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Tag: War

  • US journalist killed In Ukraine

    US journalist killed In Ukraine

    As the hostilities between Ukraine and Russia rages on, Brent Renaud, a United States journalist, was gunned down in Irpin, a frontline northwest suburb of Kyiv, capital of Ukraine, on Sunday.

    Renuad was shot dead in the ongoing war between Ukraine and Russia.

    The head of police in the Kyiv region said Renaud had been killed and another journalist wounded by Russian forces in Irpin, east of the capital.

    “The invaders cynically kill even journalists of the international media who try to show the truth about the atrocities of Russian troops in Ukraine,” Andriy Nebitov wrote on Facebook.

    “Of course, the profession of a journalist is a risk, but US citizen Brent Renaud paid his life for trying to highlight the aggressor’s ingenuity, cruelty and ruthlessness.

    In a statement published on social media, New York Times deputy managing editor Cliff Levy said the publication was “deeply saddened” to learn of Mr Renaud’s death, who he described as a “talented photographer and filmmaker”.

    Though Mr Renaud had contributed to the Times previously, he had not been on assignment for the publication in Ukraine.

    “Early reports that he worked for Times circulated because he was wearing a Times press badge that had been issued for an assignment many years ago,” a statement he shared from a New York Times spokesperson said.

    According to his social media pages, Mr Renuad had been documenting the plight of refugees in the country.

    He and brother Craig Renaud “have spent the last decade telling humanistic verite stories from the world’s hot spots,” according to their website, with their work spanning HBO, NBC, Discovery, PBS and Vice News.

    This includes covering “the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the earthquake in Haiti, political turmoil in Egypt and Libya, the fight for Mosul, extremism in Africa, cartel violence in Mexico, and the youth refugee crisis in Central America.”

    A military base in Yavoriv, near the Polish border, was hit during a Russian missile attack killing at least 35 people and wounding 134 others this morning, Ukrainian authorities said.

  • How we’re preventing World War III – Joe Biden

    How we’re preventing World War III – Joe Biden

    The United States President, Joe Biden, says there are measures in trying to prevent World War III by not fighting a war against Russia in Ukraine.

    Biden, in a series of tweets on his verified Twitter account, said a direct confrontation between NATO and Russia is World War III.

    Biden wrote , “I want to be clear: We will defend every inch of NATO territory with the full might of a united and galvanized NATO.

    “But we will not fight a war against Russia in Ukraine.

    “A direct confrontation between NATO and Russia is World War III. And something we must strive to prevent.”

    The US President assured that the US and its Allie’s will continue to put more pressure on Russia’s economy to isolate them on the global stage.

    “As Putin continues his merciless assault, the United States and our allies and partners continue to work in lockstep to ramp up the economic pressure on Putin and to further isolate Russia on the global stage.

    “ Putin’s war against Ukraine will never be a victory,” Biden tweeted.

    According to Biden, although Putin’s plan to dominate Ukraine without a fight and split America has failed.

    Putin’s war against Ukraine will never be a victory.

    “He hoped to dominate Ukraine without a fight. He hoped to fracture European resolve. He hoped to weaken the trans-Atlantic Alliance. He hoped to split apart America.

  • Chelsea accounts temporarily frozen amid Abramovich sanctions

    Chelsea accounts temporarily frozen amid Abramovich sanctions

    Chelsea have had several accounts temporarily frozen as banks assess the Stamford Bridge club’s new operating licence.

    Roman Abramovich’s British government sanctions have frozen all the billionaire’s British assets barring Chelsea, with the club continuing to operate under special and stringent conditions.

    Owner Abramovich was sanctioned on Thursday after the Conservative government said it had proven the 55-year-old’s links to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

    Russian-Israeli billionaire Abramovich has always denied links to Russia’s current regime, but Putin’s war in Ukraine has led to a major geopolitical shift.

    Chelsea’s strict licence is designed to ensure Abramovich will not profit amid the Stamford Bridge club’s continued operations.

    Ticket sales have been banned and an embargo placed on new transfers and new contracts for existing stars.

    And those new government regulations have led banks to hit pause on a number of Chelsea accounts on a short-term basis to seek more detail on that licence.

    Chelsea are understood to be hopeful the suspensions will be lifted shortly, moving the west London club closer back towards normal operation.

    The club’s chiefs were understood to have been locked in negotiations with government officials throughout Friday on amendments to that new licence.

    Chelsea expect negotiations with Downing Street to continue into next week as the two parties thrash out an easing of the restrictions.

    The Premier League club are thought to have their travel and accommodation bills already paid for the rest of this season for existing fixtures, but this does not cover cup competitions.

    The Blues are slated to face Middlesbrough at the Riverside Stadium in the FA Cup quarter-finals on March 19.

    Under the current rules, Chelsea cannot sell any new tickets for that match, which would severely hit second-tier club Middlesbrough’s gate revenue.

    Chelsea cannot sell any new match programmes for Sunday’s Premier League home clash with Newcastle United, so vendors are thought to be unable to work at Stamford Bridge.

    Abramovich put Chelsea up for sale on March 2, amid Russia’s continued invasion of Ukraine, with his ownership set to end after 19 years and 21 trophies.

    Abramovich had pledged to write off the club’s debt and plough all sale proceeds into a new charitable foundation to aid victims of the war in Ukraine.

    Chelsea’s current licence terms have paused the club’s sale.

    But the government is understood to be ready to take control of the process, or oversee a transfer of ownership carried out by Abramovich.

    British property tycoon Nick Candy’s vision for a redeveloped Stamford Bridge could hand the billionaire an edge in that process.

    A spokesperson for Candy on Friday confirmed the 49-year-old’s continued interest in Chelsea.

    “We are examining the details of yesterday’s announcement and we are still interested in making a bid,” said Candy’s spokesperson.

    A host of US investors still harbour interest in Chelsea, with Los Angeles Dodgers part-owner Todd Boehly part of one consortium.

    Chicago Cubs owner Tom Ricketts is another one with a strongly-rumoured interest.

    Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel said he would be open to Chelsea wearing a symbol of peace in place of regular shirt sponsor Three’s logo.

    Mobile phone company Three has paused its Chelsea shirt sponsorship in the wake of Blues owner Abramovich falling under British government sanctions.

    “We can always wear a message for peace and it can never be the wrong message,” said Tuchel.

  • WAR: BIS hits Central Bank of Russia

    WAR: BIS hits Central Bank of Russia

    Russia’s apex financial institution the central Bank of Russia (CBR) has been sanctioned by the Bank for international settlements.

    The Bank for International Settlements effectively serves as the central bank of central banks.

    According to the statement released by the Bank for international settlements spokesperson, Central Bank of Russia was sanctioned because of its continued invasion of Ukraine.

    The statement reads “The Bank for International Settlements is following international sanctions against the Central Bank of Russia, as applicable, and will not be an avenue for sanctions to be circumvented,”

    “The access of the Central Bank of Russia to all BIS services, meetings and other BIS activities, has been suspended.”

    Western powers led by the US and EU are imposing punishing sanctions on Russia and its central bank.

    Founded in 1930, the BIS is owned by 63 central banks, including the US Federal Reserve and the European Central Bank.

  • Embrace dialogue, not war, Sunday Igboho urges supporters

    Embrace dialogue, not war, Sunday Igboho urges supporters

    Chief Sunday Adeyemo, a.k.a Igboho, on Thursday called on his supporters to embrace peace and dialogue in their quest for self-determination.

    Adeyemo, a Yoruba activist, made the call in a statement issued on his behalf, by his Counsel, Chief Yomi Alliyu, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), on Thursday in Ibadan.

    Recall that Igboho was on Monday released from a prison in Benin Republic to his medical practitioners under an agreement that he should not leave the medical centre or Cotonou for any reason.

    Igboho implored all his supporters, especially his kinsmen at home and in the Diaspora to embrace dialogue in their quest for self-determination without heating up the fragile situation in Nigeria.

    The activist said that he would continue to preach against war, considering what was happening in Ukraine and some parts of Igboland in Nigeria.

    He expressed his believes that their ambition for self-determination could be achieved without firing a bullet.

    Igboho then, assured all those in support of peaceful self-determination, through referendum, that the struggle continues, adding that he would not relent in his efforts in that regard.

    He thanked all his supporters, especially his leaders, Prof. Banji Akintoye and Prof. Wale Adeniran and all Nigerians, especially his people in Ilana Oodua and Affiliates, seeking self-determination.

    Igboho, also thanked the President of Republic of Benin, Patrice Talon, for releasing him from prison with a view to uniting him with members of his immediate family in spite of the fact that he would only stay in Cotonou for the time being.

    The activist also appreciated Chief Dele Momodu for visiting him in Cotonou Prison.

    He pledged his loyalty and respect to his Counsel, Chief Yomi Alliyu (SAN), who according to him, though, an extreme Buharist and a nationalist, who does not believe in balkanisation of Nigeria.

    Igboho also lauded Alliyu’s efforts in “exhibiting extreme professionalism in taken up my case with DSS without paying a kobo and for winning it with landmark award of N20.5 billion”.

  • Ukraine-Russia crisis to complicate Africa economy – IMF

    Ukraine-Russia crisis to complicate Africa economy – IMF

    Ms Kristalina Georgieva, Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) says the war in Ukraine can have a devastating blow for Africa.

    Georgieva raised the concern in a statement by IMF media contact person, Nicolas Mombrial, on Thursday, following a meeting with African Ministers of Finance, and African central bank governors.

    Also at the meeting, called to discuss the impact of the crisis in Ukraine, were representatives from the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA).

    Georgieva said the war in Ukraine was devastating the lives of millions of people and severely affecting the Ukrainian economy.

    “The war and the unprecedented sanctions imposed on Russia are having far-reaching consequences,” she said.

    According to her, the crisis came at a delicate time for Africa.

    She said that was particularly so as the global economy and the continent were beginning to recover from the ravages of COVID-19 pandemic.

    “This new crisis threatens to undo some of that progress. We discussed how to sustain Africa’s recovery—already lagging other regions — despite significant new obstacles,” she said.

    She listed areas where Africa was particularly vulnerable to impacts from the Ukraine war to include increased food prices, higher fuel prices, and lower tourism revenues.

    Georgieva added that the continent also faced more difficulty in accessing international capital markets.

    “This is a critical moment for the international community and policymakers to come together, and I was very encouraged by the strong interest from African policymakers in continuing our dialogue on policy responses.

    “I noted, in particular, significant concerns about the limited domestic policy space to sustainably address the ongoing crises.

    “Redoubling efforts to advance reforms that further promote resilience is a priority for many countries.

    “At this difficult moment, the Fund stands ready to help African countries address the repercussions of the war, and to help design and implement reforms through our policy advice, capacity development, and lending.

    “Recent reforms to the Fund’s lending toolkit provide greater flexibility to help meet financing needs.

    “I was also pleased by the ongoing strong interest from African countries in the proposed Resilience and Sustainability Trust, which we plan to have fully operational by the end of this year,” she said.

  • Russia, Ukraine foreign ministers meet as war enters 3rd week

    Russia, Ukraine foreign ministers meet as war enters 3rd week

    Russia’s war in Ukraine entered the third week on Thursday with none of its stated objectives reached.

    This is even as thousands of people have been killed, more than two million made refugees, and thousands cowering in besieged cities under relentless bombardment.

    The foreign ministers of Russia and Ukraine met on Thursday in Turkey, the highest-level contact between the two countries since the war began on Feb. 24.

    Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said on the eve of his talks with Russia’s Sergei Lavrov that his expectations were low.

    Russian negotiator Leonid Slutsky said Moscow “will not concede a single negotiating point”.

    Previous talks have focused mainly on creating limited local ceasefires to reach civilians in besieged cities, especially Mariupol, a southern port where hundreds of thousands of people have been trapped with no access to water, medicine, or food in conditions the Red Cross has called “apocalyptic”.

    Ukraine said Russia was carrying out “genocide” by bombing a maternity hospital there on Wednesday. Russia said the building was no longer used as a hospital and had long since been taken over by troops.

    Ukraine’s foreign ministry posted video footage of what it said was the hospital showing holes where windows should have been in a three-storey building. Huge piles of smouldering rubble littered the scene.

    “What kind of country is this, the Russian Federation, which is afraid of hospitals, is afraid of maternity hospitals, and destroys them?” President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in a televised address late on Wednesday.

    Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said Ukraine would try to open seven humanitarian corridors on Thursday, including another attempt to reach Mariupol. Daily missions to rescue civilians there have failed since Saturday.

    Moscow’s stated objectives of crushing Ukraine’s military and removing its leaders remained out of reach, with Zelenskiy unshaken and Western military aid pouring across the Polish and Romanian borders.

    Russian forces have advanced in the south but have yet to capture a single city in the north or east.

    Western countries have said they believe a planned lightning strike on Kyiv failed in the early days of the war, and Moscow has instead turned to tactics that involve far more destructive assaults.

    The UK Defence Ministry said on Thursday that a large Russian column northwest of Kyiv had made little progress in over a week and was suffering continued losses.

    It added that as casualties mount, Russian President Vladimir Putin would have to draw from across the armed forces to replace the losses.

    Putin has said the advance by his forces in Ukraine was going according to plan and to schedule. Russia calls its incursion a “special operation” to disarm its neighbour and dislodge leaders it calls “neo-Nazis”.

    Western-led sanctions designed to cut the Russian economy and government from international financial markets have bit hard, with the rouble plunging and ordinary Russians rushing to hoard cash.

    Ukrainian officials said Russian aircraft bombed the children’s hospital on Wednesday, injuring pregnant women and burying patients in rubble despite a ceasefire deal for people to flee Mariupol. The regional governor said 17 people were wounded.

    The attack underscored U.S. warnings that the biggest assault on a European state since 1945 could become increasingly attritional after Russia’s early failures.

    The UN Human Rights body said it was trying to verify the number of casualties.

    The incident “adds to our deep concerns about indiscriminate use of weapons in populated areas,” it added through a spokesperson.

    The White House condemned the hospital bombing as a “barbaric use of military force to go after innocent civilians”.

    “That’s how fake news is born,” Dmitry Polyanskiy, Russia’s first deputy permanent representative to the United Nations, said on Twitter.

    Russia had earlier pledged to halt firing so at least some trapped civilians could escape Mariupol. Both sides blamed the other for the failure of the evacuation.

    Half of the more than 2 million total refugees from Ukraine are children. The International Committee of the Red Cross said houses had been destroyed all across Ukraine. “Hundreds of thousands of people have no food, no water, no heat, no electricity, and no medical care,” it said.

    Kuleba, the Ukrainian foreign minister, said Ukraine was seeking a ceasefire, liberation of its territories, and to resolve all humanitarian issues.

    Moscow demands that Kyiv cease fighting, amend its constitution to proclaim neutrality, drop aspirations of joining the NATO alliance and recognise Russia’s rule in Crimea and the independence of regions held by Russian-backed separatists.

    Zelenskiy repeated his call for the West to tighten sanctions on Russia “so that they sit down at the negotiating table and end this brutal war”.

    He told VICE in an interview on Wednesday that he was confident Putin would at some stage agree to talks.

    “I think he will. I think he sees that we are strong. He will. We need some time,” he said.

    Russia has been hit by Western sanctions and the withdrawals of foreign firms, the latest including Nestle, cigarette maker, Philip Morris, and Sony.

    Rio Tinto on Thursday became the first major mining company to announce it was cutting all ties with Russian businesses.

    The U.S. House of Representatives on Wednesday voted to rush 13.6 billion dollars in aid to Ukraine, sending the legislation to the Senate.

  • Our sanctions will hurt you, Russia warns West

    Our sanctions will hurt you, Russia warns West

    Russia on Wednesday warned the West that it was working on a broad response to sanctions that would be swift and felt in the West’s most sensitive areas.

    Russia’s economy is facing the gravest crisis since the 1991 fall of the Soviet Union after the West imposed crippling sanctions on almost the entire Russian financial and corporate system following Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.

    “Russia’s reaction will be swift, thoughtful and sensitive for those it addresses,” Dmitry Birichevsky, the director of the foreign ministry’s department for economic cooperation, was quoted as saying by the RIA news agency.

    U.S. President, Joe Biden, earlier on Tuesday imposed an immediate ban on Russian oil and other energy imports in retaliation for the invasion.

    Russia warned earlier this week that oil prices could shoot up to over 300 dollars per barrel if the United States and European Union banned imports of crude from Russia.

    Russia says Europe consumes about 500 million tonnes of oil a year.

    Meanwhile, Russia supplies around 30 per cent of that, or 150 million tonnes, as well as 80 million tonnes of petrochemicals.

    Russia said it was essential to ensure its security after the United States enlarged the NATO military alliance to Russia’s borders and supported pro-Western leaders in Kyiv.

    Ukraine says it is fighting for its existence and the United States, its European and Asian allies had condemned the Russian invasion.

    China, the world’s second largest economy, has called for restraint but President Xi Jinping has cautioned that sanctions will slow down the world economy.

  • War has no respect for telecoms or broadcasting – By Okoh Aihe

    War has no respect for telecoms or broadcasting – By Okoh Aihe

    By Okoh Aihe

    War is no war game. It is not reality TV or the world of make-believe. It is no time for make-up, pyrotechnics or stunting. What you see is what it is. Reality. Death. Disaster. And destruction in the extreme and very extensive.

    The weapons of death find a grotesque means of expression. And the after-effects and the body counts can be inaccurate because some are interred in the debris for eternity.

    War is not a good thing. It destroys life. Destroys civilization. And takes humanity back to the age of barbarism. At least what is left of humanity. Life carries no meaning and hopelessness becomes even more nourishing than summarised finality.

    War is worse when there is a little bit of psychotic mix, some dolorous hubris wrapped in phantasy. Those who instigate wars become villains forever and history reserves for them a foretaste of damning hell. Condemnation for them is in perpetuity.

    As I watch live television of the Russian army raining down bombs on Ukrainian cities, I am pained to observe that this is not reality TV; this is a comprehensive disaster unfolding before humanity. The immediate and after-effects will be very overwhelming and may serve as a lasting condemnable hold on the conscience of those who, in their powerful positions, prevaricated or totally refused to do something when daring actions were exigent.

    So innocence and helplessness are traumatised when not completely mangled, and those who thought they had earned a right to peaceful life have been bombed out of their homes and into a life that may remain strange to them forever.

    War is not good. In Ukraine, telecommunications and broadcast facilities were targeted and bombed. TV and phones have become a luxury to people on the run who are now unable to connect with their loved ones trapped in the country because of martial law declaration and may not be able to connect with them ever again. War is not good.

    War is not good. President Putin of Russia is becoming increasingly insular. For declaring a war on another country, businesses including communications and broadcast companies are taking a bolt out of Russia by way of protest. And the government is doing even more by making it impossible for their people to connect to the rest of the world. The world is against Russia, they say. What an irreverent myopia.

    Ordinarily, the country lives in a world of its own, some kind of bubble that is very surreal. It’s worse even now. Last week Putin signed the ‘fake news’ law which criminalises the ventilation of news in dissonance with the authorities of Russia and could send journalists to prison for up to ten years. For instance, it may be fake news to even suggest that Russia is losing soldiers in the war with Ukraine or that some of her fighter jets have been shot down. No. You must have the permission of the authorities to ever traverse that route. These are desperate times and more desperate measures may be on the way.

    Fake news is not strange to us in this part of the world. Methinks fake news provides a lot of blanket cover for any government that is failing in its responsibilities to its people. Otherwise, why would one be afraid of alternative views and suggestions or even of any information that is discomforting to the few but salubrious to the majority in the main.

    When people were shot at the Lekki Toll Gate during the #EndSARS protest on October 20, 2020, they said it was fake news. When the power generating authorities in Nigeria cannot give power to the people and businesses, they say it is fake news, when bad fuel is imported into the country and helpless motorists have to spend days and nights at the filling stations, they say it is fake news. In fact, the reality of the pain we carry in Nigeria is fake news. Everything is on a roll, and el dorado is the smallest of realities that we enjoy.

    Watching Russia and Ukraine brings my attention to my country. Just another look at the two countries, I realise how much damage politicians can cause without ever pausing to think that Armageddon which their actions instigate most of the time spares nobody. Why will they not ever moderate their greed, excesses and lousiness?

    The Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy and the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) have fought assiduously to make telecommunications facilities critical infrastructure, thus making it an offence for anybody to go on a wilful damage of such infrastructure.

    Oftentimes, the actions of politicians lay no expediency to such critical thinking. They make appointments without thinking of the consequences. They make laws and boast they can do anything and nothing will happen. So, they threw away every suggestion to comfort the Nigerian woman in the just amended constitution. Oh, nothing will happen. And the cauldron boils within, with some fragments of discontents, waiting to find an expression one day. Perhaps, a very violent one.

    I look at Russia and Ukraine fighting each other, one powerful nation against an easy-going one. I also look at our nation and the contradictions within, the crevices that are getting wider every day, soaking in a lot of blood. And the politicians have hardly taken any serious measures to restore peace and confidence back to the land. But such lethargy and ignoble inaction would always come to an end, not always a pleasant one.

    This is why I make this appeal, for the politicians and our lawmakers to make laws that protect the people, laws that guarantee life and offer tomorrow as a better alternative. Without equivocation, war is war, whether it is between nations or among the nationalities within a nation. In the eventuality of a war, everybody suffers, everything suffers. It doesn’t matter whether telecommunications have been declared critical infrastructure or not, war burns everything, war takes everything down, including telecommunications and broadcasting. Telecoms and broadcasting are the first to be attacked in order to keep the people in the dark. War is not good and can hardly be a preferred alternative for dispute resolution.

  • Ukrainian actor, Pasha Lee killed in war

    Ukrainian actor, Pasha Lee killed in war

    Ukrainian actor, Pasha lee has been killed under shelling as Russian forces occupied Irpin.

    Lee, last week joined the Territorial Defense Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine to defend his country from Russian attacks.

    On his Instagram, he shared pictures of himself kitted in uniform.

    The Instagram post translated wrote: “For the last 48hrs there’s an opportunity to sit down and take a picture of how we are being bombed, and we are smiling because we will manage and everything will be UKRAINE WE ARE WORKING!

    However, a Facebook post by Sergiy Tomilenko, President of Ukraine’s National Union of Journalists, confirmed the death of Lee

    “The National Association of Journalists of Ukraine express sincere condolences to Paul’s family and loved ones.

    “Our words of support are the entire team of the DOM channel, which embodies a noble mission of speech for the de-occupation of Donetsk, Luhansk regions and Crimea.”

    Lee rose to fame as the star of the 2019 comedy film, ‘Meeting of Classmates’ and 2017 sport action movie, ‘The Fight Rules’, while he was also a presenter on the DOM channel in Ukraine.

    Lee had also worked as a dubbing artist on The Lion King, Malibu rescuers and Hobbit.