Page 99 - Latest Updates on Ukraine peace talks

US army soldier arrested for selling sensitive military information

An Army soldier has been arrested on charges of selling sensitive information related to U.S. military capabilities, Justice Department officials said Thursday. Korbein Schultz, who is also an intelligence analyst, was accused in a six-count indictment of charges including conspiring to obtain and disclose military defense information and bribery of a public official. According to the indictment, Schultz who had a top-secret security clearance allegedly conspired with an individual identified only as Conspirator A to disclose various documents, photographs and other national defense materials since June 2022. The indictment claims that Schultz was recruited by the individual not only due to his security clearance but also because he was tasked with gathering sensitive U.S. military information. Some of the information that Schultz supposedly gave to the individual included information related to the High Mobility Artillery Rocket System, hypersonic equipment, studies on future ...

Will provide 10,000 drones to Ukraine in its fight against Russia: Britain

Britain said Thursday that it would provide 10,000 drones to arm Ukraine in its fight against Russia. The announcement by Defense Secretary Grant Shapps during a visit in Kyiv with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy includes an investment of 125 million pounds ($160 million) on top of 200 million pounds ($256 million) previously committed for drones. The weaponry will include 1,000 one-way attack or kamikaze drones and models that target ships. Ukraine's Armed Forces are using U.K. donated weapons to unprecedented effect, to help lay waste to nearly 30% of Russia's Black Sea Fleet, Shapps said. On Tuesday, Ukrainian sea drones reportedly sank another Russian warship in the Black Sea, the latest in a series of strikes that has crippled Moscow's naval capability.

CBI busts network trafficking Indians to Russia-Ukraine conflict zone

The Central Bureau of Investigation has busted a major human trafficking network that took Indians to the Russia-Ukraine war zone in the garb of providing jobs abroad, officials said on Thursday. The agency is conducting searches at over 10 locations in seven cities, they said. The officials said the agency has registered an FIR against various visa consultancy firms and agents. Several individuals have been detained during the search and Rs 50 lakh has been seized, they added.

Putin's crackdown casts a wide net, ensnaring LGBTQ+ community, lawyers

It's not just opposition politicians who are targeted in the crackdown by Russian President Vladimir Putin's government in recent years. Also falling victim are independent voices as well as those who don't conform to what the state sees as the country's traditional values. Russia's once-thriving free press after the collapse of the Soviet Union has been largely reduced to either state-controlled media or independent journalists operating from abroad, with few critical outlets still working in the country. Prominent rights groups have been outlawed or classified as agents of foreigners. Lawyers who represented dissidents have been prosecuted. LGBTQ+ activists have been labelled "extremists. A look at those who have come under attack during Putin's 24-year rule that is likely to be extended by six more years in this month's presidential election: INDEPENDENT MEDIA Independent news sites largely have been blocked in Russia since the first weeks of the war in Ukraine. Many have moved

IAEA chief in Russia to discuss safety of Ukrainian nuclear plant

The U.N.'s atomic watchdog agency chief is visiting Russia amid concern about a Ukrainian nuclear power plant caught in the crossfire since Moscow sent troops into Ukraine in 2022 and seized the facility shortly after. IAEA Director-General Rafael Mariano Grossi arrived at the Black Sea resort of Sochi on Tuesday evening, according to Russian state news agency RIA Novosti for talks on nuclear safety in Ukraine. Grossi announced the trip on Monday, the first day of a regular meeting of the agency's 35-nation board of governors in Vienna. The International Atomic Energy Agency has repeatedly expressed alarm about the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, Europe's largest, amid fears of a potential nuclear catastrophe. The plant's six reactors have been shut down for months, but it still needs power and qualified staff to operate crucial cooling systems and other safety features. Speaking to reporters in Sochi on Wednesday, the IAEA chief said he had a very intensive and exhaustive workin

Putin's 24-years rule: Crackdown on dissent solidifies his leadership

When charismatic opposition leader Boris Nemtsov was gunned down on a bridge near the Kremlin in February 2015, more than 50,000 Muscovites expressed their shock and outrage the next day at the brazen assassination. Police stood aside as they rallied and chanted anti-government slogans. Nine years later, stunned and angry Russians streamed into the streets on the night of Feb 16, when they heard that popular opposition politician Alexei Navalny had died in prison. But this time, those laying flowers at impromptu memorials in major cities were met by riot police, who arrested and dragged hundreds of them away. In those intervening years, Vladimir Putin's Russia evolved from a country that tolerated some dissent to one that ruthlessly suppresses it. Arrests, trials and long prison terms once rare are commonplace, especially after Moscow invaded Ukraine. Alongside its political opponents, the Kremlin now also targets rights groups, independent media and other members of civil-society

Russia-Ukraine war: 7 Indians tricked into joining Russian Army, seek help

A group of Indians alleged that they got tricked into joining the Russian military and were sent to fight in the war against Ukraine

Undermanned Ukrainian army challenges power of Russia's Black Sea fleet

Ukrainian sea drones reportedly sank another Russian warship in the Black Sea on Tuesday, the latest in a series of strikes that has crippled Moscow's naval capability and limited its operations with the war now in its third year. Successful Ukrainian drone and missile strikes have provided a major morale boost for Kyiv at a time when its undermanned and under-gunned forces are facing Russian attacks along the more than 1,000-kilometer (600-mile) front line. Challenging Russia's naval superiority also has helped create more favorable conditions for Ukrainian grain exports and other shipments from the country's Black Sea ports. Here's a look at recent Ukrainian attacks against Russian naval assets and their consequences. RELENTLESS STRIKES In the latest reported strike, Ukrainian naval drones attacked the Sergei Kotov patrol ship near the Kerch Strait, which links the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov, according to the Ukraine's military intelligence agency. The strike, which couldn't

Vladimir Putin's pre-election promises may cost Russia $130 billion

An analysis by Dmitry Polevoy, investment director at Astra Asset Management, shows such projects could cost Russia as much as 2 trillion rubles per year, or more than $130 billion over six years

Ukrainian food producers needs long-term plan for exports to EU: Report

Ukraine wants to permanently remove tariffs and quotas on EU agricultural imports by updating its trade deal with the EU, or at least extend the current suspension for three years

Zara is reopening its shops in this country after a two-year hiatus

Several companies shut their doors in Ukraine as well as Russia two years ago but many of them are now returning

Russia's Putin hints at higher taxes for wealthy individuals, companies

Businessmen who invest in Russia should have their assets and property rights protected, Putin said, and taxes for small and medium-sized businesses in Russia should be reduced

Putin promises $110 bn in state support ahead of general elections

The costliest pledge concerned 4.5 trillion roubles for modernising public infrastructure and 1 trillion roubles on the construction, repair and equipping of hospitals

Putin warns of nuclear war risk, says Moscow can strike Western targets

Visibly angry, Putin suggested Western politicians recall the fate of those like Nazi Germany's Adolf Hitler and France's Napoleon Bonaparte who had unsuccessfully invaded Russia in the past

G20 finance chiefs' meet: Brazil warns of global economic challenges

He also said the G20 finance leaders are discussing financing for Ukraine to raise pressure on Russia, adding that funds could be mobilized for Kyiv by using proceeds from frozen Russian assets

Zelenskyy to co-host summit in Albania seeking more war support from Europe

Ukraine's president will co-host a summit with Albania's government on Wednesday that's meant to encourage further support for Kyiv by southeastern European countries as signs of fatigue grow two years after Russia's full-scale invasion. It is not immediately clear what the summit is expected to achieve beyond its stated goals of "peace, security, cooperation." No agenda was available ahead of the summit. Officials with NATO member Albania gave no details. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will attend in person on the latest stop in an international tour that saw him in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday to push for a peace plan and the return of prisoners of war from Russia. Securing further support is key to Ukraine's leader while his country faces battlefield challenges. Zelenskyy on Sunday announced that 31,000 Ukrainian soldiers have been killed in action since Russia's invasion the first time that Kyiv had confirmed the number of its losses. Ukraine has urged Western leaders to .

G20 leaders to mention regional 'conflicts' in tight draft statement

"Risks to the global economic outlook are more balanced," with faster-than-expected disinflation and more growth-friendly fiscal consolidation underpinning growth, the draft said

US prez Biden urges Congress leaders to move quickly as govt shutdown looms

"We've got a lot of work to do," Biden said in the Oval Office, with Vice President Kamala Harris at his side and the four leaders sitting on couches nearby

Why UNSC rendered ineffective in resolving Russia-Ukraine conflict: Kamboj

India has questioned why the UN Security Council has been rendered "completely ineffective" in resolving the Russia-Ukraine conflict that has continued unabated for two years, as New Delhi asserted that outdated structures need reform for multilateralism to be effective. India's Permanent Representative to the UN Ambassador, Ruchira Kamboj, raised the question at a UN General Assembly plenary meeting held to mark two years since the beginning of the Ukraine conflict on February 24, 2022. As the conflict has continued for two years unabated, we, the comity of UN Member States, must pause and ask ourselves two pressing questions, Kamboj told the UN General Assembly meeting on the Ukraine conflict. Are we anywhere near a possible, acceptable solution? And if not, why is it that the UN system, particularly its principal organ, the United Nations Security Council, is mandated to primarily maintain international peace and security? Why is it rendered completely ineffective in the resoluti

Western troops on ground in Ukraine not ruled out in future, says Macron

French President Emmanuel Macron said Monday that sending Western troops on the ground in Ukraine is not ruled out in the future after the issue was debated at a gathering if European leaders, as Russia's full-scale invasion grinds into a third year. The French leader said at the meeting of 20 European heads of state and other Western officials in Paris that we will do everything needed so Russia cannot win the war. There's no consensus today to send in an official, endorsed manner troops on the ground. But in terms of dynamics, nothing can be ruled out, Macron said in a news conference. The meeting included German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Polish President Andrzej Duda as well as leaders from the Baltic nations. Macron declined to provide details about which nations were considering sending troops, saying he prefers to maintain some strategic ambiguity. Macron earlier called on European leaders to ensure the continent's collective security by providing unwavering support to Ukra