Ukraine: the Russian army intends to "destroy everything in the Donbass", says Zelensky

The Russian army is trying at all costs to tighten its grip on the Luhansk region of the Donbass (east), where it has intensified its offensive with the aim of "destroying everything", according to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. the Russians are moving in all directions at once," regional governor Sergei Gaidai said on Telegram on Wednesday. "The situation in Donbass is extremely difficult," President Zelensky said on Tuesday evening. "All the forces that the Russian army has still been thrown there for the offensive" because they "want to destroy everything," he said.

Moscou decided to intensify its offensive in the Donbass, formed by the Luhansk and Donetsk regions, which the Ukrainians are struggling to defend, after moving Russian forces away from the country's two largest cities, Kiev and Kharkiv (northeast). It is in particular to defend the Donbass, partially controlled since 2014 by pro-Russian separatists, from an alleged "genocide", that Russian President Vladimir Putin triggered the invasion of Ukraine on 24th February.

China accused of endorsing "at the highest level" abuses against Uighurs

China is accused of condoning "at the highest level" abuses against the Muslim Uyghur minority after new press revelations about the crackdown in Xinjiang, as the UN human rights chief begins a tour of the region. A consortium of 14 foreign media outlets has released documents it says came from hacking police computers in China's northwestern region of Xinjiang. These cast a harsh light on the situation of Uyghur Muslims. Among them are thousands of photographs presented as having been taken in "detention camps" and showing the faces of many "detainees", including women, minors and the elderly. The written documents lend credence to the idea of repression ordered from the top of the Chinese state. The new accusations are "the latest example of the denigration of Xinjiang by anti-China forces," Wang Wenbin, a spokesman for Chinese diplomacy, said Tuesday.

IN BRIEF

North Korea fired an "alleged intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) on Wednesday" as part of a series of three missile tests on Wednesday morning, the South Korean military said, hours after leaving the pre-field area. American sident Joe Biden came to Asia in particular to reaffirm his support for Seoul and Tokyo in the face of the nuclear threat from Pyongyang.

A ukrainian reconstruction conference will be held on July 4-5 in Switzerland to raise funds for the country hit by massive destruction since the Russian invasion, the Swiss president announced in Davos.

People who have had Covid-19 are twice as likely as others to subsequently develop a pulmonary embolism or respiratory problems, according to a study by U.S. health authorities.

First African to lead WHO, Ethiopian Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, has been reappointed for a second term and it is in tears that he expressed his hope "that peace will come" by sharing his memories of "child of war" awakened by a recent trip to Ukraine.

Judged on a strap two centimeters wide stretched up to a hundred meters high, tightrope walker Nathan Paulin broke the world distance record at Mont Saint-Michel on a slackline of 2,200 meters long, according to his team.