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Tag: RU

  • Russia says U.S. was behind Kremlin drone attack, drawing quick denial

    Russia says U.S. was behind Kremlin drone attack, drawing quick denial

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    • Kremlin administration shifts focus from Kyiv to Washington
    • Allegation goes beyond previous accusations against U.S.
    • Washington denies accusation
    • Security experts: incident implausible as assassination attempt
    • Incident came six days before Victory Day showcase on Red Square

    May 4 (Reuters) – Russia accused the United States on Thursday of being behind what it says was a drone attack on Moscow’s Kremlin citadel intended to kill President Vladimir Putin.

    A day after blaming Ukraine for what it called a terrorist attack, the Kremlin administration shifted the focus onto the United States, but without providing evidence. The White House was quick to reject the charge.

    Ukraine has also denied involvement in the incident in the early hours of Wednesday, when video footage showed two flying objects approaching the Senate Palace inside the Kremlin walls and one exploding with a bright flash.

    “Attempts to disown this, both in Kyiv and in Washington, are, of course, absolutely ridiculous. We know very well that decisions about such actions, about such terrorist attacks, are made not in Kyiv but in Washington,” said Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov.

    He said the United States was “undoubtedly” behind the incident and added – again without stating evidence – that Washington often selected both the targets for Ukraine to attack, and the means to attack them.

    “This is also often dictated from across the ocean … In Washington they must clearly understand that we know this,” Peskov said.

    White House national security spokesman John Kirby told MSNBC television the Russian claims were false, and that Washington does not encourage or enable Ukraine to strike outside its borders.

    Russia has said with increasing frequency that it sees the United States as a direct participant in the war, intent on inflicting a “strategic defeat” on Moscow. The United States denies that, saying it is arming Ukraine to defend itself and retake territory that Moscow has seized illegally in more than 14 months of war.

    CALLS TO KILL ZELENSKIY

    However, Peskov’s allegation went further than previous Kremlin accusations against Washington.

    Putin was not in the Kremlin at the time, and security analysts have poured scorn on the idea that the incident was a serious assassination attempt.

    But Russia has said it reserves the right to retaliate, and hardliners including former president Dmitry Medvedev have said it should now “physically eliminate” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy.

    Peskov declined to say whether Moscow saw Zelenskiy as a legitimate target.

    He said Russia had an array of options and the response would be carefully considered and balanced. He said an urgent investigation was under way.

    Putin was in the Kremlin on Thursday and staff were working normally, he said.

    The incident took place less than a week before Russia’s May 9 Victory Day celebrations marking the defeat of Nazi Germany in World War Two – an important public holiday and an opportunity for Putin to rally Russians behind what he calls Russia’s “special military operation” in Ukraine.

    Peskov said air defences would be tightened, and this was happening anyway for the military parade on Red Square, the centrepiece of the holiday, just over the Kremlin wall from the site of the alleged attack.

    He said the parade would go ahead as normal, and include a speech from Putin.

    Reporting by Reuters; Editing by Kevin Liffey

    Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

    Mark Trevelyan

    Thomson Reuters

    Chief writer on Russia and CIS. Worked as a journalist on 7 continents and reported from 40+ countries, with postings in London, Wellington, Brussels, Warsaw, Moscow and Berlin. Covered the break-up of the Soviet Union in the 1990s. Security correspondent from 2003 to 2008. Speaks French, Russian and (rusty) German and Polish.

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  • China says it respects sovereignty of ex-Soviet states after EU uproar

    China says it respects sovereignty of ex-Soviet states after EU uproar

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    • Chinese ambassador to Paris caused uproar in EU
    • Comments focused on Ukraine, ex-Soviet states
    • Beijing says he was expressing personal views
    • EU welcomes ‘clarification’

    LUXEMBOURG, April 24 (Reuters) – China respects the status of former Soviet member states as sovereign nations, its foreign ministry said on Monday, distancing itself from comments by its envoy to Paris that triggered an uproar among European capitals.

    Several European Union foreign ministers had said comments by ambassador Lu Shaye – in which he questioned the sovereignty of Ukraine and other former Soviet states – were unacceptable and had asked Beijing to clarify its stance.

    Asked if Lu’s comments represented China’s official position, foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said that Beijing respected the status of the former Soviet member states as sovereign nations following the collapse of the Soviet Union.

    Mao told a regular news briefing that it was her remarks on sovereignty that represented China’s official government stance.

    The Chinese embassy in Paris issued a statement later on Monday to say that Lu’s comments on Ukraine “were not a political declaration but an expression of his personal views”.

    Both statements, following the backlash, appeared to be an effort to ease the tension with the EU while Washington also cited growing closeness between Beijing and Moscow.

    “Beijing has distanced itself from the unacceptable remarks by its ambassador,” Josep Borrell told a news conference, saying it was “good news”.

    The French foreign ministry said it was “taking note” of Beijing’s “clarifications” and that the minister’s chief of staff had met with Lu on Monday, told him his comments were unacceptable and urged him to speak in a way “that is in line with his country’s official stance.”

    Lu has earned himself a reputation as one of China’s “wolf warrior” diplomats, so-called for their hawkish and abrasive style.

    Asked about his position on whether Crimea was part of Ukraine or not, Lu had said in an interview aired on French TV on Friday that historically it was part of Russia and had been offered to Ukraine by former Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev.

    “These ex-USSR countries don’t have actual status in international law because there is no international agreement to materialize their sovereign status,” Lu added.

    Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavsky speaks during a news conference, in Riga, Latvia April 21, 2023. REUTERS/Ints Kalnins

    ‘TOTALLY UNACCEPTABLE’

    Monday’s statements from the Chinese foreign ministry and embassy in Paris came after criticism from across the EU.

    Speaking ahead of a Luxembourg meeting of EU foreign ministers earlier in the day, Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavsky said Lu’s comments were “totally unacceptable”.

    “I hope the bosses of this ambassador will make these things straight,” he told reporters.

    A spokesperson for Germany’s foreign ministry said it had taken note of Lu’s comments “with great astonishment, especially as the statements are not in line with the Chinese position we have known so far.”

    Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis said the three Baltic countries would summon Chinese representatives to officially ask for clarification.

    He said Beijing was “sending the same message” as Moscow on questioning the sovereignty of former Soviet countries, which he described as “dangerous”.

    Lithuania and its Baltic neighbours Latvia and Estonia were incorporated into the Soviet Union in 1940, but regained independence after its break-up in 1991.

    EU leaders would discuss the bloc’s stance towards China and its future relations with Beijing during their next summit in June, EU Council President Charles Michel said.

    Lu has been summoned to France’s foreign ministry several times in the past, including for suggesting France was abandoning old people in nursing homes during the COVID-19 pandemic and for calling a respected China scholar at a French think-tank a “mad hyena”.

    Asked about Chinese officials’ comments, White House spokesperson John Kirby told MSNBC broadcaster that China and Russia are clearly aligning, adding: “These are two countries that want to challenge outright the international rules-based order … that respects sovereignty around the world.”

    “They want to undermine it. They want to reduce and diminish not only the United States and our influence around the world but also our allies and partners.”

    Reporting by Bart Meijer

    Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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  • Exclusive: Chinese firm imported copper from Russian-controlled part of Ukraine

    Exclusive: Chinese firm imported copper from Russian-controlled part of Ukraine

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    • Data shows Quzhou Nova bought $7.4 mln of ingots
    • Copper plant is in Russian-annexed part of Ukraine
    • Area is subject to U.S. sanctions against Moscow
    • Russian ally China does not abide by U.S. measures

    April 14 (Reuters) – A Chinese company bought at least $7.4 million worth of copper alloy ingots from a plant in a Russian-annexed region of Ukraine that is subject to Western sanctions, according to Russian customs data reviewed by Reuters.

    China has not imposed any restrictions on trade with Russia, but the United States has threatened to blacklist companies round the world for violating its sanctions and warned Beijing against supplying Moscow with goods banned by U.S. export rules.

    The customs information, drawn from one commercial trade data provider and cross-checked with two others, show some of the first evidence of Chinese trades with Russian-annexed regions of Ukraine since the war began on Feb. 24, 2022.

    The Chinese firm, Quzhou Nova, bought at least 3,220 tons of copper alloy in ingots worth a total of $7.4 million from the Debaltsevsky Plant of Metallurgical Engineering between Oct. 8, 2022 and March 24, 2023, according to the data.

    The plant is located in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine, close to the border with Luhansk. Both Donetsk and Luhansk were among four Ukrainian regions that President Vladimir Putin claimed last September as part of Russia.

    Quzhou Nova, a trading and manufacturing company based in the city of Quzhou in the eastern province of Zhejiang, told Reuters it does not have any import and export business related to the trade of copper alloy in ingots.

    When Reuters showed details of the exports in the customs data to Quzhou Nova, the company said on March 23 that it “finds hard to understand the document, because this document is not stamped and signed”, and suggested contacting customs about the issue.

    The database, which collects information on all shipments worldwide, does not display stamps or signatures on its information.

    The Chinese customs service did not provide detailed information on imports. It said that “company trade data are not disclosed in our public information”.

    China imported copper and copper alloys worth $852 million from Russia between October and February, according to public customs statistics.

    A source at the Debaltsevsky plant, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said there was a non-ferrous metallurgy workshop on the territory of the factory. The source declined to comment on the issue of copper alloy shipments to China, saying the information was a “trade secret”.

    Contacted for comment, the Russian Federal customs service told Reuters that information on companies is confidential and is not disclosed by the service.

    When asked about the matter on Friday, the Kremlin said it did not know whether the Reuters news story about the transaction was true or what proof was available. The Kremlin said it had no information about the subject itself.

    The Debaltsevsky Plant did not respond to Reuters requests for comments by phone and in writing.

    Ukraine, its Western allies and an overwhelming majority of countries at the U.N. General Assembly have condemned Russia’s declared annexation of the four regions as illegal.

    SANCTIONS

    U.S. sanctions imposed on Feb. 21, 2022, three days before Russia invaded Ukraine, prohibit U.S imports from or exports to the so-called Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics.

    Two days later, the European Union announced measures including an import ban on goods from the two regions.

    While Chinese companies are free as far as their authorities are concerned to trade with firms in Russian-controlled regions of Ukraine, they do risk being added to Western blacklists.

    Asked about the copper shipments data, the U.S. State Department said it was concerned about China’s alignment with the Kremlin.

    “We have warned the PRC (People’s Republic of China) that assistance to Russia’s war effort would have serious consequences. We will not hesitate to move against entities, including PRC firms, that help Russia wage war against Ukraine or help Russia circumvent sanctions,” it added in a statement to Reuters, listing some Chinese companies already sanctioned.

    The European Commision did not respond to Reuters’ questions as to whether Chinese companies cooperated with the Russian-annexed Ukrainian territories and what risks such activity posed.

    China’s Ministry of Commerce did not respond to Reuters’ requests for comment about the shipments of copper alloys from the Debaltsevsky Plant or cooperation with businesses in the Donetsk region.

    The data seen by Reuters is based on shipping and customs documents like bill of lading and shipping bills and collected from several customs departments, government bodies and other partners.

    Quzhou Nova says it specialises in the export of wrapping paper. According to its website, it manufactures and trades goods for the tobacco industry, including paper, aluminium foil and polypropylene film.

    Reuters could not establish what use the copper alloy was intended for.

    The Ukrainian plant, located in the city of Debaltseve 70 km (45 miles) from the Russian-controlled Ukrainian city of Donetsk, specializes in making equipment and spare parts for ferrous metallurgy, the mining industry and cement plants, and has steelmaking and metal casting workshops, according to its website.

    Reuters was not able to find any data about the financial state of the company. It was added to the Russian state tax register in December 2022 and has yet to report financial data.

    According to a Ukrainian register, the legal status of the plant in Debaltseve has been suspended by the Ukrainian authorities. The register does not indicate when or why this happened.

    As of early 2023, its only owner was the Ukrainian Donetsk regional state administration.

    The Ukrainian government, as well as the Russian-appointed Donetsk People’s Republic administration, did not immediately comment to Reuters about cooperation with Chinese companies and shipments of goods to China.

    The copper alloy shipments from the plant were carried out via the port of Novorossiysk in southern Russia, according to the customs data.

    Reporting by Filipp Lebedev and Gleb Stolyarov in Tbilisi; Editing by Mark Trevelyan and Andrew Cawthorne

    Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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  • Airman suspected of leaking secret US documents hit with federal charges

    Airman suspected of leaking secret US documents hit with federal charges

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    BOSTON, April 14 (Reuters) – A 21-year-old member of the U.S. Air National Guard accused of leaking top secret military intelligence records online was charged on Friday with unlawfully copying and transmitting classified material.

    Jack Douglas Teixeira of North Dighton, Massachusetts, who was arrested by heavily armed FBI agents at his home on Thursday, made his initial appearance in a crowded federal court wearing a brown khaki jumpsuit.

    At the hearing, Boston’s top federal national security prosecutor, Nadine Pellegrini, requested that Teixeira be detained pending trial, and a detention hearing was set for Wednesday.

    During the brief proceeding, Teixeira said little, answering “yes” when asked whether he understood his right to remain silent.

    The judge said Teixeira’s financial affidavit showed he qualified to be represented by a federal public defender, and he appointed one.

    After the hearing, three of Teixeira’s family members left the courthouse, with a group of reporters trailing them for several blocks. They entered a car without making any comments.

    The leaked documents were believed to be the most serious U.S. security breach since more than 700,000 documents, videos and diplomatic cables appeared on the WikiLeaks website in 2010. The Pentagon has called the leak a “deliberate, criminal act.”

    This leak did not come to light until it was reported by the New York Times last week even though the documents were posted on a social media website weeks earlier.

    U.S. President Joe Biden said on Friday he ordered investigators to determine why the alleged leaker had access to the sensitive information, which included records showing purported details of Ukrainian military vulnerabilities and embarrassed Washington by revealing its spying on allies.

    Fallout from the case has roiled Washington. Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer has requested a briefing for all 100 senators next week while Republican House of Representatives Speaker Kevin McCarthy vowed to investigate.

    “The Biden administration has failed to secure classified information,” McCarthy said on Twitter. “Through our committees, Congress will get answers as to why they were asleep at the switch.”

    FBI agents arrest Jack Teixeira, an employee of the U.S. Air Force National Guard, in connection with an investigation into the leaks online of classified U.S. documents, outside a residence in this still image taken from video in North Dighton, Massachusetts, U.S., April 13, 2023. WCVB-TV via ABC via REUTERS

    Biden said he was taking steps to tighten security. “While we are still determining the validity of those documents, I have directed our military and intelligence community to take steps to further secure and limit distribution of sensitive information,” he said in a statement.

    MORE CHARGES EXPECTED

    A criminal complaint made public on Friday charges Teixeira with one count of violating the Espionage Act related to the unlawful copying and transmitting of sensitive defense material, and a second charge related to the unlawful removal of defense material to an unauthorized location.

    A conviction on the Espionage Act charge carries up to 10 years in prison.

    The charges are connected to just one leaked document so far, a classified record that described the status of the Russia-Ukraine conflict and included details about troop movements on a particular date.

    Experts expect more charges as investigators examine each leaked document. Teixeira could also face more counts depending on the number of times he separately uploaded and transmitted each document.

    “They are going to pick the ones (documents), I would imagine, that foreign governments have already seen,” said Stephanie Siegmann, the former national security chief for the U.S. Attorney’s office in Boston and now a partner with the Hinckley Allen law firm.

    In a sworn statement, an FBI agent said Teixeira had held a top secret security clearance since 2021 and also had sensitive compartmented access to other highly classified programs.

    Since May 2022, the FBI said, Teixeira has been serving as an E-3/airman first class in the Air National Guard and has been stationed at Otis Air National Guard Base in Massachusetts.

    Siegmann said one lingering question is why a 21-year-old National Guardsman held such a top-level security clearance.

    “That’s an issue that Department of Defense needs to now deal with,” she said. “Why would he be entitled to these documents about the Russia-Ukrainian conflict?”

    Reuters has reviewed more than 50 of the documents, labeled “Secret” and “Top Secret,” but has not independently verified their authenticity. The number of documents leaked is likely to be over 100.

    Reporting by Sarah N. Lynch in Washington and Tim McLaughlin in Boston
    Editing by Don Durfee and Alistair Bell

    Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

    Sarah N. Lynch

    Thomson Reuters

    Sarah N. Lynch is the lead reporter for Reuters covering the U.S. Justice Department out of Washington, D.C. During her time on the beat, she has covered everything from the Mueller report and the use of federal agents to quell protesters in the wake of George Floyd’s murder, to the rampant spread of COVID-19 in prisons and the department’s prosecutions following the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.

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  • Europe presses tough Taiwan stance after backlash against Macron comments

    Europe presses tough Taiwan stance after backlash against Macron comments

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    April 14 (Reuters) – European foreign policy officials on Friday urged China not to use force over Taiwan, taking a tough stance against Beijing’s threats over the democratically governed island, after comments by French President Emmanuel Macron were perceived as weak.

    China in recent days has held intense military drills around Taiwan, which it claims as its own, and has never renounced the use of force to bring the island under its control.

    German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock, addressing the issue at a press conference in Beijing alongside her Chinese counterpart Qin Gang, said any attempt by China to control Taiwan would be unacceptable and would have serious repercussions for Europe.

    EU foreign policy chief Joseph Borrell echoed her remarks in a statement prepared for a speech due to be delivered in Beijing at the Center for China and Globalization think tank on Friday that had to be cancelled after he caught COVID-19.

    “A military escalation in the Taiwan Strait, through which … 50% of world trade goes every day, would be a horror scenario for the entire world,” said Baerbock, adding it would have “inevitable repercussions” for European interests.

    In interviews published after his trip to China last week, which was meant to showcase European unity on China policy, Macron cautioned against being drawn into a crisis over Taiwan driven by an “American rhythm and a Chinese overreaction”.

    While many of the remarks were not new, the timing of their publication, and their bluntness, annoyed many Western officials.

    “The European Union’s position (on Taiwan) is consistent and clear,” Borrell said in his remarks. “Any attempt to change the status quo by force would be unacceptable.”

    UKRAINE ISSUE

    Borrell also said Europe’s future relationship with China depended on it trying to use its influence to find a political solution to the Ukraine crisis.

    “It will be extremely difficult, if not impossible, for the European Union to maintain a relationship of trust with China, which I would like to see, if China does not contribute to the search for a political solution based on Russia’s withdrawal from the Ukrainian territory,” Borrell said.

    “Neutrality in the face of the violation of international law is not credible,” Borrell said, adding an appeal for Chinese President Xi Jinping to speak to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and for China to provide more humanitarian aid to Ukraine.

    Xi has met Russian President Vladimir Putin twice but not spoken with Zelenskiy since Russia invaded Ukraine in what Moscow calls a “special military operation” in February 2022.

    China stated its opposition to attacks on civilians and on nuclear facilities in a position paper on Ukraine published in February, but it has refrained from openly criticising Russia.

    “President Xi’s visit to Moscow has demonstrated that no other country has a bigger influence on Russia than China,” said Baerbock.

    “It is good that China has signalled to get engaged in finding a solution. But I have to say clearly that I wonder why China so far has not asked the aggressor Russia to stop the war. We all know President Putin has the opportunity to do so any time he wants to.”

    Poland’s prime minister warned earlier this week that Ukraine’s defeat may embolden China to invade Taiwan.

    Baerbock and Borrell also spoke about the risks of being too dependent economically on China, in line with comments made by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in a speech last month on the eve of her China visit.

    “We just paid a high price for our energy dependency on Russia, and it is well-known that one should not make the same mistake twice,” said Baerbock, adding that economic security is core to Germany’s strategy for China.

    Borrell said that the EU needs to diversify its value chains to reduce its dependency on China for raw materials.

    He also said that the increasing trade imbalances between the EU and China are “unsustainable” and called on China to remove market access barriers.

    Reporting by Yew Lun Tian in Beijing; Editing by Clarence Fernandez

    Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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  • Exclusive: India’s Bank of Baroda stops clearing payment for above-cap Russian oil – sources

    Exclusive: India’s Bank of Baroda stops clearing payment for above-cap Russian oil – sources

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    NEW DELHI, April 4 (Reuters) – India’s Bank of Baroda (BOB.NS) has stopped clearing payments for Russian oil sold above the price cap set by the West from this month, three sources with direct knowledge of the matter said, a move that could expedite transition to a rupee trade mechanism.

    Some Indian refiners were paying in the United Arab Emirates dirham currency for Russian low-sulphur crude priced above the $60 a barrel cap using Bank of Baroda, mainly to Dubai-based traders, sources said.

    The Group of Seven economies, the European Union and Australia, set the price cap late last year to bar Western services and shipping from trading Russian oil unless sold at an enforced low price to deprive Moscow of funds for its Ukraine war.

    “Bank of Baroda is extremely cautious in settling payments for Russian oil bought (at levels) above the price cap,” one of the sources said.

    “They have told us no for settling payments for above-cap barrels,” the person said.

    The state-run lender told refiners last month that it would not settle payment from Russian barrels bought above the price cap, the three sources said.

    Bank of Baroda did not respond to requests for comment from Reuters.

    Before the Ukraine war, Indian refiners rarely bought oil from Russia due to higher freight costs. After Western sanctions on Moscow for its invasion of Ukraine, Indian refiners have been gorging on discounted Russian oil.

    Russia has replaced Iraq as the top oil supplier to India in the last few months, data from trade sources showed.

    Sources anticipate that prices of Russian sweet crude such as Sokol and ESPO Blend, which was sold near $60 a barrel in recent weeks, could breach the price cap due to a sharp spike in global oil prices triggered by Sunday’s OPEC+ decision to cut output.

    Some refiners, mainly private operators, have been clearing payments in dirhams for Russian crude through private lender Axis Bank (AXBK.NS), sources told Reuters last month. It was not clear if Axis Bank had also stopped settling trades for Russian oil sold above the price cap.

    Axis Bank did not immediately respond to Reuters’ request for comment.

    Although Indian refiners buy Russian oil on a delivered basis, copies of invoices reviewed by Reuters also show shipping charges, which helps in calculating the price of crude at Russian ports.

    Sources said that problems in settling trade for Russian oil could push sellers to accept rupee payments, at least for barrels that exceed the price cap.

    “We have neither stopped nor reduced purchases of Russian oil after Bank of Baroda’s decision … we will consider using rupees to pay for oil purchased above the price cap,” another source said.

    India does not recognise the Western price cap on Russian oil, a senior oil ministry source said last month.

    SETTLEMENT MECHANISM

    India set up a mechanism to settle its international trade in rupees last year. Some Russian banks later opened vostro accounts with banks in India to facilitate rupee trade.

    The mechanism has not yet started given the lack of Russian appetite for rupees and India’s trade deficit with Moscow.

    However, during a visit last week to India, Igor Sechin, chief executive of Russian oil major Rosneft, discussed ways to expand cooperation with India across the hydrocarbons value chain, including the possibility of making payments in national currencies.

    A switch to rupee payments would help wean Russia from dollars and would save foreign exchange for India.

    Reporting by Nidhi Verma; Additional reporting by Siddhi Nayak in Mumbai; Editing by Tony Munroe and Jacqueline Wong

    Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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  • Ukraine’s tech entrepreneurs fight war on a different front

    Ukraine’s tech entrepreneurs fight war on a different front

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    PRAGUE, April 4 (Reuters) – Eugene Nayshtetik and his five co-workers shuttered their company developing medical and biotech startups to join the defense forces days after Russia invaded Ukraine. Within two months, their commanders agreed it would be more useful if they swapped their military gear for computers.

    With the government’s blessing, Nayshtetik and his team of engineers moved to neighboring Poland where they raised initial funding from a Polish company, Air Res Aviation, to develop a new drone for the Ukrainian military.

    Jerzy Nowak, president and co-owner of Air Res Aviation, said his company’s initial investment in the drone project amounted to around $200,000.

    The Defender drone, now ready for testing, is designed to withstand strong winds to enable surveillance in bad weather, can fly vertically and carry big payloads. It’s an example of how some startups in Ukraine’s dynamic tech sector are switching to pursue military projects.

    “We had our own portfolio of medical and biotechnology civilian projects before the war,” Nayshtetik told Reuters. “We never dreamt of killing people. We wanted to heal people but the situation changed.”

    Reuters spoke to more than a dozen entrepreneurs, as well as Ukrainian and Western officials who said the shift to military innovation in Ukraine’s once-thriving technology sector has bolstered the country’s out-manned and out-gunned armed forces.

    Military experts and Ukrainian officials told Reuters that innovations developed by these startups are making a difference on the battlefield, ranging from software applications that can target enemy positions more quickly to civilian drones adapted for military use, and systems that integrate data to give commanders more detailed battlefield views.

    “The Ukrainians are outmatched by every numerical scale: in terms of numbers of forces; in terms of numbers when it comes to equipment. And yet they’re holding their own,” said a senior NATO official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. “One of the reasons they’re holding their own is that they have, in a very innovative way, integrated technology into warfighting.”

    Before Russia’s invasion, Ukraine represented one of the fastest growing tech hubs in central and eastern Europe. The enterprise value of startups soared more than 9-fold between 2017 and 2022 to reach 23 billion euros, according to data from Dealroom.com.

    Ukraine offered a host of advantages for emerging technology businesses, including a tradition of producing graduates strong in math and computer science. A low cost base also allowed entrepreneurs to do more with less.

    The country boasted 285,000 software developers in 2021 with an additional 25,000 graduating from tech universities annually, according to software development outsourcing company Softjourn.

    But with most emerging companies in Ukraine focused on the domestic market, many startups suffered a collapse in demand following the war – which has killed tens of thousands of people, reduced cities to rubble and wreaked havoc on infrastructure.

    Pavlo Kartashov, director of the Ukrainian Startup Fund (USF), a government-backed organization that seeds technology startups, told Reuters his group resumed funding in October. It hopes to finance around five to 10 emerging companies a month with grants of up to $35,000.

    Most will focus on military technology, he said.

    The fund also aims to unveil in April a new platform to connect emerging companies more closely with the military to identify the needs on the battlefield and to speed the transformation of ideas into tools that can be used in the conflict.

    “If you have something innovative and efficient it will definitely be used by the army,” he told Reuters. “We need new technology to fight the enemy and can try different approaches in real time.”

    PLOUGHSHARES INTO SWORDS

    Since the war, Western venture capital firms often have required strict term sheets that include having at least one founder and other key parts of the business located outside Ukraine. So the government has become the sole source within the country of early stage funding – the lifeblood of the technology sector – more than half a dozen founders and venture capitalists said.

    Demand from the government has driven the shift to military technology, but most of the entrepreneurs who spoke to Reuters said that patriotic duty also played a role.

    Take Kiev-based efarm.pro, a startup founded in 2016 whose GPS technology attached to tractors helps farmers more precisely monitor how fertilizer has penetrated the ground. Many of its customers are located in parts of Ukraine that became too dangerous to farm after the Russian invasion so the company adapted its product to detect mines.

    The self-driving technology is only aimed at farmers for now but could also work for military vehicles, the company’s founder Alexander Prykhodchenko told Reuters.

    “Clients were calling us in the first days of the war saying they don’t know how they can work in the field,” Prykhodchenko said. “The war started on February 24 and on February 26 we started work on the new project.”

    Currently, only three of the tractors are in use as the autonomous technology remains in the testing and development phase, Prykhodchenko said.

    Ukraine’s Minister of Digital Transformation Mykhailo Fedorov said the intensity of the fighting has meant that some concepts can flow from the drawing board to the battlefield in months, if not days.

    While acknowledging the critical role of weapons supplied by Western nations in helping to fight the Russians, he added that the ability to utilize the know-how of tech-savvy Ukrainians at home and abroad has proved invaluable.

    “One of the few areas where Ukraine has managed to stay consistently ahead of Russia is in the use of innovative military technologies,” he wrote in a February article for the Atlantic Council.

    Russia says its own weapons industry is increasing production and introducing new technology fast to meet the demands of military operations in Ukraine.

    Gregory Allen, a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic & International Studies in Washington DC, highlighted the so-called “Uber for Artillery” application developed by a network of Ukrainian programmers before the Russian invasion that networks together infantry, reconnaissance and artillery units to spot and land an artillery strike more quickly.

    He also said that a pair of anonymous Ukrainian software developers had rapidly created a program in mid-2022 that used machine learning to analyze video feeds from drones to detect more effectively military vehicles camouflaged in forests. Reuters was not able to confirm independently the details of the software.

    “I used to work in the Defense Department, and I have almost never seen high quality military machine learning systems go from an idea in someone’s head to a real system being used in war in a matter of weeks,” Allen told Reuters. “The value of the Ukrainian software systems is impressive but the speed is astonishing.”

    The Pentagon’s chief weapons buyer Bill LaPlante has described Ukraine’s use of technology in the war as a “wake up call.”

    “We are seeing true innovation on the battlefield: new combinations of technologies and concepts being developed and implemented, and the cycle from idea to prototype to a warfighter’s hands collapsed to months, if not weeks,” LaPlante told a U.S. Congressional committee last month.

    ISRAELI MODEL

    While Ukraine’s government and tech founders are focused on war-time innovation to aid the military now, they say these emerging start ups can also underpin Ukraine’s post-war economy — pointing to Israel as an example of how military technology laid the foundation for a booming technology sector.

    Government support and experience working on military projects transformed Israel into a global tech hub and propelled the nation into a leader in cybersecurity and autonomous driving vehicles — a path Ukraine officials and tech leaders like Valery Krasovsky hope to emulate for a country with a pre-war population nearly five times that of Israel.

    “There are much more ideas in military technology,” said Krasovsky, the founder and chief executive of Swedish-Ukrainian Sigma Software Group.

    For now, the scarcity of seed funding in Ukraine has forced some companies to flee to places like to neighboring Poland. Groups like the Polish-Ukrainian Start Up Bridge – a Polish-government backed venture – offer emerging Ukrainian tech companies small grants to fund basic business needs and a co-working space in Warsaw.

    “Startups have had the past year to teach themselves how to survive and adapt to the new reality,” Mykhailo Khaletskyi, an advisor for the Startup Bridge and Ukrainian government, told Reuters.

    Additional Reporting by Andrew Gray and Sabine Siebold in Brussels, Elizabeth Piper in London and Mike Stone in Washington, Editing by Daniel Flynn

    Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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  • Russian charged with war crimes may brief U.N. Security Council

    Russian charged with war crimes may brief U.N. Security Council

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    UNITED NATIONS, April 3 (Reuters) – Russia’s commissioner for children’s rights, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court on war crimes charges, is likely to brief an informal meeting of the U.N. Security Council this week, according to a note seen by Reuters on Monday.

    Russia, which holds the monthly rotating presidency of the 15-member body for April, told council members in a note that it plans to hold an informal meeting on Wednesday on Ukraine, focused on “evacuating children from conflict zone.”

    “Participants will hear ‘first hand’ information from the Presidential Commissioner for Children’s Rights of the Russian Federation, as well as from children evacuated from the conflict area,” read the note.

    The commissioner is Maria Lvova-Belova. The International Criminal Court (ICC) last month issued an arrest warrant against Russian President Vladimir Putin and Lvova-Belova, accusing them of illegally deporting hundreds of children from Ukraine, as well as the unlawful transfer of people to Russia from Ukraine since Moscow invaded on Feb. 24, 2022.

    “They cannot invite a credible briefer because they do not have any credibility on this issue,” Britain’s Deputy U.N. Ambassador James Kariuki told Reuters in a statement. “Russian leaders have been charged by the ICC with unlawfully deporting children from Ukraine to Russia. That is a war crime.”

    Russia’s U.N. Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia said on Monday that the meeting briefers would be announced shortly. Such meetings are held at U.N. headquarters, but not in the Security Council chamber, and briefings can be done virtually.

    ‘APRIL FOOL’S JOKE’

    Moscow has not concealed a program under which it has brought thousands of Ukrainian children to Russia but presents it as a humanitarian campaign to protect orphans and children abandoned in the conflict zone.

    Nebenzia told reporters last month that the informal meeting of Security Council members to be held on Wednesday had been planned long before the ICC announcement and it was not intended to be a rebuttal of the charges against Putin and Lvova-Belova.

    While a feature of Russia’s presidency, members do not need to be the rotating monthly president to hold such meetings.

    Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov is due to travel to New York to chair formal Security Council meetings later in the month on the Middle East and on “effective multilateralism through the defense of the principles of the U.N. Charter.”

    The 193-member U.N. General Assembly has criticized Russia for violating the founding U.N. Charter by invading its neighbor and called for a “comprehensive, just and lasting peace” in line with the principles of the U.N. Charter.

    Given Russia’s Security Council presidency started on April 1, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, told reporters on Monday: “It’s like an April Fool’s joke … We expect that they will behave professionally.”

    “But we also expect that they will use their seat to spread disinformation and to promote their own agenda as it relates to Ukraine, and we will stand ready to call them out at every single moment that they attempt to do that,” she said.

    Reporting by Michelle Nichols; Editing by Don Durfee and Bill Berkrot

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  • Ukraine’s Zelenskiy aims for Western warplane coalition; Russians pressure Bakhmut

    Ukraine’s Zelenskiy aims for Western warplane coalition; Russians pressure Bakhmut

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    • Poland pledges more MiG jets for Kyiv during Zelenskiy visit
    • Zelenskiy cites difficult situation for Kyiv’s forces in Bakhmut
    • France’s Macron in China to nudge it to help end Russia’s war

    KYIV, April 5 (Reuters) – Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said during a trip to Warsaw on Wednesday that Poland would help form a coalition of Western powers to supply warplanes to Kyiv, adding that Ukrainian troops were still fighting for Bakhmut in the east but could withdraw if they risked being cut off.

    Neighbouring Poland is a close ally of Ukraine and helped galvanise support in the West to supply main battle tanks to Kyiv. During Zelenskiy’s visit, Poland announced it would send 10 more MiG fighter jets on top of four provided earlier.

    “Just as your (Polish) leadership proved itself in the tank coalition, I believe that it will manifest itself in the planes coalition,” Zelenskiy said in a speech on a square in Warsaw.

    Earlier in the day, Zelenskiy said Ukrainian troops faced a really difficult situation in Bakhmut and the military would take “corresponding” decisions to protect them if they risk being encircled by Russian invasion forces.

    Ukrainian forces in Bakhmut sometimes advanced a little only to be knocked back, Zelenskiy said, but remained inside the city.

    “We are in Bakhmut and the enemy does not control it,” Zelenskiy said.

    BOMBARDMENT

    Bakhmut, in Ukraine’s mainly Russian-occupied Donetsk province, has proven one of the bloodiest and longest battles of Russia’s invasion, now in its 14th month. Kyiv’s forces have held out against a Russian onslaught with heavy losses on both sides and the city, a mining and transport hub, reduced to ruin after months of street fighting and bombardment.

    “For me, the most important is not to lose our soldiers and of course if there is a moment of even hotter events and the danger we could lose our personnel because of encirclement – of course the corresponding correct decisions will be taken by generals there,” Zelenskiy said.

    He appeared to be referring to the idea of withdrawing.

    However, Deputy Defence Minister Hanna Malyar said later in that the situation at the front was “completely under control” despite repeated Russian attempts to take Bakhmut and other cities in the east.

    Reuters could not verify the battlefield reports.

    Ukrainian military commanders have stressed the importance of holding Bakhmut and other cities and inflicting losses on Russian troops before an anticipated counter-offensive against them in the coming weeks or months.

    [1/6] Ukrainian service member, Naza, 21, commander from 28th mechanised brigade repositions his machine gun during a fire exchange at the frontline, amid Russia?s attack on Ukraine in the region of Bakhmut, Ukraine, April 5, 2023. REUTERS/Kai Pfaffenbach

    Mercenaries from the Wagner group – who have spearheaded the assault on Bakhmut – said at the weekend they had captured the city centre, a claim dismissed by Kyiv.

    The U.S.-based Institute for the Study of War said the Wagner fighters had made advances in Bakhmut and were likely to continue trying to consolidate control of the city centre and push westward through dense urban neighbourhoods.

    PLAYING THE CHINA CARD

    French President Emmanuel Macron, meanwhile, was visiting China after he and U.S. President Joe Biden agreed they would try to engage Beijing to hasten the end of the Russian assault on Ukraine.

    China has called for a comprehensive ceasefire and described its position on the conflict as “impartial”, even though the Chinese and Russian presidents announced a “no limits” partnership shortly before the invasion.

    Both Macron and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, due in Beijing shortly after him, have said they want to persuade China to use its influence over Russia to bring peace in Ukraine, or to at least deter Beijing from directly supporting Moscow in the conflict.

    The U.S. and NATO have said China was considering sending arms to Russia, which Beijing has denied.

    ‘SHOULDER TO SHOULDER’

    Poland has played a big role in persuading Western allies to supply battle tanks and other heavy weapons to Ukraine, which helped Kyiv stem and sometimes reverse Russian advances so far.

    “You have stood shoulder to shoulder with us, and we are grateful for it,” Zelenskiy said after Polish President Andrzej Duda presented him with Poland’s highest award, the Order of the White Eagle.

    Duda said Warsaw was also working to secure additional security guarantees for Ukraine at a NATO summit to be held in the Lithuania in July.

    Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told state TV that Moscow needed to maintain relations with Washington even though American supplies of weapons to Ukraine meant “we are really in a hot phase of the war”.

    In addition to MiG-29s, Kyiv has also pressed NATO for F-16 jet fighters but Duda’s foreign policy adviser, Marcin Przydacz, said Poland would not decide soon on whether to send any.

    Reporting by Pavel Polityuk with additional reporting by Ron Popeski, Mike Stone, Alan Charlish, Pawel Florkiewicz and Tom Balmforth; writing by Angus MacSwan, Mark Heinrich and Idrees Ali; editing by Philippa Fletcher, Nick Macfie and Grant McCool

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  • Putin ally proposing banning ICC in Russia

    Putin ally proposing banning ICC in Russia

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    March 25 (Reuters) – Russia’s parliament speaker on Saturday proposed banning the activities of the International Criminal Court (ICC) after the court issued an arrest warrant for President Vladimir Putin, accusing him of the war crimes.

    Vyacheslav Volodin, an ally of Putin’s, said that Russian legislation should be amended to prohibit any activity of the ICC in Russia and to punish any who gave “assistance and support” to the ICC.

    “It is necessary to work out amendments to legislation prohibiting any activity of the ICC on the territory of our country,” Volodin said in a Telegram post.

    Volodin said that the United States had legislated to prevent its citizens ever being tried by the Hague court and that Russia should continue that work.

    Any assistance or support for the ICC inside Russia, he said, should be punishable under law.

    The ICC issued an arrest warrant earlier this month accusing Putin of the war crime of illegally deporting hundreds of children from Ukraine. It said there are reasonable grounds to believe that Putin bears individual criminal responsibility.

    Russian officials have cautioned that any attempt to arrest Putin, Russia’s paramount leader since the last day of 1999, would amount to a declaration of war against the world’s largest nuclear power.

    In its first warrant for Ukraine, the ICC called for Putin’s arrest on suspicion of unlawful deportation of children and unlawful transfer of people from the territory of Ukraine to the Russian Federation since Feb. 24, 2022.

    The Kremlin says the ICC arrest warrant is an outrageously partisan decision, but meaningless with respect to Russia. Russian officials deny war crimes in Ukraine and say the West has ignored what it says are Ukrainian war crimes.

    Big powers such as Russia, the United States and China are not members of the ICC though 123 countries are state parties to the Rome Statute, including Britain, France, Germany and some former Soviet republics such as Tajikistan.

    Ukraine is not a member of the ICC, although Kyiv granted it jurisdiction to prosecute crimes committed on its territory.

    Reporting by Guy Faulconbridge; Editing by Stephen Coates

    Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

    Guy Faulconbridge

    Thomson Reuters

    As Moscow bureau chief, Guy runs coverage of Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States. Before Moscow, Guy ran Brexit coverage as London bureau chief (2012-2022). On the night of Brexit, his team delivered one of Reuters historic wins – reporting news of Brexit first to the world and the financial markets. Guy graduated from the London School of Economics and started his career as an intern at Bloomberg. He has spent over 14 years covering the former Soviet Union. He speaks fluent Russian.
    Contact: +447825218698

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  • Russia’s war on Ukraine latest: Ukraine slams Putin’s nuclear weapons plan

    Russia’s war on Ukraine latest: Ukraine slams Putin’s nuclear weapons plan

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    March 26 (Reuters) – A top security adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said that Russian plans to station tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus would destabilise that country, which he said had been taken “hostage” by Moscow. Russian President Vladimir Putin announced the decision on Saturday, sending a warning to NATO over its military support for Ukraine and escalating a standoff with the West.

    DIPLOMACY AND SANCTIONS

    * Russia and China are not creating a military alliance and the cooperation between their armed forces is “transparent”, Putin said in comments broadcast on Sunday, days after hosting Chinese leader Xi Jinping in the Kremlin.

    * Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said on Saturday he would push for fair peace in the war in Ukraine that included “territorial integrity”, when he visits China next week.

    * Putin held a phone call with his Turkish counterpart Tayyip Erdogan, the Kremlin said. Erdogan thanked Putin for his “positive attitude” in extending the Black Sea grain deal, the Kremlin said in a statement.

    BATTLEFIELD

    * Ukrainian forces have managed to blunt Russia’s offensive in and around the embattled eastern city of Bakhmut, where the situation is stabilising, commander in chief General Valery Zaluzhniy said on Saturday. Separately, Britain’s defence ministry said the months-long Russian assault on the city had stalled, mainly as a result of heavy troop losses.

    * The Ukraine General Staff said on Sunday Ukrainian forces had repelled 85 Russian attacks over the past 24 hours in several parts of the eastern front, including the Bakhmut area.

    * U.N. nuclear watchdog chief Rafael Grossi said on Saturday he will visit the Russian-held Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in Ukraine next week to assess the serious situation there.

    * More than 5,000 former criminals have been pardoned after finishing their contracts to fight in Russia’s Wagner mercenary group against Ukraine, the founder of Wagner, Yevgeny Prigozhin, said on Saturday.

    *Reuters could not independently verify battlefield reports.

    ECONOMY

    * Ukraine will no longer resort to “dangerous” monetary financing to fund the war against Russia, its central bank governor, Andriy Pyshnyi, told the Financial Times in an interview.

    RECENT IN-DEPTH STORIES

    * INSIGHT-Inside Ukraine’s scramble for “game-changer” drone fleet

    * Peace plans and pipelines: What came out of the Putin-Xi talks?

    * SPECIAL REPORT-Wagner’s convicts tell of horrors of Ukraine war and loyalty to their leader

    Compiled by Reuters editors

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  • Nordic countries plan joint air defence to counter Russian threat

    Nordic countries plan joint air defence to counter Russian threat

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    COPENHAGEN, March 24 (Reuters) – Air force commanders from Sweden, Norway, Finland and Denmark said on Friday they have signed a letter of intent to create a unified Nordic air defence aimed at countering the rising threat from Russia.

    The intention is to be able to operate jointly based on already known ways of operating under NATO, according to statements by the four countries’ armed forces.

    The move to integrate the air forces was triggered by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February last year, commander of the Danish air force, Major General Jan Dam, told Reuters.

    “Our combined fleet can be compared to a large European country,” Dam said.

    Norway has 57 F-16 fighter jets and 37 F-35 fighter jets with 15 more of the latter on order. Finland has 62 F/A-18 Hornet jets and 64 F-35s on order, while Denmark has 58 F-16s and 27 F-35s on order. Sweden has more than 90 Gripens jets.

    It was unclear how many of those planes were operational.

    The signing at the Ramstein Air Base in Germany last week was attended by NATO Air Command chief General James Hecker, who also oversees the U.S. Air Force in the region.

    Sweden and Finland applied to join the trans-Atlantic military alliance last year. But the process has been held up by Turkey, which along with Hungary has yet to ratify the memberships.

    The Nordic air force commanders first discussed the closer cooperation at a meeting in November in Sweden.

    “We would like to see if we can integrate our airspace surveillance more, so we can use radar data from each other’s surveillance systems and use them collectively,” Dam said. “We are not doing that today.”

    Reporting by Johannes Birkebaek and Jacob Gronholt-Pedersen; additional reporting by Terje Solsvik, Niklas Pollard and Anne Kauranen; Editing by Nick Macfie

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  • Russia presses along Ukraine front after reports of Bakhmut slowdown

    Russia presses along Ukraine front after reports of Bakhmut slowdown

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    • Fighting along Donbas front as Russia presses offensive
    • Kyiv says civilians killed in strike on shelter
    • Red Cross says civilians in Bakhmut at limits of survival
    • Biden and Trudeau reaffirm ‘steadfast’ support for Ukraine

    NEAR KREMINNA, Ukraine, March 24 (Reuters) – Russian forces attacked northern and southern stretches of the front in Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region on Friday, even as Kyiv said Moscow’s assault was flagging near the city of Bakhmut.

    Ukrainian military reports described heavy fighting along a line running from Lyman to Kupiansk, as well as in the south at Avdiivka on the outskirts of the Russian-held city of Donetsk.

    Both areas have been major Russian targets in a winter campaign to fully capture Ukraine’s industrialised Donbas region. The offensive has so far yielded scant gains despite the deaths of thousands of troops on both sides in the war’s bloodiest fighting.

    At a Ukrainian artillery position in lush pine forests behind the northern stretch of the front, troops fired 155 mm rounds from a French TRF-1 howitzer towards a highway used to supply Russian-held Kreminna.

    “Luckily we are holding the same position,” a soldier told Reuters. “Because we are facing a very strong enemy with very good arms. And it’s a professional army: airborne troops.”

    As orders came in with coordinates, the crew jumped into position, removed camouflage, aimed, loaded and fired. After three rounds, they lowered their gun’s barrel, covered it back up and returned to bunkers to await further orders. Artillery and small arms fire could be heard in the distance.

    The front lines have barely budged since November, despite intense fighting. Ukraine recaptured swathes of territory in the second half of 2022, but has since kept mostly to the defensive, while Russia has attacked with hundreds of thousands of freshly called-up reservists and convicts recruited from prison.

    As winter turns to spring, the main question in Ukraine is how much longer Russia can sustain its offensive, and when or whether Ukraine can reverse the momentum with a counterassault.

    Meeting in Ottawa on Friday, U.S. President Joe Biden and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau reaffirmed their “steadfast support for the Ukrainian people as they defend themselves against Putin’s brutal and barbaric invasion,” Trudeau said.

    On Thursday, the commander of Ukrainian ground forces said Russia’s assault on Bakhmut, a small city that has been the focus of the biggest battle of the war, appeared to be losing steam and Kyiv could go on the offensive “very soon”.

    ‘PEOPLE PUSHED TO THE VERY LIMITS’

    For now, Ukrainian forces are still focused on preventing a Russian advance along more than 300 km (185 miles) of Donbas front, from Kupiansk in the north to Vuhledar in the south.

    “Shelling of Avdiivka does not stop – artillery, rockets, mortars,” said Oleksiy Dmytrashkyvskyi of Ukraine’s Tavria military command, responsible for southern areas, who said he was saddened by the conditions suffered by the mostly elderly people who did not want to leave.

    Serhiy Cherevatyi, spokesperson for the east command defending the front farther north, said Russia’s main focus was on a stretch from Kupiansk to Lyman recaptured by Ukrainian forces last year.

    [1/5] Anti-aircraft unit serviceman of the 10th Mountain Assault Brigade, call sign “Chub”, 34, prepares to pose for a portrait with a portable anti-aircraft missile system, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, near Soledar north of Bakhmut, Ukraine March 23, 2023. REUTERS/Violeta Santos Moura

    Both said the Russians were reinforcing after heavy losses. There was no similar update from the Russian side, which has long claimed to be inflicting heavy casualties on the Ukrainians.

    In Bakhmut itself, Ukrainian troops, who weeks ago appeared likely to pull back, have instead dug in, a strategy some Western military experts say is risky given the need to conserve forces for a counterattack.

    The International Committee of the Red Cross said some 10,000 Ukrainian civilians, many elderly and with disabilities, were suffering “very dire conditions” in and around Bakhmut.

    “They are … spending almost the entire days in intense shelling in the [underground] shelters,” the ICRC’s Umar Khan told a news briefing. “All you see is people pushed to the very limits of their existence and survival and resilience.”

    The United Nations issued its latest report on rights abuses in the war, confirming thousands of civilian deaths, which it describes as the tip of the iceberg, as well as disappearances, torture and rape, mostly of Ukrainians in Russian-occupied areas. Russia denies atrocities.

    RUSSIAN ECONOMY BURDENED

    In Kostiantynivka, west of Bakhmut, a Russian missile slammed into a refuge offering warm shelter for civilians, killing at least three women, local officials said.

    In the northern Sumy region, an administrative building, a school building and residential buildings were among those damaged by Russian shelling that killed two civilians, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s office said.

    There was no immediate Russian response to the reports.

    Russia said its forces had destroyed a hangar housing Ukrainian drones in the Odesa region in the south.

    Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, saying Ukraine’s ties to the West were a security threat. Since then, tens of thousands of Ukrainian civilians as well as soldiers on both sides have been killed. Kyiv and the West call the war an unprovoked assault to subdue an independent country.

    Dmitry Medvedev, a hardline Kremlin official, said Moscow wants to create demilitarised zones around Ukrainian territory it claims to have annexed, and would otherwise battle deep into Ukraine.

    While Russia’s invasion has wreaked colossal damage in Ukraine, increased defence spending, Western sanctions and the loss of hundreds of thousands of young men from the workforce have also caused economic upheaval at home.

    The Social Policy Institute at Moscow’s Higher School of Economics found in a study released this week that, even in its most optimistic scenario, real incomes would only exceed 2021 levels by 2% by the decade’s end and a middle class that grew after Vladimir Putin became president in 2000 would shrink markedly.

    Reporting by Mike Collett-White west of Kreminna, Pavel Polityuk in Kyiv and Reuters bureaux; Writing by Peter Graff and David Brunnstrom; Editing by Philippa Fletcher, Alex Richardson and Cynthia Osterman

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  • As Russia looms, US seeks influence in West Africa’s fight against Islamists

    As Russia looms, US seeks influence in West Africa’s fight against Islamists

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    DABOYA, Ghana, March 15 (Reuters) – U.S. commanders leading annual counter-terrorism exercises in West Africa have urged coastal countries to depend on each other to contain a spreading Islamist insurgency, rather than non-Western powers, after Mali last year hired Russian mercenaries.

    Relations between Russia and the U.S. have become more hostile since Moscow invaded Ukraine over a year ago, and Washington and its allies oppose Russian influence in West Africa.

    During drills this month in northern Ghana, trainers urged troops to share phone numbers with foreign counterparts operating over poorly marked borders, often just a few miles apart. Elsewhere, soldiers have also learned to use motorbikes, as the insurgents do, for their speed and manoeuvrability.

    Overrun by Islamist groups, and amid a row with former colonial power France, Mali’s military government last year hired private Russian military contractor Wagner Group, whose fighters are playing key roles in Ukraine, to combat the militants. This has worried Western governments and the United Nations who say the move has led to a spike in violence.

    Latest Updates

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    Mali, whose government took power in a 2021 military coup, has previously said Russian forces are not mercenaries but trainers helping local troops with equipment from Russia.

    “You have governments with so many problems that they begin reaching out to other malign actors who are perhaps more exploitive of the resources in those countries,” Colonel Robert Zyla from U.S. Special Operations Command Africa (SOCAF) told Reuters at exercises in Ghana.

    “Contrast that with what we’re trying to bring, which are partnerships between neighbours and other democratic nations.”

    In this month’s exercises, soldiers patrolled barren scrubland dotted with thin bushes. At the centre of the strategy is engaging border communities and making sure armies work together in a region where frontiers span hundreds of miles of sparsely populated desert.

    “No one country can solve this by themselves,” Zyla said. “Going forward it will be about teaching countries in the region how to reach across borders and talk.”

    [1/5] Ghanaian military personnel train shooting during the annual counter-terrorism program called “Operation Flintlock”, in Daboya, Ghana March 2, 2023. REUTERS/Francis Kokoroko

    FAILURE TO STOP INSURGENCY

    For a decade, offensive efforts have failed to stop an Islamist insurgency that has killed thousands and displaced millions. Security experts say it could get worse after thousands of French troops were forced out of Mali and Burkina Faso by military juntas this year.

    The main challenge is a lack of resources and large-scale international commitment to defence in one of the poorest parts of the world, experts said.

    Ghana has bolstered troops in its northern regions. But it has no reconnaissance drones to monitor border areas, said Colonel Richard Kainyi Mensah, chief operations officer for Ghana’s special operations brigade.

    “Logistics and equipment are key,” he said. “Resources are limited.”

    It is not clear what more resources the U.S. and Europe are willing to give. The U.S. has been reluctant to engage after four soldiers were killed in Niger in 2017. The UK, Germany and other nations are pulling troops from a United Nations peacekeeping mission in Mali as security worsens.

    Earlier this month, General Michael Langley, the commander of U.S. Africa Command, told journalists that “stabilization and security” were its focus in Africa, without providing details.

    Some believe that not enough is being done.

    “There’s a lot of hesitancy to deploy more than we need to,” said Aneliese Bernard, director of Strategic Stabilization Advisors, a U.S.-based risk advisory group. “The irony is that means we’re basically putting a Band-Aid on a severed limb.”

    Timing is crucial, security experts and military officials said. Islamist violence that began in 2012 in Mali has spread. Armed groups have a foothold in coastal countries including Benin and Togo and threaten economic leaders Ivory Coast and Ghana.

    Reporting by Cooper Inveen in Daboya and Edward McAllister in Dakar; Writing by Edward McAllister; Editing by Cynthia Osterman

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  • Putin says Russia is fighting for its very existence

    Putin says Russia is fighting for its very existence

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    MOSCOW, March 14 (Reuters) – President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday that what was at stake in Ukraine was Russia’s very existence as a state.

    Speaking at length to workers at an aviation factory in Buryatia, some 4,400 km (2,750 miles) east of Moscow, Putin expanded on his familiar argument that the West was bent on pulling Russia apart.

    “So for us this is not a geopolitical task, but a task of the survival of Russian statehood, creating conditions for the future development of the country and our children,” he said.

    Putin has accused the West of using Ukraine as an tool to wage war against Russia and inflict on it a “strategic defeat”. The United States and its allies say they are helping Ukraine to defend itself from an imperial-style invasion that has destroyed Ukrainian cities, killed thousands of civilians and forced millions to flee their homes.

    Putin said in a response to a question that he had been worried about the economy when the West imposed unprecedented waves of sanctions last year but it had proved stronger than expected.

    “We have increased our economic sovereignty many times over. After all, what did our enemy count on? That we would collapse in 2-3 weeks or in a month,” he said.

    He said the enemy had been expecting that factories would grind to a halt, the financial system would collapse, unemployment would rise, protesters would take to the streets, and Russia would “sway from within and collapse”.

    “This did not happen,” Putin said. “It turned out, for many of us, and even more so for Western countries, that the fundamental foundations of Russia’s stability are much stronger than anyone thought.”

    Reporting by Reuters; editing by Guy Faulconbridge

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  • Exclusive: Ukraine accuses Russian snipers of abusing child, gang raping mother

    Exclusive: Ukraine accuses Russian snipers of abusing child, gang raping mother

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    • Soldiers assaulted family soon after invasion, prosecutors say
    • Ukraine accuses Russian army of widespread sexual assaults
    • President Vladimir Putin’s government denies atrocities

    KYIV, March 14 (Reuters) – Ukraine has accused two Russian soldiers of sexually assaulting a four-year-old girl and gang raping her mother at gunpoint in front of her father, as part of widespread allegations of abuse during the more than one-year-long invasion.

    According to Ukrainian prosecution files seen by Reuters, the incidents were among a spree of sex crimes Russian soldiers of the 15th Separate Motorized Rifle Brigade committed in four homes of Brovary district near the capital Kyiv in March 2022.

    Russia’s Defence Ministry did not respond to a request for comment. Phone numbers listed for the brigade were out of order. Two officials at the Samara Garrison, of which the brigade is a part, said they were unable to give contacts for the unit when contacted by Reuters, with one saying they were classified.

    During Moscow’s failed push to capture Kyiv after its Feb. 24 invasion, soldiers entered Brovary a few days later, looting and using sexual violence as a deliberate tactic to terrorise the population, the Ukrainian prosecutors said.

    “They singled out the women beforehand, coordinated their actions and their roles,” said the prosecutors, whose 2022 documents were based on interviews with witnesses and survivors.

    Most of the alleged atrocities took place on March 13, when soldiers “in a state of alcoholic intoxication, broke into the yard of the house where a young family lived,” the prosecutors alleged.

    The father was beaten with a metal pot then forced to kneel while his wife was gang raped. One of the soldiers told the four-year-old girl he “will make her a woman” before she was abused, the documents said.

    The family survived, though prosecutors said they are investigating additional crimes in the area including murders during the same period.

    President Vladimir Putin’s government, which says it is fighting Western-backed “neo-Nazis” in Ukraine, has repeatedly denied allegations of atrocities. It has also denied that its military commanders are aware of sexual violence by soldiers.

    The soldiers were both snipers, aged 32 and 28, the files said, adding that the former had died while the younger, named as Yevgeniy Chernoknizhniy, returned to Russia.

    When Reuters asked for the identities of both soldiers, prosecutors provided only the name of the younger man. When Reuters called a number in online databases for him, a person saying he was Chernoknizhniy’s brother said he was deceased.

    “He died. There’s no way you can get hold of him,” said the man, crying. “That’s all that I can say.”

    Reuters was unable to independently confirm his assertion.

    GROWING ACCUSATIONS

    The two snipers were among six suspects accused in the Brovary assaults, which prosecutors say is one of the most extensive investigations of sexual abuse since the invasion.

    After the alleged attack on the girl and her parents, the two soldiers entered the house of an elderly couple next door, where they beat them, prosecutors said, also raping a 41-year-old pregnant woman and a 17-year-old girl.

    At another location where several families lived, the soldiers forced everyone into the kitchen and gang raped a 15-year-old girl and her mother, they said.

    All the victims survived, prosecutors said, and were receiving psychological and medical assistance.

    A pre-trial investigation is ongoing into the possible role of superior officials in the Brovary attacks, prosecutors said, in a case adding to growing allegations of systematic sexual abuse by Russian soldiers.

    Ukraine’s Prosecutor General’s office says it is investigating more than 71,000 reports of war crimes received since Russia sent tens of thousands of troops over the border.

    Ukrainian investigators know the probability of finding and punishing suspects is low and potential trials would be mainly in absentia, but there are also international efforts to prosecute war crimes including by the International Criminal Court.

    While suspects are unlikely to be surrendered by Moscow, anyone convicted in absentia may be placed on international watchlists, which would make it difficult to travel.

    Russia has also accused Ukrainian forces of war crimes, including the execution of 10 prisoners of war.

    A U.N. human rights monitoring mission in Ukraine has said that most of the dozens of sexual violence accusations pointed at the Russian military.

    So far, Ukrainian prosecutors have convicted 26 Russians of war crimes – some prisoners of war, some in absentia – of which one was for rape.

    Reporting by Anthony Deutsch in Amsterdam and Stefaniia Bern in Kyiv;
    Additional reporting by Anton Zverev and Maria Tsvetkova;
    Editing by Alison Williams and Andrew Cawthorne

    Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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  • Factbox: What happened to the U.S. drone downed near Ukraine?

    Factbox: What happened to the U.S. drone downed near Ukraine?

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    MOSCOW, March 15 (Reuters) – Russia and the United States have offered different accounts of the downing of a U.S. intelligence drone in the Black Sea.

    Below are the two accounts:

    WHAT THE UNITED STATES SAID:

    The United States announced on Tuesday that one of its MQ-9 “Reaper” intelligence and surveillance drones had been struck by a Russian Su-27 fighter. According to the U.S. Department of Defence the Russian fighter hit the drone’s propeller forcing U.S. forces to bring the drone down.

    “Several times before the collision, the Su-27s dumped fuel on, and flew in front of the MQ-9 in a reckless, environmentally unsound and unprofessional manner,” James B. Hecker, commander of U.S. Air Forces Europe and Air Forces Africa, said.

    “This incident demonstrates a lack of competence in addition to being unsafe and unprofessional,” Hecker said.

    The United States said the drone was conducting routine operations in international airspace when it was intercepted and hit by the Russian aircraft.

    WHAT RUSSIA SAID:

    Russia said the MQ-9 drone was flying near Crimea – which Russia annexed in 2014 – and heading towards territories which Russia considers its own.

    “As a result of sharp manoeuvring around 9.30 Moscow time, the MQ-9 unmanned aerial vehicle went into an uncontrolled flight with a loss of altitude and collided with the water,” Russia’s defence ministry said.

    Sukhoi Su-27 Flanker fighters of the Russkiye Vityazi (Russian Knights) aerobatic display team perform during a demonstration flight at the opening ceremony of the International Army Games in Alabino, outside Moscow, Russia, August 1, 2015. REUTERS/Maxim Shemetov/File Photo

    Russia said the transponders of the drone had been turned off and that fighters had been scrambled to identify it.

    “Russian fighters did not use airborne weapons, did not come into contact with the unmanned aerial vehicle and returned safely to the home airfield.”

    Russia’s ambassador to the United States, Anatoly Antonov, said the drone’s fight was unacceptable.

    “The unacceptable actions of the United States military in the close proximity to our borders are cause for concern,” Antonov said. “We are well aware of the missions such reconnaissance and strike drones are used for.”

    “If, for example, a Russian strike drone appeared near New York or San Francisco, how would the US Air Force and Navy react?” Antonov asked.

    He said the United States should stop flying drones so close to “Russian borders”.

    WHAT IS THE MQ-9 REAPER DRONE?

    According to the U.S. air force, the Reaper is “employed primarily as an intelligence-collection asset and secondarily against dynamic execution targets”.

    “Given its significant loiter time, wide-range sensors, multi-mode communications suite, and precision weapons, it provides a unique capability to perform strike, coordination, and reconnaissance against high-value, fleeting, and time-sensitive targets,” the air force says.

    “Reapers can also perform the following missions and tasks: intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, close air support, combat search and rescue, precision strike, buddy-lase, convoy and raid overwatch, route clearance, target development, and terminal air guidance.

    “The MQ-9’s capabilities make it uniquely qualified to conduct irregular warfare operations in support of combatant commander objectives.”

    Reporting by Guy Faulconbridge; Editing by Robert Birsel

    Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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  • Putin says Germany remains “occupied”

    Putin says Germany remains “occupied”

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    March 14 (Reuters) – Russian President Vladimir Putin said Germany’s response to the explosion on North Sea pipelines showed that the country remained “occupied” and unable to act independently decades after its surrender at the end of World War Two.

    Putin, interviewed on Russian television, also said European leaders had been browbeaten into losing their sense of sovereignty and independence.

    Western countries, including Germany, have reacted cautiously to investigations into the blasts which hit Russia’s Nord Stream gas pipelines last year, saying they believe they were a deliberate act, but declining to say who they think was responsible.

    “The matter is that European politicians have said themselves publicly that after World War Two, Germany was never a fully sovereign state,” Russian news agencies quoted Putin as telling state Rossiya-1 TV channel.

    “The Soviet Union at one point withdrew its forces and ended what amounted to an occupation of the country. But that, as is well known, was not the case with the Americans. They continue to occupy Germany.”

    Putin told the interviewer that the blasts were carried out on a “state level” and dismissed as “complete nonsense” suggestions that an autonomous pro-Ukraine group was responsible.

    The pipelines were intended to bring Russian gas to Germany, though since Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine a year ago Berlin has taken steps to reduce its reliance on Russian hydrocarbons.

    Leaders in Berlin have been careful about apportioning blame for the explosions, with Defence Minister Boris Pistorius saying last week the blasts could have been a “false-flag operation to blame Ukraine”.

    Reporting by Ron Popeski; Editing by Angus MacSwan

    Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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  • Iran makes sweeping pledge of cooperation to IAEA before board meeting

    Iran makes sweeping pledge of cooperation to IAEA before board meeting

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    VIENNA, March 4 (Reuters) – Iran has given sweeping assurances to the U.N. nuclear watchdog that it will finally assist a long-stalled investigation into uranium particles found at undeclared sites and even re-install removed monitoring equipment, the watchdog said on Saturday.

    The International Atomic Energy Agency and Iran issued a joint statement on IAEA chief Rafael Grossi’s return from a trip to Tehran just two days before a quarterly meeting of the agency’s 35-nation Board of Governors.

    The statement went into little detail but the possibility of a marked improvement in relations between the two is likely to stave off a Western push for another resolution ordering Iran to cooperate, diplomats said. Iran has, however, made similar promises before that have yielded little or nothing.

    “Iran expressed its readiness to … provide further information and access to address the outstanding safeguards issues,” the joint statement said. A confidential IAEA report to member states seen by Reuters said Grossi “looks forward to … prompt and full implementation of the Joint Statement”.

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    Iran is supposed to provide access to information, locations and people, Grossi told a news conference at Vienna airport soon after landing, suggesting a vast improvement after years of Iranian stonewalling.

    [1/2] Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi meets with International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Grossi in Tehran, Iran, March 4, 2023. Iran’s President Website/WANA (West Asia News Agency)/Handout via REUTERS.

    Iran would also allow the re-installation of extra monitoring equipment that had been put in place under the 2015 nuclear deal, but then removed last year as the deal unravelled in the wake of the U.S. withdrawal from the deal in 2018 under then-President Donald Trump.

    Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization spokesperson Behrouz Kamalvandi, however, said Tehran had not agreed to give access to people.

    “During the two days that Mr. Grossi was in Iran, the issue of access to individuals was never raised,” Kamalvandi told state news agency IRNA, adding there also has been no deal regarding putting new cameras in Iran’s nuclear facilities.

    Follow-up talks in Iran between IAEA and Iranian officials aimed at hammering out the details would happen “very, very soon”, Grossi said.

    Asked if all that monitoring equipment would be re-installed, Grossi replied “Yes”. When asked where it would be re-installed, however, he said only that it would be at a number of locations.

    Reporting by Francois Murphy; Editing by Louise Heavens and David Holmes

    Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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  • Britain says Ukraine forces defending Bakhmut under increasingly severe pressure

    Britain says Ukraine forces defending Bakhmut under increasingly severe pressure

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    KYIV, March 4 (Reuters) – Ukrainian forces defending Bakhmut are facing increasingly strong pressure from Russian forces, British military intelligence said on Saturday, with intense fighting taking place in and around the eastern city.

    Ukraine is reinforcing the area with elite units, while regular Russian army and forces of the private military Wagner group have made further advances into Bakhmut’s northern suburbs, the British Defence Ministry said in its daily intelligence bulletin.

    The Ukraine armed forces’ general staff said in a Facebook post late on Saturday that Russian troops were trying but failing to surround Bakhmut, adding defenders had repelled numerous attacks in and around the city.

    The battle has raged for seven months. A Russian victory in the city, which had a pre-war population of about 70,000 and has been blasted to ruins in the onslaught, would give Moscow the first major prize in a costly winter offensive.

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    Oleh Zhdanov, a prominent Ukrainian analyst of military affairs, said late on Saturday that he could not detect any immediate signs Kyiv was going to order a retreat from the city.

    A Ukrainian serviceman fires an automatic grenade launcher, as Russia’s attack on Ukraine continues, in the front line city of Bakhmut, in Donetsk region, Ukraine March 3, 2023. REUTERS/Oleksandr Ratushniak

    “At the moment the situation is more or less stabilized. In terms of the advancement of Russian troops, we practically stopped (it),” he said in a YouTube interview.

    The British defence ministry said two key bridges in Bakhmut have been destroyed within the last 36 hours, adding that Ukrainian-held resupply routes out of the city are increasingly limited.

    One of those bridges connected Bakhmut to the city’s last main supply route from the Ukrainian-held town of Chasiv Yar, about 13 km (eight miles) to the west, it said.

    Russian artillery pounded the last routes out of Bakhmut on Friday, aiming to complete the encirclement of the besieged city and bring Moscow closer to its first major victory in the war in six months.

    The Ukrainian general staff also said Russian attacks had been foiled in the villages of Vasyukivka, Orikhovo-Vasylivka, Dubovo-Vasylivka and Hryhorivka, all of which lie just to the north of Bakhmut’s city centre.

    Russia says Bakhmut would be a stepping stone to completing the capture of the Donbas industrial region, one of Moscow’s most important objectives.

    Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, who has described Bakhmut as a “fortress”, on Saturday thanked defenders in the city in a video message but gave no details of the fighting.

    Reporting by Max Hunder in Kyiv, David Ljunggren in Ottawa and Jose Joseph in Bengaluru; Editing by Frances Kerry and Daniel Wallis

    Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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