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Tag: Military occupations

  • Ukraine signs a letter of intent to buy up to 100 Rafale warplanes from France

    PARIS — Ukraine signed a letter of intent to buy up to 100 Rafale warplanes from France, the Ukrainian Embassy and the French president’s office said.

    Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and French President Emmanuel Macron signed the document on Monday stating that Ukraine is considering the possibility of buying French defense equipment, including Rafale jet fighters, Macron’s office said. It did not provide further details.

    Zelenskyy was on his ninth visit to Paris since Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022. His talks are meant to strengthen Ukraine’s defenses as the country enters another winter under Russian bombardment of its energy infrastructure and other targets.

    On Monday morning, Macron and Zelenskyy visited an air base in the Paris outskirts, before heading to the headquarters of a multinational force, dubbed the “coalition of the willing,” that France and Britain have been preparing with more than 30 other nations to police an eventual ceasefire in Ukraine.

    Zelenskyy wrote on X on Sunday that he looked forward to a “historic deal with France in Paris to strengthen our combat aviation and air defense.”

    Last month, Ukraine and Sweden signed an agreement exploring the possibility of Ukraine buying up to 150 Swedish-made Gripen fighter jets over the next decade or more. Ukraine has already received American-made F-16s and French Mirages.

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    Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

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  • This anti-drone technology is used on the Ukrainian battlefield and in NATO airspace after flyovers

    AALBORG, Denmark (AP) — In a warehouse more than 1,500 kilometers (900 miles) from Ukraine’s capital, workers in northern Denmark painstakingly piece together anti-drone devices. Some of the devices will be exported to Kyiv in the hopes of jamming Russian technology on the battlefield, while others will be shipped across Europe in efforts to combat mysterious drone intrusions into NATO’s airspace that have the entire continent on edge.

    Two Danish companies whose business was predominantly defense-related now say they have a surge in new clients seeking to use their technology to protect sites like airports, military installations and critical infrastructure, all of which have been targeted by drone flyovers in recent weeks.

    Weibel Scientific’s radar drone detection technology was deployed ahead of a key EU summit earlier this year to Copenhagen Airport, where unidentified drone sightings closed the airspace for hours in September. Counter-drone firm MyDefence, from its warehouse in northern Denmark, builds handheld, wearable radio frequency devices that sever the connection between a drone and its pilot to neutralize the threat.

    So-called “jamming” is restricted and heavily regulated in the European Union, but widespread on the battlefields of Ukraine and has become so extensive there that Russia and Ukraine have started deploying drones tethered by thin fiber-optic cables that don’t rely on radio frequency signals. Russia also is firing attack drones with extra antenna to foil Ukraine’s jamming efforts.

    A spike in drone incursions

    Drone warfare exploded following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Russia has bombarded Ukraine with drone and missile attacks, striking railways, power facilities and cities across the country. Ukraine, in response, has launched daring strikes deep inside Russia using domestically produced drones.

    But Europe as a whole is now on high alert after the drone flyovers into NATO’s airspace reached an unprecedented scale in September, prompting European leaders to agree to develop a “drone wall” along their borders to better detect, track and intercept drones violating Europe’s airspace. In November, NATO military officials said a new U.S. anti-drone system was deployed to the alliance’s eastern flank.

    Some European officials described the incidents as Moscow testing NATO’s response, which raised questions about how prepared the alliance is against Russia. Key challenges include the ability to detect drones — sometimes mistaken for a bird or plane on radar systems — and take them down cheaply.

    The Kremlin has brushed off allegations that Russia is behind some of the unidentified drone flights in Europe.

    Andreas Graae, assistant professor at the Royal Danish Defense College, said there is a “huge drive” to rapidly deploy counter-drone systems in Europe amid Russia’s aggression.

    “All countries in Europe are struggling to find the right solutions to be prepared for these new drone challenges,” he said. “We don’t have all the things that are needed to actually be good enough to detect drones and have early warning systems.”

    Putting ‘machines before people’

    Founded in 2013, MyDefence makes devices that can be used to protect airports, government buildings and other critical infrastructure, but chief executive Dan Hermansen called the Russia-Ukraine war a “turning point” for his company.

    More than 2,000 units of its wearable “Wingman” detector have been delivered to Ukraine since Russia invaded nearly four years ago.

    “For the past couple of years, we’ve heard in Ukraine that they want to put machines before people” to save lives, Hermansen said.

    MyDefence last year doubled its earnings to roughly $18.7 million compared to 2023.

    Then came the drone flyovers earlier this year. Besides Copenhagen Airport, drones flew over four smaller Danish airports, including two that serve as military bases.

    Hermansen said they were an “eye-opener” for many European countries and prompted a surge of interest in their technology. MyDefence went from the vast majority of its business being defense-related to inquiries from officials representing police forces and critical infrastructure.

    “Seeing suddenly that drone warfare is not just something that happens in Ukraine or on the eastern flank, but basically is something that we need to take care of in a hybrid warfare threat scenario,” he added.

    Radar technology used against drones

    On NATO’s eastern flank, Denmark, Poland and Romania are deploying a new weapons system to defend against drones. The American Merops system, which is small enough to fit in the back of a midsize pickup truck, can identify drones and close in on them using artificial intelligence to navigate when satellite and electronic communications are jammed.

    The aim is to make the border with Russia so well-armed that Moscow’s forces will be deterred from ever contemplating crossing the line from Norway in the north to Turkey in the south, NATO military officials told The Associated Press.

    North of Copenhagen, Weibel Scientific has been making Doppler radar technology since the 1970s. Typically used in tracking radar systems for the aerospace industry, it’s now being applied to drone detection like at Copenhagen Airport.

    The technology can determine the velocity of an object, such as a drone, based on the change in wavelength of a signal being bounced back. Then it’s possible to predict the direction the object is moving, Weibel Scientific chief executive Peter Røpke said.

    “The Ukraine war, and especially how it has evolved over the last couple of years with drone technology, means this type of product is in high demand,” Røpke said.

    Earlier this year, Weibel secured a $76 million deal, which the firm called its “largest order ever.”

    The drone flyovers boosted the demand even higher as discussion around the proposed “drone wall” continued. Røpke said his technology could become a “key component” of any future drone shield.

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    Stefanie Dazio in Berlin contributed to this report.

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  • Germany hopes to attract tens of thousands more military recruits as NATO strengthens its defenses

    ROSTOCK, Germany — Germany has committed billions to beefing up its military’s equipment after years of neglect. Now it’s trying to persuade more people to join up and serve.

    More than 3½ years after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine kick-started efforts to revitalize the Bundeswehr, the challenge of strengthening the German military has grown along with fears of the threat from Moscow.

    Alongside the higher military spending that Germany and NATO allies agreed on this year, the alliance is encouraging members to increase personnel numbers. Berlin wants to add tens of thousands of service members.

    Chancellor Friedrich Merz says that “because of its size and its economic strength, Germany is the country that must have the strongest conventional army in NATO on the European side.” He hasn’t defined that goal in detail, but the tone underscores a shift in a country that emerged only gradually from its post-World War II military reticence after reunification in 1990.

    Earlier this month, the military’s top brass watched as a ferry packed with armored vehicles was escorted out of the Baltic port of Rostock, drones were intercepted in the air and on the water and fighter jets circled above. That was part of an exercise focused on moving troops and equipment to Lithuania — an ally on NATO’s eastern flank where modern Germany is stationing a brigade abroad on a long-term basis for the first time.

    “Credible deterrence requires operational readiness,” said the Bundeswehr’s chief of staff, Gen. Carsten Breuer. “And operational readiness requires matériel, personnel, training and … exercising, exercising, exercising.”

    There’s plenty to do on both matériel and personnel, in a country where the military was often viewed with indifference or suspicion given the legacy of the Nazi past.

    Germany suspended conscription for men in 2011 and subsequently struggled to attract large numbers of short-term volunteers. In recent years, the number of military personnel has hovered just above 180,000 — compared with 300,000, more than a third conscripts, in 2001. Now the government wants to raise it to 260,000 over the next decade, and says it will also need around 200,000 reservists, more than double the current figure.

    Better pay is one way to make the Bundeswehr more attractive, said Thomas Wiegold, a defense policy expert who runs the Augen geradeaus! military blog. But a key issue is fixing the military’s longstanding equipment problems, “because a force that doesn’t have enough tanks, that doesn’t have enough ships, that also doesn’t have enough barracks, is not particularly attractive for applicants.”

    F-35 fighter jets, Chinook transport helicopters, Leopard 2 tanks, frigates and other hardware are on order after a 100 billion-euro ($117 billion) special fund was set up in 2022 to modernize the Bundeswehr, but they will take time to arrive. This year, Merz’s new coalition enabled higher spending by loosening strict rules on incurring debt, a big step for a historically debt-averse nation.

    After conscription was suspended, the Bundeswehr gave up 48 barracks. A report by the parliamentary commissioner for the military earlier this year said that some remaining barracks and other facilities are still in a “disastrous” state after years of penny-pinching. A program to build new military accommodation now aims to build 76 new buildings by 2031.

    The Cabinet last month approved plans for a new military service system meant to tackle the personnel challenge. It foresees more attractive pay and conditions for people who join up on a short-term basis, better training and more flexibility on how long people can serve.

    The aim is to draw sufficient recruits without reviving conscription, an idea unpopular with the center-left junior partner in Merz’s coalition, but the plan leaves the door open to do so if not enough people volunteer.

    In a first step beginning next year, the government plans to send questionnaires to young men and women turning 18 about their willingness and ability to serve, which men will be required to answer. Starting in mid-2027, young men will be required to undergo medical examinations, though not to sign up for the military.

    “I think what is happening now is above all preparation for compulsory service that is possible later, because not only was compulsory service suspended in Germany 14 years ago, but also the whole apparatus to administer compulsory service was scrapped,” Wiegold said. “It is now gradually being built up again.”

    There’s widespread skepticism in Merz’s conservative bloc that some kind of conscription can be avoided. It’s shared by the head of the BundeswehrVerband, essentially a union for service members.

    “We must not suggest to people in this country that this growth will certainly happen voluntarily — I strongly doubt that,” its head, Col. André Wüstner, said in an interview on German public television, suggesting that Germany should move “step by step” to compulsory service.

    Wiegold noted that the military has had a different status in modern Germany than in countries such as Britain, France and the U.S. because of the country’s history, and consequently there’s no “great enthusiasm” to join up. But the invasion of Ukraine means that “the perception of the Bundeswehr as an important element of Germany has become much greater.”

    Authorities have worked to raise esteem for military service. Ads exhorting people to consider joining the military have shown up on pizza boxes, kebab wrappers and elsewhere. The Bundeswehr has sent personalized postcards to 16 and 17 year olds pointing to career opportunities. Its social media efforts include a “Bundeswehr career” channel on TikTok.

    In June, Germany marked an annual “veterans’ day” for the first time. Recruits are being honored with swearing-in ceremonies in prominent places — recently, for example, outside the regional parliament of North Rhine-Westphalia, the country’s most populous state.

    One of the newly trained recruits in Duesseldorf, a 21-year-old woman who like others was only permitted to give her first name, Lina, said that the state of the world “is getting ever more tense and, if no one goes into this service, who will do it?”

    Another, 26-year-old Vincent, said that he wanted to contribute to the defense of Germany and its European allies, “and I can’t say that’s important and not do something for it myself.”

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    Kerstin Sopke in Berlin, Daniel Niemann in Duesseldorf and Pietro De Cristofaro in Rostock, contributed to this report.

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  • Palestinians flee chaos and panic in Rafah after Israel’s seizure of border crossing

    Palestinians flee chaos and panic in Rafah after Israel’s seizure of border crossing

    RAFAH, Gaza Strip — Tens of thousands of displaced and exhausted Palestinians have packed up their tents and other belongings from Rafah, dragging families on a new exodus.

    The main hospital has shut down, leaving little care for people suffering from malnutrition, illnesses and wounds.

    And with fuel and other supplies cut off, aid workers have been scrambling to help a population desperate after seven months of war.

    As the possibility of a full-scale invasion looms, Gaza’s overcrowded southernmost city has been thrown into panic and chaos by Israel’s seizure of the nearby border crossing with Egypt.

    Families uprooted multiple times by the war were uncertain where to go: to the half-destroyed city of Khan Younis, to points even farther north, or to an Israeli-declared “humanitarian zone” in Gaza already teeming with people with little water or supplies?

    The past three days, streams of people on foot or in vehicles have jammed the roads out of Rafah in a confused evacuation, their belongings piled high in cars, trucks and donkey carts. All the while, Israeli bombardment has boomed and raised palls of smoke.

    “The war has caught up with us even in schools. There is no safe place at all,” said Nuzhat Jarjer. Her family packed on Wednesday to leave a U.N. school-turned-shelter in Rafah that was rapidly emptying of the hundreds who had lived there for months.

    Rafah had 250,000 residents before the war. Its population had ballooned to some 1.4 million as people from across Gaza fled there. Nearly every empty space was blanketed with tent camps, and families crammed into schools or homes with relatives. Like the rest of Gaza’s population, they have been largely reliant on aid groups for food and other basics of life.

    Israel on Monday issued evacuation orders for eastern parts of the city, home to some 100,000. It then sent tanks to seize the nearby Rafah crossing with Egypt, shutting it down.

    It remains uncertain whether Israel will launch an all-out invasion of Rafah as international efforts continue for a cease-fire. Israel has said an assault on Rafah is crucial to its goal of destroying Hamas after the militant group’s Oct. 7 attack on southern Israel that left 1,200 dead and 250 as hostages in Gaza.

    The United States, which opposes a Rafah invasion, has said Israel has not provided a credible plan for evacuating and protecting civilians. The war has killed over 34,800 Palestinians, according to Gaza health officials, and has driven some 80% of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million Palestinians from their homes.

    For now, confusion has reigned. Fearing a greater assault, Palestinians fled districts other than the eastern areas they were ordered to leave. Tens of thousands are estimated to have left, according to a U.N. official who spoke on condition of anonymity because agencies were still trying to determine precise figures.

    Tent camps in some parts of Rafah have vanished, springing up again further north along main roads. New camps have filled streets, cemeteries and the beach in the central Gaza town of Deir al-Balah, 15 kilometers (10 miles) north, as people flowed in, said Ghada Alhaddad, who works there with the aid group Oxfam, speaking to a briefing by several humanitarian workers.

    Others made their way to Khan Younis, much of which was destroyed in a months-long Israeli ground assault.

    Suze van Meegen, head of operations for the Norwegian Refugee Council in Palestine, said the Rafah district where she is based “feels like a ghost town.”

    The Israeli military told those evacuating to go to a “humanitarian zone” it declared in Muwasi, a nearby rural area on the Mediterranean coast. The zone is already packed with some 450,000 people, according to the U.N. Few new facilities appear to be prepared, despite the military’s announcements that tents, medical centers and food would be present.

    The ground is covered in many places with sewage and solid waste, since there are few sanitation facilities, aid workers say. Clean water is lacking and dehydration is a major problem, with temperatures some days already reaching 100 degrees Fahrenheit (38 Celsius).

    The water quality is “horrifically bad. We tested some of the water and the fecal content … is incredibly high,” said James Smith, a British emergency doctor volunteering at the European General Hospital in nearby Khan Younis. Acute jaundice is rampant — and probably caused by hepatitis, but there’s no capabilities to test, he said.

    The newly arrived struggle to find tents because of an extreme shortage among aid groups.

    Before his family left Rafah to the zone, Iyad al-Masry said he had to sell food received from aid groups to buy a tent for the equivalent of nearly $400.

    His family set up their tent in Muwasi, smoothing the dirt ground before setting down a cradle to rock an infant in. Al-Masri said he has been searching for water and can’t afford the three shekels — a little less than $1 — that sellers charge for a gallon of drinking water.

    “We want to eat … We are just waiting for God’s mercy,” he said.

    Nick Maynard, a surgeon with Medical Aid for Palestinians who left Gaza on Monday, said two teenage girls who had survivable injuries died last week because of complications from malnutrition.

    “They get this vicious cycle of malnutrition, infection, wounds breaking down, more infection, more malnutrition,” said Maynard.

    The number of children in Rafah who have lost one or more limbs is “staggering,” said Alexandra Saieh from Save The Children. “These people cannot just pick up and relocate.”

    Rafah’s main Youssef al-Najjar Hospital evacuated on Tuesday. Smith said staff and patients rushed out even though they weren’t under evacuation orders because they feared Israeli troops would raid, just as they did hospitals in northern Gaza and Khan Younis, which were left decimated.

    Israel claims Hamas used the hospitals for military purposes, an accusation Hamas and Gaza health officials deny.

    Israeli tank shells Wednesday hit about 300 meters (yards) from the Kuwaiti Hospital, one of the few facilities still operating, and wounded several children, according to hospital officials.

    The closure of Rafah crossing and the nearby Kerem Shalom crossing from Israel has cut off the entry of food, supplies, and fuel for aid trucks and generators. Aid groups warn they have only a few days of fuel before humanitarian operations and hospitals around Gaza begin to shut down.

    Israel said Wednesday it reopened Kerem Shalom, which was shut after Hamas mortars killed four Israeli soldiers nearby, but aid groups said no trucks were entering the Gaza side. Trucks let through from Israel must be unloaded and the cargo reloaded onto trucks in Gaza, but no workers in Gaza can get to the facility to do so because it is too dangerous, the U.N. says.

    Palestinian workers trying to reach the border crossing Wednesday were shot at, and several were wounded, the Israeli military said. It did not specify who opened fire but said it was investigating. Hamas also shelled in the area of Kerem Shalom on Wednesday, saying it was targeting nearby troops.

    The U.N.’s World Food Program has been cut off from its Gaza food warehouse near the Rafah crossing, its deputy executive director Carl Skau said. It procured another warehouse in Deir al-Balah, but it’s empty until crossings reopen, he said.

    Van Meegen, of the Norwegian Refugee Council, said without more supplies, “how do we even begin to prioritize the dribble of humanitarian aid we have here when almost every single person is being forced to depend on it?”

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    El Deeb and Keath reported from Cairo. Associated Press correspondents Sam Mednick in Jerusalem and Kareem Chehayeb in Beirut contributed.

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  • Japan hosts Ukraine reconstruction conference to showcase its support for the war-torn country

    Japan hosts Ukraine reconstruction conference to showcase its support for the war-torn country

    TOKYO — Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida pledged his country’s long-term engagement in Ukraine‘s reconstruction on Monday, calling it an investment in the future, as Japan stresses its commitment to supporting the war-torn country ahead of the two-year anniversary of Russia’s invasion.

    In his keynote speech at a conference Japan co-organized with the Ukrainian government and business organizations, Kishida said Japan wants a long-term public-private partnership based on inclusivity, humanitarianism, technology and knowledge. More than 50 cooperation deals were signed by Japanese and Ukrainian government agencies and companies.

    “The war in Ukraine is still going on at this very moment and the situation is not easy. The promotion of economic reconstruction, however, is not only an investment for the future of Ukraine but also investing in Japan and the whole globe,” he said.

    Japan hopes the conference will build momentum for international support for Ukraine as the war drags on and attention has diverted to the situation in Gaza.

    Kishida stressed the importance of investment across various industries and ensuring that the support caters to Ukraine’s needs.

    Ukraine’s Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal, who heads headed his country’s delegation of more than 100 people, thanked Kishida and said the meeting “is the new start of cooperation between the two countries.”

    “Ukraine is not just rebuilding, we are generating new rules of the game, new approaches,” he said. All eyes are on Ukraine, and “dictators and potential invaders” are also turning their eyes to see how Russia’s violation of the international law is seen and how the world will react to it, he added.

    About 300 people and 80 companies from the two countries were expected to attend.

    The Japan-Ukraine Conference for Promotion of Economic Growth and Reconstruction is co-organized by the Japanese and Ukrainian governments, Japan’s powerful business organization Keidanren, and the Japan External Trade Organization, or JETRO.

    The two sides issued a joint communique expressing Japan’s long-term support for helping Ukraine achieve economic stability. The two countries also noted the importance of maintaining tough sanctions against Russia.

    Japan also announced the start of talks toward revising a bilateral investment pact and easing of travel restrictions for Japanese business visitors to Ukraine.

    The conference is largely about reconstruction and investment in Ukraine, but it’s also about Japan’s national security given Japan’s concerns about China’s increasingly assertive military actions in the region.

    Kishida repeatedly said that “Ukraine today could be East Asia tomorrow,” and that it’s crucial for Japan to advocate its opposition to Russia’s invasion and to what it calls a one-sided change of the status quo by force.

    “It is extremely important that we demonstrate our solidarity to Ukraine in our uniquely Japanese way,” Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa told reporters Friday.

    Japan’s $12.1 billion contribution to Ukraine over the past two years is mostly financial and humanitarian as its military equipment provisions are limited to non-lethal weapons. The help is dwarfed by the $111 billion the United States has provided in weapons, equipment and humanitarian assistance.

    Japan’s government has chosen seven target areas — including removal of mines and debris; improvement of humanitarian and living conditions; farming; biochemical manufacturing; the digital and information industries; power and transport infrastructure; and anti-corruption measures.

    Japan, in cooperation with other Group of Seven members, hopes to link the Tokyo conference to a separate Ukraine reconstruction conference to be held in Germany in June.

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  • Kuwait's ruling emir, Sheikh Nawaf Al Ahmad Al Sabah, dies at age 86

    Kuwait's ruling emir, Sheikh Nawaf Al Ahmad Al Sabah, dies at age 86

    DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Kuwait’s ruling emir, the 86-year-old Sheikh Nawaf Al Ahmad Al Sabah, died Saturday after a three-year, low-key reign focused on trying to resolve the tiny, oil-rich nation’s internal political disputes.

    Kuwait state television broke into programming with Quranic verses just before a somber official made the announcement.

    “With great sadness and sorrow, we — the Kuwaiti people, the Arab and Islamic nations, and the friendly peoples of the world — mourn the late His Highness the emir, Sheikh Nawaf Al Ahmad Al Jaber Al Sabah, who passed away to his Lord today,” said Sheikh Mohammed Abdullah Al Sabah, the minister of his emiri court, who read the brief statement.

    Authorities gave no cause of death.

    Kuwait’s deputy ruler and his half-brother, Sheikh Meshal Al Ahmad Al Jaber, now 83, is believed to be the world’s oldest crown prince. He is in line to take over as Kuwait’s ruler and represents one of the Gulf Arab countries’ last octogenarian leaders.

    In late November, Sheikh Nawaf was rushed to a hospital for an unspecified illness. In the time since, Kuwait had been waiting for news about his health. State-run news previously reported that he traveled to the United States for unspecified medical checks in March 2021.

    The health of Kuwait’s leaders remains a sensitive matter in the Middle Eastern nation also bordering Iraq and Saudi Arabia, which has seen internal power struggles behind palace doors.

    Those from Sheikh Nawaf’s lifetime, born before oil fully transformed Kuwait from a trading hub into a petrostate, have been fading away with age. That, as well as other Gulf Arab nations putting younger and more assertive rulers in power, has increasingly put more pressure on the Al Sabah to pass power onto the next generation.

    In neighboring Saudi Arabia, King Salman, 87, is widely believed to have placed day-to-day rule of his nation in the hands of his 38-year-old son, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

    Sheikh Nawaf was sworn in as emir in 2020 amid the coronavirus pandemic, following the death of his predecessor, the late Sheikh Sabah Al Ahmad Al Sabah. The breadth and depth of emotion over the loss of Sheikh Sabah, known for his diplomacy and peacemaking, was felt across the region.

    Sheikh Nawaf previously served as Kuwait’s interior and defense minister. His political fortunes were never certain despite being part of the ruling Al Sabah family. As defense minister, Sheikh Nawaf oversaw the rapid collapse of his forces during Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein’s invasion of his country in August 1990. He faced widespread criticism for his decisions during the war.

    A letter reportedly sent to the country’s ruler at the time alleged Sheikh Nawaf ordered tank crews not to fire on the approaching Iraqi forces. The reasoning behind the alleged order remains unclear. Iraq’s battle-hardened forces, after years at war with Iran, easily overwhelmed the country.

    A U.S.-led, multinational force later expelled the Iraqis from Kuwait in Operation Desert Storm. The Al Sabah never published the findings of its investigations into the government’s actions around the invasion.

    “Our main target is the liberation. After we return, we will repair our own house,” Sheikh Nawaf said in 1991. “You have to reform yourself and correct any previous mistakes.”

    He faced a demotion and then didn’t hold a Cabinet-level position for about a decade afterward, serving as a deputy chief of the country’s National Guard. Even on his return, analysts viewed him as not particularly active in government, though his low-key approach later appealed to some Kuwaitis who ultimately moved on from his wartime performance.

    Sheikh Nawaf was largely an uncontroversial choice for emir, though his advancing age led analysts to suggest his tenure would be short. It was — he had the third-shortest tenure of any emir since the Al Sabah ruled Kuwait beginning in 1752.

    During his term, he had been focused on domestic issues as the nation struggled through political disputes — including the overhaul of Kuwait’s welfare system — which prevented the sheikhdom from taking on debt. That’s left it with little in its coffers to pay bloated public sector salaries, despite generating immense wealth from its oil reserves.

    In 2021, Sheikh Nawaf issued a long-awaited amnesty decree, pardoning and reducing the sentences of nearly three dozen Kuwaiti dissidents in a move aimed at defusing a major government standoff. He issued another just before his illness, aiming to resolve that political impasse that also saw Kuwait hold three separate parliamentary elections under his rule.

    “He earned his title — he has a nickname here, they call him ‘the emir of pardons,’” said Bader al-Saif, an assistant professor of history at Kuwait University. “No one in modern Kuwaiti history has gone this far to reach out to the other side, to open up.”

    Kuwait is perceived as having the Gulf’s freest parliament that comparatively allows for dissent.

    Meanwhile, the Gulf Cooperation Council states, including Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, restored ties after years of a boycott of Doha, easing regional tensions and allowing Sheikh Nawaf to focus on issues at home.

    British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak offered his condolences.

    “His Highness was a great friend of the U.K. and we will remember fondly all he did for our bilateral relationship and his work to promote stability in the Middle East,” Sunak said in a statement released by his office.

    Kuwait, a nation home to some 4.2 million people which is slightly smaller than the U.S. state of New Jersey, has the world’s sixth-largest known oil reserves.

    It has been a staunch U.S. ally since the 1991 Gulf War. Kuwait hosts some 13,500 American troops in the country, as well as the forward headquarters of the U.S. Army in the Middle East.

    —-

    Associated Press writer Jill Lawless in London contributed to this report

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  • More than 40% of Ukrainians need humanitarian help under horrendous war conditions, UN says

    More than 40% of Ukrainians need humanitarian help under horrendous war conditions, UN says

    UNITED NATIONS — Russian strikes are inflicting unimaginable suffering on the people of Ukraine and more than 40% of them need humanitarian assistance, a senior U.N. official told the U.N. Security Council on Tuesday.

    Ramesh Rajasingham, director of coordination in the U.N. humanitarian office, said thousands of civilians have been killed in strikes on homes, schools, fields and markets since Russia’s invasion in February 20022. The U.N. human rights office has formally verified 9,900 civilians killed, but he said “the actual number is certainly higher.”

    Ukrainian civilians are suffering “horrendous humanitarian consequences” and “unimaginable levels of suffering” from the Russian strikes, Rajasingham said. About 18 million Ukrainians — more than 40% of the population — need some form of humanitarian assistance, and as winter approaches “needs will be magnified,” he said.

    Rajasingham said significant damage and destruction of critical infrastructure continues to severely impact civilian access to electricity, heating, water and telecommunications, “a particular concern as winter fast approaches,” which will put the elderly, disabled and displaced most at risk.

    The Russian military methodically targeted Ukraine’s power stations and other critical infrastructure with missile and drone strikes during the last winter season, resulting in frequent power outages.

    To prepare for the freezing temperatures this winter, the U.N. official said, the humanitarian community is helping people carrying out household repairs and ensuring that water and heating systems are functional.

    “The aim is to ensure that every civilian has access to somewhere both safe and warm during the winter ahead,” Rajasingham said.

    Ukrainians must also deal with diminished health care, he said.

    Since the invasion, the U.N. World Health Organization has verified over 1,300 attacks on health care – more than 55% of all attacks worldwide during the same period, he said. And 111 health care workers and patients have been killed, with 13 health facilities impacted by attacks just since the beginning of September.

    As the war continues, it has become more dangerous for humanitarian organizations to operate, with the number of aid workers killed more than tripling from four in 2022 to 14 so far in 2023, Rajasingham said.

    Despite the risks, more than 500 humanitarian organizations – the majority of them local — reached nine million people with aid in the first nine months of 2023, thanks to more than $2 billion contributed by donors to the U.N.’s $3.9 billion appeal for this year, he said. But over 40% of the appeal is still unfunded.

    U.S. Deputy Ambassador Robert Wood told the council Russian attacks reduced Ukraine’s power generating capacity to roughly half its pre-war capacity, according to a U.N. estimate in June. And between October 2022 and March 2023, many civilians spent roughly 35 days without power.

    He said Russian attacks on critical infrastructure have already resumed, “risking critical services and exacerbating the humanitarian crisis.”

    Wood pointed to a single day in September when Russia launched 44 missiles at energy facilities in six regions, and a Ukrainian government report that from Oct. 11-12, Russia launched artillery, missiles and drones against the Kherson region “an estimated 100 times.”

    From mid-July, when Russia pulled out of the initiative enabling Ukraine to ship critically needed wheat and other foodstuffs from Black Sea ports, until mid-October, Russian attacks destroyed nearly 300,000 tons of Ukrainian grain, he said.

    “We call on the international community to continue providing essential humanitarian support to Ukraine, including supporting Ukraine’s efforts to restore its energy grid,” Wood said.

    Russia’s U.N. Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia claimed it is Ukrainian missiles – not Russian airstrikes – that hit “civilian objects.” And he accused the Kyiv government of making up “lies about Russia” and blaming Moscow for “high profile tragedies” in Ukraine in order to elicit Western support for more military assistance.

    While Western diplomats speak out about casualties and destruction in Ukraine, Nebenzia added, they never mention anything about casualties and destruction in the eastern Donbas region, which Russia illegally annexed in October 2022.

    Ukraine’s U.N. Ambassador Sergiy Kyslytsya expressed gratitude to the U.N. and donors for assisting the government in preparing for winter.

    He said Russia shows no intention of abandoning the “terrorist” practice of targeting civilian infrastructure, saying that “makes it imperative to obtain additional air defense systems to safeguard these critical facilities during the winter.”

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  • Spain considers using military barracks to house migrants amid uptick in arrivals by boat

    Spain considers using military barracks to house migrants amid uptick in arrivals by boat

    Spanish authorities are planning to convert unused military barracks and installations into temporary shelters for migrants to deal with the increased arrival of thousands of people by boat to the Canary islands

    ByThe Associated Press

    October 26, 2023, 12:53 PM

    MADRID — Spanish authorities are planning to convert unused military barracks and installations into temporary shelters for migrants to deal with the rapid rise in the number of people arriving on the Canary Islands by boat, a government minister said Thursday.

    José Luis Escrivá, minister of inclusion, social security and migration, told reporters that his ministry was working with military officials to evaluate the appropriateness of two barracks in the Madrid region and other installations in the southern cities of Seville and Cartagena.

    “I believe at this moment we have to be ready in case (the shelters) are necessary,” Escrivá said.

    Some 23,000 people have arrived on the Canary Islands by boat this year, compared to 13,000 for the same period last year, according to Spain‘s interior ministry.

    Most of the boats arrived at El Hierro island, which has received several thousand migrants in recent weeks.

    The route to reach the archipelago located off the northwest coast of Africa has claimed countless lives, with migrants traveling in small vessels unfit for long journeys across the open sea.

    Escrivá said that some 5,000 people who arrived on the Canary Islands were transferred in recent weeks to the mainland to take pressure off social services on the archipelago.

    The uptick in arrivals, which has also been seen in Italy in the Mediterranean, has led to criticism of Spain’s central government by the right-wing opposition.

    But Escrivá insisted that officials can handle the influx of people, saying it was relatively small compared to the number of Ukrainians who reached Spain after fleeing the Russian invasion.

    “We have lots of experience with these situations,” the minister said. “We have integrated 200,000 Ukrainians. Compared to that, this is relatively small.”

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  • Israeli military raid kills 2 Palestinians in West Bank. Israel says its troops came under fire

    Israeli military raid kills 2 Palestinians in West Bank. Israel says its troops came under fire

    NOUR SHAMS REFUGEE CAMP, West Bank — Two Palestinians were killed during an Israeli military raid Sunday in the northern West Bank, Palestinian health officials said, the latest bloodshed in a surge of violence during a sensitive Jewish holiday period.

    The Israeli military said it moved into the Nour Shams refugee camp, near the town of Tulkarem, to destroy what it described as a militant command center and bomb-storage facility in a building.

    It said that engineering units detonated a number of bombs planted under roads and that militants opened fire and hurled explosives, as troops responded with live fire.

    The Palestinian Health Ministry said two men — Asid Abu Ali, 21, and Abdulrahman Abu Daghash, 32 — were killed by Israeli fire. The raid caused heavy damage to the camp’s main road, severing water pipes and flooding parts of the street. The ground floor of the targeted building was heavily damaged, while part of the exterior wall of the second floor collapsed.

    Elsewhere in the West Bank, Birzeit University, a major Palestinian institution, said the Israeli army carried out a rare raid on its campus near the city of Ramallah and arrested nine students, including the head of the student council. It said the students were all supporters of the Hamas militant group. The university denounced the raid, which it said caused damage to university property.

    Israel has been carrying out stepped-up military raids, primarily in the northern West Bank, for the past year and a half in what it says is a campaign to root out Palestinian militants and thwart future attacks.

    But Palestinians say the raids entrench Israel’s 56-year occupation over the West Bank. The raids have shown little sign of slowing the fighting and contributed to the weakening of the Palestinian Authority, the self-rule government that administers parts of the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

    Some 190 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank since the start of the year, according to a tally by The Associated Press. Israel says most of those killed have been militants, but youths protesting the incursions and others not involved in the confrontations have also been killed.

    At least 31 people have been killed in Palestinian attacks against Israelis this year.

    The tensions have begun to spread over the past week to the Gaza Strip, where hundreds of Palestinians have been holding daily demonstrations along the fence separating the territory from Israel.

    On Saturday, Israeli airstrikes hit a militant site for the second time in as many days, after Palestinians sent incendiary balloons into Israeli farmland and Palestinian protesters threw stones and explosives at soldiers at the separation fence

    The spike in violence comes during the Jewish New Year holiday season. Jews are set to mark Yom Kippur, the holiest day on their calendar, on Sunday night followed by the weeklong Sukkot festival later in the month.

    During Sukkot, large numbers of Jews are expected to visit Jerusalem’s most sensitive holy site, revered by Jews as the Temple Mount and Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary. The compound, home to the Al-Aqsa Mosque, is often a focal point for violence.

    Israel captured the West Bank, east Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip in the 1967 Mideast war. The Palestinians seek those territories for their hoped-for independent state.

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  • Zelenskyy thanks Danes in person for F-16s, though the planes won’t have an immediate war impact

    Zelenskyy thanks Danes in person for F-16s, though the planes won’t have an immediate war impact

    COPENHAGEN, Denmark — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy thanked Danish lawmakers on Monday for helping his country resist Russia’s invasion, a day after Denmark and the Netherlands announced they will provide Kyiv with F-16 warplanes that could be delivered around the end of the year.

    Zelenskyy told the lawmakers during a visit to Copenhagen that if Russia’s invasion is successful, other parts of Europe would be at risk from the Kremlin’s military aggression.

    “All of Russia’s neighbors are under threat if Ukraine does not prevail,” he said in a speech.

    Zelenskyy says Ukraine is defending Western values of freedom and democracy against tyranny. He has argued that Ukraine needs to be properly provisioned to fend off Russia’s much bigger force.

    Ukraine has been pressing its Western allies for months to give it American-made F-16s. Its armed forces are still using aging Soviet-era combat planes from the 1970s and ’80s, and its counteroffensive against Russian positions is advancing without air support, which analysts say is a major handicap.

    Zelenskyy said on Telegram that Ukraine would get 42 jets. Denmark pledged 19 F-16s, which could be delivered around the end of the year when pilot training lasting four to six months is completed.

    However, getting Ukrainian squadrons battle-ready could take much longer.

    U.S. Air Force Gen. James Hecker, commander of U.S. air forces in Europe and Africa, said last week that he did not expect the F-16s to be a game-changer for Ukraine. Getting F-16 squadrons ready for battle could take “four or five years,” he said.

    While some training has already begun for Ukrainian pilots, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said Sunday it’s just language lessons so far.

    Training Ukrainian pilots is just one of the challenges in the anticipated deployment of F-16s. Questions also remain over who will carry out crucial aircraft maintenance, the supply of spare parts, runway maintenance and protective shelters for the planes on the ground, and what weapons the West will supply to arm the fighter jets.

    Ukrainian air force spokesman Yuriy Ihnat said the F-16s will help Ukraine “change the course of events” in the war.

    “Air superiority is the key to success on the ground,” he said in televised remarks.

    Denmark rolled out the red carpet for Zelenskyy’s trip to Copenhagen. The Ukrainian leader also met at the Christiansborg Palace, the building housing the Danish parliament, with Denmark’s 83-year-old figurehead monarch, Queen Margrethe, who returned from vacation for the occasion.

    Afterward, he spoke from the parliament steps to thousands of cheering people who waved Danish and Ukrainian flags in the palace’s courtyard.

    The United States last week announced its approval for the Netherlands and Denmark to deliver the F-16s. That is needed because the aircraft are made in the United States.

    On Sunday, Zelenskyy visited the Netherlands and inspected two gray F-16s parked in a hangar at a Dutch base in the southern city of Eindhoven together with Rutte.

    He also visited an air base in southern Denmark where Ukrainian pilots will receive training on F-16s.

    Rutte didn’t provide a number or timeframe for deliveries, saying it depends on how soon Ukrainian crews and infrastructure are ready.

    Zelenskyy started his trip Saturday in Sweden, where he asked Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson for Swedish Gripen fighter jets. Sweden has said it will allow Ukrainian pilots to test the planes but has not made any commitments to hand them over.

    Kristersson said Monday that Sweden needs the Gripen planes for its own defense, noting that the country’s bid to join NATO has not been finalized.

    “We don’t rule anything out in the future,” he told the TV4 channel. “We will do everything we can to support them also with aircraft. But right now there are no new commitments to provide Swedish aircraft to Ukraine.”

    On Monday, Russian air defenses jammed a Ukrainian drone west of Moscow and shot down another one on the outskirts of the city, Russia’s Defense Ministry said.

    Two people were injured and one of them was hospitalized when drone fragments fell on a private house, Andrei Vorobyov, the governor of the Moscow region, said.

    Such drone attacks have become an almost daily occurrence in Russia in recent weeks.

    Also, Russian rail officials said that a relay cabinet used to run train traffic was set ablaze on the outskirts of Moscow, causing delays, according to the state RIA Novosti news agency.

    Russian authorities have reported multiple similar incidents across the country, some of which have been blamed on acts of sabotage encouraged by Ukrainian security agencies.

    In Ukraine, at least four civilians were killed and 25 others wounded by the latest Russian attacks, according to the Ukrainian presidential office.

    The dead included a 71-year-old man killed by Russian shelling in the northeastern Kharkiv region, near the border with Russia.

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    Karl Ritter in Stockholm and Yuras Karmanau in Tallinn, Estonia, contributed to this report.

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  • Activist in Niger with ties to junta tells the AP region needs to ‘accept new regime’ or risk war

    Activist in Niger with ties to junta tells the AP region needs to ‘accept new regime’ or risk war

    NIAMEY, Niger — The only way to avoid conflict between mutinous soldiers that ousted the president in Niger and regional countries threatening an invasion to reinstate him is to recognize the new regime, a rights defender with ties to the junta told The Associated Press.

    In his first interview with Western media Friday, Insa Garba Saidou, a local activist who supports Niger’s new military rulers in its communications and says he is in direct contact with them, said there will be no dialogue with regional countries until they acknowledge the new head of state.

    Nearly three weeks ago mutinous soldiers led by the head of the presidential guard, Gen. Abdourahmane Tchiani, overthrew the West African country’s democratically elected president, claiming they could do a better job of securing the nation from growing jihadi violence linked to al-Qaida and the Islamic State group. Tchiani was declared in charge of the country.

    The West African regional bloc, ECOWAS, has threatened to use military force if President Mohamed Bazoum, who took office two years ago, is not released and reinstated. However, the junta has dismissed its warnings and refused most attempts at dialogue.

    “There is only one option, accepting the regime or war,” said Saidou. “It is finished for Bazoum, you must forget about him. It is finished, it is a waste of time trying to restore him. It is not possible,” he said.

    On Thursday, ECOWAS said it had directed the deployment of a “standby force” to restore democracy in Niger after its deadline Sunday to reinstate Bazoum expired. It’s unclear when, or where the force will be deployed, but analysts say it could include up to 5,000 troops from countries including Nigeria, Benin, Ivory Coast and Senegal.

    While the bloc says it wants mediation to prevail, multiple attempts by ECOWAS, as well as others, have yielded little.

    Last week a proposed visit by ECOWAS, the United Nations and the African Union was rejected citing “evident reasons of security in this atmosphere of menace” against Niger. A day prior, top U.S. diplomat, Under Secretary of State Victoria Nuland, met some members of the junta but was unable to speak with Tchiani or see Bazoum. Representatives of the junta told her during the visit that Bazoum would be killed if ECOWAS invaded Niger, according to two Western military officials who spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the situation.

    Many Western nations saw Niger as one of the last democratic countries in the Sahel region, the vast expanse south of the Sahara Desert, that they could partner with to beat back the growing jihadi threat. Hundreds of millions of dollars have been poured into providing equipment and training for Niger’s military by specialized French and U.S. forces, all of which could now be used by the junta to tighten its grip on power.

    The military regime is already entrenching itself, appointing a new government and stoking anti-French sentiment toward its former colonial ruler, to shore up its support.

    On Friday, hundreds of people protested outside the French military base in the capital, Niamey, chanting “down with France” and waving Russian flags.

    Mercenaries from the Russian-linked Wagner group, already operate in a handful of other African countries and are accused of committing human rights abuses. Earlier this month during a trip to neighboring Mali, which is also run by a military regime and cooperates with Wagner, the junta reportedly asked the mercenaries for help.

    “We don’t agree with France. We want France to leave our country and go to their country. This is Niger, not France,” said Souleymane Djibo a demonstrator.

    Days after ECOWAS’ order for the standby force to deploy, it’s still unclear what that entails or if they’ll invade. The African Union Peace and Security Council could overrule the decision if it felt that wider peace and security on the continent was threatened by an intervention, say analysts. The African Union is expected to meet Monday to discuss Niger’s crisis.

    Some Sahel experts say the insistence on force is a cover to spare ECOWAS from the embarrassment of having made a threat with no real capacity or notion of how to execute it. “The bloc is acting like a poker player who tried (to) bluff and, when called on it, raised the stakes to buy time. In both card games and in geopolitics, when one tries to bluff, one is rarely so lucky as to have an opponent fooled into folding,” said Peter Pham, former U.S. special envoy for West Africa’s Sahel region and a distinguished fellow at the Atlantic Council.

    Still, if fighting does ensue the most battle-experienced and best-equipped militaries in West Africa, either belong to Niger, or are sympathetic to it, such as Mali and Burkina Faso. Both countries have opposed the intervention and sent delegations to Niger to discuss joint defense efforts.

    Saidou, the activist who supports the junta, said no matter how ECOWAS plans to invade, be it by land through neighboring Benin or Nigeria or by air, any attack on the palace will result in Bazoum’s death. While he didn’t confirm a deliberate plan to murder the now-ousted president, he said that if an invasion began soldiers would kill him, he said. “There is no one among the soldiers still loyal to Bazoum.”

    He dismissed reports that Bazoum’s conditions under house arrest in his presidential compound were dire and said he had access to medical care if needed and still had his phone, a sign that no one wanted to harm him. He did not say how he had knowledge of the president’s condition. Saidou said he was being kept for his own security and the only way for Bazoum to be released was for ECOWAS to accept that his time in office was finished.

    Those close to the president, however, paint a much starker picture.

    Since the July 26 coup, Bazoum’s been confined with his wife and son to the basement of his presidential compound, which is surrounded by guards and is now cut off from resupplies of food, electricity, water and cooking gas. Niger’s ambassador to the United States, Mamadou Kiari Liman-Tinguiri, told the AP that the junta is trying to starve him to death.

    On Friday, United Nations human rights chief Volker Turk said he was extremely concerned about Bazoum’s rapidly deteriorating condition, calling the family’s treatment “inhuman and degrading” and in violation of international human rights law.

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    Associated Press reporter Jamey Keaton in Geneva, Switzerland contributed

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  • South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol makes surprise visit to Ukraine

    South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol makes surprise visit to Ukraine

    KYIV, Ukraine — South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol made a surprise visit to Ukraine on Saturday, offering an apparent show of support for the country in its war against Russia.

    Yoon’s office said he traveled to Ukraine with his wife, Kim Keon Hee, following trips to Lithuania for a NATO summit and to Poland. It’s his first visit since Russia invaded Ukraine almost 17 months ago.

    Yoon toured Bucha and Irpin, a pair of small cities near Kyiv where bodies of civilians were found in the streets and mass graves after Russian troops retreated from the capital region last year. He laid flowers at a monument to the country’s war dead.

    The South Korean leader was scheduled to hold talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy later in the day, Yoon’s senior adviser for press affairs, Kim Eun-hye, said in a statement.

    South Korea, a key U.S. ally in Asia, joined international sanctions against Russia and has provided Ukraine with humanitarian and financial support to Ukraine.

    But the Asian nation, a growing arms exporter, has not provided weapons to Ukraine Ukraine in line with its long-standing policy of not supplying arms to countries actively engaged in conflict.

    Earlier this month, Yoon said in written responses to questions from The Associated Press that supplies of de-mining equipment, ambulances and other non-military materials “are in the works” following a request from Ukraine.

    He said South Korea already provided support to replace the Kakhovka Dam, which was destroyed last month. The Russian and Ukrainian governments have accused the other of blowing up the dam, but the evidence suggests Russia had more of a motive to cause deadly flooding, endanger crops and threaten drinking water supplies in a contested part of Ukraine.

    “The government of the Republic of Korea is firmly committed to actively joining the United States and other liberal democracies in international efforts to defend the freedom of Ukraine,” Yoon said in written responses to the AP.

    During a January visit to South Korea, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg called for the country to provide direct military support to Ukraine, saying Kyiv was in urgent need of weapons to fight off the prolonged Russian invasion.

    In May, when Yoon met Ukrainian first lady Olena Zelenska in Seoul, the president said he would expand South Korea’s non-lethal aid to Ukraine. Yoon’s spokesperson, Lee Do Woon, said at the time that Zelenska made no request for South Korean weapons supplies during her conversation with Yoon.

    Since Russia’s February 2022 invasion of Ukraine, South Korea has reached billions of dollars worth of deals to provide tanks, howitzers, fighter jets and other weapons systems to NATO member Poland.

    An American official said in November that the United States had agreed to buy 100,000 artillery rounds from South Korean manufacturers to provide to Ukraine, although South Korean officials have maintained that the munitions were meant to refill depleted U.S. stocks.

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  • Military honors for Ukrainian president as he visits Germany to discuss arms deliveries

    Military honors for Ukrainian president as he visits Germany to discuss arms deliveries

    BERLIN — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was welcomed with military honors Sunday by German Chancellor Olaf Scholz as he made his first visit to Germany since Russia invaded Ukraine.

    Zelenskyy is visiting allies in search of further arms deliveries to help his country fend off the Russian invasion, and funds to rebuild what’s been destroyed by more than a year of devastating conflict.

    A Luftwaffe jet flew Zelenskyy to the German capital from Rome, where he had met Saturday with Pope Francis and Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni.

    On the eve of his arrival — which is taking place amid tight security — the German government announced a new package of military aid for Ukraine worth more than 2.7 billion euros ($3 billion), including tanks, anti-aircraft systems and ammunition.

    “Already in Berlin. Weapons. Powerful package. Air defense. Reconstruction. EU. NATO. Security,” Zelenskyy tweeted Sunday, in an apparent reference to the key priorities of his trip.

    After initially hesitating to provide Ukraine with lethal weapons, Germany has become one of the biggest suppliers of arms to Ukraine, including Leopard 1 and 2 battle tanks, and the sophisticated IRIS-T SLM air-defense system. Modern Western hardware is considered crucial if Ukraine is to succeed in its planned counteroffensive against Russian troops.

    Zelenskyy first met with President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, Germany’s head of state, who was snubbed by Kyiv last year, apparently over his previous close ties to Russia, causing a chill in diplomatic relations between Ukraine and Germany.

    Since then, both Steinmeier and Chancellor Olaf Scholz have visited Ukraine, assuring Zelenskyy of their support for his country’s fight against the Russian invasion. Announcing the new arms package, German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said Berlin would help Ukraine for “as long as it takes.”

    After meeting Scholz and other senior officials at the chancellery, the two leaders are expected to fly to the western city of Aachen for Zelenskyy to receive the International Charlemagne Prize awarded to him and the people of Ukraine.

    Organizers say the award recognizes that their resistance against Russia’s invasion is a defense “not just of the sovereignty of their country and the life of its citizens, but also of Europe and European values.”

    While German leaders have expressed strong backing for Ukraine, German voters are divided on whether the country should provide further weapons, particularly advanced fighter jets of the kind Kyiv is asking its allies for.

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  • Germany announces $3 billion military aid package for Ukraine before possible Zelenskyy visit

    Germany announces $3 billion military aid package for Ukraine before possible Zelenskyy visit

    BERLIN — Germany will provide Ukraine with additional military aid worth more than 2.7 billion euros ($3 billion), including tanks, anti-aircraft systems and ammunition, the government said Saturday.

    The announcement came as preparations were underway in Berlin for a possible first visit to Germany by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy since Russia invaded his country last year.

    Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said that Berlin wants to show with the latest package of arms “that Germany is serious in its support” for Ukraine.

    “Germany will provide all the help it can, as long as it takes,” he said.

    While Zelenskyy’s visit on Sunday has yet to be officially confirmed, it would be a sign that relations between Ukraine and Germany have improved markedly after a rocky patch.

    Kyiv has long been suspicious of Germany’s reliance on Russian energy and support for the Nord Stream gas pipelines circumventing Ukraine, defended by then Chancellor Angela Merkel.

    Her successor, Olaf Scholz, agreed to phase out Russian energy imports after the invasion but initially hesitated to provide Ukraine with lethal weapons, fearing Germany could be drawn into the conflict.

    With Washington, Warsaw and London more overtly supportive of Ukraine’s efforts to defend itself, Berlin got the cold diplomatic shoulder from Kyiv.

    German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier was disinvited from Ukraine last year,prompting annoyance in Germany, which pointed out that it has given considerable financial aid to Kyiv and taken in more than a million Ukrainian refugees. Scholz eventually visited Kyiv with French President Emmanuel Macron and other leaders in June.

    Though slow to provide military aid, Germany has since become one of the biggest suppliers of arms to Ukraine, crucially giving the green light for deliveries of modern battle tanks like its own Leopard 1 and 2, along with sophisticated anti-aircraft systems needed to fend off drone and missile attacks.

    The new military aid package, first reported by German weekly Der Spiegel, includes 30 Leopard 1 A5 tanks, 20 Marder armored personnel carriers, more than 100 combat vehicles, 18 self-propelled Howitzers, 200 reconnaissance drones, four IRIS-T SLM anti-aircraft systems and other air defense equipment.

    The Ukrainian president would be arriving from Rome, where he will meet with Pope Francis and Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni.

    Berlin police confirmed last week that they are preparing for a possible visit by Zelenskyy and have imposed a security cordon throughout much of the capital’s government district Sunday.

    After meeting Scholz and other senior officials at the chancellery, the two leaders are expected to fly to the western city of Aachen, where Zelenskyy would receive the International Charlemagne Prize awarded to him and the people of Ukraine. Organizers say the award recognizes that their resistance against Russia’s invasion is a defense “not just of the sovereignty of their country and the life of its citizens, but also of Europe and European values.”

    Zelenskyy last visited Berlin in July 2021. He also attended the Munich Security Conference the following February, days before Russia launched its full-scale attack on Ukraine.

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  • N. Korea says it tested new solid-fuel long-range missile

    N. Korea says it tested new solid-fuel long-range missile

    SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea said Friday it has successfully test-launched a new intercontinental ballistic missile powered by solid propellants, a development that if confirmed could possibly provide the country with a harder-to-detect weapon targeting the continental United States.

    North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency issued the report a day after its neighbors detected the launch from an area near its capital of Pyongyang, which added to a spate of testing that so far involved more than 100 missiles fired into sea since the start of 2022.

    KCNA said the test was supervised on site by North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, who described the missile — named Hwasong-18 — as the most powerful weapon of his nuclear forces that would enhance counterattack abilities in the face of external threats created by the military activities of the United States and its regional allies.

    Kim pledged to further expand his nuclear arsenal so that his rivals “suffer from extreme anxiety and fear while facing an insurmountable threat, and be plunged into regrets and despair over their decisions.”

    North Korea has justified its weapons demonstrations as a response to the expanding military exercises between the United States and South Korea, which the North condemns as invasion rehearsals while using them as a pretext to push further its own weapons development.

    “Respected comrade Kim Jong Un said speeding up the development of evolving and more advanced and powerful weapons systems is our party and government’s consistent policy to respond to military threats and worsening security situation on the Korean Peninsula,” KCNA said.

    It cited Kim as saying that the Hwasong-18 would rapidly advance North Korea’s nuclear response posture and further support an aggressive military strategy that vows to maintain “nuke for nuke and an all-out confrontation for an all-out confrontation” against its rivals.

    “The Hwasong-18 weapons system to be run by the country’s strategic forces would play its mission and role to defend (North Korea), deter invasions and preserve the country’s safety as its most powerful method,” KCNA said.

    North Korea has tested various intercontinental ballistic missiles since 2017 that demonstrated potential range to reach the U.S. mainland, but its previous missiles were powered by liquid-fuel engines that need to be fueled relatively shortly before launch, as they cannot remain fueled for prolonged periods.

    An ICBM with built-in solid propellants would be easier to move and hide and could be fired more quickly, reducing the opportunities for opponents to detect and counter the launch. But it wasn’t immediately clear from Friday’s report how close the North has come to acquiring a functional solid-fuel ICBM that would be capable of reaching and striking the U.S. mainland.

    South Korea’s Defense Ministry maintains that North Korea hasn’t acquired a reentry vehicle technology needed to protect warheads for ICBMs from the harsh conditions of atmospheric reentry. Last month, South Korean Defense Minister Lee Jong-Sup also told lawmakers that North Korea hasn’t likely yet mastered the technology to place nuclear warheads on its most advanced short-range missiles targeting South Korea, though he acknowledged the country was making considerable progress on it.

    “This is a significant breakthrough for the North Koreans, but not an unexpected one,” Ankit Panda, an expert with the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, said.

    “The primary significance of solid-fuel ICBMs is in terms of what they’ll do for the survivability of North Korea’s overall ICBM force,” he said.

    “Because these missiles are fueled at the time of manufacture and are thus ready to use as needed, they will be much more rapidly useable in a crisis or conflict, depriving South Korea and the United States of valuable time that could be useful to preemptively hunt and destroy such missiles.”

    KCNA described the Hwasong-18 as a three-stage missile but it wasn’t immediately clear whether the third stage was activated during the test. During the test, the missile’s first stage was set to a mode that would support a standard ballistic trajectory but the second and third stages were programmed to fly on higher angles after separations to avoid the territories of neighbors, KCNA said.

    The agency said the test didn’t threaten the security of other countries as the first and second stages fell into waters off the country’s eastern coast but it provided no details about how the test affected the third stage.

    Solid-fuel ICBMs highlighted an extensive wish list Kim announced under a five-year arms development plan in 2021, which also included tactical nuclear weapons, hypersonic missiles, nuclear-powered submarines and spy satellites.

    The North has fired around 30 missiles this year alone over 12 different launch events as both the pace of its weapons development and the U.S.-South Korean military exercises increase in a cycle of tit-for-tat.

    The U.S. and South Korean militaries conducted their biggest field exercises in years last month and separately held joint naval and air force drills involving a U.S. aircraft carrier strike group and nuclear-capable U.S. bombers.

    North Korea claimed the drills simulated an all-out war against North Korea and communicated threats to occupy Pyongyang and decapitate its leadership. The United States and South Korea have described their exercises as defensive in nature and said that the expansion of those drills is necessary to cope with the North’s evolving threats.

    Experts say Kim’s nuclear push is aimed at eventually forcing the United States to accept the idea of the North as a nuclear power and negotiating economic and security concessions from a position of strength.

    Nuclear negotiations between Washington and Pyongyang have stalled since 2019 over disagreements in exchanging the release of crippling U.S.-led sanctions against the North and the North’s steps to wind down its nuclear and missile program.

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  • Russian missile hits another Ukraine apartment block, 1 dead

    Russian missile hits another Ukraine apartment block, 1 dead

    KYIV, Ukraine — A Russian missile struck an apartment building in the center of Kramatorsk on Tuesday, killing at least one person and wounding three others in one of Ukraine’s major city strongholds in its eastern Donetsk region as it fights against Moscow’s invasion, officials said.

    Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that six apartment buildings were damaged in the blast and rescue efforts were continuing. He posted a video showing gaping holes in the facade of the low-rise building that bore the brunt of the strike.

    The Ukrainian general prosecutor’s office and regional Gov. Pavlo Kyrylenko also reported on the attack, posting photos of the building with mounds of rubble in front of it.

    The war, which erupted after Russia’s launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022, has brought heavy civilian casualties. Tuesday’s victims were among at least six civilians killed and 30 wounded in 24 hours, Ukraine authorities said.

    “Russian troops are striking residential buildings, schools and hospitals, leaving cities on fire and in ruins,” Kyrylenko, the regional governor, said on Ukrainian television. “The Russians mark each meter (yard) of their advance in the region not only with their own blood, but also with the (lost) lives of civilians.”

    Kramatorsk houses the local Ukrainian army headquarters. Ukrainian authorities say it has been regularly targeted by Russian shelling and other attacks in the past.

    A missile strike on the city’s train station last April, which Kyiv and much of the international community blamed on Moscow, killed several dozen people and wounded more than 100.

    Russia had welcomed a Chinese peace proposal to end the fighting, but Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Tuesday that Kyiv’s refusal to have talks leaves Moscow with only military options.

    Beijing has said it has a “no limits friendship” with Russia and has refused to criticize Moscow’s invasion, or even refer to it as an invasion.

    “We must achieve our goals,” Peskov told reporters. “Given the current stance of the Kyiv regime, now it’s only possible by military means.”

    However, Moscow’s pursuit of its goals in Ukraine has been slowed by poor war management and short resources after being beaten back at the end of last year in a Ukrainian counteroffensive, military analysts say.

    The U.K. Ministry of Defense said Tuesday that Russia’s artillery ammunition shortages “have likely worsened to the extent that extremely punitive shell-rationing is in force on many parts of the front.”

    That shortcoming, it said, has “almost certainly been a key reason why no Russian formation has recently been able to generate operationally significant offensive action.” ___

    Follow the AP’s coverage of the war at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

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  • Russian envoy claims West is determined to destroy Russia

    Russian envoy claims West is determined to destroy Russia

    UNITED NATIONS — A week before the anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the Kremlin’s U.N. ambassador claimed that the West is driven by its determination to destroy Russia and declared: “We had no choice other than to defend our country — defend it from you, to defend our identity and our future.”

    Western ambassadors shot back, accusing Russia of using a Security Council meeting it called on lessons learned from the failure to resolve the conflict between Ukraine and Russian-backed separatists that began in 2014 to justify what France’s U.N. Ambassador Nicolas De Riviere called “the unjustifiable” – Russia’s invasion of its smaller neighbor on Feb. 24, 2022.

    Friday’s meeting in the council — the only international venue where Russia regularly faces Ukraine and its Western supporters — put a spotlight on the deep chasm between the warring parties as the conflict moves into its second year with no end in sight, tens of thousands of casualties on both sides, and new military offensives expected.

    Russia’s U.N. Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia accused Western nations including France and Germany of “holding back” on implementing the Minsk agreements brokered by the two countries to end the conflict between Ukraine and the separatists in Luhansk and Donetsk in the country’s mostly Russian-speaking industrial east that flared in April 2014 after Russia’s annexation of Crimea.

    “You knew very well that the Minsk process for you is just a smoke screen, so as to rearm the Kyiv regime and to prepare it for war against Russia in the name of your geopolitical interest,” Nebenzia said.

    U.S. deputy ambassador Richard Mills accused Russia of failing to implement “a single commitment it made” in the Minsk agreements while the other signatories — France, Germany, Ukraine and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe — “sought to implement them in good faith.”

    France’s De Riviere said his country and Germany have worked “tirelessly” since 2015 to promote dialogue between parties. “The difficulties encountered in implementing these agreements can never serve as justification or mitigating circumstances for Russia’s choice to end the dialogue with violence,” he stressed.

    De Riviere recalled that exactly a year ago, on Feb. 17, 2022, Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Vershinin reaffirmed to the council that the Minsk agreements were “the only international legal basis” to resolve the conflict in Ukraine, and that rumors of Russian military intervention were unfounded and stemmed from Western paranoia. Four days later, Russia recognized the independence of Donetsk and Luhansk, and on Feb. 24 it invaded Ukraine.

    “The one and only lesson to be learned here is that Russia, by attacking Ukraine, has chosen alone, to put an end to dialogue and negotiation,” De Riviere said. “It took the decision alone to shatter the Minsk agreements, whose main objective, let us remember, was the reintegration of some regions of Donetsk and Luhansk under full Ukrainian sovereignty, in exchange for broad decentralization.”

    Britain’s U.N. Ambassador Barbara Woodward also cited Vershinin’s statement to the council that allegations of a Russian attack were baseless a week before President Vladimir Putin ordered the invasion, and said the United Kingdom had learned some lessons.

    “Russia lied when we warned of its intention to attack Ukraine,” she said. “Russia was planning for war while we called for diplomacy and de-escalation, and Russia continues to choose death and destruction while the world calls for a just peace.”

    Russia’s Nebenzia blamed “a criminal policy by the Ukrainian leadership which was goaded by the collective West” for refusing to implement the Minsk agreements.

    After a year of war, he told Western members of the Security Council, “Obviously, we will not be able to live in the future the way we did in the past.”

    Nebenzia accused the West of “deep Russophobia,” and a “determination to destroy my country, using others if possible.” And he claimed it is not interested “in building a European and Euro-Atlantic security system together with Russia” because “for you such a system can only be aimed against Russia.”

    “We have no trust left in you and we are not able of believing any promises you make — not as regards a non-expansion of NATO in the east, or your desire not to interfere in our internal affairs, or your determination to live in peace,” Nebenzia said.

    “You have shown that it’s impossible to negotiate with you,” he said. “You’ve shown how treacherous you are by creating on our borders a neo-Nazi, neo-nationalist beehive and then stirring it up.”

    Ukraine’s U.N. Ambassador Sergiy Kyslytsya accused Russia of violating the Minsk agreements, citing as an example the Minsk memorandum of Sept. 19, 2014 ordering all military, militias and mercenaries to leave Ukraine that was never implemented.

    “The truth is that Putin has proved once and for all to be impossible to negotiate with,” he said. “Russia’s consistent undermining and final killing of the Minsk agreements make that crystal clear.”

    Ukraine urges “healthy forces in Russia, if there are any, to come to their senses and force Putin to implement the demands of the U.N. General Assembly to immediately cease the use of force and to withdraw Russian military forces from Ukraine,” Kyslytsya said. “The dictator should give up and recede into the past.”

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  • UN draft resolution: Any peace must keep Ukraine intact

    UN draft resolution: Any peace must keep Ukraine intact

    UNITED NATIONS — Ukraine’s supporters have circulated a proposed resolution for adoption by the 193-member U.N. General Assembly on the eve of the first anniversary of Russia’s invasion of its smaller neighbor that would underscore the need for peace ensuring Ukraine’s “sovereignty, independence, unity and territorial integrity.”

    The draft, obtained Friday by The Associated Press, is entitled “Principles underlying a comprehensive, just and lasting peace in Ukraine.”

    The proposed resolution is broader and less detailed than the 10-point peace plan that Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced at the November summit of the Group of 20 major economies. This was a deliberate decision by Ukraine and its backers to try to gain maximum support when it is put to a vote, U.N. diplomats said, speaking on condition of anonymity because discussions have been private.

    General Assembly spokesperson Paulina Kubiak said Friday that a reactivated emergency session of the General Assembly on Ukraine will start on the afternoon of Feb. 22. Dozens of speeches are expected to continue through most of Feb. 23 and the vote is expected late that day.

    Ukraine’s deputy foreign minister said last month that Zelenskyy wants to come to the U.N. for the anniversary, but diplomats said expectations of a major new Russian offensive may keep him at home.

    The General Assembly has become the most important U.N. body dealing with Ukraine because the Security Council, which is charged with maintaining international peace and security, is paralyzed because of Russia’s veto power. Unlike the council, there are no vetoes in the assembly, but while its five previous resolutions on Ukraine are important as a reflection of world opinion, they are not legally binding.

    The Security Council will hold a ministerial meeting on Feb. 24, the anniversary of the invasion. Russian and Ukrainian diplomats will be at the same table, as they have been at dozens of meetings since the invasion — but there will be no outcome.

    The Ukrainian-backed draft resolution for the anniversary was circulated Thursday night to all U.N. member nations except Russia and its ally Belarus, and negotiations on the text started Friday afternoon, the diplomats said.

    It underscores the need to reach “a comprehensive, just and lasting peace” in Ukraine “as soon as possible” in line with the principles of the United Nations Charter.

    The Charter states that all U.N. member nations “shall refrain in their international relations from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state,” and must settle disputes peacefully.

    The draft calls on U.N. member states and international organizations “to redouble support for diplomatic efforts” to achieve peace on those terms.

    The proposed resolution reiterates the General Assembly’s previous demand that Russia “immediately, completely, and unconditionally withdraw all of its military forces” from Ukraine’s internationally recognized borders. And it reaffirms that no territory acquired by the threat or use of force will be considered legal.

    The draft demands that all prisoners of war, detainees and internees be treated in accordance with the Geneva conventions and calls for the “complete exchange” of prisoners of war, the release of people unlawfully detained, “and the return of all internees and of civilians forcibly transferred and deported, including children.”

    The proposed resolution urges all countries “to cooperate in the spirit of solidarity to address the global impact of the war on food security, energy, finance, the environment, and nuclear security and safety.”

    It would deplore “the dire human rights and humanitarian consequences of the aggression against Ukraine, including the continuous attacks against critical infrastructure across Ukraine with devastating consequences for civilians.” And it would call for full adherence to international humanitarian law on the protection of civilians and civilian infrastructure.

    Zelenskyy’s 10-point plan is far more specific, including establishing a special tribunal to prosecute Russian war crimes, building a European-Atlantic security architecture with guarantees for Ukraine, restoring Ukraine’s damaged power infrastructure and ensuring safety around Europe’s largest nuclear power plant at Zaporizhzhia.

    The resolution adopted by the General Assembly on Oct. 12 condemning Russia’s “attempted illegal annexation” of four Ukrainian regions and demanding its immediate reversal got the highest vote of the five resolutions – 143-5 with 35 abstentions.

    The first resolution adopted by the assembly on March 2, 2022, days after the invasion, demanded an immediate Russian cease-fire, withdrawal of all its troops and protection for all civilians and received a strong vote – 141-5 with 35 abstentions. Three weeks later, on March 24, the assembly voted 140-5 with 38 abstentions on a resolution blaming Russia for Ukraine’s humanitarian crisis and urging an immediate cease-fire and protection for millions of civilians and the homes, schools and hospitals critical to their survival.

    But the assembly voted by a far smaller margin April 7 to suspend Russia from the U.N.’s Geneva-based Human Rights Council over allegations Russian soldiers in Ukraine engaged in rights violations that the United States and Ukraine have called war crimes. That vote was 93-24 with 58 abstentions.

    And its last resolution adopted Nov. 14 calling for Russia to be held accountable for violating international law by invading Ukraine, including by paying reparations for widespread damage to the country and for Ukrainians killed and injured during the war was approved by a similar vote — 94-14 with 73 abstentions.

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  • Ukraine’s leader wants to visit UN on invasion anniversary

    Ukraine’s leader wants to visit UN on invasion anniversary

    UNITED NATIONS — Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy wants to visit the United Nations to address a high-level meeting of the 193-member General Assembly on the eve of the first anniversary of Russia’s Feb. 24 invasion of his country if the security situation permits, a senior Foreign Ministry official said Friday.

    First Deputy Foreign Minister Emine Dzhaparova cautioned in an interview with The Associated Press that many factors need to be in place for him to come, citing first and foremost the military situation on the ground and a warning from Ukraine’s intelligence service that Russia is planning “a very serious offensive in February.”

    “Our president would want to come, he has a will or intention to come,” she said, “but it’s still a question if there will be a security situation that will allow him to come.”

    If Zelenskyy does come to the U.N., it would be only his second trip outside Ukraine since the invasion. He made a surprise visit to Washington on Dec. 21 to meet his most important backers in the war against Russia — President Joe Biden and members of Congress whom he thanked for their support and told that “against all odds” Ukraine still stands.

    Ukraine’s U.N. Ambassador Sergiy Kyslytsya said the General Assembly has already scheduled a high-level debate on the war on Feb. 23, which will be followed by a ministerial meeting of the Security Council on Feb. 24.

    Dzhaparova said Ukraine would like to see the assembly adopt one of the two resolutions that Zelenskyy wants to see approved on the eve of the anniversary of the invasion.

    She said Ukraine is consulting with its partners on the two measures, one that would support the president’s 10-point peace formula that includes the restoration of Ukraine’s territorial integrity and the withdrawal of Russian forces and the other that would establish a tribunal to prosecute crimes of aggression, which would enable Russia to be held accountable for its unprovoked invasion.

    “We have to act step by step,” Dzhaparova said. “It’s still a question what will be the first. … I believe that this is something that we will know very soon, in the nearest week or two.”

    In late December, Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba told AP the government wanted a “peace” summit by the end of February at the U.N., with Secretary-General Antonio Guterres as mediator, but he didn’t anticipate Russia taking part. That would make it difficult to foresee mediation or an end to the devastating war.

    Kyslytsya, the Ukrainian ambassador, said he doesn’t think Russian President Vladimir Putin would allow anyone to attend a summit because it doesn’t go along with his plan that Russian territorial gains are non-negotiable.

    Dzhaparova said a summit is still under discussion and stressed that “it’s not a negotiation.”

    Dzhaparova said the summit would be a platform to discuss things that Ukraine considers important on top of the 10-point peace proposal, which also includes the release of all prisoners, a tribunal for those responsible for the Russian aggression, and security guarantees for Ukraine.

    “It’s about shaping the discourse,” she explained.

    It doesn’t mean that by adopting a resolution or holding a summit Ukraine is ready to sign up to a peace agreement or cease-fire, Dzhaparova said. It means that only after a resolution or summit “negotiation about peace, or the agreement on peace, might be started.”

    The former journalist and TV anchor, a Crimean Tatar whose parents left Crimea after Russia’s 2014 takeover and annexation of the strategic peninsula, said Ukraine needs political, economic and military support.

    Politically, Dzhaparova said, Russia has discredited the U.N. Charter, which opposes the use of force against another country, and flouted international law and should be isolated by the international community.

    She said it’s crucial to provide financial support to Ukraine because its economy has suffered much more than Russia’s, and to provide weapons “to fight for peace.”

    Dzhaparova said the Ukrainian armed forces are highly motivated and are fighting to protect their land and people, “but the Russian army doesn’t understand what they’re fighting for.”

    “We are doing our best to win, but then at the end of the day, it’s still a question of what will be the end,” she said.

    If Ukraine were to lose, Dzhaparova said, Putin won’t be satisfied “and I’m sure that Russia would attack other countries in the nearest future.”

    “This is not about Ukraine solely, it’s about a common goal to avoid further aggression,” she stressed. “If the war is not contained in Ukraine, the war will become bigger.”

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  • Kherson celebrates Russian exit yet faces huge rebuilding

    Kherson celebrates Russian exit yet faces huge rebuilding

    KHERSON, Ukraine — Residents of Kherson celebrated the end of Russia’s eight-month occupation for the third straight day Sunday, even as they took stock of the extensive damage left behind in the southern Ukrainian city by the Kremlin’s retreating forces.

    A jubilant crowd gathered in Kherson’s main square, despite the distant thumps of artillery fire that could be heard as Ukrainian forces pressed on with their effort to push out Moscow’s invasion force.

    “It’s a new year for us now,” said Karina Zaikina, 24, who wore on her coat a yellow-and-blue ribbon in Ukraine’s national colors. “For the first time in many months, I wasn’t scared to come into the city.”

    “Finally, freedom!” said 61-year-old resident Tetiana Hitina. “The city was dead.”

    But even as locals rejoiced, the evidence of Russia’s ruthless occupation was all around, and Russian forces still control some 70% of the wider Kherson region.

    With cellphone networks knocked out, Zaikina and others lined up to use a satellite phone connection set up for everyone’s use in the square, enabling them to swap news with family and friends for the first time in weeks.

    Downtown stores were shuttered. With many people having fled the city during the Russian occupation, the city streets were thinly populated. Many of the few people venturing out Sunday carried yellow and blue flags. On the square, people lined up to ask soldiers to autograph their flags and rewarded them with hugs. Some wept.

    More bleakly, Kherson is also without electricity or running water, and food and medical supplies are short. Residents said Russian troops plundered the city, carting away loot as they withdrew last week. They also wrecked key public infrastructure before retreating across the wide Dnieper River to its east bank. One Ukrainian official described the situation in Kherson as “a humanitarian catastrophe.”

    “I don’t understand what kind of people this is. I don’t know why they did it,” said resident Yevhen Teliezhenko, draped in a Ukrainian flag.

    Still, he said, “it became easier to breathe” once the Russians had gone.

    “There is no better holiday than what’s happening now,” he declared.

    Ukrainian authorities said the demining of critical infrastructure is under way in the city. Reconnecting the electricity supply is the priority, with gas supplies already assured, Kherson regional governor Yaroslav Yanushevych said.

    The Russian pullout marked a triumphant milestone in Ukraine’s pushback against Moscow’s invasion almost nine months ago. In the past two months, Ukraine’s military claimed to have retaken dozens of towns and villages north of the city of Kherson.

    Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy vowed to keep up the pressure on Russian forces, reassuring the people in Ukrainian cities and villages that are still under occupation.

    “We don’t forget anyone; we won’t leave anyone,” he said.

    Ukraine’s retaking of Kherson was a significant setback for the Kremlin and the latest in a series of battlefield embarrassments. It came some six weeks after Russian President Vladimir Putin annexed the Kherson region and three other provinces in southern and eastern Ukraine — in breach of international law — and declared them Russian territory.

    The U.S. embassy in Kyiv tweeted comments Sunday by National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan, who described the turnaround in Kherson as “an extraordinary victory” for Ukraine and “quite a remarkable thing.”

    The reversal came despite Putin’s recent partial mobilization of reservists, raising troop numbers by some 300,000. That has been hard for the Russian military to digest.

    “Russian military leadership is trying and largely failing to integrate combat forces drawn from many different organizations and of many different types and levels of skill and equipment into a more cohesive fighting force in Ukraine,” commented the Washington-based Institute for the Study of War, a think tank that tracks the conflict

    British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace said the Kremlin will be “worried” by the loss of Kherson but warned against underestimating Moscow. “If they need more cannon fodder, that is what they’ll be doing,” he said.

    Ukrainian police called on residents to help identify collaborators with Russian forces. Ukrainian police officers returned to the city Saturday, along with public broadcasting services. The national police chief of Ukraine, Ihor Klymenko, said about 200 officers were at work in the city, setting up checkpoints and documenting evidence of possible war crimes.

    In what could perhaps be the next district to fall in Ukraine’s march on territory annexed by Moscow, the Russian-appointed administration of the Kakhovka district, east of the city of Kherson, announced Saturday it was evacuating its employees.

    “Today, the administration is the No. 1 target for Ukrainian attacks,” said the Moscow-installed leader of Kakhovka, Pavel Filipchuk. “We, as an authority, are moving to a safer territory, from where we will lead the district.”

    Kakhovka is located on the east bank of the Dnieper River, upstream of the Kakhovka hydroelectric power station.

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    John Leicester contributed to this story from Kyiv, Ukraine.

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    Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine: https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

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