Month: August 2024

New Delhi — Ahead of a visit to Ukraine, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi called for an early return to peace and stability and said he will “share perspectives” on a peaceful resolution of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine. Modi will travel to Kyiv on Friday after visiting Poland. He will hold talks with Ukraine’s President, Volodymyr Zelenskyy weeks after a visit by the Indian prime minister to its longstanding partner Moscow drew sharp criticism from the Ukrainian leader. Modi met with Russian President Vladimir Putin in July on a day when Russian missiles struck multiple targets including a children’s …

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NEW DELHI — India Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Wednesday he will “share perspectives” on the peaceful resolution of the conflict between Ukraine and Russia during his visit to Kyiv this week. Modi departed for Poland on Wednesday and will visit Kyiv on Friday, a first visit to Ukraine by an Indian prime minister since diplomatic relations were established 30 years ago. Modi’s trip to Ukraine comes weeks after his visit to Moscow during which he rebuked Russian President Vladimir Putin over the war, which began with Russia’s full-scale invasion of its neighbor in February 2022. Modi also met Ukrainian …

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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says the country’s forces now control 92 settlements and more than 1,250 square kilometers in Russia’s Kursk region, after Ukrainian responses to Russia’s cross-border attacks evolved into a surprising offensive. VOA Pentagon correspondent Carla Babb has the latest. …

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The Kremlin-appointed governor of Russian-controlled Donetsk in Ukraine said 11 people suffered moderate or minor injuries during the Galaktika mall fire. …

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Germany and other G7 countries are developing ways to support Ukraine through loans financed with the proceeds of frozen Russian assets. The German Finance Ministry announced the effort on Tuesday. Latvia, once a sanctuary for Russian money, is a strong backer of the plan, as VOA’s Myroslava Gongadza reports from Riga. Videographer: Daniil Batushchak …

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Baku, Azerbaijan — Azerbaijan formally applied Tuesday to join the BRICS bloc of developing economies, a day after Russian leader Vladimir Putin’s visit to the oil-rich South Caucasus country to shore up regional ties and secure Moscow’s under-pressure trade routes. The announcement from the foreign ministry in Azerbaijan’s capital, Baku, comes as the BRICS alliance has seen a major expansion. For over a decade, the bloc included just five nations: Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. Iran, Egypt, Ethiopia and the United Arab Emirates joined in January, and Saudi Arabia has said it’s considering doing so as well. The club …

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Kyiv, Ukraine — Ukrainian forces have either destroyed or damaged all three of the bridges over the Seym River in western Russia, according to Russian sources, as Kyiv’s incursion into western Russia entered its third week Tuesday. Kyiv’s incursion into Russia’s Kursk region is changing the trajectory of the war and boosting morale among Ukraine’s war-weary population, though the ultimate outcome of the incursion — the first attack on Russia since World War II — remains impossible to predict. Even as Ukraine hails its success on Russian territory, the Russian push in eastern Ukraine is poised to claim another key center, …

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PALERMO, Sicily — Rescue teams in Sicily on Tuesday resumed a search for six missing people, including British tech entrepreneur Mike Lynch and his daughter, after a luxury yacht was struck by a violent storm and sank on Monday, killing at least one on board. The British-flagged “Bayesian,” a 56-meter-long sailboat was carrying 22 people and was anchored just off the port of Porticello when it was hit by ferocious weather. Jonathan Bloomer, chairman of Morgan Stanley International and Chris Morvillo, a lawyer at Clifford Chance who represented Lynch in a U.S. trial, were among the missing. The wives of both …

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