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  • ‘Huge error’ for South Korea to equip Ukraine

    ‘Huge error’ for South Korea to equip Ukraine

    Vladimir Putin has actually alerted South Korea it would be making “a huge error” if it arms Ukraine in the war versus Russia.

    His remarks followed Seoul stated it was thinking about such a possibility, in reaction to Russia and North Korea’s brand-new pact to assist each other in case of “hostility” versus either nation.

    Moscow “will… [make] choices which are not likely to please the existing management of South Korea” if Seoul chooses to provide arms to Kyiv, Mr Putin informed press reporters on Thursday.

    The Russian leader was speaking in Vietnam, quickly after a luxurious check out to Pyongyang where he signed a shared defence arrangement with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

    Mr Putin likewise alerted that Moscow wants to equip Pyongyang if the United States and its allies continue providing Ukraine with weapons.

    “Those who provide these weapons think that they are not at war with us. I stated, consisting of in Pyongyang, that we then schedule the right to provide weapons to other areas of the world,” Mr Putin stated.

    Seoul had actually previously condemned the Russian-North Korean arrangement as a hazard to its nationwide security, and nationwide security consultant Chang Ho-jin had actually stated his nation prepared to “reassess the concern of arms support to Ukraine”.

    Following Mr Putin’s remarks, South Korea’s governmental workplace stated on Friday it would think about “numerous alternatives” in providing arms to Ukraine and its position will “depend upon how Russia approaches this concern”.

    It likewise summoned the Russian ambassador Georgy Zinoviev to object the pact, requiring that Moscow “instantly stops” military cooperation with Pyongyang.

    While South Korea has actually offered humanitarian help and military devices to Ukraine, it has actually up until now declined to supply deadly weapons as it has a main policy not to arm nations at war.

    Some in Ukraine have actually been hoping that the deepening military cooperation in between Moscow and Pyongyang would trigger Seoul to reconsider its method. Experts had previously stated that Kyiv would utilize Mr Putin’s check out to Pyongyang to up the pressure.

    Throughout the check out, Mr Kim had actually likewise vowed “complete assistance” for Russia’s intrusion of Ukraine. There is growing proof that Russia has actually currently been releasing North Korean rockets in Ukraine.

    Early on Friday the United States nationwide security council’s representative John Kirby weighed in on the Russian-North Korean arrangement, stating it ought to “be of issue to any nation that appreciates keeping peace and stability” in the area.

    He included that the arrangement was “not a surprise”, stating that the United States had actually been cautioning about the 2 nations’ “growing defence relationship” for numerous months.

    Tokyo stated it was “seriously worried that President Putin did not eliminate military innovation co-operation with North Korea”, Japan’s federal government representative Yoshimasa Hayashi stated, including that the arrangement was “inappropriate”.

    Experts have actually stated that the treaty might have considerable ramifications for the world in addition to the area. Besides the possibility of North Korean honestly equipping Russia, it might likewise possibly see Russia intervening in any fresh dispute on the Korean peninsula.

    The 2 Koreas are still technically at war and keep a greatly safeguarded border, where stress have actually aggravated in current weeks.

    In a different event on Thursday, North Korean soldiers “briefly crossed” the border and pulled away after the South fired cautioning shots, Seoul authorities stated on Friday.

    This marks the 3rd such event in less than 3 weeks. South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Personnel had actually stated the 2 earlier cases – on 9 June and 18 June – seemed unintended.

    Extra reporting by Jean Mackenzie.

  • Peace talks tomorrow if Russia leaves Ukraine

    Peace talks tomorrow if Russia leaves Ukraine

    Kyiv will hold peace talks with Russia tomorrow if Moscow takes out of all Ukrainian area, President Volodymyr Zelensky has actually stated.

    However speaking at the close of a top for peace in Switzerland, he stated Russian President Vladimir Putin would not end the war and needed to be stopped “in any method we can”, whether by military or diplomatic methods.

    Western help was inadequate to win the war, he included, however the top had actually revealed that worldwide assistance for Ukraine was not damaging.

    The conference concluded with lots of nations devoting to Ukraine’s territorial stability.

    A last file was embraced which blamed the war’s prevalent suffering and damage securely on Russia.

    Nevertheless, numerous nations participating in consisting of India, South Africa and Saudi Arabia did not sign it.

    The top was targeted at producing the broadest possible support for a procedure that might assist end the war in Ukraine.

    More than 90 nations and worldwide organisations participated in the top.

    Russia was not welcomed, and its most significant backer China was not present, leading some to call into question the top’s efficiency.

    A few of those collected in the Swiss resort of Bürgenstock were not Ukraine’s closest fans, consisting of Saudi Arabia, whose foreign minister has actually alerted that Ukraine will need to make hard compromises, and Kenya, which spoke up versus current sanctions on Russia.

    The last file requires Ukrainian control to be brought back over the Zaporizhzhia nuclear reactor, which is presently inhabited by Russia.

    It likewise describes Russia’s intrusion as a “war”, a label which Moscow has actually turned down.

    It required the exchange of all detainees and the return of kids abducted by Russia.

    The most controversial subjects, like the status of land under Russian profession, will be left for later on.

    Talking to reporters after the top, Mr Zelensky thanked world leaders who participated in, stating he was grateful that they had actually revealed self-reliance in coming regardless of pressure from Russia for them to keep away.

    “This top states that worldwide assistance [for Ukraine] is not damaging,” he stated, keeping in mind that mentions not formerly associated with diplomatic efforts had actually signed up with the procedure.

    And asked by the BBC if Ukraine’s weaker position on the battleground had actually required him to think about diplomatic relocations, he responded that this was not the case and Ukraine had actually constantly discussed peace.

    He stated Moscow’s existence at settlements would show its determination for peace.

    “Russia can begin settlements tomorrow if they take out of our areas,” he stated.

    Mr Zelensky likewise stated that China was not Ukraine’s opponent.

    “We appreciate China and its territorial stability, we desire China to do the exact same for us,” he stated, while getting in touch with Beijing to seriously engage with establishing peace propositions.

    Previously Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte stated that guests were unified in their mission for peace in Ukraine.

    “All of us understand we’re just at the start, the start of a course to peace,” he stated.

    “And regardless of a few of us around this table having various viewpoints on how to precisely get to peace for Ukraine, let there be no error… we are completely unified at a shared vision on concepts, on worths, on decency.

    “You do not attack another nation. You do not kidnap kids. You do not play politics with the world’s food supply. And you do not threaten nuclear security.”

    It had actually been anticipated that all the delegations would back a last declaration condemning Russia’s intrusion, however Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer informed reporters on Sunday that the statement would not be supported all.

    Mr Zelensky stated on Saturday that the outcomes of the Swiss top would be interacted to Moscow “so that at the 2nd peace top we can repair the genuine end of the war”.

    Russia has actually explained the Swiss occasion as a wild-goose chase, and on Friday President Vladimir Putin stated he would accept a ceasefire if Ukraine withdrew soldiers from 4 areas which Russia partly inhabits and declares to have actually annexed.

    However a day later on Western leaders participating in the top highly turned down Mr Putin’s proposition.

    Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni explained it as “propaganda” and UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak implicated Mr Putin of “spinning a phoney story about his determination to work out”.

    Then on Sunday Kremlin representative Dmitry Peskov stated the Russian leader did not eliminate talks with Ukraine, however included that assurances would be required to guarantee their trustworthiness and Mr Zelensky might not participate.

  • Russia’s leading Su-57 stealth fighter jet hit for very first time, Ukraine’s military intelligence states

    Russia’s leading Su-57 stealth fighter jet hit for very first time, Ukraine’s military intelligence states

    • Ukraine claims to have actually struck a sophisticated Russian Su-57 stealth fighter jet.

    • Ukraine states the airplane was targeted at an airfield 360 miles from the cutting edge.

    • Ukraine has actually heightened attacks deep inside Russia in current weeks.

    Ukraine struck a valued Russian Su-57 fighter jet stationed deep inside Russian area for the very first time, Ukraine’s primary intelligence directorate (GUR) reported Sunday early morning.

    Ukraine states the airplane was harmed following a strike on the Akhtubinsk airfield in the Astrakhan area in southern Russia, 360 miles from the cutting edge.

    Satellite images supplied by Ukraine’s military intelligence appears to reveal the airplane standing undamaged on June 7 and harmed on June 8.

    Satellite images appear to show a Russian Su-57 damaged by Ukraine

    Satellite images appear to reveal a Russian Su-57 harmed by UkraineMain Intelligence Directorate of Ukraine

    Ukraine’s military intelligence stated the Su-57 is Moscow’s “most contemporary fighter, which can assault with Kh-59 and Kh-69 rockets.”

    A pro-Kremlin Telegram channel, Fighterbomber, frequently utilized as a source to verify Russian military losses in lieu of main verification from Moscow, reported that there was shrapnel damage to a Su-57. “Whether [the bomber] can be brought back or not is presently being identified,” the channel composed.

    Unlike Russia’s Su-25 and Su-35 airplane, Moscow’s fifth-generation Su-57 fighters have actually not been extensively utilized because Russia got into Ukraine in February 2022.

    “The defeat of the Su-57 is the very first such case in history,” Ukraine’s military intelligence stated.

    David Axe, a military reporter, and blog writer, composed in a post for Forbes that if validated, the loss of the Su-57 “would represent just the 2nd stealth warplane any nation has actually lost in battle in the 4 years because the United States Flying force released the really first stealth aircraft—the Lockheed Martin F-117.”

    In 1999, a Serbian air defense battery shot down an F-117 as it was flying a NATO objective in the Kosovo war, Axe composed.

    Russia is stepping up its attacks deep inside Russian area

    In current weeks, Ukraine seems increasing the series of its strikes into Russia’s hinterland.

    On Saturday, simply a day before news of the Su-57 was revealed, a video emerged throughout open source intelligence channels appearing to reveal a Ukrainian long-range attack drone diving towards Mozdok air base in Russia’s southern area of North Ossetia, 450 miles from the cutting edge in eastern Ukraine.

    It is not understood if the drone triggered any military damage, however in April, satellite images exposed that the base was home to 6 Tu-22M bombers, 4 Su-24M/MR strike airplane, and 20 military helicopters.

    Mick Ryan, a retired Australian army basic, composed on Substack previously this year that such attacks deep inside Russian area will “require a Russian reassessment of their air defense resources along with needing to redeploy these possessions even more from where they are most required.”

    Axe stated on Sunday: “Russia’s air defenses are spread out so thin by Ukraine’s intensifying drone project that they can’t safeguard all of the Kremlin’s the majority of important possessions.”

    The last significant attack on Russian warplanes began Might 17 when Ukraine struck the Balbek Airfield in occupied Crimea. The attack harmed 3 airplanes stationed there: one Su-27 and 2 MiG-31s.

    Check out the initial post on Company Expert

  • Ukraine’s taking off marine drones are searching down Russian vessels like tugboats after the huge Black Sea Fleet warships fell back

    Ukraine’s taking off marine drones are searching down Russian vessels like tugboats after the huge Black Sea Fleet warships fell back

    • Ukrainian unique forces on Thursday utilized marine drones to pursue a Russian tugboat near Crimea.

    • Kyiv in current weeks has actually been required to pursue smaller sized Russian vessels in the Black Sea.

    • Moscow has actually drawn back its bigger warships to lower their vulnerability to attacks.

    Ukraine is utilizing its toolbox of taking off marine drones to pursue smaller sized Russian vessels rather of the bigger Black Sea Fleet warships, which Moscow drew back to lower their vulnerability to attacks.

    The Ukrainian Main Directorate of Intelligence specified that a person of its unique forces systems staged a “effective attack” that ruined a Russian military tugboat on Thursday. The operation versus this Job 498-series vessel happened near the northwest corner of the occupied Crimean peninsula.

    “Disastrous fire damage was caused after the effective development of the line of protective barriers of the occupiers in the Black Sea location,” the HUR stated in a declaration shared to the Telegram messaging app, including that the vessel “will no longer cruise.”

    The operation appears to have actually been performed by a Ukrainian surface area drone, according to video footage released by the HUR, although the precise design is uncertain. Kyiv has actually depended on a fleet of homemade Magura V5 and Sea Child drones loaded with dynamites to perform disastrous objectives versus ships of the Russian Black Sea Fleet throughout the war.

    Video footage of Thursday’s operation, recorded by an electronic camera put on among the drones, appears to reveal a rather complicated attack.

    Numerous surges can be seen around the coast, and the drone appears to slip through a hole in the drifting boom defenses. The barrier might have been targeted beforehand to permit the drone to travel through, though it’s uncertain. Russia has actually depended on these kinds of defenses — in addition to moored barges — to attempt to secure its ports from Ukraine’s marine drones.

    After browsing the harbor, the marine drone is seen ultimately homing in on the tugboat. It then appears to knock into the Russian vessel, triggering the video connection to end.

    Organization Expert might not instantly confirm the video footage.

    Ukraine has, in current weeks, been targeting smaller sized Russian armed force vessels in the northwestern Black Sea after Moscow moved its bigger, more susceptible warships far from the location and throughout the area following a string of ravaging attacks.

    Last month, for example, Kyiv utilized its marine drones to carry out numerous operations versus Russian patrol boats near Crimea.

    The Black Sea battle has actually been a significant location of success for Ukraine. Doing not have a correct navy of its own, Kyiv has actually depended on marine drones and long-range anti-ship rockets to wage an unbalanced design of warfare versus the Black Sea Fleet.

    Russia has actually shown incapable of regularly securing its warships versus these hazards. It has actually reinforced the defenses on its vessels and even sent out fight airplane to patrol the area. Previously this year, Moscow likewise reshuffled its marine management, though the workers modifications have actually done little to conserve its fleet.

    Check out the initial post on Organization Expert

  • Kiev, Moscow exchange fire and detainees as Zelensky indications brand-new pacts

    Kiev, Moscow exchange fire and detainees as Zelensky indications brand-new pacts

    Russia and Ukraine exchanged detainees for the very first time in months on Friday, however any hopes of de-escalation in the war were rushed by attacks from both sides and Moscow boasting of its gains throughout Might.

    Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky was on the other hand in Stockholm to sign security contracts with Sweden, Iceland and Norway as the West maintained its assistance for the nation gotten into by back in February 2022.

    The conference came as the Germany stated it had actually licensed Ukraine to utilize German-supplied weapons versus military targets in Russia.

    Seventy-five Russian soldiers “who remained in mortal risk” have actually been returned by Ukraine, the Defence Ministry in Moscow stated.

    In return, 75 detainees of war were turned over to the Ukrainian militaries, Zelensky verified.

    Both sides likewise exchanged the bodies of dead soldiers. Ukraine got 212 stays back and the Russian side got 45 bodies.

    The last significant detainee exchange in between the 2 sides occurred in February. Simply 2 days back, Russian Person Rights Commissioner Tatyana Moskalkova implicated the Ukrainian side of messing up the exchange, stating that Kiev was “continuously making brand-new needs.”

    Ukraine attack on Russian oil terminal

    Kiev has actually likewise been attempting to counter-attack versus Moscow for months, and a night-time Ukrainian drone attack caused a fire breaking out in an oil terminal at the Russian Black Sea port of Port Kavkaz, the regional guv stated.

    “3 tanks with oil items were harmed and are on fire,” the guv of the Krasnodar area, Veniamin Kondratyev, revealed on his Telegram channel. 2 workers were somewhat hurt, he included.

    The flames might be seen on the close-by Crimean peninsula, which Russia annexed in 2014 in offense of global law.

    Ukraine has actually been significantly assaulting oil refineries and transportation facilities in Russia, in addition to simply military targets.

    A minimum of 5 eliminated in Kharkiv

    However Russia continued its barrage of Ukraine’s second-largest city of Kharkiv. A minimum of 5 individuals have actually been eliminated and more than 2 lots hurt in Russian rocket attacks in the north-eastern city, Guv Oleh Syniehubov stated on Telegram on Friday.

    The majority of the victims resided in a five-storey home block. The attacks likewise harmed a fire truck and an ambulance, he stated.

    A minimum of 20 property structures were harmed as an outcome of the attack including 5 rockets.

    The capital Kiev was likewise struck with a minimum of one cruise rocket, the authorities stated, including that a cars and truck service center, a cars and truck wash and half a lots cars were harmed by falling rocket particles.

    A transformer station was harmed, the energy business DTEK stated, however the power supply has actually currently been brought back. There were no casualties.

    Total in Might, Russian forces caught 28 Ukrainian towns and towns as part of a restored attack, Defence Minister Andrei Belousov stated.

    “The opponent has actually pulled back by 8 to 9 kilometres in numerous essential areas of the Kharkiv area,” Belousov stated at a conference of the Collective Security Treaty Company (CSTO), a Moscow-dominated military alliance, in the Kazakh city of Almaty.

    He included that Russia has actually dominated 880 square kilometres of Ukrainian area because the start of the year. This figure cannot be separately validated.

    Belousov stated the losses of the Ukrainian army in May amounted to 35,000 soldiers and 2,700 systems of military devices – numbers that might not be validated either. The defence minister did not talk about Russian losses, however duplicated the Kremlin’s mantra that Moscow would accomplish its war objectives.

    Zelensky indications security handle Stockholm

    Without any end it sight to the war, Zelensky flew to Stockholm for the 3rd Ukraine-Northern Europe Top where the pacts with Iceland, Norway and Sweden were signed.

    “Just together can we stop the insanity from Moscow,” he stated.

    The contracts are at first legitimate for ten years. Ukraine has actually currently signed comparable security handle Denmark and Finland.

    Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson stated: “The arrangement is an effective signal to Russia that it is generally meaningless to continue the war with the presumption that Western nations will tire.”

    Kristersson explained supporting Ukraine in its battle versus Russia as a “basic, existential job” for the nations of Northern Europe, whose security is likewise threatened by Russia’s actions.

    Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky speaks during a press conference of the Nordic Prime Ministers on the occasion of the Nordic Summit. -/Ukrainian Presidency/dpa

    Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky speaks throughout an interview of the Nordic Prime Ministers on the celebration of the Nordic Top. -/Ukrainian Presidency/dpa

    (L-R) Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson, Finnish President Alexander Stubb and Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store speak during a press conference of the Nordic Prime Ministers on the occasion of the Nordic Summit. -/Ukrainian Presidency/dpa(L-R) Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson, Finnish President Alexander Stubb and Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store speak during a press conference of the Nordic Prime Ministers on the occasion of the Nordic Summit. -/Ukrainian Presidency/dpa

    (L-R) Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson, Finnish President Alexander Stubb and Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Shop speak throughout an interview of the Nordic Prime Ministers on the celebration of the Nordic Top. -/Ukrainian Presidency/dpa

  • China assistance for Russia vital to course of Ukraine war

    China assistance for Russia vital to course of Ukraine war

    China’s assistance for Moscow is an important consider the Russian war versus Ukraine, according to NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg.

    “China states it wishes to preserve great relations with the West. At the exact same time, nevertheless, Beijing is sustaining the war in Europe. You can’t have it both methods,” Stoltenberg informed German paper Welt am Sonntag.

    There has actually been a substantial boost in sales of device parts, microelectronics and other innovations that Moscow is utilizing to produce rockets, tanks and airplane for usage versus Ukraine, he stated.

    There are no records showing that China is providing Russia with weapons or ammo. Nevertheless, other exports from China to Russia have actually increased considerably given that the war started and Western nations enforced sanctions on Moscow.

    According to Western professionals, these exports consist of so-called “dual-use” products, which can be utilized for both civilian and military functions.

    Discussing the scenario on the ground in Ukraine, Stoltenberg informed the paper: “Ukraine has actually suffered problems in the theatre of war due to an absence of ammo and weapons. However it is not yet far too late for Ukraine to win.”

    NATO states need to send out Kiev more weapons and ammo, consisting of air defence systems and long-range weapons, Stoltenberg stated.

  • European Union slams Russia for eliminating Estonian buoys, require a description from Moscow

    European Union slams Russia for eliminating Estonian buoys, require a description from Moscow

    BRUSSELS (AP) — European Union diplomacy chief Josep Borrell on Friday called the elimination of Estonian buoys by Russian border guards on a river separating the Baltic nation from Russia “undesirable,” and required a description from Moscow and the instant return of the orange drifting gadgets.

    Early Thursday, Estonian border guards saw that their Russian equivalent had actually eliminated 25 of the 50 buoys that Estonia had actually set up on the Narva River to avoid boats from inadvertently crossing the border.

    Borrell stated the occurrence “becomes part of a wider pattern of intriguing habits and hybrid actions by Russia.”

    Estonia likewise called it “undesirable,” however stated its action “stays calm and clear-eyed.”

    “We treat this as an intriguing border occurrence,” the Foreign Ministry in Tallinn stated Thursday.

    For years, Estonia and Russia have actually set up buoys on the Narva River, with the towns of Narva on the Estonian side and Ivangorod on the Russian bank, mostly in shared contract.

    Every year, the marking of the shipping paths was reconsidered due to the fact that “the riverbed modifications in time,” stated Eerik Purgel, the regional Estonian Border Guard head. On Might 13, the very first 50 buoys were set up. Nevertheless 25 of them were eliminated by their Russian equivalents early in the early morning 10 days later on, he included.

    However in 2023, “Russia does not concur with Estonia’s positions concerning the area of the buoys,” Purgel stated.

    “We chose to launch the drifting marks into the water for the summertime season according to a 2022 contract, due to the fact that they are essential to prevent navigational mistakes, so that our anglers and other enthusiasts do not inadvertently roam into Russian waters,” he stated.

    Estonia’s Foreign Ministry stated the action “fits well within the wider pattern of Russia’s intriguing habits,” and drew parallels to the border mapping events in the Baltic Sea previously today. According to media reports, Moscow might modify the borders of its territorial waters in the area.

    The draft proposition was released on a main Russian federal government site for draft legislation however vanished hours after it was published on Wednesday. It wasn’t instantly clear why.

    Russian media stated the Defense Ministry in Moscow had actually recommended upgrading the collaborates utilized to determine the strip of territorial waters off its mainland coast which of its islands in the Baltic Sea. The existing collaborates were authorized in 1985, the ministry states, including that they were “based upon small nautical navigation maps” and don’t represent the “contemporary geographical circumstance.”

    Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov later on stated there was “absolutely nothing political” in the Defense Ministry’s proposition, and Russian news companies stated Moscow did not plan to modify the border or the width of its territorial waters.

    Given that Russia’s major intrusion of Ukraine in early 2022, Finland and Sweden have actually signed up with NATO, implying that the Baltic Sea — Russia’s maritime point of access to the city of St. Petersburg and its Kaliningrad enclave — is now practically surrounded by members of the military alliance.

  • Video reveals Russia preparing military parade, not ‘mobilisation of nuclear weapons’

    Video reveals Russia preparing military parade, not ‘mobilisation of nuclear weapons’

    A video of rockets being transferred to Moscow ahead of a yearly military parade has actually been incorrectly shared in posts that declared it revealed nuclear weapons carried on the orders of Russian President Vladimir Putin after he alerted the West versus sending out soldiers to assist Ukraine. The video remained in reality shot before Putin provided the alerting about the “genuine” threat of nuclear war in February 2024.

    “Vladimir Putin bought an across the country transfer of nuclear weapons!” check out the streamlined Chinese caption of a video on X that was shared on February 29, 2024.

    It reveals military automobiles driving down a highway during the night. They seem carrying rockets, and are attached with a Russian flag and the flag of the armed force’s Strategic Rocket Forces (archived link).

    The clip was shared after Putin alerted of a “genuine” threat of nuclear war if the West were to send out soldiers to eliminate in Ukraine, which has actually been at war given that Russia attacked in February 2022.

    “The effects for possible interventionists will be a lot more awful,” he stated in a yearly address to the country from Moscow.

    <span></div></div></div><div class=
    Screenshot on the incorrect X post, caught on May 21, 2024

    The video was shared in comparable posts on TikTok and Chinese video-sharing platform Bilibili.

    The video, nevertheless, distributed before Putin’s nuclear caution.

    Military parade

    A reverse image search and keyword searches on Google discovered the video was published on Telegram by the Russian defence ministry on February 27 (archived link).

    According to the Telegram post, the video reveals Yars rockets released in the Ivanovo area showing up in Alabino near Moscow ahead of a military parade on Red Square.

    The yearly Success Day parade on Might 9 celebrates the Soviet Union’s defeat of Nazi Germany in The Second World War and has actually ended up being Russia’s essential public vacation.

    In a bold speech at the parade, Putin repeated that his nuclear forces were “constantly” on alert.

    Less than a fortnight later on, Moscow revealed that tactical nuclear weapons drills would begin near to Ukraine, in what it stated was an action to Western “hazards”.

    Below is a screenshot contrast of the video shared in the incorrect posts (left) and in the Russian defence ministry’s Telegram post (right):

    <span>Screenshot comparison of the video shared in the false posts (left) and in the Russian defence ministry's Telegram post (right)</span><span><button class=

    Screenshot contrast of the video shared in the incorrect posts (left) and in the Russian defence ministry’s Telegram post (right)

    The exact same video was shared by Russian tv channel Vmeste-RF, while the images drawn from the clips were likewise released by the state-run news company RIA (archived links here and here).

    According to Russia’s state-run TASS news company, workers and military devices from the Teikovo rocket development in the Ivanovo area have actually taken part in military parades on Red Square given that 2008 (archived link).

    The Russian defence ministry has actually likewise formerly released video revealing the transport of military devices to the Success Day parade (archived link).

  • Ukraine’s air-defense problems are letting Russia launch HIMARS-style deep strikes behind the front lines

    Ukraine’s air-defense problems are letting Russia launch HIMARS-style deep strikes behind the front lines

    • Ukraine’s air defense capabilities have become increasingly strained.

    • Russia is now fielding more reconnaissance drones.

    • The improved battlefield picture is giving Russia the ability to launch HIMARS-style strikes.

    Ukraine’s struggling air-defenses have opened doors for the Russians to launch their own strikes similar to Ukraine’s HIMARS attacks.

    Russia has begun sending out an increased number of unmanned aerial vehicles beyond Ukraine’s positions, gaining intelligence about the positions of critical weapons and sites that can then be targeted by guided tactical missiles.

    Russia’s heightened UAV presence is “allowing their troops to accurately detect and destroy targets behind the front lines,” senior research fellow Dr. Jack Watling of the London-based Royal United Services Institute wrote in an analysis on Tuesday.

    Russia has not had sufficient ISR for much of the war due to robust Ukrainian air defenses, but as Ukraine reserves its limited interceptors for Russian jets, “Orlan-10 UAVs are now roaming far and wide over the front lines,” he said.

    With better targeting, Russia is executing strikes behind the lines with Iskander tactical ballistic missiles and rocket launchers like the Tornado-S system.

    The attacks mirror in the kind of strikes that Ukraine has carried out Russia with rockets and missiles fired from US-provided High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems, or HIMARS.

    A HIMARS rocket launching.

    A M142 HIMARS launches a rocket on the Bakhmut direction on May 18, 2023 in Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine.Photo by Serhii Mykhalchuk/Global Images Ukraine via Getty Images

    “In recent days Russia managed to strike a Ukrainian Buk air defence system and catch two Ukrainian helicopters on the ground while they refuelled,” Watling wrote. “There have been other notable strikes of a kind that Russia has long aspired to but rarely successfully executed.”

    Russia was originally unable to defeat or conduct the same kind of strikes as Ukraine’s HIMARS due to a lack of precision, targeting capabilities, and timely intel.

    These strikes, like the glide bomb attacks as Russian air forces have gained greater maneuverability, further strain Ukraine’s military, which is facing continuously depleting resources as Russian forces have 510,000 soldiers on the front lines and compounding advantages.

    These developments in Russian capabilities come as Russia sets the stage for a summer offensive, which could significantly pressure Kharkiv and areas around Zaporizhzhia before a push in the Donbas.

    Ukraine is still waiting for more aid from its international partners that would boost increasingly weak areas in combat training, munitions, and industrial capabilities.

    “So long as Ukraine lacks materiel, Russia will begin to compound its advantages,” Watling concluded.

    There are some things that only Ukraine can do, though. Watling said Ukraine needs to mobilize a sufficient number of troops and establish a training pipeline that would “not only replace losses in its existing units, but also raise enough units to manage their rotation on and off the line.”

    “This allows troops to be trained as well as the recovery of reserves,” he said. But if international partners fail to provide artillery, air defenses, electronic warfare systems, and other enablers, then Kyiv’s forces will struggle.

    “The outlook in Ukraine is bleak,” Watling wrote. But with the right effort and support, “then Russia’s summer offensive can be blunted.”

    Read the original article on Business Insider

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  • AP gets rare look as Ukraine tries to slow Russia with drones on new front

    AP gets rare look as Ukraine tries to slow Russia with drones on new front

    KHARKIV REGION, Ukraine (AP) — From the sky, the Ukrainian drone unit commander had a bird’s-eye view of Russia’s renewed offensive playing out in the country’s war-ravaged northeast.

    Enemy forces have captured a string of Ukrainian villages over the past few days after opening a new front along the border with the Russian region of Belgorod. In the village of Strilecha, long depopulated due to its proximity to the border, a Russian infantry unit rolled in with ease, said one drone operator.

    “I saw that the infantry just walked into the village,” said Borchik. “There were a lot of them.” Members of the unit spoke on the condition that only their call signs be used in line with Ukrainian military protocols.

    In many other places this week, Russian troops were locked in intense battles with Ukrainian soldiers.

    Russia’s ground offensive has opened a new front and put more pressure on Ukraine’s overstretched forces, who are using bomb-laden drones to destroy military vehicles. The Associated Press had access to a position on the overstretched front lines with Ukrainian drone operators, and watched as a serviceman destroyed a Russian vehicle from afar with a remote-controlled aircraft.

    Despite such blows against Russia, Ukraine is entering a two-month period expected to be its most difficult since the war began.

    “This is just the beginning,” said Manul, the call sign of the Ukrainian drone operator. The AP team was allowed to spend time with the drone unit on condition that the exact location not be revealed.

    A RARE LOOK

    Analysts paint a bleak picture. By stretching Ukrainian forces thin ahead of an expected summer offensive, Russia increases the chances of a breakthrough even if Western supplies are delivered in full.

    Precious reserves were meant to halt Russia’s advance elsewhere along the 1,000-kilometer (620-mile) frontline but rotated out to stabilize the new front and limit Moscow’s advance. Now Ukrainian soldiers are concerned Russia will open more fighting along its border with Ukraine to stretch limited manpower and exploit the window of time before promised Western military aid arrives.

    Meanwhile, Manul’s unit keeps watch around the clock of a highway in the Kharkiv region and dispatches drones to destroy military vehicles that are meant to bolster the Russian advance along the border.

    The push against Kharkiv compels Ukraine to commit troops to defend its second-largest city, “and given the size of the Russian group of forces in the area, this will draw in reserves of critical material, from air defences to artillery,” wrote Jack Watling, RUSI’s Senior Research Fellow for Land Warfare.

    THE FRONT LINE

    Russia can then apply pressure in other areas of the front line, including the mostly static southern front in the Zaporizhzhia region. After Ukraine commits reserves in these directions, Russia can push in further toward Donetsk and Luhansk, Watling wrote.

    The capture of Donestsk and Luhansk is Moscow’s stated aim. Russia’s operation, which has seen village after village fall to Moscow’s control, is the most significant border incursion since the full-scale invasion. Russian troops have faced little resistance.

    “Today I saw that the (Russian) infantry just walked into the village,” said Borchik, the drone operator of the ACHILLES battalion of the 92nd brigade.

    Signs of an impending offensive were clear, Ukrainian soldiers said. A large accumulation of Russian troops, including newly formed groups, by the border signaled a fresh attack was imminent.

    At the same time, improved Russian intelligence gathering managed to exploit another enduring Ukrainian disadvantage: The shortage in personnel.

    SHORTAGE OF PERSONNEL

    When it came time to launch the offensive, Moscow knew Ukrainian forces would be spread desperately thin and have to rotate in units fighting heavy battles in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, known as the Donbas.

    “We lack the infantry. Not many people mobilize,” Borchik said. “We are running out of people and crews need to be replenished.”

    “Plus, the Russians have information. I don’t know how, but it’s being leaked when one brigade leaves and a new one enters. And in that moment the Russians storm in,” he said.

    That was how Russian forces captured the Donetsk settlement of Ocheretyne last month. Moscow’s troops capitalized on the moment between one brigade’s departure and another’s entry, when the line is at its weakest.

    With 50,000-70,000 troops amassed in the Belgorod direction, nowhere near enough to seize Kharkiv region, it is clear to Ukrainian commanders that the operation seeks to divert their forces from other parts of the frontline.

    “It will significantly complicate things,” he said.

    The night they arrived, the unit destroyed many light military vehicles and trucks moving along the highway. The following night, there were fewer, a sign the Russians wised up about the presence of a drone unit within firing range.

    “We burned their equipment, so they are driving less now. Maybe they found another path,” he said.

    ANOTHER PATH

    Borchik is now waiting to see what countermeasures the Russians will deploy to evade their drones.

    Moscow has gained the upper hand by using electronic warfare to neutralize Ukrainian craft.

    “I think they will use radio-electronic warfare here … so that we fly less,” he said. “And they will look for ways to further drag out more reserves.”

    Russian troops are deploying new frequencies to evade Ukrainian jammers, while finding other ways to muffle Ukrainian drone frequencies. Recently, Russian troops unveiled tanks equipped with a shell-like contraption, ostensibly to protect it from marauding suicide drones.

    “Destroying such equipment is much more difficult,” said Borchik.

    ___

    Associated Press journalist Volodymyr Yurchuk contributed to this report.

    ___

    For more coverage of the war in Ukraine, visit: https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

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  • What is the newly passed ‘Russia law’ that has divided people in Georgia for months?

    What is the newly passed ‘Russia law’ that has divided people in Georgia for months?

    Georgia’s parliament has passed a law that critics see as a threat to media freedom and the country’s aspirations to join the European Union. Lawmakers defied weeks of large demonstrations in the capital that also featured anger at neighboring Russia.

    Here is a look at the law and the protests against it:

    WHAT DOES THE LAW DO?

    The law would require media, nongovernmental organizations and other nonprofits to register as “pursuing the interests of a foreign power” if they receive more than 20% of funding from abroad.

    The law is nearly identical to the one that the governing Georgian Dream party was pressured to withdraw last year after similar protests. This version passed its third and final reading in parliament on Tuesday.

    The governing party says the law is necessary to stem what it deems as harmful foreign influence over Georgia’s political scene and prevent unidentified foreign actors from trying to destabilize it.

    The opposition denounces it as “the Russian law” because Moscow uses similar legislation to stigmatize independent news media and organizations critical of the Kremlin. Opposition lawmakers have accused the governing party of trying to drag Georgia into Russia’s sphere of influence.

    The law will be sent to the president before it can go into effect. President Salome Zourabichvili, who is increasingly at odds with the governing party, has vowed to veto the law, but Georgian Dream has a majority sufficient to override a veto.

    HOW ARE RUSSIA-GEORGIA TIES?

    Russia-Georgia relations have been strained and turbulent since the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union and Georgia’s departure from its role as a Soviet republic.

    In 2008, Russia fought a brief war with Georgia, which had made a botched attempt to regain control over the breakaway province of South Ossetia. Moscow then recognized South Ossetia and another separatist province, Abkhazia, as independent states and strengthened its military presence there. Most of the world considers both regions to be parts of Georgia.

    Tbilisi cut diplomatic ties with Moscow, and the regions’ status remains a key irritant even as Russia-Georgia relations have improved in recent years.

    The opposition United National Movement accuses Georgian Dream, which was founded by Bidzina Ivanishvili, a former prime minister and billionaire who made his fortune in Russia, of serving Moscow’s interests — an accusation the governing party denies.

    WHAT IS THE EU’S POSITION?

    EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell described the parliament’s decision as “a very concerning development” and warned that “final adoption of this legislation would negatively impact Georgia’s progress on its EU path.” Borrell earlier said the law was “not in line with EU core norms and values” and would limit the ability of media and civil society to operate freely.

    European Council President Charles Michel said after the law was passed that “if they want to join the EU, they have to respect the fundamental principles of the rule of law and the democratic principles.”

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  • Russia replaces defense minister in surprise cabinet shakeup

    Russia replaces defense minister in surprise cabinet shakeup

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    Russian President Vladimir Putin reshuffled his defense team in Moscow, a move that caught some observers by surprise, even as Russian troops made significant battlefield progress in Ukraine.

    On Sunday Putin replaced his longtime Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu with the economist and First Deputy Prime Minister Andrei Belousov. Shoigu, a firm Putin ally, is set to be appointed as secretary of Russia’s powerful Security Council, taking over from Nikolai Patrushev, another close aide to the president. It’s unclear what role Patrushev will step into.

    In Ukraine, funding delays and dwindling manpower have led to a “difficult” situation for Ukrainian troops, a top military official told The Guardian this weekend. Russian troops are furthering their advances, and Moscow now controls more of Ukraine than it has at any point since its Feb. 2022 invasion.

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    Cabinet reshuffle points to focus on Russian war economy

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    Source:  Financial Times

    The reshuffle marks “the biggest shake-up” of Putin’s security officials in a decade and a half, noted the Financial Times, at a time when Russian forces are making gains against Ukraine’s army. The removal of Shoigu, once viewed as “near-untouchable,” is being projected as the Kremlin trying “to rein in Russia’s runaway defence spending” by appointing an economist, it wrote. One analyst told the outlet the reshuffle showed it was “clear that Russian economic elites performed far better than military elites in this war.”

    Russia working to gain more ground before US aid arrives

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    Source:  Phillips O’Brien

    It’s not clear if Russia’s push into Ukraine’s northeastern region of Kharkiv will amount to a major loss in Ukrainian ground, despite acknowledgments from top officials in Kyiv about the difficult situation that troops are facing. Ukraine had been readying for an attack in Kharkiv for weeks, military expert Phillips O’Brien wrote, and it came as no surprise when Moscow launched a fresh push this weekend. The offensive comes as Russia tries to gain ground before Western aid arrives in Kyiv, O’Brien noted. “These attacks seem very much an effort of lots of pressing in lots of places, to see if anything works,” he wrote.

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  • ‘Fierce’ Russian attacks test Ukraine’s defenses near its 2nd largest city

    ‘Fierce’ Russian attacks test Ukraine’s defenses near its 2nd largest city

    • Russia has launched a major attack in Ukraine’s northeastern Kharkiv region.

    • Kyiv said Russia was hammering positions with guided bombs, artillery, and armored assaults.

    • Zelenskyy said Ukrainian forces have responded to the attack, but “a fierce battle is underway.”

    Russian forces have launched a new assault in the northeastern Kharkiv region of Ukraine, using artillery, bombs, and armored vehicles to try and break through Kyiv’s defensive lines.

    The Ukrainian defense ministry said Friday that it has managed to repel Russia’s attacks so far, but noted that “battles of varying intensity continue.” Kyiv said its forces are defending strongholds in the Kharkiv region, and reserve units have been deployed to the area. There are fears it could be part of a renewed drive for the city of Kharkiv that Russia failed to seize in the war’s early months.

    Moscow’s forces over the past day have used guided aerial bombs to carry out strikes around Vovchansk, a small city near the border with Russia, the Ukrainian defense ministry said. The city is dozens of miles northwest from the front lines.

    On Thursday night, Russia increased the pressure by using artillery to pound Ukraine’s first defensive lines, the defense ministry said. Early this morning, Moscow tried using armored vehicles to break through the lines.

    Rescuers work at a house in Kharkiv on May 10, 2024 after a Russian missile attack.

    Rescuers work at a house in Kharkiv on May 10, 2024 after a Russian missile attack.Photo by Ukrinform/NurPhoto via Getty Images

    “Ukraine met them there with our troops, brigades and artillery. It is important that they can increase their forces and bring more troops in this direction. This is a fact,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said, confirming the assault during a Friday press conference with his Slovakian counterpart in Kyiv.

    “But our army and our military command were aware of this and calculated their capabilities to meet the enemy with fire. Now a fierce battle is underway,” Zelenskyy added.

    The Russian assault raises fears that the war, which has long been fought in eastern and southern Ukraine, may expand to a new front in the north, which may be probing Ukraine’s defenses for weaknesses. It also follows warnings from officials and experts that Moscow had been building up forces in the area.

    The Russian aerial attacks and shelling over a few days could locate and hammer Ukrainian positions. “In a worst case scenario, it creates favorable conditions for armored vehicle commitment,” Dara Massicot, an expert on the Russian military at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, wrote on X.

    A police officer examines fragments of a guided bomb after a Russian air attack on Kharkiv on April 30, 2024.A police officer examines fragments of a guided bomb after a Russian air attack on Kharkiv on April 30, 2024.

    A police officer examines fragments of a guided bomb after a Russian air attack on Kharkiv on April 30, 2024.AP Photo/Andrii Marienko, File

    Analysts at the Institute for the Study of War think tank noted that the new operation is unlikely to result in Russia seizing Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, which has come under intense aerial attacks in recent weeks. The analysts said Moscow lacks enough troops in the area, and did not try to attack the city from multiple directions. This could, however, change in the future.

    Instead, Russia’s ongoing operation likely has other objectives, the analysts said. These include pinning down Ukrainian forces in the northeast to create opportunities for Moscow to advance in other sectors of the front line, as well as create a buffer zone in the area. This could allow Russia to defend against cross-border raids.

    Andrii Kovalenko, the head of the counter-disinformation department in Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council, said the Russian assault resembles a simulated large-scale attack with limited forces carrying out combat reconnaissance.

    Moscow has lost troops and equipment, Kovalenko wrote on the Telegram messaging app. Business Insider could not immediately confirm this.

    Read the original article on Business Insider



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  • Russia again had only one tank in its big Victory Day military parade, and it was a World War II relic

    Russia again had only one tank in its big Victory Day military parade, and it was a World War II relic

    • This year’s Victory Day military parade in Moscow’s Red Square featured a single WWII-era tank.

    • Russia’s war with Ukraine has resulted in the loss of thousands of tanks.

    • Russia has, at times, sent out obsolete Soviet-era tanks onto the front lines.

    Russia often uses its annual Red Square military parade in Moscow as an opportunity to show off its weaponry. This year’s showing was a bit lackluster, and its modern tanks were again absent.

    While a range of tanks, both new and old, are typically present in the May 9 Victory Day military parade, which commemorates the lives lost and victory achieved when the Soviet Union defeated Nazi Germany in 1945, in this year’s event, there was only one WWII-era T-34 on display.

    This year marks the second year in a row the tank element in the Russian parade has been notably muted, featuring only one tank from a bygone era. Analysts characterized last year’s event as embarrassing for Russia, and there were similar observations this year.

    The lack of modern tanks in the military parade, in some ways, reflects Russia’s war in Ukraine, which Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke about during the event, praising the heroes of the “special military operation.”

    Even though Russia has been able to noticeably rebuild its military strength to what it had at the start of its invasion of Ukraine, Russia has also lost thousands of tanks and many of its armored personnel in Ukraine to anti-tank missiles, mines, and drones.

    A military parade on Victory Day in Red Square, Moscow, Russia, in May 2022, to mark the 77th anniversary of the victory over Nazi Germany in World War II.

    A military parade on Victory Day in Red Square, Moscow, Russia, in May 2022, to mark the 77th anniversary of the victory over Nazi Germany in World War II.REUTERS/Evgenia Novozhenina

    In February, the International Institute for Strategic Studies said Russia lost over 3,000 tanks since its invasion of Ukraine. Earlier this month, Ukraine’s forces claimed to have destroyed dozens of Russian tanks on the battlefield in Donetsk.

    Moscow can’t reliably field what is supposed to be its most advanced tank, the costly T-14, and it has lost enough of its other tanks, like its T-72s, T-80s, and T-90s, in battle that it has at times sent out obsolete Soviet-era tanks, such as the ancient T-62s and T-54s, from storage to the front lines.

    Yars intercontinental ballistic missile systemYars intercontinental ballistic missile system

    A RS-24 Yars intercontinental ballistic missile system drives on Red Square during the Victory Day military parade in central Moscow on May 9, 2024. Russia celebrates the 79th anniversary of the victory over Nazi Germany in World War II.NATALIA KOLESNIKOVA/Getty Images

    During the parade, Russian soldiers were seen carrying what appeared to be drone jammers, likely a reaction to the potential for attacks from Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles. The Russian capital has been hit before, and Ukraine has been increasingly conducting long-range drone strikes into Russia territory.

    While the Russian tank display was notably lacking, other modern Russian weapons did make an appearance, such as Russia’s intercontinental ballistic missiles. Throughout the war in Ukraine, Russia has regularly rattled the nuclear saber.

    In his speech at the event, President Vladimir Putin spoke of Russia’s strength and preparedness, taking aim at Western nations and Ukraine.

    “We will not let anyone threaten us,” he said. “Our strategic forces are always on combat alert.”

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  • They were promised jobs in Russia. They ended up fighting in Ukraine.

    They were promised jobs in Russia. They ended up fighting in Ukraine.

    SRINAGAR, India — Across India, families are hearing similar stories from men who went abroad in search of work: They were lured to Russia with promises of jobs as cooks or housekeepers, only to find themselves forced to fight alongside the Russian military in its war against Ukraine.

    Some families, frustrated by what they say is a lack of support from the Indian government, say they feel they have no choice but to travel to Russian-occupied areas of Ukraine to get their loved ones back.

    “For months, the families have been awaiting government action to bring the Indian citizens back home, but so far no progress has been made,” Raja Begum, 65, told NBC News last month as she sat in the yard of her two-story home in Poshwan, a village in Indian-administered Kashmir.

    Begum’s son Azad Yousuf Kumar, 31, left India for the United Arab Emirates in December. She said he had been promised a housekeeping job in Dubai by a consultant there identified as Faisal Khan, who often advertised such jobs on his YouTube channel, Baba Vlogs. In exchange for the job, Kumar paid a fee of 300,000 rupees, or $3,600, she said.

    Once Kumar arrived, however, “he was informed that there were no available jobs in the UAE,” said Begum, who has been exchanging voice messages with him. Kumar told his mother that Khan said he could still get a job in another country, and convinced him to travel to Russia to work in a kitchen.

    Instead, Begum said, Kumar was sent to a military training center in Moscow as soon as he landed. There he underwent 15 days of weapons training along with several other men from India and Nepal before being deployed to fight against Ukrainian forces on the front lines, Begum said, having been forced to sign a contract in a language he did not understand.

    “My son had received injuries during the training period,” Begum said. “He was not allowed to have a proper rest and instead was sent close to the border where a deadly battle was going on.”

    Kumar’s older brother, Sajad Ahmad Kumar, said Kumar told him that at least a dozen men from India had been trapped in a similar manner by people affiliated with the Baba Vlogs account, which had more than 350,000 subscribers as recently as February but has since been deleted.

    Attempts by NBC News to contact Khan and the Baba Vlogs team for comment were unsuccessful.

    Indians hired to fight Russia's Ukraine war - 28 Feb 2024 (Faisal Bashir / SOPA Images via Reuters file)

    Indians hired to fight Russia’s Ukraine war – 28 Feb 2024 (Faisal Bashir / SOPA Images via Reuters file)

    India’s Central Bureau of Investigation said last month that it was aware of at least 35 Indian nationals who had been trained for combat and sent to fight in Ukraine against their will after being recruited for jobs in Russia through agents or social media. Some of them have been “grievously injured,” the agency said.

    The agency said it had arrested 35 people on suspicion of being involved in human trafficking, and that it had seized about 50 million rupees ($600,000) in cash as well as incriminating documents and electronic records in searches around the country.

    The Indian Ministry of External Affairs said officials were doing their best to get the men home as soon as possible.

    “We have also told people not to venture in the war zone or get caught into situations which are difficult,” ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said, adding that India was in regular touch with Russian authorities in New Delhi and Moscow and was deeply committed to the “welfare of all Indians.”

    India has ties with both Russia and the West and has tried to remain neutral in the Ukraine war, calling for peace talks while refraining from condemning President Vladimir Putin’s invasion. It has also increased purchases of Russian oil that is steeply discounted amid Western sanctions.

    Sajad Ahmad Kumar said his brother and others are now in Russian-occupied Ukraine after crossing the Black Sea under the command of two officers from the Russian army.

    “Things have eased a bit for them,” he said. “He used to call from someone’s phone but now he has got his own connection.”

    He said Kumar and several other Indians had approached their embassy in Moscow for help getting home but that officials there “are not taking things seriously.”

    The Indian Embassy in Moscow did not respond to requests for comment.

    At least two Indian citizens have been killed while fighting alongside the Russian army on the Russia-Ukraine border. They were identified last month as Hemil Ashvinbhai Mangukiya and Mohammad Asfan, from the states of Gujarat and Telangana.

    Mangukiya’s father, Ashvinbhai Mangukiya, said his son had been hired as a helper for the Russian army.

    “He was supposed to be stationed at Moscow, but he was forced to participate in the ongoing war between the two nations,” he said.

    Mangukiya went to Russia to collect his son’s body after he was killed in the Donetsk region in February. Like others, he has filed cases with the police against Khan and others associated with Baba Vlogs.

    “Baba Vlogs is running a nexus,” he said. “The government should take cognizance and arrest all individuals involved in this criminal activity.”

    Abdul Rouf, whose son Abdul Nayeem left for Russia in December, said he had spoken to Khan and others at Baba Vlogs when Nayeem, 30, told him they had gotten him a similar job as an army helper in Russia when he approached them in Dubai.

    “The job agent assured me that he will not be handed a gun to fight in Ukraine or anywhere else,” said Rouf, a resident of Gulbarga city in the Indian state of Karnataka. His son has since told him that he is in Ukraine, and Rouf is planning to travel to Russia to try to help him.

    Mohammad Mustafa, another Karnataka resident whose son is stranded in Russian-occupied Ukraine, said he was tired of waiting for news and was going to Russia himself.

    “We can go to any extent to retrieve our children,” he said.

    “Two Indian citizens have already been killed and we don’t want to lose any other person.”

    This article was originally published on NBCNews.com

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  • Iran’s attack on Israel could be bad for Russia’s war in Ukraine

    Iran’s attack on Israel could be bad for Russia’s war in Ukraine

    • Iran’s attack on Israel could impact Russia’s war in Ukraine.

    • Iran is a key arms supplier and economic partner to Russia.

    • A broader Middle East conflict could also boost China’s regional influence at Russia’s expense.

    Iran’s attack on Israel on Saturday is bad not only for the Middle East, but also for Russia’s war in Ukraine as new fault lines emerge between Moscow and Tehran.

    Michelle Grisé, a senior policy researcher at RAND, an American think tank, described in a commentary how a broader conflict in the Middle East could impact Russia. The commentary was first published in The National Interest magazine on April 11 — days before Iran launched more than 300 drones and missiles at Israel on April 13.

    Grisé’s piece followed a strike on Iran’s embassy in Damascus, Syria, on April 1. Israel did not claim responsibility for the strike, but Iran held it accountable and vowed retaliation.

    “Although it has been argued that Moscow benefits from chaos in the Middle East — diverting Western attention and resources from Ukraine — it stands to lose a great deal if the Israel-Hamas conflict escalates into a wider war,” Grisé wrote.

    Russia has been installing itself as a military and diplomatic player in the Middle East for years.

    Moscow has capitalized on instability in Syria and Libya to establish itself as a regional security guarantor, but an escalation of the conflict in the Middle East would not have the same effect, Grisé wrote.

    This is in part due to Moscow’s preoccupation with its war in Ukraine, Grisé wrote. Russia’s partnership with Iran has also deepened in the last two years as Russia’s heavily sanctioned economy became increasingly isolated.

    Iran is now a critical military supplier to Russia. An Iranian “ghost fleet” has also been carrying Russian oil around the world since the war in Ukraine started, keeping Moscow’s oil revenue flowing.

    However, should Iran become embroiled in a wider conflict, it would not be able to provide the same level of support to Russia.

    “A broader regional conflict, particularly if it involves direct conflict between Israel and Iran, would limit Iran’s ability to continue serving as a military supplier to Russia,” wrote Grisé.

    Furthermore, “Tehran may demand more support when Russia has limited capacity to provide it,” she added.

    The Group of Seven, or G7, nations is already considering additional sanctions against Iran following its attack on Israel — which could spill over to Russia.

    “We will reflect on additional sanctions against Iran in close cooperation with our partners, specifically on its drone and missile programs,” Ursula von der Leyen, the European Commission president, said in a statement on Sunday.

    A broader Middle East conflict could boost China’s clout in the region at Moscow’s expense

    Even though Russia is preoccupied with the war in Ukraine, President Vladimir Putin has still managed to position himself as a potential power broker in the Middle East amid the Israel-Hamas war.

    But Putin’s plan could fall apart should the war spill over regionally, since Beijing is also jostling to play peacemaker.

    “Russia would be especially sensitive to Chinese attempts to encroach on its influence in the Middle East,” Grisé wrote in her commentary.

    This is especially so since Beijing managed to deliver results in March 2023, brokering a détente between Saudi Arabia and Iran, Grisé added.

    Since Russia’s heavily sanctioned economy is already reliant on China, it would be even more exposed to Beijing’s whims should Moscow not be able to hang onto any shred of global influence it still has.

    In a statement on Sunday, Russia’s foreign ministry expressed “extreme concern” at what it called “yet another dangerous escalation” in the region.

    Calling for restraint, Russia’s foreign ministry said it expects regional states “to resolve the existing problems through political and diplomatic means.”

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  • Ukraine could face defeat in 2024. Here’s how that might look

    Ukraine could face defeat in 2024. Here’s how that might look

    The former commander of the UK’s Joint Forces Command has warned that Ukraine could face defeat by Russia in 2024.

    General Sir Richard Barrons has told the BBC there is “a serious risk” of Ukraine losing the war this year.

    The reason, he says, is “because Ukraine may come to feel it can’t win”.

    “And when it gets to that point, why will people want to fight and die any longer, just to defend the indefensible?”

    Ukraine is not yet at that point.

    But its forces are running critically low on ammunition, troops and air defences. Its much-heralded counter-offensive last year failed to dislodge the Russians from ground they had seized and now Moscow is gearing up for a summer offensive.

    So what will that look like and what are its likely strategic objectives?

    “The shape of the Russian offensive that’s going to come is pretty clear,” says Gen Barrons.

    “We are seeing Russia batter away at the front line, employing a five-to-one advantage in artillery, ammunition, and a surplus of people reinforced by the use of newish weapons.”

    Ukrainian soldiers fire a mortar

    Ukraine is now desperately short of ammunition, in part because of political wrangling in Western nations [Getty Images]

    These include the FAB glide bomb, an adapted Soviet-era “dumb bomb” fitted with fins, GPS guidance and 1500kg of high explosive, that is wreaking havoc on Ukrainian defences.

    “At some point this summer,” says Gen Barrons, “we expect to see a major Russian offensive, with the intent of doing more than smash forward with small gains to perhaps try and break through the Ukrainian lines.

    “And if that happens we would run the risk of Russian forces breaking through and then exploiting into areas of Ukraine where the Ukrainian armed forces cannot stop them.”

    But where?

    Last year the Russians knew exactly where Ukraine was likely to attack – from the direction of Zaporizhzhia south towards the Sea of Azov. They planned accordingly and successfully blunted Ukraine’s advance.

    Now the boot is on the other foot as Russia masses its troops and keeps Kyiv guessing where it is going to attack next.

    MapMap

    [BBC]


    “One of the challenges the Ukrainians have,” says Dr Jack Watling, senior research fellow in land warfare at the Whitehall thinktank the Royal United Services Institute (Rusi), “is that the Russians can choose where they commit their forces.

    “It’s a very long front line and the Ukrainians need to be able to defend all of it.”

    Which, of course, they cannot.

    “The Ukrainian military will lose ground,” says Dr Watling. “The question is: how much and which population centres are going to be affected?”

    It is quite possible that Russia’s General Staff have yet to go firm on which direction to designate as their main effort. But it is possible to broadly break down their various options into three broad locations.

    Kharkiv

    “Kharkiv,” says Dr Watling, “is certainly vulnerable.”

    As Ukraine’s second city, situated perilously close to the Russian border, Kharkiv is a tempting goal for Moscow.

    It is currently being pummelled daily with Russian missile strikes, with Ukraine unable to field sufficient air defences to ward off the lethal mix of drones, cruise and ballistic missiles aimed in its direction.

    Firemen tackle blaze in Kharkiv after drone strike, February 2024Firemen tackle blaze in Kharkiv after drone strike, February 2024

    Russia hits Kharkiv daily with drones, missiles and shelling [Getty Images]

    “I think the offensive this year will have breaking out of the Donbas as its first objective,” adds Gen Barrons, “and their eye will be on Kharkiv which is 29km [18 miles] or so from the Russian border, a major prize.”

    Could Ukraine still function as a viable entity if Kharkiv were to fall? Yes, say analysts, but it would be a catastrophic blow to both its morale and its economy.

    The Donbas

    The area of eastern Ukraine known collectively as the Donbas has been at war since 2014, when Moscow-backed separatists declared themselves “people’s republics”.

    In 2022 Russia illegally annexed the two Donbas oblasts, or provinces, of Donetsk and Luhansk. This is where most of the fighting on land has been taking place over the past 18 months.

    Ukraine has, controversially, expended enormous efforts, in both manpower and resources, in trying to hold on to first the town of Bakhmut, and then Avdiivka.

    It has lost both, as well as some of its best fighting troops, in the attempt.

    Kyiv has countered that its resistance has inflicted disproportionately high casualties on the Russians.

    That is true, with the battlefield in these places being dubbed “the meat grinder”.

    But Moscow has plenty more troops to thrown into the fight – and Ukraine does not.

    The Commander of US Forces in Europe, General Christopher Cavoli, has warned that unless the US rushes significantly more weapons and ammunition to Ukraine then its forces will be outgunned on the battlefield by ten to one.

    Mass matters. The Russian army’s tactics, leadership and equipment may be inferior to Ukraine’s, but it has such superiority in numbers, especially artillery, that if it does nothing else this year, its default option will be to keep pushing Ukraine’s forces back in a westward direction, taking village after village.

    Zaporizhzhia

    This, too, is a tempting prize for Moscow.

    The southern Ukrainian city of more than 700,000 (in peacetime) sits dangerously close to the Russian front lines.

    It is also something of a thorn in Russia’s side given that it is the capital of an oblast of the same name that Russia has illegally annexed, and yet the city is still living freely in Ukrainian hands.

    But the formidable defences that Russia built south of Zaporizhzhia last year, in the correct expectation of a Ukrainian attack, would now complicate a Russian advance from there.

    The so-called Surovikin Line, consisting of triple layers of defences, is laced with the largest, most densely packed minefield in the world. Russia could partially dismantle this but its preparations would probably be detected.

    A Ukrainian dismantles a mineA Ukrainian dismantles a mine

    Ukraine is now one of the most heavily mined places in the world [Getty Images]

    Russia’s strategic objective this year may not even be territorial. It could simply be to crush Ukraine’s fighting spirit and convince its Western backers that this war is a lost cause.

    Dr Jack Watling believes the Russian objective is “to try to generate a sense of hopelessness”.

    “This [Russian] offensive will not decisively end the conflict, irrespective of how it goes for either side,” he says.

    Gen Barrons is also sceptical that, despite the dire situation Ukraine now finds itself in, Russia will automatically drive home its advantage with a decisive advance.

    “I think the most likely outcome is that Russia will have made gains, but will not have managed to break through.

    “It will not have forces that are big enough or good enough to punch all the way through to the river [Dnipro]… but the war will have turned in Russia’s favour.”

    One thing is certain: Russia’s President Vladimir Putin has no intention of giving up on his assault on Ukraine.

    He is like a poker player gambling all his chips on a win. He is counting on the West failing to supply Ukraine with the sufficient means to defend itself.

    Despite all the Nato summits, all the conferences and all the stirring speeches, there is a chance he may be right.

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  • Kremlin says 2022 draft document could serve as starting point for future Ukraine peace talks

    Kremlin says 2022 draft document could serve as starting point for future Ukraine peace talks

    MOSCOW (AP) — The Kremlin said Friday that a draft Russia-Ukraine agreement negotiated in 2022 could serve as a starting point for prospective talks to end the fighting that has dragged into a third year.

    Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said that the draft document that was discussed in Istanbul in March 2022 could be “the basis for starting negotiations.” At the same time, he noted that the possible future talks would need to take into account the “new realities.”

    “There have been many changes since then, new entities have been included in our constitution,” Peskov said in a conference call with reporters.

    In September 2022, Russia annexed four Ukrainian regions in a move that Kyiv and its Western allies have rejected as an unlawful.

    Peskov’s statement followed Russian President Vladimir Putin’s comments Thursday, in which he mocked prospective Ukraine peace talks that Switzerland is set to host in June, warning that Moscow will not accept any enforced peace plans.

    “We are ready for constructive work, but we wouldn’t accept any attempts to enforce a position that isn’t based on the realities,” Putin said during a meeting in Moscow with Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, adding that the Istanbul draft document could serve as a basis for negotiations.

    “We can work with it,” he said.

    The document discussed in Istanbul weeks after Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022 reportedly included provisions for Ukraine’s neutral status and put limits on its armed forces. No deal was reached and the negotiations collapsed soon after that round of talks.

    Russia has dismissed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s peace formula which would require Moscow to pull back its troops, pay compensation to Ukraine and face an international tribunal for its action.

    Putin has repeatedly said that he sent troops into Ukraine in February 2022 to protect Russian interests and prevent Ukraine from posing a major security threat to Russia by joining NATO. Kyiv and its allies have denounced Russia’s military campaign as an unprovoked act of aggression.

    Putin has vowed to extend Moscow’s gains in Ukraine, claiming that Russian forces have the upper hand after the failure of Ukraine’s counteroffensive and that Ukraine and the West will “sooner or later” have to accept a settlement on Moscow’s terms.

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  • Putin mocks planned Ukraine conference and says Russia won’t accept any enforced peace plans

    Putin mocks planned Ukraine conference and says Russia won’t accept any enforced peace plans

    MOSCOW (AP) — Russia’s President Vladimir Putin on Thursday mocked a scheduled round of Ukraine peace talks in Switzerland, warning that Moscow will not accept any enforced plans that ignore its interests.

    Switzerland’s government said Wednesday it will host a high-level international conference in June to help chart a path toward peace in Ukraine after more than two years of fighting, and expressed hope that Russia might join in the peace process someday.

    Putin charged that Russia hadn’t been invited to join June’s talks, while pointing at Swiss recognition that a peace process can’t happen without Russia.

    “They aren’t inviting us there,” Putin said. “Moreover, they think there is nothing for us to do there, but at the same time they say that’s it’s impossible to decide anything without us. It would have been funny if it weren’t so sad.”

    Russia has dismissed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s peace formula requiring Moscow to pull back its troops, pay compensation to Ukraine and face an international tribunal for its action.

    Speaking during Thursday’s meeting with Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko in Moscow, Putin said that Russia is open for negotiations, but will never accept “any schemes that have nothing to do with reality.”

    Putin has repeatedly said that he sent troops into Ukraine in February 2022 to protect Russian interests and prevent Ukraine from posing a major security threat to Russia by joining NATO. Kyiv and its allies have denounced Russia’s military campaign as an unprovoked act of aggression.

    Putin has claimed that Russian forces have the upper hand after the failure of Ukraine’s counteroffensive last year, arguing that Ukraine and the West will “sooner or later” have to accept a settlement on Moscow’s terms.

    Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov warned last week that prospective negotiations to end the fighting in Ukraine could be successful only if they take Moscow’s interests into account, dismissing a planned round of peace talks as a Western ruse to rally broader international support for Kyiv.

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  • Russian minister casts prospective Ukraine peace talks as Western plot to win hesitant Global South

    Russian minister casts prospective Ukraine peace talks as Western plot to win hesitant Global South

    MOSCOW (AP) — Russia’s top diplomat warned Thursday that prospective negotiations to end the fighting in Ukraine could be successful only if they take Moscow’s interests into account, dismissing a planned round of peace talks as a Western ruse to rally broader international support for Kyiv.

    Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov charged that Ukraine’s Western allies are currently involved in a massive diplomatic blitz to persuade as many countries of the Global South as possible to join a meeting in Switzerland to discuss a potential peace plan.

    Speaking to reporters after a meeting with about 70 foreign ambassadors to Moscow, Lavrov argued that the West is seeking to boost attendance at the planned round of negotiations in Switzerland by claiming that its participants would be free to discuss only certain aspects of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s peace plan, such as ways to ensure global food security.

    Lavrov described such arguments as a Western ploy to attract more hesitant countries of the Global South and draw up to 140 participants in order to cast the conference as a show of overwhelming support around the world for Ukraine.

    He emphasized that any peace talks would be a “useless waste of time” if they did not take Moscow’s interests into account.

    Russian President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly said that he sent troops into Ukraine in February 2022 to protect Russian interests and prevent Ukraine from posing a major security threat to Russia by joining NATO. Kyiv and its allies have denounced Russia’s military campaign as an unprovoked act of aggression.

    Lavrov reaffirmed Moscow’s dismissal of Zelenskyy’s peace formula that requires Russia to pull back its troops, pay compensation to Ukraine and face an international tribunal for its action.

    He stated that any prospective peace deal must respect Russia’s security interests and recognize the “new realities,” a reference to Moscow’s territorial gains.

    “We are defending our truth, the interests of our people in the territories which have been founded by their ancestors who lived there for centuries,” Lavrov said. “If they are willing to talk on the basis of justice, on the balance of the realities and the balance of security interests, we are ready for it at any time.”

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