KHERSON, Ukraine: President Volodymyr Zelensky on Monday visited the newly liberated city of Kherson in southern Ukraine after Russian forces retreated from the strategic hub near the Black Sea.
The Ukrainian presidency distributed images of him singing the national anthem, holding his hand over his chest as the country’s blue and yellow flag was hoisted next to the city’s main administrative building.
Russian President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman denied, however, that the Ukrainian leader’s visit had any impact on the status of the Kherson region, which Moscow formally annexed into Russia at a ceremony last month.
“It’s important to be here,” Zelensky told reporters in the city as his office released images of him meeting Kherson residents and military officials.
“We should speak here... support the people so that they feel that we are not just talking, not just making promises but really returning and really raising our flag,” he added.
Late Sunday, Zelensky said Ukrainian forces found evidence of hundreds of new “war crimes” carried out by Russian occupiers in Kherson.
His subsequent visit came just days after Ukrainian troops entered the city — the Kherson region’s administrative center — after Russia pulled back its forces on Friday.
The takeover by Ukrainian troops is the latest in a string of setbacks for the Kremlin, which invaded Ukraine on February 24 hoping for a lightning takeover and to topple the government in days.
But Russian troops failed to capture the capital Kyiv and have since been pushed back from large portions of territory in the south and east.
Ukrainians in the liberated city expressed relief at the end of months of occupation.
“I am extremely happy we’re finally free,” Andriy, 33, a philosophy student, told AFP.
“We have no electricity in the city, no water, no central heating, no mobile signal, no Internet connection — but we have no Russians,” he said.
The city of Kherson was the first major urban hub to fall to Russian forces and the only regional capital Moscow’s troops gained control over.
Its recapture opens a gateway for Ukraine to the entire Kherson region, with access to both the Black Sea in the west and the Sea of Azov in the east.
The region was one of four that the Kremlin announced in September were annexed and part of Russia. Russian President Vladimir Putin vowed to use all available means to defend them from Ukrainian forces.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Monday he would not comment on Zelensky’s visit to Kherson but added: “this territory is part of the Russian Federation.”
A self-described partisan in Kherson told AFP after the Russian withdrawal that he and his friends had spent months walking the streets observing the Russians’ every move.
“You watch closely and then come home and write it all down. And then you send the information and hide absolutely everything — phones, papers, clothes, everything,” 19-year-old aspiring musician named Volodymyr Timor said.
“We reported everything — where their equipment and ammunition sites were, where they slept and where they went out drinking,” Timor said.
Ukraine’s forces could then use the coordinates to target strikes during a counteroffensive that has seen Russia cede roughly half the land it seized in the first weeks of war.
“I was scared,” the imposing but soft-spoken guitarist said of the prospect of being caught and possibly killed.
“Believe me, I was very scared.”
Elsewhere, Ukraine’s forces were posting gains in the eastern region of Lugansk, the military and local officials said Monday.
The eastern industrial region has been held by Russian-supported separatists since 2014 but Kyiv’s forces have slowly been clawing back territory there.
“Twelve towns and villages have been liberated by the Armed Forces of Ukraine from the occupiers in the Lugansk region,” the regional governor announced on social media without specifying when the towns had been captured.
Zelensky visits Ukraine’s Kherson after Russian retreat
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Zelensky visits Ukraine’s Kherson after Russian retreat
- Russian President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman denied that the visit had any impact on the status of Kherson
Macron says Europe must protect sovereignty in face of Trump’s return
PARIS: More than ever, Europeans, including France and Germany, must protect their sovereignty in the face of the return of US President Donald Trump, French President Emmanuel Macron said on Wednesday.
He made the remarks at a joint news conference with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in Paris, adding that it was important to support the automobile, steel, chemical sectors, among others.
“After the inauguration of a new administration in the United States, it is necessary more than ever for Europeans and for our two countries to play their role of consolidating a united, strong and sovereign Europe,” Macron said.
Malaysia’s Anwar says don’t single out China in sea tensions
- There will always be border disputes in Asia, and China should not be singled out because of tensions in the South China Sea, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said Wednesday
DAVOS: There will always be border disputes in Asia, and China should not be singled out because of tensions in the South China Sea, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said Wednesday.
Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Anwar said that Malaysia had border issues with Singapore and its other neighbors in Southeast Asia but they still managed to cultivate good relations.
While Malaysia also has maritime issues with China, it will push ahead with improving ties because it is an important country, he said.
“We have excellent relationship with Singapore. We still have border issues with them,” Anwar said.
“I treat the Thais as my family members, the leaders, but still we have some border issues with them. So it is with Indonesia, with the Philippines.
“(But) we don’t go to war, we don’t threaten. We do discuss. We get a bit... angry, but we do focus on the economic fundamentals and move on,” he added.
“Why is it that we must then single out China as an issue?” Anwar asked.
“That’s my only contention. Do I have an issue about it? Yes, but do I have a problem? No. Do we have any undesired tensions? No,” he said.
He said that while Malaysia has strong ties with the United States, China is an important neighbor that it must also engage with.
“Of course, people highlight the issue of the South China Sea... But may I remind you that Malaysia is a maritime country,” he said.
China has been “very reasonable” in dealing with Malaysia, Anwar added.
“They take us seriously, more seriously than many of the countries of our old allies and friends,” he said, without mentioning any country.
China has ruffled diplomatic feathers in Southeast Asia because of its assertion that it owns most of the strategic waterway despite an international ruling that the claim has no legal basis.
This has pitted it against Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam, which have partial claims to the sea.
In recent years, China and the Philippines have seen an escalation of confrontations, including boat-ramming incidents and Chinese ships firing water cannons on Filipino vessels.
The clashes have sparked concern they could draw the United States, Manila’s long-time security ally, into armed conflict with China.
Washington’s UN nominee supports Israeli biblical claim to West Bank
- ‘It’s going to be very difficult to achieve peace if you continue to hold the view that you just expressed,’ senator tells Elise Stefanik
- Republican congresswoman for New York accuses international body of being ‘cesspool of antisemitism’
LONDON: The new US nominee for UN ambassador has backed Israeli biblical claims to the entire West Bank.
Elise Stefanik, a Republican congresswoman for New York, was being questioned on her stance by Democratic Sen. Chris Van Hollen during a Senate confirmation hearing.
“You told me that, yes, you shared that view,” Van Hollen said. “Is that your view today?” Stefanik said: “Yes.”
Her stance is at odds with international law, multiple UN Security Council resolutions, and a longstanding international consensus on the issue.
“It’s going to be very difficult to achieve peace if you continue to hold the view that you just expressed,” Van Hollen said.
During the hearing, Stefanik criticized the UN for its alleged anti-Israel bias, claiming that the organization is a “cesspool of antisemitism.”
She said: “Our tax dollars should not be complicit in propping up entities that are counter to American interests, antisemitic, or engaging in fraud, corruption or terrorism.”
The US is the largest funder of the UN and houses its secretariat in New York City. Washington pays about 22 percent of the UN’s regular budget.
India and US trying to arrange Modi meeting with Trump next month, sources say
- Washington sees India as a strategic partner of the United States in its efforts to counter its rival China
- Trump’s return to office has raised worries among officials in New Delhi about imposition of tariffs on India
NEW DELHI: Indian and US diplomats are trying to arrange a meeting in February between Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Donald Trump in Washington, two Indian sources familiar with the discussions told Reuters.
India, a strategic partner of the United States in its efforts to counter China, is keen to enhance trade relations with the US and make it easier for its citizens to get skilled worker visas, two topics that will be on the agenda if the leaders meet, the sources said.
Trump’s return to the White House has raised worries among officials in New Delhi about imposition of tariffs on India, which he has listed as one of the countries that has high tariffs on US products and has indicated that he favored reciprocating them.
But the sources said New Delhi was willing to offer some concessions to Washington — although it has not been officially informed of any plans by US to impose reciprocal tariffs — and was also open to offering incentives to attract more US investment in India.
Officials hope that an early meeting between the pair will help get ties off to a positive start in Trump’s new term, the sources said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Trump visited India in February 2020 during his previous term in office. Then, he was cheered by more than 100,000 Indians at a cricket stadium in Modi’s political homeland in Ahmedabad, where he promised India “an incredible trade deal.”
In 2019, Trump held a “Howdy Modi” rally with Modi in Houston, drawing 50,000 people, mainly Indian Americans.
Laying the groundwork for a new Modi-Trump meeting is also on the agenda of Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, who attended Trump’s inauguration on Monday and met US Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
The United States is India’s largest trading partner and two-way trade between the two countries surpassed $118 billion in 2023/24, with India posting a trade surplus of $32 billion.
Other topics of discussion between the two leaders would be enhancing partnership in technology and defense sectors, the sources said.
Migration would be another area of discussion, as Trump has pledged a crackdown on illegal immigration but has said he is open to legal migration of skilled workers.
India, known for its massive pool of IT professionals, many of whom work across the world, accounts for the bulk of the skilled worker H-1B visas issued by the United States.
Rubio discussed with Jaishankar concerns related to “irregular migration” on Tuesday, the US State Department said.
India turns to geo-tagging to conserve Kashmir’s iconic ‘Chinar’ trees
- The trees are a cultural and ecological symbol of the restive northern territory
- The trees face threats from rising urbanization, road-widening projects, diseases
SRINAGAR: Authorities in Indian-administered Kashmir are geo-tagging thousands of ‘Chinar’ trees to create a comprehensive database for their management and help conserve them amid threats from rising urbanization, road-widening projects and diseases.
The trees are a cultural and ecological symbol of the restive northern territory, which is claimed in full by India and Pakistan and ruled in part by both, but hundreds of them have been lost over the last few decades.
Under the geo-tagging process, QR codes are attached to each surveyed tree, recording information about 25 characteristics, including its geographical location, health, age, and growing patterns, enabling conservationists to track changes and address risk factors.
The public can also scan the code to access the details, Syed Tariq, the head of the project, told Reuters.
“We have geo-tagged nearly 29,000 trees, but we still have more small-sized trees that haven’t been tagged... These will be tagged in due course,” Tariq said.
The Chinar trees take around 150 years to reach their full size of up to 30 meters (100 ft) in height with a girth of 10 to 15 meters (30 to 50 ft) at ground level.
The oldest Chinar in the region lies on the outskirts of the city of Srinagar and is around 650 years old.
“We are using a USG-based (ultrasonography-based) gadget capable of determining risk levels without human intervention. The gadget will assess risk factors, eliminating the need for manual evaluation,” Tariq said.
The portion of Kashmir under India’s control was roiled by violence for decades as militants fought security forces, but the conflict has eased in recent years, leading to a gradual rise in development projects and tourism.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Kashmir last week to inaugurate a tunnel and, during the event, said that numerous road and rail connectivity projects in the region would be completed in the coming days.
