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THE ESSENTIAL

  • War continues to rage in Severodonetsk, where Ukrainian soldiers are fighting one of the "toughest battles" to resist Russian forces that now control much of the city, according to Volodymyr Zelensky.

  • For Russia, seizing Severodonetsk would be decisive in order to conquer the entire vast coal basin of the Donbass.

  • The nearby town of Lysychansk is fully controlled by the Ukrainian army but is under "powerful and chaotic" shelling, the governor of the Luhansk region said, accusing Russian forces of "deliberately" targeting hospitals and drug distribution centers. 'humanitarian aid.

  • UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres is once again concerned about the consequences of the conflict on food security: "For people around the world, war threatens to unleash an unprecedented wave of hunger and misery, leaving in its wake social and economic chaos”

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6:55 am: The battle of Severodonetsk is "one of the most difficult"

The fighting in Severodonetsk is fierce.

Ukrainian soldiers are even fighting there one of the "most difficult battles" since the beginning of the war to resist the Russian forces which now control a large part of this strategic eastern city where, according to Volodymyr Zelensky, " the fate" of the Donbass region.

“We are defending our positions, inflicting heavy losses on the enemy.

It's a very hard, very difficult battle, probably one of the most difficult of this war, ”said the Ukrainian president in a video released Wednesday evening.

A few hours earlier, Sergei Gaïdaï, governor of the Lugansk region, had affirmed that the forces of Moscow “controlled a large part of Severodonetsk”.

“The industrial zone is still ours, there are no Russians there.

The fighting takes place only in the streets inside the city,” he announced.

6:50 am: The “cyber Pearl Harbor” did not take place

Several European heads of military cyber defense forces noted on Wednesday that the Russians had been much less effective than expected in the use of digital combat capabilities during their offensive against Ukraine.

"We were pretty sure that there would be a cyber Pearl Harbor" to accompany the ground offensive, said General Karol Molenda, the commander of the Polish cyber defense forces, during a round table at the International Cybersecurity Forum ( FIC) of Lille.

“But Ukraine was prepared, and resisted Russia's (cyber) attacks.

So lesson number 1” of the war, “is that it is possible to prepare for a cyber conflict”, he estimated.

In addition, Russia is "strong to attack, but is not so good in defense", noted the general, referring to the multiple cyberattacks which have affected the country, coming in particular from groups of independent hackers.

Col. Romualdas Petkevicius, of the Lithuanian National Cyber ​​Security Center, said that obviously “the Russians were not ready for a coordinated war on the physical plane and on the cyber plane”.

6:44 a.m .: The IIF estimates that the Russian economy will shrink by 15 years

Imposed on Moscow following the invasion of Ukraine, international sanctions are erasing some 15 years of the country's economic progress and three decades of integration with the West, according to a report by the Institute of International Finance (IIF) published on Wednesday.

However, the impact of these measures remains difficult to predict as they are constantly changing, with potential new sanctions on the one hand and a possible response from Russia on the other, particularly in the energy sector.

In its latest analysis, the IIF predicts that the Russian economy will contract by 15% this year and another 3% in 2023.

However, according to IIR Executive Vice President Clay Lowery, sanctions have not proven effective in changing policy in the past.

Hello everyone !

Like every day, the editorial staff of

20 Minutes

is mobilizing to give you the latest information on the conflict in Ukraine.

On the ground, fighting is still intense in Severodonetsk.

The Russians are doing everything to control this city because, as Volodymyr Zelensky reminds us, it is there that “the fate” of the Donbass region is at stake.

The dispute is also over Ukraine's wheat resources.

The blocking of cereals in Ukrainian ports is indeed encouraging a rise in prices, increasing the risk of famine in certain countries in Africa and the Middle East.

  • World

  • War in Ukraine

  • Video

  • Russia

  • Volodymyr Zelensky

  • Vladimir Poutine

  • Donbass