Did you miss the latest events on the war in Ukraine? 20 Minutes takes stock for you every evening. Between the strong declarations, the progress on the front and the results of the fighting, here is the main news from this Saturday, January 4, 2025, the 1,046th day of the conflict.
News of the day
Russia claimed on Saturday to have intercepted American ATACMS missiles fired by Ukraine the day before and promised “retaliation”, this type of attack being presented by the Kremlin as a red line in the conflict. “These actions of the kyiv regime, which is supported by its Western guardians, will be subject to reprisals,” the Russian army warned in a statement.
In recent weeks, Russian President Vladimir Putin has threatened to order his army to strike the city center of kyiv in response to Ukrainian attacks carried out with American ATACMS or British Storm Shadows, without however following through on his remarks to this effect. stadium.
The statement of the day
« “If Europe is weak, it will not survive” »
During the gala, held under the slogan “Security, Europe!” “, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk stressed how important “security, competitiveness, innovation, imagination, courage (and) good leaders” were for Europe. “If Europe is weak, it will not survive,” he warned.
Council of Europe President Antonio Costa said the EU must continue to support Ukraine, which has been fighting a Russian invasion for almost three years. “Ukraine must remain our first priority,” he said. “We must continue to support Ukraine as much as necessary, for as long as it takes, to win a full, just and lasting peace.” Antonio Costa also praised Poland which is “at the forefront of European defense capabilities that we must develop to protect our countries, our societies, our values”. Poland currently spends more than 4% of its GDP on defense.
The number of the day
4. The Russian security services (FSB) announced on Saturday that they had arrested four minors suspected of wanting to carry out a bomb attack in Yekaterinburg, in the Urals. The four individuals, born between 2007 and 2008, “planned to commit a terrorist act using an improvised explosive device in busy places in the city of Yekaterinburg,” said the FSB, cited by news agencies. Russians.
Two of the four suspects are also accused of “torching” a police car, according to Russian news agencies. The state agency TASS published a video presenting, according to it, one of the arrested minors who, on camera, admits to following “neo-Nazi channels on the social network Telegram”. “I read on these channels that we had to take action against the police,” said this individual with his face blurred.
Today’s trend
Transnistria, a pro-Russian separatist territory in Moldova, announced on Saturday that it would introduce new power cuts for the population due to the cessation of deliveries of Russian gas, vital for its half-million inhabitants. This small territory which has escaped the control of the capital Chisinau since the fall of the USSR had already shut down many industrial companies on Thursday due to the lack of electricity. Then on Friday, she introduced the first power cuts for the population. These new cuts take place on Saturday “for three hours”, between 2 p.m. and 5 p.m., the separatist government announced on Telegram.
Our file on the war in Ukraine
The Russian giant Gazprom has until now supplied Transnistria with gas via the local supplier Tiraspoltransgaz, without this company paying for these deliveries. However, as Transnistria was not recognized by the international community, the secessionist entity sent payment requests to Chisinau, gradually increasing Moldova’s debt to Gazprom. The conflict over the amount of the debt, estimated at more than 700 million dollars by Moscow but estimated at only around 9 million by Chisinau, pushed the Russian giant to cut off the tap from January 1.