Russia launched its “military operation” in Ukraine on Thursday, February 24, 2022. Every evening at 7.30pm, 20 Minutes brings you its round-up of the diplomatic conflict between Russia and Ukraine, which has become a war that is claiming lives, injuring people and creating thousands of refugees every day.
Who did what? Who said what? And who supports whom and why? Find out all about the progress of negotiations and the events of this crisis that is shaking Russia, Ukraine, Europe and the United States.
On Monday, Volodymyr Zelensky visited the front line in the Donbass, and Yevgeny Prigozhin spoke for the first time since he turned back in the middle of the rebellion.
News of the day
On Monday, Volodymyr Zelensky visited the Donetsk region, close to Ukraine’s eastern front, as his army conducts a counter-offensive there and in the south. Volodymyr Zelensky “visited units of the armed forces of the Khortytsia operational and strategic group”, alongside the commander of the Ukrainian ground forces, Oleksandre Syrsky, and decorated soldiers, according to the presidency. “I would like to thank you, reward you all and shake hands with great gratitude with you, your families, your relatives,” the Ukrainian president said, addressing the servicemen. “Ukraine is proud of each and every one of you,” he added.
The phrase of the day
The aim of the march was not to allow the destruction of the Wagner group (…) not to overthrow power in the country.”
The leader of the Wagner group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, spoke for the first time since he ended his rebellion on the road to Moscow on Saturday. As is his wont, he published voice messages on private messaging loops. He even asserts that the uprising “highlighted serious security problems in the country”.
Number of the day
4.000. Germany is ready to station some 4,000 soldiers in Lithuania, compared with 850 at present, to reinforce NATO’s eastern flank. The preconditions for this deployment are “the corresponding infrastructure” on site, in particular barracks and depots, as well as “compatibility with Nato plans”, said German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius on Monday. “This involves considerable effort, and we have agreed that the installation of the brigade will follow step by step, as the infrastructure develops,” the Minister added.
Trend of the day
The Ukrainian army said on Monday that it had liberated Rivnopil, a town in the Donetsk region on the southern front, in the area where Kiev’s troops have made slight advances in recent weeks. Rivnopil lies in an area where Ukrainian forces are on the offensive, having retaken several villages after almost two weeks of fighting. Russia had acknowledged fighting in the area on June 16, two weeks after the launch of Kiev’s counter-offensive aimed at recapturing all the territories occupied by Moscow. A dozen localities have since been recaptured.