War in Ukraine, live: Vladimir Putin will not hold his traditional year-end press conference

Paris receives Tuesday a new support conference in kyiv in the presence of the Ukrainian Prime Minister, Denys Chmyhal. The objective: to help the Ukrainians get through the winter despite the Russian strikes and prepare for the reconstruction of a bloodless country. The conference, in two parts, will focus in the morning at the Quai d’Orsay on emergency international aid, to try to enable the country attacked by Russia in February to keep essential infrastructures in working order (energy, water , food, health and transport).

After the conferences in Lugano, Warsaw and Berlin in recent months, it wants to take into account the new Russian strategy, which since October has targeted Ukrainian infrastructure with very intense bombardments. The conference was discussed on Sunday in the context of a telephone conversation between French President Emmanuel Macron and his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelensky, the French leader bringing on this occasion “all his support” to the Ukrainian peace plan proposal.

“Winter is already here, we have very negative temperatures so there is a real immediate challenge”explained the Elysée Palace, referring to “the urgency of Ukraine’s civil resilience”. Support, financial or in kind, “will have to arrive in Ukraine before mid-March”added the Elysée, insisting on the “recognition that we lacked a coordination mechanism for emergency aid” in order to identify Ukrainian needs and know in real time which country offers which aid.