List of All Articles with Tag 'europe'

Vladimir Putin wants the Ukrainian counteroffensive halted by early October and has instructed Russia’s defence minister Sergei Shoigu to improve the situation, according to a Kremlin insider cited by a US-based think-tank monitoring the war. “Putin reportedly gave Russian defence minister Sergei Shoigu a deadline of one month until early October 2023 to improve the situation on the frontlines, stop Ukrainian counteroffensives, and have Russian forces regain the initiative to launch an offensive operation against a larger city,” the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) said in an intelligence update on Sunday. It said the Russian military command is likely ordering relentless attacks with the hope of forcing the Ukrainian counteroffensive to culminate, even at a high cost to Russian military capabilities, if the claims are true. The ISW said it has previously seen situations wherein the Russian defence ministry, “fearing the imminent loss of Putin’s favour”, has amped up its efforts to purge commanders offering honest but negative views. Russia launched what it called a “special military operation” in Ukraine in February last year, bringing its neighbour under a full-scale invasion and causing thousands of deaths and displacing millions. Mr Putin had first acknowledged the Ukrainian counteroffensive in June this year and claimed that the war-hit nation’s troops will not make significant gains against the strong Russian defences. He had also claimed Ukrainian troops would suffer heavy losses of personnel and western military equipment. But the initiative in which Kyiv is looking to push back all Russian forces from Ukraine’s territory, including the occupied areas, is now well into its fourth month and has registered some important territorial gains this month. President Volodymyr Zelensky has acknowledged the counteroffensive was slow, but added that is was “important that we are moving forward every day and liberating territory”. A study by the Royal United Services Institute, a London-based think-tank, found Ukrainian forces average 700-1,200m of progress every five days. That gives Russian forces time to dig in and especially to mine territory as they pull back. The 3rd Assault Brigade, composed entirely of volunteers and considered one of Ukraine’s best and most experienced corps, has been fighting almost nonstop in the east since January, while less-experienced units received new training and modern weapons to fight in the south. Read More ‘Panic’ grips Putin’s military and milbloggers over Ukraine’s advances on battlefield Ukraine-Russia war – live: ‘Panic’ among Putin’s troops as they ‘face threat of encirclement’ in Verbove Drones attack Black Sea, Crimea and parts of Russia where thousands suffered power cuts Russia ‘weaponised food and deliberately caused starvation’ in Ukraine Ukraine is building an advanced army of drones. For now, pilots improvise with duct tape and bombs

A notorious Italian mafia boss has died while receiving medical treatment for cancer after being arrested early this year, according to media reports. Matteo Messina Denaro was known as the last “godfather” of the Cosa Nostra or the Sicilian mafia. He was arrested in January after being on the run since 1993 and was suffering from colon cancer at the time of his arrest. He is believed to have ordered dozens of Mafia-related murders for the Cosa Nostra. Messina Denaro’s condition worsened in recent weeks and he was transferred to the San Salvatore hospital in L’Aquila from a maximum-security prison in central Italy. He had requested no aggressive medical treatment, Italian news agency ANSA reported on Monday. The medics had stopped feeding him after he was declared to be in an irreversible coma. A fugitive for the past 30 years, Messina Denaro was arrested at a private hospital in the Sicilian capital of Palermo, where he had been receiving treatment for cancer under a false name. He was sentenced in absentia to a life term for his role in the 1992 murders of anti-mafia prosecutors Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino. He also faced a life sentence for his role in bomb attacks in Florence, Rome and Milan which killed 10 people the following year. Messina Denaro was accused of helping organise the kidnapping of a 12-year-old, Giuseppe Di Matteo, to try to dissuade the boy’s father from giving evidence against the mafia as well. The boy was held for two years, then murdered. Nicknamed “Diabolik”, he was once considered a candidate to be the Sicilian mafia’s “boss of bosses”, after the deaths of Bernardo Provenzano in 2016 and Salvatore “Toto” Riina in 2017. According to medical records leaked to the Italian media, he underwent surgery for colon cancer in 2020 and 2022 under the false name “Andrea Buonafede”. A doctor at the Palermo clinic told the La Repubblica newspaper that Messina Denaro’s health had worsened significantly in the months leading up to his capture. Messina Denaro, who had a power base in the Sicilian port city of Trapani, in western Sicily, was considered Sicily’s Cosa Nostra top boss even while he was a fugitive. Police said in September 2022 that he was still able to issue commands relating to the way the mafia was run in the area around Trapani, his regional stronghold, despite his long disappearance. The son of a mafioso, Messina Denaro was born in the southwestern Sicilian town of Castelvetrano in 1962. He followed his father into the mob and was already carrying a gun at 15 years of age. Police said he carried out his first killing when he was 18. The Castelvetrano clan was allied to the Corleonesi, led by Salvatore “The Beast” Riina, who became the undisputed “boss of bosses” of the Sicilian mob, thanks to his ruthless pursuit of power. Nicknamed “U Siccu” (The Skinny One), Messina Denaro became his protege and showed he could be just as pitiless as his master, picking up 20 life prison terms in trials held in absentia for his role in an array of mob murders. He himself once claimed to have murdered enough people to fill a cemetery. He went into hiding in 1993 as a growing number of turncoats started providing details of his role in the mob, but investigators believe he rarely wandered far from Sicily. Police said he spent much of 2022 hiding in Campobello di Mazara, a town of about 11,000, a short drive from his mother’s house in western Sicily. He communicated with other mafiosi via “pizzini”, small pieces of paper, sometimes written in code and distributed by messengers, some of which were intercepted by police. He never married, but was known to have had a number of lovers. He wrote he had a daughter, but had never met her. Despite his notoriety, prosecutors have always doubted Messina Denaro became the Mafia “boss of bosses”, saying it was more likely that he was simply the head of Cosa Nostra in western Sicily. Additional reporting by agencies Read More Matteo Messina Denaro: The last ‘godfather’ of the Cosa Nostra arrested after 30 years on the run Watch moment Italy’s most infamous mafia boss Matteo Messina Denaro is arrested Italian police announce arrest of most-wanted mafia boss Matteo Messina Denaro On the run for decades, convicted Mafia boss Messina Denaro dies in hospital months after capture Pope blames weapons industry for Russia-Ukraine war and 'martyrdom' of Ukrainian people Giorgio Napolitano, former Italian president, 1st ex-Communist in that post, has died, at 98

Ukraine’s advance on the southern frontline’s Verbove area has triggered “panic” for a Russian source affiliated to Vladimir Putin’s elite military unit VDV, according to a US-based war monitoring think-tank. The Ukrainian General Staff reported that its forces captured new unspecified locations near Verbove on 24 September and top general Oleksandr Tarnavsky said more breakthroughs are coming for the war-hit nation that is deep into a counteroffensive against Mr Putin’s troops. A VDV-affiliated source reported that Ukrainian forces broke into Verbove on 22 September and continued attacking the settlement with armoured vehicles as of Sunday, as per The Institute for the Study of War think-tank. The source later said Ukrainian forces occupied half of Verbove as of Sunday. “For how long can Shoigu’s MoD hide the breakthrough in Verbove?” the source said, accusing the Russian ministry of defence of trying to conceal Ukraine’s tactical progress in Verbove. Territorial advancement and control of Verbove will help Ukraine’s critical counteroffensive goal of advancing further towards southern and eastern regions. Verbove is a few miles east of Robotyne, that was retaken by Ukraine earlier this month. This comes as Russian military bloggers are complaining about the battlefield situation in the continuing war against Ukraine, the war-torn country’s defence ministry has revealed in a video that compiles their Telegram messages. Russia’s war bloggers, an assortment of military correspondents and freelance commentators with army backgrounds, have enjoyed broad freedom from the Kremlin to publish their views about the war, now in its 20th month. Mr Putin even made one of them a member of his human rights council last year. “A lot of you are wondering how the war’s going. At first we thought about explaining it to you from our perspective. Then we realised we couldn’t improve on what the Russians are saying,” the ministry said in the video and took a dig on the war frontline updates given by Russian bloggers with millions of followers. “Does anyone out there have enough balls to start telling the truth to higher management, I don’t understand?” read the first Telegram message from early August by a Russian military blogger known as “the 13th”. “You f***ing wait until the Ukrainians come to Crimea, and then I’ll see how you make excuses there.” Another Russian military blogger, known as Romanov whose comments were shared in the Ukrainian ministry’s video, said there are no words for the military assault in Ukraine’s Kherson. “What kind of c**p is happening right now in the Kherson direction... The enemy is rolling out in boats along the Dnieper,” he was heard saying in a Telegram message from 23 August. In another post two days later, the military blogger complained Russian troops were “being cut to pieces” there and efforts were being made to evacuate, but the brigade commander “is afraid to report to the top about the current situation”. On 30 August, a Russian military blogger was heard saying in a warning message on Telegram that the Russians should “not expect anything good and it will only get worse”. “To tell the truth, I am no longer so confident in some kind of ‘Victory’ while the whole country is dancing to sounds approaching the cries of the country’s leadership,” the blogger who goes by the name “13th” said. Several of Russia’s military bloggers with closer access to the battlefield situation – virtually and otherwise – have been actively sharing details on the casualties and attacks in Ukraine and its territories controlled by Mr Putin’s forces. Read More Ukraine-Russia war – live: Drone attack south of Moscow after two killed in Kherson shelling Ukraine is building an advanced army of drones. For now, pilots improvise with duct tape and bombs Russia ‘weaponised food and deliberately caused starvation’ in Ukraine Heartwarming moment Russian bomb victim, 6, learns to ride bike again Inside Putin’s attempts to indoctrinate Russia’s youth by encouraging ‘self-sacrifice’

Several parts of Russia, the Black Sea and the Crimean peninsula came under drone attacks from Ukraine in the early hours on Monday, officials said as the strikes disturbed air traffic operations over Moscow’s two major airports. The Russian air defence systems destroyed four Ukraine-launched drones over the northwestern part of the Black Sea and over the Crimean peninsula, its defence ministry said on Monday. Another four drones were destroyed over Russia’s bordering cities Kursk and Belgorod, the ministry said in a separate post. The officials did not immediately mention any damage or injuries as a result of the reported attacks. Russia’s Tula region also came under drone attack in the early hours of Monday as the country engaged its air defence systems to repel strikes, officials said. The air defence was activated over the region bordering Moscow to its north, reported Russian news agency RIA. According to preliminary information, no damage or injuries were reported as a result of the attack, the Russian ministry of regional security said. The latest morning attacks caused limitation of air traffic as two of Moscow’s major airports – the Vnukovo and Domedovo – trimmed down operations on Monday. Flights flying into these airports were redirected to other airports, the Tass state news agency reported. A Russian city located right after like Bryansk and Kursk, cities that border Ukraine, Tula has witnessed increasing attacks and power outages recently. In late August, the Russian defence ministry claimed its air defences destroyed two drones over the city, but did not provide further details on the damage and casualties from the interception, if any. It also did not share any precise time and location of the attack. Last week, a loud explosion rocked the Russian city and was followed by a major power outage affecting thousands of people in a district. Local residents reported hearing sounds of an explosion in the vicinity right before the lights went out in Zarechensky district. Around 5,000 residents in the district suffered power outages, RIA reported. However, a Russian official said the two incidents of explosion and power outages were not related. The power blackout was caused by technical failure and not related to any sounds of an explosion, the Russian emergency situations ministry had claimed on Thursday. It also rejected the noise heard by residents to be of explosions and speculated it was caused by an aircraft’s transition to “supersonic speed”. The ministry said work to restore power supply to the Zarechensky “will be completed in the near future”. Read More Ukraine-Russia war – live: Drone attack south of Moscow after two killed in Kherson shelling Russia ‘weaponised food and deliberately caused starvation’ in Ukraine Rishi Sunak poised to delay northern phase of troubled HS2 rail link by up to 7 years India had been riding a geopolitical high. But it comes to the UN with a mess on its hands A Kremlin critic was transferred to a Siberian prison and placed in a 'punishment cell,' lawyer says

Singapore’s core inflation moderated further in August from a year ago, reflecting improvements to supply chains and lower

The European Union’s chief trade negotiator warned China on Monday during his trip to the nation that the

Oil climbed for a second day as hedge funds piled on bets that tightening supplies will see a

A Kosovan policeman and three ethnic Serb gunmen are dead after a siege of a monastery in Kosovo.

President Emmanuel Macron said French troops will leave Niger by year’s end, bowing to the demands of a

How British military bomb disposal teams are helping Ukrainian engineers clear Russian minefields.

New Brexit trade rules could push up the price of electric cars, manufacturers warn.

Russia has weaponised food and deliberately caused starvation in Ukraine, a war crimes dossier is set to allege. Working alongside Ukraine’s public prosecutor, leading human rights lawyers are preparing a report to the International Criminal Court (ICC). The dossier will document examples of hunger being used as a “weapon” over the course of the 18 month war, with the evidence aiming to encourage the ICC to launch a prosecution that could see Vladimir Putin indicted. Amongst the incidents include the killing of 20 civilians in Chernihiv on 16 March 2022. Russian fragmentation bombs detonated outside a supermarket whilst Ukrainian locals queued for food, with the lawyers similarly focusing on the siege of Mariupol in which food supplies to the city were cut off. Humanitarian corridors were also suspended, making it increasingly difficult for relief to be distributed among starving survivors. In May 2018, the United Nations (UN) Security Council passed a unanimous resolution condemning the use of food insecurity and starvation as a war tactic. The resolution asked all parties in war to leave food stocks, farms, markets and other food distribution mechanisms intact, stating that “using starvation of civilians as a method of warfare may constitute a war crime.” Yousuf Khan, a senior lawyer with law firm Global Rights Compliance, told The Guardian “the weaponisation of food has taken place in three phases,” beginning with the initial invasion in February 2022 where supplies were cut across Ukrainian cities. Mr Khan said such attacks symbolise “not crimes of result but crimes of intent” as “if you are taking out objects that civilians need, like energy infrastructure in the dead of winter, there is a foreseeability to your actions.” Russia has also restricted the exports of Ukrainian food, with a further 270,000 tonnes destroyed between late July and early August. In September 2022, the UN food chief warned that the world is facing a “global emergency of unprecedented magnitude” over the impact of the war in Ukraine on food supplies, with up to 345 million people pushed towards starvation and 70 million pushed closer to it. David Beasley, executive director of the U.N. World Food Program, told the U.N. Security Council at the time: “What was a wave of hunger is now a tsunami of hunger.” Read More A Kremlin critic was transferred to a Siberian prison and placed in a 'punishment cell,' lawyer says Ukraine-Russia war - live: Kyiv launches second attack on Crimean city as Zelensky warned by Polish PM Russian airstrikes kill 2 and wound 3 in southern Ukraine as war enters 20th month The Body in the Woods | An Independent TV Original Documentary The harrowing discovery at centre of The Independent’s new documentary