Europe

Russia quits Snake Island, weakening blockade of Ukraine ports

by Dmytro Gorshkov with Sebastian Smith in Madrid Agence France-Presse KYIV, Ukraine (AFP) — Russian troops have abandoned their positions on a captured Ukrainian island, a major setback to their invasion effort that weakens their blockade of Ukraine’s ports, defense officials said on Thursday. The news from the Black Sea came as NATO leaders wrapped up their summit in Madrid, with US President Joe Biden announcing $800 million in new weapons to help Ukraine fight […]

First grain ship since offensive leaves Russia-occupied Ukraine port

  MOSCOW, Russia (AFP) — A ship carrying 7,000 tonnes of grain has sailed from Ukraine’s occupied port of Berdyansk, the region’s Moscow-appointed official said on Thursday, marking the first grain shipment since the start of hostilities. “After numerous months of delay, the first merchant ship has left the Berdyansk commercial port, 7,000 tonnes of grain are heading toward friendly countries,” Evgeny Balitsky, the head of the pro-Russia administration, said on Telegram. Russia’s Black Sea […]

No problem’ for Russia if Finland, Sweden join NATO: Putin

  ASHGABAT, Turkmenistan (AFP) — Russia has “no problem” if Finland and Sweden join NATO, President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday. “We don’t have problems with Sweden and Finland like we do with Ukraine,” Putin told a news conference in the Turkmenistan capital of Ashgabat. “We don’t have territorial differences,” the Russian leader continued. “There is nothing that could bother us about Sweden and Finland joining NATO. If Finland and Sweden wish to, they can […]

Russia and China eye NATO’s ‘Arctic Achilles heel’

by Pierre-Henry Deshayes  Agence France-Presse BARENTSBURG, Norway (AFP) — Russian flags flap in the stiff polar breeze, a bust of Lenin looms out of the snow and a vast slogan declares, “Communism is our goal!” No, this is not some time warp Soviet settlement lost in the Arctic wastes, but a corner of Norway where Moscow can — theoretically at least — mine, build, drill and fish what it likes. Welcome to Spitsbergen, the largest island […]

Russia demands Ukraine surrender as NATO readies for Finland, Sweden membership

by Max Delany with Benoit Finck in Kremenchuk Agence France-Presse MADRID, Spain (AFP) — Western allies vowed on Tuesday to boost NATO’s defenses and to back Ukraine to the end as Moscow demanded Kyiv’s surrender. As NATO leaders gathered in Madrid for a summit, alliance chief Jens Stoltenberg said Finland and Sweden would be formally invited to join NATO after Turkey lifted its block on their bids. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had stubbornly refused […]

Russia demands Ukraine surrender as G7 vows to make Moscow pay

KREMENCHUK, Ukraine, June 28, 2022 (AFP)    by Benoit FINCK / with Deborah COLE in Elmau Castle Russia vowed on Tuesday its assault on Ukraine would continue until Kyiv surrenders, as world leaders warned that Moscow would pay for its aggression. The G7 group of the world’s most powerful democracies met in Germany to send a message that they remain united behind Ukraine’s embattled government. And, ahead of a key meeting of the NATO allies, US […]

US implements G7 sanctions targeting Russian military, gold

WASHINGTON, June 28, 2022 (AFP) – Washington announced steps Tuesday to implement the new sanctions on Russia as agreed by G7 leaders, targeting Moscow’s defense industry, raising tariffs and banning gold imports from the country. The latest moves “strike at the heart of Russia’s ability to develop and deploy weapons and technology used for Vladimir Putin’s brutal war of aggression against Ukraine,” the US Treasury Department said in a statement. The sanctions target Rostec, Russia’s […]

G7 urges countries, companies to release food stockpiles

  ELMAU CASTLE, Germany (AFP) — G7 industrialised nations on Tuesday urged countries and companies with large food stockpiles to help ease a hunger crisis sparked by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. “We call on those partners with large food stockpiles, as well as on the private sector, to make food available without distorting the market,” the Group of Seven leaders said in a statement after a summit in Germany. They called “on all countries to […]

Former Nazi camp guard, 101, gets five-year jail sentence

  by David COURBET Agence France Presse A German court on Tuesday handed a five-year jail sentence to a 101-year-old former Nazi concentration camp guard, the oldest person so far to go on trial for complicity in war crimes during the Holocaust. Josef Schuetz was found guilty of being an accessory to murder while working as a prison guard at the Sachsenhausen camp in Oranienburg, north of Berlin, between 1942 and 1945, presiding judge Udo […]

Russia fails to pay debt but denies default

MOSCOW, Russia (AFP) — Russia said Monday that two of its debt payments were blocked from reaching creditors, pushing the country closer to its first foreign default in a century due to sanctions over the Ukraine offensive. The announcement came on the 124th day of Russia’s military intervention in Ukraine, with Western sanctions so far failing to force the Kremlin to change its course. The Western economic penalties have largely severed the country from the […]

One dead as rare tornado tears through Dutch city

by Julie Capelle Agence France-Presse ZIERIKZEE, Netherlands (AFP) — A tornado ripped through a southwestern Dutch city on Monday, killing a woman and injuring nine others in the first fatal twister to hit the country for three decades. The whirlwind left a trail of destruction through the seaside city of Zierikzee, ripping the roofs off homes and toppling trees onto cars, an AFP journalist at the scene said. Images on social media showed debris rotating […]

G7 denounces ‘war crime’ as Russian strike kills shoppers

by Blaise Gauquelin with Michelle Fitzpatrick and Valerie Leroux in Elmau Castle, Germany Agence France-Presse KYIV, Ukraine (AFP) — A Russian missile strike on a crowded mall in central Ukraine killed at least 16 people Monday in what Group of Seven leaders branded “a war crime” at a meeting in Germany where they looked to step up sanctions on Moscow. The leaders vowed that Russian President Vladimir Putin and those responsible would be held to […]