‘Extremely tense’ as Russians bid to encircle Ukraine’s Bakhmut — commander

Russia is trying to cut the Ukrainian defenders’ supply lines to the city. (FILE/AFP)
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Updated 28 February 2023
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‘Extremely tense’ as Russians bid to encircle Ukraine’s Bakhmut — commander

  • Russia is trying to cut the Ukrainian defenders’ supply lines to the city
  • Russia, its forces replenished with hundreds of thousands of conscripts, has intensified its attacks along the eastern front

DONETSK PROVINCE, Ukraine: The situation in the Ukrainian city of Bakhmut was “extremely tense” on Tuesday, the commander of Ukrainian ground forces said, as Russian troops besieging it stepped up their assault in a bid to encircle it.
Russia is trying to cut the Ukrainian defenders’ supply lines to the city, the scene of some of the war’s toughest fighting, and force them to surrender or withdraw. That would give Russia its first major prize in more than half a year and open the way to the capture of the last remaining urban centers in the Donetsk region.
“Despite significant losses, the enemy threw in the most prepared assault units of Wagner, who are trying to break through the defenses of our troops and surround the city,” Ukraine’s Col. general Oleksandr Syrskyi was quoted as saying on a military messaging platform.
Ukraine’s military said earlier Russia had strengthened its forces in the Bakhmut area and was shelling settlements around the city.
“Over the past day, our soldiers repelled more than 60 enemy attacks,” the military said early on Tuesday referring to Bakhmut and nearby eastern areas, adding that Ukrainian forces repelled Russian attacks on the villages of Yadhidne and Berkhivka, on the northern approaches to Bakhmut.
Ukrainian military analyst Oleh Zhdanov said Russian forces had driven a wedge between those villages as they tried to cut the road west to Chasiv Yar.
“The southern part of Bakhmut is the only area which can be described as under Ukrainian control. In all other districts, the situation is unpredictable,” he said in a video commentary, adding: “It is impossible to say where the front line lies.”
Ukrainian soldiers in Donetsk region hunkered in muddy trenches after warmer weather thawed out the frozen ground.
“Both sides stay in their positions, because as you see, spring means mud. Thus, it is impossible to move forward,” said Mykola, 59, commander of a Ukrainian frontline rocket launcher battery, watching a tablet screen for coordinates to fire.
The spring thaw, known as the rasputitsa, has a history of ruining plans by armies to attack across Ukraine and western Russia, turning roads into rivers and fields into quagmires.
Reuters saw several military vehicles stuck in mud. In a zigzag trench, Volodymyr, a 25-year-old platoon commander, said his men were prepared to operate in any weather.
“When we’re given a target that means we have to destroy it.”
Russia, its forces replenished with hundreds of thousands of conscripts, has intensified its attacks along the eastern front but its assaults have come at a high cost, Ukraine and its allies say.
“Vicious battles are going on there. The command is doing everything it can to stop the enemy from advancing through our territory,” Serhiy Cherevatyi, a spokesperson for Ukraine’s eastern military command, told Ukrainian television.
Russia said its forces had destroyed a Ukrainian ammunition depot near Bakhmut and shot down US-made rockets and Ukrainian drones.
Reuters could not verify the battlefield reports.
The Russian defense ministry said the United States was planning a provocation in Ukraine using toxic chemicals. There was no immediate US response.

Yellen in Kyiv
US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen became the latest senior Western official to visit the Ukrainian capital, promising assistance and more measures to isolate Russia after meetings with President Volodymyr Zelensky and other officials.
Her boss, President Joe Biden, went there a week ago to mark the first anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
“America will stand with Ukraine as long as it takes,” Yellen, flanked by sandbags at the Cabinet office, told Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal.
Yellen announced the transfer of the first $1.25 billion from the latest, $9.9 billion tranche of US economic and budget assistance, and visited a school where teacher salaries are reimbursed with US support.
She also backed completion of a fully financed program for Ukraine with the International Monetary Fund by the end of March.
Ukraine’s forces have mostly focused on holding defensive positions in recent weeks but are expected to attempt a counter-offensive later in the year with new weapons from the West.
Zelensky pushed again for F-16 fighter jets that his Western allies have been reluctant to provide.
“We will be able to completely protect our skies when the aviation taboo is fully lifted in relations with our partners,” Zelensky said in his nightly radio address.
The Feb. 24 first anniversary of Russia’s invasion saw both sides trying to demonstrate resolve for a second year of war.
Russian President Vladimir Putin gave a speech in which he abandoned the last remaining nuclear arms control treaty with the United States but announced no major initiatives to change the war’s course.
He was upstaged by Biden, who journeyed to Kyiv and gave a landmark speech of his own in Warsaw.
Ukraine’s outnumbered troops repelled Russia’s attack aimed at taking the capital early in the war and later recaptured substantial territory. Russia still occupies nearly a fifth of Ukraine which it claims to have annexed.


Explosion damages canal feeding Kosovo’s main power plants

Updated 30 November 2024
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Explosion damages canal feeding Kosovo’s main power plants

  • Faruk Mujka, the head of water company Ibar-Lepenci, told local news portal Kallxo that an explosive device was thrown into the canal and damaged the wall of a bridge

PRISTINA: An explosion on Friday evening damaged a canal in northern Kosovo supplying water to two coal-fired power plants that generate nearly all of the country’s electricity, Prime Minister Albin Kurti said, blaming what he called “a terrorist act” by neighboring Serbia.
There were no immediate reports of injuries and the cause of the blast, which also impacted drinking water supplies, was not clear. Serbian officials did not respond to requests for comment, and Reuters found no immediate evidence of Belgrade’s involvement.
“This is a criminal and terrorist attack with the aim to destroy our critical infrastructure,” Kurti said in a televised address. He said that some of the country could be without power if the problem is not fixed by morning.
In a sign of ethnic tensions between the two Balkan countries, Kurti echoed Kosovo President Vjosa Osmani by blaming Serbian criminal gangs without providing proof.
Earlier on Friday, Kosovo police announced increased security measures after two recent attacks where hand grenades were hurled at a police station and municipality building in northern Kosovo where ethnic Serbians live. It was not clear if the incidents were linked.
Local media showed pictures of part of the canal destroyed and leaking water and a heavy police presence at the site.
Faruk Mujka, the head of water company Ibar-Lepenci, told local news portal Kallxo that an explosive device was thrown into the canal and damaged the wall of a bridge.
He said the water supply, which also feeds drinking water to the capital Pristina, must be halted to fix the problem as soon as possible since it was the main channel for supplying Kosovo Energy Corporation (KEK), the country’s main power provider.
Independence for ethnic Albanian-majority Kosovo came in 2008, almost a decade after a guerrilla uprising against Serbian rule. However tensions persist, mainly in the north where the Serb minority refuses to recognize Kosovo’s statehood and still sees Belgrade as their capital.
The EU’s Kosovo ambassador, Aivo Orav, condemned the attack that he said was already “depriving considerable parts of Kosovo from water supply.”

 


Senior Russian diplomat says possibility of new nuclear tests remains open question

Updated 30 November 2024
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Senior Russian diplomat says possibility of new nuclear tests remains open question

  • Moscow has not conducted a nuclear weapons test since 1990, the year before the collapse of the Soviet Union

MOSCOW: A possible resumption of nuclear weapons tests by Moscow remains an open question in view of hostile US policies, a senior Russian diplomat was quoted as saying early on Saturday.
“This is a question at hand,” Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov told TASS news agency when asked whether Moscow was considering a resumption of tests.
“And without anticipating anything, let me simply say that the situation is quite difficult. It is constantly being considered in all its components and in all its aspects.”
In September, Ryabkov referred to President Vladimir Putin as having said that Russia would not conduct a test as long as the United States refrained from carrying one out.
Moscow has not conducted a nuclear weapons test since 1990, the year before the collapse of the Soviet Union.
But Putin this month lowered the threshold governing the country’s nuclear doctrine in response to what Moscow sees as escalation by Western countries backing Ukraine in the 33-month-old war pitting it against Russia.
Under the new terms, Russia could consider a nuclear strike in response to a conventional attack on Russia or its ally Belarus that “created a critical threat to their sovereignty and (or) their territorial integrity.”
The changes were prompted by US permission to allow Ukraine to use Western missiles against targets inside Russia.
Russia’s testing site is located on the remote Novaya Zemlya archipelago in the Arctic Ocean, where the Soviet Union conducted more than 200 nuclear tests.
Putin signed a law last year withdrawing Russia’s ratification of the global treaty banning nuclear weapons tests. He said the move sought to bring Russia into line with the United States, which signed but never ratified the treaty.

 


Ireland headed for coalition government following parliamentary election, exit poll suggests

Updated 30 November 2024
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Ireland headed for coalition government following parliamentary election, exit poll suggests

DUBLIN: An exit poll in Ireland’s parliamentary election released late Friday suggests the three biggest parties have won roughly equal shares and the country is headed for another coalition government.
A poll released as voting ended at 10 p.m. (2200GMT) said center-right party Fine Gael was the first choice of 21 percent of voters, with its center-right coalition partner in the outgoing government, Fianna Fail at 19.5 percent. Left-of-center opposition Sinn Fein was at 21.1 percent in the poll.
Pollster Ipsos B&A asked 5,018 voters across the country how they had cast their ballots. The survey has a margin of error of plus or minus 1.4 percentage points.
The figures only give an indication and don’t reveal which parties will form the next government. Counting of ballots starts Saturday morning and because Ireland uses a complex system of proportional representation known as the single transferrable vote, it can take between several hours and several days for full results to be known.
The result will show whether Ireland bucks the global trend of incumbents being ousted by disgruntled voters after years of pandemic, international instability and a cost-of-living pressures.
Sinn Fein, which had urged people to vote for change, hailed the result.
“There is every chance that Sinn Fein will emerge from these elections as the largest political party,” Sinn Fein director of elections Matt Carthy told broadcaster RTE.
Though Sinn Fein, which aims to reunite Northern Ireland with the independent Republic of Ireland, could become the largest party in the 174-seat Dail, the lower house of parliament, it may struggle to get enough coalition partners to form a government. Both Fine Gael and Fianna Fail have refused to form alliances with it.
Here’s a look at the parties, the issues and the likely outcome.
Who’s running?
The outgoing government was led by the two parties who have dominated Irish politics for the past century: Fine Gael and Fianna Fail. They have similar center-right policies but are longtime rivals with origins on opposing sides of Ireland’s 1920s civil war.
After the 2020 election ended in a virtual dead heat they formed a coalition, agreeing to share Cabinet posts and take turns as taoiseach, or prime minister. Fianna Fail leader Micheál Martin served as premier for the first half of the term and was replaced by Fine Gael’s Leo Varadkar in December 2022. Varadkar unexpectedly stepped down in March, passing the job to current Taoiseach Simon Harris.
Opposition party Sinn Fein achieved a stunning breakthrough in the 2020 election, topping the popular vote, but was shut out of government because Fianna Fail and Fine Gael refused to work with it, citing its leftist policies and historic ties with militant group the Irish Republican Army during three decades of violence in Northern Ireland.
Under Ireland’s system of proportional representation, each of the 43 constituencies elects multiple lawmakers, with voters ranking their preferences. That makes it relatively easy for smaller parties and independent candidates with a strong local following to gain seats.
This election includes a large crop of independent candidates, ranging from local campaigners to far-right activists and reputed crime boss Gerry “the Monk” Hutch.
What are the main issues?
As in many other countries, the cost of living — especially housing — has dominated the campaign. Ireland has an acute housing shortage, the legacy of failing to build enough new homes during the country’s “Celtic Tiger” boom years and the economic slump that followed the 2008 global financial crisis.
“There was not building during the crisis, and when the crisis receded, offices and hotels were built first,” said John-Mark McCafferty, chief executive of housing and homelessness charity Threshold.
The result is soaring house prices, rising rents and growing homelessness.
After a decade of economic growth, McCafferty said “Ireland has resources” — not least 13 billion euros ($13.6 billion) in back taxes the European Union has ordered Apple to pay it — “but it is trying to address big historic infrastructural deficits.”
Tangled up with the housing issue is immigration, a fairly recent challenge to a country long defined by emigration. Recent arrivals include more than 100,000 Ukrainians displaced by war and thousands of people fleeing poverty and conflict in the Middle East and Africa.
This country of 5.4 million has struggled to house all the asylum-seekers, leading to tent camps and makeshift accommodation centers that have attracted tension and protests. A stabbing attack on children outside a Dublin school a year ago, in which an Algerian man has been charged, sparked the worst rioting Ireland had seen in decades.
Unlike many European countries, Ireland does not have a significant far-right party, but far-right voices on social media seek to drum up hostility to migrants, and anti-immigrant independent candidates are hoping for election in several districts. The issue appears to be hitting support for Sinn Fein, as working-class supporters bristled at its pro-immigration policies.
What’s the likely outcome?
The exit poll bears out earlier opinion poll findings that voters’ support is split widely among Fine Gael, Fianna Fail, Sinn Fein, several smaller parties and an assortment of independents.
Before polling day, analysts said the most likely outcome is another Fine Gael-Fianna Fail coalition, possibly with a smaller party or a clutch of independents as kingmakers. That remains a likely option.
“It’s just a question of which minor group is going to be the group that supports the government this time,” said Eoin O’Malley, a political scientist at Dublin City University. “Coalition-forming is about putting a hue on what is essentially the same middle-of-the-road government every time.”
 


France on the back foot in Africa after Chadian snub

French soldiers stand at attention during a morning drill at the French military base in Chadian capital N'Djamena in 2014. (Reu
Updated 30 November 2024
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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

Updated 29 November 2024
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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.