• 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.
  • Finland officially joined NATO on Tuesday, becoming the 31st member of the Atlantic Alliance. The case of Sweden remains pending.

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

After three decades of military non-alignment and in the midst of war in Ukraine, Finland on Tuesday became NATO's 31st member country. A "historic day" hailed by the leaders of the Alliance who now turn to Sweden.

In a strong signal sent to Russia, which denounced a "breach" to its security and promised "countermeasures", NATO's allies welcomed the Nordic country with great pomp and immediately called for the accession of its Swedish neighbor "as soon as possible".

US President Joe Biden said he was "proud" to welcome Helsinki into the Western military alliance. His French counterpart Emmanuel Macron tweeted: "Welcome to Finland in NATO!", while Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky offered his "sincere congratulations" while Kiev also aspires to join the military organization one day.

The phrase of the day

The scale and brutality of Russia's atrocities in Ukraine is simply beyond human comprehension. The most appalling of these is the forcible transfer (...) of children to Russia for re-education and adoption."

Ukrainian Ambassador Yevheniia Filipenko has reacted to a resolution adopted Tuesday by the UN Human Rights Council demanding that Russia allow international organizations to visit children and other civilians "who have been forcibly deported" in Ukraine to Moscow-controlled territory.

The resolution also calls on Moscow to "cease the illegal forcible transfer and deportation of civilians and other protected persons within Ukraine or to the Russian Federation (...), in particular children, including those in institutions, those who are unaccompanied and those who are separated". The text was adopted by 28 votes in favour, 17 abstentions and two against (China and Eritrea).

According to Kiev, 16,221 children have been deported to Russia until the end of February, figures that the UN Commission has not been able to verify.

Today's figure

56. This is, in billions of cubic metres, the quantity of liquefied natural gas (LNG) exported to the EU in 2022 by the United States, compared to 22 billion in 2021, a jump of 140%. Washington and Brussels have indicated that they want to maintain at "a high level" in 2023 deliveries to Europeans of LNG, whose doubling last year has helped the Twenty-Seven reduce their dependence on Russian hydrocarbons.

Following the invasion of Ukraine, Washington and Brussels "have worked like never before to help make Europe more energy secure," US Foreign Minister Antony Blinken said during a meeting with EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell. In a joint statement, the US and EU pledged "to work to maintain a high level of supply of US LNG to Europe in 2023, of at least 50 billion m3".

Today's trend

Belarusian servicemen have begun to be trained in Russia in the use of "tactical" nuclear weapons, Moscow and Minsk said Tuesday, with the Kremlin recently announcing the shipment of such weapons to Belarus. "An Iskander-M tactical operational missile system has been delivered to the Belarusian Armed Forces. It allows the use of ordinary but also nuclear missiles," Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said.

Our dossier on the war in Ukraine

"Since April 3, Belarusian personnel have been trained in its use (...) in a Russian training center," he added at a meeting. "The personnel of these units will study in detail issues related to the content and use of tactical nuclear munitions," the Belarusian Defense Ministry said in a statement. "Belarusian servicemen will undergo a full training cycle at a training center of the Russian Armed Forces," the ministry said, without specifying how long this training will last.

  • War in Ukraine
  • World
  • Vladimir Poutine
  • Volodymyr Zelensky
  • Finland
  • NATO