Bulgarian government survives a no-confidence vote over corruption
SOFIA, Bulgaria — Bulgaria's government on Thursday survived a second no-confidence motion in parliament in as many weeks.
The motion tabled by the Mech party and backed by two other nationalist and pro-Russia groups accused the government of failing to effectively combat rampant graft and bribery. It was defeated in a 130-72 vote in the 240-seat parliament. The government's coalition Cabinet is led by the center-right GERB party.
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CBS News
22 minutes ago
- CBS News
Russia-backed Wagner Group says it is leaving Mali, but Africa Corps will remain
The Russia-backed Wagner Group said Friday it is leaving Mali after more than three and a half years of fighting Islamic extremists and insurgents in the country. Despite Wagner's announcement, Russia will continue to have a mercenary presence in the West African country. The Africa Corps, Russia's state-controlled paramilitary force, said on its Telegram channel Friday that Wagner's departure would not introduce any changes and the Russian contingent will remain in Mali. Wagner is a group of entities that operate as a private military company, or PMC. These PMCs can be hired by governments for security or combat services. "Mission accomplished. Private Military Company Wagner returns home," the group announced via its channel on the messaging app Telegram. It said it had brought all regional capitals under control of the Malian army, pushed out armed militants and killed their commanders. Mali, along with neighbors Burkina Faso and Niger, has for more than a decade battled an insurgency fought by armed groups, including some allied with al-Qaida and the Islamic State group. As Western influence in the region has waned, Russia has sought to step into the vacuum, sweeping in with offers of assistance. Moscow initially expanded its military cooperation with African nations by using the Wagner Group of mercenaries. But since the group's leader, Yevgeny Prigozhin, was killed in a plane crash in 2023, after mounting a brief armed rebellion in Russia that challenged the rule of President Vladimir Putin, Moscow has been developing the Africa Corps as a rival force to Wagner. Africa Corps is under direct command of the Russian defense ministry. According to U.S. officials, there are around 2,000 mercenaries in Mali. It is unclear how many are with Wagner and how many are part of the Africa Corps. Beverly Ochieng, a security analyst specializing in the Sahel for Control Risks consultancy, said the Russian defense ministry had been negotiating with Mali to take on more Africa Corps fighters and for Wagner mercenaries to join Russia's state-controlled paramilitary force. "Since the death of Prigozhin, Russia has had this whole plan to then make the Wagner Group fall under the command of the Ministry of Defense. One of the steps they made was to revamp or introduce the Africa Corps, which is the way in which the Russian paramilitaries would retain a presence in areas where the Wagner group has been operating," Ochieng said. Wagner has been present in Mali since late 2021 following a military coup, replacing French troops and international peacekeepers to help fight the militants. But the Malian army and Russian mercenaries struggled to curb violence in the country and have both been accused of targeting civilians. Last month, United Nations experts urged Malian authorities to investigate reports of alleged summary executions and forced disappearances by Wagner mercenaries and the army. In December, Human Rights Watch accused Malian armed forces and the Wagner Group of deliberately killing at least 32 civilians over an 8-month span. The announcement of Wagner's withdrawal comes as the Malian army and the Russian mercenaries suffered heavy losses during attacks by the al-Qaida linked group JNIM in recent weeks. Last week, JNIM fighters killed dozens of soldiers in an attack on a military base in central Mali. Rida Lyammouri, a Sahel expert at the Morocco-based Policy Center for the New South, said the major losses might have caused the possible end of Wagner's mission. "The lack of an official and mutual announcement from both the Malian authorities and Wagner indicate possible internal dispute which led to this sudden decision. Simultaneously, this could point to a new framework for Russian presence in the country," he said. Replacing Wagner with Africa Corps troops would likely shift Russia's focus in Mali from fighting alongside the Malian army to training, said Ulf Laessing, head of the Sahel program at the Konrad Adenauer Foundation. "Africa Corps has a lighter footprint and focuses more on training, providing equipment and doing protection services. They fight less than the 'Rambo-type' Wagner mercenaries," Laessing said.
Newsweek
30 minutes ago
- Newsweek
Graph Shows Putin's Missile Response to Russia's 'Pearl Harbor'
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. Russia conducted its second-largest missile and drone attack on Ukraine since the start of its invasion in 2022, according to the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) whose graph illustrate the response to Kyiv's drone barrage on Russian military airfields. The Washington, DC think tank's figures showed how Russia's drone assault overnight Thursday on Ukraine had only been surpassed on May 31. There had been anticipation over how Moscow would respond to Kyiv's Operation Spiderweb, which was dubbed by pro-Kremlin bloggers as "Russia's Pearl Harbor." The figures did not include Friday's overnight strikes on Kharkiv. Mykhailo Fedorov, Ukraine's deputy prime minister for innovation, education, science and technology, told Newsweek about plans to scale up an AI-controlled air defense turret to down Russian projectiles. Newsweek has contacted the Russian Defense Ministry for comment. File photo: A firefighter stands by a fire and points to a hole following a drone strike in Kharkiv, Ukraine, on June 5, 2025. File photo: A firefighter stands by a fire and points to a hole following a drone strike in Kharkiv, Ukraine, on June 5, It Matters Kyiv braced for a Russian response to Operation Spiderweb, and Russia responded by firing missiles and drones over all of Ukraine Thursday. The ISW figures could signal further Russian drone barrages, which, if they drag out peace negotiations, could see the U.S. impose a new set of tough sanctions. What To Know Ukraine's Air Force reported on Friday that, the previous night, Russian forces launched 452 projectiles, including 407 Shahed and mock drones, across the country; Kyiv said these injured at least 49 people and killed three. Russia also launched six Iskander-M/KN-23 ballistic missiles and 36 Kh-101 cruise missiles, as well as two Iskander-M cruise missiles and one Kh-31P anti-radar missile. While air defenses thwarted most missiles and drones, Russian strikes hit 19 locations across Ukraine, including high-rise buildings, and energy infrastructure in the cities of Kyiv, Lviv, Ternopil, Chernihiv, and Kremenchuk. The ISW graph showed nearly a fivefold increase in the size of Russia's drone and missile attack on Thursday compared with the previous day. It also highlighted how the only bigger barrage was on May 31 when 479 projectiles were launched. Ukraine is continuing to innovate and expand its air-defense umbrella to counter the growing threat posed by Russian missiles and drones. Ukraine's Sky Sentinel AI-Powered Air Defense Mykhailo Fedorov, Ukraine's deputy prime minister for innovation and military personnel, told Newsweek that Russian Shahed drones have significantly evolved; they are equipped with more-powerful engines and complex communication systems, flying at higher speeds and lower altitudes. This makes them harder to jam and intercept with older air-defense methods, which is why Ukraine is try to innovate to neutralize these upgraded threats. This graph from the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) shows the spike in missiles and drones Russia launched after Ukraine's Operation Spiderweb attack on Russian airfields. This graph from the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) shows the spike in missiles and drones Russia launched after Ukraine's Operation Spiderweb attack on Russian airfields. Institute for the Study of War Fedorov said Ukrainian engineers have developed an AI-controlled air defense turret called Sky Sentinel; this can down Shahed-136 drones, smaller UAVs, and even cruise missiles. Once synced with radar and deployed, the AI locks onto targets, calculates their speed and trajectory, and fires. Its precision and automation features means it needs only half as many units to defend cities as compared with the number of mobile groups currently involved, Fedorov added. UNITED24, a Ukrainian government-run platform that funded the prototypes of the Magura naval drones that dealt a blow to Russia's Black Sea Fleet, is launching a $1.5 million fundraiser to produce the first 10 turrets. These can protect large areas at lower cost freeing up high-precision missiles for more critical targets. What People Are Saying Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on X: "Over 400 drones and more than 40 missiles—including ballistic missiles—were used in today's attack." He added: "Russia must be held accountable for this." U.S. President Donald Trump said that Operation Spiderweb gave Putin "a reason to go in and bomb the hell out of them." Mykhailo Fedorov, Ukraine's deputy prime minister, told Newsweek: "Russian Shahed drones have significantly evolved. They're now equipped with more powerful engines and complex communication systems, flying at higher speeds and lower altitudes. "That's why we're constantly looking for innovative solutions that can effectively neutralize these upgraded threats before they reach cities or critical infrastructure." What Happens Next Thursday's strikes by Russia were followed up with a bombardment of Kharkiv. However, pro-Russian military bloggers say that, so far, Moscow's response was not proportional to the damage caused by Operation Spiderweb, which they compared with Japan's Pearl Harbor attacks of 1941. However, Russia's next move in continuing drone strikes could be tempered by bipartisan U.S. legislation that seeks to impose tough sanctions if Moscow drags out peace negotiations.
CNN
31 minutes ago
- CNN
Planned Russia-Ukraine prisoner swap descends into blame game and uncertainty
A planned exchange of Russian and Ukrainian prisoners of war failed to take place on Saturday, with Moscow accusing Kyiv of postponing the swap at the last minute, something Ukrainian officials dismissed as 'dirty games' from the Kremlin. Russia said Ukraine unexpectedly postponed a transfer involving prisoners of war and the bodies of dead soldiers, leaving more than 1,200 frozen Ukrainian bodies waiting in refrigerated trucks at an exchange point with no one to collect them. Ukraine rejected Russia's account of the events, saying that the two sides had agreed to exchange seriously wounded and young troops on Saturday but a date had not yet been set for the repatriation of soldiers' bodies. During a second round of direct peace talks in Istanbul on Monday, Russia and Ukraine agreed to exchange more prisoners this weekend. Vladimir Medinsky, the head of Russia's delegation for peace talks with Ukraine, said this week that the exchange would be the largest since of the three-year war. 'In strict accordance with the Istanbul agreements, the Russian side began a humanitarian operation to transfer more than 6,000 bodies of killed Ukrainian servicemen,' as well as badly wounded soldiers under the age of 25, Medinsky said Saturday afternoon on Telegram. He claimed that 1,212 bodies of killed Ukrainian soldiers were at the exchange point, with the rest 'on their way.' He also said that Russia gave Ukraine the first list of 640 prisoners of war for exchange, listed as 'wounded, seriously ill and young people,' in order to start the swap. In a video posted by Russia's Defense Ministry on Telegram, two men wearing hazmat suits are seen opening the doors to the back of a truck parked on the side of a road. Inside the truck were dozens of sealed white bags, which the ministry said contained the bodies of Ukrainian soldiers. Medinsky said Russia's Defense Ministry contact group was waiting at the border with Ukraine, but alleged that Kyiv had 'unexpectedly postponed the transfer of bodies and the exchange of prisoners of war for an indefinite period' and had given 'pretty weird reasons' for doing so. Ukraine swiftly rejected the accusations, saying Medinsky's claims 'do not correspond to reality.' It said the exchange of prisoners of war and soldiers' bodies were separate processes. 'Unfortunately, instead of constructive dialogue, we are again faced with manipulations and attempts to use sensitive humanitarian issues for informational purposes,' Ukraine's Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War wrote on Telegram. 'We call on the Russian side to stop playing dirty games,' it added. Ukraine's Defense Ministry said Russia was creating 'artificial obstacles' and making 'false statements' to obstruct the exchange of living prisoners, reneging on what had been agreed in Istanbul. 'The Ukrainian side has faced yet another attempt to renege on the agreements after the fact,' the ministry said. Although prisoner of war swaps had been a rare point of agreement between the warring countries, the unraveling of Saturday's scheduled exchange underscores the lack of trust that has so far marred the peace talks. The spat came soon after Russia launched another aerial assault on Ukraine, killing three people in the city of Kharkiv.
