Ukraine: Zelensky promises “heroic defense” in the intense fighting in Severodonetsk
Intense fighting continued on Wednesday for control of Severodonetsk, whose residential areas Moscow claims to have “liberated”, while Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky praised the “heroic” defense of this key Donbass city. The Russians claim to have “completely liberated” the residential areas of this strategic city for control of the entire Donbass coal basin in eastern Ukraine. “The takeover of its industrial zone and neighbouring towns is continuing,” Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said in a rare televised briefing on Tuesday. A state of affairs contested by Kiev. “They don't control the city,” Sergiy Gaidai, the governor of the Lugansk region, which, along with Donetsk's, forms Donbass a few hours later in a Telegram video message. However, he admitted that “it is very difficult to hold Severodonetsk”, even speaking of “mission impossible.” “All the forces, all the reserves were mobilized by the enemy, the Russian army, to cut off the Lysytchansk-Bakhmut highway in order to take Severodonetsk. They are bombing Lysytchansk very violently,” the governor said.
Air pollution in the metro must be better measured, says ANSES
On Wednesday, ANSES recommends strengthening actions to improve air quality in metro networks - renewing equipment, improving ventilation - and measuring it, even though it is, on average, three times as full of fine particles as on the surface and well beyond thresholds set by WHO. In 2019, the National Health Security Agency was tasked by the public authorities with a study on the feasibility of developing “indoor air guide values” in “underground railway enclosures” (EFS). Seven agglomerations in France have underground networks: Lille, Lyon, Marseille, Paris, Rennes, Rouen and Toulouse. The particle level in the air is “on average three times higher than in urban outdoor air”, due to friction with the lanes, especially when braking. In addition, the dust is regularly resuspended in the air as the trains pass by.
France joins NASA's Moon exploration program
On Tuesday, France joined the program for future exploration of the Moon led by the United States, by signing the “Artemis agreements”, which include the creation of “security zones” to protect extraterrestrial resources. France thus becomes the 20th country (after in particular Canada, Japan, the United Kingdom, Ukraine, Israel, the United Arab Emirates, Brazil...) to join this new wave of peaceful space exploration, says the Centre National d'Études Spatiales (CNES), the French space agency.

IN SHORT
The former President of the Republic François Hollande and his partner, the actress Julie Gayet, were married discreetly on Saturday at the town hall of Tulle (Corrèze), we learned from the municipality.
A French mountaineer died in Ecuador in an accident during the ascent of a volcano near the capital Quito, emergency services were told on Tuesday.
After 25 years of existence and 490 million copies sold worldwide, the manga phenomenon One Piece is entering its final stages, its author, the Japanese author Eiichiro Oda, announced Tuesday.
Alexander Zverev had surgery on the torn ligaments in his right ankle after his painful exit from the Roland-Garros semifinals.