War in Ukraine: What to remember on the 426th day of the Russian invasion

Europe 1 with AFP / Photo credits: Anatolii Stepanov / AFP 16:30 pm, April 25, 2023

Ukraine on Tuesday denounced the "hypocrisy" of Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, who chaired a Security Council in New York the day before on the "defense of the principles" of the UN Charter. "A complete hypocritical circus. Lavrov chairs the UN Security Council justifying war, massacres, total destruction...", lashed out on Twitter Mykhailo Podoliak, adviser to Volodymyr Zelensky.

An impeccable hypocrisy fair. Lavrov chairs the UNSC justifying war, mass killings, total destruction... with "international law". RF plainly humiliates democracy, freedom, conventions. And? Interesting? Do you like being humiliated? Russia must be designated a sponsor of...

— Михайло подоляк (@Podolyak_M) April 25, 2023

"Russia is clearly humiliating democracy, freedom, conventions," he said. The authenticity of Mykhailo Podoliak's tweet was confirmed to AFP by a source in the Ukrainian presidency.

Key takeaways:

- Ukraine denounces Sergei Lavrov's hypocrisy at the UN Security Council

- A "barbaric" attack in Kupyansk leaves one dead and ten wounded, according to Volodymyr Zelensky

- Sweden expels five Russian diplomats

UN system in deep crisis, says Lavrov

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has been in New York since Monday, while Russia holds the rotating presidency of the UN Security Council until the end of April. On Monday, the Russian minister said that the United Nations system "is experiencing a deep crisis", accusing the West, and in particular the United States, of being responsible.

On Tuesday, he is due to chair a session of debates on the situation in the Middle East and give a press conference, after more than a year of invasion in Ukraine.

Zelensky denounces a "barbaric" attack on a museum in Kupyansk that left one dead

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Tuesday denounced a "barbaric" Russian attack on a museum in Kupiansk, northeastern Ukraine, a new "war crime" in his eyes that left at least one dead and ten wounded, he announced. "At this point, we have been informed of the death of one museum employee and ten wounded," Volodymyr Zelensky said on Telegram, castigating Russians for "killing Ukrainians with absolutely barbaric methods." "There are still people under the rubble," he said.

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"All those guilty of these war crimes will certainly be brought to justice and it will be merciless," the Ukrainian president said. According to him, the strike took place in the city center of Kupyansk, "on a museum of local history", very close to the front line in the northeast of the country.

In a short video shared by Volodymyr Zelensky on his Telegram channel, we see a gutted building, exploded windows and a lot of debris on the ground. "The terrorist country is doing everything to destroy us completely," he lamented, before affirming: "We must and we will respond!" The Russian attack took place using a surface-to-air missile of Soviet origin "S-300", said on Telegram the head of the presidential administration, Andriy Iermak.

Ukrainian cereals: UN chief proposes 'way' to extend agreement

The UN secretary-general has presented a "way forward" to allow the extension of the agreement on Ukrainian grain exports, his office said Monday after a meeting with the Russian foreign minister.

Antonio Guterres handed Sergey Lavrov "a letter for President Vladimir Putin, outlining a proposed way forward to improve, extend and extend" the agreement that since last July allows the export of Ukrainian grain via the Black Sea despite the conflict, according to the statement. A similar letter was sent "to the other two signatories" of this agreement considered crucial for global food security, Ukraine and Turkey.

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Sweden expels five Russian diplomats

Sweden announced Tuesday that it was expelling five Russian diplomats for "activities incompatible" with their diplomatic status. The Scandinavian country's foreign ministry said it had "summoned Russian Ambassador Viktor Tatarintsev and informed him that five officials of the Russian embassy in Sweden are being asked to leave the country because of activities that are not compatible with the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations," it said in a statement without specifying the nature of these activities.