Josep Borrell, the EU's high representative for foreign affairs and security policy, speaks at a press conference with Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavsky (not in the picture) after a two-day informal meeting of European Union (EU) foreign ministers in Prague, the Czech Republic, on Aug. 31, 2022. (Xinhua/Deng Yaomin/IANS)
Borrell said EU countries had already provided Ukraine with 2,20,000 artillery shells and 1,300 missiles since March….reports Asian Lite News
The defence ministers of the EU member states have failed to reach an agreement on new military aid to Ukraine, the bloc’s foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said here.
Borrell said after Tuesday’s EU defence ministers’ meeting that the overwhelming majority of member states had backed a proposal to increase the European Peace Facility budget by 3.5 billion euros ($3.77 billion), although he stressed that not all of it will be used to assist Ukraine.
“I still don’t have unanimity on this, and it’s still being discussed,” he said, adding that he expected the remaining “hurdles” to be surmounted soon. He recalled that more than 10 billion euros in military support have already been provided to Ukraine.
Borrell said EU countries had already provided Ukraine with 2,20,000 artillery shells and 1,300 missiles since March. These alone were worth 800 million euros and the EU was on track to provide one billion euros worth of ammunition, Xinhua news agency reported.
“Our aim is to provide one million projectiles over the next 12 months,” he said, adding that the EU had already trained 20,000 Ukrainian soldiers and was on track to train 30,000 by the end of the year.
He said that as part of a three-pronged strategy, member states are being asked to provide ammunition from their own stocks. There is also an effort for the joint procurement of 155 mm calibre ammunition and to boost the capability of European industry to manufacture the necessary ammunition.
Jens Stoltenberg, NATO Secretary General, attended the meeting and briefed ministers on the latest developments in the conflict in Ukraine.
Borrell welcomed the decision to initiate training programmes for Ukrainian pilots on F-16 fighter jets. He said the training created a positive momentum that will eventually lead to the deployment of these jets in Ukraine.
“I am glad that pilot training has already started, and I hope that soon we will be able to provide this weapon to Ukraine,” he added prior to the start of the meeting in Brussels.
The French Air Force is planning to field its Rafale combat aircraft in the parade which is also in the Indian inventory…reports Asian Lite News
India is preparing to send a military contingent including fighter aircraft to take part in the French National Day parade where Prime Minister Narendra Modi would be the guest of honour.
The French traditional military parade is held in Paris during the Bastille Day on July 14. The visit is also marking the 25th anniversary of the “strategic partnership” between France and India. “The Indian military contingent would be including a marching contingent and the Indian Air Force would be deploying its fighter aircraft to take part in the flypast of the event,” defence officials told ANI.
The French Air Force is planning to field its Rafale combat aircraft in the parade which is also in the Indian inventory.
India may send aircraft from the Jaguar fleet which has been designed by the French and joined the Indian Air Force in the 1980s in significant numbers.
In 2016, when French President Francois Hollande had come to India for the Republic Day parade, the French side also sent its contingent.
At that time, the French contingent comprising 56 personnel of the 35th Infantry Regiment of the 7th Armoured Brigade had come.
The soldiers of their regiment were deployed in India between 1781 and 1784. The contingent was preceded by pipes and drums comprising 48 musicians.
India may also send a contingent from the units who have had a history of fighting in the French area during the world wars fought in the last century.
G7 summit
PM Modi on Saturday held bilateral talks with French President Emmanuel Macron in Hiroshima, Japan on the sidelines of the G-7 meeting.
The two leaders were seen greeting each other at the Summit where India, the current G 20 president was invited to attend. Earlier this month, Prime Minister Modi thanked French President Emmanuel Macron for inviting him to be the Guest of Honour on France’s National Day on July 14.
This historic visit of PM Modi will also deliver common initiatives in order to respond to the key challenges of our time, including climate change, biodiversity loss and the achievement of Sustainable Development Goals and will be an opportunity for India and France to reaffirm their commitment to multilateralism, including in the context of India’s G20 Presidency, the official statement added. (ANI)
Portugal had previously raised concerns about the date because its national day is celebrated on 10 June and could dampen the turnout…reports Asian Lite News
The next elections to elect the 705 Members of the European Parliament will be held between 6 and 9 June 2024.
The dates were provisionally chosen by ambassadors from the 27 member states during a meeting on Wednesday and will be made official next week when ministers rubber-stamp the decision.
The elections take place every five years across a four-day period and are considered the largest transnational vote in the world: more than 400 million eligible voters from different nationalities are called to vote for their political representatives in the European Parliament at the same time.
The renewal of lawmakers also triggers changes at the very top of the European Commission and the European Council, meaning the jobs currently held by Ursula von der Leyen and Charles Michel will be up for grabs.
Von der Leyen has yet to confirm if she intends to run for a second five-year term as president of the European Commission, while Michel is forbidden by law to continue at the helm of the European Council as the post is capped at two consecutive terms of 2.5 years each.
The 6-9 June dates were chosen by default since no other option gathered the necessary unanimity, a diplomatic source with knowledge of the discussions told Euronews.
Portugal had previously raised concerns about the date because its national day is celebrated on 10 June and could dampen the turnout.
The previous elections, held in May 2019, had a general turnout of 50.66%, an increase of eight points compared to the 2014 vote.
Reacting to the news, European Parliament Roberta Metsola posted a video on her Twitter account encouraging voters to register and “be part of the largest democratic exercise in Europe.”
“The European Union is not perfect. It is evolving continuously. The world is changing and we must change with it,” Metsola says in the one-minute video.
“We need reform. We cannot be afraid of change. We must embrace it.”
An early projection by Europe Elects suggests the centre-right European People’s Party (EPP) will lose almost 20 seats but remain the largest formation in the hemicycle with 163 MEPs, followed by the Socialists and Democrats (S&D) group, with 141 lawmakers.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the cost-of-living crisis, energy supplies, climate change and migration are set to feature prominently in the upcoming campaign.
The corruption scandal that has rocked the European Parliament, dubbed Qatargate, is also expected to loom over the debate, although its impact on voters will be hard to define as the media attention on the legal case has considerably receded in recent months.
He was wrapping up a two-day visit to Washington and New York aimed at boosting police and judicial cooperation between France and the US in the fight against terrorism and serious crime…reports Asian Lite News
France’s interior minister warned of a coming resurgence in terrorist threats in Europe during a visit to the US, saying he had asked Washington for stepped-up cooperation ahead of the Paris Olympics in 2024.
Pointing to the US withdrawal from Afghanistan, France’s diminished footprint in Africa and the “reconstitution” of Daesh in the Levant, Gerald Darmanin said in an interview that these “are times of significant risk.”
He was wrapping up a two-day visit to Washington and New York aimed at boosting police and judicial cooperation between France and the US in the fight against terrorism and serious crime.
“We have come to remind them that for Europeans, and for France, the primary risk is terrorism and that anti-terrorist collaboration between intelligence services is absolutely essential,” Darmanin said during the interview in New York.
He added that “at a time when the Americans maybe have a more domestic vision of challenges — white supremacy, repeated shootings, conspiracy — they must not forget what appears to us in Europe as the first threat: Terrorism.”
France's interior minister warned of a coming resurgence in terrorist threats in Europe during a visit to the US on Friday, saying he had asked Washington for stepped-up cooperation ahead of the Paris Olympics in 2024. https://t.co/ChrGg9wV55
He spoke with Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco and Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, and visited the FBI training center in Quantico, Virginia.
In New York, he met Police Commissioner Keechant Sewell to discuss public order and security arrangements for major international events, noting that France was gearing up for the Olympics in July of 2024, as well as the Rugby World Cup and a visit by Pope Francis to Marseille later this year.
Ukrainian military spokesperson Serhiy Cherevatyi told the news agency: “Our units are fighting in Bakhmut.”…reports Asian Lite News
The head of the Russian private army Wagner has said his fighters have completed the capture of Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine, but Kyiv immediately rejected the claim and said fighting was still going on.
Yevgeny Prigozhin made the claim in a video on Saturday in which he appeared in combat fatigues in front of a line of fighters holding Russian flags and Wagner banners.
“Today, at 12 noon, Bakhmut was completely taken,” Prigozhin said. “We completely took the whole city, from house to house.
“The operation to capture Bakhmut – the Bakhmut meat grinder – lasted 224 days,” he said.
But Ukraine said it retained some ground control in the eastern city of Bakhmut, with fighting continuing and the situation “critical”.
“Heavy fighting in Bakhmut. The situation is critical,” Deputy Defence Minister Ganna Malyar posted on Telegram. She said Ukrainian troops were “holding the defence” in the city’s “Airplane area”.
“As of now, our defenders control certain industrial and infrastructure facilities in the area.”
Ukrainian military spokesperson Serhiy Cherevatyi told news agency: “Our units are fighting in Bakhmut.”
“Earlier he repeatedly reported about the capture of Bakhmut but every time it turned out to be wrong. The Russian authorities have not commented on his statements,” she said.
“Earlier the Russian defence ministry official representative said that they… continue operations to liberate the western part of this city.
“A big question now – who’s going to hold the city if the Ukrainian forces are not withdrawing and according to Prigozhin, the city will be handed over the Ministry of Defence?”
Bakhmut has been the focus of the longest and bloodiest battle of Russia’s war in Ukraine, which is nearly at the end of its 15th month.
The battle has flattened the salt-mining centre that once had a population of approximately 70,000 people. Distant explosions could be heard in the background as Prigozhin spoke during the video, in which he said his forces would withdraw from Bakhmut from May 25 for rest and retraining, handing over control to the regular Russian army.
Prigozhin taunted Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and US President Joe Biden, who were taking part in a G7 summit in Japan on Saturday where the Ukraine war was front of mind for world leaders.
Addressing Zelenskyy, Prigozhin said, “Today, when you see Biden, kiss him on the top of his head, say hi to him from me.”
“Let’s not forget that Russia used to be part of the G7 – then the G8 – before it was kicked out in 2014 after illegally annexing Crimea,” Butler said.
“Here, Moscow is looking at these images of Zelenskyy talking to the world’s wealthiest nations, this elite club it was once part of … but also talking over the past few days and on the sidelines of this G7, with some of Russia’s allies.
“Zelenskyy had meetings with the crown prince of Saudi Arabia, but also with Narendra Modi of India, so no doubt, all of those optics are infuriating for Moscow.”
In his video message, Prigozhin also repeated complaints he has frequently made in the past that his forces suffered far heavier losses than necessary because of inadequate support and ammunition supplies from Russia’s regular army.
Earlier this month he had threatened to pull his forces out after publishing a furious tirade against Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu while standing in a field of bloodied corpses.
Because of Russian bureaucracy and the “whims” of Shoigu and Chief of Staff Valery Gerasimov, “five times more guys died than they should have”, he said in Saturday’s video.
“One day in history, they will pay for their actions,” Prigozhin said.
Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi (R) meets with visiting Russian President Vladimir Putin in Tehran, Iran, on July 19, 2022. (Iranian Presidential Website/Handout via Xinhua/IANS)
The MoU is also aimed at, among other things, enhancing bilateral tourism cooperation and boosting tourism exchange between the two sides…reports Asian Lite News
Iran and Russia have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to expand tourism cooperation, according to media reports.
The MoU was inked by Ali Asghar Shalbafian, Iranian deputy minister of cultural heritage, handicrafts, and tourism for tourism affairs, and Dmitry Vakhrukov, the deputy minister of economic development of Russia, on the sidelines of the 14th International Economic Forum “Russia-Islamic world” held in Kazan, Russia, Iran’s official news agency IRNA reported on Friday.
Under the MoU, related Iranian and Russian ministries will jointly push forward the implementation of a visa-free agreement signed in 2017 for granting visa waivers to tour groups from the two countries, Xinhua news agency reported.
The MoU is also aimed at, among other things, enhancing bilateral tourism cooperation and boosting tourism exchange between the two sides, including the exchange of tourism experts, as well as experiences and information sharing.
Shalbafian said at the signing ceremony that Russia could become a high-priority tourism market for Iran.
Vakhrukov, for his part, expressed hope that Iranian tourists could be granted visa-free entry to Russia as of summer, noting that Iranian citizens are able to obtain electronic visas for travelling to Russia starting from June 22.
The required residency years before naturalisation would be reduced from eight to five years…reports Asian Lite News
Germany’s Interior Ministry published draft legislation aimed at modernising the country’s citizenship law. It proposes a multiple-nationality option and makes it easier for people to apply for citizenship.
The required residency years before naturalisation would be reduced from eight to five years, the Ministry said on Friday in a statement. In the case of “special integration achievements,” such as good language skills, voluntary work, or very good job performance, the requirement would be three years.
“We want people who have become part of our society to be able to help shape our country democratically,” Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said.
“Acquisition of citizenship is the strongest commitment to Germany.”
At the end of 2021, around 72.4 million people with German citizenship and around 10.7 million with foreign citizenship lived in Germany. Of the latter, around 5.7 million had already been in Germany for at least 10 years, according to the Ministry.
The share of citizenship granted in Germany to the foreign population that has been living in the country for at least 10 years was permanently low, the Ministry added.
In 2021, it was only 2.45 per cent. Germany also has a particularly low citizenship rate in a EU comparison, Xinhua news agency reported.
“We are making the citizenship process easier for people who make a living from working with their own hands,” Justice Minister Marco Buschmann said on Friday on Twitter.
“Rules for people who live off the welfare state will be tightened. This sets incentives to take up work and shows: We want immigration into the labor market, not into the welfare state.”
The reform aims to ensure that certain crimes such as racist, inhumane or anti-Semitic acts would exclude applicants from attaining citizenship.
“There is no tolerance in this regard,” Faeser added.
Of the Arab League nations, only Syria has openly supported Russia’s invasion, while others have sought to maintain good relations with Moscow….reports Asian Lite News
Ukrainian Volodymyr Zelensky who travelled to Jeddah to attend the 32nd Summit of the Arab League, has claimed that some of the regional bloc’s leaders have turned a “blind eye” to Russia’s ongoing war against Kiev.
While addressing the Summit on Friday, the President said that “there are people who turn a blind eye to captivity and illegal annexation, but no matter how strong Russian influence may be, it is important to remain independent”, reports Ukrayinska Pravda.
He said that even if there were people at the Summit who have different points of view concerning the war in Ukraine, with some calling it a “conflict”, “they can still unite for the sake of saving people from Russian captivity”.
Another strong day for Ukraine. Arab League summit. Bilateral meetings – Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, UAE, Oman, Iraq. Security. The release of our people from captivity. Peace Formula. The leader of the Crimean Tatar people, Mustafa Dzhemilev, was with us. Grateful to the Crown Prince,… pic.twitter.com/b0SkmO1ZLl
— Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) May 19, 2023
Of the Arab League nations, only Syria has openly supported Russia’s invasion, while others have sought to maintain good relations with Moscow.
“I am sure that all your nations will understand this our main emotion and main call I want to leave here… A call to help protect our people, including the Ukrainian Muslim community.
“With me here, honourable Mustafa Dzhemilev, the leader of the Crimean Tatar people, one of the indigenous peoples of Ukraine. Whose home is Crimea, the centre of Muslim culture in Ukraine,” he was quoted as saying
Zelensky stressed that Crimea was the first Ukrainian territory to be occupied by Russia, and it is mostly in the occupied peninsula that Muslims suffer from repression.
He also reminded the gathering about the role of Saudi Arabia in the liberation of the people captured by the Russians in the territory of Ukraine, adding that he believes this experience should be expanded.
Upon his arrival in Jeddah earlier on Friday, Zelensky was received by Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
At the Summit, the Crown Prince renewed his offer for Riyadh to mediate between Moscow and Kiev to end the fighting.
The Ukrainian leader will travel from Saudi Arabia to the G7 summit on Sunday, Japan confirmed on Saturday morning, the BBC reported.
Officials said he will take part in the summit’s leaders’ session and take part in a bilateral meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida.
The trip to Japan will be the furthest Zelensky has travelled from Kiev since the war began in February 2022.
In the past few days Zelensky has visited Italy, Germany, France and the UK, where he nailed down promises of military support.
US F-16 jet crashes into farmland near Osan Air Base
Ukraine has repeatedly lobbied its Western allies to provide jets to help in its fight against Russia….reports Asian Lite News
US National Security Adviser (NSA) Jake Sullivan said that Washington will back providing advanced fighter jets, including F-16s, to Ukraine, as well as train pilots in the war-torn nation on how to fly them.
Addressing a press conference here on Friday, Sullivan said that President Joe Biden “informed his G7 counterparts” of the move at the bloc’s summit in in the Japanese city earlier in the day, the BBC reported.
“Over the past few months, we and our allies and partners have really focussed on providing Ukraine with the systems weapon and training it needs to conduct offensive operations this spring and summer. We have delivered what we promised.
“Now we have turned to discussions about improving the Ukrainian air force as part of our long-term commitment to Ukraine’s self-defence. As the training unfolds in the coming months, we will work with our allies to determine when planes will be delivered, who will be delivering them, and how many,” the BBC quoted the NSA as saying.
Ukraine has repeatedly lobbied its Western allies to provide jets to help in its fight against Russia.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has welcomed what he described as a “historic decision”, adding that he looked forward to “discussing the practical implementation” of the plan at the G7 summit in Hiroshima, where he will arrive on Sunday.
The development comes months after Biden had said in February that he was “ruling out for now” sending advanced fighters to Ukraine.
But during Friday’s press conference, Sullivan told reporters that US had provided weapons to Kiev as they were needed on the battlefield, and the decision to start supplying advanced fighters to Ukraine indicated the conflict had entered a new phase, reports the BBC.
“Now we have delivered everything we said we were going to deliver, so we put the Ukrainians in a position to make progress on the battlefield through the counter-offensive.
“We’ve reached a moment where it is time to look down the road, and say what is Ukraine going to need as part of a future force to defend against Russian aggression,” he said.
Meanwhile, the UK, Netherlands, Belgium and Denmark have also welcomed Washington’s move.
UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak tweeted: “The UK will work together with the USA and the Netherlands, Belgium and Denmark to get Ukraine the combat air capability it needs.”
The UK does not have any F-16s in its air force itself.
Denmark has also announced that it will now be able to support the training of pilots, but did not confirm whether it would send any jets to Ukraine.
Denmark’s air force has 40 F-16s, around 30 of which are operational.
When Russia launched its full-scale invasion on February 24, 2022, Ukraine was believed to have around 120 combat capable aircraft — mainly consisting of aging Soviet-era MiG-29s and Su-27s.
But officials say they need up to 200 jets to match Moscow’s air-power — which is thought to be five or six times greater than Kiev’s.
Earlier this year, some Eastern European nations had sent Soviet-era Mig fighter jets to Ukraine.
Zelenskyy will be making his furthest trip from his war-torn country as leaders prepare to unveil new sanctions on Russia for its invasion…reports Asian Lite News
Leaders of the world’s most powerful democracies vowed Friday to tighten punishments on Russia for its 15-month invasion of Ukraine, days before President Volodymyr Zelenskyy joins the Group of Seven summit in person on Sunday.
“Our support for Ukraine will not waver,” the G7 leaders said in a statement released after closed-door meetings, vowing “to stand together against Russia’s illegal, unjustifiable, and unprovoked war of aggression against Ukraine.”
“Russia started this war and can end this war,” they said.
Zelenskyy will be making his furthest trip from his war-torn country as leaders prepare to unveil new sanctions on Russia for its invasion. Oleksiy Danilov, the secretary of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council, confirmed on national television that Zelenskyy would attend the summit.
“We were sure that our president would be where Ukraine needed him, in any part of the world, to solve the issue of stability of our country,” Danilov said Friday. “There will be very important matters decided there, so physical presence is a crucial thing to defend our interests.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin’s nuclear threats against Ukraine, along with North Korea ’s months-long barrage of missile tests and China’s rapidly expanding nuclear arsenal, have resonated with Japan’s push to make nuclear disarmament a major part of the summit. World leaders Friday visited a peace park dedicated to the tens of thousands who died in the world’s first wartime atomic bomb detonation.
After group photos near the city’s iconic bombed-out dome, a wreath-laying and a symbolic cherry tree planting, a new round of sanctions were to be unveiled against Moscow, with a focus on redoubling efforts to enforce existing sanctions meant to stifle Russia’s war effort and hold accountable those behind it, a U.S. official said. Russia is now the most-sanctioned country in the world, but there are questions about the effectiveness of the financial penalties.
The U.S. official, speaking on the condition of anonymity to preview the announcement, said the U.S. component of the actions would blacklist about 70 Russian and third-country entities involved in Russia’s defense production, and sanction more than 300 individuals, entities, aircraft and vessels.
The official added that the other G7 nations would undertake similar steps to further isolate Russia and to undermine its ability to wage war in Ukraine. Details were to emerge over the course of the weekend summit.
The G7 nations said in Friday’s statement that they would work to keep Russia from using the international financial system to prosecute its war, would “further restrict Russia’s access to our economies” and would prevent sanctions evasion by Moscow.
They urged other nations to stop providing Russia with support and weapons “or face severe costs.”
The European Union was focused on closing the door on loopholes and plans to restrict trade in Russian diamonds, Charles Michel, president of the European Council, told reporters early Friday.
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, who represents Hiroshima in parliament, wants nuclear disarmament to be a major focus of discussions, and he formally started the summit at Hiroshima’s Peace Memorial Park. The visit by world leaders to a park dedicated to preserving reminders of Aug. 6, 1945, when a U.S. B-29 dropped an atomic bomb over Hiroshima, provided a striking backdrop to the start the summit. An estimated 140,000 people were killed in the attack, and a fast-dwindling number of now-elderly survivors have ensured that Hiroshima has become synonymous with anti-nuclear peace efforts.
“Honestly, I have big doubts if Mr. Kishida, who is pursuing a military buildup and seeking to revise the pacifist constitution, can really discuss nuclear disarmament,” Sueichi Kido, a 83-year-old “hibakusha” or survivor of the Nagasaki explosion, told The Associated Press. “But because they are meeting in Hiroshima I do have a sliver of hope that they will have positive talks and make a tiny step toward nuclear disarmament.”
On Thursday night, Kishida opened the global diplomacy by sitting down with President Joe Biden after Biden’s arrival at a nearby military base. Kishida also held talks with British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak before the three-day gathering of leaders opens.
The Japan-U.S. alliance is the “very foundation of peace and security in the Indo-Pacific region,” Kishida told Biden in opening remarks. Japan, facing threats from authoritarian China, Russia and North Korea, has been expanding its military but also relies on 50,000 U.S. troops stationed in Japan and U.S. military might.
“We very much welcome that the cooperation has evolved in leaps and bounds,” Kishida said.
Biden, who greeted U.S. and Japanese troops at nearby Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni before meeting with Kishida, said: “When our countries stand together, we stand stronger, and I believe the whole world is safer when we do.”
As G7 attendees made their way to Hiroshima, Moscow unleashed yet another aerial attack on the Ukrainian capital. Loud explosions thundered through Kyiv during the early hours, marking the ninth time this month that Russian air raids have targeted the city after weeks of relative quiet.
