Categories
-Top News Europe USA

US to send Ukraine $300 million in military aid

The new package includes Hydra-70 rockets, which are unguided rockets that are fired from aircraft.

The U.S. is sending Ukraine about $300 million in additional military aid, including an enormous amount of artillery rounds, howitzers, air-to-ground rockets and ammunition as the launch of a spring offensive against Russian forces approaches, U.S. officials said Tuesday.

The new package includes Hydra-70 rockets, which are unguided rockets that are fired from aircraft. It also includes an undisclosed number of rockets for the High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems, or HIMARS, mortars, howitzer rounds, missiles and Carl Gustaf anti—tank rifles. The weapons will all be pulled from Pentagon stocks, so they can go quickly to the front lines. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because the aid has not yet been formally announced.

The latest shipment comes as Ukrainian officials say they are readying a counteroffensive — with Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov declaring they are in the “home stretch, when we can say: ‘Yes everything is ready.’” Ukrainian officials have said they are stockpiling ammunition to stow it along potentially long supply lines.

Reznikov said Monday that the key things for the assault’s success would be “the availability of weapons; prepared, trained people; our defenders and defenders who know their plan at their level, as well as providing this offensive with all the necessary things — shells, ammunition, fuel, protection, etc.”

The U.S. in recent months has declined to say exactly how much materiel will be sent to Ukraine, but the latest package resembles other previous deliveries. Officials said there will also be trucks, trailers, spare parts, and other maintenance assistance.

This is the 37th package of Pentagon stocks to go to Ukraine since the war began in February 2022, and it brings the total U.S. military aid to about $36 billion.

Officials have said the weapons and other equipment will help as Ukraine prepares to shift from what has been a long and bloody winter stalemate, focused on heavy fighting in Ukraine’s east, particularly around the town of Bakhmut in the Donetsk province.

The General Staff of Ukraine’s armed forces said Russia was continuing to concentrate its efforts on offensive operations in Ukraine’s industrial east, focusing attacks around Lyman, Bakhmut, Avdiivka and Marinka.

(Photo: GeneralStaff.ua)

Meanwhile, the Ukrainian government has approved the country’s new strategy for energy development by 2050, the Energy Ministry has said.

The document reflects the objectives of the European Green Deal and envisages Ukraine achieving carbon neutrality in the energy sector by 2050, the Ministry said in a statement on Monday.

Based on the principles of a comprehensive approach to the energy policy, the strategy is creating conditions for the sustainable development of the Ukrainian economy, Xinhua news agency quoted the statement as saying.

The document takes into account the consequences of the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war, the results of Kiev joining the European network of electricity transmission system operators, and the presence of the latest technologies in the energy sector, it added.

In March, Energy Minister Herman Galushchenko said that Ukraine aims to increase the share of renewable energy in its power generation to 50 per cent to boost energy security.

Categories
-Top News Europe USA

US journalist detained in Russia for espionage

This is the first such case of an American journalist detained in Russia for allegations of spying since the Cold War…reports Asian Lite News

The US has condemned in the “strongest terms” the detention of an American Wall Street Journal reporter, Evan Gershkovich, in Russia over alleged espionage.

This is the first such case of an American journalist detained in Russia for allegations of spying since the Cold War. Espionage in Russia carries a maximum jail term of 20 years.

In a statement on Thursday, Russia’s intelligence agency Federal Security Service (FSB) said that the 31-year-old reporter was detained in the Urals city of Yekaterinburg for “acting on the instructions of the American side, collected information constituting a state secret about the activities of one of the enterprises of the Russian military-industrial complex”.

According to The Wall Street Journal, Gershkovich is accredited to work as a journalist in Russia by the country’s Foreign Ministry.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said FSB investigators have opened a criminal case against the US citizen under Article 276 of the Russian Criminal Code (“Espionage”), reports Russia’s state-run TASS News Agency.

Moscow’s Lefortovsky District Court arrested the reporter until May 29, TASS said, adding that he will be lodged in the Lefortovo detention facility.

In response to the development, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said the US is “deeply concerned by the troubling reports” of the reporter’s detention, adding that President Joe Biden has been informed of the development.

“The targeting of American citizens by the Russian government is unacceptable. We condemn the detention of Gershkovich in the strongest terms.

“We also condemn the Russian government’s continued targeting and repression of journalists and freedom of the press,” the Press Secretary added.

The Press Secretary went on to say that the State Department is in “direct touch with the Russian government on this matter, including actively working to secure consular access to Gershkovich”.

She also reiterated that Americans should heed the US government’s warning to not travel to Russia.

“US citizens residing or traveling in Russia should depart immediately, as the State Department continues to advise,” Jean-Pierre added.

In a statement on Thursday, The Wall Street Journal said it “vehemently” denied the allegations against its employee.

“The Wall Street Journal vehemently denies the allegations from the FSB and seeks the immediate release of our trusted and dedicated reporter, Evan Gershkovich… We stand in solidarity with Evan and his family,” the newspaper said.

On his part, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that the US has sought immediate consular access to Gershkovich so that it can provide the appropriate support.

“In the strongest possible terms, we condemn the Kremlin’s continued attempts to intimidate, repress, and punish journalists and civil society voices… If you are a US citizen living or traveling in Russia, please leave immediately,” he added.

Gershkovich joined The Wall Street Journal in January 2022. He has worked as a reporter in Russia since 2017, first for the Moscow Times and then for Agence France-Presse (AFP).

Earlier, he was a news assistant in New York for the New York Times.

In his most recent Wall Street Journal piece, published this week, Gershkovich reported on Russia’s declining economy and how the Kremlin was having to deal with “ballooning military expenditures” while maintaining social spending.

Even before Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, reporting from the country had become increasingly difficult, says the BBC.

Independent journalists were labelled “foreign agents” and BBC Russia correspondent Sarah Rainsford was expelled from the country.

When the war began on February 24, 2022, Russia introduced a criminal offence for reporting “fake news” or “discrediting the army”, under which dozens of Russians have been convicted for criticising the invasion on social media.

Almost all independent media were silenced, shut down or blocked, including major outlets TV Rain, Echo of Moscow radio and newspaper Novaya Gazeta. Many Western media chose to leave Russia.

Tensions between the Kremlin and the West have become increasingly tense in the 13 months of Russia’s war in Ukraine.

Several US citizens are being held in Russia. Days before the invasion, American basketball star Brittney Griner was detained at a Moscow airport and jailed for carrying cannabis oil.

It was 10 months before she was freed in exchange for notorious Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout.

ALSO READ: N.Korea in ‘arms for food’ deal with Russia: US

Categories
-Top News EU News Europe

We don’t have confidence in Putin: Zelensky

Regarding talks with the Russian side, Zelensky said that they cannot currently envisage a situation in which he would meet Putin…reports Asian Lite News

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that “we don’t have any confidence” in his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, since the latter “doesn’t hold his word”.

The Ukrainian leader made the remarks to CNN in an interview on Wednesday night amid intense fighting in Bakhmut, which according to Zelensky will pave an “open road” for Russian troops to capture key areas if they are able to seize the besieged eastern city.

Regarding talks with the Russian side, Zelensky said that they cannot currently envisage a situation in which he would meet Putin.

“We don’t have any circumstances to talk to the Russian Federation president because he doesn’t hold his word,” he told CNN.

“We don’t have any confidence in him. Russia should leave our territory. And after that, we’re happy to join the diplomatic tools. In order to do that, we can find any format with our partners just after that.”

While defending his decision to keep Ukrainian forces in Bakhmut, the President said: “This is tactical for us… We understand that after Bakhmut they could go further. They could go to Kramatorsk, they could go to Sloviansk, it would be open road for the Russians after Bakhmut to other towns in Ukraine, in the Donetsk direction. That’s why our guys are standing there.”

Although Bakhmut does not hold significant strategic value in itself, its road connections to Kramatorsk and Sloviansk — two densely populated, industrial urban hubs to the northwest — mean those cities could be next in Russia’s crosshairs if they are able to take control.

After being pounded by Russia for over seven months, Bakhmut Deputy Mayor Oleksandr Marchenko has said that there were just a few thousand civilians left living in underground shelters with no water, gas or power.

“The city is almost destroyed… There is not a single building that has remained untouched in this war,” he was quoted as saying.

But Ukrainian troops have also mounted a dogged defence of the area, stalling Russia’s progress.

Zelensky told CNN that his motivations to keep the city are “so different” to Russia’s objectives.

“We understand what Russia wants to achieve there. Russia needs at least some victory, a small victory, even by ruining everything in Bakhmut, just killing every civilian there.”

He said that if Russia is able to “put their little flag” on top of Bakhmut, it would help “mobilise their society in order to create this idea they’re such a powerful army”.

In the interview, the Ukrainian leader also spoke about how he and his family are dealing with the ongoing war, which completed a year on February 24.

“My daughter joined the university and she studies there, and my son is attending school in Ukraine. They’re both in Ukraine. They’re very much like other Ukrainian kids. We live with sirens.

“We want victory. We don’t want to get used to war, but we got used to the challenges. Everyone wants one thing — to end the war,” he told CNN.

ALSO READ: Guterres to meet Zelensky in Kiev

Categories
-Top News Europe India News

Fajon pins hope on India to stop Russia-Ukraine war

India has to play the role of the country that protects the basic rules of solidarity & democracy in the world,” said Fajon..reports Asian Lite News

Deputy Prime Minister of Slovenia, Tanja Fajon on Saturday pinned her hope on India to stop the Russia-Ukraine war by negotiating for peace between the two sides.

“The brutal Russian aggression in Ukraine has affected the whole world. I support all efforts that can bring together all sides to start negotiations for peace. India has to play the role of the country that protects the basic rules of solidarity & democracy in the world,” said Fajon, Dy PM and Minister of Foreign and European Affairs, Slovenia. This is not the first time that a minister of a country has highlighted that India can play a central role in ending the hostilities between Russia and Ukraine.

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni on Thursday said that India as president of G20 may play a central role in facilitating the negotiation process for cessation of hostilities for “just peace” in Ukraine.

“We hope that India having a G20 presidency can play a central role in facilitating a negotiating process for the cessation of hostilities (in Ukraine). Keeping the multilateral community together is important and we hope the Indian presidency can do it even more,” the Italian PM said.

Bangladesh State Minister for Foreign Affairs, Shahriar Alam on Friday said that India can play a critical role in resolving the Ukraine conflict.

“India is in talking terms with both the parties of the war, that gives India’s Presidency a unique position to bring, invite, work hard to bring them on the table and find a possible solution,” said Alam.

Moreover, international political strategist, Actum, US, Vlada Galan said that Raisina Dialogue is an incredible event and it brings together decision makers across the world.

“India finds a unique position as a peacemaker. India is trusted from both sides in the equation both with the US and other international key stakeholders,” said Galan.

“India has to take steps as it has an amazing position as an international peacemaker and it is much much more trusted than China. India can do much more. It’s Centre of Dialogue,” added the international political strategist. (ANI)

ALSO READ: Breather for Pakistan as China approves $1.3b rollover

Categories
-Top News Europe

Spanish Foreign Minister hails India’s effort  

Speaking further about the meeting, Jose said that he addressed issues like terrorism, cyber security, and climate change and also mentions the economic and global effects that the ongoing conflict had on the World…reports Asian Lite News

Hailing India’s effort in calling for peace amidst the Russia-Ukraine war, Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares Bueno said that India is doing a great job when it comes to bridging the gap between the West and Russia and he hoped that peace will be maintained within the principles of United Nations Charter.

“India is doing a great effort to bring us together, to do the most, to allow us to express all points of view and I hope that we will all be united around peace and peace within the principles of the United Nations charter”, said the Minister in response to ANI. When asked about his expectations of the joint statement post the meeting, the minister said that he doesn’t think that Russians are in the mood of doing it.

“The speech that I have heard and seen from the Russian Foreign Minister, I don’t think that Russia is ready to accept an acceptable statement. A statement that calls for peace and justice, for peace within the principles of the UN Charter. So, it is up to them but I don’t think that they are in the mood of doing it”, he said.

Speaking further about the meeting, Jose said that he addressed issues like terrorism, cyber security, and climate change and also mentions the economic and global effects that the ongoing conflict had on the World.

“We have also claimed that this war has an economic, social, and global effect and of course. Spain is eager to help all countries that are suffering from the security and energy crisis. We have large development funds to make sure that all that we are doing for Ukraine, as long as it’s needed is not to the detriment of Africa or Latin America”, said the Minister.

“I have addressed some of the global phenomena like Terrorism and cyber security, climate change. We need multilateralism, we need G20. Right now the war in Ukraine is not only a threat to Ukraine but it’s also a threat to multilateralism and to the basic principles of the multilateral world”, he added. (ANI)

ALSO READ-Spain passes Europe’s first paid ‘menstrual leave’ law

Categories
-Top News EU News Europe

Nuclear escalation a growing risk in Ukraine war

It makes all strategists wonder if the West is treating Russian warnings as bluff or a cornered Russia may press the wrong nuclear button, if NATO continues to take Putin for granted and goes ahead catering to Zelensky’s unending wish list? … writes Major General S.B. Asthana

As the war in Ukraine completed one year last week, both sides put up a brave front, reiterating their resolve to carry on, blaming the other side for the conflict, and engaging in greater miscalculations with a hope that a little extra push can put them in a stronger position to dictate terms to the other side.

However, chasing such a mirage increases the risk of an unprecedented escalation by ignoring serious warnings from both sides. After a surprise stopover in Kiev announcing $460 million in military aid, US President Joe Biden made a strong pitch in Poland for support for Ukraine, despite the commotion caused by the ongoing Russia-China military drill in South Africa.

This was in response to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s announcement that he would suspend participation in New START, the only remaining major nuclear arms control treaty with the US, in his annual state of the nation address on February 21.

As the US-led NATO, fighting a proxy war on the shoulders of Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky, announced sending battle tanks and long-range offensive weapons, the sensitivity to the risk of nuclear escalation is not hidden, as President Biden said no to fighter jets and asked Russia to respect the last of the nuclear pacts with the US.

NATO is divided on fighter aircraft support, additional sanctions, and swift inclusion of Ukraine into EU, leave aside NATO’s bid, which first led to Zelensky’s showdown with Putin.

Even with NATO’s information campaign reiterating Ukraine’s victory, attaining an end state as it existed before February 24, 2022 must be considered nothing less than a pipe dream for Ukraine.

Russians have picked up momentum in the eastern region to speed up their gains before tanks and other offensive weapons arrive in Ukraine, besides the Stalingrad vows on the 80th anniversary of the Soviet victory in World War II, with a gentle reminder that response to tanks may well be in other domains.

With the heavy burden of economic cost and casualties, Russia too is struggling with achieving its desired end to the conflict. It makes all strategists wonder if the West is treating Russian warnings as bluff or a cornered Russia may press the wrong nuclear button, if NATO continues to take Putin for granted and goes ahead catering to Zelensky’s unending wish list?



The big power contestation in Ukraine has few stark realities which both sides are hesitating to accept.

First, Russia with its large arsenal of nuclear weapons and hypersonic missiles under Putin will not get annihilated/decisively defeated without using any of these weapons. Second, the US will not risk the annihilation of Washington/New York to save Zelensky/Poland.

Third, Russia will not be able to annihilate Ukraine supported by NATO without a serious internal breakdown, and holding on to captured territory without local support will be a long-term challenge.

Fourth, Europe will not be more secure and prosperous, as it was before February 2022, as it did not pay heed to Russian security concerns and fell prey to American design of cutting off its dependency on Russia.

With no clear understanding of the ultimate goal that either side intends to achieve to put an end to the war, the dimensions of war are growing to encompass targeting dual-use key infrastructure, the energy grid, covert operations, an expanded information war, and a psychological offensive.



Russian Calculations

In the context of the realities mentioned above, Russian calculation is based on the premise that NATO will stop short of nuclear escalation; hence nuclear references have credible deterrence value, as NATO hasn’t openly admitted its direct involvement, notwithstanding its experts operating in Ukraine under the garb of volunteers/contractors.

Russian calculation of freezing Europe in winters has outlived its currency as Europe has finally survived existing winter with reduced energy supply from Russia.

Heavy casualties of men and material, economic setback due to sanctions, and inadequate inflow of war material from outside has taken its toll in the last one year, straining its surge capability of defence production to sustain war.

Surely, Russia seems to have miscalculated/under-estimated Ukraine’s resolve to defend itself and NATO’s resolve to support Ukraine so far.

The fresh supply of weapons can adversely impact its ongoing operations; hence, Russia’s strategy to speed up the offensive by capturing important communication hubs such as Bakhmut, before newly-promised tanks, armoured vehicles, air defence equipment and Ground Launched Small Diameter Bomb (GLSDB) with longer ranges (each worth US $2.2 billion) are effective in the battlefield, makes sense.

Russia is nowhere close to achieving its strategic aim of liberating the entire Donbass region and southern Ukraine to join up with Transnistria to landlock Ukraine. However, consolidating to retain its gains with renewed offensive, and efforts to improve its territorial disposition for better end state on conflict termination, seem to be a practical approach for Russia.

From the Russian point of view, Ukraine’s energy grid and essential services are as much legitimate targets as the Russian bridge to Crimea or Nord Stream pipelines are; hence, standoff attacks on it will continue to be more impactful than casualty-prone close combat operations in pro-Ukrainian areas.

Russia knows its limitations in economic, diplomatic, information warfare, and political warfare, which are heavily skewed in favour of the US-led NATO and Ukraine and the collective conventional might of NATO is stronger than its residual combat power; hence, the option to use nuclear weapons, in case of existential threat, will continue to be a powerful tool to prevent NATO from entering into a contact war with Russia in the future too.


Strategy of US-led NATO

The Munich Conference earlier this month revealed that NATO is caught in a quagmire wherein it would like the war to be confined to Ukraine, for which it has no choice but to support it ‘for as long as it takes’.

It can’t afford any spillover of war to any NATO country, as that will imply existential threat to Russia leading it to an awkward choice of nuclear catastrophe or selectively shying away from NATO’s security obligations to the affected members as the US may not be ready to risk Washington/New York to save Poland/Ukraine.

NATO, therefore, echoes that Russia must not win; hence, boosting Ukraine’s will to continue fighting by creating a hope of winning an unwinnable war seems to be its calculation with a willing Zelensky to do so.

NATO is incrementally upgrading the military support to Ukraine as per the wish list of Zelensky up to the point of weakening Russia to the extent that it doesn’t remain in a position to attack any NATO member in the conventional domain, despite leakages due to corruption in Ukraine.

The fact that NATO hasn’t responded to the ‘Wings for Freedom’ request of Zelensky is a case in point. The argument of supplying offensive weapons for defending purposes to Ukraine is unlikely to be bought by Russia, which will view it as an escalation.

NATO, however, seems to be testing Putin’s patience with a calculation that he too may shy away from escalating the war to the nuclear dimension, resulting in greater staying power for Zelensky.

The US-led NATO’s calculation of the meagre $2 trillion economy of Russia crumbling against the collective $30 trillion economic might of NATO through crippling sanctions hasn’t worked.

Russia has not only endured the sanctions, but according to the IMF, it is expected to grow by 2.1 per cent in 2024, in comparison to America’s 1 per cent, EU’s 1.6 per cent, and the UK’s negative growth.

It goes to prove that resource-rich Russia will find buyers for its raw materials irrespective of sanctions. The biggest hypocrisy is that the US and EU continued to buy more nuclear fuel from Russia in the last one year, even as they announced stricter sanctions to impress Zelensky!

That the idea of isolating Russia has met with only limited success is evident from the growing Russia-China-Iran-North Korea nexus and the ongoing Russia-China-South Africa military drill that has left NATO sulking.

Purely from the US point of view, it has achieved some of its objectives.

Nord Stream 1 and 2 have been successfully knocked off, if Seymor Hersh is to be believed, and Russia’s influence over the EU is diminishing. The EU is compelled to keep purchasing its expensive oil and military equipment from the US and major contracts to rebuild Ukraine are likely to be lucrative gains.

In the context of waging a ‘Shadow War’, the suffering of the Ukrainian people become conceptually irrelevant for the US in winning without fighting, if interpreted as per the writings of Sean McFate.

The gains, however, are not without long-term costs to the US. The global race to adopt trading methodology independent of dollars is growing at the fastest pace. BRICS is looking for a common currency and its own expansion, just like the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO).

The EU’s over-reliance on the US for security since World War II has left it with no choice but to give up its economic and energy interests to seek the security shelter of the US. Some countries like Hungary are already expressing their opposition to providing Ukraine with unending material support.

Reeling under unprecedented inflation, and burdened with millions of refugees, the EU will have to raise its defence budget, besides surrendering some sovereign decisions to the US, to counter unfriendly Russia in the long run.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy President of Ukraine.(photo:Facebook)



Does Ukraine Have Options?

Ukraine, under martial law since the beginning of the war, has no choice but to continue fighting as any compromise will jeopardise Zelensky’s survival, who is overly obligated to turn Washington’s plans into action. The cumulative aid of more than $100 billion poured into Ukraine and the rhetoric of Ukraine winning this war has emboldened Zelensky, giving him an unrealistic hope of defeating Russia to get back his entire territory; hence, he refuses to talk to Putin.

Ukraine has lost more than 15 per cent of its territory in this war, which has also displaced six million-plus people internally, sent nearly eight million refugees outside the country, inflicted significant casualties and destroyed half of its energy infrastructure.

Regaining lost territory from the Russians will be difficult, if not impossible. They seem to be digging in for a protracted war, irrespective of the military resources provided by NATO, because if Russia has found it difficult to make decisive progress, the situation for Ukraine can be no different.

China a Wild Card Entry?

The US is speculating about Chinese military hardware support to Russia in view of the ‘Strategic Partnership with No Limit’. It is also relevant in the context of the Sino-Russian footprints in the Arctic region and the North Atlantic Ocean. It has threatened China with sanctions. China, however, is unlikely to compromise its largest consumer market in the US and the EU; hence, it will make its own choice.

It is mocking the US as morally not qualified to issue orders, having sent billions of dollars in aid to fuel this war and its history of invasions in Iraq and Libya. It is also keeping the US guessing by offering a peace proposal, which it knows the US/Ukraine will never agree to. China has sent its top foreign policy official, Wang Yi, to Russia to keep the possibility of an agreement to end the war alive.

How the Ukraine War May Pan Out

A hard tug-of-war in an otherwise stalemate situation in Ukraine will continue with each side hoping for better gains to secure a better position for talks, putting on a brave front despite suffering war fatigue.

Globally, the people want the war to end, as it is hurting everyone by inflationary pressures, unprecedented energy and food crisis, especially those who have no relation with this war.

Russia is speeding up its offensive before additional arsenal makes its task of achieving strategic objectives even more difficult. On the other side, the political hierarchy of the US-led NATO finds the ongoing proxy war, without sharing any burden of body bags, as a convenient option to weaken Russia and keep the war restricted to Ukraine.

NATO seems inclined to let Finland join it to secure its northern flank, even if Sweden’s bid is being blocked by Turkey. Russia, therefore, might end up with an extension of its direct land border with NATO by more than 1,000 km with Finland joining the alliance as the final end state, an outcome which it wanted to avoid.

NATO’s military backing of Ukraine may not secure victory, but it might lead it to long-term changes in its territorial boundary, an endless proxy war, and a consistent long-term Russian threat.

Zelensky has no choice but to continue fighting the war, with western propaganda depicting him as the undisputed winner, as long as the US desires. Pentagon professionals know that ultimately Ukraine will have to make some compromises to its territorial integrity, as it is not possible to fully evict the Russians from there. But NATO would like to delay such an outcome till as late as possible.

(A former DG Infantry of the Indian Army, the author is a strategic and security analyst who is also on the faculty of The United Service Institution of India. He can be reached by email at shashiasthana29@gmail.com)

ALSO READ: G20 FMs meet: Ukraine conflict set to top agenda, says India

Categories
-Top News EU News Europe

Russia launches massive missile attacks on Ukraine

Ukraine’s military said 69 missiles were launched, with air defences intercepting 54 of them….reports Asian Lite News

Cities across Ukraine were targeted by the latest wave of Russian missile strikes, deemed to be one of the largest bombardments since the war began on February 24, authorities said.

Thursday’s strikes followed overnight attacks with kamikaze drones across the war-torn nation, Xinhua news agency quoted the Ukrainian Air Force Command as saying in a social media post.

Ukraine’s military said 69 missiles were launched, with air defences intercepting 54 of them.

Earlier, presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak had said more than 120 missiles had been launched at civilian infrastructure.

Media reports said air raid sirens rang out across the country and in Kiev sounded for five hours.

At least least three people, including a 14-year-old girl, were injured as a result of the impact of a strike on a private residence in Kiev’s southeastern Darnytskyi district, the capital’s Mayor Vitali Klitschko said.

At least four S-300 missiles hit critical infrastructure facilities in the city of Kharkiv in the east of Ukraine, Kharkiv regional governor Oleg Sinegubov said.

Local authorities also reported explosions in the Lviv region in the west, and in the Poltava region in the central part of the country.

In the southern Odesa region, fragments of a cruise missile fell on a residential building, Kyrylo Tymoshenko, deputy head of the Ukrainian president’s office, said on Telegram.

Eyewitnesses reported strong blasts in the northwest of the Ukrainian capital and its outskirts, and according to some people in Kiev, glass was shaking in apartment buildings, it said.

Dozens of Russian attacks have pounded Ukraine in recent weeks, causing repeated power cuts across the country.

Ukraine’s Energy Minister Herman Halushchenko said THursday’s strikes had damaged power generating facilities and said the situation was “difficult” in the Odesa and Kyiv regions.

The mayor of Lviv said on Thursday that 90 per cent of his city was without power, while Klitschko said that 40 per cent of Kiev had been left without power.

Power cuts were also reported in the Odesa and Dnipropetrovsk regions.

Thursday’s attack came just hours after the Kremlin rejected Ukraine’s suggestion that peace talks could begin in 2023.

ALSO READ: Saudi vows support to resolve Ukraine crisis politically

Categories
-Top News Europe

Putin to bring AI-assisted drones for future wars

Putin, who is also the Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Armed Forces, stated that though Moscow has “good experience” in developing unique underwater UAVs, reports Ateet Sharma

After having seen the significant role that weaponised drones are playing in its ongoing conflict with Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday listed the improvement of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) as an “urgent task” for the country’s defence industry going into 2023.

Chairing the annual meeting of the Board of the Defence Ministry in Moscow, Putin, who is also the Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Armed Forces, stated that though Moscow has “good experience” in developing unique underwater UAVs, there is every opportunity to create a wide range of air and ground unmanned vehicles with the best, highest performance characteristics, including elements of artificial intelligence.

“An urgent task is to improve unmanned aerial vehicles, including strategic and reconnaissance-strike, as well as ways to use them. The experience of a special military operation has shown that the use of drones has become almost universal, and such an arsenal of means should be in combat squads, platoons, companies, battalions,” Putin told the gathering of top Russian Generals, including Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu.

The Russian President emphasised linking UAVs to each other, integrating them into a single reconnaissance network, and having secure communication channels with the headquarters and commanders. The target, he insisted, should be detected as quickly as possible and information transmitted to strike in real-time.

“Already in the near future, every fighter should have the opportunity to receive information transmitted from drones. This is what we need to go for, this is what we need to strive for. Technically, this can be implemented in the very near future, practically already now. I ask you to pay special attention to this when finalizing the entire complex of equipment and tactical equipment of personnel,” said Putin.

Russia has been accused by Ukraine of using Iranian-made Kamikaze Shahed-136 drones – also known as Geranium-2 – which is quite hard to detect even on military radars.

The meeting, which Putin pointed out was taking place at “a very important period” for Russia, summed up the results of the activities of the country’s armed forces in 2022 and deliberated on tasks for the next year.

Revealing that the level of modern weapons in the Russian strategic nuclear forces has already exceeded 91 percent this year, Putin also stressed on improving the combat readiness of the nuclear triad.

“This is the main guarantee of preserving our sovereignty and territorial integrity, strategic parity, and the overall balance of power in the world,” he insisted and added that work continues on the development of hypersonic missile systems “that are unique in their characteristics and have no analogues in the world”.

As he spoke on expanding the arsenals of modern strike weapons, Putin also listed the importance of increasing the combat capabilities of Russian aerospace forces, including the number of fighters and bombers when they operate in the coverage area of modern air defence systems.

Another point that the Russian President made during the meeting was the necessity to improve the communication system in order to ensure the stability and efficiency of troop command and control in any conditions.

“To do this, more actively use artificial intelligence technologies at all levels of decision-making. As experience shows, including recent months, the most effective weapons systems are those that operate quickly and almost automatically,” he remarked.

Shoigu, during his presentation, said that attempts to isolate Russia have failed as Moscow continues to expand the geography of international military and military-technical cooperation.

The Russian Ministry of Defence, he told Putin, is developing relations with the armed forces of 109 states in Asia, Africa, the Middle East and Latin America.

ALSO READ: Russia to continue to strengthen armed forces: Putin

Categories
-Top News Europe USA

N-power industry’s dependence on Russia an issue

The energy crisis triggered by the war in Ukraine has renewed interest in nuclear power…Reports Asian Lite News

US firms developing a new generation of small nuclear power plants to help cut carbon emissions have a big problem: only one company sells the fuel they need, and it’s Russian.

That’s why the US government is urgently looking to use some of its stockpile of weapons-grade uranium to help fuel the new advanced reactors and kick-start an industry it sees as crucial for countries to meet global net-zero emissions goals.

“Production of HALEU is a critical mission and all efforts to increase its production are being evaluated,” a spokesperson for the US Department of Energy (DOE) said.

The energy crisis triggered by the war in Ukraine has renewed interest in nuclear power. Backers of smaller, next-generation reactors say they are more efficient, quicker to build, and could turbocharge the shift away from fossil fuels.

But without a reliable source of the high assay low enriched uranium (HALEU) the reactors need, developers worry they won’t receive orders for their plants. And without orders, potential producers of the fuel are unlikely to get commercial supply chains up and running to replace the Russian uranium.

“We understand the need for urgent action to incentivize the establishment of a sustainable, market-driven supply of HALEU,” the DOE spokesperson said.

The US government is in the final stages of evaluating how much of its inventory of 585.6 tonnes of highly enriched uranium to allocate to reactors, the spokesperson said.

The fact that Russia has a monopoly on HALEU has long been a concern for Washington but the war in Ukraine has changed the game, as neither the government nor the companies developing the new advanced reactors want to rely on Moscow.

HALEU is enriched to levels of up to 20%, rather than around 5% for the uranium that powers most nuclear plants. But only TENEX, which is part of Russian state-owned nuclear energy company Rosatom, sells HALEU commercially at the moment.

While no Western countries have sanctioned Rosatom over Ukraine, mainly because of its importance to the global nuclear industry, U.S. power plant developers such as X-energy and TerraPower don’t want to be dependent on a Russian supply chain.

“We didn’t have a fuel problem until a few months ago,” said Jeff Navin, director of external affairs at TerraPower, whose chairman is billionaire Bill Gates. “After the invasion of Ukraine, we were not comfortable doing business with Russia.”

Nuclear power currently generates about 10% of the world’s electricity and many countries are now exploring new nuclear projects to improve their energy supply and energy security, as well as to help meet goals for cutting greenhouse gas emissions.

But with large-scale projects still challenging for reasons including huge up-front costs, project delays, cost overruns and competition from cheaper energy sources such as wind, several developers have proposed so-called small modular reactors (SMR).

While the SMRs on offer from companies such as EDF and Rolls-Royce use existing technology and the same fuel as traditional reactors, nine out of 10 of the advanced reactors funded by Washington are designed to use HALEU.

Proponents say these advanced plants need less frequent refuelling and are three times as efficient as traditional models. Some analysts say this means they will ultimately overtake conventional nuclear technology, though the designs have yet to be tested on a commercial scale.

ALSO READ: US targets Russian military procurement network

Categories
-Top News USA

US targets Russian military procurement network

Some of the equipment was recovered on battlefields in Ukraine, the Justice Department said, and other nuclear proliferation technology was intercepted in Latvia before it could be shipped to Russia…reports Asian Lite News

The Biden administration on Wednesday announced a round of criminal charges and sanctions related to a complicated scheme to procure military technologies from U.S. manufacturers and illegally supply them to Russia for its war in Ukraine.

Some of the equipment was recovered on battlefields in Ukraine, the Justice Department said, and other nuclear proliferation technology was intercepted in Latvia before it could be shipped to Russia.

The Justice Department charged nearly a dozen people in separate cases in New York and Connecticut, including Russian nationals accused of purchasing sensitive military technologies from U.S. companies and laundering tens of millions of dollars for wealthy Russian businessmen; Latvians accused of conspiring to smuggle equipment to Russian and oil brokers for Venezuela accused of working on illicit deals for a Venezuelan state-owned oil company.

“As I have said, our investigators and prosecutors will be relentless in their efforts to identify, locate, and bring to justice those whose illegal acts undermine the rule of law and enable the Russian regime to continue its unprovoked invasion of Ukraine,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement.

Five of the defendants charged in New York are Russian nationals, and two have been arrested. Two others are oil brokers for Venezuela.

All four defendants in the Connecticut case — three Latvians and one Ukrainian — were taken into custody months ago at the request of U.S. authorities.

They are accused of conspiring to smuggle a jig grinder, a high-precision grinding machine, that was manufactured in Connecticut to Russia. The equipment requires a license for export or reexport to Russia.

The criminal charges complement the latest round of Biden administration sanctions targeting Russia.

(Photo Pexels Aaron Schwartz)

The Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control announced sanctions Wednesday against one of the men charged by the Justice Department, designating Yury Orekhov and two of his firms, Nord-Deutsche Industrieanlagenbau GmbH and Opus Energy Trading LLC, for procuring advanced semiconductors and microprocessors used in fighter aircraft and ballistic and hypersonic missile systems among other military uses.

Orekhov and the firms ultimately sent the materials to Russian end-users, including companies designated by various federal agencies, in violation of U.S. export controls. Prosecutors say Orekhov was arrested in Germany. It was not immediately clear if he had a lawyer who could speak on his behalf.

The Justice Department, Federal Bureau of Investigation, and Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control worked in coordination to identify the Russian network.

Along with sanctions on members of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s inner-circle, the U.S. has frozen Russian Central Bank funds and imposed aggressive export controls.

The latest effort is dedicated to preventing Russia from procuring military technologies.

Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo said in a statement Wednesday that Russia has increasingly struggled to get the technologies it needs to sustain the war “thanks to the unprecedented sanctions and export controls imposed by our broad coalition of partners and allies.”

“We know these efforts are having a direct effect on the battlefield,” he said, “as Russia’s desperation has led them to turn to inferior suppliers and outdated equipment.”

Information from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, presented Friday at the Treasury Department, said Russia has lost more than 6,000 pieces of equipment since the beginning of the war in late February and is turning to Iran and North Korea for supplies.

Russia is reliant on foreign production machinery and ongoing banking sanctions have undercut the Kremlin’s ability to obtain financing for importing military equipment, the ODNI said.

Martial law in former Ukrainian regions

Martial law has been imposed in the four regions that recently voted to become part of Russia amid the conflict with Ukraine.

Russian President Vladimir Putin announced the decision on Wednesday.

The Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics, as well as Kherson and Zaporozhye regions, already had martial law in place when they became part of Russia, Putin said.

So, the decision provides the legal basis for it to remain in place under Russian sovereignty, he said during a meeting of the National Security Council.

The document signed by Putin introduces martial law starting midnight on Thursday. It also orders various parts of the Russian government to submit corresponding action plans within three days.

In a separate decree signed on Wednesday, the Russian President ordered a state of ‘mid-level response’ in several other parts of the country bordering Ukraine.

These include the Crimean Republic, the city of Sevastopol, as well as Krasnodar, Belgorod, Bryansk, Voronezh, Kursk and Rostov regions. This is a special regime that gives officials additional authority to ensure security and rapid reaction to any emergencies.

People in the four former Ukrainian regions voted in referendums last month to ask Moscow to accept them as part of Russia. Kiev rejected the votes as illegitimate and pledged to use military force to seize the regions.

Earlier on Wednesday, officials in Kherson region reported that Ukrainian troops appeared to be deploying for a large-scale offensive against the capital, Kherson.

The regional administration announced this week the relocation of residents from the city to the eastern side of the Dnieper river due to the threat posed by Kiev’s forces.

ALSO READ: UAE, Russia’s foreign ministries hold political consultations