half of the promised Western weapons are delivered late, deplores a minister – L’Express

The allies want to be reassuring, two years to the day of a trying war. But on the ground, the Ukrainian army is undermanned, demanding ammunition and more air defense systems to contain an offensive Russian army.

Information to remember

⇒ The G7 promises that the “cost of war” will increase for Moscow

⇒ Western weapons: “50% of (these) commitments are not delivered on time”, deplores the Ukrainian Minister of Defense

⇒ Navalny’s body was handed over to his mother, announces the opponent’s team

Western weapons promised to Ukraine: half delivered late

“At the moment, a commitment is not synonymous with delivery, 50% of (these) commitments are not delivered on time,” Ukrainian Defense Minister Roustem Umerov said this Sunday during a forum dedicated to the second anniversary of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Because of these delays, “we are losing people, we would lose territories,” he added. The Ukrainian army, facing an extremely difficult situation on the front, withdrew last week from its fortress town of Avdiïvka, in the east of the country, after months of tough fighting, citing a shortage of men. and ammunition.

READ ALSO: War in Ukraine: kyiv’s strategy to find a second wind

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has repeatedly urged his Western allies in recent days to deliver military aid “on time”, demanding in particular ammunition, more air defense systems and combat planes.

Navalny’s body was handed over to his mother, opponent’s team announces

The remains of Alexeï Navalny, which his relatives had requested since his death in prison on February 16, were handed over to his mother, the Russian opponent’s spokesperson said on Saturday, adding that she did not know under what conditions the funeral would be carried out. authorized. “Alexei’s body has been handed over to his mother,” Kira Iarmich wrote on

READ ALSO: Death of Alexeï Navalny: the crushed hope of another Russia

She added that she did not know if “the authorities will prevent (the funeral) from taking place as the family wishes and as Alexei deserves”, while in the morning Yulia Navalnaya, who vowed to continue the fight for her husband, accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of preventing the body from being handed over to the family.

The G7 promises that the “cost of war” will increase for Moscow

The G7 promised on Saturday to “raise the cost of the war” in Ukraine in Moscow, following a virtual summit where Volodymyr Zelensky urged his allies to deliver their military aid on “time” to his weakened country. the dawn of a third year of war. “We will continue to drive up the cost of Russia’s war, lower its revenue streams and impede its efforts to build its war machine, as demonstrated by the sanctions packages we recently adopted,” the G7 leaders said. in a press release.

Drones intercepted in kyiv region

Drones were intercepted last night in the kyiv region, according to our colleagues at Monde. The air alert was in effect for two hours, Rusklan Kravchenko, head of the oblast military administration, announced this Sunday. The debris reached uninhabited areas, he said on Facebook. The Ukrainian army had previously announced the destruction of 16 of the 18 drones launched overnight by the Russian army, without saying whether the two which escaped the air defense had caused any damage.

READ ALSO: Russia: behind Putin’s boasting, a completely different reality

Sri Lanka: Russians and Ukrainians deprived of long-term visas

Sri Lanka announced this Sunday that it would end extensions of long-term tourist visas for thousands of Russians and Ukrainians who had been using them to live on the island since Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine. “The government is not granting new visa extensions,” Immigration Commissioner General Harsha Ilukpitiya told AFP, setting the deadline for departures at March 7. “The flight situation is now normalized and they have no difficulty returning home.” More than 288,000 Russians and nearly 20,000 Ukrainians have visited Sri Lanka in the past two years, according to official figures.

Thousands of people demonstrate in France for Ukraine

Thousands of people demonstrated in France on Saturday to show their support for Ukraine, two years after the invasion of the country by Moscow’s troops, AFP journalists noted. In Paris and in around ten other French cities, Ukrainians and French people, often wrapped in the yellow and blue flag of Ukraine, gathered to express their solidarity but also their concern at a time when the forces of Kiev, lacking weapons and ammunition, are in a very difficult position facing Russian troops. In the capital, a few thousand people marched between the Places de la République and the Bastille, in an imposing calm, sometimes broken by “Putin assassin!” “Russia out of Ukraine!”

READ ALSO: Leroy Merlin in Russia, our revelations: opaque arrangements, false starts and contracts with the State

Belarus: Alexander Lukashenko organizes a mock legislative election

Tightly controlled legislative and local elections in Belarus opened today and are expected to retain the country’s authoritarian leader, despite calls for a boycott from the opposition. President Alexander Lukashenko, who has ruled Belarus with an iron fist for nearly 30 years, accuses the West of trying to use the vote to undermine his government and “destabilize” the nation of 9.5 million people . Lukashenko has relied on subsidies and political support from his main ally, Russia, to survive the protests. He authorized Moscow to use Belarusian territory to send troops to Ukraine in February 2022.