Tag: Russia-Ukraine

  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 A5 main battle tanks, three Gepard anti-aircraft guns, armored trucks and ambulances, in addition to more than €20 million in…

  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 more room,” for freeing up military supplies. Crosetto’s claim follows growing doubts over the supply of U.S. arms to Ukraine…

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 said U.S. troops had to go into bunkers at their base in Hasakah for safety while Turkey bombed Syrian Kurdish…

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 events in the Canadian parliament, which involved honouring, in the presence of President Zelensky, a member of the criminal Nazi…

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 pulling you down to the depths . . . simply drown the rescuer.” The president’s unflattering remarks came after Poland led a coalition…

  WASHINGTON (AP) — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy returned to Washington on Thursday for a whirlwind one-day visit, this time to face the Republicans now questioning the flow of American dollars that for 19 months has kept his troops in the fight against Russian forces. Zelenskyy arrived at the Capitol to talk privately with Republican and Democratic leaders of the House and Senate as the world is watching Western support for Kyiv. He will also meet with President Joe Biden…

  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 have voluntarily decided to withdraw from Russia are finding that their Russian counterparties are deeming the voluntary withdrawal to be…

The attacks on the Russian submarine Rostov-on-Don and the landing ship Minsk on the night of 13 September were carried out by the Special Operations Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Source: Press service of the Special Operations Forces Details: Special forces officers revealed certain details of the operation. The officers received information from several sources about the likely location of the Minsk large landing ship and the Rostov-on-Don diesel-electric submarine at one of the ship repair enterprises in…

The first images since the confirmation of the death of Yevgeny Prigozhin show that a suspected tent camp thought to be occupied by troops from Russia’s Wagner mercenary group near the Belarusian village of Tsel, has been further dismantled. The images, taken by Planet Labs on September 9 and obtained by RFE/RL, show that since late August, 60 more tents with the capacity to house more than 1,000 personnel had been dismantled. That means that since early August, of 273…

Antony J. Blinken, Secretary of State
The Departments of State and the Treasury are imposing further sanctions on over 150 individuals and entities in connection with Russia’s unlawful invasion of Ukraine.  As part of today’s action, the U.S. government is targeting individuals and entities engaged in sanctions evasion and circumvention, those complicit in furthering Russia’s ability to wage its war against Ukraine, and those responsible for bolstering Russia’s future energy production.
The Department of State is imposing sanctions on over 70 entities and individuals involved in expanding Russia’s energy production and export capacity, operating in Russia’s metals and mining sectors, and aiding Russian individuals and entities in evading international sanctions. The Department of State is also designating one Russian Intelligence Services officer and one Georgian-Russian oligarch whom the FSB has leveraged to influence Georgian society and politics for the benefit of Russia.  Additionally, the Department is designating numerous entities producing and repairing Russian weapon systems, including the Kalibr cruise missile used by Russian forces against cities and civilian infrastructure in Ukraine, and an individual affiliated with the Wagner Group involved in the shipment of munitions from the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea to the Russian Federation.
Concurrently, the Department of the Treasury is imposing nearly one hundred sanctions on Russia’s elites and its industrial base, financial institutions, and technology suppliers, including one official of the Wagner Group for advancing Russia’s malign activities in the Central African Republic.  This action comes after the Wagner Group helped ensure the passage of a July 30 constitutional referendum that undercut the country’s democracy.
The United States and its allies and partners are united in supporting Ukraine in the face of Russia’s unprovoked, unjustified, and illegal war.  We will stand with Ukraine for as long as it takes.
All targets are being designated pursuant to Executive Order 14024, which authorizes sanctions with respect to specified harmful foreign activities of the Government of the Russian Federation.  For more information on today’s actions, please see the Department of State’s fact sheet and the Department of the Treasury’s press release.

NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. — The U.S. military has resumed counterterrorism missions in Niger, flying drones and other aircraft out of air bases in the country more than a month after a coup temporarily halted all those activities there, the head of U.S. Air Forces for Europe and Africa said Wednesday. Since the July coup, the 1,100 U.S. forces deployed in the country have been confined inside their military bases. Last week the Pentagon said some military personnel and assets had been moved…

By Raman Vasyukovich, RFE/RL’s Belarus Service, Tony Wesolowsky September 09, 2023 Alyaksandr Lukashenka, the de facto ruler of Belarus, is setting a trap, his opponents say, for those who fled abroad to escape his repressive rule. No longer will Belarusian embassies issue or renew passports to nationals living abroad, according to a fresh edict from Lukashenka published on September 4. If they need the document, Belarusians will have to return home. And critics fear Belarus’s security forces will be waiting….

The Air Force launched an unarmed Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile over the Pacific Ocean in a routine test early Wednesday, the service said in a release. The missile was fired from Vandenberg Space Force Base, California, around 1:30 a.m. local time, and traveled about 4,200 miles to the Marshall Islands, where the U.S. has conducted nuclear weapons tests for decades. Test launches ensure America’s land-based nuclear missiles are still viable after more than 50 years, and are a chance…

Britain is to ban Russian mercenary outfit the Wagner Group as a terrorist organization, media reports said on Tuesday, quoting Home Secretary Suella Braverman. The UK was set to make the Wagner Group a “proscribed” organization under anti-terror laws, putting it on a par with Islamic State and al-Qaeda, a report in the Daily Mail said. “Wagner is a violent and destructive organization which has acted as a military tool of Vladimir Putin‘s Russia overseas,” the newspaper quoted Braverman as…

Ukraine’s ongoing confrontations with Russia have captivated international attention, moving beyond mere territorial disputes. Ukrainian Defence Minister Alexey Reznikov had indicated a notable shift in these standoffs, which now double as a significant platform, not just for geopolitical engagements but also for the rigorous examination of cutting-edge military innovations. Western allies gauge their armament efficacy against Russia’s formidable array, while Russia evaluates its gear against advanced Western counterparts, including systems like the S-400 Triumf, renowned for its multifunction radar and…

MOSCOW — Russian authorities on Sunday confirmed the death of Wagner Group chief Yevgeny Prigozhin, putting to rest any doubts about whether the wily mercenary leader turned mutineer was on a plane that crashed Wednesday, killing everyone on board. Genetic testing on the 10 bodies recovered at the crash site “conform to the manifest ” for the flight, Russian Investigative Committee spokeswoman Svetlana Petrenko said in a statement. Russia’s civil aviation authority had said Prigozhin and some of his top lieutenants were on the list…