KYIV, Ukraine: The owner of the Russian Wagner Group private military contractor actively involved in the fighting in Ukraine has predicted that the war could drag on for years.
Yevgeny Prigozhin said in a video interview released late Friday that it could take 18 months to two years for Russia to fully secure control of Ukraine’s eastern industrial heartland of Donbas. He added that the war could go on for three years if Moscow decides to capture broader territories east of the Dnieper River.
The statement from Prigozhin, a millionaire who has close links to Russian President Vladimir Putin and was dubbed “Putin’s chef” for his lucrative Kremlin catering contracts, marked a recognition of the difficulties that the Kremlin has faced in the campaign, which it initially expected to wrap up within weeks when Russian troops invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24.
Russia suffered a series of humiliating setbacks in the fall when the Ukrainian military launched successful counteroffensives to reclaim broad swaths of territory in the east and the south. The Kremlin has avoided making forecasts on how long the fighting could continue, saying that what it called the “special military operation” will continue until its goals are fulfilled.
The Russian forces have focused on Ukraine’s Luhansk and Donetsk provinces that make up the Donbas region where Moscow-backed separatists have been fighting Ukrainian forces since 2014.
Ukrainian and Western officials have warned that Russia could launch a new broad offensive to try to turn the tide of the conflict as the war approaches the one-year mark. But Ukraine’s military intelligence spokesman, Andriy Chernyak, told Kyiv Post that “Russian command does not have enough resources for large-scale offensive actions.”
“The main goal of Russian troops remains to achieve at least some tactical success in eastern Ukraine,” he said.
Prigozhin said that the Wagner Group mercenaries were continuing fierce battles for control of the Ukrainian stronghold of Bakhmut in the Donetsk region. He acknowledged that the Ukrainian troops were mounting fierce resistance.
As Russian troops have pushed their attacks in the Donbas, Moscow has also sought to demoralize Ukrainians by leaving them without heat and water in the bitter winter.
On Friday, Russia launched the 14th round of massive strikes on Ukrainian energy facilities and other vital infrastructure. High-voltage infrastructure facilities were hit in the eastern, western and southern regions, resulting in power outages in some areas.
Ukraine’s energy company, Ukrenergo, said Saturday that the situation was “difficult but controllable,” adding that involved backups to keep up power supplies but noting that power rationing will continue in some areas. Head of Ukraine’s state nuclear operator Energoatom Petro Kotin said Saturday that more power will come into the country’s energy system after two nuclear reactors have been repaired.
Ukraine’s military chief, Gen. Valerii Zaluzhnyi, said that Russian forces launched 71 cruise missiles, 35 S-300 missiles and seven Shahed drones between late Thursday and midday Friday, adding that Ukrainian air defenses downed 61 cruise missiles and five drones.
The Ukrainian authorities reported more attacks by killer drones later on Friday. The Ukrainian air force said the military downed 20 Shahed drones in the evening.
Russia’s Defense Ministry said that Friday’s strikes hit all the designated targets, halting the operation of Ukraine’s defense factories and blocking the delivery of supplies of Western weapons and ammunition. The claim couldn’t be independently verified.
Late Friday, Russian military bloggers and some Ukrainian news outlets posted a video showing an attack by a sea drone on a strategic railway bridge in the Odesa region. The grainy video showed a fast-moving object on the surface of the water approaching the bridge in Zatoka, about 50 kilometers (30 miles) southwest of Odesa, and exploding in a powerful blast.
The authenticity of the video couldn’t be verified, but the Ukrainian military on Saturday confirmed the use of sea drones by Russian forces.
Ukraine’s military chief Zaluzhnyi said in an online statement that he has expressed concern about the use of such drones in a phone conversation with the US Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Mark Milley, on Saturday, adding that it “poses a threat to civilian navigation in the Black Sea.”
The attack marks the first combat use of a sea drone by Russia in the conflict. Igor Korotchenko, a retired colonel of the Russian armed forces who frequently comments on the conflict on Russian state TV, noted Saturday that such drones should be equipped with a more powerful load of explosives to inflict more significant damage.
The bridge, which was targeted by Russian missile strikes early in the war, serves the railway link to Romania, which is a key conduit for Western arms supplies.
In other developments, the governor of Russia’s Kursk region along the border with Ukraine said that a group of construction workers was hit by Ukrainian shelling that killed one of them and wounded another.
The governor of another Russian border region, Belgorod, reported the shelling of the town of Shebekino, saying it damaged two buildings but no one was hurt.
Wagner owner says war in Ukraine could drag on for years
https://arab.news/ze9bn
Wagner owner says war in Ukraine could drag on for years
- Prigozhin said that the Wagner Group mercenaries were continuing fierce battles for control of the Ukrainian stronghold of Bakhmut in the Donetsk region
German Chancellor Merz says Israel should bring hostages back alive
BERLIN: Germany wants to see the hostages held by Hamas in Gaza, including Germans, brought back alive and Israel should consider this in its military actions in the strip, Chancellor Friedrich Merz said on Wednesday.
Asked whether Germany would implement an arrest warrant by the International Criminal Court against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Merz said that in principle it should be possible for an Israeli prime minister to visit Germany.
How this could happen would be clarified when necessary, he said at the joint press conference with UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres in Berlin, adding that no bilateral visits by him or Netanyahu were currently planned.
Merz said future financial support for UNRWA, the United Nations’ agency for Palestinian refugees, was conditional on the organization being reformed.
Italy’s Meloni urges Israel's Netanyahu to respect international law in Gaza
- Giorgia Meloni said her conversations in recent months with Israel's Netanyahu were 'often difficult'
ROME: Israel must respect international law in its military operation in Gaza, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said on Wednesday, calling the humanitarian situation in the Palestinian enclave increasingly “dramatic and unjustifiable.”
Israel invaded Gaza after the Hamas-led attack on southern Israeli communities on October 7, 2023, and has recently announced plans for an expanded offensive to defeat militant group Hamas.
“Over the past months I have spoken with Prime Minister (Benjamin) Netanyahu on several occasions, and the conversations have often been difficult,” Meloni told a question time session in the Italian lower house of parliament.
More than 52,000 Palestinians have been killed in the Israeli offensive, according to local health authorities. The military campaign has left Gaza on the brink of famine, aid groups and international agencies say.
“I have always recalled the urgency of finding a way to end the hostilities and respect international law and international humanitarian law. A request that I renew today,” Meloni said.
Israeli strikes intensified this week, killing dozens in northern Gaza, locals have said.
French President Emmanuel Macron this week also criticized Netanyahu’s policy in Gaza, calling it shameful. The Israeli leader struck back accusing Macron of siding with Hamas.
Meloni’s government has been one of Israel’s most vocal supporters within Europe, but there has been growing unease within parts of her coalition over Israel’s relentless and long-running military campaign.
Japan grounds military training aircraft after crash leaves 2 crew members missing
- The crashed plane was a 36-year-old T-4 operated out of Nyutabaru Air Base
- It was not fitted with a voice recorder or a flight data recorder
TOKYO: Japan grounded most of its aging military training aircraft on Wednesday after one of the planes crashed minutes after take off.
Two crew are missing after the T-4 training aircraft operated by the Japan Air Self-Defense Force crashed after taking off from Komaki Air Base, in the central Japanese prefecture of Aichi, officials said.
The force said the plane was lost from radar two minutes after departure. The authorities are searching for the missing aircraft and its crew in an area near a reservoir known as the Iruka pond, officials said. The reservoir, in the city of Inuyama, is about 10 kilometers (6 miles) northeast of the air base.
The military has grounded temporarily nearly 200 T-4s until the cause of the accident is identified and safety checks and training are carried out, Hiroaki Uchikura, the air force chief of staff, told a news conference late Wednesday.
The crashed plane was a 36-year-old T-4 operated out of Nyutabaru Air Base, in the southern prefecture of Miyazaki. It was not fitted with a voice recorder or a flight data recorder.
Defense Minister Gen Nakatani earlier Wednesday told reporters that parts of the aircraft have been found at the crash site. Officials were also preparing to collect fuel apparently leaked from the aircraft and floating in the reservoir, Nakatani said.
Lifesaving equipment and helmets of the crew were also found, Uchikura said.
Witnesses told the NHK national broadcaster that they heard a loud noise like thunder, followed by sirens of police cars and fire engines.
The T-4 was returning to Nyutabaru air base after its crew had earlier helped deliver a F-15 fighter jet to Komaki Air Base for scheduled maintenance, Uchikura said.
A captain with more than 1,000 hours of flight experience had piloted the F-15, while a first lieutenant piloted the T-4. Both were in the T-4 on their way back to Komaki when the incident happened.
The crash is the latest in a series of defense aircraft accidents in recent years.
In April 2024, two SH-60K navy reconnaissance helicopters crashed during nighttime anti-submarine training near Torishima island, about 600 kilometers south of Tokyo, leaving all eight crewmembers dead.
In 2023, an army UH-60JA Black Hawk helicopter on a reconnaissance mission crashed off a southern island of Miyako, with the loss of 10 crew.
UK’s Starmer condemns ‘attack on our democracy’ after fires at homes linked to him
- The remarks by Starmer during weekly prime minister’s questions were his first since the fires came to light earlier this week
- Police said they have been granted a further 36 hours to question the man
LONDON: British Prime Minister Keir Starmer told lawmakers Wednesday that recent arson attacks on properties linked to him represent “an attack on all of us, on democracy and the values that we stand for.”
The remarks by Starmer during weekly prime minister’s questions were his first since the fires came to light earlier this week.
The attacks were condemned by leaders across the House of Commons, including the Conservative Party’s Kemi Badenoch, who described them as “completely unacceptable.”
On Tuesday, London’s Metropolitan Police arrested a 21-year-old man in southeast London on suspicion of starting fires at Starmer’s private house, another property and a car connected to the politician. No injuries were reported from any of the fires.
In a statement Wednesday, police said they have been granted a further 36 hours to question the man, who is being held at a London police station. That means he can be questioned until Friday morning.
Police said the suspect was detained on suspicion of arson with intent to endanger life after an early morning fire Monday damaged the door of the house in Kentish Town, north London, where Starmer and his family lived before he was elected to lead the country last July.
Starmer moved with his family to the prime minister’s official Downing Street residence after taking office.
Counterterrorism detectives, who are leading the investigation because it involves the prime minister, are also looking into connections between a car fire Thursday near Starmer’s house and another fire Sunday outside a house nearby that has been converted into apartments and which he has a connection to.
Authorities are investigating whether there was state involvement as well as looking at other potential motivations.
“A key line of enquiry is whether the fires are linked due to the two premises and the vehicle all having previous links to the same high-profile public figure,” said Cmdr. Dominic Murphy, head of counterterrorism at the Metropolitan Police.
Starmer’s former house has attracted protesters in the past. Last year, three pro-Palestinian activists were arrested and charged with public order offenses after unfurling a banner covered in red handprints outside the building.
How escaped French drug kingpin evaded capture for months
- His escape left two prison officers dead and triggered a massive manhunt for the escaped convict dubbed “la Mouche“
- A network of accomplices suspected of organizing the escape, including a childhood friend of Amra and rapper Koba LaD, allegedly helped the fugitive stay off the authorities’ radar
PARIS: Managing to stay “one step ahead” of investigators, drug trafficker Mohamed Amra evaded capture for nine months following a deadly jail break one year ago that shocked France.
His escape left two prison officers dead and triggered a massive manhunt for the escaped convict dubbed “la Mouche” (The Fly).
On the run for nine months, he was re-arrested only in February, near a shopping center in Romania’s capital, Bucharest, then extradited to France.
On the one-year anniversary of the attack, French President Emmanuel Macron on Wednesday paid tribute to the first prison officers killed in France in the line of duty since 1992, visiting the site of the attack and highlighting new measures in France’s push to combat organized crime.
On May 14, 2024, a car crashed head-on into a prison van at a toll booth in France’s northern Normandy region.
Moments later, a second car pulled up and four armed men jumped out, killing prison officers Arnaud Garcia and Fabrice Moello and leaving three others wounded.
At the time of the deadly ambush, Amra already had a long history of convictions for violent crimes that started when he was only 15.
After the assailants whisked the 30-year-old Normandy native into a waiting vehicle, French authorities launched a massive operation to track down the man described as “public enemy number one.”
But a source close to the case said Amra was “always one step ahead.”
Public prosecutor Laure Beccuau confirmed that the Frenchman had been holed up in the city of Compiegne, then headed further north to Rouen before eventually making his way to eastern Europe.
A network of accomplices suspected of organizing the escape, including a childhood friend of Amra and rapper Koba LaD, allegedly helped the fugitive stay off the authorities’ radar.
Even so, “the net gradually closed in,” said Beccuau, with the escapee arrested by Romanian authorities nine months after his getaway.
Authorities then intensified the search for those who aided him in his escape from France to the eastern European country, arresting more than three dozen alleged accomplices.
Among those arrested are the six suspected attackers in the May 2024 assault found as far afield as Thailand, Morocco and Spain — one of whom died in an accident in November.
But a lawyer for one of the accused said there are “real doubts” about their involvement, with some “categorically denying the charges.”
As for Amra, his lawyer said, “no one can claim to know his role.”
“The fact that he benefited from the escape doesn’t necessarily mean he planned it or knew what methods would be used,” said Lucas Montagnier.
Macron, accompanied by Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau and Justice Minister Gerald Darmanin, visited several sites on Wednesday underlining the country’s push to clamp down on drug trafficking, including the headquarters of a new anti-organized crime taskforce, EMCO and the site of the May 2024 attack.
In late April, lawmakers approved a major new bill to combat drug-related crime, with some of France’s most dangerous drug traffickers facing being locked up in high-security units in prison in the coming months.
Amra was suspected of ordering hits from prison, including in the months leading up to his breakout, when a close associate issued a warning that “the Fly” was giving someone called “A” a week to pay up, or else.
A high-security prison in the northern Pas-de-Calais region is expected to house the 100 most dangerous drug traffickers beginning in late July.
With these measures, “the Republic is now putting all its resources” into ensuring that an escape like that of Mohamed Amra “never happens again,” Darmanin said on Tuesday on broadcaster France 2.
A plaque was also unveiled, honoring the two prison officers.
