After six months of war in Ukraine, a high-risk national holiday

Cover image: A woman holds the flag of Ukraine as she looks at a row of destroyed Russian military vehicles on display in Independence Square in Kyiv, August 23, 2022. David Goldman / AP On the occasion of the six-month of this conflict, Le Monde is today organizing two chats in which you can participate: At 10 a.m. with Vincent Tourret, from the Foundation for Strategic Research, and Rémy Ourdan, journalist at Le Monde, on the state of the military forces after six months of war. At 2.30 p.m. with Emmanuel Grynszpan, journalist at Le Monde, and Benoît Chareyron, nuclear physics engineer and director of the CRIIRAD laboratory (Commission for Independent Research and Information on Radioactivity), on the case of the nuclear power plant of Zaporizhia. Ukraine celebrates, under the bombs, the national day of independence, Wednesday, six months to the day after the start of the invasion of the country by Russia. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has warned of “repugnant Russian provocations and brutal strikes”. Western leaders on Tuesday continued to strongly condemn the Russian offensive and rejected in advance the annexation referendums that Moscow wants organize in the occupied territories. French President Emmanuel Macron urged the international community to show “no weakness, no spirit of compromise” with Russia. Volodymyr Zelensky pledged to restore Ukrainian sovereignty in Crimea, annexed by the Russia in 2014, in order to restore “world public order”. ‘Ukraine. This will be the largest package of US military aid since the start of the war, which will allow kyiv to acquire new weapons or finance training or operations. Moscow and kyiv again accused each other on Tuesday, at a Security Council meeting, to endanger the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant, while the UN General Secretariat called on them to cease all military activity around the site. On the ground, since the withdrawal of Russian forces outskirts of kyiv in late March, the bulk of the fighting was concentrated in the east – where Moscow slowly gained ground before the front froze – and in the south – where Ukrainian troops say they are leading a counter-offensive, also very slow. Find our live from yesterday here. Read all our articles, analyzes and reports on the war in Ukraine Testimonials. The diary of two Ukrainian sisters: “With the national holiday, I’m really scared. Everyone is talking about the bombardments which could intensify” Report. In Russia, with the economic sanctions, “it becomes more and more difficult” Factual. After six months of conflict, Westerners are still uniting behind kyiv Reportage. Faced with the “madness” in their country, thousands of Russian Jews fled to Israel Story. War amputees in Ukraine Reportage. In Przemysl, Poland, psychologists come to the aid of traumatized Ukrainian refugees. In kyiv, first criticism behind the political unity around Volodymyr Zelensky The map of the war in Ukraine, day after day