Last year, Gazprom, a big energy company from Russia, made €45 million (£39 million) from a gas field in the North Sea, according to its accounts.
Gazprom has been getting gas from the Sillimanite field, which is in UK and Dutch waters, since 2020.
Sir Ed Davey, leader of the Liberal Democrats, said it is not okay for gas from the UK to support Putin’s illegal war against Ukraine.
The government said it would increase the pressure on Russia’s economy.
The Sillimanite field is 200km away from the Dutch coast. It is run by Russian company Gazprom and German company Wintershall together. The gas from the field is brought to land in the Netherlands.
The UK, the US and the EU have put strict rules to make it hard for Russia to make money from selling energy. This is to stop them from using that money to pay for the war in Ukraine. There is no proof that this is against the law.
Some top Gazprom leaders, including the boss Alexei Miller, are not allowed to do business with the UK government. But the company Gazprom itself is not affected by these rules. The company still sends gas to Europe through pipelines, but not as much as before the war.
Financial records indicate that Gazprom International UK, a branch of the large Russian energy company, made a profit of €45m before taxes in 2022. They also paid a dividend of €41m to their immediate owner company, Gazprom International Projects BV in the Netherlands. Another payment of €1. 7m was made in June this year.
The company is owned by PJSC Gazprom, which is located in Moscow.
It has also found and paid for its own soldiers to fight in Ukraine.
Sir Ed, who used to be in charge of energy, said it is very wrong that the gas from the UK is helping Putin’s war in Ukraine.
The campaign group Global Witness said it was a sign that the UK’s way of dealing with Russian oil and gas is not good.
“The government is against the war, but it doesn’t make sense to let a company owned by Russia make money from the North Sea while their militia fights in Ukraine,” the statement said.
A government representative said they will keep working with other countries to stop Russia from getting our goods and technology that they could use for their military. This will make it harder for Russia to fight in modern wars.
“Putin and his followers will suffer the consequences for unlawfully invading Ukraine,” he said.
We will keep making it harder for Ukraine’s enemies to make money, and we will punish anyone who tries to find ways around our sanctions. We won’t stop until Ukraine wins and there is peace.
The company had to pay €29 million in taxes. They split the money between the UK and Dutch governments. This means that the energy companies had to pay €4m in taxes in the UK because of high prices after the war in Ukraine, and €5m in taxes in the Netherlands.
The money Gazprom International UK makes comes from selling things to other countries, the records show. The company stopped selling gas to Wintershall in September and started selling it to Gunvor, a Swiss-based trading company, according to the accounts.
Gazprom’s energy supply business in the UK was taken over by the German government last year because its parent company was about to go bankrupt. The business had many business customers. Its new name is SEFE Energy.
Wintershall and Gazprom didn’t answer the BBC’s questions.
Tag: Russia
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Russian gas giant Gazprom earns £39 million in profit
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Putin informs Russia his military goals remain same
Russian President Vladimir Putin said that there will only be peace with Ukraine when Russia accomplishes its goals.
He is having a big press meeting for the first time since he started a full-scale attack on Ukraine in February 2022.
Mr Putin talked to the Russian people on the phone while also answering questions from journalists.
The event did not happen last year.
The beginning of this marathon event is mostly about what Mr. Putin is calling the “special military operation in Ukraine”.
He first thinks about how important it is for Russia to be in control of its own country.
“Our country cannot exist without being in control. ” “It will just not be there,” he tells Channel One host Yekaterina Berezovskaya.
MrPutin thinks Russia’s economy is good during the war and then he starts talking about Ukraine.‘Why is mobilization important. ‘
Mr Putin says that he believes peace will come to Ukraine once his goals are achieved. He says the goals are still the same: to remove Nazi influence, reduce military power, and stay neutral. These are the important topics he has focused on since the war began.
He said that about 486,000 people signed up to be contract soldiers and 300,000 people were called up last year.
“He said there are still many men ready to defend our country with weapons. ” In total, there will be almost 500,000 men by the end of this year. Why do we need to get people together and ready.
A secret US intelligence report said that about 315,000 Russian soldiers have been killed or injured since the war started. This is nearly 90% of Russia’s military at the beginning of the invasion.
A journalist from a Russian newspaper in Luhansk, Ukraine, asked Mr Putin about Ukraine’s recent control of the east side of the Dnipro river, which Russia had previously occupied.
President Putin says that Ukraine’s military had some success in a small area and was trying hard to get to Crimea. So, Russian forces decided to move back a little into the woods to protect their soldiers. He says that Kyiv wants to show the West that it needs more money for its military.
“I don’t understand why they are doing it. They are forcing their own people to get killed. It’s a dangerous mission for the Ukrainian forces. ” The reasons for this are political because Ukrainian leaders are asking other countries for help.
Mr Putin says that Russian forces are winning in Ukraine.
“At almost all the places where our soldiers are fighting, they are getting better,” he says during his long press conference.
There hasn’t been much action on the front line lately, but Russia is attacking two towns in the Donetsk region. The towns of Mariinka and Avdiivka.
Russia can keep making progress even though there are sanctions against it.
Mr Putin also talks about how Russia gets along with the United States and the European Union.
He says the US is a big country but says it does bad things by taking over other countries. He asks America to be polite to other people and countries. He also says Russia is willing to fix its relationship with America once this happens.
While the leader of Russia is talking, the Nato Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg holds a press meeting in Brussels and says that if Putin wins in Ukraine, he may continue to be aggressive in other places too.
Mr Putin says Russia can still make progress even though it’s facing economic punishments and being left out by other countries because it invaded Ukraine.
Russians sent more than two million questions to Mr.
Mr Putin spends up to four hours answering questions during his phone-ins, while Russian and international journalists also ask him lots of questions at the same time. -
Ukraine’s hopes for counter-offensive ‘didn’t come true’
Ukraine tried to fight back, but it didn’t work out as planned, a top security official admitted.
But Oleksiy Danilov, who leads the country’s war team, said: “That doesn’t mean we won’t win. ”
Kyiv is working to get more help from Western countries, especially the US.
Mr Danilov thinks that some money for the military will definitely be approved.
In May, before the counter-attack, he said that the next few months would be a very important chance for us.
Thinking back on those words, he said: “In May, everyone in our country wanted the war to finish fast. ”
“There were expectations, but they were not met. ”
“We have been protecting our country for two years, which is a great accomplishment. ”
The Ukrainian forces wanted to regain the land that Russia took in February 2022 and stop Russia from getting supplies to Crimea.
However, they don’t have control of the air and are dealing with strong Russian defenses, so their progress has stopped as winter arrives.
Mr Danilov admitted that they had been too optimistic.
“Sometimes people make mistakes. ” “You can’t always be the best in class,” he said.
He said that the situation on the frontline is really hard and thinks that old war textbooks, even Nato ones, should be put away.
People are arguing about who is to blame for what happened in Ukraine recently. They are pointing fingers at outside allies and advisors or Ukraine’s own armed forces.
Mr Danilov didn’t want to say when a new attempt to take back territory could happen.
“I’m confident that we will keep going,” he said. “We will keep fighting for our freedom and independence. ”
Ukraine is focusing on making its defense stronger for the coming winter.
Russia is trying to surround the town of Avdiivka and gain full control of the nearby town of Marinka in the Donetsk region.
Delay in US aid is not a tragedy.
Mr Danilov was very sure that the US would agree to help with Ukraine’s defense, even though he didn’t say exactly how much money Ukraine might receive.
A $60 billion plan is caught up in politics within our country, and there’s not much time left before Congress takes a break for Christmas.
Some US Republican lawmakers are unsure about sending more money.
“If we get a present before Christmas, we will be happy. ”He said, “If it happens later, it shouldn’t be made into a big problem. ”
When he was asked if Ukraine would lose the war if the US stopped giving them help, he said he didn’t want to think about that possibility. He believes that they have the truth on their side.
Will Putin hurt us in front of everyone. Will he harm our children, women, and elderly men. And will the whole world just ignore it.
So, the question is, what kind of world do we live in.
MrDanilov said there is no tension between President Zelensky and Ukraine’s Commander-in-Chief, Valeriy Zaluzhny.
“I don’t believe the things the media is saying are true. “ -
Alexei Navalny: leader of Russian opposition’removed from penitentiary colony’
The Russian government took Alexei Navalny out of the prison where he was and now no one knows where he is. His spokesperson shared this information.
Kira Yarmysh wrote on social media that the officials from the Melekhovo prison said he was no longer listed there.
The White House expressed serious worry about the reports.
Mr Navalny’s helpers thought he would be sent to a more strict prison after his sentence was made longer.
They say his vanishing is connected to the new information about the elections.
On Friday, Russian President Vladimir Putin said he wants to run for president again next March.
In August, Mr. Navalny was accused of starting and financing a group that the government thinks is dangerous. He says he didn’t do it, but he was given 19 more years in prison.
He was already given a nine-year sentence for breaking the rules of his release from prison, committing fraud, and disrespecting the court. Many people think that the accusations against him are driven by politics.
He was told he would have to stay in a special kind of prison called a “special regime colony. ” These prisons are usually for very serious criminals, repeat offenders, and those who have been sentenced to life in prison.
Mr Navalny’s friends said earlier today that they hadn’t heard from him in six days.
He missed some recent court appearances that he usually attended through video. The prison authorities said that the missing people were because of problems with the colony’s technology.
Ms Yarmysh said that the lawyers who were waiting for news outside Melekhovo and a nearby colony were told that he was not registered in either place.
His assistant, Leonid Volkov, said that it is not a coincidence at all and that the Kremlin is directly controlling everything.
Putin knows who his main opponent is in these ‘elections’, it’s not a secret.
He wants to stop Navalny from speaking. Each of us needs to speak up for Navalny.
For over ten years, Mr. Navalny tried to uncover corruption within the Russian government. His videos have been seen by tens of millions of people online.
He was a very likeable leader who could get a lot of people in Russia to join protests against the government.
But in 2020, he was poisoned in Siberia by a nerve agent confirmed by Western labs.
A new report by Bellingcat and The Insider said that some FSB agents were involved in the attack.
After Navalny got better from the attack, he went back to Russia in 2021 even though he was warned that he might get arrested. He got arrested as soon as he got to an airport in Moscow. -
Putin intends to run for fifth term as president of Russia
Media reports say that Russian President Vladimir Putin has announced he will run for a fifth term in office.
Russian authorities said that he talked about what he wanted to do during a meeting with people who are involved in the war in Ukraine.
It comes the day after officials picked 15-17 March 2024 as the days for the presidential election.
It is very likely that Mr Putin will be elected again because there is almost no one opposing him and he controls the Russian media completely.
He has been ruling Russia for a long time, longer than anyone since Josef Stalin. If he gets another term, he will stay as president until at least 2030.
Dmitry Peskov, a spokesperson for the Kremlin, said that a lot of people want Putin to keep leading, but it’s up to him when he announces his decision. -
Teen kills colleague, commits suicide in Russian school
In the city of Bryansk, near the Ukrainian and Belarusian borders, a teenage girl shot and killed a fellow pupil in a school before turning the gun on herself.
The incident occurred at Gymnasium No 5 on Thursday morning, resulting in five people being injured, with one in serious condition.
The gun used by the girl was registered in her father’s name. Authorities suspect that the girl may have been a victim of bullying at school.
While school shootings are relatively common in Russia, this incident is notable for involving a female shooter.
In 2021, a 19-year-old killed seven children and two adults at a Kazan school. The following year, 18 people were killed at a school in Udmurtia.
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Smuggling network exposes Nepalis defending Russia
Twelve people in Nepal were arrested for smuggling young men into Russia’s army. This has brought attention to the fighters from Nepal.
This week, Nepal requested Russia to send back Nepali soldiers because six of them died in a fight in Ukraine.
The smugglers reportedly took $9,000 from each man to bring them into the country on tourist visas, according to Kathmandu police.
It is not known how many Nepali people are in the army of Russia, but it is believed to be at least a few hundred.
The ambassador of Nepal to Russia said that about 150-200 Nepali people are fighting for Russia. Locals also say that many people are signing up every week to fight for money and residency visas.
The BBC knows that people from Nepal are still going to Russia to join the military. Many people got hurt in the war and are getting help in hospitals in Russia.
Nepal is very poor. About 40% of the people there are living in poverty, according to the World Bank.
It mostly doesn’t allow people to join foreign armies, but there are exceptions for Gurkha soldiers to join the Indian and British armies. It’s difficult to enforce this ban.
Russia is trying to add more soldiers to its army as its fight with Ukraine continues. It has hired soldiers from places like Georgia, Syria, and Libya.
Nepali police said on Thursday that there is no evidence that Russia was directly involved in hiring Nepali mercenaries.
The country of Nepal has asked Russia to stop using Nepali soldiers. It also called the Russian ambassador in Nepal to remind him of Kathmandu’s position.
Police Chief Kumud Dhungel said that they found some Nepali people were given letters inviting them to visit Russia.
The police think that these brokers might help the mercenaries travel to Russia through India or Dubai so they can avoid being questioned at the airport in Nepal. He said that they asked the Indian authorities for help with their investigation.
On Monday, Nepal requested for the bodies of six soldiers who died in a battle to be returned to Nepal.
However, the ambassador of the country in Russia, Milan Raj Tuladhar, told the BBC that there has been no progress in this matter so far.
The victim’s sister told the BBC that she has been asking for help from Nepali authorities to get compensation and bring her brother’s body back.
The Russian military has already buried the bodies, according to the authorities. “The woman, who didn’t want to give her name, said they should talk to the Russian government to help us. ”
In June, the BBC said that lots of young people from Nepal went to Russia with student and work visas. Some of them even joined the Russian army to make money and become citizens of Russia.
“Everyone is aware of Nepal’s economy. ” “What should we do if we return there. ” one of the soldiers asked in a video on TikTok.
According to a government spokesperson, it was reported this week by the Kyiv Post that there were Nepalis fighting with Ukrainian forces, but the exact number is not known.
It’s not clear if Nepali people working as soldiers in other countries are sending money back to their families in Nepal.
But sending money home is very important for many families in rural Nepal. The International Labour Organization says 3. 5 million Nepali people work in other countries, mostly in the Middle East, South East Asia, and India. -
Four Russian soldiers accused of war crimes by US
Four Russian soldiers are being accused of doing very bad things during a war, by taking and hurting a person from the United States who was living in Ukraine. Officials have said this.
US lawyers say the American person lived in Ukraine since 2021 and did not fight in the war.
He was kept for 10 days in April 2022, and people say he was made to think he was going to be killed and was hit.
This is the first time that the US has accused someone of breaking its law against war crimes.
On Wednesday morning, Attorney General Merrick Garland said they were charging people for the illegal war in Ukraine. This is an important step towards holding them accountable.More update on this story soon…
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Russian “traitor” ex-MP killed in Russia – Ukraine
Former member of Ukrainian Parliament, Illya Kyva, was killed in Russia by Ukraine’s security service, SBU, according to law enforcement sources who told the media.
According to sources, the criminal was shot with a small gun and killed.
Russian investigators said they found his body outside Moscow.
Earlier this year, Kyva was sentenced to 14 years in jail for betraying his country and asking for Ukraine to be taken over. He ran away from Ukraine and was found guilty when he wasn’t there.
Many Ukrainian news sources said that their sources claimed the SBU was responsible for killing the 46-year-old former lawmaker.
“Yes, Kyva is gone” Other Ukrainian traitors and puppets of Putin’s government will face the same destiny. Andriy Yusov, who speaks for Ukraine’s military intelligence, said this on Ukrainian TV.
Russia’s law enforcement agency said that initial information suggests that Kyva was killed by a gunshot in a village near Moscow called Suponevo. A crime investigation is happening now.
Kyva tried to become the president of Ukraine in 2019 but did not win. He then left the country just one month before Russia started a big attack in February 2022.
He was often on TV shows in Russia that try to persuade people to believe certain things.
He was planning to ask to live in Russia because he was in trouble in his own country.
In other news, a politician named Oleg Popov, who was supported by Russia, was killed by a bomb in his car in the city of Luhansk in Ukraine. This happened on Wednesday, according to local officials.
Russia has taken control of most of the Luhansk region. Ukraine has not said anything about the attack.
He died a few weeks after another politician from Luhansk was also killed in an attack that was claimed by Kyiv.
Since Russia invaded, the SBU and military intelligence have said they carried out successful missions against important targets in the areas Russia took over and in Russia.
The bridge connecting Crimea to Russia has been attacked many times, causing a lot of damage.
Last week, the SBU destroyed a railway in Russia’s Far East near China’s border that was an important transportation center. -
Volunteers donate 7,200 Christmas gifts to Ukrainian youngsters
One hundred people gave their time to wrap 7,200 Christmas gifts for kids in Ukraine who live in a place damaged by war.
Local businesses donated gifts like toys, books, and puzzles for the second year in a row.
The “wrapathon” happened at Thomas Mills High School in Framlingham, Suffolk on Saturday.
The organizers said they will send the supplies to different parts of Ukraine, even in places where Russia’s military is in control.
Save the Children charity said that over four million kids in Ukraine still need urgent help, even though the war started almost two years ago.
Jeremy Fish, a business owner in the area, and one of the founders of the Plant and Hire Aid Alliance, organized the wrapathon. He mentioned that this year’s fundraiser was harder than the one before.
“I believe that the media is not focusing on the war in Ukraine as much, and people are getting tired of hearing about it,” he said.
“But things are still hard for the people in Ukraine. ” Actually, things are getting worse, especially now that winter is here.
Six weeks ago, Mr. Fish helped to bring 750 boxes of supplies to Ukrainian soldiers fighting on the front line in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine.
A group of soldiers was hit by a Russian missile and 19 of them died during an awards ceremony.
The group had sent flags to thank the Plant and Hire Aid Alliance for their support. The flags arrived at Mr. Fish’s house after the attack.
Mr Fish said it was very upsetting.
Maryna Porgyan was one of 100 people who helped wrap presents.
She said: “Many kids don’t have parents and many parents can’t afford to buy gifts for their kids. ”
“It’s really hard. ” There are no jobs, no money and things cost more.
Mr Fish said gifts will be sent from Ipswich next week and given to people in Ukraine by Rotary International before Christmas. -
Russia: LGBT organisations could be labelled ‘extremist’ in judicial decision
In Moscow, men are dancing on a stage while holding reindeer antlers. It is a type of wedding ceremony that comes from the northern part of Russia and has been done for a long time.
The bride and groom, Ilona and Alexander, are sitting by a pretend campfire and watching traditional ceremonies, like tearing fabric and dancing with animal furs.
This is one of many weddings from different places in Russia happening at a show that supports love for the country and old-fashioned beliefs.
The ceremony is finished. The person in charge says, “Based on the laws of Russia, I now declare you married. ”
Russia’s laws were changed three years ago to say that marriage can only be between a man and a woman. Every wedding shown at the exhibition has a bride and groom.
In Russia, couples that are not traditional, like same-sex couples, are not allowed to legally form a union.
In recent years, Russia’s LGBT community has been facing more pressure from the authorities. In 2013, a law was passed that says it’s not allowed to talk to kids about relationships that are not traditional.
Last year, all age groups in Russia had to follow those rules. Mentions of LGBT people have been taken out of books, movies, ads, and TV shows. Earlier this month, a Russian TV channel changed the colors of a rainbow in a South Korean pop video to follow a law against promoting being gay.
Russia’s justice department wants the supreme court to declare the “International LGBT public movement” as an extremist group and make it illegal. Even though there is no official organization by that name.
What will happen if the supreme court agrees with the request.
Sergei Troshin, a deputy in St. Petersburg who recently came out as gay, believes that the new law could result in long prison sentences for anyone the government sees as an LGBT activist for “participating in an extremist organization. ” The person who planned the group will have to stay in prison for an even longer time.
This is actual oppression. The LGBT community in Russia is very scared and worried. People are leaving quickly. The word we are using is “evacuation. ” We have to leave our own country. “It’s really bad. ”
In the Russian parliament’s lower house, called the Duma, they have a different opinion.
“This does not involve people’s private lives or sexual orientation. ” Vitaly Milonov, a politician from the ruling party, United Russia, says the LGBT international movement is focused on its political agenda. He is known for being against LGBT people.
“They have things they need to do and things they want to achieve. ” They work as a political group, a political system, and their goals go against the Russian Constitution.“I’ll talk about how the government is set up,” I replied. “There is no official international LGBT public movement. So, it doesn’t make sense to ban something that doesn’t even exist. ”
“Oh, it’s not hard,” Mr Milonov answers. “We can stop any activities from LGBT groups from other countries in Russia. ” That is good. We do not need them.
“I’m excited for the next step, which is to ban the six-color rainbow flag. ” We don’t want this flag. It represents the struggle against the traditional family. I don’t want anyone to display this flag in Russia.
Under Vladimir Putin, the government in Russia has adopted a belief system focused on traditional ideas and “family values”. The government shows LGBT activism as a Western idea that is unfriendly to Russia. Pressure is being put on the LGBT community in Russia to protect what is considered morally right.
And can it also help someone win votes.
Sergei Troshin thinks that the supreme court hearing is connected to the presidential election in March. “The government is making a fake enemy. ”
“They claim that we are fighting against the West. ” The fight against LGBT people is part of this anti-Western talk. Many conservatives who are against the West also oppose the LGBT community. This topic will be discussed before the election.
Maxim Goldman says that the Russian authorities are trying to make people focus on less important things so they don’t think about the real problems. He is employed by a Russian organization that helps transgender and non-binary people.
“When we found out about the supreme court hearing, the people in charge of our organization knew we had to leave the country right away. ” “It turned into a sudden urgent situation. ”
I am talking to Maxim, who says he is non-binary, on his last day in Russia. He put some clothes in a little suitcase and is going to the airport soon.
Maxim feels like his own country doesn’t want him. “We’re supposed to have a system where everyone can have a say in how our country is run. ” The leaders we choose to lead us are supposed to look after us.
The opposite is happening. They are trying to hurt us. They are treating us badly. “I have to leave against my will. ”
Right now, Sergei Troshin, who is a local government official, is staying. He doesn’t have any false beliefs.
“Sergei told me that he has talked a lot about LGBT rights in the past. ” “It’s possible that this could be enough evidence to start a criminal case against me. I don’t want it to happen, but it might. And this is scary.
Russian people are very afraid in their society. With each word you say, it’s like walking through a dangerous area with mines. If you say one thing, you could go to prison for five years. If you say something else, you could go to prison for ten or fifteen years. -
Finland to shut down final checkpoint at Russian border
Finland is going to close the last open border point with Russia on Thursday. This means that the border between Finland and Russia will be completely closed for two weeks.
The Prime Minister of Finland, Petteri Orpo, said that Russia is helping people to come to the Finnish border, even in very cold winter weather. Finland is sure they will stop this from happening.
The final checkpoint at the eastern border will close at midnight on November 30th and will not reopen until December 13th, according to Finland’s Ministry of Internal Affairs.
Helsinki is trying to stop people from crossing over from Russia more and more. This has been happening a lot since Russia invaded Ukraine last year and Finland joined NATO this year.
Finland’s Interior Minister Mari Rantanen said we need to close the whole eastern border with Russia to protect Finland’s national security from Russian activity.
The Finnish Border Guard wants to stop people from entering Finland illegally from Russia.
Finland makes sure its borders are safe and the Finnish Border Guard is ready to act fast on the Government’s new decisions.
Finland has a 830-mile-long border with Russia. The crossing was one of the only places where Russians could enter after many countries in the West closed their airspace and borders to Russian planes because of the Ukraine invasion.
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko said Tuesday that Finland’s choice to shut down all border checkpoints with Russia will hurt Finnish citizens. He also called it “unreasonable. ”
“They closed the border, what should we do. Finnish people will be in trouble,” Grushko said at a meeting in Moscow.
We can talk about smart choices and then try to find a reason behind them. “But sometimes people make irrational decisions,” he said. He also mentioned that only around 700 migrants tried to cross the border between Russia and Finland during this time.
The Finnish government said that it will close four border points with Russia to stop people from crossing the border illegally. This will happen from this week until February 2024.
On Tuesday, the interior ministry of Finland said that people are still entering the country from the eastern border even though there are restrictions.
“Since the start of August, almost 1,000 people from other countries came to Finland without a visa at the eastern border checkpoints. ” Many of them have asked for protection in Finland, the government said.
“In very special situations, the government is closing the eastern border completely for a short time. This is needed to stop something bad from happening and to keep the country safe. ” The ministry said in a press release on Tuesday.
NATO leader Jens Stoltenberg said Russia is using migrants to put pressure on Finland at their border.
“We have seen them using power, cyber attacks, and secret operations to try to weaken our democracies. ” Stoltenberg said Russia is using migration to put pressure on neighboring countries.
NATO has not been asked by Finland for help with guarding its borders. Stoltenberg said he believes Finland can handle the issue on its own.
He liked that the European Union’s border agency, Frontex, was going to send 50 guards to the Finnish border.
Helsinki stopped people from entering at the end of September 2022 because many Russians were trying to escape President Vladimir Putin’s call for hundreds of thousands of citizens to join the war. Over 8,500 people from Russia came across the border in just one day.
Earlier this year, the Finnish Border Guard started building a fence along the eastern border as a test. -
Ukraine intensifies its efforts to counter Russia’s electronic warfare
In early November, a video from a drone showed a bomb hitting and destroying three antennas on top of a building. The person in charge of the Ukrainian drones said they destroyed a Russian electronic warfare system near Donetsk in the eastern front.
Ukraine is trying hard to keep up with Russia in electronic warfare.
This attack also shows how quickly Kyiv is trying to destroy Moscow’s technology in battle – a sign of how crucial it could be for the future of the war.
Electronic warfare, also known as EW, uses the electromagnetic spectrum for weapons and tactics. Both armies in this war are using it. It’s mainly electronic jammers that mess up GPS guided missiles, making them miss their targets.
For nearly six months, Ukraine has been fighting back against Russia. Russia has not only strengthened its physical defenses but also its electronic ones. Ukrainian soldiers on the front lines have to adjust to this quickly.
Pavlo Petrychenko, the leader of the group that flew the drones for Ukraine’s 59th Motorized Brigade, said it’s really important to destroy these systems in order to free up more land in Ukraine. The video he shared on social media is just one of many reports from Ukrainian military and media about successful attacks on Pole-21 systems in the past few months.
“At first, they messed with our communication using electronic warfare. They disrupted our walkie-talkies, radios, phones, and drones,” he said in a video call to CNN from near Avdiivka, where some of the toughest fighting in the war is happening.
“But when we got equipment from other countries, they used it to stop our weapons from working. ”
Petrychenko said that Russia uses electronic warfare to defend against the US-provided HIMARS and Excalibur 155 because they are guided by satellites.
And that’s why Ukraine has a problem. Russian jammers are causing problems for Ukraine by making their high-tech weapons from the West, which are guided by smart technology, less effective.
Smart missiles and rocket launch systems like HIMARS are more easily affected by electronic warfare than unguided weapons because they need GPS to accurately hit their targets. In the past, Russia and Ukraine had a lot of unguided weapons.
The Pole-21 system is made to block GPS signals and keep Russian things safe from drones and missiles. It’s just one part of Moscow’s increasing electronic weapons.
Jamming and spoofing GPS are techniques the Kremlin uses to confuse enemy drones or missiles. It also messes up radar, radio, and cell communications.
In September, the news agency TASS said that the Russian Prime Minister, Mikhail Mishustin, told a government meeting that they made twice as much military equipment, including EW, in the first eight months of the year.
Professionals and Ukrainian authorities say Russia has completely combined electronic warfare with its soldiers.
The top leader of Ukraine, Valery Zaluzhny, said in a recent essay that Russia is making a lot of “trench electronic warfare” equipment.
“The Russian soldiers have a lot of this equipment at the tactical level, and even though they have lost some, Moscow still has a big advantage in electronic warfare,” Zaluzhny said.
Zaluzhny said that American-made Excalibur shells have become less effective because the GPS targeting system can be easily affected by enemy electronic warfare.
Pentagon spokesperson Major. Charlie Dietz said that Russian jamming has been noticed in some American systems, like HIMARS rocket launchers, but it hasn’t stopped these systems from working.
Dietz said the department has made changes to make those weaknesses smaller. They are working hard to improve and update the systems. They are making the updates as fast as they can to fight against EW jamming.
Ukraine said it can make a lot more drones in its country this year. This has changed the way battles are fought.
The man leading this project is Ukraine’s minister of digital transformation, Mykhailo Fedorov. He wants to have the same success with electronic warfare as he did with drones, because drones are often targeted by electronic warfare.
“We are not only increasing the production of UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles), but we are also increasing the production of electronic warfare equipment and changing the way we use it,” Fedorov said in an interview with CNN from Kyiv. “We are changing our strategy for using this technology. ”
This means not only adding electronic warfare to protect the battlefield, but doing it cleverly.
Fedorov says we shouldn’t have too many electronic warfare systems on the battlefield. Instead, he thinks we should make systems that can be controlled from far away and only target the enemy’s equipment.
If you don’t be careful, electronic warfare systems could end up causing problems for you by taking down your own drones. Fedorov said this.
In November 2022, a report from the British think tank Royal United Services Institute said that Russia had accidentally targeted their own forces in the early days of the war. This caused them to reduce their electronic warfare efforts to avoid disrupting their own battlefield communications.
The most important thing right now, according to Fedorov, is for Ukraine to get the technology to program its drones to attack the enemy’s electronic warfare equipment on a big scale.
This would change the game for drone operators like Petrychenko, who say they are trying to outsmart Russian equipment.At the moment, their best chance is for videos, like the one of his drone strike in early November, to become really popular, said Petrychenko. With many Ukrainian soldiers on social media, any popular video like this would help them spot Russian antennas on the battlefield.
It’s obvious that this is making a big impact outside of Ukraine.
“I believe the situation in Ukraine shows us what modern warfare looks like today,” said Kari Bingen, who works at a think tank and used to work at the Pentagon. It is a future where electronic warfare abilities and strategies are combined with regular military operations.
Dietz, who speaks for the Pentagon, said the US is working on its strategies for electronic warfare and sees it as a very important part of today’s and future military battles.
Fedorov said Ukraine is putting money into electronic warfare, and they are also encouraging their own companies to make drones.
He openly says that Ukraine needs help from its Western allies for equipment and expertise.
The West has all the technology that we need. The question might be about how to use it, and it’s a very important question. We need to think about the new technology we will use in the war. -
Storms in Russia and Ukraine leave two million people without access to electricity
Russia said stormy winds and heavy floods had left about 1. 9 million people without power in the south, also mentioning Ukrainian regions illegally annexed by Moscow.
The Russian Energy Ministry said the worst affected regions were Dagestan, Krasnodar and Rostov, as well as the Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, Zaporizhzhia and Crimea regions of Ukraine.
Local media reported at least four deaths due to the storm. Ukraine said 2,019 of its villages and towns were without electricity after the snowstorm. The storm also hit Moldova, Georgia and Bulgaria.
In the Russian Black Sea port of Sochi, large waves were observed on the city’s riverbank. Footage was also released showing a three-story building collapsing. Near the city of Anapa, also on Russia’s Black Sea coast, a cargo ship with 21 crew ran aground.
In the capital Moscow, authorities had to deploy specialized machinery to clear roads after heavy snowfall.
In the south of Ukraine’s Crimean peninsula – illegally annexed by Russia in 2014 – Moscow-appointed officials reported flooding in coastal areas. Fallen trees and other debris were seen on the streets of several cities.
About 800 exotic fish died when a historic aquarium museum was destroyed by flooding in the port of Sevastopol, local media quoted the museum director as saying.
A state of emergency is currently in place in several cities in Crimea. Anton Herashchenko, an adviser to Ukraine’s Interior Ministry, said the storm had “washed away the trenches in Crimea that Russian troops had dug on the beach. ”
The Russian military has not commented on this statement. Legendary, In Ukraine, dozens of passengers had to be rescued from cars stuck in heavy snow.
Meanwhile, Ukraine’s DSNS emergency service said snowstorms and strong winds were hitting 16 regions of the country.
According to the statement, 48 people, including children, were evacuated from stranded vehicles in the hardest-hit area of Odessa in the southwest. Emergency services said up to 840 vehicles had to be towed away as more than two meters of snow fell in some places.
There are currently at least 1,370 trucks stuck. At least six people suffered from hypothermia. Traffic is currently congested on 14 highways.
The southern region of Mykolaiv, Ukraine, was also heavily affected. Several vehicles overturned due to strong winds in the Odessa region of Ukraine More than 1,500 rescue workers are currently deployed across Ukraine in a large-scale clean-up operation.
They were assisted by police, border guards and National Guard members.
In the capital Kiev, the country’s largest flag – measuring 16 x 24m – had to come down from a 90m high flagpole after being damaged by strong winds. City officials said the flag will be replaced and raised again.
The extreme weather comes amid reports that Russia is once again preparing large-scale missile and drone attacks on the country’s power grid and other critical infrastructure.
Ukraine Last fall and winter, Moscow carried out a wave of deadly attacks, leaving millions across Ukraine without electricity or heat.
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Ukraine targets three airports overnight in retaliation for massive Russian drone strike
Ukraine attacked Russia with many kamikaze drones this weekend. It was the biggest attack in months.
Three of Moscow’s airports – Vnukovo, Domodedovo, and Zhukovsky – had to shut down. Flights were stopped or cancelled.
Russia had to use guns to take down 11 drones on Saturday night, and another nine on Sunday morning.
Ukraine is fighting back against the Russian attack on Saturday.
The mayor of Moscow, who supports Putin, said there was a big attack on the Russian capital.
Five small flying machines were said to be shot down in the outskirts of Moscow in some areas.
Three times buildings on the ground were damaged, but it’s not clear if any of the drones hit important targets.The mayor, Sergei Sobyanin, said that Moscow was the main goal.
“He said someone tried to do a big drone attack last night. ”
In another place, the power was turned off in Donetsk People’s Republic. This happened after Ukraine attacked the power grid in the area.
In Tula, a city not far from Moscow, a drone crashed into a house and caused an explosion. Three people got hurt and needed medical care.
Later this morning, there were new reports of a large group of drones flying over the city. People heard loud explosions, but it’s not confirmed if two kamikaze drones were shot down.Denis Pushilin, who was chosen by Putin to be in charge of the area, said: ‘Last night, the enemy tried to harm the region’s power system. ‘
In another place, the electricity was turned off in Russian-controlled Donetsk because it seems that Ukraine attacked the power grid there.
Denis Pushilin, who was chosen by Putin to lead the occupation, said: “Last night, the enemy tried to harm the area’s power system. ”
‘Sadly, because the attacks were so big, not everything was destroyed. ‘
Parts of Donetsk city, Makeevka and most of Mariupol had no electricity.
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The day after the worst attacks in Kyiv, 71 out of 75 Iranian-made drones were shot down by Ukraine’s air defenses.
Serhiy Popko, leader of the city’s government, said it was the biggest drone attack on Kyiv.
“Our soldiers destroyed most of the drones with gunfire. ” “Sadly, not everyone,” said Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky.
“We are still working to make our air defense stronger and shoot down more enemy planes. “ -
Ex-PM Kasyanov considered ‘foreign agent’ by Russia
Russia’s justice department has labeled former Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov as a “foreign agent,” a term often used to restrict opposition against the Kremlin.
Mr Kasyanov, who often speaks out against President Vladimir Putin, left Russia right after it invaded Ukraine in February 2022.
He was the Prime Minister when Mr. Putin was the President from 2000-2004, but he has spoken out against Russia’s war in Ukraine.
A person who knows a lot about money and likes to make changes, now lives in a different country away from his own.
Various individuals and groups who criticize the Kremlin and work in civil society are on the “foreign agent” list. In the past, the label meant that someone was secretly watching or listening to others.
Those people have to explain that they are a “foreign agent” on their writings and social media. They also have to tell the government where their money comes from. They are not allowed to fully take part in Russian politics.
The justice ministry said Mr Kasyanov didn’t support the military operation in Ukraine and was part of a group that tries to make Russian policies look bad.
Initially, the “foreign agent” law only applied to non-governmental organizations that got money from other countries. But now it also includes people and media, whether they are Russian or from another country, if they are seen as being influenced by other countries.
In May, Russia’s highest court closed down the Party of People’s Freedom (Parnas) that was led by Mr. The small opposition group used to have Boris Nemtsov, who was a strong critic of Putin. He was killed near the Kremlin in 2015. -
Ukraine war: Greatest drone strike hits Kiev since the start of the war
Russia has sent off its greatest robot assault on Kyiv since its full-scale attack of Ukraine started last year, the city’s chairman has said.
Inhabitants were woken by blasts before sunrise on Saturday, and for over six hours, the blasts of Kyiv’s air safeguards reverberated through the city.
There was a large number of floods of assaults from the north and east.
Authorities said that in excess of 75 Iranian-made Shahed drones were discharged at the capital, and 74 were destroyed.
With Russia’s decreasing rocket stocks, Shahed drones are viewed as a modest other option. They are more slow than long range rockets and have an unmistakable wingspan.
It was a night where the whimpers of their motors mixed with the blasts of the city’s air guards.
As could be, regardless of whether a rocket or robot is caught, the falling flotsam and jetsam can be deadly as well.
There have been no revealed passings from this assault, yet something like five individuals were harmed, including a 11-year-old kid, Kyiv’s city hall leader Vitaliy Klitschko said.
A kindergarten was among the structures harmed.
For a few calm weeks, Moscow had been associated with storing rockets. That unexpectedly finished toward the beginning of today.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called the strikes a demonstration of “wilful dread” and said that his nation will “keep on attempting to join the world in guard against Russian fear”.
He is attempting to get proceeded with Western help as well as arrange Ukraine’s way to being a potential individual from the European Association.
President Zelensky additionally noticed that the assault came around the same time that Ukraine remembers the 1932-1933 Holodomor starvation – welcomed on by Soviet tyrant Joseph Stalin – which killed a few million Ukrainians.
As winter keeps on gnawing, it had been expected that Russia would continue its strategy of focusing on Ukraine’s energy framework. With 16,000 homes being left without power in the focal Kyiv area, this seems, by all accounts, to be the situation.
Notwithstanding, in the event that the point of Moscow’s procedure last year was to deny Ukrainians of much-required power and water, it eventually flopped as specialists figured out how to rapidly fix harmed pipes and powerlines.
Ukraine’s air safeguards likewise continued to move along.
This isn’t to imply that strikes like this are not felt.
They actually kill, annihilate homes, spread dread and disturb lives.
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Finland may close few border crossings with Russia – PM
Finland’s leader said that they will shut down some places where people can cross the border with Russia.
Petteri Orpo said that four places for people to enter the country in the south will close at midnight on Friday. Two places in the north will stay open for people to ask for asylum.
In the past few days, Finland has had a lot more people crossing over from Russia illegally, mostly from other countries.
Mr Orpo says Russia is purposely helping people without the right papers to come to the border.
The Prime Minister said that the Vaalimaa, Nuijamaa, Niirala, and Imatra border crossings will shut down.
Mr Orpo said that people can still ask for asylum at the crossings in Salla and Vartius, even though they are very far north.
Seventy-five people seeking refuge arrived in Finland on Wednesday, as reported by border guards.
Finland’s government says that the people who come to their country first enter Russia legally and then travel to the border to enter Finland and ask for protection.
The prime minister says that the Russian government planned the crossings.
“Mr Orpo said on Tuesday that these people are definitely being helped and taken to the border by border guards. ”
Finland has a really long border with Russia, it’s 1,340km or 833 miles long. -
New EU sanctions to prohibit sale of Russian diamonds
Diamonds may last forever, but not when it comes to imports from Russia to the European Union.
Russia is the largest producer of rough diamonds mined from hundreds of mines under permafrost in Siberia, which accounts for a third of the world’s diamond supply.
The European Commission is currently proposing to extend to the diamond sector a series of sanctions imposed on Russia since its large-scale invasion of Ukraine.
The move is part of a round of 12 EU measures against Moscow, scheduled to take effect in January. It is linked to the G7, which is also discussing the ban. Since 2022, EU sanctions have targeted Russian coal, gas, gold, vodka and even caviar.
But diamonds mined in Russia‘s northeast are still used in engagement rings, necklaces and earrings around the world.
The EU has so far avoided a ban, largely because Belgium wants to protect the city of Antwerp: the diamond capital of the world.The Flemish-speaking port city has been a diamond center since the 15th century.
More than 80% of all rough diamonds mined worldwide are traded here, and before the war, every four rough diamonds were one is from Russia.
The cobbled streets of Antwerp’s diamond district are lined with shops with windows filled with sparkling jewellery.
There are security cameras everywhere, covering an area about a square mile wide.
“Russia represents a very big business for Antwerp: switching your entire operation to a new supplier is a huge headache,” explains Thierry Tugendhaft, a diamond trader for more than 30 years.
“Importing non-Russian diamonds will be very expensive because everyone will goto the same supplier. ”This means they will also become more expensive for the average consumer.In a corner of his office, Thierry opened a giant safe and took out a small white envelope, folded in half.
Inside are three sparkling, perfectly polished diamonds.
Before the war, half of its stones came from Russia. Their appeal lies in their high quality, shape and availability.
The final decision on the European Commission’s proposed ban will be taken by the 27 EU member states in the coming weeks.
But many Antwerp diamond dealers saw this coming and have come under pressure from the companies they deal with to suspend supplies from Russia.
Mr Tugendhaft now sources his supplies from a mine in Canada, but some of his colleagues are not so lucky.
“Some of the major Russian diamond trading companies have gone bankrupt. They are very dependent on Russia. ”Critics have long complained that diamond imports from Russia are unethical because most of the money goes straight to the Kremlin.
More than 90% of Russia’s diamonds are produced by a single company called Alrosa, which is largely owned by Russian government agencies. Last April, the US banned rough diamond imports from Russia and imposed sanctions on Alrosa. In the first half of 2023, ALrosa generated revenue of $1. 9billion(£17billion)
“There is a direct link between Russian diamond purchases and the financing of the war in Ukraine,”explains Filip Reyniers, director of IPIS, an Antwerp-based research institute.
“Russian diamonds should be considered conflict diamonds. ”Also known as blood diamonds, conflict diamonds are gems sold to finance war. The ongoing war means Russia needs money.
To bias Kormind, chiefexecutiveof77Diamonds,one of Europe’s largest diamond firms,said:“Russia desperately needs money to finance its war and that’s why Russian diamonds are increasingly cheaper“.
He stopped importing Russian gems weeks after the invasion of Ukraine-leading to a surge in his business costs – and he believes the rest of the industry should have taken a tougher stance. “Because cheaper to buy from Russia, many people turn a blind eye and do not disclose that they are sourcing from Alrosa,” he said.
“Unlike other products, such as coffee, tea or chocolate, the diamond trade has never been transparent,”explains Filip Reyniers of IPIS. “A diamond transshipped with a certificate of origin, diamond packages are often mixed. so it is difficult to know their origin. ”
Diamonds can change hands 20 to 30 times between the mine and the market.
This lack of traceability is why the trade is so attractive to criminal activity and why critics say the European ban is flawed.
“This is something that doesn’t exist today at an industry scale,” Filip Reyniers said. “For this ban to be effective, there needs to be real assurance that you can fully trace the origin of your diamond. ”The main complication is that 90% of the world’s diamond supply is shipped overseas to be cut and polished, regardless of where it is mined.
And once the diamonds are polished and ready to ship, they are labeled as originating from India.
Analysts say it is essential to fill this huge gap. But so far, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has challenged the West to reduce economic ties with the Kremlin.
“If India does not participate, the ban will not take effect,” Reyniers said. “There are half a million people involved in the diamond industry in India,” said trader Thierry Tugendhaft.
“They need a livelihood, they don’t want to lose their jobs. ”
But Western countries account for around 70% of global demand for diamond jewelery – and something needs to be done urgently.
“Russian diamonds now symbolize war and human rights violations,” Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo said in September.
And some believe EU sanctions will have an impact.“Some Russian diamonds will still enter the European market,” Filip Reyniers said.
But he believes the ban will cause fewer people to buy the jewelry used to fund the Kremlin’s war in Ukraine.
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Ukraine accuses Russian and Hunter Biden investigation officials
Treason charges have been brought against three Ukrainians who supported the Donald Trump campaign‘s attempts to damage the Biden family.
Rudy Giuliani, the former mayor of New York and Mr. Trump’s personal attorney at the time, spearheaded the 2019 campaign.
The focus was on unverified claims that Joe Biden, while serving as vice president, engaged in corrupt activities with Ukraine.
According to the Security Service (SBU) of Ukraine, Russian military intelligence (GRU) funded the three guys who were accused.
It further stated that they have tarnished Ukraine’s image overseas by exploiting a “tense political situation”.
Oleksandr Dubinsky, a current member of parliament, Andriy Derkach, a former prosecutor, and Kostyantyn Kulyk are the three persons accused.
Dubinsky has refuted the allegations.
According to reports, all three are part of an agent network run by Russian General Vladimir Alekseyev, the GRU’s deputy chief.
According to the charges, they were paid $10 million (£8 million) to engage in “information subversive activities” about the 2020 US election.
The men are charged with aiding in the propagation of the myth that Ukraine, not Russia, meddled in the most recent US elections.
The accusations directed at Mr Biden included the commercial activities of his son Hunter, a director of Burisma, a Ukrainian natural gas company.
Because Mr. Biden had been looking into Burisma, Mr. Trump and his associates claimed that Mr. Biden, as Barack Obama’s vice president, had pushed for the dismissal of Viktor Shokin, the top prosecutor in Ukraine.
Hunter Biden has since filed a lawsuit against Mr. Giuliani for “completely abrogating” his privacy rights through the former New York mayor’s search for damaging information related to the Biden family.
Ukrainian authorities did not clearly identify Mr. Dubinsky but used a nickname believed to have come from Russian intelligence calling him “Burtino. ”
However, the lawmaker identified himself in a Telegram post, saying that a court in Kyiv had ordered his detention for 60 days based on the charges against him. Mr Dubinsky denied any wrongdoing in a series of messages on Telegram and insisted he was the victim of political repression directed against him by President Volodymyr Zelensky’s office.
He faces up to 15 years in prison and confiscation of assets if convicted. Derkach and Kulyk fled Ukraine after Russia’s invasion in 2022, the SBU said.
Dubinsky, Derkach and Kulyk were sanctioned by the US government in the final days of the Trump administration for their alleged efforts to sabotage the 2020 US election. The Ministry of Finance identified Mr.
Derkach as a Russian agent. He was named in a nearly 1,000-page report released by the US Senate Intelligence Committee on Russia’s interference in the 2016 US election.
Mr Derkach met publicly with Mr. Giuliani in Ukraine in 2019 as part of their efforts to link Hunter Biden to corruption in Ukraine. He also appeared with Mr. Giuliani in right-wing US media before the 2020 election, where they shared details of their alleged investigation.
In addition, while serving as deputy prosecutor general of Ukraine, Mr. Kulyk wrote a 2019 memo calling on Ukraine to investigate Hunter Biden’s role on Burisma’s board of directors.
It included unsubstantiated claims that he had evidence that President Joe Biden had illegally enriched himself, which allegedly prompted Mr. Giuliani to seek incriminating information in Ukraine. Mr Giuliani, like Mr. Trump, faces many legal issues in the US related to his efforts to overturn the 2020 election results.
Mr Trump also urged Ukrainian lawmakers to investigate Hunter Biden, including his phone call with President Zelensky.
Democrats in Congress impeached the former US president for refusing military aid to Ukraine while pressuring Mr. ZelenskyMr Trump was later acquitted by the US Senate with the support of the Republican Party.
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Russian rockets kill Ukrainian soldiers during military awards ceremony
Over 20 Ukrainian soldiers were killed when Russian missiles hit a military awards ceremony in a city on the frontlines in eastern Ukraine.
Twenty-eight soldiers from the 128th Mountain Assault Brigade were killed when missiles hit an awards ceremony in the Zaporizhzhia region. More than 50 soldiers and civilians were injured in the incident.
Ukrainian MP Aleksey Kucherenko posted on Facebook that 28 people lost their lives and over 53 got injured. However, the exact number of casualties has not been officially confirmed yet.
According to sources, the soldiers from the assault brigade came together in the village near the battlefront to celebrate Missile Forces Day.
Ruslan Kaganets, leader of the Solnyshko volunteer group, said: ‘The Russians attacked while our team was in line, and many officers and soldiers got hurt or killed. ‘
President Zelensky said that they will investigate the deaths of the soldiers.
He said: ‘This is a sad event that didn’t have to happen. ‘ What is most important is to find out exactly what happened and make sure it doesn’t happen again in the future.
Viktor Mykyta, who is in charge of Zakarpattia state administration, has requested that people in the region avoid participating in any fun activities, concerts, or other events as they mourn.
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The attack might have used missiles that are able to carry nuclear weapons, and these missiles are already in Belarus, which is a country next to us.
They can carry weapons, can travel more than 300 miles, and can go really fast at 5,320 mph.
The Iskander missiles are heavy at four tonnes and are quite long, measuring 23 feet. They are launched from a vehicle that requires a three-person crew. -
There is no ‘stalemate’ in the confrontation with Russia – Zelensky
The disagreements between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and his military leaders are becoming more evident to the public. They have been arguing openly about the situation in the war with Russia.
Igor Zhovka, who is a deputy leader of Zelensky’s office, criticized a statement made by Ukraine’s military leader. The statement said that the war with Russia is at a standstill. This has caused tensions in Kyiv and raised concerns about Western support for the conflict.
He was replying to an interview with top military official Valery Zaluzhny. The military official said that we have reached a point in technology where neither side in the war has an advantage and it is unlikely that there will be any significant new developments.
Zhovka said on Ukrainian TV that the Russians will thoroughly read, write down, and analyze Zaluzhny’s interview. He said he got calls from colleagues in other countries who were very worried and wanted to know if the war was really at a point where no progress was being made.
Maybe this is a really smart plan, and we will have some success doing it. But honestly, I am very surprised,” Zhovka said.
The tensions are happening at an important time in the war. The slow counter-attack from Kyiv and the violence in the Middle East are causing worries that the Western financial and military help could decrease.
Zelensky disagreed with Zaluzhnyi’s opinion during a press conference with EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on Saturday. However, he acknowledged that people are exhausted after being at war for 18 months.
People are feeling very tired. Everyone is feeling sleepy or lacking energy. People have different opinions. But everyone is the same as a person, no matter what their status is. However, this does not mean that there is no solution to the situation. I want to make this clear again. We have already discussed this. Zelensky said this is not news.
We should come together and fix the problems, collaborate more with our allies on protecting the airspace, open up the skies again, and empower our team to take aggressive actions. This is something we should consider. Just only this. This text is not about our future location. “But now,” explained Zelensky.
Zaluzhny talked about what Ukraine should do and the kind of help they need from partners to overcome challenges.
However, the way he described the conflict made people in Ukraine question and gained attention from the media worldwide. The interview with Zelensky, given to TIME, made the Ukrainian president seem more and more alone.
“I have the strongest belief in our victory, even when everyone else may doubt it. ” Nobody, according to Zelensky in his conversation with TIME, it is challenging to convince Ukraine’s allies to believe in the same things, and it requires a lot of effort and dedication.
People are getting very tired of the war. It feels like it’s a never-ending feeling that keeps getting worse. Zelensky said, “You can witness this in the United States, in Europe. ”
He said that the war between Israel and Hamas has taken focus away from Ukraine’s fight against Russia, making it harder to keep other countries interested in helping Ukraine.
Certainly, we suffer negative consequences from the happenings in the Middle East. Zelensky said that people are dying and the world needs to help there to save lives.
He made additional comments while von der Leyen was visiting Kyiv on Saturday.
The war in the Middle East is very clear and it distracts everyone’s attention. I believe that one of the goals of the Russian Federation is to achieve something, and this is definitely true. “We observe the results,” Zelensky said.
The Ukrainian leader recently showed support for Israel after the Hamas attacks on October 7. He suggested that leaders from around the world should visit Israel and offer help to the people who have been affected by these terrorist attacks.
Ukraine is currently facing a challenging situation as it tries to fight back against Russian forces in the southern and eastern parts of the country.
Kyiv was able to attack from the air and successfully hit a shipyard in the city of Kerch, located in the Russian-held Crimean peninsula.
The leader of the Ukrainian Air Force, Mykola Oleschuk, praised and congratulated the pilots who carried out the attacks in a message on Telegram. A person in charge from Russia said that a place where ships are built was attacked, but the weapons from the sky stopped the missiles from hitting their target. CNN cannot confirm or check either of the statements on its own.
The Crimean Bridge, which is also called the Kerch Bridge, was closed for two hours on Saturday and no vehicles were allowed to pass during that time. Russian government did not explain why they closed the road that connects mainland Russia to the occupied peninsula. -
118 Ukrainian towns and villages attacked by Russia – Kyiv
Ukrainian Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko has indicated that in a span of 24 hours, Russia launched an intense bombardment on 118 towns and villages in Ukraine. This represents the highest daily number of attacks this year.
Klymenko reported that this onslaught impacted 10 out of Ukraine’s 27 regions, resulting in casualties, including deaths and injuries. Many of the targeted communities were situated near the front lines in eastern and southern Ukraine.
For several weeks, Russia has been concentrating a significant portion of its military power on the strategically important town of Avdiivka in the eastern Donetsk region.
“[Avdiivka] is being erased, shattered. There have been more than 40 massive shelling attacks against the territorial community in the past day,” said local leader Vitaliy Barabash.
According to Ukrainian Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko, two civilians lost their lives in the attacks, and he issued a warning that Russia appeared to be preparing for a third wave of its offensive. Ukraine has reported that Russia is amassing reinforcements in an attempt to encircle and capture the strategically significant town of Avdiivka.
On Tuesday, Ukrainian armed forces’ general staff announced that they successfully repelled twenty attacks in the Avdiivka area alone. Additionally, Russia has escalated its assaults on the town of Kupyansk in the northeastern Kharkiv region and has been attempting to prevent Ukrainian forces from reclaiming territory around Bakhmut.
There have also been attacks away from the front lines, including strikes on residential buildings, shops, and a pharmacy in the southern city of Nikopol on the banks of the Dnipro River. In Kremenchuk, a disused oil refinery was set on fire by a Russian drone. This refinery, located in the central Poltava region, has been targeted multiple times by Russian forces and continued to face attacks throughout the early hours of Wednesday.
Ukraine’s counter-offensive has encountered difficulties in reclaiming territory occupied by Russian forces in the south and east, raising concerns about waning Western support for the conflict.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has acknowledged the slow progress and has consistently urged Ukraine’s allies to provide advanced weaponry urgently while maintaining unity.
On Wednesday, Ukraine’s chief military commander, Zaluzhny, cautioned that the war was entering a “positional” or static stage.
Recent Ukrainian attacks targeted the headquarters of Russia’s Black Sea fleet, leading to the departure of most of its ships from occupied Crimea.
Kyiv’s efforts have been focused on establishing a secure export corridor for civilian vessels to transport grain along Ukraine’s Black Sea coast. This route passes through Romanian waters and continues to the Turkish coast.
Despite ongoing Russian bombardment, approximately 700,000 metric tonnes of grain have successfully navigated the region in recent months. Ukrainian officials have reported that warplanes dropped “explosive objects” in areas where civilian ships were expected to pass. Nevertheless, Ukraine’s southern operational command has stated that the navigational corridor remains operational under the protection of the defense forces.
Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu asserted on Wednesday that Ukraine was losing the war, even though it had received new weapons from NATO.
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Russia sets new settlement record — Ukraine
The Ukrainian Interior Minister, Ihor Klymenko, said that Russia attacked 118 towns and villages in Ukraine within 24 hours. This was the most intense attack in a single day so far this year.
He said that out of the 27 regions in Ukraine, 10 regions were attacked. These attacks resulted in deaths and injuries.
A lot of the towns and cities that were affected were close to where the fighting was happening in the eastern and southern areas.
Russia has been focusing its military strength on Avdiivka, an important town in eastern Donetsk, for several weeks.
Avdiivka is being completely destroyed and broken apart. Local leader Vitaliy Barabash said that the territorial community has experienced over 40 serious attacks with shelling in the last day.
He said that two ordinary people were killed and cautioned that Russia was getting ready for another attack. Ukraine claims that Russia has been sending more soldiers and weapons to surround and take control of the town.
On Tuesday, Ukraine’s army stopped twenty attacks in the Avdiivka area.
Russia has also increased its attacks on the town of Kupyansk in the north-eastern Kharkiv region and tried to prevent Ukrainian forces from taking back land near Bakhmut.
There were also attacks in places away from where the fighting was happening. In a city called Nikopol, on the bank of the Dnipro river, a block of flats, shops, and a pharmacy were attacked. In another place called Kremenchuk, a Russian drone set fire to an old oil refinery.
The oil processing plant in Poltava has been attacked by Russia many times. Officials have reported that the plant was attacked again on Wednesday morning.
The Kremenchuk refinery used to be the largest in Ukraine. However, it was forced to stop operating after being damaged by attacks from Russia during their invasion.
Ukraine’s attempts to retake land from Russian forces in the south and east have not been successful. This is worrying because there are concerns that Western countries may become tired of the ongoing war.
One of the Ukrainian leader’s closest friends, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, talked about feeling tired during a fake phone call from two Russian pranksters. These pranksters are well-known for tricking people who are against the Russian government.
“I notice that there is a lot of tiredness, if I have to be honest, from all perspectives,” she tells the duo, Vovan and Lexus. “We are getting closer to the point where everyone realizes that we need a solution. ”
The Ukraine’s counterattack may not be going as planned or expected. It is still happening, but it hasn’t made a difference in the outcome of the conflict.
The US President Joe Biden’s team has requested Congress to give approval for a $106 billion package to support both Ukraine and Israel. This week, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said that if we do not help, Russia’s Vladimir Putin will succeed.
President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a speech on Tuesday that people in our world tend to become complacent about success too easily.
He praised the military for reducing Russia’s control over the Black Sea. He said that by protecting our coastline and sea, we are also protecting the world.
Russian navy ships in Crimea were attacked by Ukraine, so they had to move their ships away from there.
Kyiv has attempted to establish a safe route for boats to transport grain from Ukraine’s Black Sea coast, through Romania’s waters, and finally to the Turkish coast.
Ukrainian officials said that war planes dropped explosive objects on civilian ships, even though 700,000 metric tonnes of grain managed to avoid being bombed by Russia. “According to Ukraine’s southern operational command, the defense forces still oversee the operation of the navigational corridor. ”
Russia’s Defence Minister, Sergei Shoigu, said on Wednesday that Ukraine is not winning the war, even with new weapons they received from NATO.
He said that Ukraine was having a hard time in their attempt to move into areas held by Russia, like Zaporizhzhia, Kherson, and Donetsk. The morale of the personnel is decreasing. He said that Russian groups were moving forward.
The BBC cannot confirm or prove these statements. -
People swarm Russian airport as plane from Tel Aviv lands and Gaza War escalates
An irate swarm in Russia’s generally Muslim locale of Dagestan raged an air terminal where a flight from Israel arrived on Sunday, constraining specialists to shut the office and occupy flights.
Clashes cleared out at slightest 10 individuals harmed, counting two individuals in basic condition, agreeing to a explanation by the Dagestan Wellbeing Service late Sunday.
Concurring to Russian state media TASS, “those assembled contradict the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.”
The Makhachkala Uytash Air terminal (MCX) was briefly closed and flights were occupied, concurring to a explanation from the Russian Government Discuss Transport Organization, saying “unknown persons” broke into the office.
The Ruddy Wing Carriers flight from Tel Aviv arrived Sunday at 7:17 p.m. nearby time, concurring to Flight Mindful, and was rapidly encompassed by nonconformists upon landing.
Different recordings posted on social media appeared a swarm of individuals interior the air terminal and on the runway, a few waving the Palestinian hail, others constraining their way through closed entryways within the universal terminal.
In photographs and recordings confirmed by CNN, the swarm exterior the airplane terminal held antisemetic signs that included trademarks such as “We are against Jewish refugees,” and “There is no put for child-killers in Dagestan.”
In one video, a pilot takes to the speaker of his airplane to say: “It isn’t secure to open the doors” since “protesters are below our plane.”
The occurrence is the most recent to demonstrate gigantic worldwide pressures and separates over the progressing Israel-Hamas war, which was started by a facilitated October 7 assault by the activist bunch that murdered a few 1,400 individuals, for the most part civilians, and the seizing of more than 200 individuals.
Israel’s striking back has been persistent, with Gaza beneath attack and intensely assaulted, kindling pressures distant past the Center East.
Israeli strikes on Gaza have brought about in a few 8,000 fatalities, the Palestinian Service of Wellbeing in Ramallah said on Sunday, drawing the information from sources within the Hamas-controlled enclave. Around 3,000 of those slaughtered are children, concurring to the same specialists.
Dissents have emitted over the world, in back of both Israel and Gaza, with pressures regularly spilling over.
“Israel expects the Russian legitimate specialists to protect the well-being of all Israeli citizens and Jews wherever they are and to require solid activity against the agitators and against the wild prompting being coordinated against Jews and Israelis,” the Israeli Prime Minister’s office and the Service of Remote Issues said in a joint explanation.
“Israeli Envoy to Russia Alex Ben Zvi is working with the Russian specialists to secure the well-being of Jews and Israelis at the site,” it included.
The US too called on Russia to secure Israelis and Jews.
“The Joined together States enthusiastically condemns the antisemitic challenges in Dagestan, Russia,” National Security Chamber representative Adrienne Watson composed on social media. -
Russia increases rates to 15% due to soaring inflation
Russia‘s main bank has raised its main interest rate to 15% in an attempt to reduce inflation and strengthen the value of the currency.
The interest rate has increased by more than expected, going up by two percent. This means that it is now more expensive to borrow money, and it is the fourth time in a row that this has happened.
The prices of things have been going up very quickly all around the world, partly because of Russia invading Ukraine. In September, the inflation rate in Russia reached 6%.
The Russian government has been spending more money on its military.
The Bank of Russia, which is the central bank of the country, has increased interest rates by 7. 5 percentage points since July. Their goal is to bring down inflation to their target of 4%.
This means that there was a sudden and unexpected increase in prices in August when the value of the rouble fell below 100 to the dollar, and the government asked for stronger control over the country’s money.
On Friday, it was mentioned that the current increase in inflation is higher than what the Bank of Russia had predicted.
People wanted to buy more things and use more services than there were available. This caused the amount of money borrowed by banks to increase.
The coronavirus pandemic caused problems in getting goods to people, which made prices go up. Then, in February 2022, when Russia invaded Ukraine, it also caused problems in getting enough food around the world and made energy costs increase.
Rising food and energy prices are big reasons why prices in general are going up all over the world.
The Russian economy is also facing more pressure because the country is buying more things from other countries than it is selling, and also because it is spending more money on its military for the war in Ukraine.
Russia was punished by countries in the West because it attacked Ukraine.
The rouble dropped in value when the war started, but it increased again because the government put restrictions on transferring money out of the country and because they earned a lot of money by selling oil and gas.
But, the currency has become worth about 25% less compared to the US dollar since the conflict started.
The Bank of Russia has increased interest rates by a large amount before. When Russia initially attacked Ukraine, the bank increased interest rates from 9. 5% to 20% However, they started decreasing the rates shortly afterward.
However, increasing interest rates can only do so much to stabilize an economy, and experts believe that Russia may face difficulties in attracting investment because of the sanctions imposed by Western countries.
Economists have said that one of the main reasons for the decline in the rouble is because Russia’s trade has been negatively affected by the sanctions.
Since the war started, several European Union countries that depended on oil and gas from Russia have promised to reduce their reliance on imports from Russia. Many of these countries have now found other sources to get their oil and gas from.
EU leaders have made a plan to control the amount of money Russia makes from selling oil, and they have also stopped Russia from using a payment system called Swift, which is used by many banks.
The European Commission said that the sanctions against Russia are effective.
The blog post in August mentioned that the amount of coal being sent out of the country has decreased, and the production of oil in the country has dropped by over 25%. -
Russia killing its own soldiers who try to flee – US says
As per the White House, Russian forces are responsible for the deaths of soldiers who try to retreat from an aggressive assault in eastern Ukraine.
According to the United States, some of the people who were hurt or killed from Russia near Avdiivka were a result of their own leaders’ instructions.
Russian and Ukrainian soldiers have been fighting each other strongly for control of the frontline town since October.
It is believed that Russia experienced big losses during this time.
Ukrainian people believe that about 5,000 Russian soldiers were injured or killed in Avdiivka. The United States thinks that Russia lost at least 125 armored vehicles and a lot of equipment, which is enough for a battalion.
A person from the Ukrainian army said that Russian soldiers were not attacking Ukrainian positions near Avdiivka because they had suffered many casualties. They also mentioned that there were rebellions happening within some Russian units.
Russia’s military forces are not well-trained, do not have enough equipment, and are not ready for fighting. This was also true during their unsuccessful attack last winter, according to National Security Council spokesman John Kirby during a briefing on Thursday.
He said that the Russian military seems to be using a strategy called “human wave” tactics, where they send large numbers of unskilled soldiers directly into battle.
No good tools, no one in charge, not enough resources, no help. Kirby said that it is not surprising that Russian forces are feeling discouraged and demoralized.
If the Russian troops take over Avdiivka, which is close to Donetsk city, it will be more difficult for Ukrainian forces to continue moving forward in the Donetsk region. This is because Russian troops will be moving their front line backwards.
Almost all of the 30,000 residents of Avdiivka have left because Russian forces are still attacking the town. Earlier this week, the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, said that the situation was really difficult.
On Thursday, the US said they will give Ukraine $150m (£123. 7m) to help their military. This includes things like guns, bullets, and weapons to destroy tanks.
However, it is uncertain if Ukraine will continue to receive assistance in the future after Republican Mike Johnson was elected as the speaker of the US House of Representatives.
Mr Johnson, who belongs to the conservative side of the Republican Party, opposes giving any more help to Ukraine from the United States. In the past, he has also backed changes to prevent this aid from going through.
The US has given a lot of money (over $46 billion) to Ukraine for their military, and also provided additional money for other needs like finance and helping people.
The leader of Russia, Vladimir Putin, attacked Ukraine in a big way in February 2022. -
Russia most certainly targeted nuclear reactor in Ukraine – Zelensky
President Volodymyr Zelensky suspects that a drone strike originating from Russia in western Ukraine had likely targeted a nuclear power facility.
On Wednesday, drones made in Iran attacked the area near a power plant in the west of Khmelnytsky region.
The attack hurt 20 people and caused only small damage, like broken windows.
The IAEA said that the plant is still working normally.
The Ukraine’s Khmelnytsky Nuclear Power Plant experienced strong blasts, shared IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi in a statement. The explosions show the risks to nuclear safety caused by the war, he said.
The Khmelnytsky plant has two machines that produce power. One machine is running, but the other machine has been turned off on purpose since August.
Since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, there have been constant worries about the impact on a nuclear power plant.
Russian forces have taken control of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, located in the eastern part of Ukraine, starting from March 2022.
Kyiv says that Russia bombed the factory and put it at risk of leaking radiation. They call this action “nuclear terror”. There haven’t been any serious accidents since the big invasion last year.
MrZelensky mentioned that the assault in the Khmelnytsky region highlights the need for more assistance from other countries to strengthen Ukraine’s air defenses.
He said that Russian drones and missiles have parts from Western companies and countries. The Khmelnytsky attack showed how risky it is when Russia can ignore international rules and restrictions
On Tuesday, the leader of Germany, Olaf Scholz, said that Germany will provide Ukraine with €1. 4bn ($15bn; £12bn) in financial help.
The new aid will have missile defense systems to protect Ukrainian infrastructure. This is because Russia might use cold weather and energy shortages as weapons against the civilian population.
On Thursday, Ukrainian intelligence said that a car carrying four people from Russia’s FSB security service exploded in Berdyansk, in the Zaporizhzhia region. According to news in Russia, someone was killed by a homemade bomb.
The bombing that was reported is the most recent in a series of attacks aimed at Russian officials and people who support them in Ukraine, which is currently under Russian control.
In September, Vladimir Malov, who was a member of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s political party in the Kherson region, died when his car was exploded in what seems to be a planned murder. -
Russian military aircraft carrying unknown load erupts in tremendous flame
A plane from the Russian military blew up in a big ball of fire while trying to fly away from a far away airbase. It was carrying something unknown.
The Il-76 plane was on the runway when one of its engines caught fire, causing the plane to move off the runway. The fire quickly started spreading.
According to reports, it is believed that there were eight people on the craft. They were transporting some military cargo, but managed to escape before the craft caught fire.
A video showed a Russian military aircraft on fire at a base in Tajikistan called Ayni airbase (also known as Gissar air base), which is near the capital city Dushanbe.
According to reports on Telegram, the plane’s identification number was not initially revealed.
However, the crashed plane is thought to be RF-86900. This plane was previously used to deliver supplies for Putin’s war in Belarus.
A comment from a source said that they are not revealing the information about what is in the cargo for political reasons related to war.
He also mentioned that the airplane might have been owned by Vladimir Putin’s special Pskov airborne troops. It is said that Ukraine attacked and destroyed five Il-76s.
“He said it’s a real disaster if it’s the Pskov regiment because we have already lost five. ”
Based on what the person saw, the fire first started in the engine and then quickly spread to the rest of the vehicle.
The big airplane is the second one to blow up on the runway in the last month.
In September, a plane made in Russia was recorded as it went out of control and crashed off a runway in Africa. It then burst into flames and exploded. People suspected that the jet might be connected to the Wagner Group.
The jet caught fire in Mali, where Wagner’s soldiers are based. This happened a few weeks after their leader, Yevgeny Prigozhin, died when his plane exploded during a flight near Moscow.
People who know about Wagner said that the Russian mercenary group is not connected to the flight, even though they are currently working in Mali.
However, they did not say for certain that Wagner was connected to the plane. -
Another American journalist detained in Russia
Alsu Kurmasheva, an American journalist, was arrested after visiting her family in the Russian city of Kazan. Now, she is being accused of a crime, according to her coworkers.
She worked as an editor for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty in Prague, which is funded by the United States. On 2 June, she was held for a short time by authorities.
She was arrested again on Wednesday and accused of not registering as a foreign agent. If convicted, she may be sentenced to up to five years in jail.
Ms Kurmasheva is the second American journalist who has been detained in Russia this year.
Evan Gershkovich, a reporter for Wall Street Journal in Moscow, who is 31 years old, was arrested in March for spying. This month, a court in Moscow said no to his request and told him that he needs to stay in jail.
His boss and the United States government are saying that the accusations are not true and that he is being kept so he can be exchanged for Russians who are held in the custody of the United States or its friends.
Alsu Kurmasheva has citizenship in both the US and Russia. She works for RFE/RL’s Tatar-Bashkir service. Tatar and Bashkir are two similar languages spoken by native people in two parts of Russia.
According to RFE/RL, Ms. Kurmasheva, who lives in Czech Republic, went to Kazan at the end of May because of a family emergency. She was stopped and held by authorities while waiting for her flight back home and they took away her passports from Russia and America.
She was accused of not registering as a foreign agent and of gathering information for foreign governments, as reported by a local state news website called Tatar Inform.
Dmitry Kolezev, a well-known journalist from Russia, explained that the law Ms Kurmasheva was accused of breaking was written in a way that makes it possible to restrict gathering simple information about military members, like their names and which unit they belong to. “They captured another person,” he added.
Ms Kurmasheva’s work often dealt with problems that people from different ethnic backgrounds in central Russia experience.
According to independent Russian media organizations and press freedom watchdogs, Russian authorities often use strict laws to bother journalists and prevent them from reporting freely on important matters.
Many reporters and people who oppose the Kremlin have been called “foreign agents”. This includes Dmitry Muratov, who won the Nobel Peace Prize.
Last year in September, Ivan Safronov, a journalist for Kommersant and Vedomosti, was given a 22-year prison sentence for the crime of treason.
In March, a student named Dmitry Ivanov was given a prison sentence of eight and a half years for sharing false information about the Russian army on the messaging app called Telegram. -
Gaza war: Ghana withholds its vote as UN Security Council rejects Russia’s resolution
Ghana abstained from voting on a resolution proposed by Russia concerning the conflict in Gaza in a significant session held at the United Nations Security Council on Monday evening.
The resolution, presented by Russia, called for a humanitarian ceasefire, the release of hostages, aid access, and the safe evacuation of civilians in the war-torn region.
Among the Council’s 15 members, the Russian-led draft garnered five votes in favor (China, Gabon, Mozambique, Russia, and the United Arab Emirates) and four against (France, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States). Notably, Ghana was the sole African country to abstain, while Gabon and Mozambique voted in favor. Other abstentions came from Albania, Brazil, Ecuador, Malta, and Switzerland.
For a resolution to be adopted, it requires at least nine affirmative votes, with none of the five permanent members issuing a veto.
Russian Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia expressed regret over the resolution’s failure, attributing it to what he termed the “selfish intention of the Western bloc.”
He emphasized the urgency of addressing the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and urged unified action.
However, US Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield criticized the resolution for not addressing Hamas’ actions, arguing that it failed to condemn the group’s terrorist activities.
She underscored the need to hold Hamas accountable for civilian casualties and the dire situation in Gaza.
Riyad Mansour, the Permanent Observer of the Observer State of Palestine to the UN, implored the Security Council to adhere strictly to international law and emphasized the gravity of the situation for Palestinians.
Israeli Ambassador Gilad Erdan characterized the moment as pivotal for the Security Council, asserting that Hamas shares an ideology akin to the Nazis. He called on the Council to designate Hamas as a terrorist organization and hold it accountable for the situation in Gaza.
Additionally, he advocated for full support of Israel’s right to self-defense and the immediate release of all hostages.
-
Russia criticises Israel as divisions among the West grow
The Russian President, Vladimir Putin, and the Chinese leader, Xi Jinping, will meet in Beijing this week. Their meeting is expected to show that they both want a new international order where the United States and its democratic friends do not have all the power.
This meeting is happening between the two most powerful rulers in the world. It is happening at a time when tensions between countries are increasing, especially after Russia invaded Ukraine shortly after the leaders’ last meeting in China in 2022. Additionally, there is a war going on between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas, which could potentially escalate into a larger conflict and disrupt stability in the Middle East.
Both Beijing and Moscow are unhappy with Israel’s actions and want them to stop fighting. This is another example of how the two countries are working together to show they can lead instead of the US. The US supports Israel‘s right to fight back.
The two men are meeting because it was confirmed that US President Joe Biden will visit Israel on Wednesday. Biden is expected to strongly support Israel as they try to get rid of Hamas. At the same time, the US wants to find ways to help the people in Gaza who are suffering, and is warning other countries in the region to stay out of the conflict.
Xi and Putin will probably talk about the situation when they meet this week. Putin arrived in Beijing on Tuesday morning as a special guest for the Belt and Road Forum, which is a rare trip for him because he doesn’t usually travel abroad for diplomatic reasons.
Leaders, representatives, and groups from over 140 countries will attend a special event in China. This event celebrates 10 years since Xi Jinping started a project to fund global infrastructure. It is also a chance for Xi to show China’s increasing global goals.
Experts say that the timing of the forum that took place in Beijing, while Israel is considering a ground invasion of Gaza, gives Putin a chance to divert attention from the conflict in Ukraine.
Moscow plans to propose a resolution to the United Nations Security Council, asking for a ceasefire. The resolution does not specifically mention Hamas. On Friday, the Russian UN representative compared the continuous shelling of Gaza by Israel to the harsh blockade of Leningrad during World War II.
On the opposite side of history, President Joe Biden of the United States said that the attack by Hamas was the most awful killing of Jewish people since the Holocaust.China has decided to send someone to the Middle East to help with negotiations and has criticized actions that hurt innocent people. However, they did not specifically blame Hamas or mention them directly in their statements.
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said that Israel’s actions have gone too far and are no longer justifiable as self-defense.
Both countries’ statements are different from the US’s. The US strongly supports Israel and believes that now is not the right time for a ceasefire.
Xi and Putin will talk about the fighting in Ukraine during their next meeting.
In that fight, China has also tried to be a peacemaker.
However, when it comes to China’s desire to convince the Russian leader to stop invading, Xi might be careful to avoid doing anything that could harm their relationship.
This is because he is probably monitoring changes in world opinion about the conflict, especially in Europe. The upcoming US election next year could also cause a big change in how much support the US gives to Ukraine.
According to Li Mingjiang, a professor at Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University, we haven’t seen any indication that China wants to use its advantage to pressure Russia.
The Chinese government doesn’t want there to be any distrust at all between Beijing and Moscow.
Putin, who has rarely left the group of countries that used to be part of the Soviet Union since starting his war, is not welcome by Western countries and is being sought by an international court for possible war crimes. Experts say he doesn’t want to go anywhere if he doesn’t feel completely safe. Last week, he went on a trip to Kyrgyzstan, which was the first trip he made outside of Russian-controlled territory this year.
However, even though Putin’s situation has changed since his last visit to Beijing, the two leaders have become more similar in their ideas about how the world should be, which is different from what the West believes. They are trying to convince other countries to support their efforts to change the current global power balance, which they believe is unfair to them.
During an interview before the event, Putin spoke highly of Xi, saying he is a trustworthy leader who handles situations with calmness and practicality. Putin admires Xi’s way of dealing with other countries, which is not forceful or demanding, but rather offers chances for others.
The two leaders, who often talk about how close they are as friends, have gotten together 40 times in the last ten years. They have met two times since the war in Ukraine began. During their last meeting in Beijing, Xi and Putin made a 5,000-word statement saying that they are partners without any restrictions, and they strongly agree against the West.
Li in Singapore said that it will be a great chance for Putin to get attention on a global level and prove that Russia still has a strong ally in China by attending the forum.
“And it’s politically important for China to have a significant international figure like Putin join the BRI summit,” he said. In easier terms, the forum is expected to have leaders from developing and middle income countries that have less influence.
Russia attacked Ukraine and this tested the relationship between China and Russia. Western countries questioned China’s close relationship with Russia and wondered if China’s leader, Xi, knew about Russia’s plan in advance.
Beijing says it is not picking sides in the conflict and wants peace. Lately, it has been trying hard to be a mediator for peace. People are worried because China is very close to Russia, so this has made its relationships with Europe and the United States more tense.
But China, the second largest economy in the world, has also become an important support for Russia, which is facing sanctions. Russia now relies on China for buying goods and energy. The two countries have increased their cooperation in various fields since the war began.
In 2023, the trade between Russia and China reached its highest level ever and kept increasing. Experts say that they have improved security by doing more military exercises together and having frequent official discussions. They have also strengthened their diplomatic relationship, including the state visit of President Xi to Moscow which was an important trip for him.
According to Alex Gabuev, director of the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center, China tries to create a clear separation from Russia when speaking to Western audiences, both in their words and actions.
“(However) even though they don’t officially call it a ‘no limits partnership,’ (the China-Russia relationship) has actually become stronger, more stable, and closer,” he said. -
Four kidnapped Ukrainian children returned by Russia
Russia has said yes to giving back four kids from Ukraine to their families. This happened because of an agreement made by Qatar.
The repatriation is a program that aims to bring back more children who were taken away by Russia after their big invasion last year.
The youngest kid of the four is 2 years old, and the oldest is 17.
Ukraine found out that Russia has taken away 20,000 children from Ukraine.
But it is believed that the actual number of people deported is much greater.
In March, the International Criminal Court declared that Russia’s President Vladimir Putin and his commissioner for children’s rights Maria Lvova-Belova are wanted for arrest. They have been accused of sending Ukrainian children out of the country without following the law.
Russia said that its reasons were only to help people, and they claimed that they saved lots of Ukrainian kids from harm. Important people in Russia didn’t take the charges against them seriously.
The diplomat, who wanted to keep their identity a secret, explained that the plan Qatar had been working on with Moscow and Kyiv will be put to the test when the four children return.
They said they hope that if the first repatriation is successful, more repatriations will happen.
Qatari Minister Lolwah Al Khater said that they are helping to solve a problem, and the return of some people is just the beginning.
“We are happy that both sides have shown dedication and honesty during this process. We hope that this will result in more efforts to decrease tensions and create trust between the two groups,” she said.
But it has been difficult to bring the children out of Russia. In at least one case, a child had to go back home by going through Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Poland.
One of the four kids was sent back to Ukraine and reunited with his grandmother. He arrived there on Monday after getting back with his family on Friday.
The other three kids, who were also reunited with their families, will most likely come to Ukraine on Monday or Tuesday.
Thousands of children in Ukraine have been taken away from their families and brought to Russia. The government in Kyiv says that these children face a deliberate attempt to erase their Ukrainian identity.
Sometimes Ukrainian families have had to travel to Russia in difficult and exhausting conditions to bring their children back. -
UK looks into using Russian equipment for Ukraine’s defence
The government wants the Bank of England to find ways to use Russian assets to help pay for Ukraine’s war, according to Chancellor Jeremy Hunt in an interview with the BBC.
Mr Hunt said that finance ministers from various countries have talked about finding additional methods, other than sanctions, to interfere with Russia’s capability to finance the war.
“Mr Hunt said that this war is not allowed or lawful. ”
We must do everything possible to stop Russia from giving money to it.
Mr Hunt talked to the BBC at the IMF’s yearly conference in Marrakech and said that finance ministers from the G7, which are the biggest economies in the world, talked about whether Ukraine’s defense could be funded by using Russia’s government-owned properties.
“He said that we should do whatever it takes to make sure Putin understands that he won’t be able to continue being aggressive because it will cost him too much. ”
The G7 group announced on Thursday that they will look into how to tax profits from Russian assets that have been taken in order to help Ukraine. They will do this while following the relevant laws.
In September, the US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and Mr. Hunt showed that they agreed with a European Union idea to tax the extra money gained from the profits of Russian assets that have been kept locked.
Earlier this year, the US considered using their own resources to help financially support Ukraine’s defense. However, they later concluded that this would not be allowed by law.
On Friday, Mr. Hunt said that Britain will always follow the rules, but the G7 group has requested central banks to explore any options because we strongly believe that this war is against the law of the world.
The chancellor said that the war in Ukraine was taking longer to resolve than people wanted, and that the world needs to prevent getting tired of dealing with Ukraine’s situation.
He said, “We need to be honest and tell people that it will take a while. So, for now, we must be careful and cautious in how we handle the British economy. ”
The European Union and the US are trying to find better ways to use money that Russia cannot access and make the punishments against Russia work better.
On Thursday, the US government punished two companies for breaking a limit on the cost of Russian oil.
Several countries, such as the US, the G7, the European Union, and Australia, joined forces to limit Russia’s crude oil prices at $60 per barrel. This was done in order to restrict Russia’s ability to continue its war against Ukraine.
The US discovered that a ship owned by Turkey’s Ice Pearl Navigation Corp and a tanker owned by Lumber Marine of the United Arab Emirates sold crude oil for $80 and $75 per barrel, respectively.
The US Treasury has prevented the companies from buying or owning property in the US.
The oil prices increased on Friday because sanctions were made stricter.
The price of West Texas Intermediate also went up by 3. 6% to $8658 -
Burkina Faso and Russia to sign nuclear power agreement
Burkina Faso and Russia plan to sign an agreement for building a nuclear power plant in Burkina Faso. This information was reported by the AIB news agency, which is owned by the government.
The agreement will be a result of discussions between the leader of Burkina Faso’s military, Capt. Ibrahim Traoré, and Russian President Vladimir Putin in July, during a summit between Russia and African countries in Moscow.
The Russian federal atomic energy agency, Rosatom, will sign an agreement with the Burkinabe ministry of energy during Russian Energy Week 2023, according to AIB.
Around one-fifth of the people in Burkina Faso can use electricity.
According to the International Energy Atomic Agency (IAEA), the rate is very low compared to other countries in the world.
Burkina Faso has started getting help from Russia for its economy and military since it has had disagreements with many of its usual Western partners, including France. -
Russia fails to reapply to UN Human Rights Council
Russia did not win the election to stay on the UN’s human rights council.
The country was kicked out of the important organization for protecting people’s rights last April because they sent their troops to invade Ukraine.
They expected that getting a new three-year term would make clear the differences of opinions among UN member states on whether to continue supporting Ukraine or not.
But Bulgaria and Albania got the two seats that were meant for Eastern European countries instead.
The vote happened a few days after a Russian missile attack that caused the death of 52 individuals in a village called Hroza in northeastern Ukraine.
Russia got 83 votes from the UN’s general assembly members. Bulgaria got 160 votes, and Albania got 123 votes.
Before, the ambassador of Albania, Ferit Hoxha, had stated that it was crucial for member countries to demonstrate that they were not willing to accept someone who starts fires as a firefighter.
Russia said it would find suitable answers for human rights problems and wanted to prevent the organization from being controlled by a certain group of countries, likely referring to the West.
Diplomats said they want to regain some international trust after being accused of violating rights in Ukraine and their own country.
Russia believed that it would gain support from many countries, especially those that are still developing, in a confidential voting process. It suggested that these countries privately agreed with Russia but did not express it openly in order to avoid upsetting Western countries.
According to reports, Russia has been actively trying to persuade smaller countries by giving them grain and weapons in exchange for their votes.
The Russian ambassador to the United Nations, Vassily Nebenzia, said that the United States is trying to prevent Russia from rejoining the council.
In April 2022, the state was kicked out of the human rights council. 93 UN general assembly members voted in favor of the suspension, 24 voted against, and 58 chose not to vote.
The council will be made up of these countries starting in 2024 for three years: Albania, Brazil, Bulgaria, Burundi, China, the Ivory Coast, Cuba, Dominican Republic, France, Ghana, Indonesia, Japan, Kuwait, Malawi, and the Netherlands. -
UEFA backtracks plans to allow Russia to partake in U17 Euro qualifiers
UEFA has announced that Russia will be prohibited from participating in the Under-17 European Championship qualifying matches scheduled for this month.
Over the past two weeks, UEFA’s staff has been considering the inclusion of Russia in its youth competitions for both men and women, even though the qualifying groups have already been determined.
Originally, each group was slated to play all of its matches in a single host country, spanning several days.
After assessing how Russian youth teams could be reintegrated, UEFA said after another executive committee meeting on Tuesday that “the agenda point was withdrawn as no technical solution to allow Russian teams to play could be found.”
The policy has caused a division within UEFA’s executive committee, with at least 12 out of the 55 European member federations declaring their teams’ intentions to continue boycotting matches against Russia.In a show of solidarity, the football associations of England, Sweden, and Poland have all affirmed their refusal to participate in games against Russia’s youth teams. Ukraine’s FA has taken an even stronger stance by declining to participate in any competitions where Russian teams are allowed.
In a prior statement, UEFA acknowledged that children should not bear the consequences of actions solely attributable to adults.
“For these reasons, the UEFA Executive Committee has decided that Russian teams of minor players will be readmitted to its competitions in the course of this season.”
UEFA added to its initial proposals that Russian teams’ matches would be played outside the country and would not feature its flag, anthem or national kit.
“We have made ourselves really clear on Russia,” English Football Association CEO Mark Bullingham told reporters at UEFA headquarters. “From our understanding, nothing has changed.”
UEFA officials, including president Aleksander Ceferin, did not hold a press briefing on Tuesday.
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US pressuring Russia ‘towards using’ nuclear weapons – Belarus leader
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said on Friday that by giving weapons to Ukraine, the United States is causing Russia to consider using nuclear weapons.
I think Americans are making Russians consider using a very scary weapon. They give weapons to Volodymyr Oleksandrovych Zelensky and his group of soldiers, and also give them missiles that can be shot from far away. Even missiles that can go as far as 300 km (186 miles),” Lukashenko said while visiting a military base in the Brest area.
Lukashenko said that if a missile hit Russia, they would have to retaliate.
If someone attacks Russia very far inside their territory, the response will be huge. “If that’s the case, why do we even need these weapons. ” Lukashenko asked
He thinks that if tensions between the countries get worse, Russia might threaten to use nuclear weapons.
He said that Americans felt safe because they were far away from any potential danger.
Lukashenko talked about this after Putin said it might be possible to cancel a treaty that stops countries from doing nuclear tests.
The day after Putin talked, Russia’s State Duma Speaker, Vyacheslav Volodin, said the State Duma Council will definitely talk about canceling their approval of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty at their next meeting.
Lukashenko also talked about the unsure future of the help that US Congress is giving to Ukraine. He said that this is a sign for Ukraine to move quickly, increase their counterattack, and send more young men to fight.
You can see it in the media a lot these days. They say Zelensky is being criticized for not moving quickly enough in the counterattack. Lukashenko said the counterattack did not work and mentioned that only older men are involved in the fighting.
Lukashenko explained his thoughts on why the US wants Ukraine to quickly attack back. He said that US President Joe Biden could improve his approval rating by achieving a win in Ukraine.
Due to the current political situation, this war doesn’t benefit Biden and the American government in terms of power and influence. Biden is already not doing well according to all the surveys. He wants to win at something. “You have to contribute something valuable in order to succeed,” Lukashenko said. -
Russian missile kills 10-year-old boy in Kharkiv while sleeping – Ukraine
A 10-year-old boy was sleeping when Russia bombed the city of Kharkiv, and he sadly died. Ukrainian officials shared this information.
A photo claiming to show the boy’s body lying in the rubble was shared on social media by the Ukrainian Defense Ministry.
He looked like he was covered with a blue blanket and dust. There were broken things all around him, and some people who were there to help.
A child’s body covered with a blanket. This morning, he was killed in Kharkiv by a missile from Russia. “The ministry said that it seemed like the boy was sleeping. ”
The Iskander is a type of missile from Russia. It can reach the city of Kharkiv, which is near the border of Ukraine, very quickly.
CNN has not checked or verified the photo on its own.
A 68-year-old lady, who was the grandmother of the boy, died in the attacks. The boy’s 11-month-old brother was injured along with 30 other people. Oleh Syniehubov, the chief of Kharkiv’s regional state administration, gave this information.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky mentioned in his speech on Friday evening that the parents and 11-month-old brother of the boys are currently receiving treatment in a hospital.
“I extend my sympathy to all who have lost their loved ones due to Russia,” he said.
The 10-year-old is one of over 500 children who have died in Ukraine because of Russia’s invasion. As of October 6th, in Ukraine, 505 children have died and more than 1,129 have been hurt with different levels of seriousness, according to the Prosecutor General’s Office.
On Friday, there was an attack in Kharkiv. This happened one day after a very destructive missile strike in Hroza, where another child and at least 51 other people were killed. There are still two kids and two grown-ups who cannot be found after the attack in Hroza.
It’s hard to believe that people are capable of doing such things. The First Lady of Ukraine, Olena Zelenska, said that Russians attacked a grocery store and a cafe in Hroza village in the Kharkiv region. “This attack is really mean and doesn’t make any sense, like the war started by RF (the Russian Federation),” she said.
On Friday, the Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmitro Kuleba stated that the attacks on Kharkiv and Hroza were terrible acts that demonstrate the need for ongoing and increased international support for Ukraine.
“Making it weaker would only lead to more acts of violence and violation of human rights like this,” he said.
Russia says it does not attack innocent people or places where regular people live. -
Russian missile strike affected every household in every Ukrainian community – Mayor Terekhov
Russia attacked the city of Kharkiv with missiles on Friday morning, according to Mayor Ihor Terekhov.
He said on Ukrainian TV that a 10-year-old boy died when a house was hit. Over 20 other people got hurt.
The mayor also said that it is probable that Russia used Iskander missiles in the recent attack.
People from Hroza village were at a burial ceremony for a Ukrainian soldier from their village when a missile hit on Thursday.
The news agency, Interfax-Ukraine, reported that the man’s wife, son, and daughter-in-law were all killed, according to the local prosecutor, Dmytro Chubenko.
The soldier was originally buried in Dnipro, but his family wanted to move his body and bury him in his hometown.
Officials said that the people who were at the service were sitting down to eat when the missile struck the café, which also acted as a grocery store, in the village.
Speaking on Ukrainian TV, Mr Klymenko said that before the Russian attack, Hroza had a population of 330 people.
He said that every family and household had at least one person at the wake.
The initial information we have says that an Iskander missile hit the building, the minister said.
The leader of the Kharkiv region, Oleh Syniehubov, said that the attack was one of the most violent crimes in the area.
“He said that twenty percent of the village has died in a terrorist attack. ”
The Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelensky, said that the act was so terrible that it couldn’t even be described as beastly, as that would be an insult to animals.
Starting from Friday, there will be three days of mourning in the Kharkiv region.
Maria Avdeeva, a security analyst and journalist from Ukraine, spoke to BBC Radio 4’s World Tonight. She suggested that someone might have informed the Russian military about the wake.
“She said that we can assume that someone told others about where and when these people are meeting. ”
In simpler words, the Russian propaganda channels are spreading false information about the funeral. They are saying that there were military gatherings, but that’s not true because it was mostly a ceremony for regular people.
UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said the attack showed how far Russian forces are willing to go into evil actions. He made these comments after meeting Mr Zelensky before at a summit for the European Political Community. The summit was created last year as a response to the invasion of Ukraine.
The White House spokesperson, Karine Jean-Pierre, said the strike was terrible and showed why it was crucial for Ukraine to keep getting help from other countries.
The situation happened when many people in the US House of Representatives are starting to disagree with giving more money to Ukraine.
The Kupyansk district has been in the middle of fighting between Russian and Ukrainian armies since Russian President Vladimir Putin started his big attack on Ukraine in February last year.
It was an important place where Russian forces got their supplies when the war started, but Kyiv took it back in September 2022 after fighting for many months. -
Russian missile did not hit any military targets in a Ukrainian hamlet – Officials
A Ukrainian police official said that a village was hit by a Russian missile strike on Thursday, but there were no military targets there. This was one of the worst attacks on civilians since the conflict started, and the president of Ukraine called it inhuman and deliberate.
The military from Moscow attacked a café and store in Hroza, a town near the city of Kupiansk in Ukraine. They used a very strong ballistic missile called Iskander, according to Ukrainian officials. This attack resulted in the deaths of 51 people, including a young boy who was only 6 years old.
Pictures showed emergency workers walking through a lot of destroyed debris after the attack. This level of destruction hasn’t been seen since a Russian attack on a train station in Kramatorsk in 2022, where over 60 people died.
In a small community of 330 people, the number of people who died is very high. It means that out of every six residents, one person passed away.
Everyone who lives here are locals, and they are also regular people. There is no military equipment or vehicles at all. “All the people who were killed or injured were innocent civilians,” Sergey Bolvinov, the main investigator from Kharkiv’s regional police, explained to CNN in Hroza.
Investigators and forensic teams worked all night going through the debris, trying to count and recognize the bodies. The explosion was so powerful that many of the bodies were badly damaged. This information was reported by a CNN team at the location.
A man from the area whose wife died in the attack was seen kneeling beside her, feeling very upset and unable to talk or move away from her. Afterwards, he assisted the people in charge of emergency services in placing her body onto a truck so it could be transported elsewhere.
Bolvinov announced that they have identified the bodies of 35 victims up until now.
He said he believes that in the future, we will have enough evidence to catch and punish the Russian military who are responsible. He also mentioned that they are looking into the attack as a breach of war laws and customs.
There were new Russian bomb attacks in Kharkiv on Friday. Sadly, one child died when a building collapsed. The mayor of the city, Ihor Terekhov, said that the strikes were only targeting civilian buildings.
Officials in Ukraine think that the attack included two Iskander missiles, which are the same type used in the Hroza strike.
In a message on Telegram, Terekhov said that a tall building with three floors was destroyed and two buildings with apartments were harmed, but that two individuals were saved by the emergency team.
Oleh Syniehubov, who is in charge of the Kharkiv region’s military administration, said that a total of 16 individuals were hurt, including a baby who is 11 months old. The boy who passed away was 10 years old, he stated.
Many people came together at a cafe in Hroza on Thursday to mourn the death of a Ukrainian soldier from the area. Suddenly, a missile hit the building and completely destroyed it, according to officials from Ukraine.
The soldier was originally buried in a city called Dnipro. However, his family wanted to move his remains to the village where he grew up. This information was shared by Dmytro Chubenko, who works for the Kharkiv Regional Prosecutor’s Office, in an interview with a Ukrainian news outlet called RBC. The explosion caused the death of some of the soldier’s family, including his son, according to Chubenko.
Ukrainian officials said Hroza was attacked by a missile called Iskander. This missile can travel a short distance and carry a warhead weighing between 500 and 700 kilograms.
Bolvinov said that Iskander is a very large missile. The building is completely ruined or wrecked. There was a lot of noise and confusion because many people were in the same room at that time.
After the attack, the Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelensky, repeated his request for more air defenses from friends. He said that without additional support, it is difficult to keep people safe, especially with the expected bombings in the upcoming winter.
There isn’t anything written that can prevent such bad things from happening. However, there is protection against attacks from the air. There are big guns. These are our weapons. We have strong vehicles. Zelensky said that we have strong soldiers who are defending against Russian attacks.
We want the Russian acts of terror to be unsuccessful. And the world has what is needed to make sure of this,” he said. The most important thing is working together as one. The most important thing is to have faith in freedom and keep life safe.
During meetings in Granada, Spain, Ukrainian President Zelensky discussed Ukraine’s air defense needs with Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz. Zelensky expressed his belief that significant progress has been made in obtaining the necessary support.
He said Ukraine will get six Hawk systems from Spain, and Germany will help provide Kyiv with another Patriot system because it is the only system that can handle such threats and attacks.
The White House said that the attack is another reason why Congress should give more aid to Ukraine.
White House spokesperson Karine Jean-Pierre shared a scary story about going to the grocery store with your kids and witnessing a horrifying explosion. She then asked Congress for more money to respond to such incidents.
She made these comments during a time of political chaos in Congress, the part of government that makes laws, and a shortage of ammunition among NATO countries. The lack of ammunition puts the supply of military aid to Kyiv at risk.
Hroza is a place that is about 40 kilometers away from where the war is happening near Kupiansk. Kupiansk is a city in Kharkiv that was taken over by the Russian forces at the beginning of the war, but the Ukrainians were able to free it a year ago.
The Ukrainian army has been trying to stop the progress made by Moscow. Kyiv is an important city for strategic reasons. It helps stop Russia from getting to the Oskil River, which is easier to cross than other areas further south. -
At least 51 people are killed in a Russian strike in north-east Ukraine
A military attack from Russia in the northeastern part of Ukraine resulted in the death of at least 51 individuals, according to officials.
The attack took place in a village called Hroza, which is close to Kupyansk in the Kharkiv region.A six-year-old boy was one of the people who died when the attack occurred at 1:15 pm local time.
Villagers from Hroza came together at a nearby cafe to mourn the death of someone from their community, according to reports.In a message on Telegram, the Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky accused Russia of “genocidal aggression. ”
Videos of rescuers looking for dead bodies and climbing over debris have been shared from the Kharkiv area.
According to Reuters, this video is from Hroza.
The people shown in this video are the same as the ones in other videos that support what happened after the attack.
Europe is blocking Russia like a wall, said Vladimir Putin in his yearly speech at the Valdai Discussion Club in Sochi earlier.
The leader of Russia said that the Western sanctions against Moscow because of Ukraine have harmed the European economy, while the economies of the US and Asia have become stronger in comparison.
Putin said that Russia is not isolating itself from Europe. -
Russia to attack any British personnel deployed to train Ukrainian forces
Ukraine produces a lot of food, especially grain. To make sure it can sell its crops overseas by ship, an agreement was made.
The agreement, called the Black Sea Grain Initiative, ended in July. It was organized by the United Nations and Turkey.
A short time after, Russia decided not to continue with the deal. This had a big impact on worldwide food prices and put at risk the lives of people who were already hungry, as well as those who were struggling to afford the high cost of living.
British officials think that the Russian president‘s request to cancel the agreement caused 300,000 tons of grain to be wasted. This much grain could have fed 1,300,000 individuals.
Since then, the Home Office said, Moscow has been focusing more on attacking Ukrainian ports and civilian buildings, such as 130 harbors in Odesa, Chornomorsk, and Reni.
The department said: ‘We are working with Ukraine and other partners to make shipping safer. We still strongly recommend that British ships in Ukrainian ports and waters should be extra cautious because of the danger from Russia.
The UK is using technology to keep an eye on what Russia is doing in the Black Sea. These abilities will allow us to identify and expose any additional Russian attacks on ordinary ships or buildings.
We promise to make sure Ukraine can keep sending its agricultural products out of the country using different ways, such as the “humanitarian corridor”, land routes, and the Danube River.
‘The UK will keep working with Ukraine and many other countries to accomplish this. ‘ -
UK fears Russia may attack civilian ships and then blame Ukraine
The British government is warning that Russia might start attacking civilian ships and then blame Ukraine for it.
Last month, people who are in charge of gathering information said that the Russian government’s attempt to attack a cargo ship with a missile in the Black Sea is just the start.
According to the Foreign Office, Russia may continue to use sea mines near ports to attack non-military ships carrying important items like grains.
Referring to disclosed intelligence information, the department stated that Russia probably wants to avoid openly attacking civilian ships in the Black Sea. Instead, they prefer to wrongly accuse Ukraine for any assaults on these vessels.
The UK wants to show Russia’s tactics in order to prevent similar incidents from happening in the future.
The Black Sea is surrounded by countries like Russia, Ukraine, Turkey, Bulgaria, Romania, and Georgia.
In August, Ukraine asked the United Nations’ International Maritime Organization (IMO) to create a safe path for ships stuck in ports to pass through as a gesture of humanity.
Ukraine’s navy said yesterday that it anticipates twelve cargo ships to come through, which is more than normal.
Vladimir Putin is paying attention to this small area of the sea because he wants to stop Ukraine from selling its grain, according to the Home Office.
The foreign secretary, James Cleverly, said that Russia’s harmful actions of attacking civilian ships in the Black Sea show that Putin does not care about innocent people’s lives or the needs of those who are most at risk in the world.
The whole world is paying attention, and we can easily see that Russia is trying to unfairly accuse Ukraine for their attacks. We and our friends are together against Putin and his efforts to hurt Ukraine, which will also hurt the rest of the world.
The Home Office said that Russia’s strategy in the Black Sea involves a lot of aggression.
And they have their own explanations. Around 22 million tons of grain is trapped inside the country due to a blockade during a war.Ukraine produces a lot of food, especially grain. To make sure it can sell its crops overseas by ship, an agreement was made.
The agreement, called the Black Sea Grain Initiative, ended in July. It was organized by the United Nations and Turkey.
A short time after, Russia decided not to continue with the deal. This had a big impact on worldwide food prices and put at risk the lives of people who were already hungry, as well as those who were struggling to afford the high cost of living.
British officials think that the Russian president’s request to cancel the agreement caused 300,000 tons of grain to be wasted. This much grain could have fed 1,300,000 individuals.
Since then, the Home Office said, Moscow has been focusing more on attacking Ukrainian ports and civilian buildings, such as 130 harbors in Odesa, Chornomorsk, and Reni.
The department said: ‘We are working with Ukraine and other partners to make shipping safer. We still strongly recommend that British ships in Ukrainian ports and waters should be extra cautious because of the danger from Russia.
The UK is using technology to keep an eye on what Russia is doing in the Black Sea. These abilities will allow us to identify and expose any additional Russian attacks on ordinary ships or buildings.
We promise to make sure Ukraine can keep sending its agricultural products out of the country using different ways, such as the “humanitarian corridor”, land routes, and the Danube River.
‘The UK will keep working with Ukraine and many other countries to accomplish this. ‘ -
Crisis in Russia leaves police exhausted, dissatisfied, and demoralized
In the early morning hours of January 14, 2020, horrifying screams echoed through an apartment complex in the southern Russian region of Krasnodar.
A concerned resident, alarmed and fearful, dialed the police, suspecting a possible assault on a woman.
Regrettably, no law enforcement response ensued.
The harrowing screams persisted, accompanied by loud disturbances and desperate pleas for assistance. Seven distress calls were placed to emergency services, yet police officers failed to arrive.
Fearing the worst, neighbors decided to take matters into their own hands, forcibly entering the apartment by breaking down the door.
However, their intervention proved futile.
The agonizing screams had fallen silent, and tragically, the woman had lost her life.
Police fail to answer calls
Vera Pekhteleva had been stabbed multiple times, beaten and strangled with an iron cord by her ex-boyfriend in an attack that lasted three-and-a-half hours.
Image caption,Vera Pekhteleva was tortured before being murdered by her ex-boyfriend – and police failed to show up At the time, police said there were no officers or patrol cars in the area to attend. But later, five officers were found guilty of causing death by negligence and were sentenced to 18 months in jail, suspended for two years.
The court said the sentences, which were seen by many as lenient, were appropriate because officer shortages were a problem for “the whole force”.
Russia has one of the largest police forces in the world, employing over 900,000 officers to serve a population of 146 million, according to the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs. It has nearly 630 officers per 100,000 people – more than double the US or the UK.
But in August, Interior Ministry Chief Vladimir Kolokoltsev said the country had a “critical” shortage of police officers, which could affect crime rates.
How can that be the case, given the sheer number of officers?
Poor wages, stress and corruption
Russia’s sprawling geography and a lack of back-office support staff are partly to blame. But recent problems stem from a massive drop in police numbers – and many of those leaving are experienced officers.
Many former Russian police officers have told the BBC they are leaving the force and opting for less stressful jobs which are better paid.
“They haven’t adjusted the salary at all,” a former officer from Rostov, in southwest Russia, said. “After inflation and the new prices, it’s not enough.” He quit to become a taxi driver.
His friend, who was also a police officer, is now a courier.
Both of them earn twice as much as they did as police officers.
“I reached the rank of major (the equivalent to a sergeant in the UK). But still a person working at a supermarket earned more than me – hardly dangerous work. Only an idiot would join the police now,” the former officer from Rostov said.
The BBC has found that overstretched police forces are now refusing to open cases, even after a statement has been provided.
“Everyone gets 10 days to examine statements, whether there are five or 50, so obviously, the quality of work deteriorates,” argues one detective from the Siberian region of Russia.
“If there’s a string of 10 or so things they must do – call on neighbours, cross-examine witnesses, visit the crime-scene – they’ll just do one or two, and write down that it ‘wasn’t possible’ to complete the others.
“Then they refuse to open charges – so there will be no investigation,” he says.
Image caption,Many former Russian police officers told the BBC they are quitting for less stressful jobs that are better paid As the number of officers drops, the pressures on those who remain increase.
Former officers have told the BBC this is leading to corruption.
“Officers are beating confessions out of people, inflating arrest quotas, we’re seeing this all the time,” says a police major from the Russian city of Tomsk.
“It’s only going to get worse. There will be falsification of evidence, targeted beatings, there just isn’t going to be time to investigate anything properly.
“You’ve got a lead and you need to chase it? Much simpler to drag the first suspect back to the station and beat him up, so he takes the blame.”
Some officers are getting locked up for their actions – further thinning the force.
This happened to Sergei, a former police officer of six years, jailed for beating a drug dealer. Sergei says he felt pressure to arrest the dealer and only hit him when he was about to eat his drugs to conceal the evidence.
He also tells the BBC that police resources were so thin he had to pay for work essentials himself. “I was using my own car, I bought my own paper, cartridges and printer; my own computer, my desk, my chair, my petrol… I laid my own floor tiles [in the office], repaired everything.”
A former officer from central Russia says that vacant positions have gone unfilled for a long time. “There’s been a shortage for ages. I started in 2015, and only two people have joined our team in the last eight years, while 15 have left.”
And according to several BBC sources, including two sergeants and one major, the Interior Ministry carried out a purge of officers who were linked to the opposition politician, Alexei Navalny, who has been held in a remote penal colony since 2021.
Long-serving, experienced officers were fired in this purge. One source said the Moscow Federal Security Service compiled a list of Navalny supporters based on a hacked database of email addresses.
The impact of the war in Ukraine
The number of police officers in Russia was declining before the start of the war in Ukraine.
Initially, the war convinced some officers to stay in the force. Russian police officers are exempt from being called up for military duty, so some officers who were on the verge of resigning when Russia invaded Ukraine told us they kept their jobs to avoid fighting.
“Either you sat tight, or you left and got drafted,” explains one officer from Moscow. “I know there were managers who made a list of everyone who’d threatened to quit and passed it straight to the [army] recruiters. Everyone was pretty scared.”
But as the war rumbles on, police numbers are dwindling. The force cannot fill existing gaps – let alone recruit the 40,000 extra personnel that the Interior Ministry says is needed in Donetsk and Luhansk, areas of Ukraine that Russia partly occupies.
Putin claimed a win after holding so-called referendums in the Russian-held regions of Ukraine in September 2022. But the polls were denounced as a sham by Ukraine’s government and its allies.
Image caption,Russian police officers are not allowed to have an opinion about the war Russia predicts it will need another 42,000 officers by 2026 if it occupies further territories.
For serving police officers, having an opinion about the war is simply not allowed. They are not even allowed to call it a war.
“Officers must keep their mouths shut,” one detective says. “We can’t have personal views about the ‘special military operation’ – or they’ll fire us.”
The BBC has also been told officers are burning out because of extra paperwork brought on by the war.
Interior Ministry officials from the three Russian cities of Tomsk, Yekaterinburg and Yaroslavl claim they now spend most of their time investigating and revising “endless charges against people discrediting the army”.
“People are always looking for an excuse to denounce someone,” a former major from Tomsk says.
“There’s nobody around… Everyone’s gone to check on some grandma who saw a curtain that looked like the Ukrainian flag.
“I see where we’re heading,” he says. “There’s already an emphasis on crimes against the state. Going forward, more cases will fall into this category,” he predicts.
“As for real problems affecting ordinary people? Kidnap, robbery, rape, murder… there won’t be time to investigate.”
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Russian hyper-sonic Russian fighter jet ‘downed by own air defense’
One of Vladimir Putin‘s £82m Su-35 supersonic fighter jets said to have been shot down by Russia’s S-300 air defense system on Thursday evening.
Footage shows a plane being hit by a missile before exploding over Tokmak in the Zaporizhzhia region.
An orange fireball and a trail of smoke could be seen in the sky behind the jet as it crashed towards the ground.
Pro-war channels admitted that the incident involved a single-pilot cockpit aircraft.
Russian aviation blogger Z Fighterbomber posted a photo of the Su-35 with the message:
“Eternal flight, brother.This message was actually seen as an admission of the loss of aircraft at the hands of his army. The Russian fighter plane was shot down in friendly fire
There is currently no official confirmation from Russian authorities, but Ukraine’s Crimean Wind channel posted:
“Russian air defense against Russian Su-35 1:
0.“Russian soldiers used S-300 missiles to shoot down their plane near Tokmak.
“Work, my brothers! Do not stop!’
The blue strike, if confirmed, would be Putin’s latest setback after his forces suffered repeated attacks from Ukraine.
Among these attacks was a missile attack on the headquarters of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet last week.
At least 34 people were killed and more than 100 injured, among the dead were high-ranking Russian commanders.
Russia has lost about 90 aircraft since the start of the war against Ukraine, according to an assessment by the British Ministry of Defense before the latest incident.
The “viability” of the long-term tactical air power of the Russian Aerospace Forces (VKS) is likely to decline as the war continues, the Russian Defense Ministry said.
One report said:
“The Russian Aerospace Forces (VKS) have lost about 90 aircraft in combat since February 2022. “He also flew some of his warplanes with much more intensity than in peacetime.” -
Putin tests nuclear weapons as Russia prepares for nuclear war against US, UK, others
Russia will hold its first nationwide nuclear attack exercise across 11 time zones to prevent possible nuclear war.
It is scheduled for October 3 and will see Vladimir Putin‘s regime brand the West as a nuclear aggressor.
This one-day nuclear attack exercise, which will be conducted only on a region-by-area basis, will include preparations for the destruction of up to 70 percent of the country’s construction and life support facilities. Russia.
This would assume a scenario whereby martial law is imposed in Russia and full force must be mobilized.
The test script has the following content:
“In some constituent [regions] of the Russian Federation, due to emergencies or other types of physical impacts, it is possible to completely destroy life support facilities and up to 70% of the housing stock live.” It contemplates “accidents occurring in structures and hydraulic systems with chemical and radiological hazards” leading to “secondary hazards”.Civil servants and regional officials will be ordered to organize “non-personnel emergency rescue teams”, providing food and medical supplies as well as radiation protection.
The document further warns:
“The risk of armed conflicts escalating into local and regional wars, including those involving nuclear energy, is increasing.Pro-Kremlin lawmaker threatens nuclear attack on US on Russian television
“The threat to the security of the population is the risk of the enemy using modern means of long-range defeat, as well as possible attacks by drones and boats.”
The Putin administration has “decided to develop measures to increase the readiness of the civil defense forces and the means to carry out measures to protect people, material and cultural property in its territory.” territory of the Russian Federation, including the evacuation of the entire population. dangerous areas.
Putin is known to have several bunkers in his palace in case of a nuclear attack as well as a fleet of Il-80 Maxdome “Doomsday” aircraft.
The exercises take place four days before Putin turns 71, while the dictator spends 40% of the state budget on the army, police and intelligence agencies, amid the war against Ukraine.
Details of the drills emerged as Mikhail Kovalchuk, Putin’s friend and director of the Kurchatov Institute, demanded the resumption of nuclear weapons testing in the Arctic for the first time since the collapse of the Soviet Union.
He called on Western leaders to deliver a shock similar to when the Soviet Union tested the Tsar bomb in 1961, the most powerful bomb ever designed with a yield of more than 50 megatons.
“I think it’s a good idea,” said the 77-year-old, who is part of a group of older, longtime friends around Putin.
“Now the situation is exactly the same. Just conducting tests on Novaya Zemlya [Russia’s Arctic archipelago] is enough,” Mr. Kovalchuk said.
‘At least once. And everything will fall into place.
Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu visited Novaya Zemlya last month, a sign that testing could soon resume. The rhetoric was delivered by loyalist parliamentarian and army chief Lieutenant General Andrei Gurulev, who demanded that Putin be prepared to use nuclear weapons.
“Our strategic capability is our [nuclear triad],” he said.
“This is what was designed for the United States of America. It’s especially for them.
“And they know very well that after this there will no longer be a United States of America. We are 100% inflicting an unacceptable defeat on the United States. They know it.
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Russian general’ returns from dead after Black Sea Fleet attack
The admiral from Russia, who people thought was dead after Ukraine said he was hit by a missile, has shown up again for the second time.
On Monday, it was announced that the leader of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet, Viktor Sokolov, was one of 34 officers who died in a missile attack in Sevastopol, Crimea.
The videos and pictures taken by witnesses, along with satellite images, clearly show that the main building of the fleet has been damaged.
However, Russian state media aired a video the following day claiming to show Sokolov alive. This led Ukraine to state that they were trying to confirm whether he was actually deceased.
Sokolov looked happy and healthy as he spoke to reporters today. He was at a ceremony for the Black Sea Fleet’s football team.
A local news channel called First Sevastopol showed a video of Sokolov answering a reporter’s question about the attack during a press conference.
“He asks what happened to us. ” ‘Nothing bad occurred to us. Life continues
However, he doesn’t mention anything about how 33 of his friends on the ship died in the explosion.
In another video shown on Zvezda, a TV network controlled by the Russian Ministry of Defence, the admiral proudly states that his fleet is accomplishing the missions assigned to them.
He mentioned that the 810th Marine Brigade, which is a group of soldiers in the Black Sea Fleet, received a special honor called the Order of Admiral Fyodor Ushakov.
The highest military award is named after a commander from the 18th-century who was a great naval leader and never lost a battle. He was also chosen as the patron saint of the Russian navy.
Sokolov said that everyone knows our marine Infantry’s accomplishments are always shown on television.
But there is no proof of when the footage was recorded. According to the media, Sokolov supposedly spoke at a ceremony celebrating Chernomorets Sevastopol’s victory in the Russian Armed Forces Championship.
But, the Crimean Football Union said that the team won the tournament on September 18.
Sevastopol said that Sokolov supposedly claimed the ceremony was canceled because he was too busy and that it would be rescheduled for a later date.
FC Chernomorets Sevastopol posted some pictures of Sokolov at the event on the club’s Telegram account today. He can be seen lifting a trophy up to celebrate the club’s win.
The event took place at the Yekaterininsky Hall of the Officers’ House of the Black Sea Fleet.
Today, the football team received a special award from the Black Sea Fleet Commander, Admiral Viktor Sokolov.
The players thanked the leader of the Black Sea Fleet for being involved in the football club and gave him a special ball with signatures from the champions.
Mikhail Razvozhayev, the governor of Sevastopol in Russia, announced on August 29th that the 810th Brigade had received a military award. He shared this information in a post on the messaging app Telegram.
Ukraine’s special forces said on Monday that they have killed Sokolov in the attack last week.
Yesterday, Russia’s Ministry of Defence shared a picture of Sokolov participating in a meeting with high-ranking defence officials from a distance.
The video shown on state media has been changed a lot to make it look like the commander is in it many times.
Just a few minutes ago, a Russian news agency called TASS quoted a Kremlin spokesperson named Dmitry Peskov. He told reporters that he doesn’t know anything about the supposed death of Sokolov, the commander of the Black Sea Fleet. -
Russia to return to UN Human Rights Council
Russia wants to become a member of the United Nations’ Human Rights Council again. They were suspended from the council because they invaded Ukraine.
The country is being considered by the United Nations for a position on the council for the years 2024-2026. A vote to decide will happen on October 10.
If anyone tries to let Russia join again, the West will be very angry. Many NATO countries have said over and over again that Russia’s invasion of another country was unlawful, and because of that, Russia should not be allowed to be a member of international organizations.
Russia has been accused of a lot of human rights violations during its war in Ukraine. The International Criminal Court has issued a warrant for President Vladimir Putin‘s arrest because he is accused of trying to take Ukrainian children to Russia.
Russia believes that the Human Rights Council is an important part of the United Nations.
Russia wrote a position paper that it is sharing with members of the United Nations to try to get their support. The paper says that Russia thinks it’s necessary to stop the growing trend of using the Human Rights Council for political purposes. They believe this council should not punish governments that are not loyal and have their own policies.
In April 2022, Russia was kicked out of the organization, after they fully attacked Ukraine. Membership of the council is decided by making sure each region has a fair representation. Right now, there are two empty seats in the Eastern European States group. Russia, Albania, and Bulgaria have officially said they want to be considered for that area.
Russia’s statement said that if they are elected again, they will work hard to promote cooperation and respectful conversations.
Western countries are likely to strongly disagree with or oppose the application before October’s vote.
A group of people who focus on human rights said that Russian forces are doing bad things in Ukraine. They are accusing them of doing things like hurting people, using explosives in ways that are against the law, and attacking important things like energy systems. These actions are considered crimes in times of war.
During the April 2022 UN General Assembly, many countries voted on whether to suspend Russia from the council. 93 countries were in favor of removing Russia, 24 countries were against it, and 58 countries chose not to vote.
China, Cuba, North Korea, Iran, Syria, and Vietnam, along with Russia, were against the decision. Brazil, South Africa, Mexico, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia chose not to take a side.
Russia became a member of the council in January 2021. It was chosen along with 14 other countries to stay on the council for three years.
It was the first country to be kicked out of the council since Libya in 2011. This happened because its leader at the time, Muammar Gaddafi, suppressed people who were protesting against the government.
Russia is one of the five permanent members of the UN’s Security Council. There are no clear rules to take Russia off this position.
Moscow was last in charge of that council in April. The presidency of the council changes every month and there are 15 members.