MOSCOW: Russians started voting on Friday in a three-day presidential election set to hand hardline leader Vladimir Putin another six-year term as fresh attacks bring the raging conflict in Ukraine further into Russian territory.
In power as president or prime minister since the final day of 1999, the former KGB agent is casting the election as a show of Russians’ loyalty and support for his military assault on Ukraine, now in its third year.
Polling stations in a country spread over 11 time zones opened at 8:00 a.m. on Friday (2000 GMT Thursday) on the Far Eastern Kamchatka peninsula and will close Sunday at 8:00 p.m. (1800 GMT) in Russia’s Kaliningrad exclave, wedged between EU members Poland and Lithuania.
Victory will allow Putin to stay in power until 2030, longer than any Russian leader since Catherine the Great in the eighteenth century.
As voting started, both Moscow and Kyiv said civilians had been killed in the latest wave of overnight aerial strikes.
Putin had urged Russians to back him in the face of a “difficult period.”
“We have already shown that we can be together, defending the freedom, sovereignty and security of Russia ... Today it is critically important not to stray from this path,” he said in a pre-election message broadcast on state TV.
The Kremlin leader’s confidence is riding high with his troops recently having secured their first territorial gains in Ukraine in nearly a year.
At home, his most strident and charismatic critic of the last decade, Alexei Navalny, died in an Arctic prison colony last month. He had been serving 19 years on “extremism” charges widely seen as retribution for his campaigning against the Kremlin.
Western governments and Kyiv have condemned the vote as a “sham” and “farce.”
In Moscow, a few dozen residents queued in the morning sun to be among the first in the capital to cast their ballots.
“It’s important to vote, for Russia’s future,” said 70-year-old Lyudmila.
She said she backed Putin and was hoping for “above all, victory” in Ukraine.
Another Putin voter, Natan, 72, said he wanted the government to “increase employment, work to ensure that there is no war, stability in the country.”
With all of Putin’s major opponents dead, in prison or in exile, the outcome of the vote is not in any doubt.
Election authorities barred the few genuine opposition candidates who tried to run against Putin and a state-run pollster predicted earlier this week that Putin would secure more than 80 percent.
Voting was also being staged in occupied parts of eastern Ukraine that Russia claims to have annexed.
Armed soldiers in full combat gear accompanied election officials in the eastern Donetsk region as they set up mobile voting stations on small tables in the street and on the hoods of Soviet-era cars.
Kyiv has branded the vote as a “farce” and said staging the election in eastern Ukraine and Crimea, which Russia annexed in 2014, was “illegal.”
On Friday, EU chief Charles Michel sarcastically congratulated Putin on his “landslide victory.”
Those who oppose Putin still hope to spoil the procession. Navalny’s widow, Yulia Navalnaya, is among those calling for voters to show up outside polling stations at midday on Sunday, the final day of voting, as a form of protest.
Moscow prosecutors warned it would punish those involved in “the organization of and participation in these mass events.”
Kyiv has launched some of its largest air attacks on Russia this week ahead of the election — some reaching hundreds of kilometers into Russian territory — and pro-Kyiv guerilla fighters have launched a series of attempted cross-border raids.
Russian-installed officials in the eastern Ukrainian city of Donetsk said Friday that overnight shelling killed three children, while Kyiv said a Russian drone strike on the central Vinnytsia region killed two.
Voters in Belgorod were forced to leave a polling station to head to a bomb shelter as authorities issued an air alert and ordered people to take cover, the RIA Novosti state-run news agency reported. Russia’s defense ministry said Ukraine had fired seven rockets at the region.
Moscow on Friday also appeared to acknowledge that pro-Ukrainian militias had taken temporary control of territory inside Russia in three days of cross-border raids this week.
The defense ministry said it had “fully restored control” over one settlement in the Belgorod region, after Thursday hitting the fighters — made up of Russians who oppose the Kremlin — with artillery, air strikes and guided bombs.
Polls open in Russian vote to extend Vladimir Putin’s reign
https://arab.news/2wzrm
Polls open in Russian vote to extend Vladimir Putin’s reign
- Victory will allow Vladimir Putin to stay in power until 2030, longer than any Russian leader since Catherine the Great in the 18th century
US troops need to stay in Syria to counter the Daesh group, defense chief Austin says
- According to estimates, there are as many as 8,000-10,000 Daesh fighters in the camps
- The continued presence of US troops was put into question after a lightning insurgency ousted Assad on Dec. 8, ending his family’s decadeslong rule
RAMSTEIN AIR BASE, Germany: The US needs to keep troops deployed in Syria to prevent the Daesh group (also known as ISIS) from reconstituting as a major threat following the ouster of Bashar Assad’s government, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told The Associated Press.
American forces are still needed there, particularly to ensure the security of detention camps holding tens of thousands of former Daesh fighters and family members, Austin said Wednesday in one of his final interviews before he leaves office.
According to estimates, there are as many as 8,000-10,000 Daesh fighters in the camps, and at least 2,000 of them are considered to be very dangerous.
If Syria is left unprotected, “I think IS fighters would enter back into the mainstream,” Austin said at Ramstein Air Base in Germany, where he traveled to discuss military aid for Ukraine with about 50 partner nations. He was using another acronym for the Daesh group.
“I think that we still have some work to do in terms of keeping a foot on the throat of Daesh,” he said.
President-elect Donald Trump tried to withdraw all forces from Syria in 2018 during his first term, which prompted the resignation of former Defense Secretary Jim Mattis. As the Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham group, or HTS, advanced against Assad last month, Trump posted on social media that the US military needed to stay out of the conflict.
The US has about 2,000 troops in Syria to counter Daesh, up significantly from the 900 forces that officials said for years was the total number there. They were sent in 2015 after the militant group had conquered a large swath of Syria.
The continued presence of US troops was put into question after a lightning insurgency ousted Assad on Dec. 8, ending his family’s decadeslong rule.
US forces have worked with the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces on operations against Daesh, providing cover for the group that Turkiye considers an affiliate of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, which it identifies as a terror organization.
The Syrian transitional government is still taking shape, and uncertainty remains on what that will mean going forward.
The SDF “have been good partners. At some point, the SDF may very well be absorbed into the Syrian military and then Syria would own all the (Daesh detention) camps and hopefully keep control of them,” Austin said. “But for now I think we have to protect our interests there.”
Russian strike kills 13 in Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia
- The blast left bodies strewn across a road alongside injured residents
- Public transport was also damaged in the strike
ZAPORIZHZHIA, Ukraine: A Russian guided bomb attack on Wednesday killed at least 13 people and injured 63 in Ukraine’s southeastern city of Zaporizhzhia, authorities said.
The blast left bodies strewn across a road alongside injured residents. Public transport was also damaged in the strike.
Prosecutors in the region said 63 people had been injured. Rescue work had been completed at the site of the attack.
High-rise apartment blocks were damaged along with an industrial facility and other infrastructure, Ukraine’s prosecutor general office said on Telegram. The debris hit a tram and a bus with passengers inside, it added.
As emergency workers tried to resuscitate a man, raging flames, smoke and burnt cars could be seen in the background.
Russian troops had used two guided bombs to hit a residential area, the regional governor Ivan Fedorov told reporters.
At least four of the injured were rushed to hospital in serious condition, Fedorov said, adding that Thursday would be an official day of mourning.
“There is nothing more cruel than launching aerial bombs on a city, knowing that ordinary civilians will suffer,” President Volodymyr Zelensky said on X, urging Ukraine’s Western allies to step up pressure on Russia.
Regional authorities reported further explosions after the first strike hit.
Fedorov said Russian troops shelled the town of Stepnohirsk, south of Zaporizhzhia, killing two people. Two residents were pulled alive from underneath rubble.
Russia regularly carries out air strikes on the Zaporizhzhia region, which its forces partially occupy, and its capital. Moscow claims to have annexed the Ukrainian region along with four others including Crimea.
Public broadcaster Suspilne also reported two people killed and 10 injured in attacks on several centers in the southern region of Kherson, also partially occupied by Russian forces.
US to announce new weapons package for Ukraine as defense leaders prepare to meet in Germany
- The group’s future is unclear with President-elect Donald Trump set to take office on Jan. 20
- Advisers to Trump have floated proposals to end the Ukraine war that would cede large parts of the country to Russia for the foreseeable future
WASHINGTON: The US is expected to announce $500 million in military aid for Ukraine on Thursday at a final gathering of President Joe Biden’s weapons pledging conferences, meetings Kyiv says have been critical to its defense against Russia.
The Ukraine Defense Contact Group (UDCG), comprised of about 50 allies who usually meet every few months at Ramstein Air Base in Germany, was started in 2022 by US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin to speed and synchronize the delivery of arms to Kyiv.
The group’s future is unclear with President-elect Donald Trump set to take office on Jan. 20. Advisers to Trump have floated proposals to end the Ukraine war that would cede large parts of the country to Russia for the foreseeable future.
Washington has committed more than $63.5 billion in security assistance to Ukraine since Russia’s invasion and the additional $500 million could be announced later on Wednesday, a US official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity.
On Thursday, the defense leaders will meet at Ramstein Air Base for the 25th UDCG meeting.
“We’re not sunsetting the group. The next administration is completely welcome and encouraged ... to take the mantle of this 50 country strong group and continue to drive and lead through it,” said a senior US defense official, speaking on the condition of anonymity.
“It will endure in some capacity, in some form going forward, I believe, regardless of exactly how the next team does or doesn’t pursue it,” the official said.
Trump will have a few billion dollars in appropriated money that he could use for Ukraine’s military needs once he takes office.
The official added that the Thursday meeting would look to endorse roadmaps for Ukraine’s military needs and objectives through 2027.
More than 12,300 civilians have been killed in the Ukraine war since Russia invaded nearly three years ago, the United Nations said, noting a spike in casualties due to the use of drones, long-range missiles and glide bombs.
Ukraine said on Tuesday its forces were “commencing new offensive actions” in Russia’s western Kursk region.
Ukraine first seized part of the Kursk region in a surprise incursion last August, and it has held territory there for five months despite losing some ground.
The apparent escalation in the fighting in the Kursk region comes at a critical time for Ukraine, whose outnumbered and outgunned troops are struggling to repel Russian advances in the east.
Gunfire heard near presidency in Chad capital
- A security source said armed men had attacked the interior of the presidential compound
N’DJAMENA: Sustained gunfire was heard Wednesday evening near the presidency in Chad’s capital N’Djamena, AFP reporters said.
A security source said armed men had attacked the interior of the presidential compound but authorities made no immediate comment.
All roads leading to the presidency have been blocked and tanks could be seen on the streets of the capital, according to an AFP reporter on the scene.
The gunfire erupted less than two weeks after the landlocked country in Africa’s northern half held a contested general election.
The government hailed it as a key step toward ending military rule, but it was marked by low turnout and opposition allegations of fraud.
The election had taken place against a backdrop of recurring attacks by the jihadist group Boko Haram in the Lake Chad region, the ending of a military accord with former colonial master France, and accusations that Chad was interfering in the conflict ravaging neighboring Sudan.
Several hours earlier on Tuesday, China’s foreign minister Wang Li met with President Mahamat Idriss Deby Itno and other senior officials.
The former French colony hosted France’s last military bases in the region known as the Sahel, but at the end of November it ended the defense and security agreements with Paris.
Around a thousand French military personnel were stationed there, and are in the process of being withdrawn.
France is now reconfiguring its military presence in Africa after being driven out of three Sahelian countries governed by juntas hostile to Paris — Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger.
Senegal and the Ivory Coast have also asked France to leave military bases on their territory.
Baby born on migrant vessel in Atlantic: Spanish rescuers
- “Christmas ended in the Canaries with the rescue of a baby born while crossing the sea,” the coast guard said
- A record 46,843 undocumented migrants reached the Canary Islands in 2024
MADRID: Spanish coast guards rescued a baby that was born on an inflatable vessel carrying migrants to the Canary Islands, authorities said on Wednesday.
The newborn was recovered safely along with their mother on Monday, the coast guard service said in a message on X.
They were the latest to make the crossing that has seen thousands drown as migrants try to reach the Atlantic archipelago from Africa.
“Christmas ended in the Canaries with the rescue of a baby born while crossing the sea,” the coast guard said.
A coast guard boat “rescued a mother who had given birth aboard the inflatable craft in which she was traveling with a large group of people.”
The two were taken by helicopter to Arrecife on the island of Lanzarote, it added.
A record 46,843 undocumented migrants reached the Canary Islands in 2024 via the Atlantic route, official data showed this month.
