Tag: Ukraine

German President Steinmeier makes surprise visit to Kiev

German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier on Tuesday arrived in Kiev in a surprise visit.

Steinmeier, who arrived in Kiev by train on Tuesday morning, was set to meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky later in the day.

This is Steinmeier’s first visit since Russia began its invasion of Ukraine on February 24, but his third attempt to travel to Kiev.

Earlier last week, Steinmeier postponed a planned trip to Ukraine at short notice, due to security reasons.

The German president had also planned to visit Kiev with the presidents of Lithuania, Poland, Latvia and Estonia in mid-April, but was told not to come at short notice.

Kiev’s decision came amid sustained criticism of Steinmeier’s ties with Russia and his failure during his time as foreign minister to heed warnings from Germany’s Eastern European neighbours about the threat of Russian aggression.

The row between the Ukrainian and German presidents was resolved in early May.

October 25, 2022
Remove Iran from World Cup- Ukrainian club, Shakhtar Donetsk tells FIFA

Following Iran’s alleged military support to the Russian invasion in Ukraine, the latter’s top football club, Shakhtar Donetsk, on Monday, urged FIFA to remove the former from the World Cup.

Shakhtar Donetsk chief executive, Sergei Palkin, accused Iran of “direct participation in terrorist attacks on Ukrainians,” suggesting his own country’s team should play in Qatar instead as a replacement.

“This will be a fair decision that should draw the attention of the whole world to a regime that kills its best people and helps kill Ukrainians,” Palkin said in a statement one day before his team plays at Celtic in the Champions League.

The White House said Thursday that the U.S. has evidence that Iranian troops are “directly engaged on the ground” in Crimea supporting Russian drone attacks on Ukraine’s infrastructure and civilian population. And the head of Ukraine’s intelligence service, Kyrylo Budanov, said in a published interview on Monday that Russian forces had used about 330 Iranian-built “Shahed” drones as of Saturday — and that more had been ordered.

Russia and Iran have both denied that the drones used were Iranian-built.

Iran plays in the second game of the World Cup, on Nov. 21 against England, and then faces Wales and the United States in Group B. Wales qualified by beating Ukraine in the playoffs in June in a game that was delayed from March by the war.

FIFA did not immediately respond to a request for comment. However, if an Asian team was suspended there would be no precedent for FIFA to replace it with a European team at the World Cup.

Soccer’s world body does not typically suspend member federations because of military decisions by a national government, though Yugoslavia was barred from trying to qualify for the 1994 World Cup after United Nations sanctions were imposed during the war in the Balkans.

FIFA has suspended Russian teams following its invasion of Ukraine, which barred Russia from playing in the World Cup qualifying playoffs in March. FIFA cited risks to the security and integrity of its competitions, and Russia’s scheduled opponent Poland had refused to play that game.

FIFA is also resisting calls this month from Iranian fan groups to suspend the national team during a national crackdown on street protests in support of women’s rights and because of a long-time policy stopping women from freely attending games in soccer and other sports.

FIFA normally only suspends national teams when the country’s government is judged to have interfered in the independent running of the national soccer federation.

Five Asian confederation teams advanced to the World Cup to join host Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates was the next best in qualifying. The UAE lost a regional playoff in June to Australia ahead of the intercontinental playoffs.

October 24, 2022
Zelensky raises alarm over Russia’s plan to blow up dam in Kherson region

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has warned that Russia is planning to blow up the Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant in the Kherson region where Ukrainian troops are making advances.

“Russia is deliberately creating the basis for a large-scale disaster in the south of Ukraine,” Zelensky said in a video address.

Kiev had information that Moscow had mined the site and was planning a false-flag attack, he said.

“Should the power plant be blown up, there would be massive flooding that could affect the city of Kherson, for example,’’ Zelensky warned.

Hundreds of thousands of people could be affected.

The Russian army has been moving people out of the Kherson area for days, which Moscow officially justifies as due to a likely imminent Ukrainian counteroffensive.

Thousands of civilians are already said to be in other occupied areas of Ukraine or Russia.

The Russian army is increasingly using missiles and Iranian-made drones to hit Ukraine’s civilian infrastructure, including electricity and water supplies.

October 21, 2022
Putin declares martial law in four Russian-occupied regions of Ukraine

Russian President, Vladimir Putin, on Wednesday introduced martial law in four Russian-occupied regions of Ukraine that Moscow claimed last month as its own territory.

In televised remarks to members of his Security Council, Putin boosted the powers of Russia’s regional governors and ordered the creation of a special coordinating council under Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin to step up the faltering war effort.

He said the “entire system of state administration”, not only the specialized security agencies, must be geared to supporting what Russia calls its “special military operation”.

The package of moves, nearly eight months into the war, marked the latest escalation by Putin to counter a series of major defeats at the hands of Ukrainian forces since the start of September. A Kyiv official said it would change nothing.

The published Kremlin decree ordered an “economic mobilization” in eight regions adjoining Ukraine, including Crimea, which Russia invaded and annexed in 2014.

It placed them in a special regime one step below martial law and allowed for the restriction of people’s movements.

Russian President, Vladimir Putin

Putin conferred additional powers on the leaders of all Russia’s 80-plus regions to protect critical facilities, maintain public order and increase production in support of the war effort.

But it was far from clear how fast or how effectively the new measures might bolster Russia’s military position on the ground, and what effect they would have on public opinion.

The Russian-installed acting governor of occupied Kherson, Vladimir Saldo, confirmed that he would hand power to the military.

However, TheNewsGuru.com (TNG) reports that several Russian regions including Moscow that were named in parts of the decree said nothing would change for them.

Putin’s order came on the day that Russian-installed officials in Kherson told civilians to leave some areas as soon as possible in anticipation of an imminent Ukrainian attack.

Ukrainian presidential adviser, Mykhailo Podolyak, said on Twitter: “This does not change anything for Ukraine: we continue the liberation and de-occupation of our territories.”

October 19, 2022
Ukraine war pushed 4m children into poverty – UNICEF

The war in Ukraine and rising inflation have pushed an additional four million children across eastern Europe and Central Asia into poverty.

The United Nations Children’s agency UNICEF said in a report released on Monday.

The figure, representing a 19 per cent increase since 2021, showed that children were “bearing the heaviest burden” of the conflict, UNICEF said.

The study includes data from 22 countries in the region. The impact of the war has been particularly severe for children in Russia and Ukraine.

In Russia, an additional 2.8 million children live in households below the poverty line, according to the study.
In Ukraine, half a million additional children were living in poverty, followed by Romania with an additional 110,000 children.

The UNICEF warned that sharp increase could result in an additional 4,500 children dying before their first birthdays.

Regional director for Europe and Central Asia Afshan Khan said the economic consequences of the war were having a devastating impact on children.

“Children all over the region are being swept up in this war’s terrible wake. “If we don’t support these children and families now, the steep rise in child poverty will almost certainly result in lost lives, lost learning, and lost futures.”

One in three children born and raised in poverty will live their adult lives in poverty, leading to an intergenerational cycle of hardship and deprivation, the study noted.

“We have to protect and expand social support for vulnerable families before the situation gets any worse,” Khan said.

October 17, 2022
Ukraine crisis: Russia’s president, Putin warns of global catastrophe

Russia’s President Vladimir Putin said on Friday that any direct clash of Nato troops with Russia would lead to a “global catastrophe”.

“I hope that those who are saying this are smart enough not to take such steps,” Putin said at a news conference in the Kazakh capital Astana following a summit of ex-Soviet nations.

The Russian president also said he saw “no need” for talks with his US counterpart Joe Biden, as tensions with Washington soar over a litany of issues including Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.

“We should ask him if he’s ready to hold such talks with me or not. I don’t see the need, to be honest,” Putin said, when asked about a potential meeting with Biden on the sidelines of a G20 summit in November.

He added that his participation in the summit hosted by Indonesia is not yet decided. “The question of my trip there has not been finalised. Russia will certainly take part. As for the format, we’re still thinking about it,” Putin told reporters. Speaking earlier this week, Biden said he had “no intention” of meeting with Putin but did not rule out potential talks.

‘No need now for massive strikes’

Putin said he does not plan more “massive” strikes against Ukraine “for now” and that the Kremlin’s aim was not to “destroy” the pro-Western country.

“There is no need now for massive strikes. There are other tasks. For now.

And then it will be clear,” Putin said. “We do not set ourselves the task of destroying Ukraine.”

He spoke days after Russia unleashed a wave of missile strikes across Ukraine, including on the capital Kyiv.

Putin, who sent troops to Ukraine on February 24, is facing increasing isolation and criticism even from allies.

But he said Russia is “doing everything right” in Ukraine — despite a failed attempt to topple the government and weeks of territorial losses.

“What is happening today is not pleasant. But all the same (if Russia hadn’t attacked in February) we would have been in the same situation, only the conditions would have been worse for us,” he said. “So we’re doing everything right.”

October 15, 2022
Russia can’t erase sovereign state from map, says Biden

U.S. President said the UN resolution against Russia’s annexations in Ukraine, passed with a historic majority, was a message to Moscow that it can’t erase sovereign state from the map.

“Today, the overwhelming majority of the world nations from every region, large and small, representing a wide array of ideologies and governments voted to defend the United Nations Charter.

“It condemn Russia’s illegal attempt to annex Ukrainian territory by force,” Joe Biden said in a statement.

“The stakes of this conflict are clear to all and the world has sent a clear message in response: Russia cannot erase a sovereign state from the map.

“Russia cannot change borders by force. Russia cannot seize another country’s territory as its own,” Biden said.

“Nearly eight months into this war, the world has just demonstrated that it is more united, and more determined than ever to hold Russia accountable for its violations,” the U.S. leader added.

The UN General Assembly on Wednesday condemned Russia’s recent move to annex the eastern Ukrainian regions of Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk and Zaporizhzhya, by a vote of 143-5, with 35 countries abstaining.

October 13, 2022
Russian attacks on Ukraine could be war crimes – UN

UN Human Rights Office in Geneva on Tuesday said the spate of recent deadly Russian attacks on Ukraine could be classified as war crimes.

The UN spokesperson, Ravina Shamdasani said “attacks targeting civilians and objects indispensable to the survival of civilians are prohibited under international humanitarian law.

“The location and timing of the strikes when people were commuting to work and taking children to school is particularly shocking.’’

In addition to putting civilians in harm with strikes on city centres, 12 energy companies and other important infrastructure were hit, the office said.

Shamdasani said attacking power plants just before winter hits particularly vulnerable people who are unable to flee because of their age or illness.

Ukrainian authorities on Tuesday spoke of 19 dead as a result of the attacks on Monday.

The UN Human Rights Office called on Russia to refrain from further escalation and to do everything in its power to avoid civilian casualties and damage to civilian infrastructure.

October 11, 2022
U.S. President, Biden reiterates commitment to supply weapons to Ukrainian forces

United States President, Joe Biden, has reiterated America’s commitment to supply billions in aid and weapons to Ukrainian forces, following Russia’s latest aerial assault on Ukraine.

Biden, in a statement, denounced Russia’s latest hit, stressing that the attacks “only further reinforce our commitment”.

Biden, Secretary of State- Antony Blinken and leading military officials all spoke out in the wake of the strikes that Russian President, Vladimir Putin, called retaliation for a weekend explosion that damaged a key bridge linking Russia and Crimea, the disputed peninsula Putin annexed from Ukraine in 2014.

On Sunday night, 12 Russian missile strikes hit residential Zaporizhzhia neighborhoods in Ukraine, Ukrainian officials said, and on Monday morning another series of Russian missiles struck civilian targets in Kyiv, Lviv, Kharkiv and other cities.

At least 11 people died and 64 were wounded across eight oblasts and the capital of Kyiv, according to the Ukrainian State Emergency Service, while power and other critical infrastructure services like energy were interrupted in several cities.

In a statement issued as he was returning to the White House from Delaware, Biden said the missile attacks demonstrate Putin’s “utter brutality” in the “illegal war on the Ukrainian people.”

Biden spoke Monday with Zelenskyy, the White House said later that day; and Biden is expected to attend a virtual meeting on Tuesday of the Group of Seven countries to discuss the situation.

The White House said that in his call with Zelenskyy, Biden “conveyed his condolences to the loved ones of those killed and injured in these senseless attacks” and “pledged to continue providing Ukraine with the support needed to defend itself, including advanced air defense systems.”

In a tweet, however, Zelenskyy said air defenses were critical. He and others in Ukraine have urged the U.S. to institute a so-called no-fly zone to deter Russian air strikes.

But the U.S. believes such a direct step could risk escalating the conflict beyond Ukraine and into a continental if not global war.

The president last week warned of a possible nuclear “Armageddon,” given Putin’s repeated invocations of his country’s arsenal amid Russia’s recent string of defeats in Ukraine.

October 11, 2022
Massive Abuses: Russia’s mass strike on Ukraine is horrific- NATO reacts

Jens Stoltenberg, Secretary General of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, NATO, has condemned Russia’s mass strike on Ukraine on Monday morning, describing it as horrific.

Stoltenberg tweeted condemnation of Russia’s “horrific & indiscriminate attacks on civilian infrastructure.”

He said: “NATO will continue supporting the brave Ukrainian people to fight back against the Kremlin’s aggression for as long as it takes.”

On Monday morning, Russia launched 75 missiles toward Ukraine but Forty-one of those missiles were struck down by air defenses, said Ukraine’s Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, Valeriy Zaluzhnyi.

Explosions were heard in Kyiv, Dnipro, Zaporizhzhia, Lviv, Zhytomyr, Kharkiv and Ternopil.

Two missiles landed in quick succession on the edges of Shevchenko Park in central Kyiv, one striking a busy intersection next to a major university.

The second hit a children’s playground in a park about 20 metres away from apartment blocks.

TheNewsGuru.com recalls that France President, Emmanuel Macron, had said Russia cannot be allowed to win the war in Ukraine, as Germany and France toughened their stance.

“I really hope that the end [of the conflict] can be achieved by the end of the year, with a certainty and a desire, which is that Russia cannot and must not win,” the French president said at a news conference at the G7 summit.

TheNewsGuru.com reports that the missiles came two days after an explosion damaged the only bridge from Russia to the Crimean peninsula, which Moscow seized from Kyiv in 2014.

Russia did not succeed in hitting any military targets in Ukraine, as most of the targets were civilian critical infrastructure responsible for providing heat and electricity.

“With all these strikes across all the territory of Ukraine, they did not hit one military target only civilian ones,” an advisor to Ukraine’s president, Oleksiy Arestovych said in an interview.

Sergei Surovikin, the man that Russia’s forces in Ukraine on Monday mass strikes

Amid fury in Moscow on Saturday over the partial destruction of the Crimea bridge, Russian President, Vladimir Putin, appointed Sergei Surovikin- a man with a reputation for brutality and ruthlessness- to lead Russia’s forces in Ukraine.

Experts say this morning’s bombing of Ukraine’s capital appeared to bear all his hallmarks.

A military veteran who served in the Soviet Union’s ultimately doomed war with Afghanistan during the 1980s, the 55-year-old is infamous for ordering troops to open fire on pro-democracy protesters in Moscow in 1991.

He went on to lead Russian forces’ intervention during the Syrian War in 2017.

There, he was allegedly complicit in the indiscriminate bombing of opposition fighters and of overseeing chemical weapons attacks, in a campaign thought to have been pivotal in helping Syria’s government regain control over most of the country.

His appointment has raised fears that Russia could be about to shift towards a major escalation of its war with Ukraine – and that it could increase the risk that nuclear weapons might be used.

Putin’s warning on harsh response, if attacks continue against Russia

According to Putin, the hit was revenge for an attack on a key Russian bridge on Saturday.

He warned that “if attacks continue against Russia, the response will be harsh.”

In his words: “To leave without an answer to a crime of such a type is already simply impossible. This morning, at the proposal of Russia’s ministry of defense and general staff, a massive strike of high precision, long-range weapons have been delivered from air, land and sea, on Ukraine’s energy facilities, military command and communication.

“In the case of continuing terrorist attack on our territory, the answers from Russia will be severe and by their scale correspond to the level of threat created for the Russian Federation. No one should have any doubts about that.”

October 10, 2022