Volodymyr Zelensky is in Paris to sign a security agreement with Emmanuel Macron, after doing the same in Berlin, much-awaited support as the Ukrainian army struggles against the Russians and U.S. aid is frozen. Here is the news from Friday, February 16, 2024, according to Agence France-Presse.
Zelensky in Paris to sign agreement with Macron
After Germany, Volodymyr Zelensky arrived at Orly airport in the south of Paris to sign a security agreement with his counterpart Emmanuel Macron, as witnessed by AFP journalists.
Welcomed at the bottom of the plane by Minister of the Armies Sébastien Lecornu, the Ukrainian president then went to the Elysée Palace to meet with Emmanuel Macron, sign the agreement, and hold a joint press conference with the French president.
An agreement was signed between Germany and Ukraine
Germany will not “relax” its support for Ukraine, assured German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, alongside Ukrainian President Zelensky, who was on a visit to Berlin. This statement was made after the signing of a bilateral security agreement.
The purpose of this agreement, described as “historic” by Olaf Scholz, is to provide a lasting framework for the military and defense aid that Germany is providing to Ukraine.
“In its history, the Federal Republic is playing the role of a guaranteeing state” for the security of another state for the first time, added the German Minister of Defense, Boris Pistorius.
In addition to this document, Germany announced the release of an additional immediate military aid of 1.13 billion euros for Ukraine, focused on artillery that Ukraine desperately needs to repel the Russian offensive.
Poutine must “be held accountable for his crimes,” denounces Zelensky, following the death of Navalny
After the announcement of the death of the Russian opponent Alexei Navalny in prison, Volodymyr Zelensky said that Russian President Vladimir Putin should “be held accountable for his crimes.”
“I am convinced that (Alexei Navalny) was killed like thousands of others who have been tortured to death because of one person, Putin, who does not care who will die as long as he retains his position,” he said at a joint press conference with Chancellor Olaf Scholz in Berlin.
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Start of new trial for Russian dissident Oleg Orlov
He faces up to five years in prison for his repeated denunciations of the war in Ukraine, which was triggered two years ago by Vladimir Putin.
The new trial of the dissident Oleg Orlov, a figure in the defense of human rights in Russia, began in Moscow, the latest example of the repression pouring down on Kremlin critics.
Before the trial opened, Oleg Orlov told AFP that he was “in a fighting spirit.” “I do not expect anything good,” he acknowledged, accompanied by his lawyer.
Before the judge Elena Astakhova, he refused to speak at this initial hearing. “I refuse to testify. I simply reserve the right to make remarks at the closing because I consider this trial unfair,” he said.
“I do not recognize my guilt. I do not understand how a person can be persecuted for expressing an opinion,” he added. The judge adjourned the trial and scheduled two new hearings for February 21 and 26.
At the end of an initial trial, Oleg Orlov was found guilty in October 2023 of having “discredited” the army and was fined a small amount, a very lenient verdict in Russia. Then, the prosecutors changed their minds and appealed, deploring a sentence that was ultimately “excessively light.”
Russian justice then decided to send the case back to investigators and to launch a new trial against the dissident for the same accusations.
Kamala Harris calls for U.S. aid to be unblocked
For U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris, the failure to unblock the new aid package for Ukraine in the American Congress will play into Russia’s hands.
“We will work to obtain the weapons and essential resources that Ukraine so badly needs and, let me be clear, if we do not do this, we will be giving a gift to Vladimir Putin,” she said in a speech at the Munich Security Conference in southern Germany.
Last Tuesday, President Joe Biden had called on the House of Representatives to approve the aid package to Ukraine “quickly” adopted by the Senate, even if the House’s Republican leader said he did not want to consider it in its current form.
The bodies of 58 Ukrainian soldiers repatriated
The Ukrainian coordination center for prisoners of war announced that it had repatriated the bodies of 58 of its soldiers who fell in battle, an area where Moscow and Kiev have cooperated since the beginning of the Russian invasion.
At the end of January, Ukraine had already announced that it had recovered the bodies of 77 Ukrainian soldiers. This long-planned repatriation occurred shortly after the crash of a Russian military plane, which, according to Moscow, was transporting Ukrainian prisoners of war and had been shot down by Kiev.
Ukraine did not acknowledge its involvement and expressed doubts about the presence of its soldiers on board. At the beginning of February, both countries also carried out an exchange of one hundred prisoners of war from each side.
Kiev announces the withdrawal of a position near Avdiivka
The Ukrainian army announced that it had withdrawn “with minor losses” from a position it held to the south of Avdiivka, a city in the east where the situation has significantly deteriorated in recent days due to the increasing number of Russian assaults.
Ukraine risks having to abandon this largely destroyed town, faced with a growing lack of resources. In this case, it would be Russia’s biggest symbolic victory after Kiev’s failed counter-offensive last summer.
