Sievierodonetsk pounded, Cannes hands over its 75th Palme d’Or, the Champions League final disrupted… The five facts to remember from the weekend

Have you picked up the news? We summarize the main information of the last two days.

Ukraine: the noose is tightening on Sievierodonetsk in the Donbass

At the start of the fourth month of war in Ukraine, fierce fighting rages in the east of the country for control of the Donbass region. The Russian army claimed, Saturday, May 28, the conquest of the key locality of Lyman, a crossroads which opens the road to the big cities of Sloviansk and Kramatorsk. The Ukrainian army did not comment on this information.

Volodymyr Zelensky acknowledged that the situation was “complicated” in Donbass and the Kharkiv region, in the east of the country, where he went on Sunday. “The main areas of struggle on the front are still Sievierodonetsk, Lysytchansk, Bakhmout, Popasna and other towns where the Russian offensive is concentrated”said the Ukrainian president.

In Sievierodonetsk, in the Luhansk Oblast, the “constant bombings” greatly complicate the supply – especially of drinking water – of the city, which has been without electricity for more than two weeks, lamented the mayor of the city, Oleksandr Striouk. According to the local authorities, 12,000 to 13,000 inhabitants remained in the city, there were 100,000 before the war. “The army [russe] simply destroys the city”had previously said Serhi Haidai, the governor of the Luhansk region.

Emmanuel Macron and Olaf Scholz spoke with Vladimir Putin

The German Chancellor, Olaf Scholz, and the French President, Emmanuel Macron, asked, on Saturday, during a telephone conversation with Vladimir Putin, for “serious direct negotiations” with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

During this interview, which was held at the request of MM. Macron and Scholz, according to the German chancellery, the two Western heads of state have “called on the Russian President to ensure an improvement in the humanitarian situation of the civilian population”. The German chancellor and the French president also demanded from him the release of the 2,500 Ukrainian fighters who had entrenched themselves in the Azovstal steelworks in Mariupol (in the south-east) and who surrendered to the Russian forces.

Furthermore, the Russian President has “Committed to ensuring that Russia does not take advantage of the opening of the mine belt set up to protect Ukrainian ports, to allow the export of grain by ship, to carry out offensive actions”assures the German Chancellery.

Cannes 2022: Swede Ruben Östlund wins the Palme d’Or

For his 75^e edition, the Cannes Film Festival rewarded, on Saturday, the film Triangle of Sadness, by Swedish director Ruben Östlund. Euphoric on the stage of the large Louis Lumière auditorium, the 48-year-old Swede with a grating sense of humor joins the very exclusive club of webbed doubles, including the Dardenne brothers and Ken Loach.

The film follows the adventure of Yaya and Carl, a couple of models and influencers on vacation on a luxury cruise. A journey that turns to disaster. The director delivers an uncompromising critique of capitalism and its excesses. “The whole jury was extremely shocked by this film”assured Vincent Lindon, the president of the jury.

In the rest of the prize list, the jury also rewarded ex aequo the French director Claire Denis and the Belgian Lukas Dhont (Grand Prix), the Dardenne brothers (Special Prize), or the South Korean director Park Chan-wook (Prix de staging).

Real Madrid triumph in the Champions League; incidents near the Stade de France

For the fourteenth time in its history, Real Madrid has climbed to the roof of Europe. The Spanish football club won the Champions League on Saturday after its narrow victory (1-0) against the English of Liverpool. After the Brazilian Vinicius Junior’s goal on the hour mark, the “white house” withstood the multiple British attacks, thanks to the decisive parades of its goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois, elected man of the match.

But this final disputed at the Stade de France, in Saint-Denis (Seine-Saint-Denis), was disrupted by multiple incidents. Spectators were blocked at the entrance to the stadium, others tried to enter the stadium by climbing barriers, and the police used tear gas. The kick-off of the meeting was thus delayed by thirty-six minutes. Sunday morning, the Ministry of the Interior announced that sixty-eight people had been arrested and thirty-nine placed in police custody on Saturday evening in Paris.

Critics have been numerous, in France and abroad, about the organization and management of this sporting event which served as a test for the Rugby World Cup, organized by France at the end of 2023 and for the Olympic Games in Paris, which will be held in 2024. The organizers of the final, the police and the local authorities will meet on Monday to “identifying dysfunctions” and “learning all the lessons”, announced the new Minister of Sports and the Olympic and Paralympic Games, Amélie Oudéa-Castera.

Shooting in Texas: the inaction of the police in question, Trump calls to “arm the citizens”

US President Joe Biden arrived in Texas on Sunday, May 29, as the attitude of the police present around the Uvalde school, where a teenager killed nineteen children and two teachers, does not end. to stir up controversy. Texas Department of Public Safety Director Steven McCraw revealed on Friday night that nineteen police officers waited for more than forty-five minutes in the hallway outside the classroom where the shooter had been. locked up before intervening. It was a “bad decision” Mr. McCraw acknowledged, also reporting calls made by children to 911 during those 45 minutes to implore the intervention of law enforcement.

The massacre did not prevent the holding of the annual convention of the powerful arms lobby, the National Rifle Association. “The existence of evil in our society is no reason to disarm law-abiding citizens”said former President Donald Trump. “The existence of evil is the reason for arming law-abiding citizens”he assured.

And also :

Monkey pox. Sixteen cases of the disease confirmed in France

Brazil. Torrential rains cause the death of dozens of people in the Northeast

Afghanistan. Twenty women demonstrate in Kabul for their rights

Rugby. La Rochelle creates the feat by beating Leinster and wins a first European Cup

Roland-Garros. More French people competing in singles tournaments after the eliminations of Léolia Jeanjean, Alizé Cornet, Gilles Simon and Hugo Gaston

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