Belarus releases US citizen who was jailed for years
TALLINN, Estonia — Belarus on Wednesday released a U.S. citizen who had been jailed on allegations of plotting to assassinate the country's authoritarian leader, charges his supporters and the U.S. government called bogus.
Youras Ziankovich, a lawyer who has dual Belarusian and U.S. citizenship, was convicted on a number of charges, including plotting a coup against Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko , and given an 11-year sentence in September 2022. He then had six months added to his sentence later that year.
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Yahoo
3 hours ago
- Yahoo
Kiev, Moscow exchange POWs after heavy overnight strikes hit Ukraine
Ukraine and Russia exchanged a second group of prisoners of war on Tuesday, after Ukrainian authorities reported another night of heavy Russian air attacks. The group of Ukrainian prisoners consisted of seriously ill and severely injured soldiers, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky wrote on Telegram. They will all receive immediate medical assistance, he said. Among them were members of the army, the National Guard, transport services and border guards, according to Zelensky. The Defence Ministry in Moscow confirmed that the exchange had taken place at the Belarusian-Ukrainian border. The Russian soldiers will be taken to Russia after a medical examination, the ministry said in a statement. Neither side provided any information about the number of prisoners that were exchanged. Ukraine and Russia swapped a first group of prisoners of war on Monday. Zelensky initially wrote that seriously injured people were among them, but the responsible Ukrainian authority later clarified that the group comprised soldiers under the age of 25. Zelensky confirmed on Tuesday that the exchanges would continue. During negotiations in Istanbul last week, the warring parties agreed to exchange at least 1,000 prisoners from each side, as well as several thousand bodies of fallen soldiers, but the implementation has been mired with complications. Moscow has accused Ukraine of refusing to accept the bodies of dead Ukrainian soldiers from Russian representatives. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov reiterated on Tuesday that more than 1,200 bodies of Ukrainian soldiers were waiting to be returned in refrigerated lorries at the Belarusian border. The spokeswoman for the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova, said it was inhumane that Ukraine was not taking back its dead. However, the Ukrainian coordination staff has pushed back against accusations from Moscow, saying the Russian side had begun the handover of the remains on its own authority without having agreed a precise date. It stressed that all dead soldiers will be brought home. Heavy strikes hit Ukraine's Odessa and Kiev Ukraine on Tuesday reported heavy overnight Russian airstrikes on the southern port city of Odessa and the capital Kiev. Two people were killed and at least ten others were injured after a drone strike in Odessa, Mayor Gennadiy Trukhanov wrote on Telegram. Attacks were also reported in the capital Kiev, where authorities said at least four people were injured. A dpa reporter described hearing heavy air defence fire during the night and Ukraine's air force said ballistic missiles were also used. The Kiev city military administration said damage was reported in six out of the capital's 10 districts. At least one woman was injured, and the Kyiv Independent reported, citing local authorities, that several cars caught fire and buildings were damaged. The Ukrainian air force said Russia had attacked with 315 drones and dummy drones, two North Korean ballistic missiles and five cruise missiles. It said 284 targets were neutralized, including all missiles and cruise missiles. Zelensky appeals for more pressure on Russia Zelensky called for more international pressure to be placed on Moscow following the overnight attacks. "Today was one of the largest attacks on Kiev. Odesa, Dnipro region, and Chernihiv region were also targeted," he wrote on the X platform on Tuesday. These airstrikes had "drowned out" all efforts by the United States and other countries to achieve peace, he said. Zelensky called on the US, Europe "and others around the world who called for an end to the war" to take action. The response to such Russian attacks must not be silence, he said. Russia says it shot down 102 Ukrainian drones In the Russian border region of Belgorod, a woman was killed in a Ukrainian drone attack, Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said on Tuesday. There were also reports of injuries. The Russian Defence Ministry reported that 102 Ukrainian drones were shot down over several Russian territories and the Black Sea peninsula of Crimea, which was annexed in 2014. The information provided by the two countries cannot be independently verified. According to Russian media reports, one of the targets was a drone factory near the city of Yelabuga in the republic of Tatarstan. Russia's aviation authority placed temporary restrictions on take-offs and landings at 13 airports during Monday night and Tuesday morning, including the airports of Moscow and St Petersburg.
Yahoo
5 hours ago
- Yahoo
Journalists identify Russian soldiers treated in Belarus after march on Kyiv
Radio Liberty has identified Russian servicemen who were wounded during the offensive on Kyiv and taken to hospitals in Gomel and Khoiniki in Belarus in February-March 2022. Source: Radio Liberty investigation Details: A total of 898 servicemen, including special forces, paratroopers and Russian guards, who tried to capture the Ukrainian capital at the beginning of the full-scale invasion and who may be involved in war crimes in Kyiv Oblast. In particular, these are units of the "special operations forces", which are considered "elite" in Russia and are stationed near Moscow: in Kubinka (military unit 28337) and Solnechnogorsk (military unit 92154). According to the list of wounded, 16 soldiers from these Special Operations Forces units were admitted to hospitals in Gomel after the offensive in Kyiv Oblast. The leaked data also suggests that after the battles for Kyiv and Chernihiv, soldiers from other "elite" units, such as special forces of the Main Directorate of the General Staff of the Russian Federation (also known as the GRU), were brought to Belarus for treatment from Khabarovsk, Tambov, Novosibirsk and Tolyatti. The documents helped journalists, among other things, to identify a Russian soldier allegedly involved in the killing of civilians in Kyiv Oblast. This is Alexander Kvitko with the alias Skipper. He is the commander of the sixth company of the 234th Air Assault Regiment from Pskov, a unit that took part in the capture of Bucha. Oleksandr Kvitko with the alias Skipper. Photo: Radio Liberty According to the leaked patient data, Kvitko was brought to a Gomel hospital on 28 March 2022 with shrapnel wounds to his neck, arm, shin and buttock. The eyewitnesses say that Kvitko could have been involved in the murder of local pensioner Alla Minaieva. She lived in the area occupied by his company in Bucha. "Civilians who were helping the woman [Alla Minaieva - ed.] approached Alexander Kvitko and asked if they could go to her to bring some food, to which Kvitko explained to them that they did not need to go to the woman anymore, because they had "treated her humanely"," said Ivan Dulkai, a senior police investigator for particularly important cases, in a comment to Radio Liberty. After Bucha's release, Minaieva was found dead in her home with a bullet hole in her head. Other paratroopers participated in the attempt to capture Kyiv: four divisions and several brigades, in addition to the 234th Guards Air Assault Regiment. The documents obtained by journalists for the first time prove the simultaneous presence of these paratroopers near Kyiv, that is, their joint participation in the attempt to capture the city. Among them is the 31st Separate Guards Airborne Assault Brigade from the city of Ulyanovsk, which participated in the attempt to capture Hostomel airport. The leaked data indicates that 74 wounded soldiers of this unit were treated in Belarusian medical facilities. For example, Roman Zyazin, at that time a 21-year-old Russian serviceman of the brigade, was treated there. Roman Zyazin. Photo: Radio Liberty The journalists found Zyazin on the list of patients in the Gomel hospital, where he was hospitalised with a facial injury and an open fracture of the lower jaw on 4 March 2022. After treatment, Zyazin did not return to the front, but continued his military career, now he is a cadet at the Military Institute of Physical Culture. He also starred in the film on the TV channel "Zvezda", which is run by the Russian Ministry of Defence and owned by the Russian Defence Ministry. Data on patients of Gomel medical institutions also indicate that 68 servicemen from the department of the National Guard of Russia in the Kemerovo Oblast, Kuzbass, who were sent to capture Kyiv through Hostomel, were also treated there. These are two units: the Special Rapid Response Unit, created to combat organised crime and terrorism, and the Special Purpose Mobile Unit (OMON), which is supposed to ensure public order and prevent mass riots. These units are used in Russia, in particular, to suppress public protests. Russian BMD-4 in Hostomel, Kyiv Oblast, where on 3 March 2022, as reported by Defence Intelligence of Ukraine, 20 combat vehicles of the Russian landing force were destroyed. Photo: Radio Liberty Journalists identified police lieutenant Aleksey Artamonov in the list of OMON police officers wounded during the offensive on Ukraine. Documents show that he received shrapnel wounds and broken bones in Hostomel, Kyiv Oblast, and was hospitalised to a Belarusian hospital on 1 March. Aleksey Artamonov's documents. Photo: Radio Liberty Photo: Radio Liberty On the same day, another Russian police officer, Sergeant Ivan Dyukanov, who was wounded in Hostomel, was hospitalised with a head injury and bruises. On 6 March, the list of wounded included Andrey Leonov and Andrey Khitrov, OMON police officers, who were hospitalised to medical institutions in Gomel. Andrey Leonov had a head injury and contusion, and Andrey Khitrov had a shrapnel wound to the left shin. Radio Liberty received a document from sources confirming the presence of another OMON police officer, Khitrov, in Hostomel. Ivan Dukanov and Andrey Leonov. Photo: Radio Liberty It is the OMON police officer of the Kemerovo Oblast, together with the servicemen of the mobile special purpose detachment of the Krasnoyarsk Krai, that Ukrainian law enforcement officers accuse of killing civilians. In particular, they are accused of the execution of civilians in Hostomel on 25 February. Five officers of the National Guard of Russia from these units were served with a notice of suspicion of murdering five people. Among the patients of the Gomel hospital, the journalists also counted about 70 Russian soldiers from Buryatia: from the 5th tank (Ulan-Ude, military unit 46108) and the 37th Separate Guards Motor Rifle (Kyakhta, military unit 69647) brigades. The Ukrainian law enforcement reports that it was these two units that, in March 2022, took control of part of the Kyiv-Chop highway, also known as the Zhytomyr highway, and shot at cars with civilians who tried to leave for the west, away from the war. Russian military equipment on the Zhytomyr highway, March 2022. Photo: Radio Liberty Radio Liberty received at its disposal a document found near the Zhytomyr highway after the liberation of Kyiv Oblast. It lists the names of wounded Russian servicemen, in particular, Zorik Zigbin, Munko-Jargal Zhalmaev and Dmitry Terentyev. Journalists also found these three soldiers of the 5th tank brigade of Ulan-Ude in the lists of patients of the Gomel hospital, where they were taken with injuries received in Kyiv Oblast in March 2022. Support Ukrainska Pravda on Patreon!
The Hill
2 days ago
- The Hill
ICE moves to dismiss cases in bid to fast-track deportations after courthouse arrests
As Vadzim Baluty watched his son Aliaksandr Baluty get arrested by six plainclothes U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers directly after an immigration court hearing, he had the sinking feeling he'd made a costly mistake. Vadzim Baluty, accompanying his son for his first court appearance in his asylum bid, agreed last month when an ICE prosecutor offered to drop the case against the recent Belarusian migrant, not realizing his son would be swiftly detained as soon as the pair exited the courtroom. 'I felt like we had fallen into a judicial trap,' he said in Russian through an interpreter in an interview with The Hill. 'We left the courtroom and an ICE officer told us our son was going to be deported in three days. Nobody told us the decision that we made — what it was going to cause.' ICE prosecutors across the country are increasingly moving to dismiss cases against migrants in a bid to fast track their deportations. While a dismissal might seem like the end of a battle to remain in the county, some leaving courthouses have instead been met by ICE agents who are then free to arrest them and place them in expedited removal proceedings, speeding their deportation without a court hearing. Rekha Sharma-Crawford, an immigration lawyer and board member with the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) called it a 'bait and switch.' 'The troubling thing here is that people are doing the right thing and going to court. They hear what they think is great news, that their case is dismissed. But instead, they are subject to a bait and switch and a plainclothes ICE agent will then arrest them. They are detained and then they are pressured to sign documents that basically sign away all of their rights, and they are subject to expedited removal and don't have a chance for a full and fair hearing,' she said in a call with reporters. Vadzim Baluty, a 47-year-old Belarusian political activist who was granted asylum in 2022 after fleeing the Lukashenko dictatorship, thought ICE was aware of his petition to bring his children to the country. He also didn't think Aliaksandr Baluty, now 21, would be deported after entering the country legally. His son was permitted to enter the U.S. through Mexico after waiting in the country seven months for an appointment made through the Biden-era CBP One app. Such a dynamic has only become possible with the shift from the Trump administration, which has expanded the scope of expedited removals. While the process previously was used only for migrants within two weeks of their entering the country and within 100 miles of the border, the Trump administration now allows the tool to be used up to two years after a person enters the U.S. regardless of where they are in the country. Critics call the move an end run around due process and fault the administration for using ICE officers who are often not in uniform and may be wearing masks. Rep. Dan Goldman (D-N.Y.) went to an immigration courthouse in his district last week, sitting in on court proceedings and witnessing ICE prosecutors dismiss cases followed by migrants being arrested by plainclothes agents as they exited — something he called 'Gestapo-like behavior.' 'The Department of Homeland Security has implemented, over the last week, a coordinated effort to do an end run around our legal system in order to remove nonviolent, noncriminal immigrants trying to come into this country through a lawful pathway of immigration proceedings, and in many cases, asylum proceedings,' he said at a press conference afterward. 'By recommending dismissal of their cases, the Department of Homeland Security is essentially taking jurisdiction away from the court, removing the asylum application from going forward, and then allowing the immigration agents to arrest these people and put them in a deportation proceeding under a different authority than the one that they just dismissed, which has fewer rights and applies in very few circumstances.' Sharma-Crawford said it's especially confusing for pro se litigants — those representing themselves in court. Not only are they being approached by plainclothes officers, but they may not know what to do next. Those placed in expedited removal are not entitled to a hearing, but they can request an interview with an asylum officer if they fear they will be persecuted if returned to their home country. If they pass that screening, their case could be returned to immigration court. Vadzim Baluty has since hired attorney Malinda Schmiechen to represent his son, who asked for the credible fear interview that would route his case back into the immigration court system. Aliaksandr Baluty told them how during a visit to register for the mandatory draft, military officials in the country made a veiled comment about his father and said they were going to teach him to 'love the motherland.' Another officer in the room said, 'You will be in the army for your father.' 'The draft officer said that I — in the army — I would be punished for my father,' Aliaksandr Baluty told an asylum officer, according to a transcript of the interview his attorney shared with The Hill. At his father's advice, Aliaksandr Baluty fled that night to nearby Georgia. Military officials later showed up at his mother's house with a forged conscription document, saying they would prosecute him as a draft dodger. Schmiechen was informed Thursday night, however, that an asylum officer rejected the claim, calling it 'a betrayal all around.' 'I feel like this is a betrayal against our law, against the America that is a sanctuary for so many, and against young Aliaksandr, who fled for his life and seeks to live peacefully with his family,' Schmiechen told The Hill. 'It's a betrayal because the government attorneys betrayed the law with their motion to dismiss, knowing that it would lead to Aliaksandr's detention. It's a betrayal because the American government is using taxpayer money unnecessarily to detain Aliaksandr, and it's a betrayal to Aliaksandr, whose detention is treating him like a criminal, though he's not one.' The arrests come as the GOP at large has vented frustration at the immigration court system, where cases can languish in a years-long backlog. The Department of Homeland Security defended the courthouse arrests as well as their use of expedited removal. 'Most aliens who illegally entered the United States within the past two years are subject to expedited removals. Biden ignored this legal fact and chose to release millions of illegal aliens, including violent criminals, into the country with a notice to appear before an immigration judge. ICE is now following the law and placing these illegal aliens in expedited removal, as they always should have been,' the department said in a statement. 'If they have a valid credible fear claim, they will continue in immigration proceedings, but if no valid claim is found, aliens will be subject to a swift deportation.' Goldman also criticized ICE for using plainclothes officers, saying that in his observations, agents had printed out photos of those they would be arresting and were often wearing masks. 'When I asked them, 'Why are you wearing a mask?' One person told me, 'Because it's cold.' I asked him if he would testify to that under oath, and he walked away and wouldn't respond to me,' he said. 'Another person admitted that they were wearing masks so that they are not caught on video. And my question to them is: 'If what you are doing is legitimate, is lawful, is totally aboveboard, why do you need to cover your face?'' Schmiechen said she's working quickly to explore other options for Aliaksandr Baluty, including requesting that his credible fear claims be reviewed by an immigration court judge. If that doesn't work, she's planning to make a filing in federal court. 'I just feel like we don't have much time at this point,' she said. To Vadzim Baluty, the whole episode has chilling parallels with what he experienced in Belarus. 'This is how it began,' he said. The arrest of his son, just feet from the courthouse doors, happened in less than 60 seconds and left him in shock. He said he never imagined the words 'stop prosecution' could have led to 'expulsion from the country and separation of father and son.' 'Everything is starting to remind us that we are not in a free country. What is happening today is vaguely reminiscent of the birth of a dictatorship, when they categorically begin to solve the political issue at the moment with immigration,' he said. 'I don't feel safe now. None of the immigrants feel safe in the U.S.'
