Tag: Russia

Putin signals impatience over Ukraine war in commander switch

PARIS, France (AFP) – President Vladimir Putin’s move to replace his top commander in Ukraine is a sign of military disarray and his growing impatience in a war Russia is not winning, analysts said. The defense ministry in Moscow said Wednesday it had, again, replaced its top commander in Ukraine, putting army chief of staff Valery Gerasimov in charge. His predecessor, Sergei Surovikin, a veteran of Moscow’s wars since the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, will become […]

Zelensky promises ‘everything necesary’ to defend Soledar from Russia

by Susannah WALDEN Agence France-Presse BAKHMUT, Ukraine (AFP) — President Volodymyr Zelensky said Thursday that Ukrainian forces defending Bakhmut and Soledar in the east would be armed with everything they need to keep Russian troops at bay in some of the bloodiest battles of the war. Kyiv said earlier its troops were fighting to retain control of the now-battered industrial towns in the east, which Russian mercenaries claimed earlier this week to have taken. The […]

Fate of Ukraine’s Soledar uncertain as Wagner claims control

by Susannah WALDEN Agence France-Presse KRAMATORSK, Ukraine (AFP) — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Wednesday that fighting was still raging in a key eastern frontline city that a Russian mercenary group earlier said it controlled, as Moscow announced a new military commander in Ukraine. The fate of Soledar in eastern Ukraine was uncertain after Russian group Wagner claimed it controlled the gateway town — but the Kremlin cautioned against declaring victory prematurely. And in his […]

Russia to send rocket to rescue crew from ISS

  Moscow, Russia (AFP) Russia said Wednesday it would send a rescue capsule next month for three crew members of the International Space Station, after a meteorite damaged the spacecraft that was due to return them to Earth. The Russian space agency, Roscosmos, made the announcement after examining the flight worthiness of the Soyuz MS-22 crew capsule docked with the ISS that sprang a leak in December. On Wednesday, Roscosmos said the spacecraft that was originally set […]

Russia hits Ukraine’s Kharkiv after German minister visits

by Oleksandr YANOVSKY Agence France-Presse KHARKIV, Ukraine (AFP) — Russian strikes hit eastern Ukraine’s city of Kharkiv late Tuesday, the regional governor said, just hours after a surprise visit by the German foreign minister with her Ukrainian counterpart. Annalena Baerbock vowed further German support for Kyiv on her unannounced trip, but Ukraine’s top diplomat Dmytro Kuleba said Berlin’s refusal to send his country battle tanks was costing lives. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz recently agreed to […]

URGENT: Western arms ‘prolong suffering’ of Ukrainians: Kremlin

Moscow, Russia (AFP) The Kremlin on Monday said moves by France and other Western countries to supply Ukraine with weapons — including light tanks — would only make life more difficult for Ukrainians. “Fundamentally, these deliveries cannot and will not change anything… (they) can only prolong the suffering of the Ukrainian people,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters in response to a question on France’s decision last week to send armoured vehicles to Ukraine. French […]

Russia captured east Ukraine village near Bakhmut: separatists

Moscow, Russia (AFP) Russian-backed separatist forces in the eastern Donetsk region of Ukraine said Monday they had seized a village near the key city of Bakhmut that Moscow has been trying to capture for months. The village of Bakhmutske in “the territory of the Donetsk People’s Republic was liberated by the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation,” on Monday, read a statement from separatist authorities on Telegram. AFP could not independently verify these claims. The […]

‘Sacred goal’: Russia paints Ukraine assault in spiritual terms

MOSCOW, Russia (AFP) — Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill, a powerful ally of President Vladimir Putin, is embracing the rhetoric of the mediaeval crusades in urging support for Moscow’s offensive in eastern Ukraine. When Pope Urban ordered the first crusade to the Middle East in 1095, he told Christians to rise up and defend fellow believers, promising that their sins would be wiped away. Nearly 10 centuries later, Kirill has called on believers to support pro-Russian […]

Aid from two World Bank entities hit record $75 bn in 2022

WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) – Two World Bank entities provided a record $75 billion in financing last year, said a letter by its president, as developing countries faced crises like climate change and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The aid comes as countries emerging from the Covid-19 pandemic were hit by fallout from war in Ukraine and surging inflation, while climate change brought further devastation, said World Bank President David Malpass in a letter seen by AFP. […]

Russia says toll from Ukraine strike rises to 89

MOSCOW, Russia (AFP) — The toll from a Ukrainian New Year strike in Makiivka has risen to 89, Moscow said Wednesday, after Russians gathered to mourn the troops in a rare public display of anger and grief. Russia said in the early hours of Wednesday that more bodies had been found under the rubble in the town of Makiivka in the Russian-controlled region of Donetsk and the toll had risen to 89. The defense ministry […]

Russia says scores of soldiers killed in Ukrainian strike

by Robbie COREY-BOULET Agence France-Presse KYIV, Ukraine (AFP) — Russia on Monday said more than 60 soldiers were killed in a Ukrainian strike on Russian-controlled territory in a New Year assault, the biggest loss of life reported by Moscow so far. Kyiv took responsibility for the strike, which it said took place in the occupied city of Makiivka in eastern Ukraine on New Year’s Eve. In a rare announcement that followed criticism by Russian military […]

New air attacks on Kyiv after Russia’s New Year assaults

KYIV, Ukraine (AFP) — A fresh aerial strike targeted Kyiv in the early hours of Monday, after a New Year’s day marked by dozens of Russian assaults that killed at least four people in the capital and other cities. The Ukrainian capital and other cities came under fire from missiles and Iranian-made drones on Saturday, killing three people, and a new attack Sunday killed one in the southern region of Zaporizhzhia. The capital was once […]