TIG Post

Tag: Russia

  • TV chef cries after dam burst in Ukraine

    TV chef cries after dam burst in Ukraine

    As worries mount that hundreds of communities could be submerged by floodwater, Ukraine has accused Russia of detonating a dam on the Dnipro River in Nova Kakhovk.

    At least 24 distinct communities in Kherson, the Ukrainian province occupied by Moscow, are currently undergoing evacuations.

    This morning, a dam wall fell, putting drinking water supplies and Europe’s biggest nuclear power plant in peril.

    The bomb has affected several locals, including Ukrainian TV chef Olia Hercules.

    She took to Instagram and Twitter and posted a video about what happened.

    She said: ‘They [Russia] blew up the dam in Nova Kakhovk.

    ‘Not a lot of people know how much suffering and ecological upheaval they have caused when they built it in the 1950s.

    ‘Today with no warning to people to anyone, they just blew it up creating another ecological disaster, another human disaster.

    ‘My heart is broken. How can they hate life so much?

    ‘And today apart from urging everyone to continue supporting us, I appeal to all the eco-warriors of the world because I feel like there hasn’t been enough support from you.

    ‘They [Russia] are ecological terrorists, they are terrorists in every sense of the word.

    ‘Right now cattle are being drowned, people are of course losing their homes.

    ‘There has been irreversible damage. I cannot even explain what has been happening. It is just horrible.’

    Locals have been told by Russian authorities to collect personal belongings and documents, take food for 3 days and drinking water.

    They’ve also been told to ‘turn off gas and water before leaving your residential buildings’.

    A state of emergency has been declared in the Nova Kakhovka district with reports of Russian soldiers patrolling the streets.

    Already a zoo called Kazkova Dibrova, located right on the bank of the Dnipro, was completely flooded and all 300 animals were dead.

    The water level in the district is reported to have risen by more than 11 metres since the dam explosion.

    Ukraine’s interior ministry has also claimed the southern region of Kherson – where people are being evacuated – is being shelled.

    Intelligence chief Olexsiy Danilov accused Russia’s 205th Motorized Rifle Brigade, who were stationed nearby, of carrying out the attack.

    Russia’s Investigative Committee, which probes serious crimes, says it has launched a criminal investigation following the dam breach after both sides blamed one another for the explosion.

    The breach has been called an ‘ecological disaster’ with the Dnipro River now contaminated with industrial substances.

    Ukraine’s military has accused Russia’s forces of blowing up the dam and President Zelensky said: ‘This is just one day of Russian aggression. This is just one Russian act of terrorism.

    ‘This is just one Russian war crime. Now Russia is guilty of brutal ecocide.

    ‘Any comments are superfluous. The world must react. Russia is at war against life, against nature, against civilisation.

    ‘Russia must leave the Ukrainian land and must be held fully accountable for its terror.’

    The president of the European Council, Charles Michel, said on Twitter the dam’s rupture ‘clearly qualifies as a war crime’ because it is the destruction of civilian infrastructure.

    He promised to hold Russia and its proxies accountable.

    Foreign Secretary James Cleverly described the act as a ‘catastrophe’ and ‘abhorrent’ act.

    He said: ‘The destruction of Kakhovka dam is an abhorrent act.

    ‘Intentionally attacking exclusively civilian infrastructure is a war crime.

    ‘The UK stands ready to support Ukraine and those affected by this catastrophe.’

    The foreign secretary visited Kyiv this week, where he met his counterpart Dmytro Kuleba and Zelensky.

    Ukrainian forces were widely seen to be moving forward with a long-anticipated counteroffensive in patches along more than 1,000-kilometers of frontline in the east and south of Ukraine.

    But this damage could hinder Ukraine’s counteroffensive in the south and distract its government, while at the same time Russia depends on the dam to supply water to Crimea.

    The Nova Kakhovka dam is not the first to have been targeted since the start of the conflict.

    A missile attack destroyed the dam at Karachunivske reservoir near the city of Kryvyi Rih in southern Ukraine last September.

    This caused widespread flooding and people were told to evacuate.

    A month later, there were missile attacks on hydroelectric dams at Zaprorizhzhia, Kremenchuk, and on the Dniester river, in the west of the country.

  • Ukrainian offensive takes place in multiple directions – Officials

    Ukrainian offensive takes place in multiple directions – Officials

    Hanna Maliar, Ukraine’s deputy defence minister, said on Ukrainian television on Monday that an operation is “taking place in several directions,” fueling rumours that Kyiv is preparing a big offensive to retake territory controlled by Russia’s occupying forces.

    It’s not only about Bakhmut, either. There are various fronts from which the onslaught is coming. We appreciate every metre. Our forces have had a successful day today, she declared.

    Recent weeks have seen Ukraine’s military stepping up shaping operations – attacks on Russian targets like fuel depots and weapons dumps far behind frontlines – which typically precede a major advance by ground forces. But government officials in Kyiv have been at pains to say the start of any counteroffensive would not be announced.

    Both Ukraine and Russia have engaged in intense information campaigns to sway public opinion and mislead their opponents about their battle plans.

    Maliar’s comments came after the Russian Defense Ministry claimed its troops resisted a “large-scale” attack from Ukrainian forces in the eastern Donetsk region. The Russian military claimed in a statement to have killed 250 Ukrainians and destroyed armored vehicles used in the assault, but provided scant evidence.

    Moscow is known to make inflated claims about Ukrainian losses. CNN has been unable to independently verify the claim.

    A spokesperson for the Ukraine Armed Forces, Bohdan Senyk, told CNN that Ukraine does “not have information” on a purported “large-scale offensive” in Donetsk.

    In a post on its official Telegram feed, the Russian Defense ministry said the assault took place at “five section of the front in the southern Donetsk direction.”

    The ministry claimed the goal of the Ukrainian operation was “to break through” Russian defenses in what it considered to be “the most vulnerable area of the front.”

    At the time of the attack, Russia’s top general Valery Gerasimov “was at one of the forward command and control posts,” the statement added.

    Gerasimov, who is chief of Russia’s General Staff, was put in overall command of Russian military operations in Ukraine early this year. He has come under public criticism from the head of the Russian private military company Wagner for supposedly running the war from a comfortable office.

    Further south, a Russian-appointed official in Zaporizhzhia said Ukrainian troops were attempting to break through a defense line to reach the coast of the Sea of Azov.

    “The goal of the [Ukraine Armed Forces] militants is to reach the Azov Sea coast and cut the land corridor,” Vladimir Rogov said, according to Russian state media outlet RIA Novosti.

    He claimed that Ukrainian troops have increased the intensity of their shelling, and fired Storm Shadow missiles. “They are launched in large quantities, which means Ukrainian militants and terrorists have ammunition in sufficient quantity.”

    Rogov said he did not think a full-scale counteroffensive had begun.

    In a Monday Telegram post, Maliar said the country’s troops were “carrying out offensive actions” on the eastern front and had “advanced in several directions” around the city of Bakhmut: near the settlements of Orikhovo-Vasylivka and Paraskoviivka to the north, and near Ivanivske and Klishchiivka to the southwest.

    Serhii Cherevatyi, spokesman for the Eastern Grouping of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, also spoke of “an offensive assault” by the Ukrainians “on the southern and northern flanks of Bakhmut” on national TV on Monday.

    “These actions were successful,” Cherevatyi said. “Despite the enemy’s fierce resistance, our airborne assault and mechanised units managed to advance along the Siverskyi Donets-Donbas Canal in the direction of Klishchiivka, Orikhovo-Vasylivka, Zaliznianske, and Bohdanivka to a distance of 300 meters to 1 km in various parts of the frontline.”

    CNN cannot verify the battlefield reports.

    It comes after Maliar and other officials posted a social media video urging silence over any potential news of a counteroffensive.

    The video shows several soldiers in full combat gear putting a finger to their lips and saying “shhh” followed by the text: “Plans love silence. The beginning [of the counteroffensive] will not be announced.”

    Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky praised troops fighting around the embattled city of Bakhmut during his nightly address, saying: “I am grateful to every warrior, to all our defenders, who provided us today with the news we have all been waiting for in the Bakhmut direction. Well done, warriors!”

    Days before, Zelensky told the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) that Kyiv was “ready” to launch the long-awaited military maneuvers.

    “I think that, as of today, we are ready to do it. We would like to have certain things, but we can’t wait for it for months,” Zelensky said in an exclusive video interview published Saturday.

    The president said he believed the counteroffensive will be successful but was not sure how long it will take.

    “Everyone knows perfectly well that any counteroffensive in the world without control in the skies is very dangerous. Imagine what a military man feels, knowing he does not have a ‘roof’ and he can’t understand how neighboring countries have that,” Zelensky said about his dogged campaign for allies to supply Ukraine with F-16 fighter jets.

    According to the WSJ, Zelensky acknowledged Russia’s superiority in the skies, adding that a lack of protection against Moscow’s air power means “a large number of soldiers will die” during the counteroffensive.

    “If everybody knows we need the protection for our skies, then what’s the issue with [giving us] the modern jets? What is the issue?” he implored.

    The Ukrainian leader has spent months courting Western allies to provide Kyiv with fighter jets and weapons to help control the skies and help limit the number of casualties to Ukrainian fighters during any potential counteroffensive.

    Earlier this week, Jake Sullivan – US President Joe Biden’s national security adviser – said Washington believed the counteroffensive would help Kyiv retake “strategically significant territory.”

    “Exactly how much, in what places – that will be up to developments on the ground as the Ukrainians get this counteroffensive underway,” Sullivan told CNN’s Fareed Zakaria. “But we believe that the Ukrainians will meet with success in this counteroffensive.”

  • Major Ukrainian dam allegedly blown up by Russia

    Major Ukrainian dam allegedly blown up by Russia

    The Ukrainian military has leveled allegations against Russian forces for deliberately causing the destruction of a significant dam in the southern region of Kherson, which is currently under Russian control.

    According to a local military official, this act has resulted in the flooding of numerous settlements, affecting at least eight different areas.

    As a consequence, evacuation efforts have commenced, aiming to safeguard the lives of approximately 16,000 individuals who are now at risk due to the rising floodwaters.

    In contrast, a local official appointed by the Russian administration has disputed these claims, asserting that only the upper portion of the power plant was damaged by shelling, denying any destruction of the dam itself.

    Kherson’s regional head Oleksandr Prokudin has accused Russia of committing “yet another act of terror”.

    In a video message posted on social media, he warns that water levels in the Dnipro river will be “critical” within five hours.

    Prokudin says evacuation of those residents living in the threatened areas on the Ukraine-controlled right (western) bank of the Dnipro river has already started.

    And he also appeals to the residents on the opposite bank – currently under Russian control – to immediately leave their homes.

  • 500 Ukrainian children killed by Russian soldiers -Report

    500 Ukrainian children killed by Russian soldiers -Report

    500 children have been slain during Russia‘s war with Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky has revealed.

    The Ukrainian president disclosed the figure hours after rescue workers uncovered the body of a two-year-old girl who perished in a Russian strike on Saturday.

    Two young children were murdered during the bombardment of Kyiv on Thursday, amid a rise in attacks on Ukraine’s capital city with 17 missile strikes throughout the month of May.

    Mr Zelensky said that ‘Russian weapons and hatred, which continue to take and destroy the lives of Ukrainian children every day’, had killed the hundreds who had perished since Russia’s invasion began last February.

    He continued: ‘Many of them could have become famous scholars, artists, sports champions, contributing to Ukraine’s history.’

    ‘We must hold out and win this war!

    ‘All of Ukraine, all our people, all our children, must be free from the Russian terror.’

    Mr Zelensky said it was impossible to establish the exact number of children killed because there are still some areas under Russian occupation.

    DNIPRO, UKRAINE - JANUARY 17: As the search and rescue at a destroyed apartment building officially ends, people continue to gather at the site to remember some of the 40 victims, including children, on January 17, 2023 in Dnipro, Ukraine. A Russian missile hit the apartment building on Saturday, part of fresh wave of missiles launched by Russia. The Ukrainian president said his forces shot down 20 of 30 missiles fired by Russia on Saturday. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
    Flowers and toys left at the scene of a destroyed apartment building where several people, including children, died (Picture: Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

    Rescuers found the two-year-old’s body in the rubble of two residential buildings in the suburbs of the city of Dnipro.

    The regional governor said five children were among 22 people injured in Saturday’s attack.

    Russia launched more drones and cruise missile strikes on Sunday, targeting Kyiv as well as other parts of Ukraine.

    Ukrainian air force spokesman Yurii Ihnat said two missiles struck a military air base in Kropyvnytskyi, a city in central Ukraine’s Kyrovohrad province.

    The Russian military said it has conducted a series of strikes in recent days on Ukrainian air defence batteries, air bases and troop depots.

    Concerns about the safety of civilians have increased after officials found nearly a quarter of 4,800 air raid shelters were locked or unusable.

    A 33-year-old woman in Kyiv died on Thursday while waiting outside a shuttered shelter.

    Four people were arrested as part of the criminal investigation into her death and a security guard who allegedly failed to unlock the doors remained in custody.

    Kyiv’s mayor, Vitali Klitschko, said the city had received more than 1,000 complaints about locked, dilapidated or insufficient air raid shelters.

  • Ukraine aims to destabilize Russia across borders

    Ukraine aims to destabilize Russia across borders

    In its fight to expel the invader from Russia, Ukraine has established a new front in that country. Yet it is strangely reticent to acknowledge that it has sent troops, shot artillery, and flown drones into its neighbor’s land.

    Officially, there is no information available about the activities of Russian nationals who attack from Ukraine while wearing Ukrainian military ID or uniforms. It is Kyiv’s contribution to “hybrid warfare” in the “grey zone” of current conflict.

    At the time of Russia’s initial invasion of Ukraine in 2014, the two words sparked books and a wave of enraged commentary from a host of analysts.

    In its fight to expel the invader from Russia, Ukraine has established a new front in that country. Yet it is strangely reticent to acknowledge that it has sent troops, shot artillery, and flown drones into its neighbor’s land.

    Officially, there is no information available about the activities of Russian nationals who attack from Ukraine while wearing Ukrainian military ID or uniforms. It is Kyiv’s contribution to “hybrid warfare” in the “grey zone” of current conflict.

    At the time of Russia’s initial invasion of Ukraine in 2014, the two words sparked books and a wave of enraged commentary from a host of analysts.

  • Russian opposition figure’s wife fears for his life

    Russian opposition figure’s wife fears for his life

    Evgenia Kara-Murza can’t recall how many interviews she’s given since her husband was sentenced to 25 years in prison in Russia in April after being found guilty of treason.

    The wife of well-known campaigner Vladimir Kara-Murza launched the 15th Summit for Human Rights and Democracy in Geneva before sitting down with Metro.co.uk.

    She was standing on the very same platform where the Russian-British author had received recognition for his bravery in taking up the fight against the Kremlin years earlier.

    Vladimir is part of the country’s beleaguered opposition, many of whom now sit in jail.

    Since his detention last year, the mum-of-three has been speaking out on his and other political prisoners’ behalf.

    Evgenia told us that ‘publicity is her only weapon’ against Vladimir Putin’s regime, and how she is being pushed forward by ‘fury and indignation’.

    ‘I need to make sure the world knows, does not turn away and understands what is happening in Russia to all those who stand up and voice their opposition to the regime,’ she said.

    ‘It is not just my husband. We are talking about tens of thousands of people. More than 20,000 people have been detained across the country since the launch of the invasion of Ukraine.

    ‘More than 500 criminal cases have been initiated against anti-war protesters and more than 20,000 administrative cases. I will continue speaking out on their behalf for as long as it takes.

    ‘It is harder to kill someone when the entire world is watching. I will make sure the names and stories are known to make it harder for Russia’s regime to further put pressure on these people or try the unthinkable. This is honestly my only weapon.’

    Any political opposition in the country has been conflated with high treason, and Vladimir, who was once deputy leader of the opposition group People’s Freedom Party, has paid a high price for campaigning against the president since 2000.

    He was arrested on charges of disobeying police orders in April 2022, facing up to 15 days behind bars or a fine, but was later charged for denouncing Russia’s war in Ukraine and treason.

    A protégé of murdered Putin rival Boris Nemtsov, Vladimir was the vice-chairman of the Open Russia movement, a political organisation founded by businessman Mikhail Khodorkovsky, which promotes civil society and democracy in the country.

    It is these activities that led to the two near-fatal poisoning attempts in May 2015 and February 2017, his allies claim.

    An investigation by Bellingcat from 2021 revealed that an FSB unit also implicated in the poisoning of Alexey Navalny and three Russian activists had systematically tailed him before both his first and second medical emergencies.

    His family watched him slip into prolonged comas after the incidents that left him with a serious nerve disorder called polyneuropathy, which can be fatal.

    Evgenia still fears for her husband’s life while he is in prison where his mental and physical health are declining.

    ‘Of course, I am worried about his life, I have been for years,’ she said.

    Like other political activists, Vladimir is being kept ‘disconnected’ from the outside world, she stressed.

    Regarding the risk to their three children and herself, she believes Moscow ‘would not dare’ to target them abroad.

    The professional translator and interpreter said: ‘Our kids are safe. They have been living in the US for many years because we realised that for Vladimir to continue his work as he saw fit the kids needed to be in a safe place.’

    Examining what is left of the limited rights and freedoms to which Russians clung to, it is no surprise how the regime retaliated to Vladimir’s political activities.

    By 2022, authorities were after the slightest signs of dissent.

    Wartime censorship, the criminalisation of ‘false information’ about the Kremlin’s ‘special operation’, and an intensified campaign of harassment and criminal cases against independent journalists led to the effective demolition of the independent media sector, a recent report from the non-profit Freedom House said.

    Research by OVD-Info, a Russian human rights monitoring agency, shows almost
    20,000 protesters have been detained since the beginning of the war.

    On behalf of her husband, Evgenia is using money he received from human rights awards last year to support families of political prisoners in the country.

    She is working with the Free Russia Foundation to provide direct financial support to families of PoWs.

    ‘The foundation uses a network of lawyers inside Russia to locate Ukrainian PoWs. We try to work with those who are inside,’ she explained.

    Asked what advice she can give to rights activists inside Russia, Evgenia said: ‘I am in no position to give advice to those who are one-on-one with the regime.

    ‘I do not believe I have that moral right. I will do everything to ensure the blight is known and to help them as much as I can.’

  • Ukraine caused explosions in occupied port city – Russia

    Ukraine caused explosions in occupied port city – Russia

    An explosion in an occupied port city that serves as a crucial strategic hub for Moscow has apparently exposed Russia to a new attack.

    Around noon, a massive column of smoke could be seen rising above the Berdyansk docks in the Zaporizhzhia area of southeast Ukraine.

    In late February, Russia annexed Berdyansk, saying that Ukrainian soldiers had shelled the city on the Sea of Azov.

    ‘The port came under fire and there seem to be no people killed or wounded,’ Vladimir Rogov said on Telegram, according to the Russian news agency TASS.

    ‘The air defences were at work, shooting down some of the incoming shells.’

    The Berdiansk City Military Administration said in on Telegram that Ukraine was behind the attack, the Ukrainian online newspaper Ukrainska Pravda reported.

    Explosion in Berdyansk (Picture: Twitter)
    Berdyansk is a port city and key strategic hub for Russia (Picture: Twitter)
    Explosion in Berdyansk (Picture: Twitter)
    Local officials say there are no reported casualties (Picture: Twitter)

    ‘We thank the [Ukrainian Armed Forces] for bringing the liberation of the city closer,’ it said.

    Ivan Fedorov, the Mayor of Melitopol, added on Telegram that the ‘loud’ blast was felt in the ‘whole suburb’.

    Berdyansk is only 100km from the front line and has given the Kremlin an easy way to bring in supplies and troops to Mariupol and eastern Ukraine.

    Zaporizhzhia is one of five regions Russia has claimed to have annexed that includes the Crimea peninsula.

    Moscow also suffered another setback today when two women were reportedly killed amid intense shelling in Belgorod, only 40km north of the Ukrainian border.

    An explosive device was dropped on the Shebekinsky district, shaking homes and wounding a child and an adult, governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said.

    The two women were struck by shrapnel as they were travelling in a car near the village of Maslova Pristan.

    Officials in neighbouring Kursk and Bryansk said buildings had been damaged by the shelling and an overnight drone attack.

    Thousands of locals in the area have been evacuated along the border amid the grinding conflict.

    On Thursday, Russia’s defence ministry said it had downed three cross-border attacks near the town of Shebekino.

    Ukrainian’s military denied any involvement in the strike, claiming it is the work of Russian anti-government volunteer fighters.

    The assaults are the latest attacks against Russia – that included a drone attack on Moscow itself – as tension rises ahead of Ukraine’s counter-offensive.

  • Two dead after shelling in Russian border region, Belgorod

    Two dead after shelling in Russian border region, Belgorod

    Governor of Belgorod, Vyacheslav Gladkov, has revealed that two women lost their lives in a shelling incident in the Russian border region.

    The victims were traveling in a car near Maslova Pristan when they were struck by shrapnel.

    In the neighboring Bryansk and Kursk regions, officials reported that buildings had been damaged in shelling and that there was an overnight drone attack. However, Ukrainian officials have not yet provided any comments on the matter.

    Kyiv has consistently denied involvement in previous attacks across the border, asserting that these incidents are carried out by Russian anti-government groups.

    Governor Gladkov also mentioned that two individuals in another vehicle were wounded in the shelling incident in Belgorod.

    The Freedom of Russian Legion (FRL), one of the prominent anti-Kremlin paramilitary groups, claimed to have been engaged in military operations in the nearby village of Novaya Tavolzhanka.

    They stated that two civilians were killed when Russian artillery mistakenly targeted their vehicle, believing it contained FRL members. However, these claims have not been independently verified.

    Long-range drones also hit two towns in the Smolensk region, the local governor there said, while the Kaluga region’s head said an explosion had been reported in a forest.

    Recent weeks have seen an increase in cross border attacks. On Thursday eight people were wounded in shelling in Belgorod and the latest strikes come more than a week after one of the most significant cross-border raids since the war began.

    On Friday Ukrainian officials said air defences had shot down about 30 missiles and drones fired by Russia.

    Russia has launched more than 20 missile and drone attacks on Ukraine over the past month.

    Speaking from Helsinki on Friday, US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken called Russia’s invasion of Ukraine “a strategic failure”.

    America’s top diplomat was speaking during a visit to Finland, Nato’s newest member, as part of a series of trips to several Nordic countries.

    He said the invasion had weakened Russia diplomatically, economically and militarily while strengthening the European Union, Nato and Ukrainian national identity.

  • Putin to unveil cyber championship in Russia

    Putin to unveil cyber championship in Russia

    Vladimir Putin, the president of Russia, has bizarrely authorised the establishment of an annual competition for internet games, but Counter-Strike is not permitted.

    Vladimir Putin seems to be interested in the regional gaming and esports scene in Russia, despite the ongoing situation in Ukraine.

    Numerous Russian esports teams have had limitations as a result of the conflict, including being excluded from sponsorship opportunities and competitions.

    According to reports, the President recently revealed his decision to establish a ‘cyberchampionship‘ during a visit to an exhibition of creative industries at Moscow’s Zotov Centre. 

    The tournament is said to feature popular Russian titles such as World Of Tanks, a game from the World Of War series, along with other domestic hits. 

    Interestingly, these versions of the games will be under the control of Lesta Games, as Wargaming transferred its entire Russian and Belarusian gaming business to them following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. 

    Gaukhar Aldiyarova, an executive at Lesta Games, told Kommersant that the championship would exclusively feature games from Russian developers and those from friendly nations. 

    She also provided examples, mentioning League Of Legends, which is owned by the Chinese publisher Tencent – who bought Riot Games in 2011.

    However, games like Valve’s Counter-Strike will be excluded from consideration due to their ‘one-sided coverage of political events within the game universe.’ 

    Although it’s not immediately obvious what this means, it’s likely a reference to journalists from Finnish newspaper Helsingin Sanomat using Counter-Strike to sneak news stories of the Ukraine invasion into Russia. 

    Leveraging the fact you can create and share maps in Counter-Strike, Helsingin Sanomat crafted their own custom map called da_voyna (‘voyna’ meaning ‘war’ in Russian) which contained a hidden room full of reports and photographs of the war. 

    It might seem peculiar, to say the least, for Putin to establish a ‘cyberchampionship’ while Moscow faces drone strikes, but it’s not entirely unexpected. 

    The country has been trying to cultivate a self-reliant games industry ever since numerous western tech companies announced their departure from the country last year.

     

  • 2 kids killed in latest Russian bombardment of Kyiv

    2 kids killed in latest Russian bombardment of Kyiv

    In the most recent attack by Russia on the capital of Ukraine, at least three people have died.

    The latest attack on Kyiv, which happened in the wee hours of Thursday, comes after an alleged 17 assaults on the city in May as Russia intensifies its operations.

    Russia primarily targeted Kyiv this morning with ground-based missiles that caused damage to apartment buildings, a clinic, a water pipeline and a vehicle.

    The city’s administration reported three people, including two children, were killed and 10 more have been wounded.

    This is despite Ukrainian air defences becoming increasingly effective at intercepting Russian drones and missiles and shooting them out of the sky.

    In some cases, the resulting debris can cause fires and injuries on the ground.

    Preliminary investigations believe Kyiv’s air defences intercepted all incoming missiles this morning – meaning the latest deaths and injuries were caused by falling debris.

    A woman was killed while watching an aerial attack from her balcony this week, leading the authorities to warn residents to stay in shelters.

    A woman reacts as she looks at the body of her daughter killed during a Russian missile strike, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine June 1, 2023. REUTERS/Valentyn Ogirenko
    A woman collapses as she looks at the body of her daughter killed during this morning’s missile strike (Picture: Reuters)
    KYIV, UKRAINE - JUNE 1:Men clean debris next to a damaged residential building that was damaged during a Russian missile attack, on June 1, 2023 in Kyiv, Ukraine. At least three were killed, including a child, and others were injured by falling debris from intercepted missiles. Russia has targeted Kyiv with near daily air strikes in the last week, a combination of missile and drone attacks. (Photo by Roman Pilipey/Getty Images)
    Residential buildings were damaged (Picture: Roman Pilipey/Getty Images)
    KYIV, UKRAINE - JUNE 1: Civilians watch the view of debris after a Russian aerial attack on a children's hospital and a residential building in Kyiv, Ukraine, on June 1, 2023. At least three people were killed and 10 others wounded as Russian forces launched a fresh aerial bombardment of the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv early Thursday, authorities said. (Photo by Oleksii Chumachenko/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
    The bombardment also hit a medical centre (Photo: Oleksii Chumachenko/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

    On Wednesday Russian forces carried out aerial attacks over the south of Kherson region, with missile and heavy artillery strikes in other parts of the region.

    Kyiv suffered a barrage of drone attacks over the weekend as the city prepared to celebrate Kyiv Day, the anniversary of the city’s founding.

    Analysts believe Russia is trying to deplete Ukrainian air defences before it can begin its much-anticipated counter-offensive.

  • Ex-Russian president threatens UK officials as ‘legitimate military targets’

    Ex-Russian president threatens UK officials as ‘legitimate military targets’

    A previous Russian president claimed that since the foreign secretary supported Ukraine’s right to attack Russia, British officials are now valid military targets.

    Dmitry Medvedev, a close supporter of Vladimir Putin, issued the ultimatum, claiming that the United Kingdom’s support for Ukraine amounted to “undeclared war” against Russia.

    The UK is de facto leading an undeclared war against Russia today by acting as Ukraine‘s ally and giving it military assistance in the shape of equipment and professionals, according to Mr Medvedev, the deputy chairman of the Russian president‘s security council.

    ‘That being the case, any of its public officials (either military, or civil, who facilitate the war) can be considered as a legitimate military target.

    ‘The UK’s foreign secretary [James] Cleverly has stated that Ukraine “has the legitimate right to … project force beyond its borders to undermine Russia’s ability to project force into Ukraine itself”.

    ‘According to him, legitimate military targets beyond Ukraine’s border are part of its self-defence.’

    He continued: ‘The goofy officials of the UK, our eternal enemy, should remember that within the framework of the universally accepted international law which regulates modern warfare, including the Hague and Geneva Conventions with their additional protocols, their state can also be qualified as being at war.’

    Mr Medvedev’s threats come after Mr Cleverly gave a speech in Estonia, outlining the UK’s efforts to bolster support for Ukraine and Nato.

    The foreign secretary said Ukraine had ‘the legitimate right to defend itself’.

    He added: ‘It has the legitimate right to do so within its own borders, but it does also have the right to project force beyond its borders to undermine Russia’s ability to project force into Ukraine itself.

    ‘Today, Margus and I discussed the Nato Summit taking place in Vilnius in July.

    ‘We agreed that we must bolster support for Ukraine and ensure that Nato adapts to an increasingly contested and volatile security environment.

    ‘And I know that we both feel it’s important that Sweden joins us at the table in Vilnius, too, as a fully fledged member of Nato, and as an important ally to us all.

    ‘Swedish accession will make us all safer and stronger.’

    Russia accused Ukraine of being behind a drone attack on Moscow yesterday which Ukraine denied.

    But there has been an escalation of incidents within Russia by Kyiv’s military or local groups opposed to the war.

    Defence officials from the UK believe the incursions into Russia are causing the redeployment of Moscow’s forces.

    The intelligence briefing from the Ministry of Defence said: ‘Since the start of May 2023, Russia has increasingly ceded the initiative in the conflict and is reacting to Ukrainian action rather than actively progressing towards its own war aims.

    ‘During May 2023, Russia has launched 20 nights of one-way-attack uncrewed aerial vehicle and cruise missile attacks deep inside Ukraine.

    ‘Russia has had little success in its likely aims of neutralising Ukraine’s improved air defences and destroying Ukrainian counter-attack forces.

    ‘On the ground, it has redeployed security forces to react to partisan attacks inside western Russia.’

  • Opposition in South Africa seeks to prevent Putin visit

    Opposition in South Africa seeks to prevent Putin visit

    South Africa’s largest opposition party has made claims on Tuesday May 30 that it has taken legal measures to ensure that Vladimir Putin is arrested if he enters the nation for a summit in August.

    The Democratic Alliance (DA) is asking the courts for “an order” stipulating that if Mr Putin arrives in South Africa to take part in the Brics summit (a group of countries comprising South Africa, Brazil, China, India, and Russia), the government must arrest him, as required by the International Criminal Court (ICC).

    The ICC, based in The Hague, issued an arrest warrant against Vladimir Putin in March for the war crime of “deporting” Ukrainian children as part of Moscow’s offensive against Ukraine.

    As South Africa is a member of the ICC, it is theoretically supposed to arrest the Russian president on his arrival in the country.

    But Pretoria, which maintains close diplomatic relations with Moscow and insists on its “neutrality” in the conflict in Ukraine, has not yet indicated whether it will do so.

    The DA explains that it has launched a “pre-emptive” judicial application to ensure that the government “respects its obligations” and hands Mr Putin over to the ICC if he comes to South Africa. No “judicial ambiguity” should persist, the statement said.

    Kremlin spokesman Boris Peskov confined himself to saying on Tuesday that Russia would be “duly represented” at the Brics summit, without specifying whether Mr Putin planned to attend.

    Moscow “assumes, of course” that its Brics partners “will not be guided” by “illegitimate decisions”, namely the ICC arrest warrant, he added.

    The DA’s legal action comes as the government granted diplomatic immunity to officials attending a meeting of BRICS foreign ministers this week, followed by a summit of heads of state in August.

    Some read the decision as a preparatory step to provide legal cover for Putin’s visit, but Pretoria insists it is standard procedure for the organisation of international conferences.

    “These immunities do not cancel an arrest warrant issued by an international court against any participant in the conference”, the foreign affairs ministry defended itself on Tuesday morning.

    South Africa has been criticised since the start of the war in Ukraine for its proximity to Moscow. In April, Mr Ramaphosa said that the ICC’s arrest warrant against Mr. Putin was putting a “spanner in the works” for South Africa.

  • Russia will participate in SA meeting at ‘appropriate level’

    Russia will participate in SA meeting at ‘appropriate level’

    Questioned on whether Russian leader Vladimir Putin will attend the Brics summit in South Africa in August, a Kremlin spokesman has said Russia will take part “at the proper level”, Reuters reports.

    The Russian president was invited to the gathering earlier this year, but a warrant subsequently issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC) means South Africa would be expected to arrest him if he attends.

    The Brics alliance represents some of the world’s leading emerging economies, including Brazil, Russia, China, India and South Africa.

    “Russia attaches enormous importance to the development of this format of integration. And Russia will take part in this summit at the proper level,” Reuters quoted Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov as saying at a briefing.

    When pressed further about the arrest warrant, he said: “Of course we count as a bare minimum on partner countries in such an important format not being guided by such illegal decisions.”

    South Africa has granted diplomatic immunity to officials attending the summit, but a foreign affairs spokesman added that such immunities were standard for international gatherings and did not override warrants issued by international tribunals.

  • Russia attacks Kyiv in a new daytime manner

    Russia attacks Kyiv in a new daytime manner

    Following a nighttime onslaught of the Ukrainian capital and the rest of the nation, Russia launched a surprise midday attack on Kyiv on Monday.

    Late on Monday morning, after the city had recovered from a more routine overnight bombardment, residents of central Kyiv heard explosions that set off sirens and sent them running for cover.

    In the daylight strike, the military forces of Kyiv claimed to have shot down 11 Russian Iskander missiles. As a result of missile parts landing in the Podilskyi neighbourhood, one guy was taken to the hospital, according to Vitalii Klitschko, the mayor of Kiev.

    Serhii Popko, head of Kyiv city military administration, said this attack shows “the enemy changed its tactics – after prolonged, nighttime attacks only, it struck a peaceful city during the day, when most residents were at work and outside.”

    Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky posted a video of a child running for shelter as an explosion is heard in the background.

    “Ukrainian children. Every time an air raid alert sounds,” he said. “This is what an ordinary weekday looks like.”

    His wife, Olena Zelenska, reposted the video, adding: “Morning after sleepless night under fire. Anxiety once again… Children running and screaming for shelter to the sounds of explosions. But it should not be like this.”

    Hours earlier, cities across Ukraine were hit by a wave of Russian strikes.

    The Commander-in-Chief of Ukraine’s Armed Forces, Valerii Zaluzhnyi, said 37 cruise missiles, dozens of Shahed drones and a reconnaissance UAV were shot down by Kyiv’s forces – the vast majority of those fired.

    The Khmelnytskyi regional military administration said Russia had attacked a military facility in the western Ukrainian city, damaging five aircraft.

    The Russian Defense Ministry said later that its forces hit Ukrainian airfields, destroying all targets. “As a result of the strike, command posts and radar posts, as well as aviation equipment, storage facilities with weapons and ammunition of the Armed Forces of Ukraine were hit,” it said in its daily briefing.

    On Sunday a huge wave of Russian drones targeted Kyiv, marking the largest such assault on the capital since the conflict began, according to Ukrainian authorities. Klitschko said a 41-year-old man died in the early hours of Sunday following the attacks.

    The attack came on Kyiv Day, when the city celebrates its founding. But Russia is so far seeing limited returns from its repeated attacks.

    The Iranian-made Shahed drones are a cheap way to inflict at least some pain on Kyiv, which for much of the last year has been spared the impact of the Russian invasion.

    Russia has bought many hundreds of such drones, which cost roughly 20 times less than a missile.

    Moscow is also hoping to land a psychological blow. Since the beginning of the invasion, the air raid siren has been on in Kyiv for a cumulative 887 hours.

    But all the indications are that despite the dislocation and exhaustion, the attitude of the city’s population is hardened rather than weakened by such attacks.

    The greater purpose on the Russians’ part in sending waves of Shaheds is likely to wear down Ukraine’s air defenses, and force them to expend scarce munitions on the swarms of drones.

    Multiple accounts over the past few months, including estimates in leaked US military assessments, have referred to critical shortcomings in Ukraine’s layered air defenses, especially as its Soviet-era S-300 system – the workhorse of Ukrainian air defenses – is degraded and as it becomes increasingly difficult to find ammunition for such systems.

  • Kyiv witnesses fresh attack after intense drone blast

    Kyiv witnesses fresh attack after intense drone blast

    Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine, has faced renewed attacks with heavy drone strikes for two consecutive nights. In the latest barrage, missiles were used, but no casualties have been reported so far.

    Russia has launched 16 air attacks on Kyiv this month, typically occurring overnight. However, the most recent attack took place in mid-morning, targeting the city center. Mayor Vitali Klitschko urged residents to seek shelter and warned about the potential danger of falling debris.

    According to Air Force spokesman Yuri Ihnat, the latest attack involved the use of Iskander ballistic missiles, and there is a possibility that S-300 and S-400 missiles were also deployed. Air raid sirens were reportedly heard in several other regions of Ukraine.

    Ukrainian officials have claimed to have destroyed most of the drones used in the weekend’s attacks. Additionally, explosions were reported in the Lviv, Odesa, Vinnytsya, and Khmelnytskyi regions.

    In Khmelnytskyi, a military airfield was struck, resulting in damage to five aircraft and the runway, as confirmed by regional authorities.

    Meanwhile, the governor of the Russian region of Belgorod stated that several frontier settlements were simultaneously shelled by Ukrainian forces.

    Oleksandr Scherba, the ambassador-at-large at Ukraine’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, expressed that the recent days have been exceedingly difficult for the residents of Kyiv.

    “Almost every night, the skies look and sound like another Star Wars episode, but we don’t feel much of Russian rockets hitting their targets here within the city area. And this is all thanks to the decent countries, decent people of the world who gave us this air defence,” he said.

    Living in the capital was anything but normal at the moment, Mr Scherba said, adding that the drone attacks and sleepless nights had become “part of our routine”.

    On Sunday, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky praised his country’s air defence forces after Kyiv sustained the largest drone attack since the war began.

    “You are heroes,” said Mr Zelensky, after military commanders said most of the so-called kamikaze drones launched by Russia were brought down.

    Russia has stepped up its attacks on Kyiv in recent weeks, seeking to overwhelm the capital’s defences.

    Saturday’s overnight attack came as the people of the capital prepared to celebrate Kyiv Day, the anniversary of the city’s foundation. In a remarkable demonstration of resilience, people took to parks, bars and restaurants in the capital to celebrate the holiday.

    In its recent attacks, Russia – which launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022 – has been using kamikaze drones as well as a range of cruise and ballistic missiles.

    Analysts say Moscow is seeking to deplete and damage Ukraine’s air defences ahead of its long-expected counter-offensive.

    On Saturday, one of Ukraine’s most senior security officials told the BBC the country was ready to launch such an operation.

    Oleksiy Danilov, secretary of the powerful National Security and Defence Council of Ukraine, said an assault to retake territory from President Vladimir Putin’s occupying forces could begin “tomorrow, the day after tomorrow or in a week”.

    The trained accountant is unlikely to be fazed by the challenges. As a two-term governor of Lagos, he revitalised Nigeria’s commercial hub – no easy job – and is well aware of the issues.

    His allies say he will take the same technocratic and thoughtful approach to running Nigeria, a vast country of more than 200 million people.

    But opponents of the incoming president say he has lost the vitality he used to forcefully modernise Lagos.

    Since the election he has travelled abroad twice, raising questions about his health. In 2021 he spent months in London being treated for an undisclosed illness.

    He has brushed off the criticism, saying the job does not require the fitness of an Olympic athlete – and his associates are quick to remind everyone that US President Joe Biden is older, at 80.

    But if the candidates who came second and third – Atiku Abubakar and Peter Obi – in February’s presidential election have their way then Mr Tinubu may not be in power for very long.

    The election tribunal is expected to start hearing the main arguments on Tuesday and the outcome of the case should be known within the next six months.

  • Russia hits Kyiv with new massive drone attack – Mayor

    Russia hits Kyiv with new massive drone attack – Mayor

    Local officials have reported that Russia carried out a new major overnight drone attack on Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, killing at least one person.

    Kyiv’s mayor Vitaliy Klitschko said a man died when drone wreckage fell near a petrol station. A woman was injured.

    Overall, Russia launched a record 54 so-called kamikaze drones on Ukrainian targets, 52 of which were shot down, Ukraine’s Air Force reported.

    In Kyiv alone, more than 40 drones were downed, officials said.

    This information has not been independently verified.

    Russia – which launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022 – has in recent weeks stepped up its attacks on Kyiv, seeking to overwhelm the capital’s defences.

    Earlier on Sunday, air raid alerts were activated in 12 regions of Ukraine, from Volyn in the north-west to Dnipropetrovsk in the south-east.

    In a post on social media, Mr Klitschko urged Kyiv residents to “stay in shelters”, warning of waves of drone attacks and a “difficult” night ahead.

    He said at least two high-rising buildings in different districts of the capital were on fire after being hit by falling drone fragments.

    Kyiv officials also reported that warehouses in the southern Holosiyivsky district were ablaze.

    Some officials accused Russia of targeting Kyiv deliberately as residents prepared to celebrate Kyiv Day – the anniversary of the city’s foundation 1500 years ago and a popular holiday before the war.

    There were also reports of explosions in the city of Zhytomyr, west of Kyiv.

    The air alert was later lifted in the capital and across the country.

    In its recent attacks, Russia has been using so-called kamikaze drones as well as a range of cruise and ballistic missiles.

    The attacks come ahead of a widely expected Ukrainian counter-offensive.

    On Saturday, one of Ukraine’s most senior security officials told the BBC the country was ready to launch such an operation.

    Oleksiy Danilov, secretary of the powerful National Security and Defence Council of Ukraine, said an assault to retake territory from President Vladimir Putin’s occupying forces could begin “tomorrow, the day after tomorrow or in a week”.

    • ‘We’re ready to begin counter-offensive’ – Ukraine

    Ukraine has been planning a counter-offensive for months. But it has wanted as much time as possible to train troops and to receive military equipment from Western allies.

    In the meantime, Russian forces have been preparing their defences in the seized regions of south-eastern Ukraine.

    Speaking to the BBC, Andrei Kelin, Russia’s ambassador to the UK, said his country had “enormous resources” and it was yet to “act very seriously”.

    Warning that supplies of weapons to Ukraine risk escalating the war to levels not seen so far, he added: “Sooner or later, of course, this escalation may get a new dimension which we do not need and we do not want.”

  • Medical clinic in Ukraine hit by Russian rocket

    Medical clinic in Ukraine hit by Russian rocket

    A medical clinic in Dnipro, located in eastern Ukraine, was targeted by a missile strike, resulting in the death of at least one person and the injury of 15 others.

    Among the wounded are two young boys, aged three and six, according to Serhiy Lysak, the regional governor.

    Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky acknowledged the attack and assured that authorities were actively engaged in rescuing any remaining individuals trapped in the hospital.

    Prior to this, on Thursday night, Dnipro experienced an assault, as stated by Governor Lysak.

    “It was a very difficult night. It was loud – the enemy launched a mass attack on the region with missiles and drones,” he said. “Dnipro has suffered.”

    Mr Zelensky posted a video of the damaged clinic building that showed firefighters at the scene and smoke billowing from the building.

    “Russian terrorists once again confirm their status of fighters against everything humane and honest,” he said.

    Overnight, Ukrainian authorities claimed to have successfully intercepted and downed 17 missiles along with 31 drones that were launched from Russia. The attacks targeted various locations, including Dnipro and Kharkiv in eastern Ukraine, where an oil depot was hit.

    Ukraine’s capital city, Kyiv, also experienced attacks, resulting in intercepted drone fragments falling on the roof of a shopping center and causing damage to a house and multiple cars.

    In recent weeks, Russia has escalated its assaults on Ukraine, specifically targeting critical infrastructure in anticipation of an expected Ukrainian counteroffensive.

    On Thursday, Ukraine reportedly launched a rocket and a drone towards two regions in Russia’s south. However, Russia’s air defense systems claim to have successfully shot down the missile.

    A blast in the southern Russian city of Krasnodar caused damage to a residential and office building, although the cause remains unclear. Russian media sources have suggested that it was the result of a drone attack.

  • Russia to deploy nuclear weapons in Belarus

    Russia to deploy nuclear weapons in Belarus

    Belarus has consented to let Russia station tactical nuclear missiles there.

    The action formalises an agreement that Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko and Russian President Vladimir Putin reached earlier this year.

    Putin has regularly vowed to defend Russia’s “territorial integrity” with nuclear weapons since the invasion of Ukraine last year.

    Ukraine said Belarus had been ‘held hostage’ by the Kremlin when the arrangement was first revealed back in March.

    Speaking in Minsk, Russia’s defence minister Sergei Shoigu said: ‘In the context of an extremely sharp escalation of threats on the western borders of Russia and Belarus, a decision was made to take countermeasures in the military-nuclear sphere.’

    He said Moscow will retain control over the weapons and any decisions on their use.

    Russian news agency TASS quoted him as saying Iskander-M missiles, which can carry conventional or nuclear warheads, had been handed to the Belarusian armed forces, and some Su-25 aircraft had been converted for the possible use of nuclear weapons.

    epa10616523 A Russian Iskander mobile short-range ballistic missile system drives in the downtown area of Moscow, Russia, 09 May 2023, before the military parade which will take place on the Red Square to commemorate the victory of the Soviet Union's Red Army over Nazi-Germany in WWII. EPA/MAXIM SHIPENKOV
    A Russian Iskander mobile short-range ballistic missile system drives in the downtown area of Moscow (Picture: EPA)
    Mandatory Credit: Photo by EyePress News/REX/Shutterstock (12816296b) Image grab from footage released by the Russian Defence Ministry on Saturday Feb 19, 2022 shows a cruise missile of the Iskander tactical missile system, and a ballistic missile of the Sineva tactical missile system was carried out in different unknown locations. The Russian Ministry of Defense said in a statement Friday (February 18) that the forces and facilities of the Aerospace Forces, the Southern Military District, the Strategic Missile Forces, the Northern and Black Sea Fleets would be involved in the exercises. Russia President Vladimir Putin and Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko watched the exercises from the situation center in the Kremlin. Russia Belarus Joint Exercise, Undisclosed Location, Russia - 16 Feb 2022
    Image grab from footage released by the Russian Defence Ministry showings a cruise missile of the Iskander tactical missile system (Picture: EyePress News/Rex/Shutterstock)
    Su-25UB attack airplane of the Russian Air Force performing demonstration flight, Kubinka, Russia.
    A Russian Su-25UB attack airplane (Picture: Getty Images/Stocktrek Images)

    ‘Belarusian servicemen have received the necessary training in Russian training centres,’ Shoigu added.

    No detail was announced regarding when the weapons would be deployed in Belarus, but Putin previously said that the construction of storage facilities would be completed by July 1.

    Exiled Belarusian opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya condemned the move.

    ‘We must do everything to prevent Putin’s plan to deploy nuclear weapons in Belarus, as this will ensure Russia’s control over Belarus for years to come,’ Tsikhanouskaya said.

    ‘This will further jeopardize the security of Ukraine and all of Europe.’

    Independent Belarusian military analyst Aliaksandr Alesin said about two-thirds of Russia’s arsenal of medium-range nuclear-tipped missiles were held in Belarus during the Cold War, adding that there are dozens of Soviet-era storage facilities that could still be used to store such weapons.

    Soviet nuclear weapons stationed in Belarus, Ukraine, and Kazakhstan were moved to Russia in a US-brokered deal after the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991.

    ‘Documents in Minsk on the return of nuclear weapons were defiantly signed just at the moment when Ukraine declared a counteroffensive and Western countries are handing over weapons to Kyiv,’ Alesin said.

    ‘This Belarusian nuclear balcony should spoil the mood for politicians in the West, since nuclear missiles are capable of covering Ukraine, all of Poland, the Baltic States, and parts of Germany.’

    Russia and Belarus have an alliance agreement under which the Kremlin subsidises the Belarusian economy, via loans and discounted Russian oil and gas.

    Moscow used Belarusian territory as a staging ground for invading neighbouring Ukraine and has maintained a contingent of troops and weapons there.

  • Russian Ministry of Defence building fire mystery

    Russian Ministry of Defence building fire mystery

    Reports of a fire at the Moscow Ministry of Defence have been rejected by Russia.

    Social media videos from late last night showed white smoke rising over the structure on Frunzenskaya Embankment.

    The video’s original poster claimed that the “burning smell is awful.”

    Initial reports said that a balcony of the Soviet facility was caught in flames, however officials later denied this.

    ‘The presence of a fire has not been confirmed, as no fire was detected by the fire brigade upon arrival,’ the Emergencies Ministry stressed.

    ‘Neither is there any information about victims.’

    It is yet unclear if authorities were seeking to cover up the incident to avoid panic among residents.

    The ‘Liberty of Russia’ Legion, which is made of Russian citizens opposing the war and the Kremlin regime, shared a picture of the alleged fire on Twitter.

    Though yet unverified, it showed smoke filling up the sky above the capital.

    ‘A nighttime fire in Moscow. Smoke is in Defence Ministry. Unknown patriots are smoking?’ the tweet read.

    It comes amid high alert over sabotage attacks on key facilities in Russia by anti-Putin partisans.

    Earlier this month, a small explosion apparently caused by two drones took place at the Kremlin.

    At the time, Moscow described its as an attempt on the life of the president, and it blamed Ukrainian and the US intelligence for being behind the attack.

  • I will go beyond friendship and supply weapons to Russia – SA’s Julius Malema

    I will go beyond friendship and supply weapons to Russia – SA’s Julius Malema

    The leader of the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), the third-largest political party in South Africa, has declared he will “supply weapons to Russia” since Moscow is “in a war with imperialism”.

    In an interview with the BBC in Johannesburg, Julius Malema insisted that “South Africa is an ally of Russia” and that the ANC government’s position of non-alignment only applied to the war in Ukraine.

    “I will go beyond the friendship with Russia. In the war, I will align with Russia and I will even supply the weapons,” Mr Malema told HARDtalk’s Stephen Sackur.

    The EFF also wants South Africa to withdraw from the International Criminal Court (ICC).

    The ICC has issued an arrest warrant for Vladimir Putin for alleged war crimes but Mr Malema has pledged to prevent any attempt to arrest the Russian president if he attends next month’s Brics summit in Cape Town.

    Mr Malema made the comments following a diplomatic row in which the US ambassador to South Africa alleged that weapons and ammunition were loaded onto a Russian vessel docked in the country last December.

    The South African government has denied approving any arms shipments to Russia.

  • Rastafarian’s son banned from school for 3 years over dreadlocks in Malawi

    Rastafarian’s son banned from school for 3 years over dreadlocks in Malawi

    Alli Nansolo debated whether or not to trim his son’s dreadlocks for years. Although it is not required by law in Malawi, a widespread unwritten policy meant that his son was being turned away from government schools because of the colour of his hair.

    With his meagre earnings from manufacturing dresses, Nansolo’s was unable to provide his son Ishmael with a private education, and cutting his hair—a significant Rastafari religious symbol—was out of the question.

    “The rastafari way of life is spiritual. Maintaining dreadlocks is comparable to making a pledge before the Most High Creator that we shall live our lives in service to Him without disobeying His Laws or Commandments, according to Nansolo, who spoke to CNN.

    The 48-year-old makes between 200,000 to 300,000 Malawian Kwacha (around $194 to $291) monthly, while his wifeEmpress supplements the family’s income by selling secondhand clothes.

    “I felt oppressed,” Nansolo said as he recalled the staff of a state-run secondary school in Zomba, southern Malawi. refusing to register Ishmael because of his hair.

    Nansolo said he contacted an officer at the Ministry of Education who advised him to cut his son’s hair so that he could go to school.

    Nansolo found himself caught up in the discriminatory policies of Malawian public schools and decided to take legal action against the Ministry of Education, along with a group of parents.

    “I went to the Women Lawyers Association of Malawi to ask for help. The association accepted and we went to court in November 2017,” he said.

    For three years, Ishmael, then 15, would remain out of school as the court case dragged on.

    Then, in 2020, the Malawi High Court placed an interim order compelling public schools to enroll Ishmael and other Rastafari children until a final ruling was reached.

    It was a legal victory that marked a significant milestone for the estimated 15,000 Rastafarian community in Malawi, according to Nansolo, who is also a community elder.

    However, the temporary relief did not address the broader issue of discrimination that around 1,200 affected students face, their lawyer Chikondi Chijozi told CNN.

    “We saw a number of Rastafari children being admitted into government schools but there were still reported cases of children of [the]Rastafari community being denied admission into government schools, and their parents were forced to take the court injunction to the school to compel them to admit them,” Chijozi said.

    After a six-year legal challenge, the Malawian High Court delivered a landmark ruling on May 8.

    The court ruled that it was unlawful to require learners, including Rastafarian kids, to cut their hair before they are enrolled into public schools.

    The ruling came into immediate effect but the government has until June 30 to issue a nationwide statement mandating acceptance of all dreadlocked children into school.

    Chijoki told CNN: “We got a judgment from the court which essentially upheld the rights of the Rastafari children and abolished the policy that requires all learners, including Rastafari children, to cut off their dreadlocks for them to be admitted into government schools.”

    Nansolo expressed his community’s jubilation that their children could now finally continue their education.

    “The judgment means that we are now free because most of us in [the]Rastafarian community don’t earn much, so we couldn’t manage to send our children to private schools,” Nansolo said.

    “We are happy seeing that our children will now be going to public schools without being sent back or denied their right to education.”

    CNN has contacted the education ministry for comment on the ruling.

    Despite this victory, Malawi’s Rastafarian community still faces numerous challenges. Unemployment, poverty, and corporate discrimination persistently plague the community. Data on the community is hard to come by but the US State Department says around 5.6 percent of Malawi’s nearly 21 million population is formed of other religions includingHindus, Baha’is, Rastafarians, Jews, and Sikhs.

    “Most of us rely on business to survive. Lack of jobs is a big challenge for the Rastafarian community because those in offices are reluctant to employ Rastas,” Nansolo said.

    “The corporate world feels that being Rastafari is associated with criminality, but we are not like that.”

  • Five things to know about the reason food costs aren’t decreasing

    Five things to know about the reason food costs aren’t decreasing

    Food costs have increased by 19% since last year. The price of a supermarket run has increased from £50 to more like £60.

    The prime minister responded by hosting a summit on food at Downing Street, although it is still unclear what the solution is.

    Food and energy costs rose last year due to the conflict in Ukraine, but they have just dropped precipitously; why have bills not?

    Here are five things that help explain what’s happening.

    1. Costs have been eye-watering – but some are easing

    Russia’s invasion of Ukraine prompted soaring grain, sunflower oil and fertiliser prices. Concerns over supply disruption triggered similar price rises for other foodstuffs.

    The UN’s food agency found that global wholesale prices for meat, dairy, grain, oils and sugar spiked by about 20% on average after the invasion – but those have since fallen back.

    Chart showing global food prices have come down

    Food production and retailing are particularly energy-intensive industries. Some businesses, without access to the same level of government support as households, saw bills more than triple.

    Staffing costs are the other big component for food producers and sellers.

    The increase in the minimum wage, labour shortages across the supply chain exacerbated by Brexit, and the rising cost of living meant employers awarded staff pay rises of up to 9% over the last year.

    2. Profit margins in the food chain can be slim

    All parts of the food chain faced huge shocks when it came to their bills – but did they shoulder their fair share of the burden?

    Much of our food chain operates with slim margins, so there’s limited wiggle room.

    Take a piece of cheddar costing £2.50.

    In a study for food alliance, Sustain, academics from the Universities of Portsmouth and London claim farmers’ costs account for nearly £1.50 while the retailers’ and processors’ overheads make up most of the rest.

    They reckon that leaves 3.5p of profit to be shared, with the supermarket typically getting 2.5p (1% of the price) while the farmer gets less than a penny.

    Chart showing what makes up the total cost of cheddar

    Arla, the dairy farmers’ cooperative, says costs shot up by as much as 80% last year and absorbing those kinds of increases is challenging.

    Profit margins on some items – particularly processed food and drinks – are bigger. Unilever, which makes Magnum ice creams, or Premier Foods, the maker of Mr Kipling cakes, may make 15p for each £1 of sales to retailers. As analysts say, the bigger the sin, the bigger the win.

    The Unite union has accused the big supermarkets of profiteering, saying the three biggest chains saw total profits double compared with the period prior to the pandemic – but that was in 2021. Since then all parts of the food chain have been hit by unexpected cost hikes.

    In total, supermarkets typically make around 5p of profits from each £1 of goods they sell – their profit margin. Last year, Tesco only made around 4p per £1, Sainsbury’s closer to 3p.

    3. Price changes take a while to travel from farm to fork

    Supermarkets are keen to publicise the price cuts they’re making for certain items such as pasta, dairy and oil. Those reflect lower costs, but why aren’t we seeing bills falling overall?

    It’s often claimed that retailers are swift to put up prices, but drag their feet on passing on savings when they could be coming down.

    However, contracts for goods and services are often agreed many months in advance, which means some producers and retailers will have fixed prices at the very high rates seen last year and they could be tied in to those for months yet.

    Farming

    The good news is that the rate of wholesale inflation that food retailers face, though still high, is now slowing. That should feed through to smaller price rises on shelves – but it typically takes about six months.

    We won’t know, as many retailers and food suppliers only publish a breakdown of their figures annually, whether some have taken this opportunity to try and rebuild their profit margins. They’re under pressure from shareholders to do so. But those figures will, when revealed, face close scrutiny.

    4. Prices may be lower than in the rest of Europe

    With Brexit adding to the red tape of importing food, are we paying more for our food than shoppers in the EU?

    A study by economist Michael Saunders for research body Oxford Economics says not.

    French supermarket

    Looking at a range of food and drink, he says UK prices are typically 7% below the EU average – with bread, meat and fish in particular relatively cheap. He says the UK’s competitive supermarket sector plays a role in keeping prices down.

    By contrast, he says that prior to 2015, on average groceries were more expensive in the UK than in the EU – partly reflecting the relatively small influence of the lower cost retailers such as Aldi and Lidl at that point.

    5. Smaller bills may not be on the horizon

    By the summer, the Resolution Foundation think tank reckons households will have seen an increase in food bills of £1,000 since 2020.

    While some items we buy may get cheaper, a return to the kind of smaller bills we saw prior to the pandemic seems unlikely.

    Despite recent falls for some commodities the price for many things, from raw ingredients to energy, remain far higher than they were prior to 2020. And there could be other factors looming – the full range of checks and other formalities around food imported from the European continent have yet to be introduced, for example.

    Moreover, with costs as they are, farmers are already leaving the business, while the number of food manufacturers collapsing has risen.

  • Russia claims sending F-16s to Ukraine poses “an enormous risk

    Russia claims sending F-16s to Ukraine poses “an enormous risk

    Russian officials have warned Western nations that giving Ukraine F-16 fighter jets will come with “colossal risks.”

    On the second day of the G7 meeting, as world leaders are gathering in Japan, Alexander Grushko, the deputy foreign minister of Russia, delivered a warning to them.

    We can see that Western nations continue to adhere to an escalation scenario, which entails great consequences for them, he told the Russian state news outlet Tass.

    In any case, when making plans, we will consider it.

    ‘We have all the necessary means to achieve our goals.’

    US President Joe Biden reportedly told G7 allies on Friday he will allow Ukrainian pilots to be trained on American-made F-16 fighter jets.

    G7 leaders, from some of the world’s wealthiest nations, issued a joint statement yesterday saying: ‘We hereby pledge, from Hiroshima, the “symbol of peace”, that G7 members will mobilize all our policy instruments and, together with Ukraine, make every effort to bring a comprehensive, just and lasting peace in Ukraine as soon as possible.’

    Kyiv has since the start of the more than year-long war begged Western officials for the versatile supersonic fighter jet.

    As Ukraine is pounded by Russian missiles and drones, Kyiv officials say the jet’s powerful radar can spot targets from far away to shoot them down, proving a vital line of defence.

    But Biden resisted, with him and other Western politicians wary that doing so could provoke Moscow if used to strike deep within Russian territory.

    While some NATO countries have said they’re happy to hand their F-16s over to Kyiv, this would need America’s approval as it manufactures them.

    US National security adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters in Hiroshima this morning that the West has so far ‘focused on providing Ukraine with the systems weapon and training it needs to conduct offensive operations this spring and summer’.

    This would be the latest in Washington’s ‘long-term commitment to Ukraine’s self-defence’.

    ‘As the training unfolds in the coming months, we will work with our allies to determine when planes will be delivered, who will be delivering them, and how many,’ Sullivan added.

    He said that Biden will speak with G7 leaders about how best to supply Kyiv with the jets.

    Though, delivering the aircraft could take months – likely too late for Ukraine to use in its looming counteroffensive.

    Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky tweeted yesterday: ‘I welcome the historic decision of the United States and @POTUS to support an international fighter jet coalition.

    ‘This will greatly enhance our army in the sky.’

    Zekensky landed in Japan earlier this morning ahead of meetings with G7 leaders tomorrow.

    Greeted by Rishi Sunak, the British Prime Minister’s office said Sunak welcomes the ‘very positive progress’ on providing Ukraine with fighter jets.

    ‘The Prime Minister reiterated that the UK would continue to provide Ukraine with the military assistance needed to win the war and secure a just peace,’ Downing Street said.

  • China, Russia object G7’s threat tag on them

    China, Russia object G7’s threat tag on them

    Beijing and Moscow reacted angrily to the Group of Seven (G7) meeting in Hiroshima, where leaders of major democracies committed to fresh sanctions against Russia and voiced growing concerns about China.

    Sergey Lavrov, the foreign minister of Russia, criticised the G7 on Saturday for engaging in “own greatness” and pursuing an agenda designed to “deter” China and Russia.

    The G7 needed to “reflect on its behaviour and change course,” the Chinese Foreign Ministry stated, accusing the group’s leaders of “hindering international peace.”

    Beijing had made “serious démarches” to host country Japan and “other parties” over their decision to “smear and attack” China, it said.

    Both Russia’s brutal assault on Ukraine and how to handle an increasingly assertive Beijing have loomed over the three-day gathering of the world’s leading industrialized democracies taking place in Japan – just across regional seas from both countries – where Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky made a surprise, in-person appearance.

    G7 member countries made the group’s most detailed articulation of a shared position on China to date – stressing the need to cooperate with the world’s second-largest economy, but also to counter its “malign practices” and “coercion” in a landmark joint communique Saturday.

    Leaders also pledged new steps to choke off Russia’s ability to finance and fuel its war, and vowed in a dedicated statement to ramp up coordination on their economic security – a thinly veiled warning from members against what they see as the weaponization of trade from China, and also Russia.

    The G7 agreements follow a hardening of attitudes on China in some European capitals, despite differing views on how to handle relations with the key economic partner, deemed by the US as “the most serious long-term challenge to the international order.”

    Beijing’s retort later Saturday urged the G7 “not to become an accomplice” in American “economic coercion.”

    “The massive unilateral sanctions and acts of ‘decoupling’ and disrupting industrial and supply chains make the US the real coercer that politicizes and weaponizes economic and trade relations,” the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

    “The international community does not and will not accept the G7-dominated Western rules that seek to divide the world based on ideologies and values,” it continued.

    G7 member countries are Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States. The European Union also joins as non-country member.

    A number of non-G7 leaders also attended the summit, including Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Indonesian President Joko Widodo, and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.

    Albanese on Sunday said he has been concerned “for some time” over China’s activity, including its military activities in the South China Sea, and called for “transparency” by Beijing over the detention of Australian journalist Cheng Lei.

    British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak also on Sunday said China “presents the greatest risk to security and prosperity,” adding its behavior is “increasingly authoritarian at home and assertive abroad.”

    China’s image in Europe has taken a severe hit over the past 15 months as leaders there have watched China’s Xi Jinping tighten ties with fellow authoritarian Russian President Vladimir Putin, even as Moscow’s invasion sparked a massive humanitarian crisis and Moscow’s leader was accused of war crimes by an international court.

    Beijing’s increased military aggression toward Taiwan – the self-ruling democracy the Chinese Communist Party claims as its territory but has never ruled – and economic penalties against Lithuania following a disagreement over Taiwan have also played a role in shifting sentiment.

    Concern about such incidents was reflected in the G7 statement on ensuring economic security and countering economic coercion, which did not explicitly mention China.

    The G7 leaders’ ability to sign on a statement “so specifically directed at Beijing” would have been “hard to believe” two years ago, according to Josh Lipsky, senior director of the Washington-based think tank Atlantic Council’s GeoEconomics Center.

    “The bottom line is that the G7 has shown it will increasingly focus on China and will try to maintain a coordinated policy approach. That’s a major development,” he said.

    The G7 agreements land as China has been marshaling its diplomats in a concerted attempt to repair ties with Europe, largely by recasting itself as a potential agent of peace in the war in Ukraine, even if that claim has been met with widespread skepticism among Western nations.

    Last week as European leaders headed to Asia, Chinese special envoy Li Hui began his own European tour billed by Beijing as a means to promote peace talks.

    Li, who was dispatched after Xi late last month made his first call to Zelensky since the Russian invasion, visited Ukraine on Tuesday and Wednesday, where he fronted China’s vision of a “political settlement.”

    That calls for a ceasefire but not for the withdrawal of Russian troops from Ukrainian territory first – a scenario which critics say could serve to cement Russia’s illegal land grab in the country and runs counter to Ukraine’s own peace plan.

    Zelensky’s travel to the G7 in Asia is also “a way of putting pressure on China,” according to Jean-Pierre Cabestan, an emeritus professor of political science at Hong Kong Baptist University.

    The message to China is for it “to be more more outgoing in its support for a solution” that aligns with Kyiv’s interests in terms of its territorial integrity and Russian troops pulling out from Ukraine, he said.

    When asked about the possibility of China playing a role in ending Russia’s war, a senior White House official on Saturday said the US hopes that Xi views this week’s summit as a signal of “resolve.”

    “We would hope that what President Xi and the (People’s Republic of China) extract from what they’ve been seeing here … is that there’s an awful lot of resolve to continue to support Ukraine … and that China could have a meaningful role in helping end this war,” the official said.

  • Putin desires that China believe he can defeat Ukraine

    Putin desires that China believe he can defeat Ukraine

    The swiftest and most sophisticated assault on Kyiv to date was Moscow’s enormous missile strike this past week. One of the famed Patriot missile defence systems used by the United States was allegedly hit, according to the Kremlin.

    Although bold, the assertion turned out to have some support. According to US sources speaking to CNN, the sophisticated automated missile system had only sustained minor damage, presumably from falling debris, but it had not been destroyed and was still operational.

    Though much of Kyiv’s nearly impenetrable missile shield was donated by NATO allies, speculation that day sparked worries that Russia would now find weak spots to exploit.

    The following night, however, the skies over the capital were quiet. The all-too-familiar and unnerving sound of intercept rockets launching at the incoming deadly payloads didn’t happen. President Xi’s envoy, Li Hui, was spending the night there on a pre-planned, publicly announced visit. A missile that disturbed his peace or, worse, hit him could have changed the course of the war.

    But Putin needed metaphorical blood on Volodymyr Zelensky’s nose while Ukrainian officials met Li. He wants to persuade the one world leader who can tip the scales in his stalled fight with Ukraine that he can win, and that his offensive is worthy of military support.

    Nothing would have spoken louder of Moscow’s prestige than for its much vaunted – and expensive – hypersonic missile the Kinzhal to have won a duel with American Patriots.

    Flying at up to 10 times the speed of sound, the six hypersonic Kinzhal missiles he fired that night cost a total of $60 million. The nine cruise missiles fired from his Black Sea fleet almost doubled the bill – and that’s before adding in the cost of the Iskander and S400 missiles also part of that night’s onslaught.

    Xi isn’t the only leader with skin in the Ukraine war that Putin appears to be trying to sway his way right now.

    The mercurial Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan took a phone call from Putin the same day Li left Kyiv. Within hours of the call, months of wrangling with Moscow over the “Black Sea Grain Deal” had been laid to rest.

    The UN-brokered deal ensuring Ukraine can get its grain to world markets – critical to food security in east Africa and other impoverished regions – was first inked last July and is renewed every few months. Each time Moscow drags its feet, grain supplies stutter and almost stall before Putin signals they can continue.

    The agreement has become another attempted lever of Russian influence over Turkey. Since the war began Putin has been trying to get Erdogan off the diplomatic fence, to quit supporting both Russia and Ukraine – to whom he sends vital battlefield drones.

    Late last year, Putin offered Erdogan a potentially lucrative deal to host a new Russian gas export hub to Europe, now that the Nord Stream 2 pipeline running under the Baltic Sea to Germany has been destroyed.

    Erdogan is a perma-hunter, always scavenging for ways to secure his place as president, and Turkey’s leverage with international partners. Geopolitics is his trade bazaar of choice, and Putin plays on it.

    Letting the Black Sea Grain deal live for another 60 days was Putin’s gift for Erdogan. He could have made it harder, and potentially more politically perilous for the Turkish leader – who faces a run-off vote in his country’s presidential elections on May 28.

    Putin likely calculated he had no need to commit to the deal until after the first round of the Turkish elections last week. Its outcome appears to signal Erdogan will likely win the run-off, making the grain deal a useful diplomatic investment for Putin.

    There is of course no guarantee that Erdogan will win. There is no guarantee either that Xi cares about Putin’s missile salvo targeting Kyiv’s Patriot missile batteries either, but he will have been paying attention.

    A gold standard in protection, Patriots are shipped all over the world to America’s allies; they are both a signal of political support and an act of real-time military defense – a powerful symbol of collective safety.

    As Xi mulls his growing tensions with the US and a possible confrontation over the disputed island of Taiwan, the war in Ukraine is providing an object lesson on whose weapons are best, what works and where America’s weak spots are.

    While Putin’s real war strategy – beyond trying to bludgeon 40 million Ukrainians into submission – is hard to fathom, he certainly sets high value in his relationship with Xi.

    It was Xi he visited on the eve of his unlawful, unjustified invasion of Ukraine last year. It was Xi who came to Moscow and spoke of a peace deal that never acknowledged Russia’s trampling of Ukraine’s sovereignty and international law. Nor for that matter did Xi mention the moral depravity of Putin’s troops and the war crimes both they and the Kremlin have committed.

    In short, from Putin’s perspective, Xi is the closest thing to a powerful ally that he has at the moment – but he would be a whole lot more useful if he believed Moscow could win the war. Smashing Kyiv’s Patriot on the eve of the Chinese envoy’s visit would have been a sign that Russia’s military muscle has not been entirely wasted on the battlefield and that Putin has a few punches left in him.

    Kyiv meanwhile believes it also has good reason to court Li. Zelensky’s government thinks Xi does listen to its side of the war story, which it sees as fundamental to undermining Putin’s victimhood narrative.

    At the United Nations in New York on the eve of the war’s first anniversary, Ukraine garnered 141 votes in favor of its motion demanding Russia leave its territory. The Chinese didn’t publicize Xi’s 12-point peace plan until the following day. Ukraine views that as respectful, indicating dialogue is worthwhile.

    Despite Putin’s shots at taking out the Patriots, Li’s visit doesn’t appear to have changed that view. Both Beijing and Kyiv – huge differences notwithstanding – are still speaking about the “constructive” role China can play. That’s certainly not the return on investment the Kremlin would have been hoping for.

  • Putin makes mockery of the west as he calls them ‘halfwits’

    Putin makes mockery of the west as he calls them ‘halfwits’

    Vladimir Putin has referred to the West as being ‘halfwits’ who will fall short of defeating Russia.

    He disparaged his ‘adversaries’ as ‘neo-colonialists’ for supporting Ukraine while disregarding his own imperialist attempt to invade and conquer the nation, which cost hundreds of thousands of lives.

    The Kremlin autocrat asserted that Russia‘s multinationalism was its strength while appearing slumped and pallid.

    ‌In a deranged speech at the Council for Interethnic Relations, he said: ‘Our state was built around the values of multinational harmony…

    Putin referred to his enemies as ‘half-wits’ who would fail to defeat Russia
    Putin referred to his enemies as ‘half-wits’ who would fail to defeat Russia

    ‌’Our enemies….people with neo-colonial thinking, half-wits really – do not understand that this diversity makes us stronger.

    ‌’In vain they count on the effect for which they are trying.

    ‌’Well, I already said that people who are guided by their neo-colonial ideas are half-wits.

    ‌’And in the competition of halfwits, they would take second place.

    ‌’Why only second? Yes, because they are halfwits.’‌

    He waited for his loyalists to laugh at his supposed joke but it appeared only his deputy chief of staff Sergey Kiriyenko found it in any way funny.‌

    Putin claimed the more sanctions were imposed on Russia, the more consolidated people would become behind him.‌

    He claimed 90 per cent of society now backed him.

    Contradicting himself, he demanded yet more cohesion.‌

    ‘[My opponents] say that Russia should be divided into dozens of small state entities and it is quite obvious what for,’ he said.

    ‘In order to later bend them to their will, exploit, use in their selfish interests. They have no other goals.’

    He reportedly travelled to Pyatigorsk in the Caucasus for the council session but then addressed an audience substantially online – his trademark method of communicating with his functionaries.

  • Russia wants judge who issued Putin’s arrest warrant arrested

    Russia wants judge who issued Putin’s arrest warrant arrested

    As reported by Russian media on Friday, Russia has issued an arrest warrant for the chief judge of the International Criminal Court (ICC), who in March issued one for President Vladimir Putin on suspicion of war crimes.

    Per the Russian media, which cited the Interior Ministry’s database, the British judge Karim Ahmed Khan has been placed to the wanted list.

    As reported by Russian media on Friday, Russia has issued an arrest warrant for the chief judge of the International Criminal Court (ICC), who in March issued one for President Vladimir Putin on suspicion of war crimes.

    According to Russian media, which cited the Interior Ministry’s database, the British judge Karim Ahmed Khan has been placed to the wanted list.

  • Parents who gave their son the name ‘Putin’ ask authorities to change it

    Parents who gave their son the name ‘Putin’ ask authorities to change it

    Parents who changed their son’s name to Putin in 2016 in honour of the Russian leader have pleaded with authorities to let them change it back.

    The Dzhurayev family relocated to Russia from their home Tajikistan in the early 2010s, and soon after, in a gesture of gratitude to their new nation and its leader, they formally changed the name of their one-year-old son Rasul to Putin.

    However, the pair then regretted their choice and is now working to restore Putin’s birth name; they would not, however, elaborate on their reasons for regret.

    Ekaterina Belous, head of the Alexandrovsky district registry office in Vladimir oblast, east of Moscow, told local media: ‘The parents have approached us: They, let me put it this way, feel sorry for what they did.’

    Russian President Vladimir Putin attends celebrations of the 78th anniversary of the end of World War II in Kremlin, in Moscow, Russia, Tuesday, May 9, 2023. (Vladimir Smirnov, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)
    The family say they ‘regret’ their decison to name their child after the Russian president (Picture: AP)
    Parents who named their son Putin to show their love for the Russian president plead with officials to let them change it six years later https://gazetanga.ru/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/w1jIB6VFHkU.jpg
    The couple were persuaded by rename their child by his grandfather, a Putin superfan (Picture: gazetanga.ru)

    ‘They want to give the child the name he received at birth.’

    However, the child’s cousin, named Shoigu after Russia’s minister of defence, Sergei Shoigu -will be keeping his name for the time being, Belous confirmed.

    Young Putin’s grandfather, Rahmon Juraev, is an ardent supporter of the Russian leader and is believed to be the inspiration for the name change.

    ‘Vladimir Putin is the number one man in the world for me. Strong, smart and educated. My grandson looks very similar to Putin as a child, and I, without hesitation, decided to change the name of the child,’ Jurayev told the BBC Russian Service at the time.

    He was reportedly inspired by an Egyptian journalist who also named his son after Vladimir Putin.

    The family fled their home in Tajikistan- where Putin was once hailed as an iconic leader- following a fierce civil war in the 1990s.

    But since the war in Ukraine began last year, the president has become less popular in Central Asia.

    Enlistment officers in Russia have been entering mosques to search for migrants from the Muslim-populated countries of Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan. 

    They have offered them payments and expedited citizenship in return for military service in the Ukraine war.

    According to Eurasianet, many have been forced to enlist against their will or tricked into joining.

  • Rishi strongly warns Putin over Ukraine war

    Rishi strongly warns Putin over Ukraine war

    Following Russia’s invasion, Rishi Sunak and other world leaders claim to be ‘steadfast’ in their support for Ukraine.

    Ahead of this week’s G7 summit in Hiroshima, Japan, the Western allies warned Vladimir Putin and imposed new sanctions against him.

    The British prime minister said to Putin, “My message is clear. We’re not leaving.

    ‘Russia needs to know that we and other countries remain steadfast in our resolve to support Ukraine, not just in the here and now with the resources it needs to protect itself, but for the long term as well.’

    He added to ITV News: ‘They can’t just outlast us in this conflict.

    ‘One of the common topics of conversation I’ll be having and have been having with my fellow leaders is about the longer-term security agreements that we put in place in Ukraine, to deter future Russian aggression.’

    As part of its new sanctions the UK will ban imports of Russian diamonds, copper, aluminium and nickel.

    The diamond export industry was previously worth more than £3 billion to Russia.

    New individual sanctions are also being placed by the UK on 86 people and companies.

    There has been uncertainty whether the EU will also ban Russian diamonds, as the trade is particularly lucrative for Belgium.

    Mr Sunak told the BBC: ‘I’m hopeful and confident that our partner countries will follow as they have done when we’ve done this previously, that will make the sanctions more effective, ensure that Russia pays a price for its illegal activity.’

    The UK PM yesterday signed a new defence and security pact with Tokyo – and received a nice new pair of bright red socks – over dinner with his Japanese counterpart, Fumio Kishida.

    The three-day G7 summit will see the UK, the US, Canada, Japan, France, Germany and Italy discuss military and economic support for Ukraine, as well as the security of Taiwan following aggression from China.

    Mr Sunak’s official spokesperson said: ‘Guarding against economic coercion is something that the prime minister is pushing for.’

    Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky is expected to attend the summit in person as a guest on Sunday, as is Indian prime minister Narendra Modi.

    Mr Modi has previously remained neutral on the Russian invasion, due to his links with Mr Putin.

    But Mr Sunak said he has seen ‘positive’ steps from India in its stance on the war.

    He told reporters on a plane to Japan: ‘One thing we have to keep doing is talking to countries like India and also Brazil, that is going to be in that second part of the summit which is a good thing.’

  • Putin’s secret bunker exposed by stolen blueprints

    Putin’s secret bunker exposed by stolen blueprints

    A bunker built deep beneath Vladimir Putin‘s £1 billion residence with a view of the Black Sea has been shown by leaked blueprints.

    The Gelendzhik Palace includes its own chapel, casino, fully-stocked gym, ice rink, and ‘entertainment room’ with stripper poles.

    A massive 17,000 acres of forest protected by the FSB security forces, as well as designated no-fly and no-boat zones, isolate the enormous 190,000 square foot complex from the rest of Russia.

    But just when you thought the designers had checked off every box, it seems like they overlooked one that is vitally important: hiding the schematics revealing the under-ground secret tunnels.

    The schematics were posted online a decade ago and remained accessible until 2016, having been originally published by contractors Metro Style to showcase their work.

    They reveal an underground complex consisting of two separate blast-proof tunnels connected by an elevator which descends roughly 50 metres below the surface.

    Russian President Vladimir Putin chairs a cabinet meeting via videoconference at Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, Wednesday, May 17, 2023. (Mikhail Klimentyev, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)
    Vladimir Putin chairs a cabinet meeting via videoconference at Kremlin in Moscow (Picture: AP)

    According to the plans, each is encased in thick concrete and supplied with plenty of fresh water, ventilation and cables to support VIPs for up to weeks at a time.

    Structural engineer Thaddeus Gabryszewski said they have ‘all kinds of safety and security’, suggesting they are ‘intended for someone to survive or escape’.

    The precautions may be more than paranoia on Putin’s part – earlier this month Russia claimed he had been targeted in an attempted assassination following an alleged drone attack on the Kremlin.

    Michael C Kimmage, a former US State Department official and Cold War expert, told Insider: ‘Putin has a lot of anxiety about being the not-entirely-legitimate leader of Russia.

    ‘So knowing that his legitimacy is not entirely secured by elections, he is going to seek to maximize his personal safety through a complex of well-defended personal residences.” 

    The plans, which were uncovered by jailed Russian opposition figure Alexei Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation, show the tunnels measure approximately 40 and 60 meters long, respectively, and six metres wide – creating more than 6,000 sq ft of potential living space

    They dubbed one the ‘tasting room’ amid reports it contains full living quarters where Putin and his cronies could take in the views while remaining safe.

    It stated: ‘It is a huge window that offers the best possible sea view.

    ‘Here you can enjoy a glass of wine… this is not some kind of balcony where you are constantly in danger, but a very safe underground place where nothing threatens you.’

    The second passageway is thought to be the preferred mode of escape, leading to a hatch on the coastline visible in drone footage captured by the group.

    Mr Kimmage told Insider the location of the bunker – some 1,000 miles away from Moscow – suggests Putin is not merely intending on constructing a plush getaway, but a bolthole.

    He said: ‘The two times there has been a big transition in Russian history — 1917 and 1991 — the status of the capital city and the leader’s position there has been a big issue.

    ‘Putin is solving for that contingency by establishing a network of residences that are as far from the centre as possible. So a tunnel system within the Black Sea complex makes a lot of sense.

    ‘Even without an active threat, he’s going to be worrying about this eventuality.’

  • Russian missile experts detained after ‘unstoppable’ Kinzhals ‘shot down’

    Russian missile experts detained after ‘unstoppable’ Kinzhals ‘shot down’

    Following Ukraine’s allegation that it had shot down a barrage of ‘undefeatable’ missiles, three of Vladimir Putin‘s top hypersonic experts were imprisoned on charges of high treason.

    According to Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, Anatoly Maslov, Alexander Shiplyuk, and Valery Zvegintsev are all facing “very serious accusations.”

    The three people have all been involved with the weapons project for many years, and they contributed to a book chapter titled “Hypersonic Short-Duration Facilities for Aerodynamic Research at ITAM, Russia.”

    Putin has long boasted that Russia is the global leader in hypersonic missiles and unveiled his ‘Kinzhal’ rockets in 2018, hailing them as ‘undefeatable’ by any present or future defence systems.

    But he faced fresh humiliation on Tuesday when Ukraine said it had destroyed six of them in a single night.

    The arrests have spread alarm through Russia’s scientific community.

    Colleagues of the three men published an open letter protesting their innocence and warning the prosecutions posed serious risk to Russian science.

    ‘We know each of them as a patriot and a decent person who is not capable of doing what the investigating authorities suspect them of,’ they said.

    ‘In this situation, we are not only afraid for the fate of our colleagues. We just do not understand how to continue to do our job.’

    The letter cited the case of Dmitry Kolker, a Siberian scientist who was arrested last year on suspicion of state treason and flown to Moscow despite suffering from advanced pancreatic cancer.

    The laser specialist died two days later. It said such cases were having a chilling effect on young Russian scientists.

    ‘Even now, the best students refuse to come to work with us, and our best young employees are leaving science,’ the letter stated.

    ‘A number of research areas that are critically important to laying the fundamental groundwork for the aerospace technology of the future are simply closing because employees are afraid to engage in such research.’

    FILE PHOTO: Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov attends a news conference of Russian President Vladimir Putin following the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit in Samarkand, Uzbekistan September 16, 2022. Sputnik/Sergey Bobylev/Pool via REUTERS ATTENTION EDITORS - THIS IMAGE WAS PROVIDED BY A THIRD PARTY./File Photo
    Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the eminent academics all face ‘very serious accusations’ (Picture: Reuters)

    Asked about the letter, Peskov said: ‘We have indeed seen this appeal, but Russian special services are working on this. They are doing their job. These are very serious accusations.’

    Ukrainian air force spokesman Yurii Ihnat said the country’s air defences, bolstered by Western-supplied systems, had thwarted an intense Russian attack.

    He said the barrage included six Kinzhal aero-ballistic hypersonic missiles, the most fired in a single attack in the war so far. All were shot down, he added.

    Putin has repeatedly touted the Kinzhals as providing a key strategic competitive advantage and among the most advanced weapons in his country’s arsenal.

    What we know about Kinzhal, Russia’s hypersonic missile

    Russia began using the Kinzhal, which means ‘dagger’, to strike targets in Ukraine early in the invasion.

    But it has used the expensive weapon sparingly and against priority targets, apparently reflecting limited availability.

    – It is an air-launched ballistic missile capable of carrying nuclear or conventional warheads. Ukraine said six of them were fired on Tuesday.

    – It has a reported range of 1,500 to 2,000 km (930 to 1,240 miles) while carrying a payload of 480 kg. It may reach speeds of up to Mach 10 (12,250 kph).

    – The Kinzhal is one of six ‘next generation’ weapons unveiled by Putin in a speech in March 2018. He has said these weapons could penetrate both existing and any future missile defence systems.

    – Putin said in December 2021, two months before the invasion of Ukraine, that Russia was the global leader in hypersonic missiles and, by the time other countries caught up, was likely to have developed technology to counteract these new weapons.

    ‘In our advanced developments, we are definitely the leaders,’ he said.

    Ukraine is suspected to have downed an ???unstoppable??? Russian Kinzhal - or Dagger - hypersonic missile, pictured here with its carrier MiG-31
    Ukraine is suspected to have downed an ‘unstoppable’ Russian Kinzhal – or Dagger – hypersonic missile, pictured here with its carrier MiG-31 (Picture: MoD Russia/e2w)

    – Russia sent fighter jets armed with Kinzhal missiles to Syria for the first time in 2021, military analysts say.

    – Russia’s defence ministry claimed to have fired a Kinzhal missile at a munitions dump in southwestern Ukraine on March 19, 2022, the first known use of the weapon in combat.

    It has since fired Kinzhal missiles on several other occasions in Ukraine.

    – On May 6, Ukraine said for the first time that it had shot down a Kinzhal, using a Patriot system. It was not clear whether the ‘Western’ systems Kyiv said it used against Kinzhals on Tuesday were also Patriots.

    The missiles are difficult to detect and intercept because of their hypersonic speed and manoeuvrability.

    If Ukraine’s claim of having shot down six fired Tuesday is confirmed, it would mark another blow to Putin’s war efforts and show the increasing effectiveness of the country’s air defences.

    Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu contested the Ukrainian claims, telling the state-run RIA-Novosti news agency: ‘We have not launched as many Kinzhals as they allegedly shoot down every time with their statements.’

  • Putin attacks Kyiv with missiles for the ninth time in a month

    Putin attacks Kyiv with missiles for the ninth time in a month

    Overnight, Russia conducted yet another hefty missile attack on the Ukrainian capital.

    For the second time in three days, a round of cruise missile attacks against Kyiv occurred early in the morning.

    Vladimir Putin has already ordered aircraft attacks on the city nine times this month.

    Although the Ukrainian air defence was able to intercept all of the missiles, two fires were started in eastern regions by falling debris from the air raid, according to officials.

    The head of Kyiv’s civilian military administration said the attack had been launched from Russian strategic bombers over the Caspian sea.

    Serhiy Popko said on Telegram that a fire had broken out in non-residential premises in the Desnyansky district, just east of the capital. 

    He provided no information on casualties.

    Kyiv mayor Vitaly Klitschko, writing on Telegram, said one fire had broken out in a garage facility in the Darnitsya region of the capital – debris also fell in the Dnipro region of Kyiv. 

    He said there were no casualties from either of the incidents.

    Explosions also rocked several other cities across the country in the night as Russian forces continue to bombard Ukraine, with millions of people subjected to air raid alerts.

    One person was killed by a Russian missile strike on an industrial facility in the southern Ukrainian port city of Odesa.

    Two more people were wounded in the Odesa attack, military administration spokesman Serhiy Bratchuk wrote on Telegram.

    Blasts were also heard in the central regions of Vinnitsa, Khmelnitsky and Zhytomyr.

    On Tuesday, Ukraine said it shot down six Kinzhal hypersonic missiles, during one of the largest air attacks on the capital since the start of the Russian invasion.

    Kinzhals are ballistic missiles capable of travelling at up to 10 times the speed of sound and were among a volley of 18 missiles downed over Kyiv. 

    Three people were injured in the onslaught, which included a combination of drones and cruise missiles, alongside the Kinzhals.

    Following the attack, Mr Popko said it was the ‘maximum number of attacking missiles in the shortest period of time’ as debris fell across several districts.

    Three of Putin’s top hypersonic scientists were arrested on suspicion of high treason after the ‘undefeatable’ Kinzhals were intercepted.

    The past week has seen Ukrainian forces make their biggest gains on the battlefield since last November, recapturing several square km of territory on the northern and southern outskirts of the battlefield city of Bakhmut.

    Moscow has acknowledged that some of its troops have retreated but denies that its battle lines are crumbling.

    Kyiv says those advances are localised and do not yet represent the full force of its upcoming counteroffensive, which is expected to take advantage of hundreds of modern tanks and armoured vehicles sent by the West this year.

    A Ukrainian counteroffensive would bring the next major phase of the war after a huge Russian winter offensive that failed to capture significant new territory despite the bloodiest ground combat in Europe since World War II.

  • Russia and South Africa strengthen military ties – TASS

    Russia and South Africa strengthen military ties – TASS

    In meetings held in Moscow, senior military officials from South Africa and Russia agreed to expand their cooperation and improve the combat readiness of their armies, according to a report from Russia’s defense ministry in the state-run Tass news agency.

    The high-level talks come days after the US ambassador to Pretoria, Reuben Brigety, accused South Africa of supplying arms and ammunition to Russia, despite its professed neutrality in the Ukraine war.

    The commander of South Africa’s land forces, Lieutenant General Lawrence Mbatha, led the talks with his Russian counterpart, Oleg Salyukov, in Moscow, Tass reports.

    “The sides discussed issues of military cooperation, and the implementation of projects geared to enhance the combat readiness of the two countries’ armies.

    “The meeting between the military commanders yielded agreements on the further expansion of cooperation between the land forces in various areas,” the ministry is quoted as saying.

    Last week, South Africa found itself at the centre of a diplomatic storm with the US after Mr Brigety said he was confident that arms and ammunition were loaded on a Russian ship at a naval base in Cape Town in December.

    South Africa said it had no record of an arms sale, but President Cyril Ramaphosa has ordered an inquiry to investigate the allegations.

    In his weekly newsletter published on Monday, Mr Ramaphosa said South Africa was under “extraordinary pressure” to take sides in the Ukraine war, but it would not do so in what was “in effect a contest between Russia and the West”.

    The South African National Defence Force (SANDF) confirmed that senior military officers were currently in Moscow.

    “It must be noted that South Africa has military-to-military bilateral relations with various countries in the continent and beyond,” the SANDF said in a statement, adding that the trip to Russia was planned well in advance.

    The main opposition Democratic Alliance (DA) said the visit was the latest example of the South African government “unashamedly” showing its support for Russia.

  • FBI criticized for probing into potential election involving Trump and Russia

    FBI criticized for probing into potential election involving Trump and Russia

    An FBI investigation into potential collaboration between Donald Trump’s team and Russia in the 2016 presidential election has been criticised by a US special counsel.

    The FBI allegedly ‘discounted or wilfully ignored relevant facts that did not support the narrative of a collusive relationship between Trump and Russia’, according to Special Counsel John Durham’s 306-page final report, which was made public on Monday.

    Durham came to the conclusion that the FBI never ought to have opened a thorough inquiry into potential connections between the Trump campaign and Russian election meddling.

    The FBI used ‘raw, unanalyzed, and uncorroborated intelligence‘ in launching the probe known as Crossfire Hurricane, according to the report. It had a ‘lack of analytical rigor’ in examining leads on Trump’s links to Russia.

    ‘An objective and honest assessment of these strands of information should have caused the F.B.I. to question not only the predication for Crossfire Hurricane, but also to reflect on whether the F.B.I. was being manipulated for political or other purposes,’ wrote Durham.

    ‘Unfortunately, it did not.’

    Additionally, the report accused the FBI of using a different standard in considering allegations of election interference surrounding the campaign of Trump’s opponent Hillary Clinton.

    The report did not provide major revelations about the probe.

    Trump ripped former FBI Director James Comey and Democrats for the investigation into alleged collusion between his campaign and Russia.

    ‘I, and much more importantly, then American public have been victims of this long-running and treasonous charade started by the Democrats – started by Comey,’ Trump told Fox News Digital. ‘There must be a heavy price to pay for putting our country through this.’

    Trump said the report took a long time to be released publicly ‘because John Durham is a very thorough investigator’.

    ‘But the result is unequivocal and an absolute disaster in terms of justice,’ said Trump, adding that the ‘national security implications of what they did are very grave’.

    ‘It turned out to be a giant and very dangerous hoax,’ Trump said.

    Durham did not call for any ‘wholesale changes’ to the FBI’s guidelines for inquiries into politically sensitive matters.

  • Kyiv not advancing into Russian territory – Zelensky says

    Kyiv not advancing into Russian territory – Zelensky says

    President Volodymyr Zelensky has said in Germany, where Kyiv obtained a significant new defense aid package, that Ukraine has no plans to attack targets in Russia.

    “We are not attacking Russian territory,” he said after talks in Berlin with Chancellor Olaf Scholz.

    “We are preparing a counterattack to de-occupy the illegitimately conquered territories,” Mr Zelensky added.

    Mr Scholz vowed to back Ukraine “for as long as it is necessary”, promising €2.7bn (£2.4bn) worth of weapons.

    This includes advanced German Leopard tanks and more anti-aircraft systems to defend Ukraine from almost daily deadly Russian missile and drone attacks.

    President Zelensky described the new tranche as “the largest since the beginning of the full-scale aggression” by Russia in February 2022.

    The war has transformed Germany’s attitude towards Ukraine, moving from being a reluctant supplier of military hardware to virtually doubling its contribution overnight, the BBC’s Jenny Hill in Berlin says.

    Russia accuses Ukraine of repeatedly hitting targets inside Russia, including a reported attack on Moscow’s Kremlin earlier this month.

    Ukraine denies the accusations, while also stressing that it has a legitimate right to use force and other means to fully de-occupy its territories currently under Russian control. These include four regions in the south and east, as well as the Crimea peninsula, annexed by Moscow in 2014.

    Later on Sunday, President Zelensky will travel to the western city of Aachen to be bestowed with the prestigious Charlemagne Prize – an honour given for efforts to foster European unity.

    Previous winners include Winston Churchill, Pope Francis and Bill Clinton.

    President Zelensky flew to Germany from Italy overnight, his plane escorted by two German Air Force fighter jets.

    In Rome, the Ukrainian leader met Italian President Sergio President Mattarella and Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni. He also had a private audience with Pope Francis at the Vatican.

    The Argentine pontiff said he was constantly praying for peace in Ukraine.

    The Pope also stressed the urgent need to help “the most fragile people, innocent victims” of the Russian invasion.

    Meanwhile, Ms Meloni assured Mr Zelensky of Rome’s support for united Ukraine.

  • Russian missiles hit Ukraine Eurovision act’s City

    Russian missiles hit Ukraine Eurovision act’s City

    Russian missiles reportedly attacked the Ukrainian act’s hometown just before they took the stage in Liverpool, according to officials.

    The head of Ternopil regional state administration, Volodymyr Trush, confirmed two people had been injured.

    Ternopil mayor Serhiy Nadal said warehouses were damaged.

    Ukraine’s foreign ministry accused Russia of attacking Kyiv and Ternopil regions before and during Tvorchi’s Eurovision performance.

    Ten minutes before taking to the stage at the Liverpool Arena, Tvorchi posted on Instagram citing reports of Ternopil in western Ukraine being attacked.

    After performing, they added: “Ternopil is the name of our hometown, which was bombed by Russia while we sang on the Eurovision stage about our steel hearts, indomitability and will.

    “This is a message for all cities of Ukraine that are shelled every day. Kharkiv, Dnipro, Khmelnytsky, Kyiv, Zaporizhzhia, Uman, Sumy, Poltava, Vinnytsia, Odesa, Mykolaiv, Chernihiv, Kherson and all others.

    “Europe, unite against evil for the sake of peace!”

    Tvoirchi
    Image caption,Tvorchi posted on Instagram saying Russia was bombing their native city of Ternopil

    Tvorchi, made up of producer Andrii Hutsuliak and Nigeria-born vocalist Jeffery Kenny, hoped to defend the Eurovision title after Kalush Orchestra won last year in Turin.

    They performed “Heart of Steel” – a song about troops who led an ultimately unsuccessful resistance against Russian forces at the Azovstal plant in Mariupol.

    Liverpool is hosting the contest on behalf of Ukraine due to the ongoing conflict.

    At the end of their performance, Tvorchi held their fists in the air as acts from other nations were also seen waving the blue and yellow flag of Ukraine.

    Music duo Tvorchi of Ukraine appears on stage during the final of the Eurovision Song contest 2023
    Image caption,Tvorchi are made up of producer Andrii Hutsuliak and Nigeria-raised vocalist Jeffery Kenny

    The UK’s ambassador to Ukraine Dame Melinda Simmons described Tvorchi’s Eurovision performance as “poignant”.

    Writing on Twitter, she added: “Reminder that the reason why Ukraine could not host this event is because Russia continues to invade and the people of Ukraine live in continuing danger.”

    Though Swedish act Loreen took the Eurovision crown after a nail-biting finish, there was praise for Tvorchi from Ternopil’s mayor who thanked the band for supporting the city during their performance.

    Posting on Facebook in Ukrainian, Mayor Nadal wrote: “It was at this time that our city was attacked by Russian missiles.

    “Thank you, because your speech has become a symbol of not only the unity of the country, but of the whole world.”

    He told the BBC the fire at the warehouse in Ternopil had been brought under control.

    “Firefighters worked all night and continue to work,” he said, adding that the two people who were wounded suffered minor injuries and were in hospital.

    Russia has not yet made any official comment.

    Earlier in the day, President Volodymyr Zelensky visited Pope Francis at the Vatican and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni in Rome.

    He has since flown to Germany, arriving in Berlin just before 01:00 local time.

  • Zelensky travels to Rome to meet Pope Francis

    Zelensky travels to Rome to meet Pope Francis

    The president of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, is in Rome for a trip where he will meet with dignitaries and see Pope Francis.

    “An important visit for approaching victory of Ukraine!” Zelensky tweeted as he landed in the Italian capital.

    He will meet Italian PM Giorgia Meloni, President Sergio Mattarella and travel to the Vatican later on Saturday.

    A huge security operation has been launched, with over 1,000 police deployed and a no-fly zone over Rome.

    Pope Francis has often said that the Vatican stands ready to act as a mediator in the conflict between Russia and Ukraine.

    Earlier this month, he stated that the Vatican was working on a peace plan to end the war, saying that the mission was “not yet public. When it is public, I will talk about it.”

    But the relationship between Ukraine and the Vatican has sometimes been uneasy.

    Last August, Ukraine’s ambassador to the Vatican took the unusual step of criticising the Pope after the pontiff referred to Darya Dugina, the daughter of a Russian ultra-nationalist figure, who was killed by a car bomb, as an “innocent” victim of war.

    Saturday will be the first time President Zelensky and Pope Francis have met since Russia invaded Ukraine. The pair did meet in 2020.

    The visit comes after Russia carried out a new wave of air strikes on Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities overnight.

    Three people were injured in the southern city of Mykolaiv and in the western city of Khmelnytsky. Critical infrastructure as well as homes and government buildings were also hit.

    Explosions were reported on Friday in the Russian-occupied city of Luhansk, about 90km (55.9 miles) behind the front line in eastern Ukraine. Russian-backed separatist forces in the region accused Kyiv of using Storm Shadow missiles, which the UK said it had supplied Ukraine with earlier this week.

    There were also more reports of blasts in Luhansk on Saturday.

    Meanwhile, Ukrainian forces say they have made progress near the eastern city of Bakhmut.

  • SA agrees to probing allegations of providing Russia with arms

    SA agrees to probing allegations of providing Russia with arms

    The investigation into claims that South Africa sent weapons to Russia during the continuing conflict with Ukraine has been welcomed by the country’s defense ministry, according to President Cyril Ramaphosa.

    “The inquiry will offer the department an opportunity to ventilate its side of the story with concrete evidence,” a spokesperson from the department said.

    This comes as South Africa’s Head of Diplomacy, Clayson Monyela, said the country’s foreign minister will speak to her US counterpart, Anthony Blinken later on Friday.

    On Thursday, the US ambassador to South Africa, Reuben Brigety, claimed that a Russian ship was loaded with ammunition and arms in Cape Town last December.

    President Ramaphosa’s office said it was disappointed by the claims and said no evidence had been provided to support them.

    The country has maintained claims of neutrality over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

  • South Africa seeking to restore US relations amid Russia arms sales

    South Africa seeking to restore US relations amid Russia arms sales

    In the midst of a diplomatic dispute over allegations of arm sales to Russia, South Africa is attempting to mend fences with the US.

    US ambassador Reuben Brigety has claimed a Russian ship was loaded with ammunition and weapons in Cape Town last December.

    The allegation created a diplomatic storm and South Africa has said it has no record of an approved arms sale.

    But the government also said it valued a “cordial, strong, and mutually beneficial” relationship with the US.

    An inquiry looking into the claims has been set up, President Cyril Ramaphosa confirmed on Thursday.

    South African authorities have expressed disappointment over what one official describes as “megaphone” politics by the US ambassador, referring to Mr Brigety’s news conference on Thursday where he made the scathing accusations.

    The BBC understands that behind the scenes the government is more than disappointed – they have been angered by what some see as the US trying to strong-arm South Africa into aligning with it over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine “by any means necessary”.

    Officially, the department of international relations has said Foreign Minister Naledi Pandor will be speaking to her US counterpart Antony Blinken on Friday afternoon.

    They’ve also said they will be officially issuing a complaint against Mr Brigety through diplomatic channels – a reprimand of sorts.

    While the US has provided no evidence of the accusations yet, South Africa’s presidency on Thursday said it would set-up an enquiry which would be chaired by a retired judge to investigate the alleged incident.

    The presidency told the BBC that the terms of that inquiry, as well as when it would begin its investigation, would be communicated in due course.

    There is no dispute that a Russian ship, known as Lady R, docked off the Cape Town coast last December – prompting questions from local politicians at the time. Whether the ship was supplied with arms before returning to Russia still needs to be established.

    But it’s about more than a diplomatic row between old trade partners.

    If the accusations are true, South Africa will have violated its own Arms Control Act, which commits to “not trade in conventional arms with states engaged in repression, aggression or terrorism”.

    In the same act, South Africa describes itself as a “responsible member of the international community”.

    The government said on Friday that they had no record of arms being sold to Russia – and that if this happened – it was done covertly.

    Even this possibility does not bode well for South Africa, at best it would speak to a government that does not have a handle of the country’s affairs and at worst, would suggest something far more sinister – complicity in Russia’s aggression against Ukraine.

    South Africa is one of a handful of countries that has abstained from a number of UN votes on the conflict and has refused to publicly condemn Russia, insisting it is non-aligned on the matter.

    For months the regional super-power has been saying it instead supports a mediated settlement to the conflict.

    Supplying arms while claiming to be neutral would not only rubbish that stance but will leave South Africa with a lot to answer both to its citizens and the international community.

    Russia seems to stir feelings of nostalgia for some in the governing African National Congress, for the then USSR’s support for their fight against apartheid. But in present day South Africa, many have been asking questions about whether this love affair truly serves South Africa’s interests.

    International relations experts have pointed out that South Africa has more in common with some in the West, including the US, on matters of democracy and international law, and a far greater trade relationship with the West than with Russia.

    They’ve said it’s a relationship that may have been useful at a time in history for ANC activists, but in a world where Russia is increasingly being viewed as an aggressor and human rights violator following its invasion of Ukraine – are these really the friends South Africa needs?

    Some are worried about possible economic implications for South Africa, if relations with the US strain further.

    The country’s currency, the rand, which has been struggling for weeks as a result of months of rolling power cuts leaving homes and industries in the dark for up to 12 hours at times, crippling the economy, weakened even further following the US ambassador’s accusations.

    It’s an additional problem that South African citizens can scarcely afford.

  • US accuses South Africa of supplying arms to Russia

    US accuses South Africa of supplying arms to Russia

    The United States has accused South Africa of sending armaments to Russia in a secret naval operation, creating a foreign policy dilemma for President Cyril Ramaphosa over the country’s links to the Kremlin and its stance on the Ukraine conflict.

    Reuben Brigety, US ambassador to South Africa, told local media on Thursday that the US believed weapons and ammunition were loaded on to the Lady R, a Russian vessel under sanctions that docked at Simon’s Town naval dockyard near Cape Town in December.

    “Among the things we noted was the docking of the cargo ship . . . which we are confident uploaded weapons and ammunition on to that vessel in Simon’s Town as it made its way back to Russia,” he said, in comments reported by South Africa’s News24.

    “The arming of the Russians is extremely serious, and we do not consider this issue to be resolved,” he added.

    “The US embassy and South Africa’s foreign ministry did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Ramaphosa’s office said it would respond “in due course”.

    The rand dropped 2 per cent to 19.2 to the US dollar on the reports, its weakest level since April 2020.

    South Africa has said it is non-aligned in the war, but Ramaphosa’s government is under pressure over signs it is favouring Russia, for example by holding joint naval exercises this year.

    Ramaphosa has also extended an invitation for Russian president Vladimir Putin to attend a Brics leaders’ summit in Johannesburg in August — a move that has backfired on Pretoria after the International Criminal Court indicted Putin for war crimes. South Africa, a member of the ICC, would be legally obliged to arrest Putin if he travels there.

    Sydney Mufamadi, Ramaphosa’s national security adviser, recently visited the US to explain South Africa’s stance and to try to preserve trade links.

    The scandal over the Lady R is likely to overshadow these efforts.

    Owned by Transmorflot, a company placed under sanctions by the US last year, the Lady R appeared to switch off its transponder as it made the stop in Cape Town after a voyage down the west coast of Africa.

    After the ship left port, South Africa’s defence minister said it had delivered a consignment for the country’s defence forces, but provided no details on what the vessel may have picked up in Cape Town.

    The South African government in January officially denied that it had approved any arms sales from South Africa to Russia since Moscow began its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February last year.

  • India’s import of Russian oil in 2022 increased tenfold – Bank of Baroda

    India’s import of Russian oil in 2022 increased tenfold – Bank of Baroda

    According to Bank of Baroda, a state-controlled lender in India, the country’s imports of oil from Russia increased by a factor of ten last year, resulting in savings of approximately $5 billion (£4 billion) as the nation increased its crude purchases from Moscow.

    While Western nations have decreased their energy imports from Russia in response to its invasion of Ukraine, Russia has been selling energy at discounted prices to countries such as India and China.

    India, the world’s third-largest oil importer, previously relied on Russian oil for only 2% of its annual crude imports in 2021.

    However, that proportion has now surged to almost 20%, according to Bank of Baroda.

    Bank of Baroda reported that in 2021, Russian oil made up only 2% of India’s annual crude imports, but that figure has since increased significantly to almost 20%.

    As per the data, India saved approximately $89 per tonne of crude by purchasing oil from Russia during the last financial year.

    Despite facing pressure from the US and Europe, India has refused to comply with Western sanctions on Russian imports and has not explicitly condemned Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

    India has defended its oil purchases by stating that it is a country heavily dependent on energy imports and with millions living in poverty, it cannot afford to pay higher prices.

    According to S. Jaishankar, India’s External Affairs Minister, in a TV interview last year, since the Ukraine conflict started, Europe has imported six times more energy from Russia than India.

    “Europe has managed to reduce its imports while doing it in a manner that is comfortable,” he said.

    Mr Jaishankar added: “If it is a matter of principle why did Europe not cut on the first day?”

    With no end in sight to the conflict, some analysts expect Russia to continue to offer cheap oil to Asia’s biggest energy importers.

    “We expect Russian crude intake to remain limited to these two countries [India and China], sustaining the steep discounts,” Vandana Hari, from energy analysis firm Vanda Insights told the BBC.

    India’s oil refiners will continue to maximise their profit margins for as long as they can, but will simply “go back to their usual crude diet” if the sanctions were to be lifted, she added.

  • Russia promises to take action after the UK gives Ukraine cruise missiles

    Russia promises to take action after the UK gives Ukraine cruise missiles

    Russia has promised to take action in response to the UK’s alleged supply of cruise missiles to Ukraine.

    Dmitry Peskov, who works for the Kremlin, responded to a story by CNN today. The story said that British defence officials gave Kyiv many Storm Shadow cruise missiles.

    According to some people who work for the government, Ukraine is getting new weapons that could change the way the war is going. They are getting these weapons because they are getting ready to fight back against their enemies.

    The missiles are a ‘real game changer from a range perspective’, an official added.

    UK Defence Secretary Ben Wallace confirmed today that the government has provided the Storm Shadow missiles to Ukraine’s military.

    ‘The donation of these weapons systems gives Ukraine the best chance to defend themselves against Russia’s continued brutality, especially the deliberate targeting of Ukrainian civilian infrastructure, which is against international law,’ he told the House of Commons.

    ‘Ukraine has a right to be able to defend itself against this.’

  • British politics still influenced by foreign money

    British politics still influenced by foreign money

    Politicians will be thinking about the next general election as they reflect on the municipal elections that took place last week. Parties will be aiming to bolster their war chests for the campaign.

    But in their haste to do so, are they sufficiently investigating the source of the funding?

    Big party donors receive special access to leading lawmakers and occasionally even special insights into party strategy and government affairs.

    Therefore, it concerns who is giving these funds and what, if anything, they hope to receive in return from politicians.

    Making sure that MPs and parties are taking funds from reputable sources, not those trying to undermine our democracy, is crucial to public trust in our electoral system. 

    That’s why we need political parties to step up and do proper checks on donations. 

    This is not just about fairness, but security – we need to be wary of donors who are close to foreign governments that may wish us harm. 

    In 2020 the UK’s Intelligence and Security Committee found in its Russia Report that oligarchs linked to Putin had donated to UK political parties as part of likely Russian influence operations. 

    From attempting to encourage politicians to turn a blind eye to Russian aggression in eastern Europe and to the rampant corruption of its ruling elite, these operations were ultimately about weakening the West and bolstering Russia as a superpower. 

    Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has been a wake up call to us to ensure we do not allow their influence in our politics and wider society to go unchecked any more. 

    But it’s not just Russian influence we need to be watchful of.

    Just last month the Telegraph revealed that a Chinese businessman, RuiYou Lin, allegedly linked to a state intelligence agency and to secret Chinese state police stations in the UK, had organised fundraising dinners for the Conservative Party and been pictured alongside Boris Johnson, Theresa May and Sajid Javid. 

    The Chinese Communist Party will clearly do anything possible to neutralise opposition to their growing global power and the Chinese government’s human rights abuses, and leverage their influence on the British economy. 

    It has very different ideas and values to ours and is highly unlikely to be looking out for what’s best for the people of Britain.

    It’s not the first time China has tried to influence our politicians. 

    Last year, MI5 warned political parties about an alleged Chinese spy, Christine Lee, who had donated to Labour and attended a Conservative Party fundraising dinner. 

    Christine Lee, a woman with mid-length hair, poses in front of a billboard at a red carpet event
    MI5 issued a warning about an alleged Chinese spy, Christine Lee (Picture: Nigel Howard)

    Right now, the UK’s political parties have to do few checks on individuals they’re getting money from beyond whether they are on the electoral register, when they should be doing thorough due diligence on whether those individuals are reputable, and whether their money comes from legitimate, UK-based business. 

    Until we make those changes, Britain’s political system is seriously vulnerable to foreign influence and dirty money. 

    And that’s not just my belief – it’s the view of Parliament’s Intelligence and Security Committee. Its Chair Sir Julian Lewis told the House of Commons last week that ‘political parties do not have to examine the source of the funds they receive.’ 

    It’s also the view of the Electoral Commission, which wrote to the security minister, Tom Tugendhat, last November to say that political parties ‘should be required to take additional steps to ensure that they know where the money has come from’ when they receive donations to address concerns over foreign interference in the UK.

    When a political party in government makes tough decisions about our economy or the UK’s place in the world, we need to know they have *only* our country’s best interests at heart and haven’t been unduly influenced by big donors. 

    The top ethics body in the land, the Committee on Standards in Public Life, meanwhile warned back in 2021 that there were too many loopholes in the current regime for regulating party political donations to prevent foreign donations influencing UK politics. 

    After recent scandals, that feels like a missed opportunity. 

    Julian Lewis a man with grey hair in a grey suit with a red tie, poses in an official parliamentary portrait
    Intelligence and Security Committee chair Sir Julian Lewis has raised concerns (Picture: UK Parliament)

    I believe checks on donations that might have ultimately originated from foreign powers trying to influence our political system have become even more crucial following changes the government made last year to the electoral rules. 

    Alongside the controversial Voter ID requirements, the government also changed the rules to allow any UK citizen who has ever lived in the UK to vote.  

    By some estimates, that means a potential 3million additional voters based overseas at the next election, each one of whom can now also donate to a political party. 

    Without a requirement on political parties to do proper checks, this risks exposing the UK to potential donations from those who moved abroad and could now be working for the government of another country, or a political party there.

    The government had a golden opportunity to tackle this last week, when MPs voted on a change to the National Security Bill currently going through Parliament. 

    The amendment – introduced in the Lords – would have ensured political parties have systems in place to identify whether there were risks that donations had come from a foreign power. 

    It offered a chance to take a small step towards better transparency, but instead of taking the opportunity, the government rejected the amendment, stating that despite all the expert advice they have received from independent bodies, in their view the law is just fine as it is.

    UK businesses and banks, art galleries and estate agents are all required by UK law to check the source of wealth of their clients. 

    The government is even bringing forward new rules to make sure these kinds of checks are done before someone can become the owner of a football club.

    Do you think parties should have to proper checks on donations?

    Sign up for our News Updates newsletter for the latest news, exclusives and more from Metro sent straight to your inbox

    Clearly the stakes in the Premier League are high, but nothing is more important than protecting our democracy. 

    It’s time for more action, tighter rules, and a concerted effort to remove big money from those who may not have the best interest of Britain at heart influencing our politics. 

    Parties, Parliament, and indeed the country cannot and should not be for sale to bidders from foreign governments.

  • Civilization is at a “turning point” but Russia wants a “peaceful future” – Putin

    Civilization is at a “turning point” but Russia wants a “peaceful future” – Putin

    President Vladimir Putin while addressing the Victory Day parade in Moscow stated that the world is at a “turning point,” as various events throughout the country are being canceled due to security concerns.

    The yearly military parade honors the Soviet victory over Nazi Germany during WWII.

    Putin attempted to link Russia’s invasion of Ukraine to the fight against Nazism once more, stating that Russia was preserving its sovereignty.

    Addressing the crowds in Red Square, President Putin said “Today civilisation is again at a decisive turning point.”

    “A real war has again been unleashed against our Motherland but we have countered international terrorism, we will protect the inhabitants of the Donbas and we will protect our country.”

    He noted Russia wants to see a “peaceful future”, but said the Western elites are sowing the seeds of “hatred and Russophobia”.

    Russian President Vladimir Putin was joined by Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev and Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev in Moscow Credit: Reuters

    Victory Day marks the Soviet Union’s victory over Nazi Germany in 1945.

    Germany officially signed its surrender late on 8 May, which was already 9 May Moscow time.

    The Soviet Union had lost around 27 million citizens during World War Two, far more than any other country involved in the conflict; it is often said that every Soviet family lost at least one immediate or distant relative in the war.

    On Sunday night, Russia launched its largest drone attack on Ukraine.

    Meanwhile, Ukraine, like the rest of Europe, is commemorating Europe Day, which aims to promote peace on the continent.

  • Russia launches missile attack on Ukraine prior to Victory Day

    Russia launches missile attack on Ukraine prior to Victory Day

    As Russia gets ready to commemorate the anniversary of its victory over Nazi Germany, Putin has launched a number of attacks on the capital of Ukraine.

    At least five persons were hurt by rocket attacks on Monday morning, according to officials in Kiev; similar explosions were also reported in a number of other areas.

    Three people were hurt in Solomyanskyi, according to Mayor Vitali Klitschko, while two more were hurt in the west of the city’s Sviatoshyn neighborhood.

    Drone wreckage is also reported to have fallen on the runway at Zhuliany airport in the southwest, and to have hit a two-storey building in the central Shevchkivskyi area.

    In the southern port city of Odessa, officials have posted footage of a food warehouse on fire, seemingly the result of a Russian attack. 

    Further blasts are reported in the southern Kherson region, the Zaporizhia region to the southeast, and eight locations in the Sumy region to the northeast.

    Strikes against Russian targets in Ukraine have also increased in recent weeks, many of them targeting Crimea, a southern peninsula in the Black Sea held by Russia since the partial invasion of 2014.

    Ukrainian officials have not confirmed their forces’ role in those attacks, but have stressed destroying key enemy infrastructure, such as those found in Crimea, represents crucial preparation for their forthcoming large-scale counteroffensive.

    This morning’s wave of strikes come as the Putin regime prepares for Victory Day, a military parade scheduled to take place in Moscow tomorrow commemorating Russia’s defeat of Germany in the Second World War.

    The symbolism of the event is of especial significance this year, given the president’s efforts to equate the leadership in Kyiv with Nazism as a justification for his so-called ‘special military operation’ in Ukraine. 

    Putin’s war has lasted fifteen months, seen thousands killed and millions displaced. He presently faces an arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court for alleged war crimes over the forced deportation of Ukrainian children.

    Meanwhile, his stranglehold over dissent and free expression in Russia has continued to intensify, most recently with the sentencing of opposition activist Vladimir Kara-Murza and detention of US journalist Evan Gershkovich.

  • The bombing of a military blogger, was ‘a terrorist act’ – Russia

    The bombing of a military blogger, was ‘a terrorist act’ – Russia

    Russia has accused numerous Western countries and the “Kyiv regime” of being responsible for the Saturday vehicle explosion that killed military blogger Zakhar Prilepin.

    A spokesperson for the Russian Foreign Ministry made the allegation, but she offered no supporting evidence.

    As a result, the Security Service of Ukraine informed the online publication Ukrainian Pravda that it could “neither confirm nor deny” that it was involved “in this or that explosion that happens to the occupiers and their accomplices.”

    Prilepin, whose Telegram channel has more than 300,000 subscribers, was hospitalized with a leg injury after the blast in the Nizhny Novgorod region, about 250 miles east of Moscow. His driver was killed.

    The incident follows the death of another Russian military blogger last month. Russian also blamed Ukraine for that death, but Kyiv has previously denied any involvement.

    The Russian Investigative Committee called the latest incident “a terrorist act” and said it plans to investigate the blast as such.

    The committee also reported a suspect in the car bombing had been detained and during the interrogation testified “that he acted on the instructions of the Ukrainian special services.”

    The suspect “planted an explosive device on the road along the route of Zakhar Prilepin’s car, which he set off remotely,” the committee alleged. “After that, he fled the scene, but was detained by law enforcement officers when he left the forest in another settlement.”

    The committee published what they claimed was a video confession of the suspect but it was not clear under what circumstances he was interviewed or whether he was under duress in the video.

    Russian pro-Kremlin newspaper Izvestia reported that Prilepin had surgery earlier on Saturday and is at the hospital in stable condition.

  • Playwright and director from Russia detained on suspicion of “justifying terrorism

    Playwright and director from Russia detained on suspicion of “justifying terrorism

    An acclaimed playwright and theatre director have been detained in Russia on charges of “justifying terrorism” for their play about Russian women being recruited online to wed Islamic State terrorists in Syria.

    Investigators said that Yevgenia Berkovich and Svetlana Petriychuk’s award-winning performance “Finist, the Bright Falcon” had broken the law when they were both arrested on Friday.

    According to prosecutors, the book promotes the “ideology of radical feminism” and “romanticises, justifies, and glorifies terrorists,” according to Russian state media TASS.

    It was staged in 2021 by Berkovich’s own company, with the support of the Union of Theater Workers of the Russian Federation and the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation, according to independent news website Meduza.

    The play won two “Golden Mask” national theater awards last year. Berkovich also received a nomination for best director.

    Theater critics described the production as “exposing the mechanics of terrorism.”

    The 38-year-old Berkovich was remanded in custody for two months until July 4, despite her lawyers asking if she could be granted house arrest to take care of her two adopted, disabled daughters.

    The charges against her carry a maximum penalty of seven years in prison.

    The arrests shocked Russia’s shrinking theater community and prompted independent Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta to publish an open letter in support of Berkovich and Petriychuk, calling on Russian authorities to “persecute murderers instead of poets.”

    In a separate development, authorities in St Petersburg temporarily closed the Maly Drama theater with one of its actors Danila Kozlovsky facing investigation for anti-war posts.

    Russia’s cultural scene has faced increased repression since Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine. Prominent figures have been purged from their jobs and some have faced criminal cases.

  • Burkina Faso lauds Russia as both move to strengthen ties

    Burkina Faso lauds Russia as both move to strengthen ties

    Burkina Faso’s interim president, Capt Ibrahim Traore, has said he was satisfied with his country’s military ties with Russia, which he described as “a strategic partner”.

    “I am satisfied with our military co-operation with Russia. Besides, Burkina Faso’s cooperation with Russia dates back to a long time, but we are developing it and move it further,” he said on Thursday in an interview with state-run channel RTB TV.

    He denied that Russian mercenaries from the Wagner group were supporting Burkinabe forces in their fight against Islamist armed groups.

    He said the exit of French forces from the country “does not mean that France is no longer an ally because the French embassy is still here”.

    But he cited “new forms of co-operation” describing Russia as an an example of “a strategic ally”. He said Turkiye was a major partner.

    He also mentioned North Korea, saying it had supported Burkina Faso in the past with heavy military equipment that was still in use – and would want more supplies from there.

    Capt Traore said Burkina Faso has many international partners, but “will only collaborate with those who want to help us, like sell us equipment and support us”.

  • Ukraine: Wagner troops to withdraw from Bakhmut

    Ukraine: Wagner troops to withdraw from Bakhmut

    In a dispute over ammunition, the leader of the Russian Wagner Group has threatened to pull his forces out of the Ukrainian city of Bakhmut by Wednesday.

    He made his remark after beseeching Russia’s defense minister for more supplies while strolling among the bodies of fallen warriors in a social media video. 

    “They are dying so that you can gambol in your redwood cabinets,” he said while addressing the government.

    “Shoigu! Gerasimov! Where is the… ammunition?… They came here as volunteers and die for you to fatten yourselves in your mahogany offices,” he added.

    His troops will leave on 10 May.

    Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu and Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov have often been the focus for Prigozhin’s anger.

    Prigozhin is a publicity seeker, and his influence has seemingly waned in recent months. He has previously made threats he has not followed through with – subsequently dismissing them as jokes and military humour.

    Only last week he told a Russian pro-war blogger that Wagner fighters in Bakhmut were down to their last days of supplies of bullets, and needed thousands of rounds of ammunition.

    If shortages were not tackled then his mercenaries would be forced either to retreat or remain and die, he warned: “Then, no matter what our bureaucrats want, everything else will crumble.”

    Prigozhin said that his forces had agreed to stay in Bakhmut until 10 May to allow Russia to mark Tuesday’s Victory Day celebrations.

    In February, he posted another image of his dead troops and blamed army chiefs for their deaths. Although the military denied deliberately starving his Wagner group of shells, at the time they did respond by increasing supplies to the front line.

    In his announcement, standing in front of his men, he said on 10 May they would be “obliged to transfer positions in the settlement of Bakhmut to units of the defence ministry and withdraw the remains of Wagner to logistics camps to lick our wounds”.

    The battle for Bakhmut has dragged for months and is thought to have claimed thousands of lives. Ukraine’s armed forces decided to defend the city at all costs in an apparent attempt to focus Russian military resources on one place of relatively little significance.

    US-based military analyst Rob Lee argues that Wagner’s latest complaint of shortages likely reflects Russia’s defence ministry rationing ammunition ahead of Ukraine’s long anticipated counter-offensive. The ministry has to defend the whole front, but Prigozhin’s sole concern lies in taking Bakhmut, he wrote on Twitter.

    Prigozhin has himself predicted that Ukraine’s counter-offensive will begin by 15 May, as tanks and artillery will be able to advance in dry weather, after the last spring rain.

    In a separate move, Prigozhin appears to have hired an army general who was recently dismissed as logistics chief.

    Col-Gen Mikhail Mizintsev was dubbed the butcher of Mariupol for his role in last year’s bombardment of Ukraine’s southern port city, captured by Russian forces a year ago.

    Videos posted online show in at a Wagner training camp and then visiting positions in Bakhmut.

    Prigozhin said earlier he had offered him the post of deputy to a Wagner commander, pointing out that the general had done his best to help supply mercenaries with ammunition and had co-operated with the group’s efforts to recruit convicted prisoners to its ranks.

    Col-Gen Mizintsev was only put in charge of army logistics last September, shortly after Prigozhin was filmed inside a Russian prison telling inmates they would be freed from jail if they served with his men in Ukraine.

  • Drone attack set oil facility ablaze in Russia-Russia State media

    Drone attack set oil facility ablaze in Russia-Russia State media

    State-run news outlet Tass said early on Thursday that a fire started in the reservoir of Russia‘s Ilsky oil refinery in the country’s southwest Krasnodar region.

    Tass said that a drone strike was what started the fire, citing emergency services.

    According to emergency services, a gasoline tank at the Ilsky Oil Refinery in the urban-style hamlet of Ilsky in the Seversky district caught fire because of an attack by an unidentified drone. Firefighters have been sent to the scene, Tass said.

    There were no casualties, according to Krasnodar Gov. Veniamin Kondratiev, who said in a Telegram post that residents are no longer in danger.

    “It’s been a second turbulent night in a row for our emergency services. A tank of petroleum products at the Ilsky Oil Refinery in the Seversky District has now been confirmed to be on fire. Fire brigades and MES staff of 48 people and 16 vehicles are already at work,” he said.

    It comes after Russian state media on Wednesday said a drone strike ignited a fire that engulfed an oil storage facility in the port of Volna in Krasnodar.

    Videos published on social media and geolocated by CNN show the oil storage tanks burning.

    That facility is close to the Kerch bridge that was set ablaze by Ukrainian forces in October 2022. It is unclear how the fuel storage tank caught fire and Ukraine has not commented on the incident.