Page 54 - Ukraine

Nato pledges dozens of air-defense systems to Ukraine, including 4 Patriots

The US and an array of other NATO allies will send Ukraine dozens of air-defence systems in the coming months, including at least four of the powerful Patriot systems that Kyiv has been desperately seeking to help fight off Russian advances in the war, according to a new joint agreement. President Joe Biden announced the broader commitment when he spoke on Tuesday at the opening of the NATO summit in Washington. According to the statement, the US, Germany and Romania will send Ukraine additional Patriot batteries, while the Netherlands and others will provide Patriot components to make up one more battery. Italy will provide a SAMP-T air-defence system. Other allies, including Canada, Norway, Spain and the United Kingdom, will provide a number of other systems that will help Ukraine expand its coverage. Those systems include NASAMS, HAWKs, IRIS T-SLM, IRIS T-SLS and Gepards. And other nations have agreed to provide munitions for those systems. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky

World can't wait for US election to take action to repel Putin: Zelenskyy

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says the world must not wait for November to drive back Russia's offensive against his country. Zelenskyy made the remarks while attending this week's summit of NATO leaders in Washington. He said the world was waiting to see what would happen in November, when voters are expected to decide between incumbent President Joe Biden and Republican opponent Donald Trump. But he said there needed to be action before then to defeat Russian President Vladimir Putin in his war against Ukraine. Zelenskyy has proven to be an adept navigator of international relations in defence of his war-ravaged country, publicly cajoling and sometimes loudly complaining to get the military assistance it needs to defend itself against Russia's invasion. But, as he attends the NATO summit, his most coveted prize -- membership in the military alliance -- remains elusive. The European and North American countries making up NATO are in no hurry to admit Ukraine, especially

Zelenskyy adept at pushing for Ukraine aid, Nato membership still elusive

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has proven to be an adept navigator of international relations in defense of his country, publicly cajoling and sometimes loudly complaining to get the military assistance his war-ravaged country needs to defend itself against Russia's invasion. But, as he attends this week's summit of NATO leaders in Washington, his most coveted prize membership in the military alliance remains elusive. The European and North American countries making up NATO are in no hurry to admit Ukraine, especially while it is engaged in active hostilities with Russia that could drag them into a broader war. Zelenskyy, who was feted as a champion of democracy in Washington in the aftermath of Russia's 2022 invasion but was forced to plead his case for aid to US lawmakers just last year, will find himself once again in the American capital as bridesmaid. At the NATO summit, he'll be trying to navigate a tumultuous American political landscape as President Joe Biden trie

US urges India, allies to back efforts for peace resolution in Ukraine war

White House Secretary also reiterated that India is a strategic partner with whom the US engages in frank dialogue

Russia war threatens Ukraine's Olympic future; a young gymnast offers hope

When Oleksandra Paskal first took to the mat as a 4-year-old, her rhythmic gymnastics coach saw nothing but potential in a sport where the Olympics is the ultimate goal. Then a Russian missile crushed her summer house in the southern Odesa region, burying her beneath the debris and severing her left leg. Oleksandra's coach, Inga Kovalchuk, prides herself on her ability to spot the future. But it's increasingly clear that Russia's war on Ukraine is demolishing the seeds of a sports culture that was a European powerhouse. Two years after she was injured in May 2022, Oleksandra was among 12 girls diligently following the instructions of their demanding coach. No one paid attention to her prosthetic leg, but although she has even more of the grit and dedication that first caught Kovalchuk's eye, she will never be quite the same. Oleksandra, you do the exercise on full foot, the others on half toes, Kovalchuk told the group. Now 8, the girl who once aimed to compete at the Olympics now

Ukrainian boxer sacrifices Olympic dream to fight against Russia's invasion

Maksym Halinichev won silver at the Youth Olympics in Buenos Aires in a match described at the time as two of the best young fighters going for glory. He considered the bout a loss it wasn't gold, after all but it gave him a map for the future. So Halinichev made plans: He would defeat that boxer the next time around. He would teach his daughter the basics of his sport so she could defend herself. And he would win a medal for Ukraine at the Paris Olympics. Halinchev outlined those ambitions as an athlete in an interview for the Ukraine Boxing Federation website in December 2021, as Russian troops were already massing at Ukraine's borders. Asked if he was afraid before a fight, he described his thinking. Fear can influence people in various ways. Some people are paralyzed by it. Some react by becoming more liberated, he said then. If you can control yourself and your body and if you can set yourself the right way, then the fear will retreat. He'll not get to prove that philosophy

Ukrainian high jumper keeps her eye on raised bar, but mind remains on war

Kateryna Tabashnyk's success depends upon utter concentration on the here and now, on the height of the bar in front of her and her body's ability to leap it. That focus and drive is a requirement for all high-level athletes. But the 30-year-old Ukrainian high jumper's mind wanders often to her bombarded native city of Kharkiv and the Russian missiles that have stolen so much: her mother, her apartment, a pain-free childhood for her nephew, even the fields where she trained. Part of her is always home, she said, and when your home has been destroyed, it feels like a large void. She, like most other Ukrainian athletes, carries the war with her everywhere: To Turkey, her first refuge after the full-scale invasion started in February 2022; to the European Indoor Championships in Turkey, where the 30-year-old took a bronze medal, and now to Monte Gordo in southern Portugal, where the ocean breeze drifts over the stadium that she shares with other Ukrainians training to qualify in the ..

Xi calls on world powers to help Russia, Ukraine resume direct dialogue

Chinese President Xi Jinping has called on world powers to help Russia and Ukraine resume direct dialogue and negotiations during a meeting Monday with Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orbn, according to state broadcaster CCTV. Orbn made a surprise visit to China after similar trips last week to Russia and Ukraine to discuss prospects for a peaceful settlement in Ukraine. Orbn praised China's constructive and important initiatives for achieving peace and described Beijing as a stabilizing force amid global turbulence, according to CCTV.

Nato summit hosted by Prez Biden to show strong support for Ukraine

The NATO summit, being hosted by US President Joe Biden here this week, is likely to show a strong demonstration of America and its allies' support for Ukraine and make significant new announcements to increase military, political and financial support for the European country, in addition to holding a meeting with the EU and Indo-Pacific partners to deepen their cooperation, according to administration officials. The NATO summit will be the first to include Sweden as a member of the alliance. Sweden officially joined the alliance in March. The historic summit would also mark the 75th anniversary of the founding of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO), which is now a strong military alliance of 32 countries. "It has been truly indispensable to Euro-Atlantic security, deterring threats to the United States and our allies," a senior administration official told reporters ahead of the summit. Being held in the American capital, within days of Prime Minister Narendra Modi havi

Have struck large ammunition cache in southwest Russia, says Ukraine

SBU drones targeted a stockpile of surface-to-surface and surface-to-air missiles; artillery, shells for tanks and firearms were also among the weaponry stored in site

Russia claims strikes on Ukrainian Patriot systems; Kyiv tags it as decoys

Russia's defence ministry said in a statement the attack took place in the area of the Black Sea port of Yuzhne, adding that a radar station was also destroyed

Russian strikes leave thousands in northern Ukraine without power, water

Russian strikes overnight left over 100,000 households without power in northern Ukraine and cut off the water supply to a regional capital, Ukrainian authorities reported Saturday, while civilian casualties rose sharply in the country's embattled east. The northern Sumy region, which borders Russia, was plunged into dark after Russian strikes late Friday damaged energy infrastructure, the Ukrainian Energy Ministry said. Hours later, the Ukrainian public broadcaster reported that Russian drones hit the provincial capital, also called Sumy, cutting off water by hitting power lines that feed its system of pumps. Russian state agency RIA cited a local pro-Kremlin underground leader as saying that Moscow's forces overnight hit a plant producing rocket ammunition in the city, which had a pre-war population of over 256,000. The report didn't specify what weapon was used, and the claim could not be independently verified. Explosions rocked the city during an air raid warning early Saturday,

Nato to pour weapons into Ukraine for another year, no membership yet

NATO leaders plan to pledge next week to keep pouring arms and ammunition into Ukraine at current levels for at least another year, hoping to reassure the war-ravaged country of their ongoing support and show Russian President Vladimir Putin that they will not walk away. US President Joe Biden and his counterparts meet in Washington for a three-day summit beginning Tuesday to mark the military alliance's 75th anniversary as Russian troops press their advantage along Ukraine's eastern front in the third year of the war. Speaking to reporters Friday, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said NATO's 32 member countries have been spending around 40 billion euros (USD 43 billion) each year on military equipment for Ukraine since the war began in February 2022 and that this should be a minimum baseline going forward. I expect allies will decide at the summit to sustain this level within the next year, Stoltenberg said. He said the amount would be shared among nations based on their ...

In rare visit from European leader, Hungary's Orbán meets Putin in Moscow

Orbán's visit comes only days after he made a similar unannounced trip to Ukraine, where he met with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy

Have no doubt that Trump sincerely wants to end war in Ukraine: Putin

I'm not familiar with his possible proposals on how he intends to do this, and that is, of course, the key question, said Vladimir Putin

French man pleads guilty to charges of collecting military data in Russia

A French citizen arrested in Russia has pleaded guilty to criminal charges involving illegally collecting information on military issues in the country, state news agency Tass reported Wednesday. Laurent Vinatier was arrested in the Russian capital in June as tensions flared between Moscow and Paris following French President Emmanuel Macron's comments about the possibility of deploying French troops in Ukraine. Russian authorities accused Vinatier of failing to register as a foreign agent while collecting information about Russia's military and military-technical activities, which could be used to the detriment of the country's security. They did not provide details of the accusations beyond alleging that Vinatier repeatedly travelled to Russia to collect information. Under Russian law, the criminal offense is punishable by up to five years in prison. Russia's Investigative Committee said Wednesday that it questioned seven witnesses with whom the accused held meetings to collect .

Will provide $2.3 bn more in military aid to Ukraine: US defence secy

Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin said Tuesday that the U.S. will soon announce an additional $2.3 billion in security assistance for Ukraine, to include anti-tank weapons, interceptors and munitions for Patriot and other air defense systems. Austin's remarks came as Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umerov met with him at the Pentagon. And they mark a strong response to pleas from Kyiv for help in battling Russian forces in the Donetsk region. Make no mistake, Ukraine is not alone, and the United States will never waver in our support, Austin said as he opened the meeting with Umerov. Alongside some 50 allies and partners, we'll continue to provide critical capabilities that Ukraine needs to push back Russian aggression today and to deter Russian aggression tomorrow." Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Sunday that Russia had dropped more than 800 powerful glide bombs in Ukraine in the last week alone. And he urged national leaders to relax restrictions on the use of Western

Ukraine eyes debt deal before deadline, seeks to add GDP warrants: Report

The war-torn country also intends to include GDP warrants as part of its effort to restructure some $20 billion of international bonds, said the sources

Hungary's PM visits Ukraine for talks with Zelenskyy, first since war began

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbn was in Kyiv on Tuesday for talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, his first visit to the country since Russia's full-scale invasion in February 2022. Orbn's press chief confirmed to Hungarian news agency MTI that the prime minister had arrived in the Ukrainian capital in the morning for the talks. Bertalan Havasi said the main topic of the rare meeting will be the opportunity for building peace as Ukraine fights off Russia's invasion. This visit comes the day after Hungary took over the six-month rotating presidency of the European Union, a position that has little real power but can be used to set the tone of the bloc's agenda. Hungarian officials have indicated that they will act as honest brokers in the role despite worries from some EU lawmakers that Hungary's democratic track record makes it unfit to lead the bloc. Orbn, known as Russian President Vladimir Putin's closest EU ally, has long been accused by his European partners o

SCO Summit expected to review situation in Afghanistan, Ukraine conflict

Ahead of the SCO Summit in Astana, India on Tuesday said the leaders of the grouping are expected to review its activities over the past two decades and discuss prospects of multilateral cooperation. External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar will represent India at the annual summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) on July 4 as Prime Minister Narendra Modi has decided to skip it. The situation in Afghanistan, the Ukraine conflict and boosting overall security cooperation among the SCO member countries are expected to figure in the summit. India's priorities in SCO are shaped by the prime minister's vision of a 'SECURE' SCO, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said. SECURE stands for Security, Economic cooperation, Connectivity, Unity, Respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity, and Environmental protection. Jaishankar will lead the Indian delegation to Astana for the summit, the MEA said. "At the summit, the leaders are expected to review the organisation's .