Pope Francis denounces “the arrogance of the invader”…

A young Russian, already convicted for burning a copy of the Koran, then beaten up in custody by the son of Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov, was sentenced to thirteen and a half years in prison for “treason” for the benefit of Ukraine, according to a Russian court on Monday.

The affair of the burning Koran had already earned Nikita Jouravel a three-year prison sentence handed down last February in Chechnya, a Russian republic in the Caucasus with a Muslim majority.

Images were then broadcast showing Ramzan Kadyrov’s son, Adam, then 15 years old and a martial arts enthusiast, beating Nikita Jouravel. Ramzan Kadyrov said he was “proud” of his son.

Russian authorities then opened a separate investigation into “high treason,” accusing Nikita Jouravel of having worked for the Ukrainian security services (SBU) by sending a video of a train carrying Russian military equipment in March 2023 .

Pope Francis denounced Monday at the Vatican “the arrogance of the invader” in Ukraine but also in “Palestine”, a rare stance against Israeli policy, a week after having mentioned for the first time the accusations of “genocide » in Gaza.

Speaking in Spanish during a speech at the Apostolic Palace on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the peace treaty between Chile and Argentina, the almost 88-year-old pope spoke of “the numerous ongoing armed conflicts” and the “very painful tears” that they carry.

“I simply mention two failures of humanity today: Ukraine and Palestine, where people are suffering, where the arrogance of the invader prevails over dialogue,” he declared, improvised phrase which did not appear in his initial speech. Once again castigating the arms trade, Jorge Bergoglio criticized “the hypocrisy of talking about peace while playing at war”. “Dialogue must be the soul of the international community,” he pleaded before diplomats and religious representatives.

The British government on Monday announced sanctions against 30 additional ships from the “ghost fleet” allowing Russia to export its oil and gas by circumventing Western restrictions imposed since the invasion of Ukraine.

“This morning I am announcing the largest package of sanctions against the Russian ghost fleet. This underlines the UK’s commitment to Ukraine,” British Foreign Secretary David Lammy said during a meeting with his G7 counterparts near Rome. British sanctions now affect 73 ships in total.

In full escalation, Russia claimed Monday to have shot down eight ballistic missiles coming from Ukraine, without specifying which projectiles they were, as well as American-made aerial bombs.

“The air defense downed eight ballistic missiles, six American-made JDAM guided aerial bombs as well as 45 drones,” the Russian Defense Ministry said.

As a reminder, Russia struck Ukraine last week with an intermediate-range ballistic missile without a nuclear warhead and promised to increase these attacks if kyiv continued to use Western missiles to target its territory.

In the morning, Russian missile strikes left dozens injured in Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second city in the northeast of the country, near the Russian border, and in Odessa, a port city on the Black Sea (south). , according to regional authorities.

According to a statement from President Volodymyr Zelensky, since Sunday evening, “Russia has used nearly 150 combat drones, aerial bombs and missiles against more than ten of our regions.”

In Kharkiv, shelled by the Russian army since the start of its invasion almost three years ago, 23 people were injured, including 14 hospitalized in a morning attack, which damaged “more than 40 buildings” in the city center, according to the latest assessment announced by the regional governor.

In Odessa, a deputy governor of the region cited by media reported at least six injured in a missile strike in the city center.

Ukrainian suicide drones struck a fuel depot in the Russian region of Kaluga overnight, a source in Ukrainian military intelligence said on Monday. “The target of the attack was the oil depot” of the Kaluganefteprodukt group “which is involved in supporting Russia’s armed aggression against Ukraine,” this source told AFP, affirming that the strike had caused significant “destruction”.

The Russian governor of this region located south of Moscow indicated that air defense had shot down eight drones in the suburbs of Kaluga. The “falling debris” from these devices caused a fire in an “industrial enterprise” which was extinguished after several hours, said Governor Vladislav Chapchan, without giving further details.

Unverified images posted on social media show tracer munitions flying in the night and a large fire next to two industrial chimneys.

The Kremlin said on Monday that it “does not know well” the pro-Russian candidate Calin Georgescu, who created a surprise by coming first in the first round of the presidential election in Romania on Sunday.

“We cannot say that we are familiar with the views of this candidate regarding relations with our country,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

As for the current Romanian authorities, Romania’s policy under their leadership “is not friendly” towards Moscow, he recalled, adding that Russia “will see” how things develop and ” who will be the winner” of the second round.

Electoral earthquake this Monday in Romania: a pro-Russian candidate that no one expected came first in the first round of the presidential election and is preparing for a duel on December 8 against a political novice, according to the almost final results.

After the counting of more than 99% of the ballots, Calin Georgescu, 62 years old, opposed to aid to neighboring Ukraine and critic of NATO, collected 22.94% of the votes cast, ahead of Elena Lasconi, 52 years old. , center-right mayor of a small town (19.17%) during the election held on Sunday.

Pro-European Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu, who was the favorite, was demoted to third position with only a thousand votes difference (19.15%). He is eliminated.

Calin Georgescu created a surprise after a TikTok campaign that went viral in recent days, focused on the need to stop all support for kyiv. “Tonight, the Romanian people cried out for peace. And he shouted very loudly, extremely loudly,” he reacted on Sunday evening.

Minefield for Westerners. The United Nations secretary-general denounced the “renewed threat” of anti-personnel mines on Monday, days after the United States said it would provide the weapons to Ukrainian forces fighting the Russian invasion.

The remarks came during a conference in Cambodia to assess the progress of the Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention. Antonio Guterres praised the work of mine clearance and destruction around the world. “But the threat persists,” he clarified in a press release, “This concerns in particular the resumption of the use of antipersonnel mines by certain parties to the Convention, as well as the delay taken by certain parties in their commitments to destroy these weapons.

Antonio Guterres called on the 164 signatories – which include Ukraine but not Russia and the United States – to “fulfill their obligations and guarantee respect for the Convention”.

It’s a real electoral earthquake in Romania. A pro-Russian candidate that no one expected came first on Sunday in the first round of the presidential election ahead of pro-European Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu, after the counting of more than 98% of the votes. First given a clear lead by the exit polls, the 56-year-old social-democrat leader saw his 62-year-old far-right rival, Calin Georgescu, rise again in the evening. After counting 98.66% of the ballots, Calin Georgescu received 22.59% of the votes, compared to 19.55% for Marcel Ciolacu.

Donald Trump’s team will begin working with outgoing President Joe Biden’s administration to reach an “arrangement” between Ukraine and Russia, saying it is concerned about the current “escalation”. “President Trump has been very clear about the need to end this conflict. What we need to discuss is who will be at the table, whether it is an agreement, an armistice, how to bring both sides to the table and what the framework will be. an arrangement,” declared Sunday on Fox News Mike Waltz, appointed to the ultra-strategic position of national security adviser at the White House.

Hello everyone. Like every day, the editorial staff of 20 Minutes is mobilized to give you all the information on the conflict between kyiv and Moscow.

Since November 5, many of kyiv’s allies have been wondering how the Americans will position themselves vis-à-vis Ukraine after January 20. It is in fact on this date that Donald Trump will return to the White House. And the Europeans fear a disengagement of the United States in this conflict or even American pressure for an agreement to the detriment of kyiv.