ODESA, Ukraine: Russia pounded Ukraine’s Black Sea city of Odesa late on Thursday with one of its biggest drone attacks, injuring three teenagers and sparking fires as the Czech president visited, Ukrainian officials said.
The attack comes as the United States is pushing for a peace deal between Ukraine and Russia, and hoping to agree a partial ceasefire that would halt strikes on energy infrastructure by both sides.
Czech President Petr Pavel, a vocal backer of Kyiv who has led an effort to source more than one million artillery shells for Ukraine’s war effort, was in the port city for talks with regional officials at the time of the strikes.
“Significantly, it was during our meeting that the enemy once again massively attacked the Odesa region,” Governor Oleh Kiper said on the Telegram messaging app.
The long-range drones buzzed into the city in several waves, damaging infrastructure, residential houses and commercial buildings, and causing multiple fires, the interior ministry said.
Around 25 cars had been set ablaze at a car repair shop.
“We could not do anything. We were just standing and watching as everything was on fire. I am in total shock,” the shop’s owner, who gave her name as Inna, said.
Oleksandr Kovalenko, a military analyst, said that Russia used new tactics for the attack, having its drones descend from a higher altitude than usual and at high speeds to make it harder for Ukraine’s air defenses.
He said it was one of the “most massive” attacks on Odesa since Russia invaded in February 2022: “It was intimidation. Terror against the civilian population.”
Separately on Friday, Russia and Ukraine accused each other of attacking a major Russian gas pumping and measuring station that lies in a part of Russia’s Kursk region that Moscow’s forces recaptured from Ukraine earlier this month.
Moscow said Ukraine had blown up the facility in an act of terrorism. Kyiv said Russian forces shelled it with artillery in “a provocation” and denied any involvement.
Both Russia and Ukraine have agreed during separate talks with US officials that they are ready for a moratorium on strikes on energy infrastructure. Moscow rejected a more comprehensive 30-day ceasefire.
Ukrainian, US and Russian delegations are due to meet in Saudi Arabia separately on Monday to discuss the details, officials have said.
Russia launched a total of 214 drones at Ukraine overnight, the air force said. It did not specify how many drones targeted Odesa. The air force said it shot down 114 of the drones and that another 81 drones were “lost,” its term for those suppressed using electronic warfare defenses.
Ukraine has used drones to continue striking targets in Russia, hitting oil infrastructure and a strategic bomber base in recent days.
Russian drones hammer Ukraine’s Odesa as Czech leader visits
https://arab.news/2x2uk
Russian drones hammer Ukraine’s Odesa as Czech leader visits
- The attack comes as the US is pushing for a peace deal between Ukraine and Russia
- Ukrainian, US and Russian delegations are due to meet in Saudi Arabia separately on Monday
Ethiopian, Eritrean officials accused of war crimes
ADDIS ABABA: Eight survivors of the devastating conflict in Ethiopia’s northern Tigray region have accused 12 high-ranking Ethiopian and Eritrean civilian and military officials of war crimes and crimes against humanity, the legal rights group representing them said on Monday.
The Tigray region, bordering Eritrea, endured a war between 2020 and 2022 that claimed up to 600,000 lives, according to some estimates.
The conflict pitted Tigray People’s Liberation Front rebels against federal Ethiopian forces, supported by local militias and the Eritrean army.
Both sides were accused of committing atrocities, with the government sealing off Tigray for most of the war and restricting humanitarian aid to the region.
Eight survivors “have filed a groundbreaking criminal complaint with the German Federal Public Prosecutor, alleging that 12 senior Ethiopian and Eritrean government officials and military officers committed war crimes and crimes against humanity during the conflict,” nonprofit Legal Action Worldwide said in a statement.
The Swiss-based organization did not disclose the identities of those accused in the filing, submitted in 2024 but announced last week.
A LAW spokesperson said on Monday they could not “confirm or deny” whether Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed or Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki were mentioned.
The case is being filed in Germany under the principle of universal jurisdiction, which allows the prosecution of crimes regardless of where they were committed, as they violate international law.
“We are asking the German authorities to open a criminal investigation and to issue arrest warrants for 12 suspects,” Nick Leddy, head of LAW’s strategic litigation department and a former prosecutor at the International Criminal Court, told AFP.
He said they would not be naming the suspects as it could “jeopardize the chances of their arrest.”
The identities of the plaintiffs have not been made public either. “I’ve lost two of the most important people in my life in this war: my younger brother and my mom,” LAW quoted one of them as saying.
“The suffering and agony continues.”
“Tigrayans are still dying every day,” they added, saying justice must be brought to those “who orchestrated and engineered these unimaginable crimes.”
Allegations of massacres, mass rapes, and other atrocities by all sides marked the two-year conflict. In 2022, a United Nations commission said it had “reasonable grounds to believe that, in several instances, these violations amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity.”
Anna Oehmichen, a lawyer involved in the case, said the “gravity of the crimes in Tigray is dramatic.”
It requires investigation and prosecution.
She said: “To put an end to the ongoing violations of international law and to prevent other heads of state from committing similarly devastating crimes.”
Although a peace agreement was signed in November 2022, around 1 million of the region’s pre-war population of 6 million remain displaced.
In recent weeks, a rift within the TPLF has reignited fears of renewed conflict.
Mozambique leader meets opposition chief to reset relations
MAPUTO: Mozambican President Daniel Chapo met main opposition figure Venancio Mondlane for talks to ease tension following months of violent clashes between protesters and security forces, the president’s office said late on Sunday.
Political turmoil has gripped the nation since October’s disputed general election.
The election, which several international observer missions said was tainted by irregularities, was followed by more than two months of demonstrations and blockades, during which more than 360 people died, according to a local civil society group.
Chapo and Mondlane met in the capital, Maputo, to “discuss solutions to the challenges facing the country,” the presidency said.
“The meeting is part of the ongoing effort to promote national stability and reinforce the commitment to reconciliation,” it said.
Mondlane confirmed the meeting in a social media post, saying it had been aimed at “embarking on a mutual process in answer to the calls and desires of the Mozambican people.”
He said he would soon provide more details of the meeting as well as lay out the next steps.
Angola to end mediation role in DR Congo conflict
- De facto ceasefire in trouble as M23 rebels stay in the eastern strategic town of Walikale
LUANDA: Angola will step down from its position as a mediator between parties involved in an escalating Rwanda-backed rebel offensive in eastern Congo, the presidency said on Monday, with another African state set to lead efforts to get peace talks back on track.
The ethnic Tutsi-led M23 escalated their long-standing rebellion this year, seizing east Congo’s two biggest cities since January and encroaching into territory rich in minerals such as gold and tantalum.
As the current rotating African Union Chairperson, Angola’s President Joao Lourenco had been trying to mediate a lasting ceasefire and lower tensions between Congo and neighboring Rwanda, which has been accused of backing M23. Rwanda denies this.
Congo and M23 were scheduled to hold direct talks for the first time in Angola’s capital, Luanda, last week after Congo’s President Felix Tshisekedi, who had long refused dialogue with the rebels, agreed to send a delegation.
M23 pulled out at the last minute, following EU sanctions against M23 and Rwandan officials.
“Angola considers the need to free itself from the responsibility of the mediator of this conflict” to “devote itself more” to the AU’s overall priorities, the presidency said in a statement that mentioned the “aborted” meeting in Luanda.
The statement said another head of state will be appointed to the task in the coming days.
There have been several attempts to resolve the conflict, rooted in the fallout from Rwanda’s 1994 genocide and competition for mineral riches, including several ceasefires that were violated, international condemnations, sanctions, and regional summits.
The regional blocs of southern and eastern Africa will hold a second joint summit to address the crisis.
Kenya’s President William Ruto and Zimbabwean counterpart Emmerson Mnangagwa will co-chair the virtual event.
M23 last week dismissed a joint call for an immediate ceasefire by Congo and Rwanda.
It reiterated demands for direct talks with Kinshasa, saying it was the only way to resolve the conflict.
A de facto ceasefire between Congolese forces and the rebels in the eastern town of Walikale appeared to have broken down on Monday, with the insurgents going back on a pledge to withdraw and accusing the army of violating its commitments.
Lawrence Kanyuka, the spokesperson for M23’s Congo River Alliance rebel coalition, accused the army and allied militias of not withdrawing their attack drones from Walikale.
“This situation delays the repositioning of M23 forces in the zone,” he wrote on X.
A civil society source and a resident in Walikale said on Monday that M23 rebels were still in the town.
US alleges Columbia student covered up his work for UNRWA
- A judge has ordered Khalil not be deported while his lawsuit challenging his detention, known as a habeas petition, is heard in another federal court
WASHINGTON: The US government has alleged that Columbia University student and pro-Palestinian demonstrator Mahmoud Khalil withheld that he worked for a United Nations Palestinian relief agency in his visa application, saying that should be grounds for deportation.
The UN agency known as UNRWA provides food and health care to Palestinian refugees and has become a flashpoint in the Israeli war in Gaza. Israel contends that 12 UNRWA employees were involved in Hamas’ attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, leading the US to halt funding of the group.
UNRWA said Khalil was briefly an unpaid intern.
The administration of US President Donald Trump on March 8 detained Khalil, a prominent figure in the pro-Palestinian protests that rocked Columbia’s New York City campus last year, and sent him to Louisiana in an attempt to remove him from the country.
HIGHLIGHTS
• Khalil accused of withholding UNRWA affiliation on visa application
• UNRWA says he was an unpaid intern for a brief time
• U.S. claims Khalil's presence poses foreign policy risks
The case has drawn attention as a test of free speech rights, with supporters of Khalil saying he was targeted for publicly disagreeing with US policy on Israel and its occupation of Gaza. Khalil has called himself a political prisoner.
The US alleges Khalil’s presence or activities in the country would have serious foreign policy consequences.
A judge has ordered Khalil not be deported while his lawsuit challenging his detention, known as a habeas petition, is heard in another federal court.
Khalil, a native of Syria and citizen of Algeria, entered the US on a student visa in 2022 and later filed to become a permanent resident in 2024.
In a court brief dated Sunday, the US government outlined its arguments for keeping Khalil in custody while his removal proceedings continue, arguing first that the US District Court in New Jersey, where the habeas case is being heard, lacks jurisdiction.
The brief also says Khalil “withheld membership in certain organizations” which should be grounds for his deportation.
It references a March 17 document in his deportation case that informed Khalil he could be removed because he failed to disclose that he was a political officer of UNRWA in 2023.
A UNRWA spokesperson said Khalil was never on the payroll of the agency during his short internship and that the group does not have in its job descriptions the post of political affairs officer.
The UN said in August an investigation found nine of the agency’s 32,000 staff members may have been involved in the October 7 attacks.
The US court notice also accuses Khalil of leaving off his visa application that he worked for the Syria office in the British embassy in Beirut and that he was a member of the group Columbia University Apartheid Divest.
Attorneys for Khalil did not respond to a request for comment.
One attorney, Ramie Kassem, a co-director of the legal clinic CLEAR, was quoted in the New York Times as saying the new deportation grounds were “patently weak and pretextual.”
“That the government scrambled to add them at the 11th hour only highlights how its motivation from the start was to retaliate against Mr. Khalil for his protected speech in support of Palestinian rights and lives,” Kassem said, according to the Times.
Trump names Iraqi American as interim US attorney for New Jersey
- Alina Saad Habba served as his legal spokesperson during his court battles
- ‘Alina will lead with the same diligence and conviction that has defined her career’
CHICAGO: President Donald Trump on Monday named Iraqi American Alina Saad Habba as interim US attorney representing New Jersey.
Habba served as the legal spokesperson for Trump before his reelection during his court battles, and as a senior adviser to his super PAC MAGA Inc.
In December, after winning his reelection, Trump named Habba as counselor to the president in one of his first acts before his inauguration.
“It is with great pleasure that I am announcing Alina Habba, esquire, who is currently serving as Counselor to the President, and has represented me for a long time, will be our interim U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey, her home state, effective immediately,” Trump said in a statement published Monday on X.
“Alina will lead with the same diligence and conviction that has defined her career, and she will fight tirelessly to secure a Legal System that is both ‘Fair and Just’ for the wonderful people of New Jersey.”
Habba wrote on social media: “I am honored to serve my home state of New Jersey as Interim U.S. Attorney and I am grateful to President Trump for entrusting me with this tremendous responsibility.
“Just like I did during my time as President Trump’s personal attorney, I will continue to fight for truth and justice. We will end the weaponization of justice, once and for all.”
Habba and her two siblings were born in the city of Summit in New Jersey. Her family are Chaldean Catholics from Iraq.
She is the managing partner of New Jersey-based law firm Habba, Madaio & Associates. Habba will oversee a federal office that employs more than 150 attorneys.
