Tuesday’s main news
War in Ukraine: Moscow gathers its troops, the battle for Kiev looms on the horizon
Satellite photos show Russian convoy stretching for tens of kilometers and slowly advancing towards Ukrainian capital on Tuesday: General Staff say Ukrainian Moscow is regrouping its forces for an assault on Kiev and other major cities while international retaliatory measures against Russia continued to pile up.
“Some vehicles are sometimes very far from each other and, on other portions, the military equipment is placed two or three abreast,” said the American satellite imagery company Maxar on Monday night. after the broadcast of several photos taken earlier from space. The convoy “extends from the area around Antonov airport (about 25 km from the center of Kiev) in the south to around Prybirsk” in the north, she added.
This airport is, since the beginning of the invasion of Ukraine by Russia on February 24, the scene of violent clashes, the army of Vladimir Putin trying to seize this strategic infrastructure for the capture of the capital.
Ukraine’s army general staff said on Tuesday that Russian forces had regrouped over the past 24 hours, gathering armored vehicles and artillery weapons “primarily to encircle and take control of Kiev and other major cities of Ukraine.
The Russian paramilitary group Wagner is allegedly on a mission to assassinate President Zelensky
According to the Times, 400 men from the paramilitary group Wagner have been on Ukrainian soil for five weeks with the aim of killing President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Annecy: 250 soldiers from the 27th Battalion of Alpine Hunters left for Romania
Monday at 1 p.m., on the place d’armes in the Tom Morel district, 250 soldiers from the 27th Battalion of Alpine Chasseurs were assembled to set off for Romania. They will intervene in the context of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, via an international mission led by NATO. Their commanding officer, Colonel Vincent Minguet, gave them the last recommendations before they got into the cars. They left for the airport of Istres, in the south of France.
Trading and Russian fortunes: what will be affected in Geneva
The welcome resumption of European Union sanctions by the Swiss Confederation could have two minor impacts on Geneva: the freezing of assets of certain oligarchs and a slowdown in trading…
European Union: time for a leap
Is the Europe of defense being born before our eyes, thanks to the armed conflict between Russia and Ukraine? The old continent, including Switzerland and the United Kingdom, is unanimous in condemning Vladimir Putin. The European Union is becoming political. A crisis that is pushing Europe forward: this is the feeling of the Secretary of State for European Affairs. In less than a week, the European Union, an economic power, has become a political power. “It is a revolution of European power which has occurred in the face of the pressure of events”, specifies Clément Beaune at the microphone of Europe 1.
Football: comment on Russia was excluded from the 2022 World Cup
The first sanctions that fell on Sunday were considered timid, Fifa hit harder on Monday. The Russians are disqualified from the play-offs of the next World Cup, which they were to play at the end of March with a ticket at stake for Qatar (November 21-December 18). Their female selection will not be able to play the Euro in England in July either. Finally, Spartak Moscow, the last Russian club engaged in the European Cup this season, is also excluded from the Europa League before facing RB Leipzig in the round of 16.