LIVE. War in Ukraine: Zelensky said he wants to take back Crimea, “our lands”.

Ukraine’s president said Thursday that he intends to retake Crimea, which was annexed by Russia in 2014, and called on his Western partners to supply him with more weapons.

“Our goal is to liberate all our territories,” the leader said during a video conference during breakfast at the Davos Forum. “Crimea is our land, territory, sea and mountains. “Give us your weapons and we will take back our lands,” he said.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky criticized Germany’s reluctance to allow the supply of heavy tanks, saying it was not a “correct strategy”. “There are times when you should not hesitate and compare yourself. Speaking via video conference over breakfast at the Davos Forum, he said when someone said, “If someone else delivers the tanks, I won’t deliver the tanks.”

The images were captured by the camera of the Al-Jazeera channel. This video was posted by the channel on Wednesday afternoon.

The President of the European Council, Charles Michel, will go to Kyiv in the next few hours.

He must discuss new support measures for Ukraine with President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, who has demanded faster arms supplies.

The two leaders will discuss “concrete steps to ensure that Ukraine becomes stronger and stronger.”

After escaping to Norway in epic circumstances, the former Wagner mercenary is today a valuable witness who can shed light on the brutality of the Russian paramilitary group in Ukraine and feed the prosecution case against Moscow.

Andrey Medvedev, 26, managed to illegally cross the Pasvik, a now-frozen river that marks the Russian-Norwegian border in the Far North last week.

He claims that Wagner fought in Ukraine as the leader of a ten-man unit.

Alexei Medvedev says he is aware of ten executions by Wagner of mercenaries who refused to return to battle. He would have a video of two of them being killed. According to his lawyer, he is ready to testify about the actions of this mercenary gang.

Ukrainian families living in the former gendarmerie building in Sucy-en-Brie received a note last December asking them to vacate the premises in the coming months. The municipality is sure to be ready to accompany them. But they are afraid of becoming homeless. Read our article

Germany will give the green light to send German-made Leopard tanks to Ukraine if the US agrees to send its Abrams tanks, a government official told Reuters. According to information, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has repeatedly made this request behind closed doors in recent days as he is facing pressure from other European countries to supply tanks to Ukraine. But for now, the US does not intend to supply these tanks.

Recent drone footage posted on YouTube shows the city completely in ruins. Marinka and its surroundings are one of the hot spots on the front line. Before the war, about 9 thousand people lived in this commune.

The Ukraine Reconstruction Conference (URC 2023) will be held in London on June 21-22. The conference will be part of the continuation of the annual series of events last organized by Switzerland and Ukraine in Lugano.

According to Valentin Reznichenko, the Russians shelled the Nikopol region with artillery fire at night.

US Agency for International Development (USAID) Administrator Samantha Power announced that “the Biden administration will provide $125 million for electrical parts and other supplies to help repair teams in Ukraine deal with Russian strikes that have hit the country’s electrical system.” This funding will also help increase the stock of gas turbines, transformers and other vital electrical equipment. This department has already provided Ukraine with about 1,500 generator sets and invested $55 million in the country’s heating infrastructure.

US intelligence reports that the Russians do not have full control over Soledar and Bakhmut and that major battles are taking place. According to John Kirby, the National Security Council’s strategic communications coordinator at the White House, the American side does not consider these two cities to have been unilaterally captured by the Russians, even though the Russians have made progress. These battles are mainly waged by Prigogine and his group Wagner.

In a press statement, the presidential couple said they “believe dozens of civilians have been killed or injured” in the crash.

After the death of at least 14 people as a result of the crash of the helicopter of the Minister of Internal Affairs of Ukraine Denis Monastyrsky, the Ukrainian authorities started a criminal case on the instructions of the President Volodymyr Zelensky.

President Zelensky said in his final video message: “The Security Service of Ukraine has opened a criminal case regarding this terrible incident. “I instructed the head of the Security Service of Ukraine together with all other competent authorities to clarify all the circumstances of the disaster.”

In addition, President Zelensky announced that “the head of the national police of Ukraine will be the head of the ministry for the time being.” “We also divided the responsibilities of the minister within the framework of our defense operation and state security,” added the president. Read our article