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11h14 : Vladimir Putin will meet today Wang Yi, the head of Chinese diplomacy, ad Dmitri Peskov, porte-parole du Kremlin. The Beijing representative began a visit to Russia yesterday, after a tour of Europe.
11h00 : Vladimir Putin had already taken part in a gigantic concert at the Luzhniki stadium on March 18 to celebrate the eighth anniversary of the annexation of Crimea. He had justified the invasion of Ukraine during a long patriotic speech, a few days after the start of the war.
11h21 : A big concert in support of the Russian army is organized at the Luzhniki stadium in Moscow. This event, called “Glory to the defenders of the fatherland”, will be held in the presence of 200,000 people, according to the agency RIA Novosti. Vladimir Putin is expected to speak, according to Russian media. Some independent media identified ads to recruit viewers, for a fee of 500 rubles. In addition, several companies have organized the travel of their employees.
10h53 : Due to the conflict, the aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle changed his way of acting. The Rafales, which are on the ship, fly over Romania to the borders of Ukraine. “We are obviously not at war with Russia, but we know that the Russian soldiers that we meet on planes, that we meet on boats, have been at war since February 24. It is not the same mental patternsays Commander Nicolas.
10h37 : Several explosions sounded in Kharkiv, according to witnesses present on the spot. A local military official mentions S-300 missiles and warns of new firings. Regional military governor Oleg Synegoubov writes that Russian forces “have struck again“ and targeted infrastructure. He calls on the inhabitants to reach the shelters. A first official report reports two minor injuries.
(SERHIY MELNYK / TELEGRAM)
10h31 : Russia carried out a test of an intercontinental ballistic missile on Monday, according to two American officials interviewed by CNN (in English). Moscow had informed Washington of this in advance, as required by procedure. This test of a Sarmat missile seems however to have failed, according to these same sources, because President Vladimir Putin did not mention it yesterday during his address to the Duma. The first Sarmat test shot was successful in April 2022.
10h29 : The Duma has adopted the text suspending Russia’s participation in the New Start treaty on nuclear disarmament. “The decision to resume or not will rest with the President of Russia”specifies the Federal Assembly, in a communiqué. The bill was introduced yesterday by Vladimir Putin. Moscow, however, assured that the limit on the number of warheads, set at 1,550 in the agreement, will continue to be respected.
10h19 : Faced with the Russian threat, NATO is strengthening its eastern flank, particularly in Romania, a member of the Alliance. For the first time, the French army assumes command of a multinational battalion of a thousand soldiers, including more than 700 French. In Cincu, combat exercises are increasing.
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(BENJAMIN ILLY / FRANCEINFO)
09h26 : @OlgaNYC1211 Yep, Belgorod, Stary Oskol, Ufa, Kazan, Novouralsk and the Moscow Oblast. Apparently, stations “Comedy”, “Humor FM” and “Avtoradio” have been hacked https://t.co/GTHjcPcUPZ
09h31 : This morning, in Russia, the listeners of several radio stations were surprised to hear an aerial siren instead of their programs. “Everyone to the shelters”, announced a message broadcast in Ufa, Nijni Novgorod, Kazan or Novoouralsk. The Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations then said the servers had been hacked.
09h13 : Since the start of the conflict, France has hosted “about 100,000 people”dont “about a third of children”notes the France Terre d’Asile association, which hopes to see this outpouring of solidarity also be intended for other refugees. “The government [français] had a goal that no Ukrainian sleeps on the street and he achieved it”, assures Delphine Rouilleault, general manager of the association.
07h59 : France delivered Caesar cannons to the Ukrainian army. This long-range, mobile and very precise weapon is produced in a factory in Bourges (Cher) by the Franco-German firm Nexter. The conflict forced production rates to be accelerated. The Bourges factory produced two to four per month. At the end of 2023, the factory will produce eight guns per month.
07h19 : The major national dailies make their front page on the speeches of Vladimir Putin and Joe Biden. The echoes evoke the “cold War” et Le Figaro speaks of a “clash of two worlds”.
06h44 : 56% of French people say they are in favor of maintaining support for Ukraine until the departure of Russian forces, learned franceinfo via an Ipsos* poll on the international perception of the war in Ukraine. On the other hand, 51% of those questioned are opposed to the sending of French troops to Ukraine.
06h39 : The NewsGuard organization reveals, in a rapporthaving identified more than 250 cases where documentaries from the Russian channel RT about the war in Ukraine were broadcast on YouTube, despite the channels being blocked on the video platform. These documentaries convey Russian propaganda when they should not appear.
06h24 : On the occasion of the anniversary of the outbreak of war in Ukraine, France 2 is broadcasting tonight at 11 p.m., 2 Victory Square, Kyiv, a documentary directed by Romain Goupil. Arrived on site on March 11, 2022, the director spent a month with the Kiev circus equipped with an iPhone to film “without knowing what was going to happen an hour later”.
07h20 : “The French have shown extreme generosity but also measured the complexity of welcoming refugees to their homes on a long-term basis.”
Refugees fleeing Ukraine have not been treated “like regular migrants” and benefited from an unprecedented welcome which must “to serve as a role model” for future crises, said Delphine Rouilleault, director general of the France Terre d’Asile association, to AFP. Over the past year, France has taken in 100,000 people out of the 8 million Ukrainian refugees.