Russia's President Vladimir Putin and Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu attend the opening of the Army 2022 International Military and Technical Forum in the Patriot Park outside Moscow, Russia, on Aug. 15, 2022. (Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP, File)Russia Ukraine War Highlights: Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Friday that remarks by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy suggesting NATO should launch preventive strikes on Russia confirmed the need for what it calls its “special operation” in Ukraine. “By doing so, (he) essentially presented the world with further evidence of the threats posed by the Kyiv regime,” Lavrov said. “This is why a special military operation was launched to neutralise them.”
US President Joe Biden said Russian President Vladimir Putin’s threat to use nuclear weapons is the biggest such threat since the Cuban Missile Crisis. “For the first time since the Cuban Missile Crisis, we have a direct threat to the use of nuclear weapons, if in fact things continue down the path they’d been going,” Biden said Thursday. Putin marks his 70th birthday on Friday.
Russia annexed Ukraine’s Donestk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions, representing about 15% of the country, after holding what it called referendums – votes denounced by Kyiv and Western governments as illegal and coercive. as Putin’s seven-month invasion unravels. Meanwhile, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Ukraine’s forces were swiftly recapturing more territory, especially in the south of the country
Anastasia Piliavsky’s article entitled ‘Dear Indian Friends’ (IE, October 5) soliciting the support of the Indian people for Ukraine against Russian intervention is full of falsehoods and oversimplifications. She ignores the fact that the NATO dismemberment of Yugoslavia and the creation of Kosovo in 1999 demonstrated the weakness of international law and the UN. The big powers could get by within an international order that is essentially anarchic and where might is right. It was a humiliating experience for the Russian Federation as there was no Security Council resolution endorsing an action with a trumped-up charge of genocide. A relatively weak Russia realised that the US-led Western Alliance would treat it more as a defeated country than as an equal. Subrata Mukerjee writes
Russia’s foundering invasion of Ukraine has produced an extraordinary barrage of criticism from supporters of the war in recent days, directed primarily at the leadership of the Russian military. The outpouring of discontent is creating a new challenge to President Vladimir Putin, who, after cracking down on Russia’s liberal opposition, now faces growing dissent in his own camp.
The latest salvo came Thursday when a Russian-installed official in an occupied region of Ukraine belittled the Kremlin’s defense minister, Sergei Shoigu, a close associate of Putin. The official, Kirill Stremousov, said Shoigu should consider killing himself because of his army’s failures in Ukraine. Read the NYT story here
I would like to thank the editors of The Indian Express for publishing the message from Anastasia Piliavsky (‘Dear Indian friends’, October 6). You have been instrumental in letting Indian readers understand with whom and what Russia has been dealing. No Russian propagandist could write something better to disclose the mindset of Ukraine and its Western bosses. I will not waste time and space disproving Piliavsky’s statement of “bad Russia” and “Putin the tyrant”. She seems to be a worthy disciple of L Denivosa, the Ukrainian ombudsman sacked for concocting too many foolish stories of Russian soldiers raping everybody and everything from humans to telegraph poles – nothing has been verified (ask honest journalists like Adrien Bouquet, persecuted for telling the truth about the staging of the “Bucha massacre”). I will, instead, draw the reader’s attention to the utter disrespect shown by the author to Indians.
Madam, do you really believe that Indian foreign policy is driven by a “soft corner” and senile nostalgia for “Hindi-Rusi bhai-bhai”? Are you seriously pretending to be an eye-opener for Indian leaders and people that “Russia is not USSR”? Or has it not just occurred to you that a country like India may build its international relations on pragmatic grounds? That it is a young and dynamic society, not immersed in the reminiscences of Raj Kapoor, but building its future? What a “civilised” approach to treat Indians like children who do not know what they are doing! Smells of racism, doesn’t it? Read the full piece by Eugenia Vanina here
After the 1971 war, when a tri-service discussion analysed the war, Sam Manekshaw, then a general, weighed in with a twinkle in his eye to say, “My dears, you can win as many battles as you like at sea, or in the air, or even lose them, but eventually it is the Army that will prove to be decisive”. Manekshaw was stating the conventional wisdom — that the political objectives are invariably won on land — and also invariably, by the capture of territory. So it has been, since time immemorial, although great maritime thinkers like Admiral Alfred Thayer Mahan emphasised that any great land victory would never be lasting or decisive if the sea played a part in the conflict, in which case victory at sea was an essential precondition. What the Ukraine conflict has done is throw serious doubt on Manekshaw’s prediction that it was the victory in land and the subsequent peace treaty that would further the state’s objective in going to war. No one is a greater authority on this question than Claus Von Clausewitz and his famous dictum was, “War is politics by other means”. Raja Mohan writes
A drone has crashed into a military airfield in Russia's Kaluga region, just over 200 km (130 miles) northeast of Ukraine, the region's governor said on Friday. "Today there was an explosion at the Shaykovka military airfield in Kaluga region," governor Vladislav Shapsha wrote on Telegram.
"A drone, presumably coming from the direction of the border, crashed," he said. "The airfield infrastructure and equipment were not damaged. There is no threat to operations." (Reuters)
The death toll from a missile attack on apartment buildings in a southern Ukrainian city rose to 11 as more Russian missiles and — for the first time — explosive packed drones targeted Ukrainian-held Zaporizhzhia on Friday.
As the war sparked by Russia's February invasion of its neighbor, the Norwegian Nobel Committee awarded the Nobel Peace Prize to human rights organizations in Russia and Ukraine, and an activist jailed in Russian ally Belarus. Asked by a reporter whether the prize shared by Belarus rights activist Ales Bialiatski, the Russian group Memorial and the Ukrainian organization Center for Civil Liberties should be seen as a “birthday gift” to Russian President Vladimir Putin, who turned 70 on Friday, committee chair Berit Reiss-Andersen said no.
“The prize is not addressing President Putin, not for his birthday or in any other sense, except that his government, as the government in Belarus, is representing an authoritarian government that is suppressing human rights activists,” Reiss-Andersen said. (AP)
Ukraine's Center for Civil Liberties said on Friday it was proud to win the Nobel Peace Prize.
"Morning with good news. We are proud," it wrote on Twitter. (Reuters)
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Friday that remarks by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy suggesting NATO should launch preventive strikes on Russia confirmed the need for what it calls its "special operation" in Ukraine.
"By doing so, (he) essentially presented the world with further evidence of the threats posed by the Kyiv regime," Lavrov said. "This is why a special military operation was launched to neutralise them." (Reuters)
Deadly Russian strikes on Ukrainians far behind the front lines and new concerns about the safety of an endangered nuclear power plant highlighted questions about how Russian President Vladimir Putin’s government, with its troops retreating and dissension escalating at home Thursday, might lash out if its battlefield losses continue.
As Ukraine claimed to retake more towns and villages in the south and east, missiles hit a residential area in the city of Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, killing at least seven people with five others missing — the latest in a series of attacks on civilian targets far from the fighting. (Read more)
A superyacht connected to Russian tycoon Alexey Mordashov has anchored in Hong Kong this week amid moves by Western governments to seize yachts connected to sanctioned Russian businessmen.
The megayacht Nord, worth over $500 million, arrived in Hong Kong on Wednesday afternoon after travelling for over a week from Vladivostok, Russia, its last port of call. Mordashov is one of Russia's richest billionaires, with an estimated wealth of over $18 billion according to an estimate by Bloomberg. He is the main shareholder and chairman of Severstal, Russia's largest steel and mining company.
He was sanctioned by the US, the United Kingdom and the European Union in February after Russia invaded Ukraine. Mordashov has since attempted to challenge the sanctions against him in European courts. (AP)
President Joe Biden said Thursday that the risk of nuclear “Armageddon” is at the highest level since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis, as Russian officials speak of the possibility of using tactical nuclear weapons after suffering massive setbacks in the eight-month invasion of Ukraine.
Speaking at a fundraiser for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, Biden said Russian President Vladimir Putin was “not joking when he talks about the use of tactical nuclear weapons or biological or chemical weapons.” Biden added, “We have not faced the prospect of Armageddon since Kennedy and the Cuban Missile Crisis.” Biden also challenged Russian nuclear doctrine, warning that the use of a lower-yield tactical weapon could quickly spiral out of control into global destruction. (Read more)
Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Pentagon officials have sent the Ukrainian military an array of equipment totalling billions of dollars. But one powerful weapon, called the Army Tactical Missile System, has become part of a debate about the limits of US support for its ally.
The long-range missile — known as ATACMS and pronounced like “attack ’ems” — can strike targets 190 miles away with a warhead containing about 375 pounds of explosives. It can be fired from the HIMARS mobile launchers that the United States has provided Ukraine, as well as from older M270 launchers sent from Britain and Germany. (Read more)
Russia’s foundering invasion of Ukraine has produced an extraordinary barrage of criticism from supporters of the war in recent days, directed primarily at the leadership of the Russian military. The outpouring of discontent is creating a new challenge to President Vladimir Putin, who, after cracking down on Russia’s liberal opposition, now faces growing dissent in his own camp.
The latest salvo came Thursday when a Russian-installed official in an occupied region of Ukraine belittled the Kremlin’s defense minister, Sergei Shoigu, a close associate of Putin. The official, Kirill Stremousov, said Shoigu should consider killing himself because of his army’s failures in Ukraine. (Read more)
Two Russians who said they fled the country to avoid military service have requested asylum in the US after landing in a small boat on a remote Alaska island in the Bering Sea, US Sen. Lisa Murkowski's office said Thursday.
Karina Borger, a spokesperson for the Alaska Republican senator, said in an email that the office has been in communication with the US Coast Guard and Customs and Border Protection and that “the Russian nationals reported that they fled one of the coastal communities on the east coast of Russia to avoid compulsory military service.”
Thousands of Russian men have fled since President Vladimir Putin announced a mobilisation to bolster Russian forces in Ukraine. (AP)
?? Biden, commenting on Putin's threat to use nuclear weapons, said the United States was "trying to figure out" the Russian leader's off-ramp.
?? A missile attack on the city of Zaporizhzhia in the southern region of the same name left some people buried under the rubble, the regional governor said, and was a reminder of Moscow's ability to strike targets even at a time when its forces have been pushed back in the south and east.
?? A Russian-backed official in Ukraine publicly criticised President Vladimir Putin's "generals and ministers" for failing to understand the problems on the front lines.
?? Ukraine's armed forces have advanced up to about 55 km over the last two weeks in a counteroffensive against Russian forces in the Kharkiv region of northeastern Ukraine, a Ukrainian general said. Reuters could not independently verify the remarks. (Reuters)
In the northeastern Kharkiv region where Ukrainian forces regained a large swathe of territory in September, the bodies of 534 civilians including 19 children were found after Russian troops left, police official Serhiy Bolvinov told a briefing.
The total included 447 bodies found in Izium. He also said that investigators had found evidence of 22 "torture rooms". There was no immediate comment from Russia. (Reuters)
US President Joe Biden said Russian President Vladimir Putin's threat to use nuclear weapons is the biggest such threat since the Cuban Missile Crisis.
Biden said the United States was "trying to figure out" Putin's off-ramp from the war, warning that the Russian leader was "not joking when he talks about potential use of tactical nuclear weapons or biological or chemical weapons, because his military is, you might say, is significantly underperforming".
"For the first time since the Cuban Missile Crisis, we have a direct threat to the use of nuclear weapons, if in fact things continue down the path they'd been going," Biden told Democratic donors in New York on Thursday.
"We have not faced the prospect of Armageddon since Kennedy and the Cuban missile crisis," he said. (Reuters)
A Russian-installed official in Ukraine on Thursday suggested President Vladimir Putin's defence minister should consider killing himself due to the shame of the defeats in the Ukraine war, an astonishing public insult to Russia's top brass.
After more than seven months of war in Ukraine, Russia's most basic war aims are still not achieved while Russian forces have suffered a series of battlefield defeats in recent months, forcing Putin to announce a partial mobilisation.
In a four-minute video message, Kirill Stremousov, the Russian-installed deputy head of the annexed Kherson region, followed suit, publicly lambasting the "generals and ministers" in Moscow for failing to understand the problems on the front.
"Indeed, many say: if they were a defence minister who had allowed such a state of affairs, they could, as officers, have shot themselves," Stremousov, 45, said. "But you know the word 'officer' is an incomprehensible word for many."
Such public - and insulting - censure of Putin's military chiefs from within the system used to be extremely rare in Russia, but a series of defeats on the battlefield in Ukraine has prompted some of Putin's allies to rebuke top generals.
Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov and Yevgeny Prigozhin, founder of the Wagner Group of mercenaries, ridiculed generals, saying the military was riddled with nepotism and that senior officers should be stripped of their ranks and sent to the front barefoot to atone for their sins.
Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu, one of Putin's closest allies, was appointed in 2012. So close was their relationship that the two men regularly spent holidays together in the forests and mountains of Shoigu's native Tuva.
It was not clear if the criticism was being coordinated, though it poses a problem for Putin during a crucial juncture in the war: sacrifice a close ally and admit the military has failed, or keep Shoigu and risk taking the blame himself.
The defence ministry did not respond to a written request for comment.
Many Russian nationalists have repeatedly criticised Shoigu and his top generals for everything from poor planning and shallow logistics to ruinously outdated tactics and losing the information war despite massive investment under Putin.
In the last week, two retired generals now serving as members of the State Duma from Putin's United Russia party have added their voice to the chorus of criticism, accusing the defence ministry of corruption and dishonesty.
Most of all, though, critics blame Shoigu's ministry for losing the key battles for Kyiv, Kharkiv, Lyman and in the Kherson region.
Stremousov laced his criticism with words of praise for the soldiers who stood to the death to defend their country, contrasting their heroism with the "incompetent military leaders" in Moscow.
"The ministry of defence does not consist only of ministers, generals, corrupt looters and other various scum, but all those heroes who gave their lives to defend Russia.
"Let's say this: The ministry of defence does not only consist of ministers, generals, corrupt marauders and other various scum, but all those heroes who gave their lives today, who stand to the end," Stremousov said.
Stremousov praised Kadyrov and said he felt that Moscow would soon sort out the problems.
"I agree with Ramzan Akhmatovich Kadyrov, who raised this issue. Well done," he said.
"In Moscow, I think they will sort this out as soon as possible." Stremousov said. "We'll sort it out. We'll put things in order and, believe me, everything will be under our full control." (Reuters)
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has slightly revised down Senegal's growth forecast for 2022 to 4.7% from around 5% in June due to a slowing of activity in the first half of the year, it said on Thursday.
Inflation reached a multi-decade high of 11.2% in August y/y, driven by rising food prices, the IMF said in a statement. Average inflation in 2022 is now expected to reach 7.5%.
"The impacts of the war in Ukraine and the soaring commodity prices are taking a toll on the Senegalese economy," said Edward Gemayel, who led an IMF mission to Senegal that just concluded.
Economic growth is expected to rebound to around 10% over the period 2023 and 2024, boosted by oil and gas production, the IMF said, while inflation is expected to gradually fall to 2%. (Reuters)
Russians opposed to the war in Ukraine or fearful of being sent to fight there have fled to Kazakhstan in their hundreds of thousands, but many are finding new problems on arrival.
Worries about money, sudden large increases in housing costs in response to the Russian influx, and scarce jobs are compounded by pressures from family back home - some have even been accused by relatives of betraying their country.
And the scale of the exodus has given rise to concerns from some Kazakhs who see the incoming Russians as a potential economic burden and even a security risk.
Kamar Karimova, a university professor in Kazakhstan's biggest city Almaty, had to move out of a rented apartment within a day when her landlord abruptly raised the monthly rent by 42% to 340,000 tenge ($723).
"Many of my friends, acquaintances and students ended up in similar situations," she says.
Rents have soared in Kazakhstan and other Central Asian nations - as well as Georgia - where Russians have headed since President Vladimir Putin announced a "partial mobilisation" on Sept. 21 to boost Russia's flagging war effort in Ukraine.
In Georgia, some landlords have started adding a "no Russians" clause to their rental ads.
"Colleagues and I...rented out a one-bedroom apartment in poor condition located in what we were told was a dangerous neighbourhood," said Dmitry, 39, a Russian interviewed in the Kazakh capital Astana who asked not to be identified by his full name.
"The price is not critical, but if you are paying 20,000 tenge ($43) per day and everyone tells you it is not worth even 10,000 tenge, you start believing them and it begins to stress you out."
The Kazakh government said this week that more than 200,000 Russians had entered the country since Putin's announcement, and some 147,000 had since left. No data is available on their final destinations, though some are thought to have headed to neighbouring former Soviet republics.
About 77,000 have registered in Kazakhstan's national ID system, a prerequisite for getting a job or a bank account.
The Kremlin on Thursday denied reports that 700,000 Russians had fled the country since the mobilisation decree. Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov could give no precise figures but said "of course they are far from what's being claimed there". (Reuters)
Russia was informed via diplomatic channels that there were no plans to invite Moscow to join an investigation into Nord Stream gas leaks, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Thursday.
Europe is investigating what caused three pipelines in the Nord Stream network to burst in an act of suspected sabotage near Swedish and Danish waters that Moscow quickly sought to pin on the West, suggesting the United States stood to gain.
This week, the Nord Stream operators said they were unable to inspect the damaged sections because of restrictions imposed by Danish and Swedish authorities who are cordoning off the area of the leaks that occurred in their exclusive economic zones.
"We were informed via diplomatic channels that as of now, there are no plans to ask the Russian side to join investigations," Peskov said, adding that Russia replied it was not possible to conduct an objective investigation without Moscow's participation.
On Tuesday, Swedish Defence Minister Peter Hultqvist said that the area of the Nord Stream gas leaks was "a Swedish crime scene investigation and Denmark runs a Danish crime scene".
"That's the basic matter. We don't usually involve foreign powers in our criminal investigations. That's the basic approach. It is not up for discussion," he told a briefing.
Maria Zakharova, spokeswoman for the Russian foreign ministry, said separately on Thursday that Moscow would insist on a "comprehensive and open investigation" that includes Russian officials and Gazprom.
"Not to allow the owner to the investigating means there is something to hide from him," Zakharova said. (Reuters)
I am an anthropologist and have spent the last two decades listening to my many friends in India in an attempt to understand their country. Today, I am asking my Indian friends to lend me their ears and listen to what I have to say about mine – about Ukraine. I know that Ukraine is a long way away, that it is difficult to make sense of the mad war raging there now and that it seems that this war is ultimately of little consequence for India, and for you. Still, I reel at the silences and statements of outright support for Putin’s war, which now prevail in India, at the ubiquitous #IStandWithPutin and #IStandWithRussia hashtags. Nonetheless, I am convinced that these reactions are less to do with malice and more with miscomprehension, some of which I will try to dispel. Read more.
Seven Russian rockets slammed into residential buildings in Zaporizhzhia before dawn Thursday, killing two people and trapping at least five in the city close to Europe's biggest nuclear power plant, the governor of the mostly Russian-occupied region said. The strikes came just hours after Ukraine's president announced that the country's military had retaken three more villages in one of the regions illegally annexed by Russia.
Governor Oleksandr Starukh wrote on his Telegram channel that many people were rescued from the multi-story buildings, including a 3-year-old girl who was taken to a hospital for treatment.
Zaporizhzhia is one of four regions that Russian President Vladimir Putin annexed in violation of international laws on Wednesday, and is home to a nuclear plant that is under Russian occupation. The city of the same name remains under Ukrainian control. (AP)
US intelligence agencies believe parts of the Ukrainian government authorised the car bomb attack near Moscow in August that killed Daria Dugina, daughter of a prominent Russian nationalist, an element of a covert campaign that US officials fear could widen the conflict.
The United States took no part in the attack, either by providing intelligence or other assistance, officials said. US officials also said they were not aware of the operation ahead of time and would have opposed the killing had they been consulted. Afterward, US officials admonished Ukrainian officials over the assassination, they said.
The closely held assessment of Ukrainian complicity, which has not been previously reported, was shared within the US government last week. Ukraine denied involvement in the killing immediately after the attack, and senior officials repeated those denials when asked about the US intelligence assessment. (Read more)
Hosting World Cup matches in 2030 would be “the dream of people who survived the horrors of war,” Ukrainian soccer federation president Andriy Pavelko said Wednesday after his country launched a joint bid with Spain and Portugal amid the invasion and occupation by Russia.
The leaders of the three soccer federations joined together at UEFA headquarters to present a campaign they hope will connect people beyond the world of sports.
“This is the dream of millions of Ukrainian fans,” Pavelko said in translated comments at a news conference, “the dream of people who survived the horrors of war or are still in the occupied territories and over whom the Ukrainian flag will surely fly soon." Pavelko said the project is backed by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. It aims to bring the World Cup back to Europe 12 years after Russia hosted. (AP)
?? Putin signed laws admitting the Donetsk People's Republic, the Luhansk People's Republic, Kherson region and Zaporizhzhia region into Russia in the biggest expansion of Russian territory in at least half a century.
?? He also said Russia would stabilise the situation in the regions, indirectly acknowledging the challenges it faces to assert its control.
?? Putin signed a decree ordering the Russian government to take control of Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant — the biggest in Europe — and make it "federal property".
?? The head of the UN nuclear watchdog, Rafael Grossi, will visit Moscow to discuss safety at the plant, Russian state-owned news agency TASS reported. (Reuters)
Overnight shelling in Ukraine's city of Zaporizhzhia has damaged or destroyed several residential buildings, causing fires and injuries, regional governor Oleksandr Starukh said early Thursday.
"As a result of the enemy attacks, fires broke out in the city," Starukh wrote on the Telegram messaging app. "There are possible casualties. Rescuers are already pulling people out from under the rubble." (Reuters)
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Ukrainian forces have retaken more settlements in Kherson, one of the partially Russian-occupied southern regions that Moscow claims to have annexed.
With Russian forces retreating from front lines in the south and east, Zelenskyy said in a late-night video address on Wednesday that Novovoskresenske, Novohryhorivka and Petropavlivka to the northeast of Kherson city had been "liberated".
At the United Nations, Russia is lobbying for a secret ballot instead of a public vote next week when the 193-member UN General Assembly considers whether to condemn its annexation of Donetsk and Luhansk in the east and Kherson and Zaporizhzhia in the south after staging referendums in the provinces. (Reuters)
European Union countries agreed on Wednesday to impose a price cap on Russian oil and other new sanctions after Moscow illegally annexed four regions in Ukraine amid its monthslong war, EU officials said.
Diplomats struck the deal in Brussels that also includes curbs on EU exports of aircraft components to Russia and limits on steel imports from the country, according to an official statement from the Czech rotating EU presidency.
The 27-nation bloc will impose a ban on transporting Russian oil by sea to other countries above the price cap, which the Group of Seven wealthy democracies want in place by December 5, when an EU embargo on most Russian oil takes effect.
A specific price for the future cap has yet to be defined.
A deal on the price cap was not easy to reach because several EU countries were worried it would damage their shipping industries. More details about the sanctions will be published as soon as Thursday.
The new package of sanctions was proposed by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen last week amid heightened security concerns over Russian President Vladimir Putin's nuclear threats and his annexation of parts of Ukraine.
“We have moved quickly and decisively," von der Leyen said as she welcomed the deal. “We will never accept Putin's sham referenda nor any kind of annexation in Ukraine. We are determined to continue making the Kremlin pay." The new sanctions also include an “extended import ban" on goods such as steel products, wood pulp, paper, machinery and appliances, chemicals, plastic and cigarettes, the Czech presidency said.
A ban on providing IT, engineering and legal services to Russian entities will also take effect.
The package, which will also include new criteria for sanctions circumvention, builds on already-unprecedented European sanctions against Russia as a result of its invasion of Ukraine in February.
EU measures to date include restrictions on energy from Russia, bans on financial transactions with Russian entities, including the central bank, and asset freezes against more than 1,000 people and 100 organisations.
The 27-nation bloc already agreed to ban Russian oil that comes by sea, not pipeline, but some member countries still require Russian supplies at low prices.
Hungary, which has questioned the efficiency of the previous measures and earlier said it could not support further energy sanctions, said it has been granted exemptions from any new steps that would have put its energy security at risk.
The EU's planned ban on most Russian oil products could force Russia to lower prices to find new customers.
OPEC oil-producing countries are meeting on Wednesday to discuss cutting production to boost oil prices, which would help Russia. (AP)
The Kremlin said on Wednesday that Russia must be part of investigations into last week's explosions in the two Nord Stream gas pipelines under the Baltic Sea.
"So far, from those news conferences which took place in Denmark and Sweden, we've heard disturbing statements that any cooperation with the Russian side is ruled out," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.
"We, obviously, will be waiting for some clarification on that as we believe that, definitely, participation of the Russian side in examining the damaged area and investigating what happened should be mandatory."
European governments and NATO say the two Nord Stream pipelines were attacked in an act of sabotage, which has further roiled global energy markets after months of tension and disrupted supplies since Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
President Vladimir Putin on Friday blamed the United States and its allies, allegations rejected by Washington. Russia has rejected what it called "stupid" theories in the West that it sabotaged the pipelines itself.
The operators of the two pipelines between Russia and Germany have said they are currently unable to inspect the damaged sections because of restrictions imposed by Danish and Swedish authorities, in whose waters the blasts and leaks occurred.
Nord Stream 2 AG, Switzerland-based operator of the second pipeline, said on Tuesday it will examine the condition of the leaking pipelines once a police investigation of the "crime scene" is completed and a cordon is lifted.
Later on Tuesday, Nord Stream AG, operator of the older Nord Stream 1 pipeline, said it had been told by Danish authorities that receiving the necessary permits to carry out an inspection could take over 20 working days. (Reuters)
The Kremlin on Wednesday said that comments by a Pentagon official on Tuesday that Ukraine may use U.S.-supplied equipment to strike targets in Crimea were extremely dangerous, and evidence of direct U.S. involvement in the Ukraine conflict.
In a call with reporters, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that the comments made by Laura Cooper, the Pentagon's deputy assistant secretary for Russian, Ukrainian and Eurasian affairs, were "extremely dangerous" and are "evidence of direct U.S. involvement in the conflict". (Reuters)
Kyiv has dismissed as “worthless” the laws that Russian President Vladimir Putin signed on Wednesday formalising the annexation of four Ukrainian regions into Russia.
“The worthless decisions of the terrorist country are not worth the paper they are signed on," the head of the Ukraine President's Office, Andriy Yermak, said on Telegram messaging application. “A collective insane asylum can continue to live in a fictional world.” President Volodymyr Zelenskyy earlier said in his nightly address that he has signed a decree rendering void any of Putin's acts designed to annex Ukrainian territories since the annexation of Crimea in 2014.
“Any Russian decisions, any treaties with which they try to seize our land — all this is worthless,” Zelenskyy said at the end of his video address.
Russian energy company Gazprom says it is resuming gas supplies to Italy after reaching an agreement for transit through Austria.
The Russian government-controlled company had suspended delivery to Italy through Austria last week citing regulatory changes that came into effect in the Alpine nation last month.
In a statement on Wednesday, Gazprom said the operator of an Austrian pipeline has indicated its willingness to handle the transit of gas to Italy “making it possible to resume the supplies of Russian gas across Austria”. (AP)
Russian TV journalist Marina Ovsyannikova, famous for staging an on-air protest against Russia's war in Ukraine, confirmed she had escaped house arrest over charges of spreading fake news again, saying she had no case to answer.
'I consider myself completely innocent, and since our state refuses to comply with its own laws, I refuse to comply with the measure of restraint imposed on me as of 30 September 2022 and release myself from it,' she said on Telegram
Her lawyer said she was due to turn up to a hearing at 10 Moscow time (12.30 pm IST) at a Moscow district court, but that investigators had failed to establish her whereabouts. (Reuters)
A Russian-installed official in Ukraine's occupied Kherson region said on Wednesday that Russian forces in the region were regrouping for a counterattack, amid rapid Ukrainian gains in the region, state-owned news agency RIA reported.
RIA quoted Kirill Stremousov as saying that Russian forces were "conducting a regrouping in order to gather their strength and deliver a retaliatory blow". (Reuters)
An orthopaedic doctor from Andhra Pradesh, who was based in Ukraine when the conflict broke out with Russia, has appealed to the Indian government to help rescue his pet jaguar and panther left behind when he was forced out of the war zone.
Dr Gidikumar Patil, known as Jaguar Kumar after his unusual pets, says his topmost priority is to save the life of his “precious cats” – Yasha, a male rare “lep-jag” hybrid between a leopard and jaguar, and Sabrina, a female black panther.
The 42-year-old was forced to leave them behind with a local farmer when he left Luhansk in eastern Ukraine, a hotbed of the conflict in the region, in search of alternate sources of income. (Read more)
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday signed laws absorbing four Ukrainian regions into Russia, a move that finalizes the annexation carried out in defiance of international law.
Earlier this week, both houses of the Russian parliament ratified treaties making the Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions part of Russia. The formalities followed Kremlin-orchestrated “referendums” in the four regions that Ukraine and the West have rejected as a sham. (AP)
Russia's President Putin signs law formally annexing four Ukrainian regions, reports Reuters citing Russian news agency TASS.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, during his phone call with Prime Minister Narendra Modi Tuesday, “emphasised the importance” of PM Modi’s recent comment to Russian President Vladimir Putin on the ongoing war.
Speaking to Putin on the sidelines of the SCO Summit in Uzbekistan on Sept. 16, PM Modi called for dialogue and diplomacy, and told the Russian leader: “I know that today’s era is not an era of war, and I have spoken to you on the phone about this.” His comment was widely praised by Western leaders and media.
A statement on the Modi-Zelenskyy phone call, issued on the Ukrainian website, said: “Volodymyr Zelenskyy thanked Narendra Modi for India’s support of Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, and also emphasized the importance of the Indian leader’s recent statement that now is not the time for war.” (Read more)
?? Ukrainian forces captured the town of Dudchany on the west bank of the Dnipro River in their major advance in Kherson region, according to the Russian-installed head of the administration of occupied areas in the province.
?? Russian military bloggers described a Ukrainian tank advance through dozens of kilometers of territory along the west bank of the Dnipro. Kyiv has maintained almost complete silence about the situation in Kherson.
?? In the east, Ukrainian forces were advancing after capturing Lyman, the main Russian bastion in the north of Donetsk province. The pro-Russian leader in Donetsk said forces were forming a new defensive line around the town of Kreminna.
?? Russia has sacked the commander of its Western military district, news outlet RBC reported, after battlefield reverses.
?? US President Joe Biden told Zelenskiy that Washington will provide Kyiv with $625 million in new security aid, including High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) launchers, the White House said. (Reuters)
Washington's decision to send more military aid to Ukraine poses a threat to Moscow's interests and increases the risk of a military clash between Russia and the West, said Anatoly Antonov, Russia's ambassador to the United States.
"We perceive this as an immediate threat to the strategic interests of our country," Antonov said on the Telegram messaging app on Wednesday.
"The supply of military products by the US and its allies not only entails protracted bloodshed and new casualties, but also increases the danger of a direct military clash between Russia and Western countries." (Reuters)
Japan will reopen its embassy in Kyiv on Wednesday, the Japanese foreign ministry said in a statement.
Japan temporarily closed its embassy in the capital on March 2 following the Russian invasion of Ukraine. (Reuters)
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, speaking to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on phone, said that Ukraine will not conduct any negotiations with the current President of the Russian Federation, reported news agency ANI on Wednesday.
Days after India abstained on a United Nations Security Council resolution which sought to declare Russian annexation of captured Ukrainian territories as invalid, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had a phone conversation Tuesday with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and told him “there can be no military solution” to the conflict and India was ready to “contribute to any peace efforts”.
The Ministry of External Affairs, in a statement, said, “The leaders discussed the ongoing conflict in Ukraine. Prime Minister reiterated his call for an early cessation of hostilities and the need to pursue the path of dialogue and diplomacy. He expressed his firm conviction that there can be no military solution to the conflict and conveyed India’s readiness to contribute to any peace efforts.” (Read more)