Month: May 2022

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba Tuesday urged other governments to send more weapons more quickly to aid Ukraine’s fight against Russian forces. “Too early to conclude that Ukraine already has all the arms it needs,” Kuleba tweeted Tuesday. “Russian offensive in the Donbas is a ruthless battle, the largest one on European soil since WWII. I urge partners to speed up deliveries of weapons and ammunition, especially MLRS, long-range artillery, APCs.” Britain’s defense ministry said Tuesday that Russian forces have increased the intensity of their operations in the Donbas region in eastern Ukraine as they try to encircle multiple cities, …

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A Moscow court has upheld a nine-year prison term for opposition politician Alexey Navalny, who is already behind bars for a previous conviction he and his supporters have called politically motivated. Navalny took part in the Tuesday hearing via a video link from a prison in the Vladimir region. The Kremlin critic used his final statement in court to condemn the Russian authorities for launching the ongoing unprovoked invasion of Ukraine and reiterated his previous statements that all of the charges against him are politically motivated. Navalny was handed the sentence on March 22 after the court found him guilty …

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For full coverage of the crisis in Ukraine, visit Flashpoint Ukraine. The latest developments in the conflict between Russia and Ukraine. All times EDT: 3:30 a.m.: Russian gas producer Gazprom GAZP.MM said it continues to supply gas to Europe through Ukraine via the Sudzha entry point, with volumes on Tuesday seen at 46.1 million cubic meters (mcm), up from 43 mcm on Monday, Reuters reported.  An application to supply gas via the main Sokhranovka entry point was rejected by Ukraine, Gazprom said. However, Ukraine’s state gas transit operator says Gazprom has reduced booked transit capacity for May 24 to 44.96 million …

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Turkey is vowing to crush the presence of the Kurdish militant group PKK in Iraq. The PKK has used neighboring Iraq as the main base in its war for greater minority rights in Turkey. But as the Turkish military closes in on the PKK, analysts warn that the Kurdish group could turn to Iran, with implications across the region, including US forces in Syria. Dorian Jones reports for VOA from Istanbul. …

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At his swearing-in ceremony, new Education Minister Pap Ndiaye paid tribute to the nation’s teachers, singling out Samuel Paty, killed by an Islamist extremist in 2020. Ndiaye described himself as a symbol of meritocracy and diversity. Rather than feeling proud, he said, he assumed his new job with a sense of duty and responsibility. The 57-year-old Ndiaye is a longtime university professor and expert on the history of minorities and rights movements in both France and the United States. Last year, he was tapped to head France’s National Museum of the History of Immigration. “It was unexpected, obviously, but it …

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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told world leaders and business executives at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland Monday that they faced a turning point following Russia’s invasion of his country — and that it was time to ratchet up sanctions against Moscow. It is the first time world and business leaders have gathered at Davos since January 2020, just before the coronavirus pandemic. They now operate in a vastly changed world faced with numerous challenges: the war in Ukraine, economic crises and food shortages. Maximum sanctions Dressed not in the business uniform of the Davos elite but in the …

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Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Monday he would cease talking to Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and cancel a key meeting between their two governments, accusing the Greek leader of antagonizing Turkey. In a televised address following a Cabinet meeting, Erdogan accused neighboring Greece of harboring followers of U.S.-based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen, who Turkey says was behind a 2016 failed coup attempt, and of establishing military bases against Turkey. Gulen has long denied the Turkish allegation. Erdogan then went on to accuse Mitsotakis of recommending to U.S. officials that Washington not sell F-16 fighter jets to Turkey during …

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A veteran Russian diplomat to the United Nations office in Geneva resigned Monday because he said he was “so ashamed” of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine three months ago. In a rare, but not unprecedented protest within the Russian diplomatic corps, Boris Bondarev, 41, handed in his resignation in a letter addressed to Ambassador Gennady Gatilov and then released a scathing denunciation of the Russian war effort. “The aggressive war unleashed by Putin against Ukraine, and in fact against the entire Western world, is not only a crime against the Ukrainian people,” Bondarev said, “but also perhaps the …

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