Tag: Russia

Kremlin calls Zelensky’s nuclear plant attack claim a ‘lie’

KYIV, Ukraine, June 22, 2023 (AFP) – Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Thursday that Moscow’s forces were considering launching a “terror attack” at the Russian-controlled Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, a recurring flash point of concern throughout Russia’s invasion. “Intelligence services have received information that Russia is considering the scenario of a terrorist act at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant — a terrorist act with the release of radiation. They have prepared everything for this,” Zelensky said in […]

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Ukraine strike damages Crimea bridge: Russian official

MOSCOW, June 22, 2023 (AFP) — A strike has damaged a bridge linking the annexed Crimean peninsula to a region of southern Ukraine partially occupied by Russia, a Russian official said on Thursday. “During the night a strike hit the Chongar bridge. There are no victims,” Sergei Aksyonov, the Russia-installed governor of Crimea, said on Telegram. The bridge connects Crimea, which Russia annexed from Ukraine in 2014, to the Ukrainian region of Kherson. The Russia-installed […]

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China imports of Russian oil highest since Ukraine invasion: data

BEIJING, June 20, 2023 (AFP) – Chinese imports of Russian oil last month hit their highest level since Moscow’s February 2022 invasion of Ukraine, customs data showed Tuesday, as Beijing offers an economic lifeline to an increasingly isolated Kremlin. China is Russia’s largest economic partner, with trade between them reaching a record $190 billion last year. In May, China imported 9.71 million tonnes of oil from Russia, Beijing said, more than double the amount from […]

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South Africa’s Ramaphosa tells Putin Ukraine ‘war must be settled’

MOSCOW, June 17, 2023 (AFP) – South Africa’s president, in Russia as part of a delegation pushing for peace between Kyiv and Moscow, told his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on Saturday that the fighting had to stop. His delegation put forward a set of principles that the Kremlin deemed “very difficult to implement”, a day after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky ruled out talks with Moscow. The delegation brought the voice of a continent that has […]

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Pres. Putin says sent nuclear warheads to Belarus

MOSCOW, June 16, 2023 (AFP) – President Vladimir Putin on Friday confirmed Russia had sent nuclear arms to its ally Belarus which borders Ukraine. “The first nuclear warheads were delivered to the territory of Belarus… This is the first part,” Putin told an annual economic forum, where AFP and media of other countries Russia deems “unfriendly” were not accredited. The Russian leader had announced the plans to send tactical nuclear weapons — less powerful than […]

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Russian Pres. Vladimir Putin says Ukraine offensive stands ‘no chance’

MOSCOW, June 16, 2023 (AFP) – Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday said Ukraine’s counteroffensive would fail as Kyiv’s troops sought to advance in several directions, including the southeastern region of Zaporizhzhia. “I think that Ukraine’s armed forces stand no chance here, as well as in other directions — I have no doubt about that,” Putin told an annual economic forum in Saint Petersburg. AFP and representatives of other countries the Kremlin deems “unfriendly” were […]

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‘Unprecedented’ security for Putin at St Petersburg forum

MOSCOW, June 16, 2023 (AFP) – Mobile communications were severed Friday in Saint Petersburg in “unprecedented” security measures as President Vladimir Putin attended a global economic forum amid growing Ukrainian attacks on Russian soil. The Roskongress Foundation, the organisers of the forum in Russia’s second city, earlier said internet communication via mobile operators would be blocked. “Use wifi”, said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, linking the heightened security to the threat of attacks from Ukraine. In […]

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Australia blocks new Russian embassy near parliament

By Steven TRASK Agence France-Presse SYDNEY, June 15, 2023 (AFP) — Australia blocked Russia from building a new embassy in the shadow of Parliament House Thursday after intelligence officials warned it posed a spying risk and security threat. Russia holds the lease for a parcel of land some 400 meters (0.25 miles) from Australia’s parliamentary precinct in Canberra and has been laying the foundations for a new embassy building. But, after failing to block the […]

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NATO chief hopes Ukraine offensive will force Russia to negotiate

By Sebastian Smith Agence France-Presse WASHINGTON, United States — NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg told US President Joe Biden at the White House on Tuesday that Western-backed Ukraine is “making progress” in its offensive to push Russia back from occupied territories. “Ukrainians are making progress, are making advances,” he said in the Oval Office. Stoltenberg, visiting ahead of July’s NATO summit in the Lithuanian capital Vilnius, gave insight into how the powerful Western military bloc […]

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Germany says can’t replace all tanks provided to Ukraine

FRANKFURT, Germany, June 13, 2023 (AFP) – Germany will not be able to immediately replace tanks that it is providing to Ukraine, the country’s defence minister has said, as Russia claimed to have destroyed or captured some of them. Berlin earlier this year started sending advanced Leopard battle tanks to Ukraine, after months of pleas from Kyiv for the heavy weapons to bolster its fightback against Russia. Defence Minister Boris Pistorius told broadcaster RTL, in […]

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Russia says German Leopard tanks, US Bradleys captured in Ukraine

MOSCOW, June 13, 2023 (AFP) – Moscow said Tuesday that it had captured several German Leopard tanks and US Bradley infantry fighting vehicles, releasing footage showing Russian troops surveying the equipment supplied to Ukraine by Western countries. “Leopard tanks and Bradley infantry fighting vehicles. These are our trophies. Equipment of the Ukrainian armed forces in the Zaporizhzhia region,” the Russian defence ministry said in a statement. “Servicemen of the Vostok group inspect enemy tanks and […]

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Ukrainian farmers mourn animals and crops lost in flood

By Yulia Silina Agence France-Presse AFANASIYIVKA, Ukraine, June 13, 2023 (AFP) — Yuriy, a 56-year-old Ukrainian farmer, stands chest-deep in water in his village of Afanasiyivka, gazing around in bewilderment. A week ago, he was growing vegetables and fruit and grazing his cows. Now his land in the Mykolaiv region is deep under murky green water. The destruction of the Kakhovka hydroelectric dam has caused massive flooding in the regions of Kherson and Mykolaiv. The […]

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