List of All Articles with Tag 'europe'

Since the Kakhovka dam burst on June 6, the floods have cut off any chance Ukraine’s troops might

Asian stocks climbed Thursday after the Federal Reserve paused monetary tightening and China’s central bank cut a key

Russian forces fired cruise missiles at the southern Ukrainian city of Odesa and shelled the eastern Donetsk region early Wednesday, killing at least six people, regional Ukrainian officials said. Russian forces have recently stepped up aerial strikes in their nearly 16-month war, a Ukrainian military spokesman said. It comes as Ukraine claims to have made advances in the face of “extremely fierce” fighting during its counteroffensive against Vladimir Putin’s forces, and has suggested Russia is losing a “staggering” 900 troops a day. As the lower house of Russia’s parliament gave its initial backing to plans to enable Moscow to enlist suspected or convicted criminals to bolster its army in Ukraine, Kyiv’s deputy defence minister claimed advances of several hundred metres near Bakhmut and Zaporizhzhia. The claimed advances – which contrast with Russian claims to have repelled attacks – preface a critical Nato meeting this week where Kyiv will urge the West to greenlight delivery of fighter jets, with senior Kyiv official Yuriy Sak telling The Independent that if “had we had F-16s, by now the situation would have been different”. Read More Belarus receives nuclear bombs ‘three times size of Hiroshima bomb’ from Russia Russia steps up aerial strikes on Ukraine – killing at least 6 Russia losing 900 soldiers a day during counteroffensive, Ukrainian officials claim

Volkswagen AG won’t have to pay taxes on C$13.9 billion ($10.4 billion) in subsidies for its new battery

Russian forces have fired cruise missiles at the southern Ukrainian city of Odesa and shelled the eastern Donetsk region killing at least six people and damaging dozens of homes Moscow has recently stepped up aerial strikes in their nearly 16-month war. Kyiv’s armed forces, meanwhile, have reported limited gains in the early stages of a counteroffensive to take back the nearly one-fifth of Ukraine's territory that is under Russian control. The grinding Ukrainian advance is pressing slowly ahead, Ukraine's deputy defense minister, Hanna Maliar, said. Western analysts and military officials say the effort to dislodge entrenched, powerfully armed and large numbers of Russian troops could take years. Ukrainian troops have advanced 200m to 500m (650ft to 1,600ft) at various sections of the front line around the Donetsk city of Bakhmut and 300m to 350m (980ft to 1,150ft) in the southern Zaporizhzhia region, Ms Maliar claimed. Ukrainian forces have managed to make gains despite the Russian edge in artillery and air power, she said. Ukrainian forces can expect to make slow progress in what will be a "hugely difficult" fight as the counteroffensive gains traction, according to a Western official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss intelligence. "Intense fighting is now ongoing in nearly all sectors of the front," the official said "This is much more than probing. These are full-scale movements of armor and heavy equipment into the Russian security zone." The official described the Ukrainian attacks as methodical and said that, broadly speaking, "Russian forces have put up a good defense." In Odesa, three food warehouse employees were killed in a strike that also damaged homes, shops and cafes in the city's downtown, the regional administration said on Facebook. An additional 13 people were injured. Search teams were looking for possible survivors under the rubble of the warehouse, it said. The attack on the port city, launched from the Black Sea, was the second in a week and involved four Kalibr cruise missiles, three of which were intercepted by air defenses, the administration said. In eastern Ukraine, Donetsk province governor, Pavlo Kyrylenko, wrote on Telegram that at least three people died after shelling destroyed seven homes and damaged dozens more in the cities of Kramatorsk and Kostiantynivka. Ten towns and villages along the front line in Donetsk were struck as Kyiv's troops slowly advance, according to Ukraine's presidential office. A missile hit the Ukrainian-controlled city of Kramatorsk, where Kyiv's forces are headquartered, killing two civilians and wounding two others while damaging 29 homes, the presidential office said. Russian shelling of Kostiantynivka killed one civilian, with 57 houses damaged, it added. Andriy Kovalov, a spokesperson for the General Staff of Ukraine's armed forces, said the Russian military increased missile and aerial strikes as Kyiv's forces intensify attacks along the war's 1,000-kilometer (600-mile) front line and claim some modest gains at the beginning of their counteroffensive. In a briefing, he said strikes on the Kharkiv, Donetsk and Kirovohrad regions, in addition to the Odesa region, involved Kh-22 cruise missiles, sea-launched Kalibr cruise missiles, and Iranian-made Shahed drones. Nine were intercepted. Mr Kovalov said Ukrainian forces had made advances in several sections and fighting was continuing in or near at least two Donetsk province communities. The UK's Defense MInistry, which has regularly issued updates on the conflict, wrote on Twitter that southern Ukraine "has often been more permissible for Russian air operations" compared with other parts of the front. Separately, the mayor of the central city of Kryvyi Rih, President Volodymyr Zelensky's hometown, said the death toll from a Russian strike that hit an apartment building a day earlier had risen to 12. Ukrainian authorities continued to rescue people from the flooded areas of southern Ukraine's partially Russian-occupied Kherson region following the destruction of the Kakhovka dam last week. A total of 28 settlements on the Ukrainian-held western bank of the Dnieper River remain under water, and nearly 2,800 people have been taken to safety so far, the presidential office said, adding that the rescue effort was taking place under relentless Russian shelling. A visit by Rafael Mariano Grossi, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, to the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant on Wednesday was postponed for security reasons. He met with Mr Zelensky on Tuesday to discuss the perils facing the nuclear plant, which grew more serious after the Kakhovka Dam burst last week. The plant has been in the crossfire repeatedly since Russia launched its war on Ukraine in February 2022 and seized the facility shortly after. The largest nuclear power plant in Europe faces "a relatively dangerous situation," the head of the United Nations nuclear watchdog told journalists in Kyiv on Tuesday. The Ukrainian-controlled areas of the Kherson region came under artillery fire 57 times over the past 24 hours, the presidential office said. Rumors swirled Wednesday about a relative and close associate of the Kremlin-backed, strongman leader of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov. The reports said that MP Adam Delimkhanov had been wounded in Ukraine. After Russian state TV reported that the lawmaker had been wounded and Ukrainian Telegram channels suggested that he had been killed, Mr Kadyrov published a photo showing Mr Delimkhanov. In a photo caption, Mr Kadyrov said that Mr Delimkhanov was "alive and well" — adding that he knew this "from the very beginning," despite earlier requesting Ukrainian intelligence to provide information on what positions were hit so that he could locate his "dear brother." Associated Press Read More The Body in the Woods | An Independent TV Original Documentary The harrowing discovery at centre of The Independent’s new documentary FIFA official Fatma Samoura leaving after 7 years as pioneering woman in soccer In blow to Russian LGBTQ+ community, lawmakers weigh a bill banning gender transitioning procedures Recruiting criminals for Putin’s forces backed by Russian parliament – live

By Karolina Tagaris and Stamos Prousalis KALAMATA, Greece (Reuters) -At least 79 migrants drowned early on Wednesday and hundreds more

Ukraine claims to have made advances in the face of “extremely fierce” fighting during its counteroffensive against Vladimir Putin’s forces, and has suggested Russia is losing a “staggering” 900 troops a day. As the lower house of Russia’s parliament gave its initial backing to plans to enable Moscow to enlist suspected or convicted criminals to bolster its army in Ukraine, Kyiv’s deputy defence minister claimed advances of several hundred metres near Bakhmut and Zaporizhzhia. The claimed advances – which contrast with Russian claims to have repelled attacks – preface a critical Nato meeting this week where Kyiv will urge the West to greenlight delivery of fighter jets, with senior Kyiv official Yuriy Sak telling The Independent that if “had we had F-16s, by now the situation would have been different”. Meanwhile, Mr Putin said that if necessary Moscow would use weapons with depleted uranium in response to reports that the United States would supply such weapons to Ukraine, as his ally Alexander Lukashenko claimed Belarus had begun to receive Russian tactical nuclear weapons three times more powerful than those dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Read More Russia losing 900 soldiers a day during counteroffensive, Ukrainian officials claim Putin mixes threats of new offensive in Ukraine with offers of peace talks UN nuclear chief says large Ukraine atomic power plant held by Russia faces 'dangerous situation'

HSBC Holdings Plc told brokers it will raise prices on UK residential and buy-to-let mortgages starting Thursday, its

At least 32 people have drowned after their fishing vessel capsized off the coast of southern Greece.

President Vladimir Putin acknowledged Russian troops fighting in Ukraine lack sufficient advanced weapons, as Kyiv’s forces reported some

Watch live as the International Committee of the Red Cross holds a briefing on the Ukraine dam situation and the organisation's visits to prisoners of war. The Nova Kakhova dam, which was under Russian control, was breached on the morning of 6 June, with water surging through it and causing extensive flooding in Kherson - prompting the evacuation of thousands of people. Damage to the area can be seen from space, with huge areas of land submerged in water. As of Tuesday, 13 June, the death toll from flooding in two Russian-controlled towns in southern Ukraine has risen to 17 in the wake of the dam's collapse, a Russian-installed official in Kherson said. It is not clear how the dam was breached. Ukrainian forces have accused Russia of deliberately destroying the dam; Russia says the destruction was an act of "sabotage" by Ukraine to deprive the annexed Crimean peninsula of water. Read More The Body in the Woods | An Independent TV Original Documentary The harrowing discovery at centre of The Independent’s new documentary

The website of the port of Rotterdam was targeted in a cyberattack blamed on Russia-aligned hackers last week.