KHARKIV, Ukraine: The first shock wave shattered aisles stacked almost to the ceiling with home improvement products. The next Russian bomb streaked down like a comet seconds later, unleashing flames that left the megastore an ashen shell.
A third bomb failed to detonate when it landed behind the Epicenter shopping complex in Kharkiv. Investigators hope it will help them trace the supply chain for the latest generation of retrofitted Russian “glide bombs” that are laying waste to eastern Ukraine. The Soviet-era bombs are adapted on the cheap with imported electronics that allow distant Russian warplanes to launch them at Ukraine.
Other cities that have been devastated by the weapons include Avdiivka, Chasiv Yar and Vovchansk, and Russia has nearly unlimited supplies of the bombs, which are dispatched from airfields just across the border that Ukraine has not been able to hit.
Store manager Oleksandr Lutsenko said the May 25 attack hints at Russia’s aim for Kharkiv: “Their goal is to turn it into a ghost city, to make it so that no one will stay, that there will be nothing to defend, that it will make no sense to defend the city. They want to scare people, but they will not succeed.”
Russia has accelerated its destruction of Ukraine’s front-line cities in 2024 to a scale previously unseen in the war using the glide bombs and an expanding network of airstrips, according to an Associated Press analysis of drone footage, satellite imagery, Ukrainian documents and Russian photos.
The results can be seen in the intensity of recent Russian attacks. It took a year for Russia to obliterate Bakhmut, where the bombs were first used. That was followed by destruction in Avdiivka that took months. Then, only weeks were needed to do the same in Vovchansk and Chasiv Yar, according to images analyzed by AP that showed the smoldering ruins of both cities.
Now, Russia is putting the finishing touches on yet another airstrip less than 100 kilometers (60 miles) from Ukraine and launching the bombs routinely from multiple bases just inside Russian borders, according to the AP analysis of satellite pictures and photos from a Russian aviation Telegram channel.
The bombing of the Epicenter in Kharkiv killed 19 people, including two children. In all, glide bombs have hit the city more than 50 times this year, according to Spartak Borysenko of the Kharkiv regional prosecutor’s office.
He showed investigation documents to AP that identified at least eight Russian air bases used to launch the attacks, all within 100 kilometers (60 miles) of Ukraine. He said at least one of the munitions had foreign electronics and was made in May. That date suggests Russia is using the bombs rapidly and that it has successfully circumvented sanctions for dual-use items.
Photos on Russian Telegram channels linked to the military show glide bombs being launched three and four at a time. In one launch of four bombs, the AP traced the aircraft’s location to just outside the Russian city of Belgorod, near the air base now under construction. All four bombs in the photo were headed west — with Vovchansk and Kharkiv in their direct line of fire.
At the end of May, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russia was launching more than 3,000 of the bombs every month, with 3,200 used in May alone.
Oleh Katkov, whose military-oriented site Defense Express first traced the launch location, said hitting air bases is key to slowing the pace of the bombings by forcing Russian planes to launch farther away.
“This doesn’t mean they will completely stop their bombings, but it will become more difficult for them,” Katkov said. “They will be able to make fewer sorties per day.”
For months, Ukrainian officials complained bitterly about restrictions on using Western-supplied weapons against targets in Russia, including the airfields that house Russian bombers. The United States and Germany recently authorized some targets in Russia, but many others remain off-limits.
The newest airfield, just outside Belgorod, has a 2,000-meter (-yard) runway, the AP analysis found. Construction began late summer 2023, during the failed Ukrainian counteroffensive.
A Ukrainian intelligence official, who provided information to AP on condition of anonymity, said his government had been closely following the construction, which did not yet appear complete in a photo taken mid-June.
The official also noted that Belarus provides sanctuary for Russian bombers. A map created by the Ukrainian battlefield analysis site DeepState showed 10 airfields in Belarus, including five just across the border from Ukraine.
In all, the DeepState map shows 51 bases used by Russia within 600 kilometers (370 miles) of Ukrainian-controlled territory, including three in occupied eastern Ukraine, six in the illegally annexed peninsula of Crimea, and 32 in Russia.
“The greatest strategic advantage Russia has over Ukraine is its advantage in the sky,” Zelensky said last week. “This is missile and bomb terror that helps Russian troops advance on the ground.”
Russia launches up to 100 guided bombs daily, Zelensky said. Besides missiles and drones, which Russia already routinely uses for attacks, the bombs cause “an insanely destructive pressure.”
The base material for the glide bombs comes from hundreds of thousands of Soviet-era unguided bombs, which are then retrofitted with retractable fins and guidance systems to carry 500 to 3,000 kilograms (1,100 to 6,600 pounds) of explosives. The upgrade costs around $20,000 per bomb, according to the Center for European Policy Analysis, and the bombs can be launched up to 65 kilometers (40 miles) from their targets — outside the range of Ukraine’s regular air defense systems.
The bombs are similar in concept to the American Joint Direct Attack Munition, or JDAM, missiles, which have had their GPS systems successfully jammed by Russian forces in Ukraine.
Because Russia does not have the strength to occupy eastern cities such as Kharkiv, bombing is their preferred option, said Nico Lange, an analyst with the Center for European Policy Analysis.
“From their point of view, the strategy seems to be to terrorize the cities enough that people will leave,” Lange said.
Back at the Epicenter home improvement store, surveillance footage taken just before the explosion showed salesperson Nina Korsunova walking across the floor toward the aisle that she was staffing that day. Then there was a blinding flash, and the camera cut out.
Korsunova curled into the fetal position as a display crashed on top of her. She uncovered her eyes just in time to see the second bomb streak inside. With her eardrums blown out, she could hear nothing and saw not a single sign of life.
“I thought I was alone and that they had abandoned me there. It gave me the strength to climb out,” she said. She crawled over piles of shattered lamps, and cables snarled her legs as she climbed through debris from the electrical supply aisle.
Two weeks later, the skeleton of the building reeked of a disorienting combination of scorched metal and laundry detergent that spilled from melted jugs in the cleaning products aisle.
Neither Korsunova nor the store manager have any plans to leave their hometown.
“It didn’t break me,” she said. “I will remain in Kharkiv. This is my home.”
Russia obliterates front-line Ukraine towns by retrofitting bombs and expanding its air base network
https://arab.news/wctve
Russia obliterates front-line Ukraine towns by retrofitting bombs and expanding its air base network
- The bombing of the Epicenter in Kharkiv killed 19 people, including two children
- Russia has accelerated its destruction of Ukraine’s front-line cities in 2024 to a scale previously unseen in the war using the glide bombs
France braces for crunch election as overseas territories kick off vote
- Polls will close by 1800 GMT on Sunday when projections of seat numbers are published
- Final opinion polls on Friday suggested that far-right leader Marine Le Pen’s National Rally (RN) would fall short of winning an outright majority in the National Assembly
PARIS: France on Saturday prepared for its most consequential legislative election of recent times, with residents of overseas territories opening voting for a poll expected to give the far right its biggest ever presence in parliament.
A traditional final day pause was observed on Saturday ahead of Sunday’s second round runoff after a frenetic campaign that saw tensions rise across the country and dozens of attacks on candidates.
Underlining France’s global footprint that spans the oceans of the world, the first French region to vote was Saint Pierre and Miquelon, a small French archipelago off the coast of Canada where citizens began voting from 1000 GMT.
They were to be followed on Saturday by residents of French Caribbean territories including Martinique and Guadeloupe as well as Guiana in South America.
French Pacific territories come next before people in mainland France cast their ballots from 0600 GMT on Sunday.
Polls will close by 1800 GMT on Sunday when projections of seat numbers — regarded in France as a firm indicator of the final outcome — are published.
Final opinion polls on Friday suggested that far-right leader Marine Le Pen’s National Rally (RN) would fall short of winning an outright majority in the National Assembly.
But President Emmanuel Macron’s gamble in calling snap elections is expected to end with his centrist alliance having half the number of deputies it had before.
He now faces the final three years of his presidency with no clear ruling majority, and Prime Minister Gabriel Attal perhaps trying to hold together a caretaker government.
“Today the danger is a majority dominated by the extreme right and that would be catastrophic,” Attal said in a final pre-election interview with French television on Friday.
According to pollsters Ipsos and Ifop, anti-immigrant, euroskeptic RN could secure 170 to 210 seats in the National Assembly — well short of 289, an absolute majority.
French voters could therefore go to bed on Sunday night with no idea who might be able to form and lead a government, or whether a weakened Attal would shoulder on.
Le Pen insists that she is still on course for victory and an absolute majority that would force Macron to appoint her 28-year-old lieutenant Jordan Bardella as prime minister.
Attal vowed to stay on “as long as necessary” in a caretaker role, while Macron’s office is studying options to maintain some form of government.
Macron is to remain in office until presidential and legislative elections in April 2027, but he must now face the possibility of sharing power with political foes.
The prospect of France forming its first far-right government since World War II has dismayed its European allies, already perplexed by Macron’s gamble on a snap poll.
It also has left up in the air who will be in charge of the French government when the Olympic Games begin in Paris on July 26.
In an effort to halt the far-right rise seen in the first round of voting on June 30, centrists and left-wing parties formed second round polling pacts.
Le Pen has denounced the move as a bid to steal victory “against the will of the people” by creating what she calls a “single party” to protect the political class.
But it is far from certain how many voters who saw their preferred candidates drop out to give another a clear run against the RN will turn out on Sunday, with anti-RN figures saying nothing should be taken for granted.
“Contrary to what we are all hearing, it is not at all guaranteed as we speak,” Raphael Glucksmann, who led the Socialist list in European elections, warned on Friday.
With so much of the outcome uncertain, tensions are rising.
More than 50 candidates and campaign activists have been physically assaulted during the four-week campaign, the shortest in modern French history.
About 30,000 police, including 5,000 in Paris, will be deployed this weekend to head off trouble.
Philippines looks to ‘halal ecosystem’ to boost tourism, trade
- National Commission on Muslim Filipinos in touch with hotels, restaurants for halal certification
- Expansion of halal industry beneficial for all of Philippine society, NCMF chief says
MANILA: The Philippines is developing a “halal ecosystem” to try and boost tourism and trade, according to the National Commission on Muslim Filipinos, as the country targets more commercial exchanges with Arab and Muslim countries.
There are only around 10 million Muslims among the nearly 120 million, predominantly Catholic, population of the Philippines, but the country is looking to expand its domestic halal industry considerably.
The government wants to raise 230 billion pesos ($4 billion) in investments and generate around 120,000 jobs by 2028 by tapping into the global halal market, which is estimated to be worth more than $7 trillion.
The NCMF, a government agency whose mandate is to promote the rights and welfare of Muslim Filipinos, is central to ensuring that the products and initiatives developed under the country’s halal drive comply with Islamic regulations.
“Since NCMF is the only (Islamic) religious institution in the government structure, NCMF should lead in the implementation of programs and activities pertaining to halal,” Sabbudin Abdurahim, the commission’s new secretary, told Arab News this week.
“The NCMF is now spearheading the implementation of programs and activities for the development ... Through collaboration with partner stakeholders, we are looking to establish a halal ecosystem in the Philippines.”
The commission is cooperating with other government agencies — including the Department of Trade, Department of Agriculture, and Department of Tourism — as the Philippines seeks to expand the market presence of its halal-certified products, which include not only food and beverage products and services, but also travel.
Since the Philippines won the Emerging Muslim-friendly Destination award at the Halal in Travel Global Summit in 2023, it has invested significantly to attract visitors from the Middle East and the nearby Muslim-majority countries of Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei, particularly by ensuring that they have access to halal products and services.
Without developing a halal ecosystem, many potential visitors from Arab and Muslim countries might choose to visit other countries like Malaysia instead, “because they are confident they can easily find halal food there, unlike in the Philippines,” Abdurahim said.
“If we have halal restaurants here in the Philippines, many visitors from Arab or Muslim countries will come here ... Our halal division is already meeting with hotels, restaurants, and other establishments (about collaborating).”
Abdurahim sees the expansion of the halal industry as beneficial for all of Philippine society.
“It will benefit not only the Muslims in the Philippines, but the economy in general,” he said.
Japan, Cambodia to help remove land mines from Ukraine
- The minister said Japan would provide Ukraine with a large demining machine next week
- Deaths caused by land mines occur frequently among civilians and soldiers in Ukraine
PHNOM PENH: Japan will work with Cambodia to remove land mines from Ukraine and other war-torn countries, Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa said during a visit to Phnom Penh on Saturday.
Millions of land mines were laid in Cambodia during the nearly three decades of conflict that ended in 1998, with tens of thousands of people killed or maimed over the years.
The Southeast Asian country is widely regarded as a world leader in land mine countermeasures and has been working with Japan to clear the weapons since 1998.
“Cambodia is an essential partner in Japan’s global land mine removal efforts,” Kamikawa said at a press conference.
“I am confident Cambodia will contribute greatly to raising awareness of the inhumanity of anti-personnel land mines as a country that suffered from them.”
The minister said Japan would provide Ukraine with a large demining machine next week, and in August would train Ukrainian agencies in Cambodia on how to use the equipment.
Heng Ratana, director general of the Cambodian Mine Action Center (CMAC), told reporters his organization and local deminers were “proud of this important initiative and strongly support the new strategy of the cooperation.”
“We are glad to take part in sharing experiences with countries that have problems with land mines and remnants of war in accordance with the policy of the (Cambodian) government,” he added.
Deaths caused by land mines occur frequently among civilians and soldiers in Ukraine, which has been littered with mines and explosive remnants since it was invaded by Russia in 2022.
According to Human Rights Watch, land mines have been documented in 11 of Ukraine’s 27 regions.
Russian forces are known to have used at least 13 types of anti-personnel mines since February 2022, the organization said.
Cambodia, meanwhile, is still littered with discarded ammunition and arms from decades of war starting in the 1960s.
Deaths from mines and unexploded ordnance are common, with around 20,000 fatalities since 1979, and twice that number injured.
In August last year, thousands of pieces of unexploded ordnance left over from the war were unearthed inside a school in the country’s northeast.
In 2018, an Australian and a Cambodian were killed when war-era ordnance exploded during a demining training exercise in southern Cambodia.
The government has vowed to clear all mines and unexploded ordnance by 2025.
Testimonies of Afghan girls reveal grief, despair over Taliban school ban
- Fears of ‘lost generation,’ as education experts say ban has damaged Afghanistan’s entire social system
- ‘Iqra’ campaign by Afghan activists gathers stories of young women denied access to formal schooling
KABUL: When Salma was suddenly forced to stop her education in the eighth grade, she was left in limbo, every day waiting to return to the classroom. Almost three years later, the hope has faded not only for her, but also more than a million Afghan girls above the age of 13 who are no longer allowed to attend school.
Secondary schools for girls were suspended in September 2021, a month after the Taliban took control of Afghanistan. The ban resulted in about 1.1 million girls being denied access to formal education.
For Salma and her friends, it was an end to their dreams of the future.
“I used to go to school every day. Every morning felt very exciting. We would meet our friends and teachers. We used to play together, eat and, of course, study,” she said.
“Every time I sat with my classmates, we would talk about our dreams and plans. I always wanted to be a teacher, my friend wanted to become a doctor, another one wished to become a computer engineer ... Everything changed so suddenly.”
Neither appeals at home nor international pressure on the Taliban administration have since helped to lift the ban, which authorities have repeatedly said was an “internal matter.” The only education the Taliban have allowed for girls is at madrasas, Islamic schools that focus on religious training.
Some of Salma’s colleagues tried to continue their learning and took private lessons online.
“But they banned those classes as well,” she said. “We just pass days and nights without doing anything meaningful. Our lives have become purposeless.”
The ban was later extended to universities, with more than 100,000 female students blocked from finishing their degrees.
Testimonies of girls and young women such as Salma are now being collected under the “Iqra” campaign by Afghan activists trying to amplify their voices.
The word “iqra,” meaning “read” in Arabic, was the first word of the Qur’anic revelation, which is interpreted by many Muslims as emphasizing the importance of education in Islam.
The campaign is organized by Musawer and Rawadari, two civil society organizations working for children’s education and human rights.
“We started the Iqra campaign as we were getting closer to the 1,000 days of school closure for girls in Afghanistan. We were so saddened and really grieved by it because every day is a day that will never come back for these young women. They can never go back and be of the same age and go back to school,” Shaharzad Akbar, director of Rawadari, told Arab News.
Rawadari has been contacting girls across Afghanistan, asking how it feels to be out of school for so long, how it has affected them, and what was it that they wanted.
“Their main demand is the reopening of schools and universities so that they can continue their education. When you talk to an 11-12-year-old in other parts of the world, they will talk about personal ambitions. But for almost all of these girls, they are talking about serving their communities,” Akbar said.
“Almost every single person said I wanted to be educated so I can serve Afghanistan and my people. That was really moving. What a waste that they will not be able to serve in the ways that they want to serve because they are banned from education.”
Women activists and education experts say the ban on girls’ education has already damaged the entire social system.
Fazila Muruwat, former head of the Kunar Teachers’ Education College, said that the restriction is taking a toll on both students and educators.
“People are hopeless and sad,” she said. “Female teachers are also forgetting a lot of what they have learned and taught before.”
Mahbob Mowahed, principal of a private school in Kabul, highlighted the damaging psychological and social consequences of the ban.
“In order to have a progressive and independent country, it is imperative for everyone to have access to education, which means that men, women, boys and girls should have the opportunity to learn,” he said.
“Women are an important part of the society and we cannot keep them illiterate forever. Even religion cannot be properly learnt without education.”
Fears are growing that the prolonged denial of education is resulting in another lost generation in Afghanistan.
“An entire generation was thrown into darkness. This is such a loss that Afghanistan will not be able to compensate for it for decades. It is not just a problem of girls but it is a discussion of the survival of Afghanistan,” Shafiqa Khpalwak, director of Musawer, told Arab News.
“I don’t know what the society will be like if girls don’t go to school and remain illiterate ... This is a human disaster. This is a violation of human dignity.”
8 arrested after gruesome murder of Indian politician
NEW DELHI: Eight people were arrested in India on Saturday for the murder of a politician who championed the rights of lower-caste Indians, police said.
K. Armstrong, the state boss of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), was hacked to death with machetes and sickles near his home in the southern city of Chennai on Friday night.
Six men traveling on motorbikes attacked Armstrong while he was “chatting with friends and supporters” near his home in the Tamil Nadu state capital, the Indian Express newspaper reported.
The men reportedly escaped before anyone could intervene.
Several of Armstrong’s supporters took to the streets later in the evening to protest his assassination and demand justice.
Senior Chennai police officer Asra Garg said eight suspects were being interrogated after a “preliminary investigation.”
Mayawati, the national head of Armstrong’s BSP, who uses one name, said the attack was “highly deplorable and condemnable.”
“The state government must punish the guilty,” she said in a post on social media platform X.
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin also urged police to speedily conclude the investigation.
“Armstrong’s assassination is shocking and deeply saddening,” he said.
