Europe 1 with AFP / Photo credits: Handout / UKRAINIAN PRESIDENTIAL PRESS SERVICE / AFP 4:41 p.m., March 6, 2024

On the 741st day of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Moscow's army carried out strikes on Odessa on Wednesday while Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis were traveling to this major southern port. country.

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The Russian army carried out strikes on Odessa on Wednesday when Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis were traveling in this major port in southern Ukraine, the Greek leader said.

“At the very end (of the visit), we heard the sound of air raid sirens and explosions very close to us. We did not have time to take shelter,” said Kyriakos Mitsotakis at the end of the bombings, describing it as "an impressive experience".

The strikes took place after a visit by the two leaders to the port, essential for Ukrainian grain exports via the Black Sea, where Volodymyr Zelensky explained the efforts undertaken "to restore and strengthen the Ukrainian sea route", according to Kyriakos Mitsotakis, according to the translation of his words.

The main information:

  • Russian strikes during the trip of Zelensky and the Greek Prime Minister to Odessa

  • seven civilians killed in zone occupied by Russia

  • journalist sentenced to seven years in prison for criticizing Ukraine assault

“(The Russians) don’t care where they strike,” says Zelensky

This road has enabled the export of 28 million tonnes of cereals since the end of the agreement on their trade with Russia in July 2023. In August 2023, Kiev unilaterally announced the creation of a route to export its cereals, despite Russian threats of retaliation on ships entering and leaving Ukrainian ports.

“We understand that this war affects everyone (...) It spares no one,” added Kyriakos Mitsotakis during a joint press conference with Volodymyr Zelensky.

For his part, the Ukrainian president, who travels frequently across the country, despite threats of Russian strikes, also denounced Wednesday's Russian attack.

“(The Russians) don’t care where they strike,” he lambasted the press, specifying that “there are dead and wounded.”

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The Greek Prime Minister's trip to this large city in southern Ukraine had not been officially announced beforehand, like the majority of visits by international leaders to Ukraine for security reasons.

Kyriakos Mitsotakis is expected later Wednesday in Bucharest, Romania, for a meeting of the European People's Party (EPP).

Seven civilians killed in zone occupied by Russia

Seven civilians were killed in two separate incidents Wednesday in Russian-occupied eastern Ukraine, with five jumping on a mine and two dying in a shelling, local occupation authorities said.

“A minibus going to a cemetery exploded on a mine in the town of Donetsky. Eight civilians were in the vehicle. Five people were killed,” Leonid Passechnik, head of the Lugansk region, said on Telegram , annexed by Russia.

The mayor of the town of Kreminna located in the same region, Vyacheslav Tretyakov, reported two deaths and two serious injuries in a Ukrainian bombing.

“Once again, Ukrainian armed formations committed a cynical act of aggression by shelling our city. The enemy struck right in the center of the city, where our citizens shop and children walk,” he denounced on Telegram.

The Lugansk region, which partially fell into the hands of pro-Russian separatists from 2014, is one of four regions of Ukraine whose annexation Russia claimed in September 2022. Almost the entire region is under Russian occupation .

Journalist sentenced to seven years in prison for criticizing Ukraine assault

A Russian journalist and blogger, Roman Ivanov, was sentenced to seven years in prison on Wednesday for publishing messages criticizing the assault on Ukraine on social media, a new example of the repression plaguing Russia.

The court in Korolev, a small town six kilometers northeast of Moscow, found Mr Ivanov, 51, guilty of "spreading false information" about the Russian army in three messages appearing on the Russian social network VKontakte and on Telegram.

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One of the publications concerned in particular the events in the Ukrainian town of Boutcha where bodies of killed civilians were discovered in April 2022, kyiv accusing the Russian army of these massacres, which Moscow has always denied.

Just after the announcement of the verdict, his supporters, present in the corridors of the court, chanted: "Roma (short for Roman, editor's note), we are with you. You are not alone!", according to a journalist from the AFP on site.

His mother, Alla Ivanova, interviewed by the press, quickly denounced a “fabricated” accusation.

“He was fighting for people, helping them,” she said.

“It was a pretext to get rid of Roman,” denounced his wife, Maria Nekrassova, 36, announcing that “naturally, we will appeal”.