Europe 1 with AFP 10:19 am, March 24, 2023

On the 394th day of the war in Ukraine, Russia continues to attack in the Donetsk region, where five victims are deplored. In Denmark, a cylindrical object described as "suspicious" by Putin was detected under the Baltic Sea. Finally, Zelensky asked for military aid from Europe in order to "protect Ukrainians from terror".

THE ESSENTIALS

The conflict continues in Ukraine. The country announced on Thursday several victims in the Donetsk region, invaded by Russian opponents. The European Union will carry out an operation to find children abducted from Ukraine by Russia - 16,000 children have reportedly been deported. Ursulan von der Leyen considered that this justified the arrest warrants issued by the International Criminal Court on 17th March against Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Meanwhile, Volodymyr Zelensky is asking his European allies to deliver weapons to him quickly. He recalled the need to provide him with long-range missiles and modern fighter jets to win the fight against the enemy, more than a year after the start of the war.

The main information:

  • Denmark has alerted the Nord Stream consortium to the presence of a suspicious object.
  • In Donetsk, Russian strikes killed five people.
  • The EU will hold a conference on children abducted by Russia.
  • The Ukrainian president has asked Europe for military aid.

Five victims in Donetsk

Five people were killed in a Russian strike on the town of Kostiantynivka in Ukraine's eastern Donetsk region, the State Emergency Service said Friday. "Three women and two men died" in the strike of a Russian missile that hit a one-storey building housing a humanitarian reception center in this locality located about twenty kilometers west of Bakhmut, epicenter of fighting with the Russian army, said the rescue on Telegram.

Denmark to reassemble object described as suspicious by Putin

Denmark has invited the Nord Stream consortium to participate in the recovery under the Baltic Sea of a cylindrical object spotted near the sabotaged Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, described as suspicious by Russian President Vladimir Putin. "The Energy Agency has offered the owner company, Nord Stream 2, to participate in the recovery operation," it said in a statement Thursday evening, six months after the spectacular sabotage operation against the Nord Stream 1 and 2 gas pipelines.

The date of the operation is not yet known, as is the response of the operator, of which Russia's Gazprom is the majority shareholder. The object, which has not been identified but does not pose a security risk according to the agency, must be reassembled with the help of the Danish Defense. The agency released a photo of the object, which it said is 40 cm high and 10 cm in diameter. "It is possible that the object is a maritime smoke buoy. This will be subject to further investigation," the agency wrote.

Ursulan von der Leyen announces conference on children abducted by Russia

The EU will organise in partnership with Warsaw and Kiev a conference to help locate children abducted in Ukraine by Russia and return them to their country, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced on Thursday.

"It's a horrific reminder of the darkest periods of our history, the deportations of children happening there. This is a war crime," the German official said after a summit in Brussels. "We know that 16,200 children were deported, only 300 have returned since then," she told a news conference.

She added that "these criminal actions fully justify the arrest warrants issued by the International Criminal Court" on March 17 against Russian President Vladimir Putin and Russian Presidential Commissioner for Children's Rights Maria Lvova-Belova for "illegal deportation" of Ukrainian children during the Russian invasion.

Zelenky asks Europeans for missiles and fighter jets

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Thursday thanked the Europeans for their military aid but warned that warnings over the supply of long-range missiles and fighter jets risked prolonging the war. Returning from the Kherson region, near the southern front, the president called, via videoconference from a train, the European leaders meeting at a summit in Brussels.

The connection was interrupted once, but the Ukrainian president was able to get his message across, a European official said. He warned against refusing to provide his forces with long-range missiles and modern fighter jets. "We cannot delay the transfer to our soldiers of weapons that can protect Ukrainians from terror. First of all, it is about long-range weapons," Zelensky said, according to a video posted on his Telegram account. "We need more modern aircraft" than the MiGs already sent to Kiev, he added.