, police said on Friday.

By noon Friday, large patches of red paint several feet high and wide covered the facade of the embassy, ​​a Renaissance-style building on Manhattan’s Upper East Side. An AFP photographer noted. The entrance gate is also painted red.

Police were notified around 1:30 a.m., a New York police spokesman told AFP. “No one has been arrested and investigation is on,” the official added, adding that the incident is believed to be “enmity-motivated”.

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This is a new Russian stronghold that could fall in eastern Ukraine. As our report on Saturday shows, the army of occupation is partially surrounded in Lyman.

The city, which was seized by the occupier in the first weeks of the conflict, adjoins the Luhansk separatist republic.

The day after Vladimir Putin announced the annexation of four occupied territories in the south and east of Ukraine to Russia, the people of Kyiv expressed their anger and anguish in front of our cameras.

President Volodymyr Zelensky for his part provoked a “farce” on Friday.

Igor Murachev, the director of the Russian-occupied Zaporizhia nuclear power plant, was arrested by the occupier’s forces on Friday afternoon. This was announced by Petro Kotine, boss of Energoatom, which manages the platform during normal hours, on Telegram this Saturday. Reuters website mentioned here.

“He was taken out of the car, blindfolded and taken to an unknown location in the car,” said Pedro Godin, who later insisted he had no knowledge of the fate of the arrested director. The arrest “compromises the safety of the operations of the largest nuclear power plant in Ukraine and Europe”, he continued, calling on the Russians to immediately release Igor Moracho.

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The suffering of Ukrainians and the sacrifice of Afghan women will be at the center of the 29th edition. Bayeux price War Correspondents opens on Monday with a series of exhibitions and screenings before the awards ceremony the following Saturday.

An international jury led by German photojournalist Thomas Dwerszak, an expert in the Caucasus, will examine a selection of 51 reports on Friday and Saturday, whose subjects “mainly deal with Ukraine, Afghanistan, Mozambique and Syria,” explains Bayeux Mayor Patrick Comand. The city of Calvados is co-organizer with the department and region of the prize, which shows “40,000 visitors every year”. A mere 350 statements were candidates.

The 50-year-old German reporter, who headed the Magnum agency, said he was “impatient and eager to discuss with his colleagues the treatment of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.”

US President Joe Biden said on Friday that the US and its allies would not be “threatened” by Russian President Vladimir Putin, vowing that NATO would defend “every inch” of its territory. “America and its allies are not afraid” and Vladimir Putin “will not make us afraid,” he said during a speech at the White House.

Joe Biden then addressed the Russian president directly, warning him against any attack from NATO territory. “The United States and its allies are fully prepared to defend every inch of NATO territory,” he said. “Vladimir Putin, understand what I mean: every centimeter.”

The US president spoke shortly after Vladimir Putin formalized the annexation of four Ukrainian territories, promising victory to his country during a festive concert in Moscow’s Red Square.

Canada, for its part, announced new sanctions against Russia after “mock referendums” and attempts to “annex Ukrainian territories to Moscow,” according to a press release from its foreign ministry on Friday.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg on Friday condemned Russia’s “illegal and illegitimate” annexation of four regions of Ukraine and warned Moscow against using nuclear weapons in the conflict. “These areas are Ukraine, Crimea (annexed by Moscow in 2014) is the same as Ukraine,” he said, adding that “allies will never recognize these areas as part of Russia”.