• 8:18 am: In Crimea, naval drone "attack" repulsed, no casualties

Russian authorities claimed to have repelled a surface drone raid on the annexed Crimean port of Sevastopol, the Black Sea Fleet's headquarters, without causing any casualties or damage.

"An attempted attack on Sevastopol was repelled from 3:30 a.m.," Russian-appointed Sevastopol Governor Mikhail Razvozhayev said on Telegram.

"One (naval) surface drone was destroyed by anti-sabotage forces, the second (drone) exploded by itself," he added, adding that the attack had been repelled in a harbor outside the port and that "no infrastructure" had been damaged.

Naval surface drones are craft that operate on the surface of the water, unmanned.

  • 5:34 a.m.: Kiev to voice frustration over ammunition with EU

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba is expected to use a meeting with his European Union counterparts to express Kiev's frustration over wrangling over the implementation of a plan to acquire more ammunition.

The unprecedented agreement reached by EU member states to jointly purchase ammunition for Ukraine has not yet been implemented, due to differences within the bloc over the volume of production to be carried out in Europe.

"For Ukraine, the cost of inaction is measured in human lives," Dmytro Kuleba wrote on Twitter.

  • 1:38 a.m.: Military spending in Europe at its highest level since the Cold War

Military spending in Europe has surpassed its late Cold War level in 2022, with record growth boosted by Russia's invasion of Ukraine, according to a report by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI).

The Old Continent has spent, after deducting inflation, 13% more on its armies during this year marked by the Russian invasion of Ukraine, according to the report. Ukraine alone increased its spending sevenfold, jumping to $44 billion (€40 billion) – a third of its GDP. And this is without counting several tens of billions in arms donations from abroad, says SIPRI. Russian spending grew by an estimated 9.2%, according to his estimates.

This European spending, which reached $480 billion (€436.7 billion) in 2022, has already increased by more than a third in a decade, and the trend is expected to continue to accelerate in the next decade.

  • The essentials of the day of April 23

Russia "will not forgive" the United States for refusing to issue visas to Russian journalists accompanying Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Monday and Tuesday at the UN, the minister said Sunday before his departure to New York.

The French government has promised to supply boats, buses and railway tracks to Ukraine, whose transport infrastructure has been severely damaged by the Russian invasion.

With AFP and Reuters

The summary of the week France 24 invites you to look back on the news that marked the week

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