June 13 (Reuters) – Russia’s Defence Ministry released video footage on Tuesday of what it said were German-made Leopard tanks and U.S.-made Bradley Fighting Vehicles captured by Russian forces in a fierce battle with Ukrainian troops.
Reuters was able to confirm that the vehicles seen in the video were Leopard tanks and Bradley Fighting Vehicles, but was not able to independently verify the location or date of the footage.
The Defence Ministry said the armoured vehicles and tanks were captured on the Zaporizhzhia front in southern Ukraine, one of the areas where Ukrainian forces have been trying to counter-attack.
Two Leopard tanks were shown in the footage, which was released on the ministry’s official channel on the Telegram messaging application, along with two damaged Bradley Fighting Vehicles.
A still image from a video, released by Russia’s Defence Ministry, shows what it said to be a German-made Leopard tank captured by Russian forces in a battle with Ukrainian forces in the course of Russia-Ukraine conflict, in the Zaporizhzhia region of Ukraine, in this image taken from a handout footage released June 13, 2023. Russian Defence Ministry/Handout via REUTERS
The ministry in a short statement accompanying the footage called the captured military hardware “our trophies” and said the video showed soldiers from its Vostok (East) military grouping inspecting the equipment.
It noted that the engines of some of the vehicles were still running, evidence it said of how quickly their Ukrainian crews had fled.
Reuters cannot verify such battlefield accounts.
Ukraine said on Monday its troops had recaptured a string of villages from Russian forces along an approximately 100-km (60-mile) front in the southeast since starting its long-anticipated counteroffensive last week.
Unconfirmed reports from Russian military bloggers suggest Russian forces may have recaptured some territory which they ceded in recent days.
Reporting by Andrew Osborn and Felix Light
Editing by Gareth Jones
MOSCOW, June 3 (Reuters) – Russia’s Gazprom (GAZP.MM) will send 40.3 million cubic metres (mcm) of gas to Europe via Ukraine on Saturday, the company said, down from 40.6 mcm on Friday.
Erdogan begins new five-year term after runoff win
Unorthodox rate cuts had exacerbated cost-of-living crisis
Economy under deep strain, Simsek seen reversing course
ANKARA, June 3 (Reuters) – President Tayyip Erdogan signalled on Saturday his newly-elected government would return to more orthodox economic policies when he named Mehmet Simsek to his cabinet to tackle Turkey’s cost-of-living crisis and other strains.
Simsek’s appointment as treasury and finance minister could set the stage for interest rate hikes in coming months, analysts said – a marked turnaround from Erdogan’s longstanding policy of slashing rates despite soaring inflation.
After winning a runoff election last weekend, Erdogan, 69, who has ruled for more than two decades, began his new five-year term by calling on Turks to set aside differences and focus on the future.
Turkey’s new cabinet also includes Cevdet Yilmaz, another orthodox economic manager, as vice president, and the former head of the National Intelligence Organisation (MIT) Hakan Fidan as foreign minister, replacing Mevlut Cavusoglu.
Erdogan’s inauguration ceremony at Ankara’s presidential palace was attended by NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and other dignitaries and high-level officials.
The apparent U-turn on the economy comes as many analysts say the big emerging market is heading for turmoil given depleted foreign reserves, an expanding state-backed protected deposits scheme, and unchecked inflation expectations.
Simsek, 56, was highly regarded by financial markets when he served as finance minister and deputy prime minister between 2009 and 2018.
Reuters reported earlier this week Erdogan was almost certain to put him in charge of the economy, marking a partial return to more free-market policies after years of increasing state control of forex, credit and debt markets.
QUESTION OF INDEPENDENCE
Analysts said that after past episodes in which Erdogan pivoted to orthodoxy only to quickly return to his rate-cutting ways, much would depend on how much independence Simsek is granted.
“This suggests Erdogan has recognised the eroding trust in his ability to manage Turkey’s economic challenges. But while Simsek’s appointment is likely to delay a crisis, it is unlikely to present long-term fixes to the economy,” said Emre Peker, a director at Eurasia Group covering Turkey.
“Simsek will likely have a strong mandate early in his tenure, but face rapidly increasing political headwinds to implement policies as March 2024 local elections draw near.”
Erdogan’s economic programme since 2021 stresses monetary stimulus and targeted credit to boost economic growth, exports and investments, pressing the central bank into action and badly eroding its independence.
[1/12] Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan shakes hands with the new Treasury and Finance Minister Mehmet Simsek as they are flanked by new Energy Minister Alparslan Bayraktar during a press conference where the new cabinet was announced, in Ankara, Turkey June 3, 2023. REUTERS/Umit Bektas
As a result, annual inflation hit a 24-year peak beyond 85% last year before easing.
The lira has lost more than 90% of his value in the last decade after a series of crashes, the worst in late 2021. It hit new all-time lows beyond 20 to the dollar after the May 28 vote.
‘WAYS TO RECONCILE’
Turkey’s longest-serving leader, Erdogan won 52.2% support in the runoff, defying polls that predicted economic strains would lead to his defeat.
His new mandate will allow Erdogan to pursue the increasingly authoritarian policies that have polarised the country, a NATO member, but strengthened its position as a regional military power.
At the inauguration ceremony, attended by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, Erdogan struck a conciliatory tone.
“We will embrace all 85 million people regardless of their political views … Let’s put aside the resentment of the election period. Let’s look for ways to reconcile,” he said.
“Together, we must look ahead, focus on the future, and try to say new things. We should try to build the future by learning from the mistakes of the past.”
Earlier, reading out the oath of office, Erdogan vowed to protect Turkey’s independence and integrity, to abide by the constitution, and to follow the principles of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, founder of the modern secular republic.
Erdogan became prime minister in 2003 after his AK Party won an election in late 2002 following Turkey’s worst economic crisis since the 1970s.
In 2014, he became the country’s first popularly elected president and was elected again in 2018 after securing new executive powers for the presidency in a 2017 referendum.
The May 14 presidential election and May 28 runoff were pivotal given that the opposition had been confident of ousting Erdogan and reversing many of his policies, including proposing sharp interest rate hikes to counter inflation, running at 44% in April.
In his post-election victory speech, Erdogan said inflation was Turkey’s most urgent issue.
Writing and additional reporting by Jonathan Spicer; Editing by Frances Kerry, Giles Elgood and Christina Fincher
MOSCOW, June 2 (Reuters) – Alexei Navalny, Russia’s most famous opposition leader, on Friday shared letters showing how he has poked fun at prison authorities for several months with a host of bizarre requests for a kimono, a balalaika, a beetle and even to keep a kangaroo.
The requests were turned down by the maximum security IK-6 penal colony at Melekhovo, about 250 km (115 miles) east of Moscow, according to the Russian documents he posted online.
“When you are in a punishment cell and don’t have much entertainment, you can always amuse yourself by corresponding with the prison administration,” Navalny said.
Navalny is serving combined sentences of 11-1/2 years for fraud and contempt of court on charges that he says were trumped up to silence him.
The letters showed that Navalny asked for an eclectic range of items, including, variously, a bottle of moonshine, a balalaika, a staff, two pouches of cheap tobacco, a kimono and a black belt.
The correspondence also reveals the conditions of the Russian prison system: Navalny asked for a megaphone to be given to a mentally ill convict in a cell opposite so that “he could shout even louder”, and for prison authorities to award the 10th dan in Karate to a prisoner who apparently killed a man with his bare hands.
Both requests were refused. The prison declined comment.
The prison’s replies, written in the stilted administrative Russian of officialdom, complete with serial numbers, acronyms and references to various laws and rules, give a satiric insight into the sometimes absurd world of Russian bureaucracy, a theme writer Nikolai Gogol satirised in the 19th Century.
“The question of awarding eastern martial arts qualifications is not handled by the administration,” the prison wrote back on April 28.
In response to Navalny’s request for a permit to keep a kangaroo, the prison wrote: “The animal identified in your request relates to the double crested-marsupial… Your request is left without satisfaction.”
He asked for a massage chair to be given to an unidentified squad leader, suggesting it might reduce stress. The prison wrote coldly that massage chairs were not provided.
Navalny inquired about the names of the guard dogs.
The prison said it could not give him such information. Navalny said he was told by guards that knowledge of the names of the dogs could allow him to befriend the creatures and then try to escape.
His inquiry about whether he needed a permit to keep a beetle was met with a refusal.
“The insect identified by you in your request belongs to the animal kingdom,” the prison said in a May 3 letter.
Reporting by Guy Faulconbridge; editing by Philippa Fletcher
As Moscow bureau chief, Guy runs coverage of Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States. Before Moscow, Guy ran Brexit coverage as London bureau chief (2012-2022). On the night of Brexit, his team delivered one of Reuters historic wins – reporting news of Brexit first to the world and the financial markets. Guy graduated from the London School of Economics and started his career as an intern at Bloomberg. He has spent over 14 years covering the former Soviet Union. He speaks fluent Russian.
Contact: +447825218698
[1/2] A Ukrainian military helicopter takes off to carry out a mission, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, during military drills in the north of Ukraine, June 1, 2023. REUTERS/Gleb Garanich
KYIV, June 3 (Reuters) – Ukraine is ready to launch its long-awaited counteroffensive to recapture Russian-occupied territory, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in an interview published on Saturday.
“We strongly believe that we will succeed,” Zelenskiy told the Wall Street Journal.
“I don’t know how long it will take. To be honest, it can go a variety of ways, completely different. But we are going to do it, and we are ready.”
Kyiv hopes a counteroffensive to reclaim territory will change the dynamics of the war that has raged since Russia invaded its smaller neighbour 15 months ago.
Zelenskiy said last month Ukraine needed to wait for more Western armoured vehicles arrived before launching the counteroffensive. He has been on a diplomatic push to maintain Western support, seeking more military aid and weapons, which is key for Ukraine to succeed in its plans.
Russia holds swaths of Ukrainian territory in the east, south and southeast.
A long spell of dry weather in some parts of Ukraine has driven anticipation that the counteroffensive might be imminent. Over the past several weeks Ukraine has increased it strikes on Russian ammunition depots and logistical routes.
On Saturday Ukraine’s military said in a daily report that Mariinka in the Donetsk region in the east was the focus of fighting. Ukrainian forces repelled all 14 Russian troops’ attacks there, the report said.
Reporting by Olena Harmash; Editing by William Mallard
[1/2] Founder of Wagner private mercenary group Yevgeny Prigozhin speaks with servicemen during withdrawal of his forces from Bakhmut, 2023. Press service of “Concord”/Handout via REUTERS
Prigozhin: conflict with Chechens settled
Prigozhin: Kremlin factions endanger the state
Says defence ministry is in chaos
Wagner may go to Belgorod region – Prigozhin
MOSCOW, June 3 (Reuters) – Russian mercenary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin said on Saturday that Kremlin factions were destroying the state by trying to sow discord between him and Chechen fighters.
That row had now been settled but infighting in the Kremlin had opened a Pandora’s Box of rifts, he said.
Prigozhin, a 62-year-old former restauranteur who founded the Wagner mercenary group and is a member of President Vladimir Putin’s wider circle, has gained widespread notoriety during the 15-month war in Ukraine.
His troops have spearheaded battles in the city of Bakhmut and elsewhere, but he has also rowed with the Russian military over tactics, logistical support and other issues.
Prigozhin said a dispute between him and Chechen forces who are also fighting alongside the Russian army in Ukraine had been resolved. But he laid the blame for the discord on unidentified Kremlin factions – which he calls “Kremlin towers”.
Their scheming had got so out of hand that Putin had been forced to scold them at a Security Council meeting, he said.
“Pandora’s Box is already open – we are not the ones who opened it,” Prigozhin said in a message posted by his press service. “Some Kremlin tower decided to play dangerous games.”
“Dangerous games have become commonplace in the Kremlin towers…they are simply destroying the Russian state.”
He did not identify the Kremlin faction but said that it continued its attempts to sow discord, it would have “hell to pay”. The Kremlin did not comment on his remarks.
Putin held a Security Council meeting of Friday about what he said were “interethnic” relations inside the country.
Prigozhin said Chechen remarks made about him sounded like something out of the early 1990s when conflicts gripped Russian cities after the collapse of the Soviet Union.
“Clearly the statements made were rather provocative, aimed at hurting me and freaking me out,” Prigozhin said.
Prigozhin also said any battle between Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov‘s Akhmat special forces and Wagner would result in serious bloodshed but there was no doubt who would win.
He also again vented his anger about the current state of the war and the culpability of Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu and Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov.
“The ministry of defence is not in a state to do anything at all as it de-facto doesn’t exist – it is in chaos,” Prigozhin said.
The defence ministry did not respond to a request for comment. Niether Shoigu nor Gerasimov have commented in public about Prigozhin’s comments.
Reporting by Guy Faulconbridge; Editing by Angus MacSwan
As Moscow bureau chief, Guy runs coverage of Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States. Before Moscow, Guy ran Brexit coverage as London bureau chief (2012-2022). On the night of Brexit, his team delivered one of Reuters historic wins – reporting news of Brexit first to the world and the financial markets. Guy graduated from the London School of Economics and started his career as an intern at Bloomberg. He has spent over 14 years covering the former Soviet Union. He speaks fluent Russian.
Contact: +447825218698
OSLO, May 24 (Reuters) – The world’s largest aircraft carrier, the USS Gerald R. Ford, sailed into Oslo on Wednesday, a first for such a U.S. ship, in a show of NATO force at a time of heightened tension between NATO and Russia over the war in Ukraine.
The ship and its crew will be conducting training exercises with the Norwegian armed forces along the country’s coast in the coming days, the Norwegian military said.
“This visit is an important signal of the close bilateral relationship between the U.S. and Norway and a signal of the credibility of collective defence and deterrence,” said Jonny Karlsen, a spokesperson for the Norwegian Joint Headquarters, the operational command centre of the military.
At one spot on the Oslo fjord, dozens of people of all ages gathered on the shore to observe the vessel as it cruised by, taking pictures and videos.
Norwegian media reported the aircraft carrier would sail north of the Arctic Circle. Karlsen declined to comment on the reports.
The Russian embassy in Oslo condemned the aircraft carrier’s Oslo visit.
“There are no questions in the (Arctic) north that require a military solution, nor topics where outside intervention is needed,” the embassy said in a Facebook post.
“Considering that it is admitted in Oslo that Russia poses no direct military threat to Norway, such demonstrations of power appear illogical and harmful.”
NATO member Norway shares a border with Russia in the Arctic and last year became Europe’s largest gas supplier after a drop in Russian gas flows.
The Norwegian military and NATO allies have been patrolling around offshore oil and gas platforms since the autumn, following explosions on the Nord Stream pipelines in the Baltic Sea.
Reporting by Gwladys Fouche
Editing by Bernadette Baum
Oversees news coverage from Norway for Reuters and loves flying to Svalbard in the Arctic, oil platforms in the North Sea, and guessing who is going to win the Nobel Peace Prize. Born in France and with Reuters since 2010, she has worked for The Guardian, Agence France-Presse and Al Jazeera English, among others, and speaks four languages.
Hit finance ministry, president’s office, spy agency and others
Sources believe Beijing was seeking info on debt
NAIROBI, May 24 (Reuters) – Chinese hackers targeted Kenya’s government in a widespread, years-long series of digital intrusions against key ministries and state institutions, according to three sources, cybersecurity research reports and Reuters’ own analysis of technical data related to the hackings.
Two of the sources assessed the hacks to be aimed, at least in part, at gaining information on debt owed to Beijing by the East African nation: Kenya is a strategic link in the Belt and Road Initiative – President Xi Jinping’s plan for a global infrastructure network.
“Further compromises may occur as the requirement for understanding upcoming repayment strategies becomes needed,” a July 2021 research report written by a defence contractor for private clients stated.
China’s foreign ministry said it was “not aware” of any such hacking, while China’s embassy in Britain called the accusations “baseless”, adding that Beijing opposes and combats “cyberattacks and theft in all their forms.”
China’s influence in Africa has grown rapidly over the past two decades. But, like several African nations, Kenya’s finances are being strained by the growing cost of servicing external debt – much of it owed to China.
The hacking campaign demonstrates China’s willingness to leverage its espionage capabilities to monitor and protect economic and strategic interests abroad, two of the sources said.
The hacks constitute a three-year campaign that targeted eight of Kenya’s ministries and government departments, including the presidential office, according to an intelligence analyst in the region. The analyst also shared with Reuters research documents that included the timeline of attacks, the targets, and provided some technical data relating to the compromise of a server used exclusively by Kenya’s main spy agency.
A Kenyan cybersecurity expert described similar hacking activity against the foreign and finance ministries. All three of the sources asked not to be named due to the sensitive nature of their work.
“Your allegation of hacking attempts by Chinese Government entities is not unique,” Kenya’s presidential office said, adding the government had been targeted by “frequent infiltration attempts” from Chinese, American and European hackers.
“As far as we are concerned, none of the attempts were successful,” it said.
It did not provide further details nor respond to follow-up questions.
A spokesperson for the Chinese embassy in Britain said China is against “irresponsible moves that use topics like cybersecurity to sow discord in the relations between China and other developing countries”.
“China attaches great importance to Africa’s debt issue and works intensively to help Africa cope with it,” the spokesperson added.
THE HACKS
Between 2000 and 2020, China committed nearly $160 billion in loans to African countries, according to a comprehensive database on Chinese lending hosted by Boston University, much of it for large-scale infrastructure projects.
Kenya used over $9 billion in Chinese loans to fund an aggressive push to build or upgrade railways, ports and highways.
Beijing became the country’s largest bilateral creditor and gained a firm foothold in the most important East African consumer market and a vital logistical hub on Africa’s Indian Ocean coast.
By late 2019, however, when the Kenyan cybersecurity expert told Reuters he was brought in by Kenyan authorities to assess a hack of a government-wide network, Chinese lending was drying up. And Kenya’s financial strains were showing.
The breach reviewed by the Kenyan cybersecurity expert and attributed to China began with a “spearphishing” attack at the end of that same year, when a Kenyan government employee unknowingly downloaded an infected document, allowing hackers to infiltrate the network and access other agencies.
“A lot of documents from the ministry of foreign affairs were stolen and from the finance department as well. The attacks appeared focused on the debt situation,” the Kenyan cybersecurity expert said.
Another source – the intelligence analyst working in the region – said Chinese hackers carried out a far-reaching campaign against Kenya that began in late 2019 and continued until at least 2022.
According to documents provided by the analyst, Chinese cyber spies subjected the office of Kenya’s president, its defence, information, health, land and interior ministries, its counter-terrorism centre and other institutions to persistent and prolonged hacking activity.
The affected government departments did not respond to requests for comment, declined to be interviewed or were unreachable.
By 2021, global economic fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic had already helped push one major Chinese borrower – Zambia – to default on its external debt. Kenya managed to secure a temporary debt repayment moratorium from China.
In early July 2021, the cybersecurity research reports shared by the intelligence analyst in the region detailed how the hackers secretly accessed an email server used by Kenya’s National Intelligence Service (NIS).
Reuters was able to confirm that the victim’s IP address belonged to the NIS. The incident was also covered in a report from the private defence contractor reviewed by Reuters.
Reuters could not determine what information was taken during the hacks or conclusively establish the motive for the attacks. But the defence contractor’s report said the NIS breach was possibly aimed at gleaning information on how Kenya planned to manage its debt payments.
“Kenya is currently feeling the pressure of these debt burdens…as many of the projects financed by Chinese loans are not generating enough income to pay for themselves yet,” the report stated.
A Reuters review of internet logs delineating the Chinese digital espionage activity showed that a server controlled by the Chinese hackers also accessed a shared Kenyan government webmail service more recently from December 2022 until February this year.
Chinese officials declined to comment on this recent breach, and the Kenyan authorities did not respond to a question about it.
‘BACKDOOR DIPLOMACY’
The defence contractor, pointing to identical tools and techniques used in other hacking campaigns, identified a Chinese state-linked hacking team as having carried out the attack on Kenya’s intelligence agency.
The group is known as “BackdoorDiplomacy” in the cybersecurity research community, because of its record of trying to further the objectives of Chinese diplomatic strategy.
According to Slovakia-based cybersecurity firm ESET, BackdoorDiplomacy re-uses malicious software against its victims to gain access to their networks, making it possible to track their activities.
Provided by Reuters with the IP address of the NIS hackers, Palo Alto Networks, a U.S. cybersecurity firm that tracks BackdoorDiplomacy’s activities, confirmed that it belongs to the group, adding that its prior analysis shows the group is sponsored by the Chinese state.
Cybersecurity researchers have documented BackdoorDiplomacy hacks targeting governments and institutions in a number of countries in Asia and Europe.
Incursions into the Middle East and Africa appear less common, making the focus and scale of its hacking activities in Kenya particularly noteworthy, the defence contractor’s report said.
“This angle is clearly a priority for the group.”
China’s embassy in Britain rejected any involvement in the Kenya hackings, and did not directly address questions about the government’s relationship with BackdoorDiplomacy.
“China is a main victim of cyber theft and attacks and a staunch defender of cybersecurity,” a spokesperson said.
Reporting by Aaron Ross in Nairobi, James Pearson in London and Christopher Bing in Washington
Additional reporting by Eduardo Baptista in Beijing
Editing by Chris Sanders and Joe Bavier
West & Central Africa correspondent investigating human rights abuses, conflict and corruption as well as regional commodities production, epidemic diseases and the environment, previously based in Kinshasa, Abidjan and Cairo.
Reports on hacks, leaks and digital espionage in Europe. Ten years at Reuters with previous postings in Hanoi as Bureau Chief and Seoul as Korea Correspondent. Author of ‘North Korea Confidential’, a book about daily life in North Korea. Contact: 447927347451
Award-winning reporter covering the intersection between technology and national security with a focus on how the evolving cybersecurity landscape affects government and business.
Kyiv parodies past Kremlin denials of military involvement
Girding for counteroffensive against Russian invasion
LONDON/KYIV, May 24 (Reuters) – A two-day incursion from Ukraine into Russia’s western borderlands could force the Kremlin to divert troops from front lines as Kyiv prepares a major counteroffensive, and deal Moscow a psychological blow, according to military analysts.
Though Kyiv has denied any role, the biggest cross-border raid from Ukraine since Russia invaded 15 months ago was almost certainly coordinated with Ukraine’s armed forces as it prepares to attempt to recapture territory, the experts added.
“The Ukrainians are trying to pull the Russians in different directions to open up gaps. The Russians are forced to send reinforcements,” said Neil Melvin, an analyst at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI).
Ukraine says it plans to conduct a major counteroffensive to seize back occupied territory, but Russia has built sprawling fortifications in its neighbour’s east and south in readiness.
The incursion took place far from the epicentre of fighting in Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region and around 100 miles (160 km) from the front lines in the northern Kharkiv region.
Reuters Image
“They’ll have to respond to this and put troops there and then have lots of troops all along the border area, even though that may not be the way the Ukrainians are coming,” Melvin said.
Russia’s military said on Tuesday it had routed militants who attacked its western Belgorod region with armoured vehicles the previous day, killing more than 70 “Ukrainian nationalists” and pushing the remainder back into Ukraine.
Kyiv has said the attack was carried out by Russian citizens, casting it as homegrown, internal Russian strife. Two groups operating in Ukraine – the Russian Volunteer Corps (RVC) and Freedom of Russia Legion – have claimed responsibility.
The groups were set up during Russia’s full-scale invasion and attracted Russian volunteer fighters wanting to fight against their own country alongside Ukraine and topple President Vladimir Putin.
Mark Galeotti, head of the London-based Mayak Intelligence consultancy and author of several books on the Russian military, said the two groups comprised anti-Kremlin Russians ranging from liberals and anarchists to neo-Nazis.
“They’re hoping that in some small way they can contribute to the downfall of the Putin regime. But at the same time, we have to realise that these are not independent forces … They are controlled by Ukrainian military intelligence,” he said.
Ukrainian presidential aide Mykhailo Podolyak repeated Kyiv’s position that it had nothing to do with the operation.
The United States says it does not “enable or encourage” Ukrainian attacks on Russian territory, but that it is up to Kyiv to decide how it conducts military operations.
A view shows damaged buildings, after anti-terrorism measures introduced for the reason of a cross-border incursion from Ukraine were lifted, in what was said to be a settlement in the Belgorod region, in this handout image released May 23, 2023. Governor of Russia’s Belgorod Region Vyacheslav Gladkov via Telegram/Handout via REUTERS/File Photo
Several similar incursions into Russia have occurred in recent months, and although this week’s was the largest known so far, it is still tiny when compared to frontline battles.
ECHOES OF 2014?
Alexei Baranovsky, a spokesperson for the political wing of the Freedom of Russia Legion, told Reuters in Kyiv that he could not disclose the number of troops involved in the operation, but that the legion had four battalions in total.
Baranovsky denied there had been heavy losses, and he dismissed Russian reports of large casualties as disinformation.
He said the unit was part of Ukraine’s International Legion and therefore part of its armed forces, but denied the incursion was coordinated with Ukrainian authorities.
“These are the first steps in the main objective of overthrowing Putin’s regime through armed force. There are no other alternatives,” he said.
Galeotti said the incursion looked like a Ukrainian battlefield “shaping” operation ahead of Kyiv’s planned counteroffensive.
“… This is really a chance to do two things. One is to rattle the Russians, make them worried about the possibility of risings amongst their own people. But secondly, force the Russians to disperse their troops,” he said.
Melvin noted that the operation also served to boost morale in Ukraine.
Kyiv officials have mimicked the Kremlin’s rhetoric surrounding Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014 when it initially denied the troops involved were Russian.
Podolyak blamed the Belgorod incursion on “underground guerrilla groups” comprising Russian citizens and said: “As you know, tanks are sold at any Russian military store.”
The remark appeared to echo Putin’s response in 2014 when asked about the presence of men wearing Russian military uniforms without insignia in Crimea: “You can go to a store and buy any kind of uniform.”
On social media, Ukrainians made reference to what they called the “Belgorod People’s Republic” – a nod to events in eastern Ukraine in 2014, when Russia-backed militias declared “people’s republics” in Ukraine’s Donetsk and Luhansk regions.
Ukrainians also circulated a video of President Volodymyr Zelenskiy delivering his famous “I am here” video address from Kyiv at the beginning of the invasion in February 2022. But instead of the presidential office in Kyiv, the background showed the welcome sign to the city of Belgorod.
Additional reporting by Max Hunder in Kyiv and Agnieszka Pikulicka-Wilczewska in Warsaw; editing by Mike Collett-White and Mark Heinrich
[1/3] A view shows an industrial building destroyed, according to Russian-installed officials, by a Ukrainian missile strike in the course of Russia-Ukraine conflict, in Luhansk, Russian-controlled… Read more
MOSCOW, May 13 (Reuters) – Russia’s Defence Ministry said on Saturday that Ukrainian aircraft had struck two industrial sites in the Russian-held city of Luhansk in eastern Ukraine with Storm Shadow long-range cruise missiles supplied by Britain.
Reuters could not verify the battlefield reports.
Britain on Thursday became the first country to say it had started supplying Kyiv with long-range cruise missiles, which will allow it to hit Russian troops and supply dumps far behind the front lines as it prepares a major counteroffensive.
British Defence Minister Ben Wallace said the missiles could be used within Ukrainian territory, implying that he had received assurances from Kyiv that they would not be used to attack targets inside Russia’s internationally accepted borders.
The Russian ministry said the missiles had hit a plant producing polymers and a meat-processing factory in Luhansk on Friday.
“Storm Shadow air-to-air missiles supplied to the Kyiv regime by Britain were used for the strike, contrary to London’s statements that these weapons would not be used against civilian targets,” the ministry said.
It also said Russia had downed two Ukrainian warplanes – an Su-24 and a MiG-29 – that had launched the missiles.
In its latest bulletin, the ministry also said Russian forces had gained control over another block in the eastern city of Bakhmut, which Moscow has been trying to capture for more than 10 months in an attritional artillery battle.
“The units of the Airborne Forces provided support to the assault units and pinned down the enemy on the flanks,” it said.
The ministry often uses the term “assault units” to denote the Wagner private militia, which has been spearheading the assault on Bakhmut at great cost in casualties.
Erdogan faces tight race against emboldened opposition
Cost-of-living crisis seen as denting his chances
Two-decade transformation of Turkey on the line
ANKARA, May 14 (Reuters) – Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan has nurtured an image of a robust and invincible leader over his two decades in power, yet he appears vulnerable as the political landscape may be shifting in favour of his opponent in Sunday’s presidential vote.
Erdogan emerged from humble roots to rule for 20 years and redraw Turkey’s domestic, economic, security and foreign policy, rivalling historic leader Mustafa Kemal Ataturk who founded modern Turkey a century ago.
The son of a sea captain, Erdogan has faced stiff political headwinds ahead of Sunday’s election: he was already facing blame over an economic crisis when a devastating earthquake hit in February. Critics accused his government of a slow response and lax enforcement of building rules, failures they said could have cost lives.
As opinion polls show a tight race, critics have drawn parallels with the circumstances that brought his Islamist-rooted AK Party to power in 2002, in an election also shaped by high inflation and economic turmoil.
Two days before the vote, Erdogan said he came to office through the ballot boxes and if he had to, would leave the same way.
“We will accept as legitimate every result that comes out of the ballots. We expect the same pledge from those opposing us,” he said in a televised interview on Friday.
For his enemies the day of retribution has come.
Under his autocratic rule, he amassed power around an executive presidency, muzzled dissent, jailed critics and opponents and seized control of the media, judiciary and the economy. He crammed most public institutions with loyalists and hollowed critical state organs.
His opponents have vowed to unpick many of the changes he has made to Turkey, which he has sought to shape to his vision of a pious, conservative society and assertive regional player.
The high stakes in Sunday’s presidential and parliamentary election are nothing new for a leader who once served a prison sentence – for reciting a religious poem – and survived an attempted military coup in 2016 when rogue soldiers attacked parliament and killed 250 people.
A veteran of more than a dozen election victories, the 69-year-old Erdogan has taken aim at his critics in typically combative fashion.
He has peppered the run-up with celebrations of industrial milestones, including the launch of Turkey’s first electric car and the inauguration of its first amphibious assault ship, built in Istanbul to carry Turkish-made drones.
Erdogan also flicked the switch on Turkey’s first delivery of natural gas from a Black Sea reserve, promising households free supplies, and inaugurated its first nuclear power station in a ceremony attended virtually by Russian President Vladimir Putin.
His attacks against his main challenger, Kemal Kilicdaroglu, have included accusations without evidence of support from the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which has been waging an insurgency since the 1980s in which more than 40,000 people have been killed. Kilicdaroglu has denied the accusations.
As he seeks to shore up his appeal among conservative voters, Erdogan has also spoken against LGBT rights, calling them a “deviant” concept that he would fight.
‘BUILDING TURKEY TOGETHER’
Polls suggest voting could go to a second round later this month – if neither Erdogan nor Kilicdaroglu win more than 50% of the vote – and some show Erdogan trailing. This hints at the depth of a cost-of-living crisis sparked by his unorthodox economic policies.
A drive by authorities to slash interest rates in the face of soaring inflation aimed to boost economic growth, but it crashed the currency in late 2021 and worsened inflation.
The economy was one of Erdogan’s main strengths in the first decade of his rule, when Turkey enjoyed a protracted boom with new roads, hospitals and schools and rising living standards for its 85 million people.
Halime Duman said high prices had put many groceries out of her reach but she remained convinced Erdogan could still fix her problems. “I swear, Erdogan can solve it with a flick of his wrist,” she said at a market in central Istanbul.
The president grew up in a poor district of Istanbul and attended Islamic vocational school, entering politics as a local party youth branch leader. After serving as Istanbul mayor, he stepped onto the national stage as head of the AK Party (AKP), becoming prime minister in 2003.
His AKP tamed Turkey’s military, which had toppled four governments since 1960, and in 2005 began talks to secure a decades-long ambition to join the European Union – a process that later came to a grinding halt.
GREATER CONTROL
Western allies initially saw Erdogan’s Turkey as a vibrant mix of Islam and democracy that could be a model for Middle East states struggling to shake off autocracy and stagnation.
But his drive to wield greater control polarised the country and alarmed international partners. Fervent supporters saw it as just reward for a leader who put Islamic teachings back at the core of public life in a country with a strong secularist tradition, and championed the pious working classes.
Opponents portrayed it as a lurch into authoritarianism by a leader addicted to power.
After the 2016 coup attempt authorities launched a massive crackdown, jailing more than 77,000 people pending trial and dismissing or suspending 150,000 from state jobs. Rights groups say Turkey became the world’s biggest jailer of journalists for a time.
Erdogan’s government said the purge was justified by threats from coup supporters, as well as Islamic State and the PKK.
At home, a sprawling new presidential palace complex on the edge of Ankara became a striking sign of his new powers, while abroad Turkey became increasingly assertive, intervening in Syria, Iraq and Libya and often deploying Turkish-made military drones with decisive force.
Additional reporting by Jonathan Spicer and Ali Kucukgocmen
Writing by Tom Perry
Editing by Jonathan Spicer, Samia Nakhoul and Frances Kerry
BRUSSELS, May 13 (Reuters) – Washington and the EU will pledge joint action to tackle concerns focused on China about non-market practices and coordinate their export controls on semiconductors and other goods at a meeting this month, a draft statement showed.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, European Commission Vice-President Margrethe Vestager and other senior officials are due to meet for the fourth edition of the EU-U.S. Trade and Technology Council (TTC) in Lulea, Sweden, on May 30-31.
The draft statement seen by Reuters said the two sides would address non-market practices and economic coercion, and aim to hold regular talks on efforts to stop their companies’ knowledge linked to outbound investment supporting technologies of strategic rivals – an oblique reference to China.
They will also coordinate on their export controls on “sensitive items” – including goods that have a military use – and semiconductors, said the statement, which only mentions China twice and could still be changed before the meeting.
Brussels says it considers China a partner in some fields, an economic competitor and a strategic rival. The European Union plans to recalibrate its China policy, recognising coordination with a more hawkish United States is essential.
Highlighting the medical devices sector in China, the document said the transatlantic partners are “exploring possible actions” over the threat posed by non-market policies and practices.
They also aim to cooperate on efforts to counter foreign manipulation of information, including “China’s amplification of Russian disinformation narratives about the war” in Ukraine.
The two sides also said they were committed to working with the G7 to coordinate action to counteract acts of economic coercion, such as the trade restrictions the EU says China has imposed on EU member Lithuania.
Reporting by Philip Blenkinsop
Editing by Helen Popper
KATHMANDU, May 14 (Reuters) – A Nepali sherpa guide climbed Mount Everest for the 26th time on Sunday, hiking officials said, becoming the world’s second person to achieve the feat.
Pasang Dawa Sherpa, 46, stood atop the 8,849-m (29,032-ft) peak, sharing the record number of summits with Kami Rita Sherpa, said Bigyan Koirala, a government tourism official.
Kami Rita, who is also climbing on Everest now, could set another record if he makes it to the top.
Pasang Dawa reached the top with a Hungarian client, said an official of his employer Imagine Nepal Treks, a hiking company.
“They are descending from the top now and are in good shape,” the official, Dawa Futi Sherpa, told Reuters.
Sherpas, who mostly use their first names, are known for their climbing skills and make a living mainly by guiding foreign clients in the mountains.
Dawa Futi said a Pakistani woman, Naila Kiani, who also climbed the peak on Sunday, was the first foreign climber to summit Everest in this year’s climbing season, which runs from March to May.
This could not be independently confirmed as many foreign climbers are now headed for the peak, a day after the ropes to the top were fixed.
Kiani, a 37-year-old banker based in Dubai, had climbed four of the world’s 14 highest mountains before Everest, the Himalayan Times newspaper said.
Nepal has issued a record of 467 permits this year for foreign climbers seeking to reach the summit of Everest.
Each climber is usually accompanied by at least one sherpa guide, fuelling fears that a narrow section below the summit, known as the Hillary Step, could get crowded.
Everest has been climbed more than 11,000 times since it was first scaled by Sir Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay in 1953, with about 320 people dying in the effort, according to a Himalayan database and Nepali officials.
Reporting by Gopal Sharma; Editing by Clarence Fernandez
May 14 (Reuters) – Russia’s Defence Ministry said on Sunday that two of its military commanders were killed in eastern Ukraine, as Kyiv’s forces renewed efforts to break through Russian defences in the embattled city of Bakhmut.
In a daily briefing, the ministry said that Commander Vyacheslav Makarov of the 4th Motorized Rifle Brigade and Deputy Commander Yevgeny Brovko from a separate unit were killed trying to repel Ukrainian attacks.
It said that Makarov had been leading troops from the front line, and that Brovko “died heroically, suffering multiple shrapnel wounds”. The defence ministry rarely announces the deaths of military command in its daily briefings.
It also said Ukrainian forces waged attacks in the north and south of Bakhmut over the past 24 hours, but that they had not broken through Russian defences. “All attacks by units of Ukraine’s armed forces have been repelled,” it said.
Yevgeny Prigozhin, head of the Wagner mercenary force which has spearheaded much of the Russian advance on Bakhmut, said his forces had advanced up to 130 metres (400 feet) over the past 24 hours.
Prigozhin, in an audio statement on Telegram, said his forces controlled 28 multi-story buildings in western districts of Bakhmut where Ukrainian troops were still operating.
Ukrainian forces, he said, were holding 20 buildings and a total area of 1.69 square km (0.65 square miles).
Reuters was not able to independently verify Russia’s account.
Ukrainian deputy defence minister Hanna Maliar confirmed on Sunday that Ukrainian forces “continue to move forward in the Bakhmut sector in the suburbs.”
“Our units captured more than ten enemy positions in the north and south of Bakhmut and cleared a large area of forest near Ivanivske. Enemy soldiers from different units were captured,” she said on the Telegram messaging app.
Neither Ukraine nor Russian forces have been able to take full control of the city, despite months of grinding warfare that has inflicted heavy losses on both sides.
Moscow acknowledged on Friday that its forces had fallen back north of Bakhmut amid a surge of Ukrainian attacks, but Kyiv has played down suggestions a huge, long-planned counteroffensive has officially begun.
Neither Erdogan or his challenger pass 50% threshold
Erdogan ahead after 20-year rule
Rivals spar over election count
ISTANBUL, May 14 (Reuters) – Turkey headed for a runoff vote after President Tayyip Erdogan led over his opposition rival Kemal Kilicdaroglu in Sunday’s election but fell short of an outright majority to extend his 20-year rule of the NATO-member country.
Neither Erdogan nor Kilicdaroglu cleared the 50% threshold needed to avoid a second round, to be held on May 28, in an election seen as a verdict on Erdogan’s increasingly authoritarian path.
The presidential vote will decide not only who leads Turkey but also whether it reverts to a more secular, democratic path, how it will handle its severe cost of living crisis, and manage key relations with Russia, the Middle East and the West.
Kilicdaroglu, who said he would prevail in the runoff, urged his supporters to be patient and accused Erdogan’s party of interfering with the counting and reporting of results.
But Erdogan performed better than pre-election polls had predicted, and he appeared in a confident and combative mood as he addressed his supporters.
“We are already ahead of our closest rival by 2.6 million votes. We expect this figure to increase with official results,” Erdogan said.
With almost 97% of ballot boxes counted, Erdogan led with 49.39% of votes and Kilicdaroglu had 44.92%, according to state-owned news agency Anadolu. Turkey’s High Election Board gave Erdogan 49.49% with 91.93% of ballot boxes counted.
Thousands of Erdogan voters converged on the party’s headquarters in Ankara, blasting party songs from loudspeakers and waving flags. Some danced in the street.
“We know it is not exactly a celebration yet but we hope we will soon celebrate his victory. Erdogan is the best leader we had for this country and we love him,” said Yalcin Yildrim, 39, who owns a textile factory.
ERDOGAN HAS EDGE
The results reflected deep polarization in a country at a political crossroads. The vote was set to hand Erdogan’s ruling alliance a majority in parliament, giving him a potential edge heading into the runoff.
Opinion polls before the election had pointed to a very tight race but gave Kilicdaroglu, who heads a six-party alliance, a slight lead. Two polls on Friday showed him above the 50% threshold.
The country of 85 million people – already struggling with soaring inflation – now faces two weeks of uncertainty that could rattle markets, with analysts expecting gyrations in the local currency and stock market.
“The next two weeks will probably be the longest two weeks in Turkey’s history and a lot will happen. I would expect a significant crash in the Istanbul stock exchange and lots of fluctuations in the currency,” said Hakan Akbas, managing director of Strategic Advisory Services, a consultancy.
[1/16] Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan, accompanied by his wife Ermine Erdogan, greets supporters at the AK Party headquarters in Ankara, Turkey May 15, 2023. REUTERS/Umit Bektas TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY
“Erdogan will have an advantage in a second vote after his alliance did far better than the opposition’s alliance,” he added.
A third nationalist presidential candidate, Sinan Ogan, stood at 5.3% of the vote. He could be a “kingmaker” in the runoff depending on which candidate he endorses, analysts said.
The opposition said Erdogan’s party was delaying full results from emerging by lodging objections, while authorities were publishing results in an order that artificially boosted Erdogan’s tally.
Kilicdaroglu, in an earlier appearance, said that Erdogan’s party was “destroying the will of Turkey” by objecting to the counts of more than 1,000 ballot boxes. “You cannot prevent what will happen with objections. We will never let this become a fait accompli,” he said.
But the mood at the opposition party’s headquarters, where Kilicdaroglu expected victory, was subdued as the votes were counted. His supporters waved flags of Turkey’s founder Mustafa Kemal Ataturk and beat drums.
KEY PUTIN ALLY
The choice of Turkey’s next president is one of the most consequential political decisions in the country’s 100-year history and will reverberate well beyond Turkey’s borders.
A victory for Erdogan, one of President Vladimir Putin’s most important allies, will likely cheer the Kremlin but unnerve the Biden administration, as well as many European and Middle Eastern leaders who had troubled relations with Erdogan.
Turkey’s longest-serving leader has turned the NATO member and Europe’s second-largest country into a global player, modernised it through megaprojects such as new bridges and airports and built an arms industry sought by foreign states.
But his volatile economic policy of low interest rates, which set off a spiralling cost of living crisis and inflation, left him prey to voters’ anger. His government’s slow response to a devastating earthquake in southeast Turkey that killed 50,000 people earlier this year added to voters’ dismay.
PARLIAMENTARY MAJORITY
Kilicdaroglu has pledged to revive democracy after years of state repression, return to orthodox economic policies, empower institutions that lost autonomy under Erdogan and rebuild frail ties with the West.
Thousands of political prisoners and activists could be released if the opposition prevails.
Critics fear Erdogan will govern ever more autocratically if he wins another term. The 69-year-old president, a veteran of a dozen election victories, says he respects democracy.
In the parliamentary vote, the People’s Alliance of Erdogan’s Islamist-rooted AKP, the nationalist MHP and others fared better than expected and were headed for a majority.
Writing by Alexandra Hudson
Editing by Frances Kerry
May 3 (Reuters) – Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy visited the International Criminal Courtin The Hague, which in March issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin for alleged deportation of children from Ukraine.
FIGHTING
* Zelenskiy said Ukraine would launch a counteroffensive soon against occupying Russian forces.
* Yevgeny Prigozhin, leader of Russia’s Wagner Group mercenary force, said the counteroffensive had already begun and his forces were observing heightened activity along the front.
* Russian shelling killed 23 people in and near the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson on Wednesday, hitting a hypermarket, a railway station and residential buildings, the regional governor said.
* A drone attackset ablaze product storage facilities at one of the largest oil refineries in southern Russia, but emergency services extinguished the fire just over two hours later, and the plant was working normally, TASS news agency reported.
* Ukrainian air defences said they downed 18 out of 24 kamikaze drones that Russia launched in a pre-dawn attack on Thursday. Kyiv city administration said that all missiles and drones targeting the Ukrainian capital for the third time in four days, were destroyed.
DIPLOMACY/POLITICS
* Zelenskiy will have a meeting at the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague on Thursday, the court said without giving further detail.
* German police said Zelenskiy would travel to Berlin on May 13, though a security source later said public disclosure of the visit was premature and it was now unclear if it would go ahead.
* Russia said it will keep talking to the United Nations about the future of a deal that allows the safe Black Sea export of Ukraine grain, but would not do anything to harm its own interests.
* Zelenskiy said Russia did not appear to be interested in extending the agreement beyond May 18.
* Chicago wheat rebounded from a 25-month low to close higher, edging up on doubts about the future of the Black Sea grains corridor, market analysts said.
* A Russian-U.S. joint venture has said it has abandoned plans to build large-capacity gas turbines in Russia under licence from General Electric Co (GE.N)
RECENT IN-DEPTH STORIES
* INSIGHT-Russia digs in as Ukraine prepares to attack
* ANALYSIS-Russia crosses new lines in crackdown on Putin’s enemies
ON THE FRONTLINE IN DONETSK REGION, Ukraine, May 4 (Reuters) – After months of living in trenches and bunkers near Ukraine’s southeastern frontlines, Artem and his fellow soldiers have lost the fear they once felt.
The war ebbs and flows for the 30-year-old volunteer from a small town near Chernihiv, in the north of the country, that came under siege early on in Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine more than a year ago and was briefly occupied.
Despite the regular thud of artillery and the whirring of a helicopter overhead, things have been relatively quiet of late for the unit located close to Russian positions.
The soldiers spend much of their time peering through binoculars, waiting, listening, scrolling through smartphones, clearing away mud and checking their weapons – including machine guns provided by the United States and Germany.
The last Russian attack was about a month ago, when some 30 Russian troops were mown down by two machine guns, said the group’s commander, Dmytro. Reuters could not independently confirm battlefield reports.
“There is always danger here, but over time you get used to it, and all your senses seem to sharpen,” Artem told Reuters during a recent reporting trip to the position.
“You no longer feel the fear that you had at the beginning,” added Artem, who has been based in the eastern Donbas region for some six months. He and his comrades, mostly volunteers, rotate regularly through the trenches, four days on, four days off.
They share their position with a cat and her seven kittens, who help to keep the mouse population down.
‘JUST A JOB’
[1/5] A Ukrainian service member Oleksandr, 44, is seen in a trench at a frontline, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, in Donetsk region, Ukraine April 28, 2023. REUTERS/Sofiia Gatilova
The narrow trenches are cut deep into black earth, reinforced in places by sandbags.
Dugouts are cramped but provide shelter from artillery shelling, mortars and weapons dropped from drones – munitions that pose a threat to both sides along around 1,200 km (750 miles) of frontlines in eastern and southern Ukraine.
“We have a place to eat, to sleep, we have a roof over our head. I don’t think we need much more here, once you have the necessities covered,” said Artem, who gave only his first name for security reasons.
“You can sleep, you can eat, and you find yourself in an illusion of safety. Nothing else matters.”
He joined up to fight the Russians soon after the invasion began, motivated by patriotism and a desire to protect his parents, friends and girlfriend.
“Over time, when you understand that they are all safe, it just becomes a job.”
He has not been home for some time, preferring to wait for the conflict to end so that he will not be sent back to the trenches when his leave ends.
Ukrainian authorities are planning to launch a major counteroffensive in the coming weeks which they hope will shift the momentum in the war and push the Russians back towards the borders of 1991.
Until then, Artem and his comrades wait and prepare for the next skirmish.
ROME, May 4 (Reuters) – Italy is highly unlikely to renew its Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) deal with China, which expires early next year, but needs time to discuss the issue with Beijing, a senior government official said.
The official, who has knowledge of internal discussions over the matter, said a formal decision would not be made ahead of this month’s Group of Seven summit in Japan, adding that it was a highly sensitive topic.
Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s office declined to comment.
Italy in 2019 became the first and so far only G7 nation to join the hugely ambitious BRI programme, which critics said would enable China to gain get control of sensitive technologies and vital infrastructure.
The then prime minister, Giuseppe Conte, hoped the deal would give a lift to Italy’s underperforming economy, but over the past four years it has seen little benefit, with exports to China totalling 16.4 billion euros ($18.1 billion) last year from 13 billion euros in 2019.
By contrast, Chinese exports to Italy rose to 57.5 billion from 31.7 billion over the same period, according to Italian data.
Italy’s main euro zone trading partners France and Germany exported significantly more to China last year, despite not being part of the BRI.
The government official said Rome would use this lack of economic development as an argument for not renewing the deal.
The pact expires in March 2024 and will be automatically renewed unless either side informs the other that they are pulling out, giving at least three months’ written warning.
In an interview with Reuters last year, before she won power in a September election, Meloni made clear she disapproved of Conte’s decision. “There is no political will on my part to favour Chinese expansion into Italy or Europe,” she said.
Meloni, who heads a conservative, nationalist coalition, has been keen to burnish her credentials as a committed pro-NATO, pro-Atlantic leader, catching the eyes of Western allies with robust, vocal support for Ukraine.
But she has been careful not to give offence to China, and government officials said Rome did not want to cause a diplomatic rupture.
China had to remain a partner, but Italy could not get into a situation where it was over-reliant on Beijing in any key sector, as had happened with Russia and its energy supplies, a second official said.
Meloni met Chinese President Xi Jinping in Bali last November and accepted an invitation to visit China, but a date has not yet been fixed.
Meloni has also not yet visited Washington and the government official said she did not want to travel to Beijing without having first been received by U.S. President Joe Biden.
(This story has been corrected to show that data refers to Chinese exports to Italy, not Chinese imports from Italy, in paragraph 6)
($1 = 0.9037 euros)
Reporting by Crispian Balmer; editing by John Stonestreet
Zelenskiy visits The Hague, says Putin must face justice
Diplomats work on extending Black Sea grains deal
KYIV, May 4 (Reuters) – Russian drones attacked the Ukrainian capital Kyiv on Thursday evening, the fourth assault in as many days subjecting residents to spasms of gunfire and explosions, and at least one drone was shot down.
City authorities had declared an alert for Kyiv and the surrounding area. Residents who had gone to air raid shelters said the drones arrived more quickly than usual after the alerts were declared. Reuters witnesses heard gunfire and repeated heavier explosions near the city centre.
The attacks started just after 8 p.m. (1700 GMT) and lasted around 20 minutes. Ukraine’s air force said in a statement that it had destroyed one of its own drones after the drone lost control over Kyiv region, probably because of a technical failure. It wasn’t clear how many drones in total were destroyed.
Russia said on Thursday that the United States was behind a purported drone attack on the Kremlin aiming to kill President Vladimir Putin. Washington and Kyiv denied involvement.
Putin will head a scheduled meeting of Russia’s Security Council on Friday and the Kremlin incident could be on the agenda, TASS news agency reported.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, speaking in The Hague after visiting the International Court of Justice, said Putin must be brought to justice over the war and that Kyiv would work to create a new tribunal for this purpose.
In other diplomacy, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield said on a visit to Brazil that she encouraged the government to include Ukraine in any attempt to negotiate an end to the war. She was referring to President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s comments calling on the West to stop arming Ukraine to allow peace talks to start.
There are currently no peace talks to end the war, which has devastated Ukrainian towns and cities, killed thousands of people and driven millions from their homes.
FRONTLINE ACTION
Nearly 50 Russian attacks were repelled along the main sectors of the front line in eastern and southern Ukraine, the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces said on Thursday evening. The heaviest fighting is still in Bakhmut and in Maryinka, further south in Donetsk region, it said.
Russian forces also launched 66 air raids and engaged in 33 shelling episodes on Ukrainian positions and on towns and villages, causing casualties and damaging infrastructure, the report said.
Smoke rises over the city after remains of a shot down Russian drone landed on buildings, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine May 4, 2023. REUTERS/Stringer
Reuters was not able to verify the battlefield accounts.
MOSCOW CITES ‘US ORDERS’
Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov, without providing evidence, said Ukraine had acted on U.S. orders to attack the Kremlin citadel in the early hours of Wednesday.
White House national security spokesperson John Kirby dismissed Russian “lies” and said there still was no conclusive evidence as to the authenticity of a video showing the drone at the Kremlin.
“Attempts to disown this (attack on the Kremlin), both in Kyiv and in Washington, are, of course, absolutely ridiculous. We know very well that decisions about such actions, about such terrorist attacks, are made not in Kyiv but in Washington,” Peskov told reporters.
Peskov said an urgent investigation was under way and that any response would be carefully considered and balanced.
Russia has increasingly accused the United States of being a direct participant in the war, intent on inflicting a “strategic defeat” on Moscow. Washington denies this, saying it is arming Kyiv to defend itself and retake illegally seized land.
KYIV, ODESA TARGETED
Earlier on Thursday, Russia fired two dozen combat drones at Ukraine, hitting Kyiv and also striking a university campus in the Black Sea city of Odesa. There were no reports of casualties. Russia denies targeting civilians in Ukraine.
Diplomats, meanwhile, are still working to keep a package deal for Ukrainian and Russian agricultural exports alive beyond May 18. Technical personnel from Turkey, Russia, Ukraine, and the United Nations will meet on Friday to discuss the deal, Turkish Defence Minister Hulusi Akar said.
Russia has a list of demands it wants met for continuation of the Black Sea grains pact, which the U.N. said helps tackle a global food crisis aggravated by Russian forces invading neighbouring Ukraine in February 2022.
Zelenskiy has vowed to drive all invading Russian forces back to the borders set in 1991 following the collapse of the Soviet Union. He said on Thursday the whole of Ukrainian society was preparing for a counteroffensive, which he said would be successful against what he called a “demotivated” Russia.
Reporting by Kyiv, Moscow and Amsterdam buros
Writing by Gareth Jones
Editing by Nick Macfie
Kremlin administration shifts focus from Kyiv to Washington
Allegation goes beyond previous accusations against U.S.
Washington denies accusation
Security experts: incident implausible as assassination attempt
Incident came six days before Victory Day showcase on Red Square
May 4 (Reuters) – Russia accused the United States on Thursday of being behind what it says was a drone attack on Moscow’s Kremlin citadel intended to kill President Vladimir Putin.
A day after blaming Ukraine for what it called a terrorist attack, the Kremlin administration shifted the focus onto the United States, but without providing evidence. The White House was quick to reject the charge.
Ukraine has also denied involvement in the incident in the early hours of Wednesday, when video footage showed two flying objects approaching the Senate Palace inside the Kremlin walls and one exploding with a bright flash.
“Attempts to disown this, both in Kyiv and in Washington, are, of course, absolutely ridiculous. We know very well that decisions about such actions, about such terrorist attacks, are made not in Kyiv but in Washington,” said Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov.
He said the United States was “undoubtedly” behind the incident and added – again without stating evidence – that Washington often selected both the targets for Ukraine to attack, and the means to attack them.
“This is also often dictated from across the ocean … In Washington they must clearly understand that we know this,” Peskov said.
White House national security spokesman John Kirby told MSNBC television the Russian claims were false, and that Washington does not encourage or enable Ukraine to strike outside its borders.
Russia has said with increasing frequency that it sees the United States as a direct participant in the war, intent on inflicting a “strategic defeat” on Moscow. The United States denies that, saying it is arming Ukraine to defend itself and retake territory that Moscow has seized illegally in more than 14 months of war.
CALLS TO KILL ZELENSKIY
However, Peskov’s allegation went further than previous Kremlin accusations against Washington.
Putin was not in the Kremlin at the time, and security analysts have poured scorn on the idea that the incident was a serious assassination attempt.
But Russia has said it reserves the right to retaliate, and hardliners including former president Dmitry Medvedev have said it should now “physically eliminate” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy.
Peskov declined to say whether Moscow saw Zelenskiy as a legitimate target.
He said Russia had an array of options and the response would be carefully considered and balanced. He said an urgent investigation was under way.
Putin was in the Kremlin on Thursday and staff were working normally, he said.
The incident took place less than a week before Russia’s May 9 Victory Day celebrations marking the defeat of Nazi Germany in World War Two – an important public holiday and an opportunity for Putin to rally Russians behind what he calls Russia’s “special military operation” in Ukraine.
Peskov said air defences would be tightened, and this was happening anyway for the military parade on Red Square, the centrepiece of the holiday, just over the Kremlin wall from the site of the alleged attack.
He said the parade would go ahead as normal, and include a speech from Putin.
Chief writer on Russia and CIS. Worked as a journalist on 7 continents and reported from 40+ countries, with postings in London, Wellington, Brussels, Warsaw, Moscow and Berlin. Covered the break-up of the Soviet Union in the 1990s. Security correspondent from 2003 to 2008. Speaks French, Russian and (rusty) German and Polish.
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