Tag: Ukraine

Security tightened in several Russian regions

MOSCOW, June 24, 2023 (AFP) – The mayor of Moscow said on Saturday that “anti-terror” measures were being taken in the Russian capital after the chief of mercenary group Wagner vowed to bring down the country’s military leadership. Authorities in the regions of Rostov and Lipetsk also said security had been reinforced there. Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin said earlier his units, which spearheaded an assault in eastern Ukraine, had entered the southern region of Rostov. […]

Russian authorities in Lipetsk region announce reinforced security, Rostov residents urged to remain indoors

MOSCOW, June 24, 2023 (AFP) – Russian authorities said Saturday that security measures had been tightened in several regions, after the chief of mercenary group Wagner said his forces had crossed the border from Ukraine. Yevgeny Prigozhin vowed to “go to the end” to topple the Russian military leadership, whom he accused of launching strikes on his men, while the country’s prosecutor general said he was under investigation for “armed rebellion”. “A decision has been […]

Wagner chief vows to topple Russian military leadership

MOSCOW, June 24, 2023 (AFP) – The head of the Wagner mercenary group vowed Saturday to “go to the end” to topple the Russian military leadership, whom he accused of launching strikes on his men, while the country’s prosecutor general said he was under investigation for “armed rebellion”. “We are going onwards and we will go to the end,” Yevgeny Prigozhin, 62, said in an audio message. “We will destroy everything that stands in our […]

Moscow accuses Wagner of stoking ‘civil conflict’

MOSCOW, June 23, 2023 (AFP) – Russian authorities on Saturday accused the head of the Wagner mercenary group of trying to start a “civil conflict” and called for his detention. The FSB security service’s probe into calls to stage an “armed mutiny” came after Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin accused Moscow of targeting his forces with deadly missile strikes and vowed to retaliate. Prigozhin, 62, urged Russians to join his forces and punish Moscow’s military leadership […]

Crimea residents dismiss water concerns after dam blast

By Andrey BORODULIN Agence France-Presse SIMFEROPOL, Ukraine, June 23, 2023 (AFP) – Selling lavender at a train station in Ukraine’s Russian-annexed Crimea, Tatyana Bocharnikova said she was unfazed by the fighting or potential water supply cuts after the destruction of the Kakhovka dam. “The wells are full of water, the river is too and the reservoirs are full,” the 64-year-old said in the peninsula’s regional capital, Simferopol. The Kakhovka dam creates a reservoir which feeds […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

‘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 […]

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 […]