Page 31 - Russia Ukraine Conflict

Most Ukrainians left without power after fresh strikes by Russia

A punishing new barrage of Russian strikes on Ukrainian infrastructure on Wednesday caused power outages across large parts of the country as well as neighbouring Moldova further hobbling Ukraine's battered electricity network and adding to civilians' misery as winter begins. Multiple regions reported attacks in quick succession and Ukraine's Energy Ministry said that the vast majority of electricity consumers were cut off. Officials in Kyiv said three people were killed and nine wounded in the capital after a Russian strike hit a two-story building. Russia has been pounding the power grid and other facilities with missiles and exploding drones for weeks and the energy system is being damaged faster than it can be repaired. In the aftermath of the strikes, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy tweeted that he has instructed Ukraine's ambassador to the United Nations to request an urgent meeting of the Security Council. Murder of civilians, ruining of civilian infrastructure ar

With searches, Ukraine focuses suspicions on Orthodox Christian clergymen

An investigation of a centuries-old monastic complex in Ukraine's capital and other religious sites has underscored Ukrainian authorities' suspicions about some Orthodox Christian clergymen they see as loyal to Russia despite Moscow's nine month-old war on the country. The search by security service and police personnel at the Pechersk Lavra monastery, one of the most revered Orthodox sites in Kyiv, was unusual but did not happen in isolation. The Ukrainian counter-intelligence and counter-terrorism service reported Wednesday that its agents searched more than 350 church buildings in all also including sites at another monastery and a diocese in the Rivne region, 240 kilometers west of Kyiv. And the service, known by its Ukrainian initials SBU, accused the bishop of yet another diocese of pro-Moscow activity last week after searching church premises and finding materials that allegedly justified the Russian invasion. The SBU said the effort is part of its systematic work to counte

Russian rocket kills newborn in repeat attack on small town in Ukraine

A Russian rocket struck the maternity wing of a hospital in eastern Ukraine on Wednesday, killing a newborn boy and critically injuring a doctor. The overnight explosion left the small-town hospital a crumbled mess of bricks, scattering medical supplies across the small compound. It was the second deadly strike on the small town of Vilniansk in a week, and Mayor Nataliya Usienko said she feared it would not be the last. The attack started and the first S300 rocket hit the road. The second rocket hit this place, the main general hospital, at the maternity wing where people were," she said. "One woman gave birth two days ago. She delivered a boy. Unfortunately this rocket took the life of this child who lived only two days.. Six days ago, she said, 11 people died when a Russian rocket hit an apartment building. It's very dangerous to be here, Usienko said. It's 90% certain to be hit again. Municipal workers worked well after sunset to shore up walls at risk of falling, relying o

US to send Ukraine $400 million in weapons, ammunition as war advances

The U.S. is sending another $400 million in ammunition and generators to Ukraine, the White House announced Wednesday, and is pulling the gear from its own stockpiles to get the support to Kyiv as fast as possible as Russia continues to target Ukraine's energy sources and winter sets in. Including the latest aid, the U.S. has committed more than $19 billion in weapons and other equipment to Ukraine since Russia attacked on Feb. 24. The new package of aid will be provided through presidential drawdown authority, which allows the Pentagon to take weapons from its own stock and quickly ship them to Ukraine. The continued push of weapons to Kyiv is raising questions about how long the U.S. and partner nations can continue to sustain the fight without an impact to military readiness. Many European nations have already expressed that they have pushed forward all the excess they can afford to send. Last week, the Pentagon's top weapons buyer, Bill LaPlante, travelled to Brussels to meet

Russia targets Ukraine's battered power infra with barrage of strikes

Russia has targeted Ukraine's battered power infrastructure with another barrage of strikes, forcing the country's last three fully functioning nuclear power plants to disconnect from the grid and leaving the vast majority of electricity consumers without power, the Energy Ministry says. In a Facebook post Wednesday, the ministry said that power workers are working to restore supplies, but given the extent of the damage, we will need time. A punishing new barrage of Russian strikes on Ukrainian infrastructure on Wednesday caused power outages across large parts of the country as well as neighbouring Moldova, adding to damage to Ukraine's power network and misery for civilians as winter begins. Multiple regions reported attacks in quick succession. In several regions, authorities reported strikes on critical infrastructure. Officials in Kyiv said that three people were dead and nine wounded in the capital after a Russian strike hit a two-story building. Russia has been pounding the

As Russia becomes India's premier oil supplier, Saudi is not losing sleep

Despite losing its place to Russia in India, the world's third biggest oil importer, the kingdom is confident it holds the cards for crude supplies in the long term

EU parliament calls Russia terror sponsor in plenary vote amid war

The European Parliament on Wednesday overwhelmingly backed a resolution calling Russia a state sponsor of terrorism for its invasion of and actions in Ukraine. In a lopsided 494-58 vote with 48 abstentions, the EU legislature sought to increase pressure on Moscow to bring anyone responsible for war crimes committed from the Feb. 24 start of the invasion before an international court. The 27-nation EU has condemned in the harshest terms the invasion and repeatedly said that several Russian actions over the past 10 months have amounted to war crimes.

Pope Francis links plight of Ukrainians today to Stalin's 'genocide'

Pope Francis on Wednesday linked the suffering of Ukrainians now to the 1930s genocide artificially caused by Stalin," when the Soviet leader was blamed for creating a man-made famine in the country believed to have killed more than 3 million people. Francis' linking of the plight of Ukrainian civilians today to those killed by starvation 90 years ago, and his willingness to call it a genocide and squarely blame Josef Stalin, marked a sharp escalation in papal rhetoric against Russia. As of this year, only 17 countries have officially recognised the famine, known as the Holodomor, according to the Holodomor Museum in Kyiv. In comments at the end of his weekly Wednesday general audience, Francis renewed calls for prayers for the terrible suffering for the dear and martyred Ukrainian people. He recalled that Saturday marks the 90th anniversary of the start of the famine, which Ukraine commemorates every fourth Saturday of November with a Day of Memory. Saturday begins the anniversar

Russia's Gazprom threatens to cut gas supplies to Europe via Ukraine

Russian energy giant Gazprom has threatened to reduce natural gas supplies through the last pipeline heading to Europe via Ukraine, saying the amount it's supplying for Moldova is not ending up in the former Soviet republic. Gazprom says the gas company of Europe's poorest country, Moldovagaz, paid for part of its November flows of gas under its contract. It added that nearly 25 million cubic metres has been supplied this month but not paid for. The Russian state-owned company tweeted that if the imbalance observed during the transit of gas to the Moldovan consumers across Ukraine continues, Gazprom will start reducing its gas supplies" through Ukraine starting Monday. Both Moldova and Ukraine hit back at Gazprom, with Ukraine saying all supplies that Russia sent through the country were fully transferred" to Moldova. This is not the first time that Russia resorts to using gas as a tool of political pressure. This is a gross manipulation of facts in order to justify the decision to

'Nearly 15,000 Indian students learning online from Ukraine universities'

It added that though 382 students applied for academic mobility, their applications were not accepted either by the Ukrainian university or the receiving partner university, because of various reasons

COP27 fails to turn off the oil tap as global production hits all-time high

The latest global climate summit has failed to even mention the reduction of fossil fuel usage, a key demand from India, in the final agreement text at Egypt

Explosions rock area of Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant in Ukraine: IAEA

The IAEA, which cited the plant's management, said that some buildings, systems and equipment were damaged at the Zaporizhzhia NPP site, but none so far are critical for nuclear safety and security

G20: Lessons from Bali summit and what it implies for India's presidency

India takes on the presidency at a crucial juncture, and the definitions of "success" for the Indian presidency just got updated

Ukraine nuclear power plant shelled; it risks major disaster, says IAEA

More than a dozen blasts shook Europe's biggest N-power plant

Nuclear agency warns of renewed shelling at Ukrainian Zaporizhzhia region

Powerful explosions shook Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia region that is the site of Europe's largest nuclear power plant on Sunday morning, the global nuclear watchdog said in a statement, calling for urgent measures to help prevent a nuclear accident in the Russian-occupied facility. Rafael Mariano Grossi, the director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, said two explosions one on Saturday evening and another on Sunday morning near the Zaporizhzhia plant abruptly ended a period of relative calm around the nuclear facility that has been the site of fighting between Russian and Ukrainian forces since the start of the war on February 24. Fears of a nuclear catastrophe have been at the forefront since Russian troops occupied the plant during the early days of the invasion of Ukraine. Continued fighting in the area has raised the spectre of a disaster. In what appeared to be renewed shelling both close to and at the site, IAEA experts at the Zaporizhzhia facility reported heari

Rishi Sunak announces air defence package for Ukraine on first Kyiv visit

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has announced an air defence package worth £50 million for Ukraine. He made the announcement during his first trip to Kyiv since assuming office on November 19

US defence chief Austin says 'tyranny and turmoil' in Russian invasion

US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin warned Saturday Russia's invasion of Ukraine offers a preview of a world where nuclear-armed countries could threaten other nations and said Beijing, like Moscow, seeks a world where might makes right. Austin made the remarks at the annual Halifax International Security Forum, which attracts defense and security officials from Western democracies. "Russia's invasion offers a preview of a possible world of tyranny and turmoil that none of us would want to live in. And it's an invitation to an increasingly insecure world haunted by the shadow of nuclear proliferation," Austin said in a speech. "Because Putin's fellow autocrats are watching. And they could well conclude that getting nuclear weapons would give them a hunting license of their own. And that could drive a dangerous spiral of nuclear proliferation." Austin dismissed Putin's claims that "modern Ukraine was entirely created by Russia," calling it a vision of "a world in which autocrats decid

US defence secretary Lloyd Austin blames Putin's war for Poland explosion

US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said on Saturday the deadly missile explosion in Poland this week is a consequence of Russian President Vladimir Putin's war of choice against Ukraine, and said international stability and prosperity are at stake in the conflict. Austin made the remarks at the annual Halifax International Security Forum which attracts defense and security officials from Western democracies. The tragic and troubling explosion in Poland this week reminded the whole world of the recklessness of Putin's war of choice, Austin said. On Tuesday, two workers were killed when a projectile hit the grain-drying facility close to Poland's border with Ukraine. While the source of the missile is under investigation, NATO officials have said they suspect it was fired from a Ukrainian missile battery. Officials from Poland, NATO and the United States have blamed Russia for the deaths in any case, saying a Ukrainian missile would not have misfired had the country not been forced to

Rishi Sunak makes first visit to war-torn Ukraine, meets Prez Zelenskyy

Rishi Sunak described as deeply humbling his first visit to the Ukrainian capital Kyiv on Saturday since taking charge as British Prime Minister and pledged to bolster the UK's support in the country's ongoing conflict with Russia. Meeting President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Sunak confirmed that Britain will provide a major new package of air defence to help protect Ukrainian civilians and critical national infrastructure from an intense barrage of Russian strikes. The GBP 50 million package of defence aid comprises 125 anti-aircraft guns and technology to counter deadly Iranian-supplied drones, including dozens of radars and anti-drone electronic warfare capability. It follows more than 1,000 new anti-air missiles announced by the UK's Defence Secretary, Ben Wallace, earlier this month. It is deeply humbling to be in Kyiv today and to have the opportunity to meet those who are doing so much, and paying so high a price, to defend the principles of sovereignty and democracy, said Sunak,

With war in Europe, world encountering food, energy crisis: Shaktikanta Das

The war in Europe brought with it new challenges, just when the economy was about to normalise fully despite the third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic and suddenly, the world encountered a severe food and energy crisis, Reserve Bank Governor Shaktikanta Das said on Saturday. Delivering the inaugural address at the annual research conference of the Department of Economic and Policy Research of RBI here, Das said the COVID-19 pandemic crisis created an opportunity to explore and harness the power of big data and strengthen direct feedback mechanisms while working from home. He further said the pandemic also posed new research issues and analytical challenges for policy-making as it caused a demand shock or a supply shock, the size and nature of policy stimulus required, and their effectiveness, among others. The RBI Governor said the first major challenge was data collection during the first wave of the pandemic and the associated statistical break in data. During the second wave which