Page 85 - Latest Updates on Ukraine peace talks

Ukraine set for symbolic start of EU membership talks, alongside Moldova

The two countries will have to navigate not just technical and legal obstacles to membership but also political hurdles

US expected to send Ukraine $150 mn more in munitions to fight Russia

The U.S. is expected to announce Tuesday it is sending an additional $150 million in critically needed munitions to Ukraine, as Russia accuses Ukraine of using U.S.-provided munitions to strike inside Russia or Russian-held territory, according to two U.S. officials. On Monday, Russia summoned the American ambassador to protest what it says was the use of U.S.-made advanced missiles in a Ukrainian attack on Crimea on Sunday that reportedly killed four people and wounded more than 150. Crimea, which Russian seized from Ukraine in 2014 in a move that most of the world rejected as unlawful, long had been declared a fair target for Ukraine by its Western allies. However, the Pentagon said last week that Ukraine's military is also now allowed to use longer-range missiles provided by the U.S. to strike targets inside Russia if it is acting in self-defense. Since the outset of the war, the U.S. had maintained a policy of not allowing Ukraine to use the weapons it provided to hit targets on

EU targets Russia's LNG ghost fleet in new round of Ukraine war sanctions

The European Union on Monday slapped new sanctions on Russia over its war on Ukraine, targeting Moscow's shadow fleet of tankers moving liquefied natural gas through Europe as well as several companies. In a statement issued at a meeting of EU foreign ministers, the bloc said that it will forbid reloading services of Russian LNG in EU territory for the purpose of transshipment operations to third countries. The EU estimates that about 4-to-6 billion cubic metres of Russian LNG was shipped to third countries via EU ports last year. Russia is suspected of running a ghost fleet to evade sanctions and keep up the flow of energy earnings so that it can finance the war. The measures will target ship-to-ship and ship-to-shore transfers as well as reloading operations. It also involves a crackdown on the re-export of LNG to third countries via the EU, plus a ban on new investments to help Russia complete LNG projects it is working on. A total of 61 new entities often companies, banks, ..

Ukraine inches closer to joining EU after decade of devastating war

Kyiv filed its request to join the EU days after Russia's full-scale invasion in February 2022

Ukraine on irreversible course of Western integration, says top official

Ukraine's top official for Europe says the war-torn country is on an irreversible course of Western integration after the European Union agreed to formally start entry negotiations this week. The decision to launch accession talks this week is a big day for her country, Olga Stefanishyna, the deputy prime minister for European and Euro-Atlantic integration, said. This is the utmost will of the Ukrainian people. And this is the irreversibility. And you've seen Ukrainians stand up for their choice, Stefanishyna said, speaking in Kyiv Sunday. It was her first interview since being appointed chief negotiator for EU accession. EU leaders agreed Friday to start the entry talks with Ukraine and Moldova overcoming vocal opposition led by Hungary which takes over the EU's rotating presidency on July 1. Stefanishyna will head the opening of the accession talks in Luxembourg Tuesday, joined by several top government officials. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is expected to give a sp

Russia says U.S. is responsible for deadly Ukrainian attack on Crimea

Television footage on Russian state television showed people running from a beach and some people being carried off on sun loungers

Ukrainian air strike kills 4 in Russia, Kharkiv bombing leaves 1 dead

Russian authorities said four people died and over 100 were wounded in Ukrainian drone and missile attacks on Sunday, while the second day of Russia's aerial bombing of Kharkiv in northeastern Ukraine killed at least one person. Five people including two children were killed by falling debris when five Ukrainian missiles were shot down in Sevastopol, a port city in Russia-annexed Crimea, said Mikhail Razvozhayev, the city's Moscow-installed governor. Russian state news agency RIA Novosti, citing the Health Ministry, said 124 people were wounded. Razvozhayev declared Monday a day of mourning in the city, with public events canceled. One person was killed and three injured in Russia's Belgorod region, bordering Ukraine, when three Ukrainian drones attacked the city of Grayvoron, regional Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said. Air defences overnight shot down 33 Ukrainian drones over Russia's western Bryansk, Smolensk, Lipetsk and Tula regions, the Russian Ministry of Defence said Sunday

With new pact with North Korea, Russia raises stakes with West over Ukraine

Behind the smiles, the balloons and the red-carpet pageantry of President Vladimir Putin's visit to North Korea last week, a strong signal came through: In the spiralling confrontation with the US and its allies over Ukraine, the Russian leader is willing to challenge Western interests like never before. The pact that he signed with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un envisions mutual military assistance between Moscow and Pyongyang if either is attacked. Putin also announced for the first time that Russia could provide weapons to the isolated country, a move that could destabilise the Korean Peninsula and reverberate far beyond. He described the potential arms shipments as a response to NATO allies providing Ukraine with longer-range weapons to attack Russia. He bluntly declared that Moscow has nothing to lose and is prepared to go to the end to achieve its goals in Ukraine. Putin's moves added to concerns in Washington and Seoul about what they see as an alliance in which North Korea

Why a crime wave will be unleashed in Russia when its war on Ukraine ends

Crimes committed by servicemen that aren't linked to the war increased by more than 20 per cent last year

From Pyongyang to Putin: Nuclear diplomacy shifts amid Ukraine standoff

Russian President Vladimir Putin has escalated tensions by threatening to arm North Korea in response to US and allied support for Ukraine

Ukraine can hit inside Russia anywhere its forces attack across border: US

If Russia is attacking or about to attack from its territory into Ukraine, it only makes sense to allow Ukraine to hit back, said the US embassy

Japan imposes trade curbs on Chinese firms for backing Ukraine war

The new sanctions also target firms in India, Kazakhstan, and Uzbekistan

US to redirect inceptor missiles to Ukraine that other allies had ordered

The White House announced Thursday that it will rush delivery of air defence interceptor missiles to Ukraine by redirecting planned shipments to other allied nations, as Washington scrambles to counter increased Russian attacks on Ukrainian energy infrastructure. National security spokesman John Kirby said the US had taken the difficult but necessary decision to reprioritise near-term planned deliveries of foreign military sales to other countries, though he wouldn't say which nations would be affected or how many. Right now, we know that Ukraine urgently needs these additional capabilities, Kirby said on a call with reporters, adding, Obviously more is needed, and it's needed now. The announcement comes after President Joe Biden, during last week's Group of Seven meeting in Italy, suggested such action might be necessary, saying, We've let it be known for those countries that are expecting, from us, air defense systems in the future, that they're going to have to wait." Everything

Russia obliterates front-line Ukraine towns by retrofitting bombs

The first shock wave shattered aisles stacked almost to the ceiling with home improvement products. The next Russian bomb streaked down like a comet seconds later, unleashing flames that left the megastore an ashen shell. A third bomb failed to detonate when it landed behind the Epicenter shopping complex in Kharkiv. Investigators hope it will help them trace the supply chain for the latest generation of retrofitted Russian glide bombs that are laying waste to eastern Ukraine. The Soviet-era bombs are adapted on the cheap with imported electronics that allow distant Russian warplanes to launch them at Ukraine. Other cities that have been devastated by the weapons include Avdiivka, Chasiv Yar and Vovchansk, and Russia has nearly unlimited supplies of the bombs, which are dispatched from airfields just across the border that Ukraine has not been able to hit. Store manager Oleksandr Lutsenko said the May 25 attack hints at Russia's aim for Kharkiv: Their goal is to turn it into a ghost

Putin, Kim ink mutual defence pact; North Korea vows unconditional support

On his first visit to Pyongyang since July 2000, Putin explicitly linked Russia's deepening of ties with North Korea to the West's growing support for Ukraine

Putin vows trade, security deals with North Korea beyond reach of West

Putin's foreign policy adviser Yuri Ushakov said Russia and North Korea may sign a partnership agreement during the visit that would include security issues

Fleet of Russian warships leaves Havana's port after five-day visit to Cuba

A fleet of Russian warships, including a nuclear-powered submarine, left Havana's port on Monday after a five-day visit to Cuba following planned military drills in the Atlantic Ocean. The exercise has been seen by some as a show of strength by Moscow against the backdrop of tensions as US and other Western nations support Kyiv in Russia's war on Ukraine. The submarine, a frigate, an oil tanker and a rescue tug slowly departed from the port on Monday morning. It's unclear what the fleet's next destination is or where it will dock next in the Caribbean, although US officials said days ago that the vessels could possibly also stop in Venezuela. Officials with the Biden administration said last week that they were monitoring the vessels and confirmed that they did not pose a threat to the region or indicate a transfer of missiles. Still, the United States docked a submarine, the USS Helena, at its Guantanamo Bay Naval Base in Cuba. The American naval base, located in the southeastern

Over 20 NATO allies likely to hit defence spending target amid Ukraine war

A record more than 20 NATO member nations are expected to hit the Western military alliance's defence spending target this year, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said Monday, as the war in Ukraine drives worldwide concerns. The estimated figure, announced by Stoltenberg during a talk at the Wilson Centre in Washington, marks a nearly fourfold increase from 2021 in the ranks of the 32 NATO member nations meeting the alliance's defense spending guideline. Only six nations were meeting the goal that year, ahead of Russian President Vladimir Putin's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. NATO member countries agreed last year to spend at least 2 per cent of their gross domestic product on defence. The surge in spending reflects the worries of Western allies about the war in Ukraine. Some countries also are concerned about the possible reelection of former President Donald Trump, who has repeatedly characterised many NATO allies as freeloading on US military spending and said on the ...

Russian Prez Putin to visit North Korea, Vietnam; US embassy reacts sternly

No country should give Putin a platform to promote his war of aggression and otherwise allow him to normalise his atrocities, said US embassy in Hanoi

Ukraine, bondholder group unable to reach deal in formal $20 bn debt talks

Ukraine had been in formal talks with bondholders for nearly two weeks, seeking to restructure the debt in order to retain access to international markets