ReportWire

Tag: military

  • Latest Ukraine satellite images reveal devastation of Russian invasion

    Latest Ukraine satellite images reveal devastation of Russian invasion

    [ad_1]

    At the end of April, Google partially updated its map of Ukraine. Even though the latest images probably date from March 2022, the scale of destruction in the first weeks of Russia’s invasion is clear.

    The latest map lays bare the aftermath of the historic battles for Kyiv, and shows the destroyed iconic cargo plane Mriya at Hostomel Airport. It also shows a bridge in Irpin and a dam in Kozarovychi Village that Ukrainian forces had to blow up to stop the Russian offensive on Kyiv last year. Satellite cameras have also captured Bakhmut fields peppered with shell holes and people standing in line for humanitarian aid in the doomed port city of Mariupol.   

    POLITICO gathered satellite pictures from nine locations in Ukraine to show what they looked like before and after Russia invaded.

    Hostomel airport, Kyiv region

    Hostomel Airport is an international cargo airport located near the northwest of Kyiv. It is used to be known as the home airport for Mriya, the biggest cargo aircraft in the world, a great point of pride to Ukrainians. From here, Mriya used to take off on its humanitarian missions.

    On February 24, a few hours after President Vladimir Putin announced the start of a full-scale invasion, Russian forces launched an air assault, aiming to capture Hostomel. After several days of intense battles, Ukrainian forces repelled Russia’s paratroopers and helicopter formations. Mriya, however, was destroyed. If the Russians had succeeded in capturing the airport, they would probably have successfully occupied Kyiv, Kyrylo Budanov, head of Ukraine’s military intelligence directorate said in an interview with journalist Dmytro Komarov.

    Theater in Mariupol, Donetsk region

    Mariupol used to be a lively city of 400,000 people that had it all: heavy industry, an international port and a vibrant cultural life. Mariupol Drama Theater was one of its centers. During the siege of Mariupol, the Drama Theater became a shelter for Mariupol residents who lost their homes during the Russian bombardment.  Locals thought a sign saying “Children” painted on a sidewalk near the theater would save it from bombing. It didn’t.   

    On March 16, a Russian jet dropped a bomb on the theater, where some 300 people were hiding. Russia first admitted it bombed Mariupol theater, but then denied it, even though international investigators ruled the bombing was a war crime by Russian forces. Instead of allowing investigators to visit the scene Russia demolished the remains of the Mariupol Drama Theater in December last year. But Google Maps still shows what it looked like, not so long after the strike.

    Kozarovychy Dam, Kyiv region

    Villages to the northwest of Kyiv have witnessed several decisive battles. Even though the Russians could not send more paratroopers by air after they lost the battle for Hostomel airport, Ukrainian forces still needed to do anything they could to prevent Russian forces streaming into Kyiv from Belarus.

    To impede the transit of Russian vehicles and forces to the right bank of the Irpin River, the Ukrainian forces blew up the bridge in Demydiv village and the protective dam of the Kyiv Water Reservoir between Kozarovychi and Lyutizh villages. The massive rush of floodwater stopped the Russian forces and made it impossible for them to bring their tanks and artillery closer to Kyiv.  However, while the water helping the Ukrainian army, it flooded the local villages and damaged homes.

    Bridge in Irpin, Kyiv region

    In the first two months of the invasion, the Russians made Kyiv their primary target, but the capital stood firm.

    Kyiv’s once homely suburbs of Irpin and Bucha paid dearly, though. Photos of Irpin residents standing under the destroyed bridge across the Irpin River, waiting for evacuation, were published all over the world. On February 25 last year, Ukrainian soldiers had to blow up the only bridge that connected Irpin and Kyiv to block Russians from taking Kyiv. Ukraine is now working on rebuilding the bridge.

    Mall in Mariupol, Donetsk region

    Metro Cash and Carry department store on the outskirts of Mariupol, once a flourishing Ukrainian port city on the Sea of Azov, used to be a hot spot for weekly shopping. It was looted during the siege of Mariupol, as residents, blockaded by Russian forces attacking from the east, west, south and north, needed food and water. After the Russians occupied Mariupol in May 2022, they started using Metro’s premises as a point to distribute humanitarian aid to the starving locals, forcing people to wait in long lines.

    Cemetery in Stary Krym village, Donetsk region

    Satellite pictures of Starokrymske Cemetery in the village of Stary Krym, near Russian-occupied Mariupol, might be the only visible evidence of the huge number of victims of the Russian siege of Mariupol as kilometers of new graves appeared in a short time after the full-scale invasion and occupation began. The first trenches on the territory of the cemetery appeared on March 24, 2022 — only days after the village was occupied by the Russian military. On the satellite image, you can see that they were 60-70 meters long.

    Fields near Bakhmut, Donetsk region

    Bakhmut, an industrial town in the eastern Donetsk region, remains the scene of vicious battles. Over nine months of slaughter, Russian forces have launched near-suicidal wave attacks and the Kremlin’s forces now control most of the town. The Ukrainian army, however, is still fighting on in the western part. Even though the latest version of the map doesn’t show the scale of destruction in Bakhmut now, the image of fields entirely pock-marked with shell holes reveals the savagery of the battle.

    Moshchun village, Kyiv region

    A tiny village only some 30 kilometers northwest of Kyiv, Moshchun used to be a place for weekend retreats for Kyivans. Located on the bank of the Irpin River and surrounded by pine trees, Moshchun was turned almost to ruins by heavy battles for Kyiv. Here the Ukrainian army destroyed elite Russian troops in March 2022. After the Russians failed to storm Kyiv from Hostomel and Irpin, they chose Moshchun as the easiest route, Radio Liberty reported. On March 5, Russian artillery units started shelling Moshchun heavily. 

    Ukraine’s 72 brigade, territorial forces, and some international fighters were outnumbered by Russia’s elite troops, who managed to cross the Irpin River near Moshchun. Dozens of Russian paratroopers from the elite Kostroma, and Tula divisions, fought Ukrainian forces in heavy street fights in Moshchun. New groups of enemy soldiers were approaching across pontoon bridges. The second blast on the dam in Kozarovychi released even more water and the river finally cut the Russians in Moshchun off from the rest of their comrades, giving the Ukrainians an opportunity to overpower their adversaries. On March 19, the Russians finally fled Moshchun.

    [ad_2]

    Veronika Melkozerova

    Source link

  • Zelenskyy meets with Italian officials, Pope Francis in Rome

    Zelenskyy meets with Italian officials, Pope Francis in Rome

    [ad_1]

    Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy held private talks with Pope Francis at the Vatican on Saturday, after meeting earlier in the day with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who promised full military and financial backing for Ukraine.

    Zelenskyy said he sought support for his peace plan from Pope Francis, who in the past has offered to try to help end the full-scale invasion launched by Russia in February 2022. The pontiff also indicated the Vatican would help in the repatriation of Ukrainian children taken by Russians.

    In a tweet after the 40-minute audience with the pope, Zelenskyy expressed gratitude to Francis for “his personal attention to the tragedy of millions of Ukrainians.” He said he spoke with the pontiff “about the tens of thousands of deported [Ukrainian] children. We must make every effort to return them home.”

    Last month, Pope Francis told reporters that the Vatican was engaged in a behind-the-scene peace mission to put an end to the conflict in Ukraine, without providing further details. “There is a mission in course now but it is not yet public. When it is public, I will reveal it,” he said. The pope and Zelenskyy last met in 2020, before Russia’s all-out invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

    Zelenskyy asked the pope “to condemn Russian crimes in Ukraine. Because there can be no equality between the victim and the aggressor,” the Ukrainian president said in his tweet.

    At a press conference earlier, Prime Minister Meloni condemned Russia’s “brutal and unjust aggression” against Ukraine, pledged Italy’s support for Kyiv for “as long as is necessary” and urged Moscow to immediately withdraw.

    “You can’t achieve peace through a surrender,” Meloni said. “It would be a very grave precedent for all nations of the world.”

    Meloni emphasised Italy’s support for Ukraine’s membership of the EU and the “intensification” of a partnership with NATO.

    On his arrival in Rome Saturday morning, Zelenskyy had tweeted that the trip was “an important visit for approaching victory of Ukraine.”

    He was greeted at a military airfield at Rome’s Ciampino airport by Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani. “We reaffirm our support for the Ukrainian people in defending freedom and democracy,” Tajani said.

    Also Saturday, German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius confirmed that Berlin has approved a new €2.7 billion package of weapons for Ukraine. “We all wish for a speedy end to this terrible and illegal war,” Pistorius said. “Unfortunately, this is not yet foreseeable.”

    Zelenskyy is reportedly expected to head to Berlin after Italy, upon the invitation of German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.

    This article has been updated.

    [ad_2]

    POLITICO Staff

    Source link

  • Zelenskyy in Berlin amid push for new weapons for Ukraine

    Zelenskyy in Berlin amid push for new weapons for Ukraine

    [ad_1]

    Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy touched down in Germany Sunday morning ahead of talks to secure new Western weaponry for his country and to shore up support among European allies.

    “Already in Berlin,” Zelenskyy wrote on Twitter. “Weapons. Powerful package. Air defense. Reconstruction. EU. NATO. Security,” he added in reference to his priorities for the visit, which comes on the heels of meetings in Rome on Saturday with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and Pope Francis.

    Signing a guest book ahead of meeting top German officials, Zelenskyy wrote that “together we will win and bring peace back to Europe,” hailing Berlin as a “true friend and reliable ally.”

    Following talks with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in Berlin, the two leaders are expected to fly to the city of Aachen, where Zelenskyy will collect the International Charlemagne Prize, awarded to him in December for the defense of “Europe and European values.”

    Ukraine on Saturday said it had made a series of strategic gains around the town of Bakhmut, where its forces have faced a fierce Russian onslaught for weeks. According to CNN, U.S. officials believe Kyiv is conducting “shaping operations” to lay the foundations for a major counteroffensive to take back its territory.

    Ahead of Zelenskyy’s visit to Berlin, the German government on Saturday announced a new package of military aid worth an estimated €2.7 billion, which will be the country’s largest delivery of arms to Ukraine since Russian President Vladimir Putin launched his all-out invasion in February 2022.

    “We all wish for a speedy end to this terrible and illegal war,” German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said. “Unfortunately, this is not yet foreseeable.”

    While Kyiv officials had previously hit out at Berlin over a reluctance to supply military hardware and its dependence on Russian oil and gas imports, the country has since emerged as one of the largest exporters of arms and armor to Ukraine.

    The latest package includes 30 Leopard-1 A5 main battle tanks, four new IRIS-T SLM anti-aircraft rocket launchers, dozens of armored personnel carriers and other combat vehicles, 18 self-propelled Howitzers and hundreds of unarmed recon drones.

    Zelenskyy’s last visit to Germany, attending the Munich Security Conference in February 2022, came just days before Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. At the high-profile defense event, U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris had warned that Europe faced “a decisive moment in history” and pledged support for Kyiv if Russia attacked.

    [ad_2]

    Gabriel Gavin

    Source link

  • Russia hunts for spies and traitors — at home

    Russia hunts for spies and traitors — at home

    [ad_1]

    Press play to listen to this article

    Voiced by artificial intelligence.

    If there were a silver lining in her son being convicted of high treason, it was that Yelena Gordon would have a rare chance to see him. 

    But when she tried to enter the courtroom, she was told it was already full. But those packed in weren’t press or his supporters, since the hearing was closed.

    “I recognized just one face there, the rest were all strangers,” she later recounted, exasperated, outside the Moscow City Court. “I felt like I had woken up in a Kafka novel.”

    Eventually, after copious cajoling, Gordon was able to stand beside Vladimir Kara-Murza, a glass wall between her and her son, as the sentence was delivered. 

    Kara-Murza was handed 25 years in prison, a sky-high figure previously reserved for major homicide cases, and the highest sentence for an opposition politician to date.

    The bulk — 18 years — was given on account of treason, for speeches he gave last year in the United States, Finland and Portugal.

    For a man who had lobbied the West for anti-Russia sanctions such as on the Magnitsky Act against human rights abusers — long before Russia invaded Ukraine — those speeches were wholly unremarkable.

    But the prosecution cast Kara-Murza’s words as an existential threat to Russia’s safety. 

    “This is the enemy and he should be punished,” prosecutor Boris Loktionov stated during the trial, according to Kara-Murza’s lawyer.

    The judge, whose own name features on the Magnitsky list as a human rights abuser, agreed. And so did Russia’s Foreign Ministry, saying: “Traitors and betrayers, hailed by the West, will get what they deserve.”

    Redefining the enemy

    Since Russia invaded Ukraine, hundreds of Russians have received fines or jail sentences of several years under new military censorship laws.

    But never before has the nuclear charge of treason been used to convict someone for public statements containing publicly available information. 

    A screen set up in a hall at Moscow City Court shows the verdict in the case against Vladimir Kara-Murza | Kirill Kudryavtsev/AFP via Getty Images

    The verdict came a day after an appeal hearing at the same court for Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich who, in a move unseen since the end of the Cold War, is being charged with spying “for the American side.”

    Taken together, the two cases set a historic precedent for modern Russia, broadening and formalizing its hunt for internal enemies.

    “The state, the [Kremlin], has decided to sharply expand the ‘list of targets’ for charges of treason and espionage,” Andrei Soldatov, an expert in Russia’s security services, told POLITICO. 

    Up until now, the worst the foreign press corps feared was having their accreditation revoked by Russia’s Foreign Ministry. This is now changing.

    For Kremlin critics, the gloves have of course been off for far longer — before his jailing, Kara-Murza survived two poisonings. He had been a close ally of Boris Nemtsov, who was murdered in 2015 within sight of the Kremlin. 

    But such reprisals were reserved for only a handful of prominent dissidents, and enacted by anonymous hitmen and undercover agents.

    After Putin last week signed into law extending the punishment for treason from 20 years to life, anyone could be eliminated from public life with the stamp of legitimacy from a judge in robes.

    “Broach the topic of political repression over a coffee with a foreigner, and that could already be considered treason,” Oleg Orlov, chair of the disbanded rights group Memorial, said outside the courthouse. 

    Like many, he saw a parallel with Soviet times, when tens of thousands of “enemies of the state” were accused of spying for foreign governments and sent to far-flung labor camps or simply executed, and foreigners were by definition suspect.

    Treason as catch-all

    Instead of the usual Investigative Committee, treason cases fall under the remit of Russia’s Federal Security Service, the FSB, making them uniquely secretive.

    In court, hearings are held behind closed doors — sheltered from the public and press — and defense lawyers are all but gagged.

    But they used to be relatively rare: Between 2009 and 2013, a total of 25 people were tried for espionage or treason, according to Russian court statistics. After the annexation of Crimea in 2014, that number fluctuated from a handful to a maximum of 17. 

    Former defense journalist Ivan Safronov in court, April 2022 | Kirill Kudryavtsev/AFP via Getty Images

    Involving academics, Crimean Tatars and military accused of passing on sensitive information to foreign parties, they generally drew little attention.

    The jailing of Ivan Safronov — a former defense journalist accused of sharing state secrets with a Czech acquaintance — formed an important exception in 2020. It triggered a massive outcry among his peers and cast a spotlight on the treason law. Apparently, even sharing information gleaned from public sources could result in a conviction.

    Combined with an amendment introduced after anti-Kremlin protests in 2012 that labeled any help to a “foreign organization which aimed to undermine Russian security” as treason, it turned the law into a powder keg. 

    In February 2022, that was set alight. 

    Angered by the war but too afraid to protest publicly, some Russians sought to support Ukraine in less visible ways such as through donations to aid organizations. 

    The response was swift: Only three days after Putin announced his special military operation, Russia’s General Prosecutor’s Office warned it would check “every case of financial or other help” for signs of treason. 

    Thousands of Russians were plunged into a legal abyss. “I transferred 100 rubles to a Ukrainian NGO. Is this the end?” read a Q&A card shared on social media by the legal aid group Pervy Otdel. 

    “The current situation is such that this [treason] article will likely be applied more broadly,” warned Senator Andrei Klimov, head of the defense committee of the Federation Council, Russia’s upper house of parliament.

    Inventing traitors

    Last summer, the law was revised once more to define defectors as traitors as well. 

    Ivan Pavlov, who oversees Pervy Otdel from exile after being forced to flee Russia for defending Safronov, estimates some 70 treason cases have already been launched since the start of the war — twice the maximum in pre-war years. And the tempo seems to be picking up.

    Regional media headlines reporting arrests for treason are becoming almost commonplace. Sometimes they include high-octane video footage of FSB teams storming people’s homes and securing supposed confessions on camera. 

    Yet from what can be gleaned about the cases from media leaks, their evidence is shaky.

    Instead of the usual Investigative Committee, treason cases fall under the remit of Russia’s Federal Security Service, the FSB, making them uniquely secretive | Kirill Kudryavtsev/AFP via Getty Images

    In December last year, 21-year-old Savely Frolov became the first to be charged with conspiring to defect. Among the reported incriminating evidence is that he attempted to cross into neighboring Georgia with a pair of camouflage trousers in the trunk of his car. 

    In early April this year, a married couple was arrested in the industrial city of Nizhny Tagil for supposedly collaborating with Ukrainian intelligence. The two worked at a nearby defense plant, but acquaintances cited by independent Russian media Holod deny they had access to secret information. 

    “It is a reaction to the war: There’s a demand from up top for traitors. And if they can’t find real ones, they’ll make them up, invent them,” said Pavlov. 

    Although official statistics are only published with a two-year lag time, he has little doubt a flood of guilty verdicts is coming.

    “The first and last time a treason suspect was acquitted in Russia was in 1999.”

    No sign of slowing

    If precedent is anything to go by, Gershkovich will likely eventually be subject to a prisoner swap. 

    That is what happened with Brittney Griner, a U.S. basketball star jailed for drug smuggling when she entered Russia carrying hashish vape cartridges.

    And it is also what happened with the last foreign journalist detained, in 1986 when the American Nicholas Daniloff was supposedly caught “red-handed” spying, like Gershkovich.

    Back then, several others were released with him — among them Yury Orlov, a human rights activist sentenced to 12 years in a labor camp for “anti-Soviet activity.” 

    Some now harbor hope that a deal involving Gershkovich could also help Kara-Murza, who is well-known in Washington circles and suffers from severe health problems.

    For ordinary Russians, any glimmers of hope that the traitor push will slow down are even less tangible.

    Those POLITICO spoke to say a Soviet-era mass campaign against traitors is unlikely, if only because the Kremlin has a fine line to walk: arrest too many traitors and it risks shattering the image that Russians unanimously support the war. 

    Some harbor hope that a deal involving Gershkovich could also help Kara-Murza, who is well-known in Washington circles | Maxim Shipenkov/EPA-EFE

    And in the era of modern technology, there are easier ways to convey a message to a large audience. “If Stalin had had a television channel, there would’ve likely not been a need for mass repression,” reflected Pavlov. 

    Yet the repressive state apparatus does seem to have a momentum of its own, as those involved in investigating and prosecuting treason and espionage cases are rewarded with bonuses and promotions. 

    In a first, the treason case against Kara-Murza was led by the Investigative Committee, opening the door for the FSB to massively increase its work capacity by offloading work on others, says Soldatov.

    “If the FSB can’t handle it, the Investigative Committee will jump in.”

    In the public sphere, patriotic officials at all levels are clamoring for an even harder line, going so far as to volunteer the names of apparently unpatriotic political rivals and celebrities to be investigated.

    There have been calls for “traitors” to be stripped of their citizenship and to reintroduce the death penalty.

    And in a telling sign, Kara-Murza’s veteran lawyer Vadim Prokhorov has fled Russia, fearing he might be targeted next. 

    Аs Orlov, the dissident who was part of the 1986 swap and who went on to become an early critic of Putin, wrote in the early days of Putin’s reign in 2004: “Russia is flying back in time.” 

    Nearly two decades on, the question in Moscow nowadays is a simple one: how far back? 

    [ad_2]

    POLITICO Staff

    Source link

  • Russia hits Ukraine with huge barrage of Iranian-made drones

    Russia hits Ukraine with huge barrage of Iranian-made drones

    [ad_1]

    Russia hammered Ukraine with a new barrage of missiles and drones in the early hours of Monday morning, as Moscow gears up to celebrate victory over the Nazis in World War II.

    In the Kyiv region, Ukrainian air defense shot down 35 Iranian-made Shahed drones, according to Ukraine’s air force. But the debris damaged several buildings and injured civilians. Russian bombers also fired at least eight cruise missiles at the Odesa region, leaving food warehouses destroyed.

    Russia celebrates the Soviet triumph over Hitler on May 9 annually, and President Vladimir Putin has used the holiday to boost his strongman image during his decades in power.

    But this year’s celebrations will be somewhat muted, with Putin canceling parades in Russia’s Kursk and Belgorod regions, which border Ukraine, and in Russian-occupied Crimea, citing security concerns. Moscow is now in the second year of its full-scale war on Ukraine and there’s no sign of imminent victory, while even the Kremlin is no longer completely safe after last week’s drone attack.

    Ukraine said all the drones were shot down, but falling debris still caused destruction. At least five people were injured, reported Sergiy Popko, head of Kyiv region’s military administration. Several cars were destroyed, and residential buildings, a diesel reservoir and a gas pipe were damaged.   

    Ukraine’s southern Odesa region also came under fire. The Ukrainian army reported that Russia fired at least eight cruise missiles at the region.

    “X-22 type missiles hit the warehouse of one of the food enterprises and the recreational zone on the Black Sea coast,” the Ukrainian military said. “Emergency services work at the scene. Three people, all workers of the warehouse, got minor injuries. One person is missing,” Yuriy Kruk, head of Odesa district military administration, reported.

    On the eve of Russia’s V-Day, the strikes come as the Kremlin struggles to break a stalemate in Bakhmut, which it has spent months attacking. Russian mercenary boss Yevgeny Prigozhin has veered wildly in recent days, first threatening to pull his forces out of Bakhmut over a row with the Kremlin’s top military officials — then announcing his troops would remain on the battlefield.

    Ukraine’s top priority is to hold Bakhmut through May 9 — and embarrass Putin in the process.

    [ad_2]

    Veronika Melkozerova

    Source link

  • Reality of war rains on Russia’s Victory Day parade

    Reality of war rains on Russia’s Victory Day parade

    [ad_1]

    Press play to listen to this article

    Voiced by artificial intelligence.

    Moscow took 12 hours to respond after an explosion lit up the dome of the Kremlin complex last Wednesday.

    According to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s spokesperson Dmitry Peskov, the security services needed time to investigate the incident. 

    But the Kremlin’s spin doctors worked extra hours too, no doubt. 

    On the eve of Victory Day — which traditionally celebrates the Soviet triumph over Nazi Germany, but which has become emblematic of Russia’s current war against Ukraine — the Kremlin’s line at home is that the country is battling an enemy as powerful as it is evil. 

    That narrative is meant to account for the absence of success on the battlefront after 14 months of fighting, while offering Russians a sense of security that for them life will continue as usual.

    But a series of mysterious incidents  — including Wednesday’s early-morning blast — is revealing cracks in Russia’s facade of strength. The cancellation of some of the Victory Day festivities is another sign that appearances are beginning to slip. 

    The Kremlin eventually described the 2 a.m. incursion of two drones onto the heavily protected Moscow compound as an assassination attempt on President Putin by the “Kyiv regime.” That was in a statement Wednesday afternoon, which also claimed the right to respond “where and when it sees fit.” Putin wasn’t in the complex at the time. A day later, Moscow added the U.S. to its accusation of blame for the blast.

    “We know very well that decisions about such actions, such terrorist attacks, are not made in Kyiv, but in Washington,” Peskov said on Thursday.

    Both Kyiv and Washington vehemently deny any involvement.

    Playing it down

    Wednesday’s drone attack was the latest in a number of unexplained incidents on Russian soil in recent months, including a car bomb attack on an ultranationalist writer on Saturday — the third targeting of pro-war figures since the start of the invasion, resulting in two deaths. There also have been a number of crashed drones, the derailing of freight trains, and at least two fires at fuel depots in Crimea.

    In all those cases, the Kremlin downplayed the news or kept its distance.

    The Kremlin is one of the best-protected sites in Russia, and it has been widely assumed that piercing its air defenses was next to impossible | Kirill Kudryavtsev/AFP via Getty Images

    So the fact that this time, it chose to publish an official statement and pointed the finger at the U.S., its main enemy, suggests the Kremlin wants people to take note. But to what effect?

    Predictably, the Kremlin’s main mouthpieces have clamored for revenge. Former Russian president and current head of the Security Council, Dmitry Medvedev, has called for the “physical elimination” of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. 

    “Maybe now things will start for real?” wrote Margarita Simonyan, chief editor of Russian state-controlled broadcaster RT.

    But other than the usual jingoistic saber-rattling, Russia’s main evening news programs did not air the scenes of the drone explosion.

    And still, more questions than answers remain.

    The Kremlin is one of the best-protected sites in Russia, and it has been widely assumed that piercing its air defenses was next to impossible. Moreover, it is well-known that Putin spends most of his time at other locations. 

    That has fed speculation that the drone attack was in fact a false-flag operation staged by one of Russia’s own security services.

    Possible motives could be an internal power struggle — as much as the security services are seen as a monolith, they are in fact infamously divided — or an attempt to dissuade the West from further weapons deliveries to Ukraine, since the arms would supposedly be used in strikes on Russian territory.

    Symbolic space

    But an attack on the heart of power carries a large symbolic, if not physical, price. It was in the domed Kremlin Senate that Putin staged the historic meeting with his security advisers that preceded the February 2022 launch of his full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Its symbolism is undeniable. 

    Regardless of who is behind the incursion, it is less likely to produce a rally-around-the flag effect than raise eyebrows over the Kremlin’s own defense system.

    As yet, the most important military parade, in Moscow — broadcast live on Russian state television — is still on | Olga Maltseva/AFP via Getty Images

    Comparisons are being made to when the 19-year-old German Mathias Rust landed a Cessna plane near the Kremlin during the Cold War. The fact that he managed to fly across the border unchallenged was a stark humiliation for Mikhail Gorbachev. Heads rolled among his defense staff as a result. 

    The timing of last week’s incident does not help either, coming right before the country puts on its usual display of military prowess for Victory Day on May 9. 

    Even before Wednesday’s strike, the situation was tense. Avoiding the use of the word “war,” which has been banned, dozens of Russian cities have canceled their military parades in order to not “provoke the adversary.” The Immortal Regiment, a hugely popular procession of people carrying photos of their relatives who fought in World War II, has been called off. Some places have even nixed their fireworks shows. 

    On the one hand, such changes to an important national holiday could drive home the message that Russians are at war with, as the Kremlin puts it, “terrorists.” But the knife cuts both directions. 

    “In the current context, the cancellation of the parades will be taken as yet another sign that things are going very badly,” Abbas Gallyamov, a former Kremlin speechwriter turned analyst, told the Echo Moskvy outlet. 

    While avoiding mass gatherings in cities close to Russia’s border with Ukraine might seem like a logical precaution, that is less obvious for those thousands of kilometers away in Siberia. 

    Red Square speech

    Some wonder aloud whether certain cities might simply lack the military equipment for a parade. Or whether they might wish to stop people taking to the streets holding photos of their relatives who have died in Ukraine, thereby providing a visual of Russia’s wartime death toll.

    As yet, the most important military parade, in Moscow — broadcast live on Russian state television — is still on. But the tension in the capital is palpable. 

    Red Square has been shut to the public for two weeks and streets have been barricaded. 

    Following Wednesday’s incident, Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin immediately banned the use of drones, and dozens of other regions have since followed suit. Days in advance, Muscovites were already experiencing problems with their GPS signals. 

    Much will hinge on Putin. His yearly Victory Day speech on Red Square is one of the few moments when his whereabouts are known in advance. 

    After Wednesday’s security breach, some question whether he might reconsider. 

    But the optics of his absence would not be good, and chances are slim that the Kremlin would risk the psychological fallout.

    And yet, the question of whether it is safe enough for the president to come out in public in central Moscow speaks louder than the sound of 10,000 men marching on Red Square.

    [ad_2]

    POLITICO Staff

    Source link

  • France to give Ukraine more armored vehicles and light tanks, Macron and Zelenskyy announce after surprise summit

    France to give Ukraine more armored vehicles and light tanks, Macron and Zelenskyy announce after surprise summit

    [ad_1]

    France “will train and equip” several Ukrainian battalions and provide them with “tens of armored vehicles and light tanks,” Emmanuel Macron and Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced late Sunday.

    The news came after Ukraine’s president traveled to Paris and had a three-hour dinner with his French counterpart (including one hour alone, without advisers) as part of a tour of European capitals designed to shore up support among Kyiv’s allies.

    “In the coming weeks, France will train and equip several battalions with tens of armored vehicles and light tanks, including AMX-10RCs,” according to a joint statement issued by both France and Ukraine after the dinner. France is also “focusing its effort in supporting Ukraine’s air defense capacities.” Macron and Zelenskyy also called for new sanctions against Russia.

    Macron is also expected to make more announcements on Ukraine on Monday.

    “What Ukraine needs is combat equipment, armoured vehicles, tanks, artillery,” an Elysée official said. “Zelenskyy also expressed the need to protect the skies from drone or missiles attacks … France will continue to deliver … More of the most modern systems will be offered.”

    But on the question of whether Paris would send Ukraine the fighter jets it has been asking for, the French official said: “That discussion is a bit premature” due to the focus on land operation and air defenses.

    As he arrived in France, Zelenskyy said: “With each visit, the defensive and offensive capabilities of Ukraine increase.” He added: “The connection with Europe is getting stronger, and the pressure on Russia is increasing. I will meet my friend Emmanuel. Let’s discuss the most important points of bilateral relations.”

    Agence-France Presse and a handful of other outlets first reported on Sunday that French President Emmanuel Macron would receive Zelenskyy in the evening and the two leaders will hold talks over dinner ahead of a possible joint announcement.

    The Ukrainian president earlier Sunday was in Berlin to meet with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who confirmed that his country would send a €2.7 billion package of military aid to support Ukraine.

    “Now is the time for us to determine the end of the war already this year, we can make the aggressor’s defeat irreversible already this year,” Zelenskyy said at a press conference with Scholz.

    On Saturday, Zelenskyy met with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni in Rome, thanking her for “helping to save lives” by continuing to provide aid to Kyiv. He also sat down for an audience with Pope Francis, who told the Ukrainian leader that he is “praying for peace.”

    The flurry of diplomatic visits comes as Ukraine calls on the West to provide its armed forces with more heavy weaponry and fighter jets to support a long-awaited counteroffensive and help liberate Russian-occupied territory in the east of the country.

    “We are working on the creation of a coalition of combat aircraft,” Zelenskyy said on Sunday, as fierce battles continued to rage near the contested town of Bakhmut, where the two sides have been locked in a bloody stalemate for weeks.

    According to Kyiv, its troops have made a series of gains there in recent days, and Zelenskyy has pledged to take back swathes of territory currently held by Russian forces, while adding that he is open to peace talks on Ukraine’s terms.

    This article was updated.

    [ad_2]

    Gabriel Gavin

    Source link

  • Downbeat Putin slams West at low-key Victory Day parade in Russia

    Downbeat Putin slams West at low-key Victory Day parade in Russia

    [ad_1]

    Press play to listen to this article

    Voiced by artificial intelligence.

    Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday delivered a morose speech in Moscow’s Red Square that lasted barely 10 minutes, during which he doubled down on his justification for the Kremlin’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

    “A real war has once again been unleashed on our motherland,” he said in the speech during annual celebrations marking Russia’s World War II victory. “Western elites talk about their exceptionalism, dividing people and provoking bloody conflicts, sowing hatred, Russophobia and aggressive nationalism, destroying traditional family values.”

    For nearly eight decades, Moscow’s annual Victory Day parade has been not just a memorial to the 27 million Soviet citizens who died fighting Nazi Germany in World War II, but also a carefully curated show of Russia’s strength.

    This year, however, May 9 celebrations across the country were canceled or cut short, and the usual procession of uniformed troops and heavy weaponry in the capital appeared a shadow of what it was before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

    In previous years, a host of foreign dignitaries have traveled to Moscow for the festivities. But this time, only the leaders of seven other former Soviet republics made the journey — representing Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Belarus and Armenia.

    While the increasingly isolated Putin pledged that his troops would ultimately succeed in Ukraine, the military hardware on show suggested its armed forces are scraping the barrel for equipment.

    Instead of a long line of advanced battle tanks rumbling through the streets toward the Kremlin as in previous years, the procession was led by one single, Soviet-era T-34 tank — the kind used in action against the Nazis on the Eastern Front.

    Aside from a few dozen armored personnel carriers, heavy tactical vehicles used by Chechen forces and long-range anti-aircraft systems, the bulk of Russia’s once-feared arsenal was nowhere to be seen — likely in action in eastern Ukraine. Or lying wrecked on the battlefield.

    “There was lots of hardware that looks tank-adjacent, but isn’t officially a tank,” one Moscow resident watching the parade told POLITICO on condition of anonymity, given strict laws targeting anyone accused of discrediting the armed forces.

    Across the border, a barrage of Russian rockets rained down on Kyiv overnight, with air defenses repelling an estimated 15 missiles. Ukraine commemorated the end of World War II the day before, on May 8, aligning with Western Europe for the first time.

    Meanwhile, the part of Russia’s celebrations organizers say honors those who fell in the fight against fascism almost 80 years ago — the march of the so-called Immortal Regiment, where Russians hold pictures of their loved ones who died — was canceled.

    In a country where hundreds of thousands of young men are fighting Putin’s bloody war, talk of casualties is becoming more sensitive day to day.

    [ad_2]

    Gabriel Gavin

    Source link

  • Don’t isolate China, Brussels tells EU capitals

    Don’t isolate China, Brussels tells EU capitals

    [ad_1]

    BRUSSELS — The EU’s high command is calling on European governments to keep talking to China amid deepening tensions between Washington and Beijing. 

    The European Union’s diplomatic arm wants member countries to “be prepared” for a potentially critical escalation in the crisis over Taiwan, warning that a military conflict would upend the vital supply of microchips to Europe. 

    But while there’s a need to reduce risks to Europe, it may not seal itself off from China, according to an internal document drafted by the European External Action Service and seen by POLITICO. 

    The document, which will be discussed by the bloc’s foreign ministers at a gathering in Stockholm on Friday, comes at a crucial time for the EU as it navigates an increasingly complex relationship with China. The U.S. is doubling down on its hawkish stance toward Beijing, while European leaders have not yet agreed on a unified approach. 

    The paper triggered immediate backlash from some of Europe’s more hawkish governments. “With all possible alarm lights flashing, we seem to prefer hitting a snooze button again,” one senior EU diplomat said on condition of anonymity in order to discuss sensitive issues.

    In the document, prepared by the EU executive’s diplomatic officials, the bloc’s 27 member countries are urged to seize “a window of opportunity” to reduce the risk of China’s growing influence over economic and security matters. 

    A chance remains for Europe to speak directly to President Xi Jinping’s government, the paper says. “China and Europe cannot become more foreign to each other. Otherwise there is a risk that misunderstandings will grow and spread to other areas,” according to the draft. 

    “Systemic rivalry may feature in almost all areas of engagement. But this must not deter the EU from maintaining open channels of communication and seeking constructive cooperation with China […] Such cooperation can serve to break through a growing self-induced isolation of the Chinese leadership but most importantly should advance the EU’s core interests,” the paper continued.

    Friday’s debate at an informal meeting of foreign ministers in Sweden will fire the starting gun on a discussion over the EU’s relationship with China that is expected to dominate policymaking in the coming months, with a more comprehensive debate expected at an EU leaders’ summit in Brussels this June. 

    De-risking Beijing

    The paper calls on member countries to speed up plans for “de-risking” and reducing overdependence on China. 

    “De-risking can ensure predictability and transparency in our economic and trade relations, while promoting a secure, rules-based approach,” the paper says. 

    The call for de-risking comes as Beijing appears increasingly impatient with the narrative that it poses a threat to the West. Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang, speaking in Berlin this week, criticized European politicians for attempting to “get rid of China” in the name of de-risking. 

    The paper also tackles the politically sensitive issue of Taiwan, with ministers due to discuss this issue as well on Friday. French President Emmanuel Macron told POLITICO in an interview last month that Europe should avoid getting dragged into a confrontation between China and the U.S. over the self-governing island, which Beijing claims as its own. 

    On Taiwan, the paper says: “The EU is […] adamant that any unilateral change of the status quo and use of force could have massive economic, political and security consequences, at global level, especially considering Taiwan’s primary role as supplier of the most advanced semiconductors.” 

    The document continues: “The EU needs to be prepared for scenarios in which tensions increase significantly. The risk of escalation in the Taiwan Strait clearly shows the necessity to work with partners to deter the erosion of the status quo in the interest of all.”

    Some 90 percent of advanced semiconductors imported into the EU come from Taiwan, according to the bloc’s own estimates.

    Taiwan’s semiconductor giant TSMC has been under pressure to relocate some of its manufacturing capabilities, but so far it has only moved in the direction of Taiwan’s two presumed security providers — the U.S. and Japan.  

    On Ukraine, the EU is not impressed with China’s latest diplomatic show, marked by President Xi Jinping’s belated first call with his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

    “China’s ’12-point position paper on the Ukraine Crisis’ […] confirms its firmly pro-Russian stance,” the document said. “Direct dialogue between China and Ukraine would be the best opportunity for China to contribute to a fair political settlement,” it continued.

    EU member countries should keep warning Beijing to refrain from supporting Russia, including by circumventing sanctions, the same paper added.

    The paper also casts gloom on the outlook for China’s domestic development, saying the Asian superpower “is likely to face unprecedented economic and political challenges internally” due to the deceleration of economic growth and demographic change. 

    [ad_2]

    Stuart Lau , Jacopo Barigazzi and Suzanne Lynch

    Source link

  • Ukraine downs hypersonic Russian missile using Patriot defense system

    Ukraine downs hypersonic Russian missile using Patriot defense system

    [ad_1]

    The Ukrainian military shot down a hypersonic Russian missile over Kyiv using the newly acquired Patriot missile defense system, an air force commander confirmed on Saturday.

    It’s the first time Ukraine has been known to intercept one of Moscow’s most sophisticated weapons, after receiving the long-sought, American-made defense batteries from the U.S., Germany and the Netherlands.

    “Yes, we shot down the ‘unique’ Kinzhal,” Air Force Commander Mykola Oleshchuk said on Telegram, referring to a Kh-47 missile, which flies at 10 times the speed of sound. “It happened during the night time attack on May 4 in the skies of the Kyiv region.”

    Ukraine confirmed that two Patriot batteries were operational last month, following training on the system from the U.S. and Germany, according to the Kyiv Independent. The interception of the hypersonic missile also represents a major success for the Patriot technology, in use on the battlefield after 20 years of upgrades.

    Kyiv had initially denied that it had shot down the Kinzhal missile.

    Ukraine first asked Washington for Patriot systems in 2021, well before Russia’s current war of aggression began in February 2022. The U.S. and Germany have each sent at least one Patriot battery to Ukraine; and the Netherlands said it has provided two.

    Separately, a well-known Russian nationalist writer was injured in a car bomb, reported TASS, Russia’s state-owned news service. Zakhar Prilepin was wounded in the Russian city of Nizhny Novgorod, in a blast that killed one person, according to the report.

    A Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman said the blast was the “direct responsibility of the U.S. and Britain,” without providing evidence, according to Reuters.

    [ad_2]

    Sarah Wheaton

    Source link

  • Look out, Putin: Ukraine says it’s ‘ready’ to attack

    Look out, Putin: Ukraine says it’s ‘ready’ to attack

    [ad_1]

    Ukraine is ready to launch a counter-offensive to recover parts of its territory invaded by Russia following months of planning, Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov said Friday.

    “Preparations are coming to an end,” Reznikov told reporters in Kyiv, according to French newswire AFP.

    “Equipment has been promised, prepared and partially delivered. In a global sense, we’re ready,” he added.

    Kyiv has been preparing a major counteroffensive against Russian forces in the spring for months, pressing its Western allies to deliver ammunition and weapons to that effect.

    Although the details of the offensive remain unclear, it is likely to take place as early as mid-May or early June.

    Earlier on Friday, Russia launched 23 missiles targeting several Ukrainian cities, killing multiple people in the first massive air attack launched by Moscow in weeks.

    [ad_2]

    Nicolas Camut

    Source link

  • Russia ‘evacuates’ area around major nuclear plant in Ukraine

    Russia ‘evacuates’ area around major nuclear plant in Ukraine

    [ad_1]

    Hundreds of civilians on Sunday fled Ukrainian territories under Russian control as part of an “evacuation” ahead of what’s feared to be intense fighting around an area home to Europe’s largest nuclear power plant.

    A Ukrainian mayor slammed Moscow’s move as a cover-up operation to move troops, while the U.N. nuclear watchdog raised concerns over heavy fighting during a potential spring counteroffensive when Ukrainian forces are expected to seek to regain control of territories lost to Russian control.

    Russian forces announced the evacuation for 18 settlements on Friday, and over the weekend, civilians have been rushing to leave those areas. The Ukrainian mayor of Melitopol, Ivan Fedorov, called it a “mad panic” as thousands of cars were stuck on the roads with five-hour waits, BBC reported.

    Meanwhile, Russian paramilitary group Wagner’s boss on Sunday signaled that his men would continue to fight in the Ukrainian city of Bakhmut, a U-turn from an earlier threat — made in a video filmed alongside dead bodies — to withdraw from there as he criticized Moscow for failing to supply his group with the ammunition it needed.

    Russian defense officials reportedly had reservations about over-assisting Yevgeny Prigozhin, whose Wagner mercenaries have played a key role in securing control over Ukraine’s eastern territories.

    In Bakhmut, Ukraine has accused Russia of attacking the besieged city with phosphorus munitions.

    Russia’s Federal Security Services claimed on Sunday they had foiled an attempt by Ukrainian intelligence to attack a military airfield in central Russia with drones stuffed with explosives. Kyiv has not responded to the accusation but previously attributed such actions to “false flag” operations or Russians opposed to President Vladimir Putin.

    [ad_2]

    Stuart Lau

    Source link

  • Germany approves new €2.7B package of arms for Ukraine

    Germany approves new €2.7B package of arms for Ukraine

    [ad_1]

    Berlin is keen to expand its support to Ukraine as the government in Kyiv prepares for an anticipated counteroffensive against Russia’s invasion of the country.

    The German government has approved a new €2.7 billion package of weapons for Ukraine, German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius told reporters on Saturday. The package, first reported by German outlet Spiegel, is Berlin’s largest arms delivery to Ukraine since the beginning of the war in February 2022.

    “We all wish for a speedy end to this terrible and illegal war,” Pistorius said. “Unfortunately, this is not yet foreseeable.”

    “Therefore, Germany will provide any help it can — as long as it takes,” he added.

    The planned shipments include armored vehicles, drones and air-defense systems, Andriy Yermak, head of the Ukrainian president’s office, said on Telegram on Saturday. The package also includes “a large amount of ammunition,” he said.

    The new package will be formally announced on Sunday in parallel with the presentation of the Charlemagne Prize to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Aachen, according to a report by Spiegel. Ukraine should receive the equipment in the coming weeks and months, the outlet said.

    Zelensky is traveling to Rome on Saturday for talks with Italian officials and Pope Francis. That trip could be followed by a visit to Berlin. German officials have not confirmed the visit, but Berlin police have opened an investigation after details of a possible trip appeared in the media.

    Between January 1, 2022, and April 24, 2023, Germany exported about the same amount of military goods, according to government figures.

    [ad_2]

    POLITICO Staff

    Source link

  • As US and Philippine defense ties grow, China warns over Taiwan tensions | CNN

    As US and Philippine defense ties grow, China warns over Taiwan tensions | CNN

    [ad_1]


    Hong Kong
    CNN
     — 

    Sandwiched between two Pacific superpowers, the Philippines has long had to tread delicately when it comes to dealing with Beijing and Washington’s competing interests, a complex juggling act that has been on vivid display in recent weeks.

    April has been a particularly busy month for Philippine diplomacy with the country hosting its largest joint military drills yet with the United States while also receiving a top envoy from China, which has grown increasingly rattled – and outspoken – about the archipelago’s defense ties.

    Only a few years ago US-Philippine relations were in a delicate place.

    The country’s then leader, Rodrigo Duterte, routinely launched obscenity laden rants against US counterpart Barack Obama while downplaying longstanding territorial disputes with Beijing and seeking to attract investment from its giant neighbor to the north.

    But the election of his successor, Ferdinand Marcos Jr, last year has returned relations to a more even keel, in part because Manila has become wary of a more assertive China.

    Marcos Jr, who has been on a charm offensive to mend ties with Manila’s historical ally, is set to fly to the United States to meet with President Joe Biden in Washington next week.

    He visit caps a month of frenetic exchanges with the United States.

    More than 12,000 American troops joined some 5,000 soldiers from the Philippines over the last three weeks to take part in the largest “Balikatan” joint military exercises to date, an event Beijing’s state-run media has labeled an “attempt to target China.”

    The climax of the war games came Wednesday when US and Philippine forces fired on a mock enemy warship in the West Philippine Sea, the part of the South China Sea that encompasses the Philippines Exclusive Economic Zone.

    Just as those drills kicked off, the US also hosted two top diplomats from the Philippines, for talks during which both sides agreed to complete a roadmap for the US to provide security assistance to its regional ally the next five to 10 years, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said in a “2+2 meeting” in Washington.

    Last year the US granted $100 million to boost the Southeast Asian country’s defense capabilities and military modernization. It also plans to allocate $100 million for the improvement of military bases to which the US has access under the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA).

    In February, the Philippines granted new rights to the US military to add four bases to the five originally covered under the EDCA. The new facilities include three on the main island of Luzon, close to Taiwan, and one in Palawan province in the South China Sea (SCS).

    That appears to have alarmed China.

    Earlier this month Beijing’s ambassador in Manila, Huang Xilian, accused the Philippines of “stoking the fire” of regional tensions by offering expanded military base access to the US, saying that the goal was to interfere in China’s affairs with Taiwan.

    China’s ruling Communist Party has never controlled Taiwan but claims the self-ruled island democracy as its own and has repeatedly refused to rule out taking it by force, a threat which Manila perceives as reason to ramp up its guard with help from Washington.

    Huang also appeared to threaten overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) in Taiwan, which prompted a backlash in the Philippines.

    “The Philippines is advised to unequivocally oppose ‘Taiwan independence’ rather than stoking the fire by offering the US access to the military bases near the Taiwan Strait, if you care genuinely about the 150,000 OFWs,” Huang said.

    National Security Council spokesperson Jonathan Malaya responded to the Chinese ambassador’s remarks by saying that “the Philippines has no intention of interfering in the Taiwan issue,” and added that the EDCA sites were “not meant for offensive operations against China or for interference in the Taiwan issue.”

    With tensions high over the Beijing ambassador’s comments, Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang arrived last Friday for a three-day visit to Manila, where he met with Marcos Jr and Foreign Secretary Enrique Manalo.

    The readouts suggested both sides were keen to calm the waters with Marcos Jr announcing “more lines of communications” to resolve conflicts between the two countries over the West Philippine Sea and Manalo also pledging to “overcome difficulties and interference.”

    Qin said Beijing hoped the Philippine side would “properly handle Taiwan-related and maritime issues in line with the overall interests of regional peace and stability.”

    Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. shakes hands with Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang during a meeting in Manila on April 22, 2023.

    Analysts say the positioning of the Philippines makes the archipelago vital for anyone wanting to project power across the Pacific.

    “The Philippines is crucial in safeguarding the national security interests of both China, as well as the security or strategic interests of the United States in the Pacific,” said Aries Arugay, a visiting fellow at Singapore’s ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute.

    “And this is why both superpowers are very sensitive every time the Philippines is being perceived as leaning more towards one or the other,” he added.

    What the last month has shown, added Anna Malindog-Uy, vice president of the Asian Century Philippines Strategic Studies Institute (ACPSSI), is that Filipinos “do not want to be compromised for the geopolitical interests and agenda of the United States in the region.”

    Manila may be thousands of miles away from Washington, but their defense alliance dates back to the end of World War II, as America sought to protect its interests in the Pacific.

    The Philippines was a former US territory and used to be home to two of the US military’s largest overseas installations, Clark Air Base and Subic Bay Naval Base, which were transferred to Philippine control in the 1990s.

    A mutual defense treaty signed in 1951 remains in force, stipulating that both sides would help defend each other if either were attacked by a third party.

    Moderninzing the Philippines’ military capabilities by working with the US, and establishing well-connected regional defense cooperation with players like Japan, South Korea and Australia, is a priority for Marcos Jr, according to Richard Heydarian, senior lecturer in international relations at the University of the Philippines Asian Center.

    Heydarian describes the approach as a “multi-vector foreign policy of maximizing ties with all major powers without excessively relying on any one of them.”

    “He’s doubling down in the Philippines’ alliance with the United States so that we deal with China from a position of strength,” Heydarian said.

    Heydarian added that China has to rethink its strategy towards the Philippines, as the Marcos Jr administration is openly more aligned with the US.

    China remains one of the top trade partners of the Philippines, while Marcos Jr also continues to negotiate energy and agriculture investments from Beijing.

    But Manila’s growing caution towards Beijing in recent years has been furthered by recent maritime aggressions – including accusations China used a high-powered laser against a Philippine Coast Guard vessel in February – Beijing’s increased drills around Taiwan as well as maritime patrols in the South China Sea, said Chong Ja Ian, an associate professor at the National University of Singapore.

    “These give the Philippines a lot of reason for caution towards Beijing. But at the same time, they do want to keep relations with Beijing on an even keel,” Chong said.

    Support for the expanded defense ties with Washington is far from unanimous.

    Some worry Marcos Jr might be giving too much access to the US, especially when it comes to bases and facilities close to Taiwan, Heydarian said.

    The president’s own sister, Sen. Imee Marcos, has publicly questioned why the Philippine government should rely on foreigners for its external defense, urging for defined limitations on the EDCA pact should the country be dragged into regional conflict.

    As the US-China rivalry intensifies the Indo-Pacific, their competition for influence has been localized within the Philippines, particularly in the provinces where American bases are located, Arugay added.

    There were pockets of protest in Cagayan province, the northern mountainous region where three out of the four new EDCA sites are to be built.

    At least 5,000 people in Cagayan held demonstrations and prayer rallies, as they believed that America’s self-interest were prioritized before the native residents, according to the Cagayan Provincial Information Office.

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • Air raid alerts sound throughout Ukraine; multiple cities hit

    Air raid alerts sound throughout Ukraine; multiple cities hit

    [ad_1]

    BREAKING,

    Explosions reported in central and southern cities including Dnipro and Mykolaiv, according to the Interfax Ukraine news agency.

    Air raid sirens have sounded across Ukraine, with explosions reported in multiple cities.

    Blasts were heard in Dnipro, Kremenchuk and Poltava in central Ukraine in the early hours of Friday, the Interfax Ukraine news agency reported. Explosions were also heard in Mykolaiv in the south, as well as in Kyiv and the surrounding region, according to social media channels.

    “Woke up to explosions,” a Kyiv resident told Al Jazeera via text message. “It felt like an earthquake.”

    Authorities in the capital said air defence systems were working.

    There no immediate reports on the extent of the damage or of any casualties.

    The raids come as Ukraine prepares for a major counteroffensive to retake territory in the country’s east and south that is occupied by the Russians.

    More to come…

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • Biden rolls out red carpet for South Korea’s Yoon with state visit and new cooperation against North Korea’s nuclear threat | CNN Politics

    Biden rolls out red carpet for South Korea’s Yoon with state visit and new cooperation against North Korea’s nuclear threat | CNN Politics

    [ad_1]



    CNN
     — 

    President Joe Biden welcomes South Korea President Yoon Suk Yeol to the White House for the full pomp and circumstance and hospitality of an official state visit – a high-stakes meeting amid ongoing provocations from North Korea, China’s growing influence in the Indo-Pacific region and a recent leak of Pentagon documents.

    The leaders are set to announce a key new agreement strengthening extended deterrence – a US policy that uses the full range of military capabilities to defend its allies – with new commitments alongside South Korea in response to nuclear threats from North Korea.

    And more broadly, the visit signals the importance with which the US views its relationships with allies in the Indo-Pacific, this trip coming one week before Biden hosts Philippines President Ferdinand Marcos and weeks before Biden is expected to travel to the region himself.

    Biden and Yoon will unveil the “Washington Declaration” on Wednesday at the White House, senior administration officials told reporters, a set of new steps to boost US-South Korean cooperation on military training, information sharing and strategic asset movements in the face of a recent spate of missile launches from North Korea.

    It is intended to send a clear message: “What the United States and the ROK plan to do at every level is strengthen our practices, our deployments, our capabilities, to ensure the deterrent message is absolutely unquestioned and to also make clear that if we are tested in any way that we will be prepared to respond collectively and in an overwhelming way,” a senior administration official said.

    The product of a monthslong discussion between officials from both countries, the declaration will announce that the US “(intends) to take steps to make our deterrence more visible through the regular deployment of strategic assets, including a US nuclear ballistic submarine visit to South Korea, which has not happened since the early 1980s,” the official said. Officials made clear that such assets will not be stationed permanently, and there is “no plan” to deploy any tactical nuclear weapons to the Korean peninsula.

    The US and Korea will also “strengthen our training, our exercises and simulation activities to improve the US-ROK alliance’s approach to deterring and defending” against North Korean threats, per the official.

    It also creates the “US-ROK Nuclear Consultative Group,” which the official said will convene regularly to consult on nuclear and strategic planning issues, with the hope that it will give allies “additional insight in how we think about planning for major contingencies.” That group is modeled after US engagement with European allies during the height of the Cold War, the official said.

    After a year in which North Korea fired a record number of nuclear missile tests, South Korea’s President Yoon earlier this year spoke about possibly deploying US tactical missiles on the Korean peninsula or even developing the country’s own set of nuclear weapons.

    While he dialed back his remarks, those are both scenarios the Biden administration wanted deeply to avoid, and White House officials spent recent months looking for ways to reassure South Korea by bolstering the alliance, including considering a plan to incorporate nuclear exercises into the war planning the two nations already do together, according to two senior Biden administration officials.

    “We need to have tabletop exercises that go through a variety of scenarios, including possibly nuclear weapons,” a senior official told CNN earlier this month.

    “The South Koreans don’t have experience in using nuclear weapons. This is why we need to do tabletop exercises with them. The Koreans need to be educated in what it means to use nuclear weapons, the targeting, and the effects,” said David Maxwell of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, adding that there will be no change to the US having control on the targeting. “The hope is that this will satisfy them and improve readiness.”

    The hope, the officials said, was that this offer – along with sustained engagement to develop other ideas to implement – will provide the alternative that the South Koreans need.

    Beyond the declaration, Biden and Yoon are expected to celebrate 70 years of the US-South Korea alliance, highlighting close economic ties between the nations, pointing to cooperation on issues like climate change and the Covid-19 pandemic, and looking toward ways to continue supporting Ukraine amid Russia’s ongoing invasion, plus a new dialogue on cyber cooperation. They are also expected to announce a new student exchange program focused on STEM “that will significantly increase the number of students going in both directions,” a second senior official said.

    And Biden is expected to celebrate Yoon’s “determination and courage” to improve the strained relationship between Japan and South Korea, an area that has been “of deep interest” to Biden, who has twice met with both countries’ leaders in a trilateral setting, national security adviser Jake Sullivan told White House reporters earlier this week. A stronger alliance between those two countries is strategically important to the US as it looks for ways to counter China’s rising influence.

    Recent online leaks of Pentagon documents involving South Korea also loom over the visit. One of the leaked documents describes, in remarkable detail, a conversation between two senior South Korean national security officials about concerns by the country’s National Security Council over a US request for ammunition.

    The officials worried that supplying the ammunition, which the US would then send to Ukraine, would violate South Korea’s policy of not supplying lethal aid to countries at war. According to the document, one of the officials then suggested a way of getting around the policy without actually changing it – by selling the ammunition to Poland. The document sparked controversy in Seoul.

    The leaks “caused the press to push him (Yoon) more on this. And we’re hearing more and more about how he feels about the issue,” Dr. Victor Cha, Korea chair at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said in a recent briefing.

    Cha continued, “Korea has one of the largest, if not the largest, stockpile of munitions of any country in the world. And they also have tremendous production capacity in terms of munitions. And if there’s one thing that Ukraine needs in this war and that NATO allies who are supporting Ukraine need in this war, it’s munitions. So I would say to watch this space,” adding that it is unlikely that an announcement will be made during this state visit.

    And the White House emphatically stated Tuesday that US commitment to its security partnership with South Korea is “ironclad” despite those leaks, press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre declining to say whether it would be a topic of discussion between Biden and Yoon.

    More broadly, Russia’s war in Ukraine is expected to be a key topic of discussion, with both leaders expected to continue to promote the importance of democracy, and a fulsome conversation expected on “what comes next for Korea’s support for Ukraine,” a third official said.

    “Ultimately, there’s no country that has probably a better sense of the importance of the international community standing together to support a country that’s completely invaded than the ROK,” the second senior official said.

    Wednesday’s events mark just the second state visit of the Biden presidency (Biden hosted French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife Brigitte in December 2022).

    The visit began informally Tuesday as the Bidens welcomed Yoon and his wife, Mrs. Kim Keon Hee, for an evening trip to the Korean War Memorial.

    The South Korean guests will be formally received with an official arrival ceremony Wednesday morning on the South Lawn ahead of a bilateral meeting with the presidents and their staffs, followed by a joint press conference. And there will be full pageantry and glamour in the evening as the White House rolls out the red carpet for the leaders, their spouses and key dignitaries at the black-tie state dinner.

    The elaborate dinner is the result of weeks of careful diplomatic preparations, with each detail meticulously planned by a team of White House chefs, social staff, and protocol experts. Ties between the countries will be front and center in the décor and on the menu, with guests set to dine under towering cherry blossom branches on food prepared by Korean American celebrity chef Edward Lee. The menu includes crab cakes with a gochujang vinaigrette, braised beef short ribs, and a deconstructed banana split with lemon bar ice cream and a doenjang caramel. Entertainment will be provided by a trio of Broadway stars.

    Yoon is also scheduled to join Vice President Kamala Harris for lunch, and toured NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland with her Tuesday, where the leaders committed to increase cooperation on space exploration. And he is set to address a joint session of Congress on Thursday.

    A senior administration official noted that some of the “last remaining veterans of the Korean War from both Korea and the United States” will join in Wednesday’s proceedings.

    The visit is also an opportunity to reinforce the Biden-Yoon friendship. Sullivan said the leaders have “developed a rapport” that has seen four engagements to date, including Biden’s trip to Seoul in May 2022 just days after Yoon took office, as well as on the sidelines of summits in Spain, New York and Cambodia.

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • Trump who? Farage’s party cozies up to DeSantis as White House hopeful lands in UK

    Trump who? Farage’s party cozies up to DeSantis as White House hopeful lands in UK

    [ad_1]

    Press play to listen to this article

    Voiced by artificial intelligence.

    LONDON — Nigel Farage’s new right-wing party Reform UK is making overtures to Donald Trump’s potential presidential rival Ron DeSantis as the Florida governor flies into Britain for high-level talks.

    DeSantis, who is expected to announce his bid for the 2024 Republican presidential candidacy in the coming weeks, will hold meetings with senior British ministers in London on Friday as a part of a four-country “trade mission” to promote Florida on the world stage.

    But also chasing a meet-up will be key allies of Farage, who is honorary president of Reform UK and who first met DeSantis at last year’s Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Florida.

    The pair have spoken about U.S. and European politics, despite Farage’s previous long-standing alliance with DeSantis’ arch-rival Donald Trump, who remains the frontrunner for the 2024 Republican nomination.

    Reform UK leader Richard Tice confirmed to POLITICO he was “working on” cultivating links with the Florida governor, who has become a popular figure among some British conservatives as a seemingly less chaotic right-wing alternative to Trump.

    “He’s shown himself to be a courageous, bold leader and that’s very interesting. For me, I think he is actually the one that the Democrats fear,” Tice said.

    “DeSantis doesn’t muck about — he just gets stuff done and tells it as it is, which is very contrary to what the Washington elite want him to say.”

    ‘Big supporter of Brexit’

    DeSantis will meet with British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly and Business and Trade Secretary Kemi Badenoch for talks in London on Friday.

    The 44-year-old is currently running second to Trump in polling among Republican primary voters, who will make their decision on a presidential candidate early next year. 

    DeSantis attracted praise from high-profile Republicans for winning a landslide re-election victory last year in what is traditionally a swing state, with many talking him up as the future — or DeFuture as Rupert Murdoch’s New York Post wrote — of the Republican Party.

    Trump has already begun a vicious campaign to discredit the controversial governor — who has stirred anger among America’s liberals for his “anti-woke” and anti-COVID lockdown policies — by calling him “Ron DeSanctimonious” and accusing him of being a part of a “globalist” elite.

    The governor said in an interview with The Times last month that he was a “big supporter of Brexit,” but that Britain’s ruling Conservative Party “hasn’t been as aggressive at fulfilling that vision as they should have been.”

    Ron DeSantis will hold meetings with senior British ministers in London | Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

    Farage in turn showered praise on the governor via his GB News show, saying “it seems to me that Ron DeSantis very much has his finger on the pulse of U.K. politics.”  

    An ally of Farage told POLITICO that the Brexiteer highly rates DeSantis, but that he “could damage himself in a brutal fight against Trump.”

    “Nigel thinks that he will be American president at some point and that he’s done a great job in Florida,” the ally said. Farage himself declined to comment for this article.

    British TV presenter Piers Morgan, another former friend of Trump, interviewed DeSantis for TalkTV last month. He too has been quick to talk up the governor as the best possible candidate for the Republicans, despite his past alliance with Trump.

    Morgan told a Fox News programme that the Republican Party has a “straightforward choice.” He said: “Do you want more drama and chaos and baggage, or do you want someone who is fresh, young, nearly half Trump’s age, who doesn’t have the baggage and believes in doing government a different way?”

    A London-based lobbyist with ties to the DeSantis camp said many British political figures will be trying to cozy up to the Florida governor in the lead up to his likely presidential run.

    “It’s peak season for grifters,” they said. “A lot of people connected to the Republican Party will try to ride both horses.”

    They also said that DeSantis would “be smart” to try to raise money from British expats living in America — a path that was followed by Trump in 2016 and by former presidential candidate Mitt Romney in 2012.

    Make America … Florida?

    The U.K. will be the final stop on DeSantis’ four-country trade mission, following visits to Japan, South Korea and Israel.

    A DeSantis spokesperson said the trip would “build on economic relationships Florida has with each country,” but it is being seen by media pundits as a way for the governor to look presidential on the global stage.

    He is set to meet with Badenoch and then Cleverly tomorrow in separate bilateral meetings.

    DeSantis will also attend a business roundtable with Badenoch, a rising star in her own party and the bookmakers’ favorite to become next Conservative leader, being organized by the BritishAmericanBusiness lobby group.

    Farage had a long-standing alliance with DeSantis’ arch-rival Donald Trump, who remains the frontrunner for the 2024 Republican nomination | Jonathan Bachman/Getty Images

    British ministers will be eager to know the governor’s views on international trade, given U.S. President Joe Biden — who officially launched his own re-election campaign this week — refused to continue the post-Brexit U.K.-U.S. trade talks that began under the Trump administration.

    Leslie Vinjamuri, U.S. expert at the Chatham House think tank in London, said DeSantis will want the trip to show economic competence to a wider American audience.

    “It makes complete sense as a governor and a presidential hopeful that he would demonstrate his economic credentials. America is about the land of the free and the opportunity to succeed — and getting rich,” she said.

    “Having that very strong relationship and connectivity to the U.K. plays extremely well in the U.S. — it certainly plays well in Florida.”

    DeSantis’ view of the Russo-Ukraine war will also be scrutinized if and when he announces his presidential run, after he recently called the conflict a mere “territorial dispute.”

    The governor swiftly tried to walk back those comments following a bitter backlash — but also told Nikkei Asia this week that European countries must do far more to help Ukraine.

    “The Europeans really need to do more. I mean, this is their continent,” he said.

    [ad_2]

    Stefan Boscia

    Source link

  • Ukraine’s foreign minister urges EU to speed up ammo deliveries

    Ukraine’s foreign minister urges EU to speed up ammo deliveries

    [ad_1]

    LUXEMBOURG — Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba on Monday implored EU foreign affairs ministers to move faster on their promises to supply Kyiv with ammunition. But his plea came as officials were given new details showing the EU still has a long way to go to meet its lofty pledges.

    According to several diplomats, Kuleba — who addressed a meeting of foreign ministers in Luxembourg via video link — was critical of the slow pace of the EU in delivering ammunition and missiles as part of a plan to provide 1 million shells in the next 12 months as Ukraine fights off Russia’s invasion.

    The plan has already been endorsed by EU leaders but, when it comes to the technical details, has only been partially agreed upon by member states, which are still discussing the so-called track two of the scheme, which involves the joint purchase of ammunition.

    The bone of contention is a legal one about exemptions for companies based outside the EU in the supply chain of the defense companies involved in the plan, but in the background doubts also remain as to whether the EU defense industry can really deliver all of these shells.  

    Kuleba on Monday “repeated that Ukraine needs desperately the ammunition to stand against the Russian attacks, and also to organize the counterattack,” Margus Tsahkna, the foreign minister of Estonia, which put forward the ammo plan, told POLITICO. “And ammunition is crucial.”

    The problem is not only the speed of the EU in delivering the ammo, but also the quantity. The plan is being funded by a pot of money called the European Peace Fund, which partially reimburses the member states for ammo and missiles. That cash, meant to help provide ammunition quickly, comes from the so-called track one of the plan — worth a total of €1 billion — which has already been fully agreed upon. EU top diplomat Josep Borrell, speaking to journalists Monday, said that “we have received requests for reimbursement for €600 million.” 

    Yet according to three diplomats, not all the material that member states want reimbursing for has actually been delivered. Of the €600 million that Borrell mentioned, €180 million was for the provision of 1,080 missiles (six of which have not yet been reported as delivered) and the rest of the money was for 41,000 pieces of ammunition, of which 28,000 have not been reported as delivered, the diplomats said.  

    Those numbers are well short of 1 million. 

    Kuleba stressed “that if there is one priority, and if it’s a single burning issue, this is weapons delivery, in particular ammunition … he also asked for not being hesitant on delivering the aircraft and other modern pieces of military technology,” Slovakia’s foreign minister, Rastislav Káčer, told POLITICO. “He was pushy, politely,” Káčer added. 

    Borrell tried to offer reassurance on the speed of the EU decision-making process, saying: “There has been some disagreement but the work continues. We are not waiting for the legal document to be finished to start working. The work continues and everything is being prepared,” he said at a press conference after the meeting.

    Diplomats reckon it’s a matter of days, likely Wednesday, before track two of the plan will be finalized.  

    “The truth is that there is not satisfaction about how we’re delivering on track one, in the quantity and the speed,” Káčer said. “We can do more, we can scratch more. Slovakia is trying. We are putting everything we have in the stockpiles.”

    [ad_2]

    Jacopo Barigazzi

    Source link

  • Cold War with China would ‘betray’ Britain’s national interests, UK foreign secretary warns

    Cold War with China would ‘betray’ Britain’s national interests, UK foreign secretary warns

    [ad_1]

    LONDON — Britain must engage with China rather than isolate Beijing in a “new Cold War,” the U.K. foreign secretary will say Tuesday in a warning shot to Tory China hawks.

    James Cleverly will set out the U.K.’s approach toward China in a long-awaited speech on Tuesday, weeks after the government’s updated Integrated Review of defense and foreign policy described relations with the emerging superpower as an “epoch-defining and systemic challenge.”

    Cleverly is expected to set out a three-pronged approach for relations with Beijing — limiting Chinese involvement in sectors deemed critical for national security; strengthening ties with Indo-Pacific allies; and — most controversially — engaging with China directly to promote stable relations.

    And in a message to the increasingly outspoken China hawks within his Conservative Party, the foreign secretary will warn against an era of open confrontation with Beijing that might harm the U.K.’s economic interests and limit the West’s ability to engage on shared challenges, including climate change and nuclear proliferation.

    “It would be clear and easy — perhaps even satisfying — for me to declare a new Cold War and say that our goal is to isolate China,” Cleverly is expected to say, according to words shared by his department ahead of the speech.

    “Clear, easy, satisfying — and wrong. Because it would be a betrayal of our national interest and a wilful misunderstanding of the modern world.”

    Under pressure from Tory MPs, Rishi Sunak has toughened his approach toward China since becoming prime minister, ordering the sale last November of a Chinese-owned semiconductor plant in Wales under new national security legislation.

    Cleverly has focused on building alliances with countries close to China, returning at the weekend from a tour of the Pacific — the first visit to some areas by a British foreign secretary since the 1970s. Britain recently signed deals to join a Pacific-focused defense pact with Australia and the U.S., and a large free-trade agreement with 11 Pacific rim nations including Japan, Vietnam, Malaysia and Singapore.

    But Britain is yet to join the group of large European countries sending their leaders on official visits to Beijing. French President Emmanuel Macron and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen both visited China earlier this month.

    Cleverly himself is expected to visit China later in 2023, but Downing Street has not floated any travel plans for the prime minister.

    Cleverly’s remarks come as some British firms cut their ties with China and move their activity to other countries in preparation for a worsening in relations. The U.K. says it wants to continue helping British companies do business with China — but without entering strategic dependencies.

    In his speech to the Lord Mayor’s Easter Banquet, Cleverly will call on China to be more open about the intent behind its vast military expansion in order to prevent a “tragic miscalculation,” and say the U.K. and its allies “are prepared to be open about our presence in the Indo-Pacific.”

    He will also send a strongly worded message on the need for the Chinese government to respect human rights within its borders, describing China’s repression of the Uyghur minority in Xinjiang as an attempt to build “a 21st century version of the gulag archipelago.”

    [ad_2]

    Cristina Gallardo

    Source link

  • Week In Review: April 23, 2023

    Week In Review: April 23, 2023

    [ad_1]

    Read more…

    [ad_2]

    Source link