MOSCOW, Feb 15, 2024 (AFP) – Russia on Thursday launched a supply rocket to the International Space Station, one of the rare Russia-US projects kept alive since Russia’s offensive against Ukraine. A Soyuz-2 rocket carrying the Progress MS-26 cargo ship was launched at the Baikonur space centre in Kazakhstan, Russia’s space agency said on its Telegram channel, showing a video of the lift-off. The rocket was due to arrive at the ISS on Saturday, the […]
Tag: Russia
Ukraine drone attack leaves Russia oil depot in flames
MOSCOW, Feb 15, 2024 (AFP) – A night-time Ukrainian drone attack set ablaze a Russian oil depot in the Kursk region near the frontier between the two countries, Russian authorities said Thursday. Regional governor Roman Starovoit said on social media that there were no casualties, appealing to the local population to remain “calm”. “Following a Ukrainian drone attack in the Kursk region, fire has broken out in an oil depot,” Starovoit said on Telegram. Ukraine […]
Ukraine issues air alert after warning of incoming Russian bombers
KYIV, Ukraine, Feb 15, 2024 (AFP) – Ukraine was under a nationwide air alert for over two hours on Thursday after the military warned that a group of bombers had taken off from a base in Russia. The Ukrainian air force reported that several Tu-95MS strategic bombers had left the Olenya airfield in Russia’s far north, prompting the alert to be issued. But it was lifted hours later, with the air force saying in a […]
“Serious” national security alert: Russia building nuclear weapon in space, says US
WASHINGTON, Feb 14, 2024 (AFP) – The United States is facing a new and “serious” national security threat, top officials warned Wednesday, with two media outlets reporting it involves a Russian attempt to build a space-based nuclear capability. ABC News and The New York Times quoted unidentified officials saying that Russia was developing a nuclear, space-based anti-satellite weapon. According to officials quoted in the Times, Russia has not yet deployed such a capability. In public, […]
US House leader rejects Ukraine aid despite Biden’s plea
By Camille CAMDESSUS WASHINGTON, Feb 14, 2024 (AFP) – The Republican leader of the US House of Representatives on Tuesday blocked war aid for Ukraine, ignoring President Joe Biden’s plea that passing the bill was vital for standing up to “Russian dictator” Vladimir Putin. Speaker Mike Johnson, who works closely with Biden’s likely challenger in the November election Donald Trump, told reporters he has no intention even of allowing a vote on the bill. “I […]
Kremlin, Musk deny Russian army using Starlink
KYIV, Ukraine, Feb 13, 2024 (AFP) – The Kremlin on Monday rejected Ukraine’s claims that Russian troops fighting on the frontline were using Starlink internet terminals. Kyiv’s GUR military intelligence agency said it had evidence that the terminals were being used on a “systematic” basis by Russian troops, accusing Moscow of “smuggling” them into the country. Starlink, owned by Elon Musk’s SpaceX, is a network of satellites in low Earth orbit that can provide internet […]
‘There to die’: Nepali mercenaries fight for Russia in Ukraine
By Paavan MATHEMA Nepali mercenaries are fighting for Russia in Ukraine, lured to kill far from their Himalayan homeland by promises of a passport and cash, but wounded returnees warn anyone tempted to join the war: “Do not come.” While Nepali soldiers-for-hire can bank in a month nearly double what they could earn in a year back home, conditions are brutal and many have been killed or wounded. “I watched my friends die in front […]
Russia won’t invade Poland? ‘Zero credibility’, Warsaw says
WARSAW, Feb 9, 2024 (AFP) – Poland’s defence minister said Friday that Russian leader Vladimir Putin had “zero credibility” despite denying any intent to invade Poland amid Moscow’s two-year assault on neighboring Ukraine. Tensions have long been strained between Poland and Russia but deteriorated further after Warsaw threw its weight behind Kyiv in its efforts to fight off Russia’s invasion. In an interview released Thursday with US journalist Tucker Carlson, Putin said it was “out […]
Russian drone attack kills 7, including 3 children in Ukraine’s second city Kharkiv
KHARKIV, Ukraine, Feb 10, 2024 (AFP) – A Russian drone attack on a petrol station in Ukraine’s second city Kharkiv on Saturday killed seven people, including three children, and destroyed nearly half a street, local authorities said. “A whole family of 5 people died in a fire in a private house: a husband and wife and their three children (seven-year-old, four-year-old and seven-month-old boys),” Kharkiv regional governor Oleg Synegubov said on the Telegram social network. […]
Putin tells West: Russia cannot be defeated in Ukraine
By Danny Kemp and Sebastian Smith WASHINGTON, Feb 9, 2024 (AFP) – President Vladimir Putin said in an interview released Thursday with controversial right-wing US talk show host Tucker Carlson that the West should understand it is “impossible” to defeat Russia in Ukraine. In a two-hour interview with the former Fox News host — coming just ahead of the two-year anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine — Putin also said a deal “can be reached” […]
Russian forces storming Ukraine’s Avdiivka en masse
By Daria ANDRIIEVSKA KYIV, Ukraine, Feb 8, 2024 (AFP) – Large numbers of Russian forces are storming the frontline Ukrainian town of Avdiivka, its Ukrainian mayor said Thursday, escalating a months-long effort to capture the industrial hub. Moscow launched a costly bid in October to seize the town, which has been caught up in fighting since 2014, when it briefly fell to Moscow-backed separatists. “Unfortunately, the enemy is pressing from all directions. There is not […]
Russia has created 520,000 new defence jobs, Putin says
MOSCOW, Feb 2, 2024 (AFP) – Russia has created more than half a million new jobs in its defence sector to meet soaring demand on the battlefield, President Vladimir Putin said on Friday. The Kremlin has thrown massive resources at its full-scale assault on Ukraine, with the defence sector accounting for much of the sanction-hit economy’s growth. “In the last year and a half alone, 520,000 new jobs have been created in defence,” Putin told […]





