Page 83 - Ukraine

India, not China, better suited for resolving Ukraine war: US Congressman

India is much better suited than China to play a leading role in resolving the war in Ukraine because of New Delhi's old relationship with Moscow, a top Indian American Congressman has said. Congressman Ami Bera said he would love to see the Indian administration use its full diplomatic capacities to help end the conflict in Ukraine. He said he was not sure if Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Joe Biden will discuss the conflict in Ukraine in their meeting in the Oval Office next week. I am not sure (talks on this issue) will happen, but I certainly think India can play a leading role in helping us resolve the Russia-Ukraine crisis. India obviously has an old relationship with Russia, Bera told PTI on Thursday. The Prime Minister can have conversations with Russian President Vladimir Putin that we're not going to be able to have. I think it's in everyone's interest to see some resolution to this conflict. So, you see (Chinese President) Xi Jinping trying to negotiate so

NATO sees no change in Russia's nuclear posture despite Belarus' claims

NATO sees no sign that Russia has changed its nuclear posture, the head of the military alliance said Thursday, after President Alexander Lukashenko claimed that Belarus has already received some tactical nuclear weapons from Moscow. In an interview on state television on Tuesday, Lukashenko brashly warned that he wouldn't hesitate to order their use if Belarus faced an act of aggression. Russian President Vladimir Putin has said the weapons will be deployed to Belarus next month and will remain under Moscow's exclusive control. We are, of course, closely monitoring what Russia is doing. So far, we haven't seen any changes in the nuclear posture that requires any changes in our posture, Stoltenberg told reporters before chairing a meeting of NATO defence ministers at the alliance's headquarters in Brussels. NATO's secretive nuclear defence planning group is set to meet on Friday. The meeting has long been planned and is not a reaction to recent developments, but the alliance is ...

Ukraine, India discuss implementation of Zelenskyy-Modi's G7 agreements

Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine Andriy Yermak had a phone call with National Security Advisor to the Prime Minister of India Ajit Kumar Doval on Wednesday

Zelensky, IAEA chief discuss security risks to Zaporizhzhia nuke plant

Ukrainian President Zelensky met visiting IAEA Director-General Rafael Grossi to discuss security risks to the ZNPP in the wake of the Kakhovka dam breach last week

110 mn forcibly displaced as Sudan, Ukraine wars add to refugee crisis: UN

Some 110 million people have had to flee their homes because of conflict, persecution, or human rights violations, the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees says. The war in Sudan, which has displaced nearly 2 million people since April, is but the latest in a long list of crises that has led to the record-breaking figure. It's quite an indictment on the state of our world, Filippo Grandi, who leads the U.N. refugee agency, told reporters in Geneva ahead of the publication Wednesday of UNHCR's Global Trends Report for 2022. Last year alone, an additional 19 million people were forcibly displaced including more than 11 million who fled Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in what became the fastest and largest displacement of people since World War II. We are constantly confronted with emergencies, Grandi said. Last year the agency recorded 35 emergencies, three to four times more than in previous years. Very few make your headlines, Grandi added, arguing that the war in Sudan fell

Russian attack on Zelenskyy's hometown kills at least 10, dozens wounded

The mayor of the central Ukrainian city of Kryvyi Rih said 10 people have died following Russian missile strikes overnight that hit civilian sites including a residential building. Oleksandr Vilkul said 28 other people had been wounded and at least one person was believed to be under the rubble. In an early afternoon update Tuesday, Vilkul wrote on the Telegram app that a dozen injured people had been rushed to city hospitals.

UN-backed team scans Ukraine historical sites to preserve them amid war

Under the plaintive painted eyes of the holy, a volunteer team of two United Nations-backed engineers watched as a whirling laser took a million measurements a second inside Kyiv's All Saints Church. The laser swept quickly across the church, part of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra, while taking a series of incredibly high-resolution photographs. Those images will be stitched together with navigational data to create a perfect three-dimensional rendering of the holy site, part of a project to protect and preserve historic places across Ukraine now in as much in danger as its people amid Russia's war on the country. It's a critical moment," said Chiara Dezzi Bardeschi, who oversees Ukraine for UNESCO, the U.N.'s cultural agency. "If it's not protected now, we really risk that this heritage is lost forever. Since Russia launched the war in February 2022, at least 259 cultural and historic sites have been damaged by the fighting, according to UNESCO. They include religious sites, museums, ...

At least 3 killed, dozens wounded in missile attack: Ukraine official

A regional governor says at least three people were killed and 25 wounded after missiles hit civilian buildings in an overnight attack in the central city of Kryvyi Rih, Ukraine. Serhiy Lysak, head of the regional administration, said the strike hit a five-story residential building early Tuesday and the area was engulfed in fire. He said in a Telegram post that rescue operations were ongoing.

Ukraine claims recapture of 4th village in eastern Donetsk, says officials

Ukrainian military officials said Monday their troops have retaken another southeastern village from Russian forces, among the first small successes in stepped-up counteroffensive operations against Moscow's more than 15-month invasion of Ukraine. Deputy Defence Minister Hanna Maliar wrote on Telegram that Ukraine's flag was again flying over the village of Storozhov, and she predicted the liberation of all Ukrainian land would the final outcome. A day earlier, Ukrainian officials said three other small villages clustered together south of the town of Velika Novosilke in the eastern Donetsk region had been liberated. The villages are located in the so-called Vremivka ledge, a section of the front line where the Russian-controlled area protrudes into territory held by Ukraine. The area has become one of several epicentres of intense fighting. The Russian Defence Ministry hasn't confirmed the Russian retreat from the villages, but some military bloggers have acknowledged the loss o

Army regains 3 villages in separatist Donetsk region, says Ukrainian govt

The Ukrainian govt said that the army has regained three frontline villages in the separatist Donetsk region, marking one of the first victories in Kiev's counter-offensive against Russia

Ukraine says it recaptured village; Russia insists it is repelling attacks

Ukraine's military on Sunday reported recapturing a village in the southeast of the country amid Russian claims of repelling multiple attacks in the area, the latest indication that a highly anticipated Ukrainian counteroffensive might be underway even as officials in Kyiv stop short of publicly acknowledging it. The 68th Separate Hunting Brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces posted a video on Facebook showing soldiers installing a Ukrainian flag on a damaged building in what the post said was the village of Blahodatne in the partially occupied eastern Donetsk region. In a separate social media post, Ukraine's Ground Forces confirmed that the brigade had retaken Blahodatne. Myroslav Semeniuk, spokesman for the brigade, told The Associated Press that an assault team captured six Russian troops after entering several buildings where some 60 soldiers were holed up. The enemy keeps shelling us but this won't stop us, Semeniuk said. The next village we plan to reclaim is Urozhayne. Afte

Ukraine dam collapse: Fast-moving disaster and slow ecological catastrophe

The destruction of the Kakhovka Dam was a fast-moving disaster that is swiftly evolving into a long-term environmental catastrophe affecting drinking water, food supplies and ecosystems reaching into the Black Sea. The short-term dangers can be seen from outer space tens of thousands of parcels of land flooded, and more to come. Experts say the long-term consequences will be generational. For every flooded home and farm, there are fields upon fields of newly planted grains, fruits and vegetables whose irrigation canals are drying up. Thousands of fish were left gasping on mud flats. Fledgling water birds lost their nests and their food sources. Countless trees and plants were drowned. If water is life, then the draining of the Kakhovka reservoir creates an uncertain future for the region of southern Ukraine that was an arid plain until the damming of the Dnieper River 70 years ago. The Kakhovka Dam was the last in a system of six Soviet-era dams on the river, which flows from Bel

US announces new $2.1 bn package of military aid to Ukraine, says Pentagon

The Pentagon announced Friday that it will provide an additional $2.1 billion in long-term weapons aid for Ukraine. The new assistance package will include funding for more Patriot missile battery munitions, Hawk air defence systems and missiles, and small Puma drones that can be launched by hand. The latest infusion of funding, one of the larger packages the U.S. has provided, comes as there are signs that Ukraine is beginning or about to begin the much anticipated counteroffensive to try to take back territory that has been seized by Russia. Unlike the U.S. equipment, weapons and ammunition that are more frequently sent from Pentagon stocks and delivered quickly to Ukraine, this money would be provided under the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative and is meant to be spent over the coming months or even years to ensure Ukraine's future security needs. In a statement, the Pentagon said the package shows America's continued commitment to both Ukraine's critical near-term ...

Drone hits building in Russia near border amid surge in Ukraine fighting

A drone crashed into a high-rise residential building in southwestern Russia near the border with Ukraine, a regional governor said Friday, exposing the latest vulnerabilities in the country's air defence systems as President Vladimir Putin's war in Ukraine increasingly affects Russian soil. The latest drone attack to target Russian cities in recent weeks wounded three people and came amid a front-line push by Ukrainian forces in what appears to be the early stages of a long-awaited counteroffensive in pockets of south and east Ukraine that Russia invaded more than 15 months ago. The Ukrainian presidency's website posted a video statement overnight from President Volodymyr Zelenskyy that alluded to the latest efforts of his country's forces to drive out the Russian invaders, along various parts of the more than 1,000-kilometer front line. Speaking inside what appeared to be a train car after visiting flood-hit southern Ukraine on Thursday, Zelenskyy said it was not time yet to talk

Ukraine dam breach to have economic, ecological consequences: Expert

The breaching of a major dam in southern Ukraine and the susequent collapse of the Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant earlier this week, will lead to devastating economic and ecological consequences

Zelenskyy visits flooded area as five dead in Russian-occupied town

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy arrived in the flood-hit region of Kherson on Thursday to evaluate response to damage caused by a dam breach. The Ukrainian leader wrote on his Telegram account that he was helping assess efforts to evacuate civilians, provide them with drinking water and other support, and try to stanch vast environmental damage. Zelenskyy also raised the prospect of funding allocations to help compensate residents and businesses driven from their homes and offices by rising waters. Meanwhile, the Kremlin-installed mayor of Nova Kakhovka, a Russian-occupied town 5 kilometres from the collapsed Kakhovka dam and hydroelectric plant, reported on Russian state TV Thursday that five of seven local residents who had been declared missing following the dam breach have died. The two remaining people have been found and efforts were being made to evacuate them, Vladimir Leontyev added. At least 4,000 people have been evacuated from both the Russian and ...

BJP outreach: Jaishankar to meet Afghan Sikh refugee, students from Ukraine

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar will begin on Thursday his two-day outreach programme under the Delhi BJP's month-long campaign to highlight achievements of the Modi government in the last nine years. Jaishankar on Thursday will meet Sikh refugees from Afghanistan who left that country after it was taken over by Taliban, the Delhi BJP said in a statement. The Union minister, accompanied by West Delhi MP Parvesh Verma, will also meet a 1984 anti-Sikh riots-affected family at Tilak Vihar on Thursday, it said. In Basai Darapur, Jaishankar will meet the students forced to leave their studies in Ukraine due to Russian invasion of the country, the statement said. He will visit Guru Arjun Dev Gurudwara at Mahavir Nagar in West Delhi at 3 pm where he will meet Afghan Sikh refugees. Jaishankar, along with former Gujarat chief minister Vijay Rupani, has been deputed by the national leadership of BJP to oversee the month-long campaign in seven Lok Sabha constituencies in Delhi. The .

Sunak lands in Washington, will talk Ukraine, economy and AI with Biden

But he's also pragmatic, and has restored stability to Britain's government after the turbulent terms of predecessors Boris Johnson and Liz Truss

Russia blows up Ukraine dam: What's happening and what's at stake

The fallout from the breach of a river dam along a front line of Russia's war in Ukraine continued to wreak havoc on lives, livelihoods and the environment on Wednesday. When the Kakhovka dam ruptured on Tuesday, it sent a torrent of water from Ukraine's largest reservoir into streets and homes downstream on the Dnieper River where tens of thousands of people live -- in the thick of a combat zone where shelling regularly takes place. It's not clear what caused the breach: the structure had already been damaged in the war. Ukraine's government, which controls the river's western bank and the city of Kherson, has accused Russian forces of blowing up the facility. Officials in Russia, which controls the eastern bank for about the last 300 kilometres (about 185 miles) before the river reaches the Black Sea, has blamed Ukrainian military strikes. WHAT ARE THE LATEST DEVELOPMENTS? Authorities and rescue workers on both sides stepped up efforts on Wednesday to pull beleaguered residents

Floodwaters engulf areas of Ukraine after dam breach as hundreds evacuated

Floodwaters from a collapsed dam kept rising in southern Ukraine on Wednesday, forcing hundreds of people to flee their homes in a major emergency operation that brought a dramatic new dimension to the war with Russia, now in its 16th month. Amid the disaster response, artillery shelling rang out as people scrambled to get out of the danger zone, climbing onto military trucks or rafts. Officials said the flood's force was expected to slacken as the day wore on, a day after Tuesday's breach of the Kakhovka hydroelectric dam and reservoir, which is one of the largest in the world. Even so, authorities said water levels were expected to rise by another metre (about 3 feet) over the following 20 hours and engulf more downriver areas along the banks of the Dnieper. Some local residents spent the night on rooftops. Others, scrambling to flee the rising waters, were evacuated by buses and trains with the belongings they could carry. The intensity of floods is slightly decreasing," Oleksa