KYIV, Ukraine: Pro-Kremlin authorities in Ukraine’s Kherson said Wednesday they will ask Russia to annex the region as Moscow seeks to shore up its gains in the increasingly drawn-out and bloody war.
Gas supplies to energy-starved Europe were also disrupted by a halt in Russian supplies flowing through Ukraine as the international shockwaves of the February 24 invasion continued.
The developments came as Ukraine said it was pushing Russian troops away from the country’s second city Kharkiv in the northeast but facing stiff resistance from the invading forces.
Russia has focused on eastern and southern Ukraine since it failed to take Kyiv in the first weeks after the February 24 invasion, and US intelligence has warned Putin is ready for a long war.
Kherson, the first major Ukrainian city to fall after the Russian invasion of its pro-Western neighbor, is north of Crimea, which itself was annexed by Moscow in 2014 after an internationally-condemned vote.
Kirill Stremousov, deputy head of Kherson’s Moscow-installed civilian and military administration, said there would be a “request to make Kherson region a full subject of the Russian Federation.”
Stremousov suggested the authorities would appeal directly to Putin without putting the move to a vote. But the Kremlin replied that it was up to the residents of Kherson to “determine their own fate.”
Kherson is just north of Crimea and essential for its water supplies. But Russia also appears set on creating a land bridge to Crimea from its own territory, with US intelligence suggesting it wants to go all the way across the southern coast to Moldova.
On the battlefield, Ukraine’s forces were boosted by what Kyiv says is the recapture of four villages around Kharkiv.
President Volodymyr Zelensky said in his nightly address Tuesday that he had “good news” from Kharkiv and praised the “superhuman strength” of Ukrainian defenders.
Ukraine’s general staff of the armed forces said Wednesday that “occupiers continue to focus their efforts on preventing the further advance of our troops toward the state border of Ukraine” from Kharkiv.
But Ukraine is engaged in what appears to be an increasingly desperate effort to hold the Russian-speaking Donbas region in the east.
“They come in waves,” volunteer fighter Mykola said of the Russians’ repeated attempts to push south past a strategic river near a rural settlement called Bilogorivka.
Nearby, the casing of a cluster munition stood upright like a fence pole not far from a team of Ukrainian medics rushing a bleeding soldier from the eastern front.
One of the doctors reassured the wincing fighter that the tourniquet being squeezed just above his knee did not mean he was about to lose a part of his leg.
US Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines on Tuesday said Putin was “preparing for prolonged conflict” and “still intends to achieve goals beyond the Donbas.”
The war in Ukraine has also fueled Europe’s growing energy crisis, with Kyiv pressing for an embargo on oil and gas imports from Russia.
Ukraine on Wednesday said Russia had halted gas supplies through a key transit hub in the east of the country, a day after the Ukrainian state energy company Naftogaz said it was no longer responsible for gas coming through Russian-occupied territory.
Germany said inflows of Russian gas had as a result fallen by a quarter compared to a day before, although it was getting extra supplies from Norway and the Netherlands.
Germany is highly dependent on Russia for its gas supplies and has rejected an immediate full embargo on Russian gas, although it backs a halt on Russian oil that the EU is seeking.
Ukraine has been pushing Western countries for more support on all fronts, with Washington the latest to step up.
As President Joe Biden warned that Ukraine would within days likely run out of funds to keep fighting, the US House of Representatives voted late Tuesday to send a $40 billion aid package to the country.
“With this aid package, America sends a resounding message to the world of our unwavering determination to stand with the courageous people of Ukraine until victory is won,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said.
The United States views it as increasingly likely that Putin will mobilize his entire country, including ordering martial law, and is counting on his perseverance to wear down Western support for Ukraine.
As Russia cracks down internally, a member of the band Pussy Riot, Maria Alyokhina, said she had left Russia by disguising herself as a food delivery courier to escape police.
One of the key symbols of Ukrainian resistance has been the strategic port of Mariupol, where Ukraine says around 1,000 troops remain trapped in increasingly dire circumstances at the Azovstal steelworks.
The sprawling plant is the final bastion of Ukraine’s defiance in the devastated city, over which Russia now has almost complete control.
A sister plant of the Azovstal mill in the southern city of Zaporizhzhia has highlighted how the Mariupol facility has proven key to the Ukrainian resistance to the numerically superior Russian force.
“We can stay in the shelters for a long time,” said Zaporizhstal employee Ihor Buhlayev, 20, in his hooded silver safety gear as molten metal flowed and sparked behind him. “I think it will give us the chance to survive.”
One other rallying point for Ukrainians has become the Eurovision song contest, the world’s biggest live music event which takes place this weekend.
Ukraine’s rap folk band Kalush Orchestra is the favorite to win the camp celebration, and they progressed through Tuesday night’s semifinal to ensure they participate in Saturday’s grand final.
“We are here to show that Ukrainian music and Ukrainian culture exists,” frontman rapper Oleh Psiuk said.
Russia urged to annex Ukraine’s Kherson as battles rage
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Russia urged to annex Ukraine’s Kherson as battles rage
- Kirill Stremousov, deputy head of Kherson’s Moscow-installed administration, said there would be a ‘request to make Kherson region a full subject of the Russian Federation’
- President Volodymyr Zelensky said in his nightly address Tuesday that he had ‘good news’ from Kharkiv and praised the ‘superhuman strength’ of Ukrainian defenders
France on the back foot in Africa after Chadian snub
- Chad abruptly ended its defense cooperation pact with France
- Experts say that without Chad, French army will struggle to run other Africa operations
NAIROBI/GENEVA: A French plan to significantly reduce its military presence in West and central Africa risks backfiring and further diminishing the former colonial power’s influence in the region at a time when Russia is gaining ground.
A French envoy to President Emmanuel Macron this week handed in a report with proposals on how France could reduce its military presence in Chad, Gabon and Ivory Coast, where it has deployed troops for decades.
Details of the report have not been made public but two sources said the plan is to cut the number of troops to 600 from around 2,200 now. The sources said Chad would keep the largest contingent with 300 French troops, down from 1,000. However, in a surprise move that caught French officials on the hop, the government of Chad — a key Western ally in the fight against Islamist militants in the region — on Thursday abruptly ended its defense cooperation pact with France. That could lead to French troops leaving the central African country altogether.
“For France it is the start of the end of their security engagement in central and Western Africa,” said Ulf Laessing, director of the Sahel Programme at the Konrad Adenauer Foundation in Mali.
“Chad was the aircraft carrier of the French army, its logistical headquarters. If Chad doesn’t exist, the French army will have a huge problem to keep running its other operations.”
In a further blow to France, Senegalese President Bassirou Diomaye Faye told French state TV on Thursday it was inappropriate for French troops to maintain a presence in his country, where 350 French soldiers are currently based. France has already pulled its soldiers out from Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger, following military coups in those West African countries and spreading anti-French sentiment. Paris is also shifting more attention to Europe with the war in Ukraine and increasing budgetary constraints, diplomats said.
The review envisions the remaining French soldiers in the region focusing on training, intelligence exchange and responding to requests from countries for help, depending on their needs, the sources said. Chad’s move to end the cooperation deal had not been discussed with Paris and shocked the French, according to the two sources and other officials. France, which wants to keep a presence in Chad in part because of its work to help ease one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises unfolding now in neighboring Sudan, responded only 24 hours after Chad made its announcement.
“France takes note and intends to continue the dialogue to implement these orientations,” the foreign ministry said in a statement.
One of the two sources, a French official with knowledge of Chadian affairs, said Chad’s government appeared to have seen the French decision to more than halve its military presence there as a snub. Chad also felt the French would no longer be in a position to guarantee the security of the military regime led by President Mahamat Idriss Deby, this source said.
Macron had backed Deby despite criticism since Deby seized power following the death of his father, who ruled Chad for 30 years until he was killed in 2021 during an incursion by rebels. Deby won an election held this year.
In its statement on Thursday evening, released hours after the French foreign minister had visited the Sudanese border in eastern Chad with his counterpart, Chad’s foreign ministry said N’djamena wanted to fully assert its sovereignty after more than six decades of independence from France. It said the decision should in no way undermine the friendly relations between the two countries. Earlier this year, a small contingent of US special forces left Chad amid a review of US cooperation with the country.
The French drawdown, coupled with a US pullback from Africa, contrasts with the increasing influence of Russia and other countries, including Turkiye and the United Arab Emirates, on the continent. Russian mercenaries are helping prop up the military governments of Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso, and are also fighting alongside them against Islamist militants. However, French officials and other sources played down Russia’s ability to take advantage of the French setback in Chad, at least in the short term. The French source familiar with Chadian affairs noted that Russia and Chad back rival factions in Sudan’s war. Russia also has major military commitments in Syria and the war in Ukraine.
Ireland votes in closely fought general election
DUBLIN: Voting got under way in Ireland Friday in a general election with the two center-right coalition partners neck-and-neck with opposition party Sinn Fein, following a campaign marked by rancour over housing and cost-of-living crises.
Polls opened at 0700 GMT and will close at 2200 GMT as voters choose new members of the 174-seat lower chamber of parliament, the Dail.
Final opinion polling put the three main parties — center-right Fine Gael and Fianna Fail, and the leftist-nationalist Sinn Fein — each on around 20 percent.
Counting is not due to start until Saturday morning, with partial results expected throughout the day. A final result, however, may not be clear for days as EU member Ireland’s proportional representation system sees votes of eliminated candidates redistributed during multiple rounds of counting.
Prime Minister Simon Harris was among the first to vote, in his constituency of Delgany, south of Dublin. The Fine Gael leader, who became Ireland’s youngest-ever taoiseach (prime minister) when he took over in April, held a solid lead entering the campaign.
But the party lost ground, in particular after Harris was seen in a viral clip appearing rude and dismissive to a care worker on the campaign trail.
“I’ve enjoyed putting forward my policy vision as a new leader, as a new Taoiseach,” Harris, 38, told reporters after voting.
“Now I’m looking forward to the people having their say.”
Some in his constituency did not share his optimism. IT worker Kevin Barry, 41, said he was unsure about voting “as all the options seem so terrible.”
He cited the housing crisis, in which a shortage is driving up rents. While leaning toward the governing coalition, Barry told AFP: “I am not really happy with them as they are responsible for the mess that we are in, particularly with regard to housing.”
For Peta Scott, 54, a health care worker and mother of four, housing woes meant it was “a challenge” for her children to stay in Ireland.
At the last general election in 2020, Sinn Fein — the former political wing of the paramilitary Irish Republican Army — won the popular vote but could not find willing coalition partners.
That led to weeks of horsetrading, ending up with Fine Gael, which has been in power since 2011, agreeing a deal with Fianna Fail, led by the experienced Micheal Martin, 64.
The role of prime minister rotated between the two party leaders. The smaller Green Party made up the governing coalition.
Harris has had to defend the government’s patchy record on tackling a worsening housing crisis and fend off accusations of profligate public spending.
A giveaway budget last month was also aimed at appeasing voters fretting about sky-high housing and childcare costs.
Both center-right parties stress their pro-business credentials and say returning them to power would ensure stability, particularly with turmoil abroad and the risk of external shocks.
Ireland’s economy depends on foreign direct investment and lavish corporate tax returns from mainly US tech and pharma giants.
But threats from incoming US president Donald Trump to slap tariffs on imports and repatriate corporate tax of US firms from countries such as Ireland have caused concern for economic stability.
Mary Lou McDonald’s Sinn Fein has seen a dip in support because of its progressive stance on social issues and migration policy, as immigration became a key election issue.
But it has rallied on the back of a campaign heavily focused on housing policy and claims it is the only alternative to the Fine Gael and Fianna Fail, who have swapped power since Irish independence from Britain in 1921.
After voting in her central Dublin constituency, McDonald called Friday “a historic day where we can elect a new government for change.”
Asked if voting for Sinn Fein was a vote for a united Ireland, including British-ruled Northern Ireland, she replied: “Of course it is.”
“We are united Irelanders. We have an ambitious plan for a new Ireland.”
Retiree William McCarthy voted for the party but was unconvinced they would win.
Bangladesh urges EU states to expedite formal recognition of Palestine
- Only 11 of 27 EU member states recognize the State of Palestine
- Bangladesh responds to EU’s declared commitment to a two-state solution
DHAKA: Bangladesh has called on EU member states to expedite the formal recognition of the State of Palestine and use their influence to prevent permanent members of the UN Security Council from obstructing a ceasefire in Gaza.
Bangladesh’s delegation took part in a meeting of the Global Alliance for the Implementation of the Two-State Solution in Brussels on Thursday, where the EU foreign policy chief emphasized the bloc’s commitment to a two-state solution — providing Palestinians with their own nation-state — as “the only viable path to peace in the region.”
But so far, only 11 out of 27 EU member states recognize the State of Palestine, with three — Spain, Ireland and Slovenia — doing so earlier this year in the wake of Israel’s deadly onslaught in Gaza and with a genocide case against Tel Aviv ongoing in the International Court of Justice.
“The Bangladeshi delegation urged the participating member states to expedite their formal recognition of the State of Palestine, affirming this as a crucial step toward legitimizing and empowering Palestinian sovereignty and self-determination,” the Bangladeshi Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement following the meeting.
For Bangladesh, which established diplomatic ties with Palestine soon after achieving independence in 1971, formal recognition of Palestinian statehood, was key to achieving peace.
“Already 149 countries have supported the UN recognition of the Palestinian state’s membership,” said Shafiqur Rahman, director general of the Bangladeshi Foriegn Affairs Ministry’s West Asia wing, who led the delegation to Brussels.
“It’s very important to galvanize and mobilize the global community. We must continue to apply pressure, and efforts should persist in this regard. There is no room for giving up,” he told Arab News on Friday.
The Bangladeshi delegation also called on EU member states to leverage their influence to discourage any vetoes by permanent members of the UN Security Council “that could obstruct adopting a permanent ceasefire in Gaza war and resultant peace initiatives.”
The most recent UNSC resolution demanding an “immediate, unconditional and permanent” ceasefire in the Gaza Strip was voted down by the US last week, as Israel’s deadly bombardment of the Palestinian territory continues.
It was the fourth time Joe Biden’s administration has vetoed a UNSC Gaza ceasefire resolution, blocking international action to halt Israel’s war, which over the past one year killed at least 44,000 Palestinians, injured over 100,000 more and destroyed most of Gaza’s civilian infrastructure.
Philippines looks to boost ties with Bahrain’s tourism, hospitality sector
- Bahraini government is preparing to open its embassy in Manila
- Cebu and Palawan are top destinations for Bahraini tourists in Philippines
MANILA: The Philippines is expanding collaborations with Bahrain to mutually boost tourism and hospitality expertise, Christina Frasco, the Philippine tourism secretary, said on Friday.
While other GCC countries have for years been the main overseas destination for Filipinos, relations with Bahrain started to expand only recently, with the Bahraini government preparing to open its embassy in Manila this year.
Frasco, who visited Manama earlier this month, held talks with her Bahraini counterpart Fatima Al-Sairafi on increasing tourism between the two countries.
“They’re very interested in learning from our world-renowned Filipino hospitality, as well as our brand of service excellence, and in collaborating to increase opportunities for meetings, incentives, conventions, and exhibitions,” Frasco told Arab News.
Some 57,000 Filipinos currently live in Bahrain, working mainly as accountants, engineers, construction contractors, sales associates, and business and government support staff. The tourism sector, however, remains untapped territory.
“We discussed the potential of wide-reaching collaborations between Bahrain and the Philippines, first and foremost on joint cooperation to increase tourist flows,” Frasco said.
“We also discussed how we may be able to further expand connectivity between Bahrain and the Philippines, not only with Manila, but with other places in the country, especially since, as I learned when I was in Bahrain, there are certain destinations (in the Philippines) that are very popular with the people of Bahrain, such as Cebu and Palawan.”
The number of tourists from Bahrain has been on the rise, with more than 5,500 visiting the Philippines from January to October this year — a 16-percent increase over the same period in 2023.
The Philippines has been trying to attract more visitors from Middle Eastern countries and has been encouraging the local hospitality industry to introduce standards that will make their properties and services attractive to Muslim tourists.
“We note that these countries have recovered very well (from the COVID pandemic travel shutdown) ... and we wish to be able to grow this momentum further by forging strategic collaborations with them,” Frasco said.
“Connectivity is one thing that we are continuing to focus on, as well as really ensuring that our tourist destinations are prepared to receive tourists from that region. This includes the growth of our halal and Muslim-friendly establishments.”
Former Kosovo rebel commander ordered to pay victims
- The judges “set the total reparation award for which Mr.Shala is liable at 208,000 euros” ($220,000),” Judge Mappie Veldt-Foglia told the Kosovo Specialist Chambers in The Hague
- Although the “responsibility to pay the compensation lies exclusively with Mr.Shala“” the judge said, “he does not appear to have the means to comply with the order“
THE HAGUE: A special international court on Friday ordered a former Kosovo rebel commander to pay $220,000 in damages to victims of abuses suffered in 1999 during the Serbian province’s struggle for independence.
Pjeter Shala, 61, also known as “Commander Wolf,” was sentenced to 18 years behind bars in July for war crimes committed during the tiny country’s 1998-99 independence conflict, when separatist KLA rebels fought forces loyal to then Serbian leader Slobodan Milosevic.
The judges “set the total reparation award for which Mr.Shala is liable at 208,000 euros” ($220,000),” Judge Mappie Veldt-Foglia told the Kosovo Specialist Chambers in The Hague.
“Mr Shala is ordered to pay (damages) as compensation for the harm inflicted” on eight victims, she said.
The total amount comprised individual payments to the eight victims ranging from 8,000 to 100,000 euros, as well as a collective sum of 50,000 euros, the judge said.
Although the “responsibility to pay the compensation lies exclusively with Mr.Shala“” the judge said, “he does not appear to have the means to comply with the order.”
Kosovo’s current Crime Victim Compensation Program “could be one way to execute the Reparation Order,” Veldt-Foglia suggested.
However, the maximum sums per victim awarded by the program would be lower than those awarded by the court, she said.
Shala faced charges of murder, torture, arbitrary detention and cruel treatment of at least 18 civilian detainees accused of working as spies or collaborating with opposing Serb forces in mid-1999.
The judges acquitted him of cruel treatment and he was sentenced on the other three counts.
The judges said Shala was part of a group of KLA soldiers who severely mistreated detainees at a metal factory serving as a KLA headquarters in Kukes, northeastern Albania, at the time.
Shala was tried before the Kosovo Specialist Chambers, a court located in The Hague to prosecute mainly former KLA fighters for war crimes.
They included former KLA political commander Hashim Thaci, who dominated Kosovo’s politics after it declared independence from Serbia in 2008 and rose to become president of the tiny country.
Thaci resigned in 2020 to face war crimes and crimes against humanity charges, and has pleaded not guilty.
