War in Ukraine: what to remember from Monday, March 20

Wagner claims to control “about 70%” of Bakhmout

“At present, Wagner’s units control about 70% of Bakhmout and continue the offensive for its complete liberation”, assured the leader of the Russian paramilitary group Wagner, Evgeny Prigojine, in a letter addressed to the Russian Minister of Defence, Sergei Shoigu. However, these statements were unverifiable from an independent source.

Yevgeny Prigozhin also said he expected a counter-offensive by Ukrainian forces for the end of March or the beginning of April, intended according to him to “cut off Wagner’s units from the main forces of the Russian army. “. He thus asked Sergei Shoigu to “take measures” to prevent this situation from occurring.

EU wants to help countries destabilized by influx of Ukrainian grain

The European Commission has announced that it wants to tap into a crisis reserve to support farmers in Poland, Romania and Bulgaria, destabilized by the influx of Ukrainian agricultural imports. This support of 56.3 million euros, financed by the reserve of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), aims to compensate “the economic losses due to the increase in imports of cereals and oilseeds” coming from Ukraine ” and limit the impact of market imbalances,” said the EU executive.