LIVE – Ukraine: Zelensky urges Americans to ‘maintain unity’ until ‘peace’

The headquarters of a bank in Frankfurt was raided on Tuesday as part of an investigation into an oligarch close to Vladimir Putin, the local prosecutor’s office announced on Tuesday. The prosecution did not name the bank According to the weekly Der Spiegel, It is the German headquarters of Swiss banking giant UBS. The suspect targeted was Alicher Usmanov, close to the Russian president, whose several properties in Germany, particularly in Bavaria, had already been searched in September.

The 69-year-old Russian billionaire and former head of the International Fencing Federation is suspected of having his assets monitored by the security agency when he was on a sanctions list imposed by the European Union on February 28 in response to Russia’s invasion. of Ukraine.

By paying for these monitoring services, Alicher Ousmanov would thus have breached the ban on holding frozen funds. Alicher Usmanov is suspected of tax evasion of up to 550 million euros. Spiegel.

Alicher Usmanov, who has spent most of his time in Bavaria in recent years, is not in Germany or Russia: investigators believe he is currently in his native Uzbekistan. Spiegel. He is presented by a German weekly as the Russian president’s “straw man” in several business cases.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has urged Americans to “maintain unshakable unity” until “peace is restored” in Ukraine, with crucial midterm elections in the US on Tuesday, the results of which could affect Washington’s support for Kyiv.

“As it is now, (and) I ask you to maintain unshakable unity until the day we hear these important words that we have dreamed of, until we finally hear that peace has returned,” he said. Video conference call from Kyiv.

He later received the American “Medal of Independence”.

Power has been restored in the city of Kherson in southern Ukraine occupied by the Russian army after a two-day blackout, an official with the occupation authorities, Kirill Stremosov, said on Tuesday.

The Ukrainian city lost water and electricity on Sunday after two strikes at the hands of Moscow forces in late February, blamed on each other by Moscow and Kiev.

The strikes also damaged the Khakovka hydroelectric dam, which is occupied by Russian forces and supplies Crimea, which was annexed by Russia in 2014, and Ukrainian troops have been on the offensive for weeks. “Despite vandalism and attacks there is electricity,” Kirill Stremosov assured in a telegram without further details.

In addition, the Russian Security Services (FSB) announced on Tuesday the arrest of nine members of the “intelligence and sabotage group” of the Ukrainian forces. In a press release, the FSB accused these Ukrainians of carrying out planned attacks against senior officials of the occupation administration in the Kherson region.

Explosives, grenades, explosives and a car bomb were seized at the time of their arrest, and an investigation into “an act of international terrorism” was opened, according to the same source.

The Middle Ages, a cleaver for US support for Ukraine? That’s the question before a possible swing of Congress to the Republican side.

But at a press conference, White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre denied:

“The United States will continue to support Ukraine in all areas: military, economic, human rights. Members of Congress – Republicans and Democrats alike – have made it clear: our support for Ukraine is unwavering regardless of the outcome of the election”.

Confession falls over the edge Middle Ages Americans. On Monday, Yevgeny Prigojine, founder of the Wagner mercenary company, admitted Russian meddling in the recent US election: ‘We have it, we do it, we will do it’.

“There is a personal calendar of Prigozhin, which he admitted to establishing Wagner, expressing his opinion about Ukraine. We are obliged to be interested in these media releases of Prigozhin,” noted our journalist Patrick Sass.

For our diplomatic advisor Sylvie Berman, these fraudulent attempts at influence are “obvious”: “It’s obvious. That’s the big problem with Trump’s mandate, he’s accused of not being elected solely because of Russian interference, which is false” . “Prigojine is happy to have a storefront”, pointed out France’s former ambassador to Russia.

For Patrick Sass, these confessions must be placed in a broader strategy: “In September, the Americans confirmed that the Russians had. At the very least It has spent $300 million to disrupt elections abroad since 2014″.

In his last address to his people – broadcast on Monday evening – the Ukrainian president himself insisted on a Russian massacre.

“The Donetsk region is the center of the greatest madness of the aggressor. In front of the Ukrainian positions, hundreds of people are dying every day, and the ground is littered with the bodies of enemy soldiers. In the east and south, we are gradually being driven out. The enemy is gradually advancing,” he said.

How many Russian soldiers have lost their lives at the front since the war began? 75,000 According to the Ministry of External Affairs, it reproduced its detailed statement on Twitter on Saturday. He claims 277 Russian planes were shot down and 5,600 armored vehicles were neutralized. However, the Russians had only 10,000 dead for the time being.

However, grief receives public attention, especially through certain media. On this Tuesday morning set, Sylvie Berman, our diplomatic advisor and former French ambassador to Russia, noted:

“A Russian newspaper speaks of senseless attacks, of soldiers becoming cannon fodder. It also says soldiers have written to the governor of Vladivostok region to complain about losses.”

Patrick Sass, our columnist specializing in foreign affairs, also noted: “There is an image more forbidden than the dead: the image of the wounded. The return of a man missing an arm or legs is a moral horror.”

The Kremlin is trying to inject new blood into its forces. Patrick Sass noted that the Russian president recently promised that 47,000 conscripts have been put on the ground since “partial mobilization.” For the rest, the Russian army, on the defensive, tries to save what can be saved, creating a glacier to take advantage of its winter quarters.

“In Mariupol, Luhansk, they are strengthening themselves with concrete blocks like the ‘Dragon’s Teeth,’ the Siegfried Line during World War II,” Patrick Szass actually described.

This is one of the consequences of Russian strikes harassing civilian installations and energy infrastructure: drinking water is in short supply in many Ukrainian cities. This is especially the case in Mykolaiv, where our teams visited during the report we broadcast this Tuesday.

The city, located in the south of the country, has lost all drinking water since the first days of the war. So residents need to organize themselves. Some people get water by tram.

North Korea’s defense ministry said on Tuesday that Pyongyang was offering “baseless” US accusations. Artillery ammunition for Russia to its war in Ukraine, North Korean state agency KCNA said.

North Korean weapons tests last week (launching at least 23 missiles in one day, plus one intercontinental ballistic missile launch), are raising tensions on the Korean Peninsula, while the U.S. and South Korea have completed their largest joint airstrike. Exercises there.

Pyongyang’s denial comes in response to accusations from White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby last week. North Korea sends a “significant number” of bombs to Russia “in a covert manner,” he said, “trying to make it look like they are being sent to the Middle East or Africa.”

The spokesman said Washington is currently trying to determine whether the North Korean military aid was actually received by the Russians.

“Recently, the United States continues to spread baseless rumors of ‘arms deals’ between the DPRK (Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, North Korea) and Russia,” said a statement from the North Korean military’s deputy director of foreign affairs. The Ministry of National Defense was quoted as saying by KCNA.

“We would like to clarify once again that there have never been any ‘arms deals’ with Russia and we do not expect any in the future, and we see in this “rumor” a “hostile attempt to tarnish the DPRK’s image on the international stage,” the press release added.

Ukraine received new Western air defense systems on Monday, as Russian missiles continue to rain down on cities and infrastructure across the country. According to Defense Minister Oleksiï Reznikov, on Monday Kyiv received NASAMS and Aspide air defense systems, provided by the United States, Spain and Norway.

These deliveries, in particular, follow the latest generation German “Iris-T” system or the French surface-to-air missiles “Grodale”. UK announces deployment of AMRAAM missiles Westerners hope to provide Ukraine with a “patchwork” anti-aircraft defense consisting of modern and old equipment.

According to Ukrainian officials, Russia has destroyed about 40% of Ukraine’s energy infrastructure since early October, including using Iranian-made suicide drones.