List of All Articles with Tag 'world'

Vladimir Putin’s aide and former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev threatened military force against British soldiers training in Ukraine, calling them “legal targets” for Russia’s forces. The deputy chairman of Russia’s Security Council was reacting to remarks by British defence secretary Grant Shapps who on Saturday said London wants to send military instructors to Ukraine – a claim later clarified by prime minister Rishi Sunak who said that the plans are not for “here and now”. "(This will) turn their instructors into a legal target for our armed forces... understanding perfectly well that they will be ruthlessly destroyed. And not as mercenaries, but namely as British Nato specialists," Mr Medvedev wrote on his official Telegram channel. Mr Shapps spoke about the training in Ukraine in addition to training Ukrainian armed forces in Britain or other Western countries as at present. The Russian official is considered to be a close aide of Vladimir Putin who has earlier issued nuclear sabre-rattling threats after Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February last year. Apart from threatening British forces in his Telegram post, Mr Medvedev also said German factories producing Taurus missiles were “pushing us towards World War Three”. "They say this is in accordance with international law. Well, in that case, strikes on German factories where these missiles are made would also be in full compliance with international law," Mr Medvedev said. "These morons are actively pushing us towards World War Three," he added, repeating similar warnings he has made before. In July, Mr Medvedev said actions by the "completely crazy" West meant World War Three "is getting closer." On Sunday, Mr Sunak rowed back from his defence secretary Mr Shapps’s comments and said there were no immediate plans to deploy military instructors to Ukraine. "What the defence secretary was saying was that it might well be possible one day in the future for us to do some of that training in Ukraine," he told reporters at the start of the governing Conservative Party’s annual conference in Manchester. "But that’s something for the long term, not the here and now. There are no British soldiers that will be sent to fight in the current conflict." Read More

At least one person is dead and six injured including two children as Russian shelling continue to hammer Ukraine‘s southern region of Kherson overnight. On the Telegram messaging app the governor, Oleksandr Prokudin, said Russian forces had launched 71 attacks in the past 24 hours, “aimed at the residential districts”, as well as shops and medical infrastructure, among other establishments. Twenty of the air and land attacks targeted the city of Kherson, the region’s administrative district, the governor added, while authorities promptly doused a fire sparked by shelling early on Monday. It came as Yevgeny Prigozhin’s 25-year-old son, Pavel Prigozhin, has been making moves to take over command of the Wagner Group, according to a US thinktank. He is negotiating with the Russian national guard, Rosgvardia, over having the mercenary organisation rejoin combat in Ukraine, the Institute for the Study of War said, citing a prominent Telegram channel affiliated with the group. At a ceremony at his father’s grave in St Petersburg, Pavel laid flowers alongside Prigozhin’s mother. Supporters waved the black flags of Wagner which sport a skull and the motto “Blood, Honour, Motherland, Courage”. Read More Ukraine ‘hits power substation’ in drone attacks on Russian border regions Putin’s shameless UN charm offensive - with stolen grain from Ukraine Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva's Olympic doping case will resume for two more days in November Ukraine's Zelenskyy taps celebrities for roles as special adviser and charity ambassador

China’s factories look to have stabilized for now, though the recovery has been far from swift and the

Alphabet Inc.’s Google will begin to make its Chromebook laptops in India, the latest among global tech companies

Developing economies in East Asia and the Pacific are set to see slower growth this year and next

Treasuries began the week on the back foot after a US government shutdown was averted, eliminating a point

An against-the-odds deal to avert a US shutdown is soothing nerves across Wall Street after a week of

Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s decisive moment came Friday night, after a tumultuous closed-door meeting of House Republicans showed once

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said he wouldn’t accept any offer to be Donald Trump’s 2024 running mate. “No.

Volodymyr Zelensky thanked Ukrainian soldiers for their efforts in the war against Russia and said “ahead is our victory” in an event celebrating the country’s military. The Ukrainian president made the comments on Sunday while marking the Day of the Defenders, a national event honouring the country’s veterans and those killed in battle. In an address published by the Kyiv Post, he said: “Today we thank everyone who stood, stands and will stand strong. All those who were the first to take on a difficult battle. “Our border guards, our infantry, tank crewmen, pilots, sailors, artillerymen, anti-aircraft gunners, our paratroopers, special forces, intelligence, the Security Service of Ukraine, the National Guard, police, territorial defence. “All those who defend the Ukrainian land, sea and sky. Whose protection we feel and whose courage we see every day.” He added: “Behind us is our history. Ahead is our victory. And a free country. Which we defended, defend and will defend.” It comes after prime minister Rishi Sunak rowed back on claims made by defence secretary Grant Shapps on Saturday that UK troops could carry out training in the country. Mr Shapps said in an interview with The Sunday Telegraph newspaper that he wanted to deploy military instructors to Ukraine, in addition to training Ukrainian armed forces in Britain or other Western countries. Hours after that interview was published, Mr Sunak said there were no immediate plans to send British troops to Ukraine. “What the defence secretary was saying was that it might well be possible one day in the future for us to do some of that training in Ukraine,” Sunak told reporters at the start of the governing Conservative Party’s annual conference in Manchester. “But that’s something for the long term, not the here and now. There are no British soldiers that will be sent to fight in the current conflict.” Former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev on Sunday said any British soldiers training Ukrainian troops in Ukraine would be legitimate targets for Russian forces. In other developments, the European Union’s foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, has called on US lawmakers to reconsider their decision to omit financial support for Ukraine from a stop-gap budget bill Congress passed to halt a federal government shutdown. The legislation approved on Saturday to keep the federal government running until 17 November dropped provisions on providing additional aid to Ukraine, a White House priority opposed by a growing number of Republicans. Speaking in Kyiv after meeting with Mr Zelensky, the EU’s top diplomat, Josep Borrell, said European officials were surprised by the last-minute agreement in Washington and pledged the 27-nation bloc would carry on helping the invaded country defeat Russia. “I have hope that this will not be a definitive decision and Ukraine will continue having the support of the US,” Mr Borrell said. “We are facing an existential threat. Ukrainians are fighting with all their courage and capacities, and if we want them to be successful, then you have to provide them with better arms, and quicker,” the Spanish diplomat added. Ukrainian officials stressed that US backing for Ukraine would continue despite the stop-gap legislation. Andriy Yermak, the head of Ukraine‘s presidential office, said America’s relationship with Ukraine had not changed and that Ukrainian officials met regularly with representatives from both the Democratic and Republican parties. “All of Ukraine’s key partners are determined to support our country until its victory in this war,” he wrote on Telegram. But the omission of additional Ukrainian aid from the package has raised concerns in Kyiv, which relies heavily on western financial aid and military equipment in its fight against Russia’s ongoing invasion. A little more than a week ago, lawmakers met in the Capitol with Mr Zelensky, who sought to assure them his military was winning the war but stressed that additional aid would be crucial for continuing the fight. Yet recent voting in the House has pointed to increased US isolationism and a growing resistance to providing further aid as the war, now in its 20th month, grinds on. Additional reporting by agencies Read More Ukraine-Russia war – live: Mourners visit dead Wagner chief Prigozhin’s grave as Moscow threatens further annex PM insists no plan to send British troops for training in Ukraine ‘here and now’ Putin’s casualties near 250 in a day as Russian ammunition depots blown up in southern Ukraine The Body in the Woods | An Independent TV Original Documentary The harrowing discovery at centre of The Independent’s new documentary

The last time Erna heard from her brother was a week ago, in the frantic rush to escape Nagorno-Karabakh as it dissolved around them. In just a few days over 100,000 people - nearly the entire local ethnic Armenian population - fled the separatist enclave, fearing persecution as Azerbaijani forces closed in. Mobile phone networks were down, the only road out was at a standstill and people found themselves separated by the shelling. And so in that chaos people went missing and families lost each other. The United Nations said children were arriving in neighbouring Armenia unaccompanied. There were reports of people being detained by the Azerbaijani authorities and the Armenian healthy ministry said some people, particularly the elderly, died while on the 40-hour journey due to malnutrition and a lack of medicine . “We still don’t know if my brother made it to Armenia, if he is alive,” the school administrator tells the Independent in tears from Goris, a border town which has quickly morphed into a massive refugee camp. Behind her is a flurry of activity: shellshocked families pick through piles of donated clothes, food and supplies as they try to work out how to piece together their lives. “We last heard from him as he was going to get fuel,” Erna’s son David, 18 continues as his mother appears too overwhelmed to continue the story. The family fear he may be among the 170 killed in a massive explosion last week at one of the few petrol stations still operating in the enclave. On Monday desperate refugees had flocked there to secure fuel to get out when the blast occurred. No one knows what exactly happened but it added another layer to the tragedy. They are not alone, says Lusine Barkhudaryan 30, who until last week was deputy minister of infrastructure for Nagorno Karabakh’s self-declared government. Now the former lawyer is camping at a hotel in Goris, having like tens of thousands of others, left everything behind. “One of my colleague’s husband is missing, and two neighbours are also unaccounted for they were separated during the rush to get out,” she tells The Independent, dissolving into tears. “I know of another woman who is looking for her husband, brother and father. They may have died in the petrol station but they don’t know. They are still trying to find them.” With so many unaccounted for in the confusion, The International Committee of the Red Cross together with the Armenian Red Cross have just set up a hotline which people can call to register their missing. “So far we are getting 100 calls a day,” Zara Amatuni, an ICRC spokesperson tells the Independent. “It is difficult to provide credible information for the time being because the situation is evolving so rapidly,” Finding the missing is just one of the nightmares facing Karabakh Armenian families and Armenia itself as it reels from the biggest movement of people in the South Caucasus since the collapse of the Soviet Union. Tens of thousands of now-homeless people are on the move camping in hotels, schools, private homes, in their cars and even the streets after they left their homes and homeland that no longer exists. The Armenian government said they have so far managed to temporarily house some 32,000 people in state facilities but the question of what to do in the long term remains unanswered. No one was prepared because the situation unfurled with such alarming speed after Azerbaijan launched a lightning military campaign against the breakaway forces last week. Baku wanted to take back the majority ethnic Armenian enclave that is internationally recognised as being part of Azerbaijani but has enjoyed de facto statehood for three decades. In the 10 months leading up to the 24-hour blitz, the Azerbaijanis had imposed a blockade strangling food, fuel, gas and water supplies to the area. Weakened by the siege, outnumbered and outgunned by a military bolstered by Turkey, the Armenian separatist forces capitulated almost immediately. Their political leaders said they would dissolve their government by the end of the year, triggering the exodus. Reports of the arrest of senior Karabakh officials - including former ministers and security officials - added to the panic. On Sunday Azerbaijan said it issued an arrest warrant for the head of the enclave Arayik Harutyunyan. Now 80 percent of the 120,000 residents have packed up their lives in a few minutes and crossed into Armenia. There, Armenian officials told The Independent they were struggling to accommodate them. Yerevan has accused Azerbaijan of “ethnic cleansing”. Baku has vehemently denied the accusations saying the families chose to leave of their own accord. “In the 2020 conflict, we had a similar issue but people knew they would return after a ceasefire. That is not the case now,“ Gnel Sanosyan, Armenia’s minister of infrastructure tells The Independent with exhaustion. He is standing by a packed registration centre in Goris, where hundreds of people are being registered by Armenian officials manning dozens of computers. “We are trying to pool all the state institutions together to handle the situation. The Armenian government is trying its best but the international community needs to step up and help”. Pressure is mounting on Armenia. Armenian citizens have taken to the streets demanding Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan resign as they blame him for failing to defend Nagorno Karabakh. The government was already struggling financially and now needs to provide housing, medical care and jobs for tens of thousands of new people that are increasingly scattered across the country. In Vayk, a tiny mountain town dealing with the overflow from Goris, local administrative leader Hayk Avagyan said they quickly passed the capacity of the local hotels and public shelters. “We started sending to private houses,” he says with desperation. “There are many things to think about in the future like jobs and education.” In Goris, families are struggling to work out their future. Luisine Barkhudaryan, the former Karabakh official, says legally Karabakh Armenians do not have the right to social benefits or welfare Armenians do despite being Armenian passport holders. Finding work will be tricky, she adds. “And I didn’t bring anything with me not even a glass from my kitchen to drink water with,” she said. Erna’s family, meanwhile, are still trying to locate family members before they can even get make solid plans for the future. “We are going to the capital Yerevan to hopefully rent a flat,” “What can we do? What should the world do? It’s too late.” Read More Nagorno-Karabakh: Tearful 16-year-old describes ‘bombing’ while she was in school A People lost: The end of Nagorno Karabakh’s fight for independence Azerbaijan issues arrest warrant for former separatist Nagorno-Karabakh leader Almost all of Nagorno-Karabakh's people have left, Armenia's government says Azerbaijan issues arrest warrant for former separatist Nagorno-Karabakh leader Armenia grapples with multiple challenges after the fall of Nagorno-Karabakh Almost all of Nagorno-Karabakh's people have left, Armenia's government says

Secretary of Defence Grant Shapps said the UK signed contracts worth £3.95 billion pounds ($4.82 billion) to develop