Page 62 - Ukraine

Biden will send air defence weapons, artillery after approval: Zelenskyy

President Joe Biden told Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Monday the US will send badly needed air defence weaponry once the Senate approves a massive national security aid package that includes USD 61 billion for Ukraine. Zelensky said in a posting on X that Biden also assured him that a coming package of aid would also include long-range and artillery capabilities. Ukraine is awaiting US Senate approval after the House this weekend approved the USD 95 billion package that also includes aid for other allies. It comes after months of delay as some Republican lawmakers opposed further funding for Ukraine and threatened to oust Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., if he allowed a vote to take place. Kyiv badly needs new firepower as Moscow has stepped up its attacks against an outgunned Ukraine. The Senate is expected to vote on the package this week, and Biden has promised to quickly sign it into law. Zelenskyy said he and Biden also discussed Russia's air terror using thousands

Ukraine set to send $20 bn rework proposal to bondholders by early May

The freeze was struck after Russia's invasion of the country in February 2022 hit its economy hard

EU foreign ministers to discuss air defence for Ukraine, Iran sanctions

After a video conference of NATO defence ministers with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Friday, Stoltenberg said he expected announcements soon

Zelenskyy, Netanyahu thank US lawmakers for passage of aid package

Around $9.5 billion of the package is in the form of a forgivable loan

US House passes first slice of $95 billion Ukraine, Israel aid package

leaders from Democratic President Joe Biden to top Senate Republican Mitch McConnell have been urging embattled House Speaker Mike Johnson to bring it up for a vote

Russia says 50 Ukrainian drones targeted at energy infrastructure shot down

Ukraine launched a barrage of drones across Russia overnight, the Defence Ministry in Moscow said Saturday, in attacks that appeared to target the country's energy infrastructure. Fifty drones were shot down by air defences over eight Russian regions, including 26 over the country's western Belgorod region close to the Ukrainian border. Two people a woman with a broken leg and the man caring for her died during the barrage, after explosions sparked a blaze that set their home alight, Belgorod Gov. Vyacheslav Gladkov wrote on social media. Drones were also reportedly destroyed over the Bryansk, Kursk, Tula, Smolensk, Ryazan, Kaluga regions across Russia's west and south, as well as in the Moscow region. Ukrainian officials normally decline comment about attacks on Russian soil. However, many of the drone strikes appeared to be directed toward Russia's energy infrastructure. The head of the Kaluga region, Vladislav Shapsha, said Saturday that a drone strike had sparked a blaze at

Ukraine PM Shmyhal warns of 'Third World War' if it loses against Russia

"Or, there will be many conflicts, many such kinds of wars, and in the end of the day, it could lead to the third world war," he added

Germany nabs 2 for spying for Russia, planning sabotage against Ukraine aid

Two German-Russian men have been arrested in Germany on suspicion of espionage, one of them accused of agreeing to carry out attacks on potential targets including US military facilities in hopes of sabotaging aid for Ukraine, prosecutors said Thursday. The two, identified only as Dieter S. and Alexander J. in line with German privacy rules, were arrested Wednesday in the Bavarian city of Bayreuth, federal prosecutors said. They said Dieter S. had been discussing possible acts of sabotage in Germany with a person linked to Russian intelligence since October, and that the main aim was to undermine military support given by Germany to Ukraine. The suspect declared himself willing to carry out bombing and arson attacks on infrastructure used by the military and industrial sites in Germany, prosecutors said in a statement. He gathered information on potential targets, including US military facilities, they added. Alexander J. allegedly helped him to do so starting in March at the latest

EU leaders wanted to talk business, they instead discuss W Asia, Ukraine

European leaders' discussions at a summit in Brussels were set to focus on the bloc's competitiveness in the face of increased competition from the United States and China. Tensions in the Middle East and the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine decided otherwise and the 27 leaders will dedicate Wednesday evening talks to foreign affairs. As the unprecedented attack by Iran on Israel ratcheted up regional tensions and raised fears of a wider war, EU leaders will urge all parties to exercise utmost restraint and refrain from any action that may increase tensions in the region, according to a draft of their summit conclusions. Following a video meeting of the bloc's foreign affairs ministers on Tuesday, the EU's top diplomat Josep Borrell said the EU will also consider further sanctioning Iran. This may entail expanding the scope of the existing regime targeting Iran's military support of Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine through drones, to include the possibility to sanct

Russian invasion of Ukraine threatens global security: Olaf Scholz in China

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz told Chinese leader Xi Jinping who hosted him in Beijing on Tuesday that Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine threatens global security, in an apparent call for China to apply greater pressure on its neighbor and close strategic partner to resolve the conflict. Scholz also told Xi at their meeting that the use of nuclear weapons in the 2-year-old war should not even be threatened, German media reported. Russian President Vladimir Putin warned last month that Russia is ready to use nuclear weapons if its sovereignty or independence is threatened, his latest such threat since invading Ukraine. Scholz told Xi that Germany's core interests were impacted by the war against Ukraine, which has threatened to spread into a regional conflict and has disrupted energy and global food supplies and other trade. Russia's actions "violate a principle of the United Nations Charter and the principle of the inviolability of national borders, Scholz was quoted as saying

Russia trying to force Ukrainians to abandon their 2nd-biggest city Kharkiv

Russia has set its sights on Kharkiv since the invasion began - and Putin's aim of subjugating Ukraine in its entirety has unlikely changed since then, western officials believe

House Speaker Johnson pushes toward aid for Israel, Ukraine, and Taiwan

House Speaker Mike Johnson is pushing toward action this week on aid for Israel, Ukraine and Taiwan, unveiling an elaborate plan Monday to break the package into separate votes to squeeze through the House's political divides on foreign policy. Facing an outright rebellion from conservatives fiercely opposed to aiding Ukraine, the Republican speaker's move on the foreign aid package was a potentially watershed moment, the first significant action on the bill after more than two months of delay. But Johnson's intention to hold four separate votes on parts of the package also left it open to being significantly altered from the USD 95 billion aid package the Senate passed in February. It's unclear if the House could end up with a package that is similar to the Senate's bill or something significantly different, which could complicate the months-long, painstaking effort to get Congress to approve military funding for Ukraine. We will let the House work its will, Johnson told ...

Attack on Russian-controlled Ukraine nuclear plant put world at risk: IAEA

Russia and Ukraine on Monday traded blame before the United Nations Security Council for the attacks on Europe's largest nuclear power plant, which the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency said have put the world dangerously close to a nuclear accident. Without attributing blame, IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi said his agency has been able to confirm three attacks against the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant since April 7. These reckless attacks must cease immediately, he told the Security Council. Though, fortunately, they have not led to a radiological incident this time, they significantly increase the risk where nuclear safety is already compromised. The remote-controlled nature of the drones that have attacked the plant means that it is impossible to definitively determine who launched them, Grossi told reporters after the meeting. In order to say something like that, we must have proof, he said. These attacks have been performed with a multitude of ...

New UN sanctions won't hurt our aluminium supply, says Russian firm Rusal

The action is aimed at disrupting Russian export revenue in response to what Moscow calls a "special military operation" in Ukraine. Russia is a major producer of aluminium, copper and nickel

10 people dead in shelling in Russian-occupied town in Ukraine: Report

At least 10 people, including children, died after shelling late on Friday struck a Russian-occupied town in Ukraine's southern Zaporizhzhia region, a local Kremlin-installed official said, blaming Ukraine for the attack. Meanwhile, Ukrainian officials reported at least three civilian deaths elsewhere in the country that they said resulted from Russian attacks. Russian emergency services on Saturday were working in the rubble in hopes of saving civilians trapped underneath the debris of their homes in Tokmak, in a part of southern Ukraine that Moscow has illegally annexed from Kyiv, according to the Kremlin-installed regional head Yevhen Balitsky. The Tokmak municipal administration reported on Telegram that the shelling struck three apartment blocks on Friday evening. Five people were pulled alive from the rubble, Balitsky said, and a total of 13 people were hospitalised. As of early afternoon on Saturday, Ukraine had not commented on the allegations. Elsewhere in Ukraine, at lea

Ukraine says situation in East worse as Russian troops step up attacks

The online war monitor DeepState said Kremlin troops have captured Bohdanivka, a village within miles of their next key target in the Donetsk region. Ukraine said the village remains under its control

China increasing weapons sales to Russia to support war against Ukraine

China has surged sales to Russia of machine tools, microelectronics and other technology that Moscow in turn is using to produce missiles, tanks, aircraft and other weaponry for use in its war against Ukraine, according to a US assessment. Two senior Biden administration officials, who discussed the sensitive findings Friday on the condition of anonymity, said that in 2023 about 90 per cent of Russia's microelectronics came from China, which Russia has used to make missiles, tanks and aircraft. Nearly 70 per cent of Russia's approximately USD 900 million in machine tool imports in the last quarter of 2023 came from China. Chinese and Russian entities have also been working to jointly produce unmanned aerial vehicles inside Russia, and Chinese companies are likely providing Russia with nitrocellulose needed to make propellants weapons, the officials said. Beijing is also working with Russia to improve its satellite and other space-based capabilities for use in Ukraine, a development

Russian military test-launches an intercontinental ballistic missile

The Russian military on Friday reported a successful test launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile. Russia's Defence Ministry said in a statement that the launch took place at the Kapustin Yar testing range in the south of the country as part of state testing of prospective missile systems, as well as confirmation of the stability of missiles in service. The test launched achieved its results in full, the ministry added, and confirmed high reliability of Russian missiles to ensure (Russia's) strategic security". The ministry didn't name the type of the missile that was test-launched. Russia regularly carries out test launches of ICBMs and other missiles as it seeks to modernise its weapons.

Ukrainian drone attacks on Russia refineries may disrupt diesel market: IEA

Ukrainian drones have ramped up attacks on Russia's oil industry this year in an attempt to disrupt fuel supplies to the military and curb the Kremlin's revenue

Thousands of Russian soldiers flee war in Ukraine but have nowhere to go

If the choice was death or a bullet to the leg, Yevgeny would take the bullet. A decorated hero of Russia's war in Ukraine, Yevgeny told his friend and fellow soldier to please aim carefully and avoid bone. The tourniquets were ready. The pain that followed was the price Yevgeny paid for a new chance at life. Like thousands of other Russian soldiers, he deserted. I joke that I gave birth to myself, he said, declining to give his full name for fear of retribution. When a woman gives birth to a child, she experiences very intense pain and gives new life. I gave myself life after going through very intense pain. Yevgeny made it out of the trenches. But the new life he found is not what he had hoped for. The Associated Press spoke with five officers and one soldier who deserted the Russian military. All have criminal cases against them in Russia, where they face 10 years or more in prison. Each is waiting for a welcome from the West that has never arrived. Instead, all but one live