• Russia launched its "military operation" in Ukraine on Thursday, February 24, 2022. Every evening, at 19:30 pm, 20 Minutes offers you its recap of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict that leaves dead and wounded and thousands of refugees every day.
  • Who did what? Who said what? And who supports whom and why? You will know everything about the progress of the negotiations and the events of this crisis that is shaking Russia, Ukraine, Europe and the United States.
  • While Wagner claimed responsibility for the capture of a key building in Bakhmut, the Russian military reported no advance in the city in its final daily briefing.

Did you miss the latest events about the war in Ukraine? Don't panic, 20 Minutes takes stock for you every night, at 19:30 pm. Who did what? Who said what? Where do we stand? The answer below:

News of the day

That has been done. Finland officially joins NATO on Tuesday and will become the 31st member of the Atlantic Alliance, much to Moscow's chagrin. Helsinski had decided to turn the page on his policy of military non-alignment in force since the 1990s by applying to join NATO in May 2022, pushed by the Russian invasion of Ukraine. "Tomorrow [Tuesday] we will welcome Finland as the 31st member," Stoltenberg said, adding that the Finnish flag would be raised mid-afternoon on Tuesday at the Alliance's headquarters in Brussels. "This is truly a historic day," he added, stressing that it was the "fastest" accession process in the Alliance's recent history.

For its part, Russia, on the contrary, castigated this integration into the Alliance and announced its intention to strengthen its military capabilities near Finland. "We will strengthen our military capabilities in the west and northwest," i.e. on the borders with Eastern Europe and Finland, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko said. "In case of deployment of forces and assets of other NATO members on Finnish territory, we will take additional measures to reliably ensure Russia's military security," he added, quoted by the Russian news agency Ria Novosti.

The phrase of the day

I want the Russian president to spend the rest of his life in a cellar with a bucket instead of a toilet."

The Ukrainian president will not forgive the Russians for their atrocities. After visiting a Ukrainian village liberated a year ago, where almost the entire population had been sequestered in a cellar by the Russian occupiers, Volodymyr Zelensky wished that the same fate would be reserved for Vladimir Putin.

"All these people were living in total darkness, waiting for the return of the Ukrainians. They wrote (on the walls) the names of those who died and the dates so as not to forget them. And the children marked the words of the Ukrainian anthem," he said during a ceremony in their honor, accompanied by German Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck. "After seeing this, I wish the Russian president would spend the rest of his life in a cellar with a bucket instead of a toilet," the Ukrainian president said.

Today's figure

2.4. This is in billions of euros the amount of damage caused to cultural property by the conflict in Ukraine, according to UNESCO. Some 248 monuments were damaged, some of which were totally destroyed, particularly in the east, according to the Paris-based UN body, whose director general Audrey Azoulay was in Ukraine on Monday.

The Russian invasion also caused a collapse of parts of the Ukrainian economy related to culture, including "tourism, arts, sports, entertainment, cultural industry, cultural education", estimated at 15.1 billion dollars (13.9 billion euros) in losses, according to a UNESCO executive. "We will support the Ukrainian authorities in the development of a national plan for the reconstruction of the cultural sector," announced Audrey Azoulay, who estimated the total need for funding to rebuild and revive this sector at 6.4 billion euros.

Today's trend

Communication is still poor between Wagner and the Russian army. The Russian military reported no progress in Bakhmut in its latest daily update on Monday, despite the mercenary group's boss claiming responsibility for the capture of a key building in that city at the epicenter of fighting in eastern Ukraine.

Our dossier on the war in Ukraine

In a message broadcast Sunday night on Telegram, Wagner's leader, businessman Yevgeny Prigozhin, said his men had hoisted the Russian flag and the banner of his paramilitary group on the Bakhmut town hall. "In the legal sense, Bakhmut has been taken," he said, adding that Ukrainian forces were now "concentrated in the western areas." But during his daily press briefing on Monday, Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov did not mention any advance by Russian troops in Bakhmut, not even mentioning the name of the city.

  • War in Ukraine
  • World
  • Vladimir Poutine
  • Volodymyr Zelensky
  • Bakhmut
  • Finland
  • NATO
  • Wagner Group