Tag: conflict

Ukraine forces pushed back from Severodonetsk center

by Anna Malpas with Benoit Finck in Kyiv Agence France-Presse KRAMATORSK, Ukraine (AFP) — Ukraine said Monday its forces had been pushed back from the center of key industrial city Severodonetsk, where President Volodymyr Zelensky said the fighting was taking a “terrifying” toll as casualties soar. With Russia’s 16-week war of attrition pushing Ukrainian resistance to the limit, Kyiv has reiterated its plea for Western nations to provide additional arms to help it contain Moscow’s […]

Amnesty accuses Russia of war crimes in Kharkiv, killing hundreds

KYIV, Ukraine (AFP) — Amnesty International on Monday accused Russia of war crimes in Ukraine, saying attacks on Kharkiv, many using banned cluster bombs, had killed hundreds of civilians. “The repeated bombardments of residential neighborhoods in Kharkiv are indiscriminate attacks which killed and injured hundreds of civilians, and as such constitute war crimes,” the rights group said in a report on Ukraine’s second biggest city. “This is true both for the strikes carried out using […]

Russia’s McDonald’s renamed ahead of grand re-opening

Former McDonald’s restaurants in Russia have been renamed “Vkusno i tochka” (“Delicious. Full Stop”), the new owner said ahead of their grand re-opening later on Sunday. “The new name is Vkusno i tochka,” Oleg Paroyev, the director general of the new group, told a press conference in Moscow. Replete with a new logo to replace the Golden Arches, the restaurant on Moscow’s Pushkin Square — where the very first McDonald’s opened its doors to long […]

Finland to build fences on border with Russia

  HELSINKI, Finland (AFP) — Shaken by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Finland is rushing to beef up security on its border with Russia in order to protect itself from hybrid threats, the interior ministry said Friday. Fearing that Moscow could use migrants to exert political pressure, Helsinki plans legislative amendments that would facilitate the construction of sturdier fences on its 1,300-kilometre (800-mile) eastern border with Russia. “The aim of the proposed law is to improve […]

The Mariupol diary: Ukraine war seen by 8-year-old boy

by Marina Moyseyenko Agence France-Presse ZAPORIZHZHIA, Ukraine (AFP) — The horrors of the bloodiest chapter so far in the Ukraine conflict are poignantly captured in the words and drawings of an eight-year-old boy. Yegor Kravtsov kept a secret diary in Mariupol as Ukrainian forces fought an increasingly desperate defense against Russian troops. Spending weeks in a basement with his family, Yegor filled the pages of a small blue book with an idyllic image of Greece […]

Russian Olympic champion accuses IOC chief of creating ‘new war’

PARIS, France (AFP) — Russian Olympic high jump champion Mariya Lasitskene on Thursday accused IOC president Thomas Bach of having created a “new war” by recommending Russian athletes be banned from international competition. Following the invasion of Ukraine in February, the International Olympic Committee had recommended a ban on Russian and Belarusian athletes, a request followed by most federations. “You say you made this decision for our safety but it’s not true. Russian tennis players who […]

Foreign fighters in Ukraine sentenced to death by pro-Russians

by Quentin Tyberghien  Agence France-Presse LYSYCHANSK, Ukraine (AFP) — Pro-Russian rebels sentenced to death two British fighters and a Moroccan who were captured while fighting for Ukraine, as a Ukrainian governor called for Western arms on Thursday to win the battle for a crucial eastern city. The death sentences come as Moscow concentrates its firepower on the strategic industrial hub of Severodonetsk, where Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said forces are “holding on” amid fierce fighting […]

UN chief warns impact of Ukraine war on world is worsening

UNITED NATIONS, United States (AFP) — UN chief Antonio Guterres said Wednesday that the consequences for the world of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine are worsening, with 1.6 billion people likely to be affect. “The war’s impact on food security, energy and finance is systemic, severe, and speeding up,” the Secretary-General said, presenting the UN’s second report into the repercussions of the conflict. He added that “for people around the world, the war is threatening to unleash […]

OECD, World Bank see lower world growth due to Ukraine war’s ‘hefty price’

  by Jonathan JACOBSEN The OECD warned Wednesday that the world economy will pay a “hefty price” for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as it slashed its 2022 growth forecast and projected higher inflation. The Paris-based organisation, which represents 38 mostly developed countries, is the latest institution to predict lower GDP growth due to the conflict, which has sent food and energy prices soaring. In its latest economic outlook, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development […]

Russia downplays role of Ukraine conflict in food crisis

Russia on Wednesday rejected suggestions that grain stuck in Ukrainian ports was fuelling a global food crisis as Moscow pressed ahead with its military offensive. Moscow’s campaign in the pro-Western country has not only devastated crops and farming, but also disrupted crucial deliveries from Ukraine — one of the world’s main grain producers — fuelling concern about hunger and food prices worldwide. “As far as we know, there is much less grain than the Ukrainians […]

Italy warns Ukraine port blockade could kill ‘millions’

  ROME, Italy (AFP) — Italian Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio warned Wednesday that millions of people could die of hunger unless Russia unblocked Ukraine’s ports, as he hosted Mediterranean ministers on the global food crisis. “The next few weeks will be crucial to resolving the situation,” he said after a virtual meeting involving Turkey and Lebanon among other countries, alongside G7 president Germany and the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation. “I want to say […]

Ukrainian troops may have to retreat from Severodonetsk: governor

Ukrainian troops may have to retreat from the eastern city of Severodonetsk which is being shelled by Russian troops “24 hours a day”, the regional governor said on Wednesday. “It is possible that we will have to retreat” to better fortified positions, Lugansk governor Sergiy Gaiday said in an interview on the TV channel 1+1. “No one is going to surrender Severodonetsk even if our forces have to fall back to better fortified positions,” Gaiday […]