BRUSSELS: NATO leaders plan to pledge next week to keep pouring arms and ammunition into Ukraine at current levels for at least another year, hoping to reassure the war-ravaged country of their ongoing support and show Russian President Vladimir Putin that they will not walk away.
US President Joe Biden and his counterparts meet in Washington for a three-day summit beginning Tuesday to mark the military alliance’s 75th anniversary as Russian troops press their advantage along Ukraine’s eastern front in the third year of the war.
Speaking to reporters Friday, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said NATO’s 32 member countries have been spending around 40 billion euros ($43 billion) each year on military equipment for Ukraine since the war began in February 2022 and that this should be “a minimum baseline” going forward.
“I expect allies will decide at the summit to sustain this level within the next year,” Stoltenberg said. He said the amount would be shared among nations based on their economic growth and that the leaders will review the figure when they meet again in 2025.
NATO is desperate to do more for Ukraine but is struggling to find new ways. Already, NATO allies provide 99 percent of the military support it gets. Soon, the alliance will manage equipment deliveries. But two red lines remain: no NATO membership until the war is over, and no NATO boots on the ground there.
At their last summit, NATO leaders agreed to fast-track Ukraine’s membership process — although the country is unlikely to join for many years — and set up a high-level body for emergency consultations. Several countries promised more military equipment.
A year on, they want to put on a fresh display of unity and resolve, even as uncertainty over elections roils many of the organization’s biggest members. The possible return of Donald Trump, who undermined trust among the allies while he was the US president, is a particular concern.
But governments in France and Germany also were weakened in elections this year. Italy is led by a prime minister whose party has neo-fascist roots, while an anti-immigrant party heads a shaky coalition in the Netherlands and Spain’s Cabinet relies on small parties to rule. The UK will have a new leader.
Whoever might be in power though, it’s become clear that there’s not a lot more that NATO can do.
Lately, Stoltenberg has insisted on a long-term commitment to Ukraine. Major funding delays, notably due to political wrangling in the US Congress, have left the country’s armed forces, in his words, “to defend themselves with one hand tied on the back.”
He had hoped the allies would agree to spend at least 40 billion euros annually on weapons in a “major, multi-year” program. It does not mean an increase in support, though. The figure roughly equals what they have already spent each year since the war began.
One new initiative the leaders are likely to endorse is a mission to get the right military equipment into Ukraine and streamline training for its armed forces. In their haste to help, Western backers have inundated Ukraine with all kinds of weapons and materiel.
In the early chaos of war, anything was welcome, but the deliveries have become unmanageable — a multitude of different kinds of vehicles or defense systems that require distinct maintenance plans and dedicated supply chains to keep them running.
Offers of training programs outside Ukraine have also been abundant, indeed so prolific and different that its armed forces struggle to prioritize which troops to send, to what NATO country, and for how long.
“We’ve let a thousand flowers bloom,” conceded a senior US State Department official, but added that with a new mission, probably based in Wiesbaden, Germany, and under the likely leadership of a US general, “NATO can come in and say: We’ve got it.”
The official requested anonymity to discuss plans that had not been finalized.
Sending military equipment via this new mission would also prevent rogue governments or leaders from meddling with joint deliveries. NATO officials say the mission would complement the US-led effort to drum up arms, the so-called Ramstein group.
The US will announce new steps to strengthen Ukraine’s air defenses and military capabilities, according to a senior Biden administration official.
The official, who spoke to reporters on the condition of anonymity under ground rules set by the White House, declined to detail the air defense capabilities that would be sent. But the administration signaled last month that the US will rush delivery of air defense interceptor missiles to Ukraine by redirecting planned shipments to other allied nations.
The official said members of the NATO-Ukraine Council would meet Thursday at the summit. Later that day, Biden and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will host an event with leaders from nearly two dozen other nations who have negotiated and signed bilateral security agreements with Ukraine.
A conundrum for NATO leaders is how to frame Ukraine’s membership prospects without letting it join. Many allies refuse to allow Ukraine in while fighting continues, concerned about being dragged into a wider war with Russia. Hungary opposes Ukraine’s membership altogether.
In the run-up to the summit, NATO envoys have been weighing the use of words such as “irreversible” to describe Ukraine’s path to membership as they tweak language that has shifted constantly since they promised in 2008 that the country would join one day.
It’s unclear how this will be accepted in Kyiv. At their last meeting, the leaders were noncommittal about timing, saying only that they would be “in a position to extend an invitation to Ukraine to join the alliance when allies agree and conditions are met.”
Zelensky described it as “unprecedented and absurd when a time frame is set neither for the invitation nor for Ukraine’s membership.” He complained that “vague wording about ‘conditions’ is added even for inviting Ukraine.”
In recent weeks, Zelensky and other Ukrainian officials have been briefed on developments to avoid a repeat of the criticism. Stoltenberg said he and Zelensky agreed earlier this month that the new steps the leaders will take “constitute a bridge to NATO membership and a very strong package for Ukraine at the summit.”
Membership would protect Ukraine against a giant neighbor that annexed its Crimean Peninsula a decade ago and more recently seized vast swaths of land in the east and south. Before then, Kyiv must reform its security institutions, improve governance and curb corruption.
NATO leaders will vow to pour weapons into Ukraine for another year, but membership is off the table
https://arab.news/wdxkx
NATO leaders will vow to pour weapons into Ukraine for another year, but membership is off the table
- Leaders hope to reassure Ukraine of their ongoing support and show Russia that they will not walk away
- Fears raised over decline in support for Ukraine as Russia-leaning politicians gain ground in their respective countries
Thousands of Jewish pilgrims come to Ukraine for Rosh Hashana despite official warnings
- “Every year (since Russia’s full-scale invasion), I speak on Israeli television and radio, and I call on the (Jewish) pilgrims not to come to Ukraine
UMAN, Ukraine: Prayer chants and the sounding of traditional ram’s horns fill the air in the town of Uman, in central Ukraine, as thousands of pilgrims join an annual gathering to mark the Jewish new year, despite the war against Russia.
Uman, 200 kilometers (125 miles) south of the Ukrainian capital Kyiv, is transformed for the celebration of Rosh Hashana. The streets are plastered with signs in Hebrew for the pilgrims who come to pray at the tomb of Rabbi Nachman, the great-grandson of the founder of Hasidic movement.
Despite Ukrainian and Israeli diplomats warning of the security threat, officials told The Associated Press that 35,000 pilgrims made the journey to Uman this year, the same as in earlier years.
Rabbi Moshe Reuven Azman, a leading figure in Ukraine’s Jewish community, was one of those who urged international pilgrims not to visit Ukraine due to security concerns but acknowledged that many would still make the trip regardless of the potential risks involved.
“Every year (since Russia’s full-scale invasion), I speak on Israeli television and radio, and I call on the (Jewish) pilgrims not to come to Ukraine. My primary concern is for the lives of people,” he said.
As the war in Ukraine rages for a third year, Russian army fires barrages of drones and missiles at Ukraine almost daily, leaving no region completely safe. Active combat is taking place along a 1,000-kilometer (620-mile) front, as Russian forces press their advantage in the eastern Donetsk region. This year alone, the Russian army has managed to capture several thousand square kilometers (miles) of Ukrainian territory, with the capture of the city of Vuhledar being their most recent notable achievement.
Nachman Shitrit, 18, who traveled to Uman from Haifa, Israel with his father, said he had made the pilgrimage over a dozen times.
“The war here didn’t scare me from traveling to Ukraine; there’s also war where I came from,” he told the AP.
This year’s pilgrimage comes at an increasingly volatile time in the Middle East. Israel is now engaged in a multifront war that includes the battles with Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon, attacks from Iran and strikes inside Syria, plus ongoing confrontations with armed militants in the West Bank and occasional attacks launched by Iranian-backed militants in Iraq and by the Houthis in Yemen.
The hostilities posed additional challenges to some pilgrims traveling to Ukraine this year.
Ukraine closed its air space in February 2022, at the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion, forcing visitors to travel overland via other European countries in order to reach Uman.
The United Jewish Community of Ukraine said Wednesday that more than 14,000 pilgrims were unable to travel to Uman, partly as a result of Iran’s attack on Israel Tuesday. Iran fired a barrage of nearly 180 missiles, causing cancelation of multiple flights from Israel in an act Iranian officials called retaliation for Israel’s recent strikes on Hezbollah.
Meir Shpanier, 23, who traveled from Tel Aviv, said the difficulty of the journey had made the experience more meaningful to him this year.
“I managed to get here by a miracle. My travel agent booked airplane tickets from Tel Aviv to Budapest. From there, a Ukrainian driver picked me up, and we drove 22 hours to Uman. But some of my friends had to travel through five countries.”
“Because I had to work hard to get here, it means more to me now. I think we’re all blessed to be here,” Shpanier said.
Death toll in worst Bosnian floods in years rises to 16, officials say
- Bosnia’s Civil Defense said between 20 and 40 people were listed as missing
- Edin Forto, the transportation minister of the Bosniak-Croat federation, said the situation in the affected areas was critical
DONJA JABLANICA, Bosnia: At least 16 people died in floods in Bosnia and Herzegovina on Friday and many others were missing as torrential rain and landslides destroyed homes, roads and bridges across the center of the country, officials said.
The municipality of Jablanica, about 70 km (43 miles) southwest of the capital Sarajevo, where the deaths were reported, was completely cut off after road and railway links were destroyed.
Sixteen people were killed, most of them in the Jablanica area, cantonal interior ministry spokesperson Ljudevit Maric, told Reuters. “Search for the missing continues,” he said.
Bosnia’s Civil Defense said between 20 and 40 people were listed as missing as they were either trapped under the rubble of carried away by flooding, N1 TV reported.
Bosnia’s inter-ethnic presidency — a Bosniak, Serb and Croat tripartite — said it requested military help for the wider Jablanica area, and engineers, rescue units and a helicopter were deployed, including some to rescue 17 people from a mental hospital.
Edin Forto, the transportation minister of the Bosniak-Croat federation, said the situation in the affected areas was critical.
“The flash flood ripped out entire houses, together with concrete slabs and foundations and carried them away... I have never seen anything like this,” he said.
Some houses had been reduced to rubble by landslides, in what appeared to be Bosnia’s worst flooding since at least 2014, when more than 20 died in floods.
“In some cases only parts of roofs can be seen. I cannot remember the crisis of such a magnitude since the (1992-1995) war,” said Darko Jukan, a spokesman for the regional government.
At an emergency session, Bosnia’s central government said it would allocate funds for the recovery of the affected areas.
The government of the Bosniak-Croat Federation declared a state of natural disaster in the flood-affected areas and set up a crisis committee to help alleviate the situation there.
Neighbouring Croatia and Serbia also offered Bosnia assistance in rescue operations.
Aldin Brasnjic, the head of the Civil Defense administration in the Bosniak-Croat federation, said rescuers could not reach a number of villages due to blocked roads and that upcoming rains would make their efforts more difficult.
“The search for the missing is priority at the moment. We think we will be able to complete this today and tomorrow,” he said.
In a video shared with Reuters on Friday, Robert Oroz showed his village of Luke, near the town of Fojnica in central Bosnia, flooded and littered with tree trunks, logs, branches and debris.
He said water receded for some time but started to rise again.
“Situation is disastrous ... A smokehouse for meat was here, it’s not anymore,” Oroz said.
The town of Kiseljak in central Bosnia was inundated after a river burst its banks. Brown water lapped at the doors of businesses and homes, drone footage taken by Reuters showed, although the waters had begun to recede on Friday afternoon.
Later on Friday, Bosnia’s election commission decided to postpone local elections set for this weekend in municipalities affected by floods, but to carry on with voting elsewhere.
The floods in Bosnia came after an unprecedented summer drought which caused many rivers and lakes to dry up, and affected agriculture and water supply to urban areas throughout the Balkans and most of Europe.
Meteorologists said extreme weather changes can be attributed to climate change.
Neighbouring Croatia was also hit by floods on Friday, though there were no reports of casualties. Authorities issued a severe weather warning for the Adriatic coast and central regions of the country.
Montenegro and Serbia issued similar warnings.
2 sisters from Egypt were among those killed in Mexican army shooting
- The sisters, and four other migrants from countries including Peru and Honduras, were killed on Tuesday in the southern state of Chiapas
- Prosecutors’ office confirmed the identification of the two sisters and said their father was wounded in the shooting, but survived
TAPACHULA, Mexico: An 11-year-old Egyptian girl and her 18-year-old sister were among those killed after Mexican army troops opened fire on a truck carrying migrants earlier this week, an official said Friday.
The sisters, and four other migrants from countries including Peru and Honduras, were killed on Tuesday in the southern state of Chiapas.
An official in the state’s prosecutors office confirmed the identification of the two sisters and said their father was wounded in the shooting, but survived.
Federal officials, including newly inaugurated President Claudia Sheinbaum, again refused Friday to confirm the ages or genders of the six migrants killed in the shooting, which occurred on Sheinbaum’s first day in office.
Soldiers claimed they heard shots and returned fire and officials have studiously avoided saying the migrants were killed by army gunfire. However, that appears to be the case, and two soldiers have been relieved of duty and turned over to civilian prosecutors for questioning.
The killings placed in doubt Sheinbaum’s statements over her first days in office that human rights will be at the forefront of her administration’s policies.
Asked about her immigration policy Friday, Sheinbaum said only that the killings were under investigation and doubled down on earlier claims that the government doesn’t violate human rights.
“First of all, human rights are respected,” Sheinbaum said. “That is very important, that is why it is called a humanistic immigration policy, because human rights are at the forefront.”
Three of the dead were from Egypt, and one each from Peru and Honduras. The other has apparently not yet been identified.
Ten other migrants were wounded in the shooting. but there has not been any information on their conditions.
Peru’s foreign ministry confirmed one Peruvian was killed and demanded “an urgent investigation” into the killings. Peru and Mexico have had damaged relations since a 2022 diplomatic spat.
It was the worst killing of migrants by authorities in Mexico since police in the northern state of Tamaulipas killed 17 migrants in 2021.
Sheinbaum has said the shootings are being investigated to see if any commanders might face punishment, and noted “a situation like this cannot be repeated.”
But she left out any mention of that Thursday at a ceremony at a Mexico City army base, where army and navy commanders pledged their loyalty to her in front of massed combat vehicles and hundreds of troops.
“In our country, there is not a state of siege, there are no violations of human rights,” Sheinbaum said, as she promised wage increases for soldiers and sailors.
The shootings Tuesday occurred near the city of Tapachula, near the border with Guatemala.
The Defense Department initially said that soldiers claimed to have heard shots as a convoy of three trucks passed the soldiers’ position.
The Attorney General’s Office later said all three trucks ignored orders to stop and tried to flee. The soldiers pursued them and reported coming under fire from the convoy, and returned fire.
One of the trucks eventually stopped, the driver reportedly fled, and a total of 33 migrants were found aboard, from the three countries already mentioned, as well as Nepal, Cuba, India and Pakistan.
The Defense Department said four of the migrants were found dead, and 12 wounded. Two of the wounded later died of their injuries. Sheinbaum refused to say whether any weapons were found in the migrants’ truck.
The area is a common route for smuggling migrants, who are often packed into crowded freight trucks. It has also been the scene of drug cartel turf battles, and the department said the trucks “were similar to those used by criminal groups in the region.”
Irineo Mujica, a migrant rights activist, said he doubted the migrants or their smugglers opened fire.
“It is really impossible that these people would have been shooting at the army,” Mujica said. “Most of the time, they get through by paying bribes.”
If the deaths were the result of army fire, as appears likely, it could prove a major embarrassment for Sheinbaum.
The new president has followed the lead of former president Andrés Manuel López Obrador in giving the armed forces extraordinary powers in law enforcement, state-run companies, airports, trains and construction projects.
It is not the first time Mexican forces have opened fire on vehicles carrying migrants in the area, which is also the object of cartel turf battles.
In 2021, the quasi-military National Guard opened fire on a pickup truck carrying migrants, killing one and wounding four. The Guard officers initially claimed some of those in the migrants’ truck were armed and had fired shots, but the governmental National Human Rights Commission later found that was not true.
And in 2021, state police in Tamaulipas killed 17 migrants and two Mexican citizens. Those officers also initially claimed to have come under fire from the migrants’ vehicles.
They argued they were responding to shots fired and believed they were chasing the vehicles of one of the country’s drug cartels, which frequently participate in migrant smuggling. But that later turned out to be false, and the police in fact burned the victims’ bodies in an attempt to cover up the crime.
Eleven of the policemen were convicted of homicide and sentenced to over 50 years in prison.
Bangladeshi doctors on alert as dengue death rate highest in decades
- Bangladesh is witnessing the highest death rate from dengue since 2003
- Disease outbreak forecast to continue for the next two months
DHAKA: Bangladeshi doctors are on alert as this year’s mortality rate from dengue fever is the highest in over two decades.
Each year, dengue fever becomes a major health concern during the monsoon season between July and October, with thousands of Bangladeshis contracting the viral and potentially deadly disease transmitted by the Aedes mosquitoes breeding in freshwater pools.
The disease used to be rare in the 1960s, but since the early 2000s, its incidence has increased dramatically.
While the worst outbreak was recorded last year, with over 211,000 people hospitalized across the country, this year the country is witnessing the highest death rate from the disease since 2003.
Out of 34,121 dengue patients admitted to hospitals, 177 have died, according to Directorate General of Health Services data.
“This year, the fatality rate from dengue is higher than in the previous years, although the number of patients is less,” Dr. Mohammed Mushtuq Husain, adviser at the Institute of Epidemiology Disease Control and Research in Dhaka, told Arab News.
“The fatality is worrying as it is the highest in the world at the moment.”
The death rate has reached 0.52 percent, surpassing last year’s 0.49 percent.
“This dengue trend is feared to continue. When this monsoon rain spell is over, it will continue for the next two months — it’s the life cycle of the dengue virus and Aedes mosquitoes,” Husain said.
Dr. Muzaherul Huq, former World Health Organization regional adviser, warned that prevention and early detection need to be strengthened as the outbreak is not over yet.
“The way dengue case fatality is increasing, it may take a worrying (turn) at any moment. So, we need to strengthen the prevention methods against the dengue virus. Otherwise, we won’t be able to fight this,” he said.
Deaths are mostly occurring as patients come to hospitals at the last stage, often after a long time traveling as most specialist and testing facilities are available only at major clinics.
Many also come infected with dengue for the second or third time. A person can be infected several times with different variants of the virus.
“There are four strains of dengue virus. If someone gets infected with dengue in previous years, second or third-time infection causes more risks for him or her,” said Brig. Gen. Mohammed Rezaur Rahman, director of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University in Dhaka.
“Dengue is a viral disease, and it mutates regularly. This is why it’s tough to eradicate.”
There is no treatment for the disease yet, and the focus is on treating its symptoms. In its severe form, it causes internal bleeding and deadly organ impairment.
Indian FM meets Sri Lanka’s new leadership, assures support in economic rebuilding
- S. Jaishankar is the first top foreign official to meet Sri Lanka’s new president
- India was a key partner in extending support to Sri Lanka during its 2022 economic crisis
New Delhi: India’s Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar arrived in Colombo on Friday to meet Sri Lanka’s new president and government and assure New Delhi’s continued support.
Sri Lanka’s new President Anura Kumara Dissanayake took office on Sept. 23, after winning the country’s first presidential vote since its financial collapse in 2022.
A day later, he appointed his three-member government and dissolved the parliament, clearing the way for new parliamentary elections scheduled for Nov. 14.
The Indian foreign minister is the first top foreign official to pay an official visit to Sri Lanka since its regime change.
He took to X after meeting Dissanayake, Prime Minister Harini Amarasuriya and Foreign Minister Vijitha Herath.
“Discussed ways to deepen ongoing cooperation and strengthen India-Sri Lanka ties for the benefit of people of two countries and the region,” Jaishankar said, as he also expressed “India’s continued support to Sri Lanka’s economic rebuilding.”
The Indian Ministry of External Affairs said the visit aimed to “further deepen the longstanding partnership” between the countries under India’s Neighborhood First Policy and Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s geopolitical framework of cooperation in the Indian Ocean region.
Dissanayake, the country’s first Marxist-leaning leader, took over the job on the promise of change, as the island nation of 22 million is still reeling from the crisis and austerity measures imposed by his predecessor as a part of a bailout deal with the International Monetary Fund.
Sri Lanka’s largest trading partner, India in 2022 emerged also as the main source of support to its battered economy.
“India has been consistently engaged with the Sri Lankan leadership since the economic crisis, and Jaishankar’s visit is a signal that despite the change in government, India is likely to continue to work closely with the new dispensation,” Prof. Harsh V. Pant, vice president of the Observer Research Foundation in New Delhi, told Arab News.
“India intends to have as close ties with this government as it had with the previous. I think this is a signal of India’s interest … India is keen to continue the momentum in the relationship that had set in after India became the most active player in helping Sri Lanka get out of the economic crisis.”
The lineup of Sri Lanka’s new government will be finalized after November’s election. Currently, the president, the prime minister and the foreign minister have divided all the portfolios among themselves. A proper cabinet will be appointed after the parliamentary vote, with the composition depending on its results.
“India has registered that it is willing to work with the new government. That is the main message from the visit … Other details about projects, investment and other things will take time,” N. Sathiya Moorthy, a political analyst in Chennai, told Arab News.
“Every Sri Lankan remembers how India rushed to help during their economic crisis. So, the new government will not overlook that sentiment also.”
