MELBOURNE: Australia will give 49 of its aging M1A1 Abrams tanks to Ukraine months after Kyiv requested the redundant fleet, Defense Minister Richard Marles said Thursday.
The Australian government was giving Ukraine most of its American-made M1A1 tanks, which are valued at 245 million Australian dollars ($163 million), Marles said. They will be replaced in Australia by a fleet of 75 next-generation M1A2 tanks.
In February, Marles said that giving Ukraine the tanks as they were phased out was not on his government’s agenda. But on Thursday he said he did not regard the donation as a backflip on his government’s previous position.
“We talk with the Ukrainian government consistently around how best we can support them,” Marles told Australian Broadcasting Corp.
“We look at the material that we have; its effectiveness, ... the shape that it’s in, to be frank, whether it would be able to make a difference, whether it can be sustained and maintained so that it can be kept in the fight. And the Abrams tanks fit all of those criteria,” he added.
Ukraine’s Ambassador to Australia, Vasyl Myroshnychenko, would not be drawn on opposition lawmakers’ criticisms that the tanks should have been donated earlier.
“This is a very timely, a very substantial and very fit-for-purpose announcement,” Myroshnychenko said. “We respect the decision of the government. It was not an easy one and I’m very happy that it was a positive one.”
The tanks bring the total value of Australia’s military assistance to Ukraine since Russia’s 2022 invasion to over AU$1.3 billion ($866 million).
The United States agreed to send 31 Abrams tanks to Ukraine in January 2023 after an aggressive monthslong campaign by Kyiv arguing that the tanks were vital to its ability to breach Russian lines.
Australia gives 49 aging Abrams tanks to Ukraine
https://arab.news/pywfm
Australia gives 49 aging Abrams tanks to Ukraine
- They will be replaced in Australia by a fleet of 75 next-generation M1A2 tanks
- The tanks bring the total value of Australia’s military assistance to Ukraine to over $866 million
Zelensky in Brussels to defend ‘victory plan’ at EU and NATO
- More than two and a half years into the war, Kyiv is losing new territory almost daily in its eastern Donbas region and under mounting pressure to forge an exit strategy
More than two and a half years into the war, Kyiv is losing new territory almost daily in its eastern Donbas region and under mounting pressure to forge an exit strategy — which it says must start with ramped-up Western support.
“Now we are on the way to Brussels,” Zelensky said in a video posted as he made the trip. “I will present the victory plan, our tool for forcing Russia to peace. All European leaders will hear how we need to strengthen our position. We need to end this war justly.”
Zelensky heads first to the EU summit where he will address the media in the late morning, with a joint press conference with NATO chief Mark Rutte later in the day — wrapping the first of two days of talks between the Alliance’s 32 member states.
While calling it a “strong signal,” the NATO secretary-general cautioned Wednesday he was not endorsing Zelensky’s “whole plan” — which calls first and foremost for an immediate invitation to join the US-led alliance, a plea widely seen as unrealistic.
NATO countries have declared Ukraine to be on an “irreversible path” to membership.
But the United States and Germany have led opposition to immediate entry, believing it would effectively put the alliance at war with nuclear-armed Russia.
Washington’s ambassador to NATO, Julianne Smith, hammered the message home Wednesday, saying: “We are not at the point right now where the alliance is talking about issuing an invitation in the short term.”
The US position is unlikely to shift whether Donald Trump or Kamala Harris wins the White House on November 5 — though there are fears a second Trump term could upend the support Ukraine receives from NATO’s biggest power.
Insiders agree the elephant in the room at the NATO talks will be the contest playing out across the Atlantic.
“We are in a kind of waiting mode,” summed up one NATO diplomat.
Pressed on the membership question, Rutte reiterated NATO’s party line, saying: “I cannot today now exactly sketch out what the path will be, but I am absolutely confident that in the future, Ukraine will join us.”
But Ukraine’s allies are well aware that time is of the essence.
“It’s a very difficult period, the worst since the beginning of the invasion,” said a second NATO diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity.
In addition to membership, Zelensky’s plan rejects any territorial concessions and calls for Western allies to lift restrictions on using donated long-range weapons to target Russian military sites.
According to Zelensky, an annexe — shared with the United States, Britain, France, Italy and Germany — involves deploying a “non-nuclear strategic deterrence package” on Ukrainian territory to discourage future Russian attacks.
None of the proposals have so far earned public backing from Western capitals.
For NATO in the meantime, Rutte said the focus was on keeping “massive military aid moving into Ukraine” in order “to make sure that if ever one day Zelensky and his team decide to discuss with Russia how to end this, that he will do this from a position of strength.”
For a third NATO official, the setbacks inflicted on Russian President Vladimir Putin since the invasion are already sufficient to justify seeking a negotiated outcome — rather than letting the war drag on indefinitely.
“There are various ways to define victory or to define defeat,” they said. “He has lost already because his initial aim was to capture Kyiv, to kick out the government, to send Zelensky in exile and to install a puppet regime.”
On the eve of the NATO meeting, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz called for exploring ways to end the war — potentially including talks with Putin.
But according to an alliance diplomat other voices still fear that anything short of an outright victory for Kyiv would spell “disaster” — ensuring that an emboldened Russia does not stop there.
High hopes were pinned on a meeting of Ukraine’s backers including Washington at the Ramstein US air base in western Germany, but the meeting was called off and may not be rescheduled before the US election.
In the meantime, as Russian forces pound its cities and infrastructure, Ukraine is pleading for stepped-up air defense systems — but no new announcements were expected from NATO on that front.
French cement maker Lafarge to face trial on terrorism funding charges
- Lafarge, which became part of Swiss-listed Holcim in 2015, has been the subject of an investigation into its operations in Syria since 2016
PARIS: Cement maker Holcim’s Lafarge will face trial in a French court on charges that its Syrian subsidiary financed terrorism and breached European sanctions in order to keep a plant operating, France’s anti-terrorism prosecutor and a lead plaintiff said.
Lafarge, which became part of Swiss-listed Holcim in 2015, has been the subject of an investigation into its operations in Syria since 2016, one of the most extensive corporate criminal proceedings in recent French legal history.
Investigative judges in Paris gave the order Lafarge face trial on Wednesday.
In a statement to Reuters on Thursday, Lafarge said it acknowledged the decision of the investigating judges.
Holcim shares fell nearly 2 percent in late Wednesday trading after the news, before recovering a little to close 0.7 percent lower.
Investigations continue into allegations that Lafarge was complicit in crimes against humanity, part of the wider probe into how the group kept its factory running in Syria after war broke out in 2011, said the anti-corruption group Sherpa, which brought the criminal complaint against Lafarge.
France’s highest court in January rejected a request from Lafarge that charges of complicity in crimes against humanity be dropped from the investigation.
The sanctions breach charges relate to a European ban on financial or commercial links to Islamist militant groups Islamic State and Al-Nusra, Sherpa said.
In a separate investigation in the United States, Lafarge admitted in 2022 that its Syrian subsidiary paid groups designated by Washington as terrorists, including Islamic State, to help protect staff at the plant in a country shaken by years of civil war.
India flight from Frankfurt hit with latest fake bomb threat
- More than a dozen fake bomb threats have been made against flights operated by multiple Indian air services this week
- Police had arrested ‘a minor responsible for issuing bomb threats’ against three flights
BENGALURU, India: The latest in a string of hoax threats made against Indian airlines targeted a flight from Germany, the airline said Thursday, with the plane landing safely in Mumbai.
More than a dozen fake bomb threats have been made against flights operated by multiple Indian air services this week, prompting government and civil aviation authorities to warn that “very strict action” will be taken.
India’s Vistara airline said Thursday that its passenger jet flying from Frankfurt to Mumbai the day before had received a “security threat” on social media, but landed safely at its planned destination.
“We are fully cooperating with the security agencies to complete the mandatory security checks,” Vistara said in a statement.
India’s aviation minister Ram Mohan Naidu said late Wednesday that the police had arrested “a minor responsible for issuing bomb threats” against three flights.
“All others responsible for the disruptions will be identified and duly prosecuted,” Naidu added.
Flights impacted include an Air India plane from New Delhi to Chicago, forced to make an emergency landing in Canada on Tuesday.
On the same day, Singapore scrambled fighter jets to escort an Air India Express plane.
Russia attacks energy infrastructure in Ukraine’s Mykolaiv region overnight, governor says
KYIV: Russian forces attacked energy infrastructure in the southern region of Mykolaiv as they launched 56 drones and one missile in an overnight assault on Ukraine.
Mykolaiv regional governor Vitaliy Kim said the attack had cut power to some consumers and said there were no casualties in a statement on the Telegram messaging app.
The Ukrainian air force also reported five hits to infrastructure facilities in regions near the front line.
It said 22 drones were shot down and that it lost track of 27 drones that likely fell into Ukrainian territory following active electronic warfare measures. Two more drones went to Belarus.
Kyiv mayor Vitali Klitschko said drone debris fell on the land of a kindergarten in the capital.
The authorities in Kyiv and the surrounding region reported no damage to critical infrastructure or casualties following the attack.
Regional authorities in the northeastern Sumy region said a drone attack caused a fire at an administrative building and damaged two cars.
Russian forces have pummelled critical infrastructure in Ukrainian cities ahead of the winter months, prompting Kyiv leadership to intensify pleas for additional air defense from its allies.
Russia denies targeting civilians, although it has killed thousands during more than 2 1/2 years of war.
India slams ‘cavalier’ Trudeau in Sikh separatist murder row
- Canada has alleged that India arranged the killing of a Sikh separatist, naturalized Canadian citizen Hardeep Singh Nijjar
- He had been wanted by Indian authorities for alleged terrorism and conspiracy to commit murder
NEW DELHI: India slammed Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Thursday as “cavalier” over his handling of the disastrous diplomatic fallout following the 2023 killing of a Sikh separatist in Canada.
New Delhi held firm its defiant stance toward Ottawa — an approach in sharp contrast to its compliant attitude this week toward the United States, where India is also accused of directing a separate assassination plot.
Canada has alleged that India arranged the killing of a Sikh separatist, naturalized Canadian citizen Hardeep Singh Nijjar, murdered in the parking lot of a Sikh temple in Vancouver in June 2023.
India has called the allegations “preposterous.”
But Trudeau, at a parliamentary inquiry on Wednesday, said Canada had “clear... indications that India had violated Canada’s sovereignty.”
Canada’s top envoy to New Delhi, Stewart Wheeler, who India has ordered to leave by Saturday night, has said Ottawa had provided “credible, irrefutable evidence of ties between agents of the Government of India and the murder of a Canadian citizen.”
India’s foreign ministry spokesman Randhir Jaiswal on Thursday said they had not seen that evidence.
“Canada has presented us (India) no evidence whatsoever in support of the serious allegations that it has chosen to level against India and Indian diplomats,” he said in a statement.
“The responsibility for the damage that this cavalier behavior has caused to India-Canada relations lies with Prime Minister Trudeau alone.”
Nijjar — who immigrated to Canada in 1997 and became a citizen in 2015 — had advocated for a separate Sikh state, known as Khalistan, carved out of India.
He had been wanted by Indian authorities for alleged terrorism and conspiracy to commit murder.
Four Indian nationals have been arrested in connection with Nijjar’s murder.
Last year, the Indian government briefly curbed visas for Canadians and this week both countries expelled each other’s ambassadors.
New Delhi’s response to Washington has been very different, with the US State Department on Wednesday saying India had told it that an intelligence operative accused of directing an assassination plot on US soil was no longer in government service.
US prosecutors charged an Indian citizen last November over a foiled attempt in New York to kill an advocate for a separate Sikh homeland.
The indictment described an “Indian government employee,” who was not publicly named, as recruiting the hitman and directing the assassination plot remotely, including by arranging the delivery of $15,000 in cash.
India’s Hindustan Times, quoting an unnamed US official, said Monday that India not only removed but arrested the employee on “local charges.”
The State Department did not confirm the arrest.
