BEIJING: A detachment of warships of Russia’s Pacific Fleet and the Chinese Navy entered the Sea of Okhotsk in the western Pacific as part of joint navy exercises, Russia’s Interfax agency reported on Tuesday, citing the Pacific Fleet’s press service.
“During the sea passage, the detachment carried out tasks of joint manoeuvring, countering unmanned boats of a mock enemy, conducting reconnaissance and monitoring the surface situation with the involvement of deck helicopters,” Interfax reported, citing the press service.
Russia said on Saturday it was starting the joint Russian-Chinese “Beibu/Interaction — 2024” naval exercise that would include anti-aircraft and anti-submarine weapons.
Russian large anti-submarine destroyers Admiral Panteleyev and Admiral Tributs as well as corvettes MPK-82 and MPK-107 were among the warships taking part in the drills, Interfax reported.
China was represented by the destroyers Xining and Wuxi, the frigate Linyi and the integrated supply ship Taihu, the agency added.
“(The ships) will perform artillery firing, as well as the use of anti-submarine and anti-aircraft weapons systems under a single plan,” Interfax reported.
The Sea of Okhotsk in the western Pacific Ocean is located between Russia’s Kamchatka Peninsula on the east, the Kuril Islands on the southeast and Japan’s island of Hokkaido to the south.
Russia, China warships enter Sea of Okhotsk for drills
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Russia, China warships enter Sea of Okhotsk for drills
- The joint Russian-Chinese “Beibu/Interaction — 2024” naval exercise included anti-aircraft and anti-submarine weapons
At least four arrested in south-western Germany on suspicion of human smuggling
At least four people were arrested in south-western Germany early Tuesday in a series of raids conducted on suspicion of human smuggling, a spokesperson for the federal police said.
The raids were carried out in Mannheim and in the areas surrounding Karlsruhe and Worms, with a total of 24 properties searched, the spokesperson said.
A total of 400 police officers were deployed to conduct the raids, with federal police, the public prosecutor’s office and central customs involved.
The case pertains to a group of migrants from the Caucasus region that were smuggled into Germany to work illegally and therefore below the statutory minimum wage, including at construction sites, the spokesperson said.
The investigation was launched after one of the migrants in question was apprehended trying to leave Germany via Franfurt airport, according to police.
Earlier this month, the German government imposed tighter controls at all of the country’s land borders in what it called an attempt to tackle irregular migration and protect the public from security threats.
The restrictions are part of a series of measures Germany has taken to toughen its stance on irregular migration in recent years following a surge in arrivals.
Ukraine says one killed after ‘massive’ air strikes
KYIV: Ukraine said Tuesday that one man was killed and six wounded, including two children, by “massive” Russian air strikes on the southern city of Zaporizhzhia.
The regional capital was targeted by a series of “massive air strikes” over the course of two hours after 9:00 p.m. Monday evening, the state emergency service said.
“One man died and another six people were injured including a 13-year-old girl and a 15-year-old boy as a result of Russian attacks on Zaporizhzhia,” the regional governor Ivan Fedorov wrote on Telegram.
Air strikes and drones set fire to an infrastructure facility and residential buildings, the governor said.
A municipal official, Regina Kharchenko, wrote on Telegram that 74 blocks of flats and 24 private houses were damaged in various districts of the city.
Ukraine’s air force said on social media that overnight air defenses had downed 66 attack drones and 13 more were lost from radar. It said Russia had launched a total of 81 drones, mainly targeting northern and central Ukraine.
Russia also launched four missiles, the air force said.
In Ukraine’s central Poltava region, drones damaged energy infrastructure, cutting supplies to 20 settlements, regional authorities said.
In Russia, the defense ministry said its forces had downed 13 Ukrainian drones over border regions overnight and on Tuesday morning.
Two civilians were wounded by Ukrainian shelling early Tuesday in the city of Gorlivka in the Russian-occupied part of the eastern Donetsk region, the Russian-appointed mayor said.
Football pitch collapses as parts of the UK are hit by flash floods
- Roads were closed, some train lines in London were suspended and dozens of people reported their houses being submerged as parts of central and southern England
LONDON: A soccer pitch in London collapsed and other parts of the United Kingdom were submerged by flash floods Monday after some areas saw a month’s worth of rainfall in 24 hours.
Roads were closed, some train lines in London were suspended and dozens of people reported their houses being submerged as parts of central and southern England saw about 60 to 80 millimeters (2 to 3 inches of rainfall. A few locations were expected to be hit by more than 120 mm (4.7 inches) of rain, weather forecasters said.
In the capital, the London Fire Brigade said emergency responders received some 350 flood-related calls. The service said these included rescuing people trapped in cars, assisting people from their homes and responding to flooding in underground train stations, roadways, homes and businesses.
At the Cherry Red Records Stadium, AFC Wimbledon’s soccer pitch, heavy rains appeared to have left a sinkhole in the pitch, resulting in the cancelation of a match scheduled on Tuesday.
Zelensky holds flurry of bilateral meetings at UN to shore up support for Ukraine
- Zelensky is to travel later in the week to Washington to present his “victory plan“
KYIV: Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky, who is in New York for the meeting of world officials at the United Nations, held talks on the sidelines with German, Indian and Japan leaders on Monday trying to shore up support for Kyiv’s war efforts.
“We talked about how to make a just peace closer,” Zelensky said on his Telegram messaging app after meeting with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz. “The main thing is to maintain unity.”
Germany has been one of most significant backers in Europe of Kyiv’s defensive fight against Russia.
The full-scale Russia invasion of Ukraine, or “special military operation” as Moscow calls it, began in Feb 2022 and has killed thousands of people, uprooted millions more and turned Ukrainian towns and cities into rubble.
After the UN General Assembly sessions, Zelensky is to travel later in the week to Washington to present his “victory plan“ and influence White House policy on the war no matter who wins the US election on Nov. 5.
Zelensky said that he also met with India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
“We are dynamically developing our relations,” he said on the Telegram after the meeting.
India-Russia relations
Reuters reported earlier this month that artillery shells sold by Indian arms makers were diverted by European customers to Ukraine and New Delhi did not intervene to stop the trade despite protests from Moscow.
India has warm ties with Russia, its primary arms supplier for decades, and Prime Minister Narendra Modi has refused to join the Western-led sanctions regime against Moscow.
Zelensky also held talks with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on Japan’s energy aid to Kyiv.
“Restoring our energy supply after Russian shelling and preparing for winter are tasks we are actively working on now,” Zelensky said in a post on the Telegram messaging app. “Together with Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, we discussed the situation in the energy sector.”
Japan has been one of several nations sending support, including $4.5 billion this year, according to the Japanese foreign ministry website.
Japan has provided Kyiv with equipment for restoration work and increasing the capacity of the Ukrainian power system to get through winter amidst Russia’s continued strikes on energy infrastructure.
Ukraine’s electricity supply shortfall could reach about a third of expected peak demand amid the attacks and the expiry of a gas supply contract at the end of this year, the International Energy Agency said in a report last week.
China FM slams ‘indiscriminate attacks’ on civilians in talks with Lebanese counterpart
- Wang acknowledged the strikes, saying China “strongly condemns any violation of the basic norms governing international relations.”
- China also urged its citizens to leave Israel on Sunday as tensions with Lebanon grew
BEIJING: China’s top diplomat Wang Yi expressed support for Lebanon and condemned what he termed “indiscriminate attacks against civilians,” Beijing’s foreign ministry said on Tuesday.
Meeting his Lebanese counterpart in New York, Wang said: “We pay close attention to developments in the region, especially the recent explosion of communications equipment in Lebanon, and firmly oppose indiscriminate attacks against civilians.”
Last week, a series of coordinated communications device blasts across Lebanon killed 39 people and wounded almost 3,000.
And on Monday, Israeli air strikes killed 492 people, including 35 children and 58 women, and wounded 1,645 others in the country, according to Lebanon’s health ministry.
Wang acknowledged the strikes, saying China “strongly condemns any violation of the basic norms governing international relations.”
“No matter how the situation changes, we will always stand on the side of justice, on the side of our Arab brothers, including Lebanon,” Wang told Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib.
“Armed force does not represent truth, and might only undermines peace,” Wang said.
“Countering violence with violence will not solve the problems in the Middle East and will only lead to an even greater humanitarian disaster,” he added.
China also urged its citizens to leave Israel on Sunday as tensions with Lebanon grew.
China has repeatedly called for peace talks to resolve the crisis in Gaza.
In July, the country brokered a “national unity” deal between Hamas, Fatah, and other Palestinian organizations to rule Gaza together after the war.
