Tag: Russia-Ukraine

With Russian tanks and troops descending on Ukraine in early 2022, Cyprus became a hotbed of financial activity. The island country has long been known as an offshore transit point for the fortunes of Russian billionaires, and as sanctions loomed over many of them last year, Cyprus financial services firms fielded a series of urgent demands to transfer funds and…

A senior Ukrainian military officer with deep ties to the country’s intelligence services played a central role in the bombing of the Nord Stream natural gas pipelines last year, according to officials in Ukraine and elsewhere in Europe, as well as other people knowledgeable about the details of the covert operation. The officer’s role provides the most direct evidence to…

Ukrainian military pilots have begun learning to fly the F-16 Fighting Falcon jet in Arizona, the U.S. Air Force confirmed Wednesday. A “small number” of Ukrainians started training at Morris Air National Guard Base in Tucson this week, Air Force spokesperson Rose Riley said in an emailed statement. Morris is home to the 162nd Wing of the Arizona National Guard,…

Russia has detained an editor at U.S.-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) for failing to register as a foreign agent while visiting for a family emergency, the broadcaster said. Russia has tightened its control over information and the media since the start of the nearly 20-month-long Ukraine war, forcing the closure of the last significant independent news outlets and designating many…

  PARIS — Germany will send about €1 billion (U.S. $1.1 billion) worth of air defense systems to Ukraine as part of a second “winter package” for the embattled country, the German Defence Ministry said in a statement Tuesday. The support will include a Patriot air defense system and two IRIS-T surface-to-air systems, as well as 10 more Leopard 1…

  The Italian government is running out of military equipment to send to Ukraine, just as domestic public opinion loses interest in supporting Kyiv, Italy’s defense minister said Wednesday. Claiming Italy does not have “unlimited resources”, Guido Crosetto said Italy has “done almost all that it could do,” when it comes to sending weapons to Ukraine. ”There is not much…

An American F-16 shot down an armed Turkish drone after it flew close to U.S. forces in northeast Syria and ignored warnings to stay away. Officials said it was the first time the U.S. has shot down an aircraft from Turkey, a NATO ally. Air Force Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder, a Pentagon spokesman, said it was a “regrettable incident” and…

Yaroslav Hunka was hailed as a “war hero” last week in Canada’s parliament, where he received a standing ovation. A Polish government minister has launched a bid to extradite Yaroslav Hunka, the 98-year-old Ukrainian-Canadian man who fought in a German-Nazi division during World War Two and last week received a standing ovation in Canada’s parliament. “In view of the scandalous…

Poland has escalated its rhetoric against Ukraine beyond a trade dispute over grain, with President Andrzej Duda comparing the war-torn country to a drowning person clinging to their rescuer and endangering their life. “Ukraine is behaving like a drowning person clinging to anything available,” Duda told Polish journalists in New York on Tuesday. “A drowning person is extremely dangerous, capable of…

  The ongoing imposition of sanctions against Russia arising from the attack upon Ukraine creates a number of significant issues for insurers which have written trade credit and/or political risk insurance policies. Even where sanctions have not forbidden companies’ business in Russia, many companies have voluntarily chosen to withdraw from the Russian market, in whole or in part.  Companies which…