Serbia ruling party offices set on fire in fifth night of protests
The protests were initially triggered by a railway station collapse in Novi Sad in November last year, with Serbians demanding an early election and the end to President Aleksander Vučić's 12-year reign.While anti-corruption demonstrations have drawn in hundreds of thousands of protestors, they had been largely peaceful until Wednesday's clash, when pro-government loyalists staged counter-demonstrations.On Saturday night, riot police were again deployed in a number of cities including Belgrade as people took part in demonstrations to demand early elections. Offices and flags representing Vučić's SNS party had been a focus of the protesters' anger. Protesters also smashed the windows of the headquarters of the Serbian Radical Party, a coalition partner of the ruling SNS.In the past week, injuries have been reported at protests across the country and unverified video has circulated on social media of police beating a man in Valjevo.Michael O'Flaherty, the Council of Europe's Commissioner for Human Rights, raised concern on Friday over the "police's disproportionate force" in Serbia, urging authorities to "end arbitrary arrests and de-escalate the situation".
Vučić responded to Saturday's developments on Instagram, writing that "violence is an expression of total weakness" and promising to "punish the bullies." He has repeatedly rejected calls for early elections and denounced the demonstrations as part of a foreign plot to overthrow him.Russia's Foreign Ministry has offered their support to the pro-Moscow right-wing president.In a statement the ministry said that "we cannot remain unresponsive to what is happening in brotherly Serbia." The statement said that police were "using lawful methods and means to contain the violent mobs" and that "public order, security, and human lives" were at risk.Almost daily protests have gripped Serbia since November, after the collapse of the Novi Sad railway station roof that killed 16 people.The tragedy became a symbol of entrenched corruption in the Balkan country, with initial calls for transparent probes growing into demands for early elections.At their peak, the protests drew hundreds of thousands on to the streets.
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The Guardian
35 minutes ago
- The Guardian
Ukrainian mood hardens as MPs insist country should not be forced to surrender
A string of Ukrainian politicians and public figures condemned the idea of handing over unoccupied land to Russia for peace on Sunday, arguing that their country had not been defeated and should not be forced into a surrender. The hardening of the mood came at the end of a weekend where there was first ridicule and disgust in Ukraine at the red-carpet treatment of Vladimir Putin by Donald Trump at their summit in Alaska, followed by frustration as it appeared that Trump was siding with the Russian leader. Trump reportedly told European leaders that he believed a peace deal could be negotiated if Volodymyr Zelenskyy agreed to give up the areas of the Donbas region that the Russian invaders have not been able to seize in more than three years of fighting. Halyna Yanchenko, an independent member of Ukraine's parliament, said the suggestion that Ukraine should 'simply surrender new territories without a fight – just because Putin wants it – is absurd from the very start'. The MP, an anti-corruption activist previously part of Zelenskyy's Servant of the People party, said hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians would be affected by Putin's proposal, initially favoured by Trump after Friday's Alaska summit. Official estimates are that 255,000 people still live in the 3,500 square miles (9,000 sq km) of Donetsk province that Russia has been unable to seize in its three-and-a-half-year invasion, which includes the industrial cities of Kramatorsk and Sloviansk. The Donbas also comprises Luhansk province, which is almost totally occupied by Russia. Prior to Russia's full-scale invasion the population of Donetsk was 1.9 million, so the number of people with property and other connections to the area wanted by Russia is higher. 'So when someone brings up the idea of 'trading territory', we must understand that in practice it is trading people,' Yanchenko said. Serhii Kupavykh, who was born and raised in Kramatorsk but now lives in Kharkiv, said he believed that allowing Russia to take his city and the rest of Donetsk would amount to 'a defeat in the war, which will lead to a split in society', though he recognised that gradual Russian advances had made the defence of them difficult. He said Zelenskyy had 'no right to resolve such issues unilaterally' and he believed that 'renouncing the territory is political suicide for the entire government' – though he acknowledged that Ukraine was in a complex position. Cartoons and memes circulated widely online over the weekend with a particular focus on the sight of US soldiers kneeling to straighten out the red carpet in Alaska for the Russian president. 'Dishonored,' wrote Serhii Sternenko, a Ukrainian drone fundraiser, on X, comparing the image to soldiers raising the US flag at Iwo Jima towards the end of the second world war. Maksym Palenko, a cartoonist, drew a picture of a glum-looking Trump with his trademark red tie spooling out beneath him and turning into a carpet on which a laughing Putin was standing. It reflected shots of Putin smiling as he was sitting in Trump's limousine while it was setting off. 'We do not deserve to surrender and we are not in a position to surrender,' said Oleksiy Goncharenko, an MP with the opposition European Solidarity party. 'This part of Donetsk is a fortress and Putin has tried and failed to take it for 11 years. Now he wants to take it through diplomatic tricks and manoeuvres.' Russia's military has struggled to capture urban centres during the war, and the Kramatorsk area is one of the most heavily defended in Ukraine. Last week Zelenskyy said it in effect protected the centre of the country and there was no guarantee that handing it over would not prevent a new war. Goncharenko said Putin's offer to freeze the conflict in the western Kherson and central Zaporizhzhia provinces if Ukraine hands over Donetsk was designed to provoke splits in Ukraine and abroad and the situation needed to be handled with care. Zelenskyy's response needed to be 'well framed, to persuade Trump that Putin has set a trap, because we have seen in the past that the relationship between Trump and Zelenskyy can be quite explosive,' Goncharenko said. On his previous visit to see Trump at the White House, Zelenskyy was ambushed by Trump and his vice-president, JD Vance, and got into a bitter public argument with both, leading to a pause in intelligence sharing and arms deliveries at a crucial point in the battle. Sevgil Musaieva, the editor of Ukrainian Pravda, said in a column published on Sunday: 'We are being forced to behave as if we have to admit defeat. Not military, but political. Not a surrender of arms, but a surrender of thought.' She said this was 'the most dangerous form of defeat. Because if we accept it internally then external defeat will only be a matter of time.' In fact, 'for the first time in a century, Ukrainians put up a worthy resistance,' she said. 'We have no right to forget Bucha, Izium, Mariupol. We have no right to forget the torture, the mass graves, the children killed and abducted by Russia,' she said, arguing that 'without memory we will lose ourselves'. Oleksii Kovzhun, a popular Kyiv-based video blogger, said Putin's demands were 'akin to capitulation' and that 'Zelenskyy could not legally hand over Donetsk even if he would want to (and he does not)' because it would have to be subject to a referendum. 'Ukrainians will not allow it,' he said.
The Independent
an hour ago
- The Independent
Top Trump envoy dodges on peace deal specifics although won't rule out US military involvement in Ukraine
Donald Trump's top Middle East envoy said that a trilateral meeting between the leaders of Ukraine, Russia and the U.S. was likely to occur in the days ahead but did not give any specifics regarding the deal reached between Trump and Vladimir Putin on Sunday. Steve Witkoff appeared on CNN's State of the Union where Jake Tapper questioned him about the three-hour meeting Friday between Trump and Putin, after which Russian and U.S. officials stated that progress was made towards the frameworks of a peace agreement to end the years-long war in Ukraine. Witkoff would not give many details about that progress, however, and wouldn't confirm whether a Russian demand for Ukraine to cede the entire occupied Donbas region was being considered. 'There is an important discussion to be had with regard to Donetsk and what would happen there. And that discussion is going to specifically be detailed on Monday, when President Zelensky arrives with his delegation,' said Witkoff. 'We made so much progress at this meeting with regard to all the other ingredients necessary for a peace deal that President Trump pivoted to that place,' he continued. 'We are intent on trying to hammer out a peace deal that ends the fighting permanently very, very quickly, quicker than a ceasefire.' The biggest win for the U.S. was something Witkoff was able to share, he said: 'We were able to win the following concession: That the United States could offer Article 5-like protection, which is one of the real reasons why Ukraine wants to be in NATO.' Witkoff wouldn't specify if the above security guarantee could lead to what Trump and his followers have long opposed — a promise to directly engage U.S. troops in the defense of Ukraine should Russia continue crossing the president's red lines. The U.S. president is set to meet on Monday with Volodymyr Zelensky along with several European leaders, including NATO's secretary-general. Coverage of that meeting has largely centered around the theme of damage control, with European leaders insistant on having a seat at the table for future negotiations. At the same time, his administration is signalling that it will not put significant pressure on Russia to force a peace agreement. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, appearing separately on ABC's This Week, told anchor Martha Raddatz that further sanctions on Russia were, for the time being, likely off the table. 'The minute you levy additional sanctions, strong, additional sanctions, the talking stops. Talking stops. And at that point, the war just continues,' said Rubio, who along with Witkoff joined Trump in Alaska for the meeting with Russia's president. He added that meant 'more people dead. More people killed. More people maimed. More families destroyed.' Congressional pressure over the issue of Russia sanctions has ramped up in recent weeks. Many Republicans are still unwilling to break with Trump over the issue, but have come out publicly to state that Trump was wrong about his assumption in February that Putin 'wants peace' in Ukraine. 'I think he's going to be very careful about what he does,' Sen. Mike Rounds said of Trump backing further sanctions in early August, as Congress left for a month-long recess. 'But I think he is clearly disappointed in Putin and I think he is now coming around to recognizing that many of us were right.'
The Guardian
an hour ago
- The Guardian
Ukrainian politicians condemn idea of ceding territory to Russia
A string of Ukrainian politicians and public figures condemned the idea of handing over unoccupied land to Russia for peace on Sunday, arguing that their country had not been defeated and should not be forced into a surrender. The hardening of the mood comes at the end of a weekend where there was first ridicule and disgust in Ukraine at the red carpet treatment of Vladimir Putin by Donald Trump at their summit in Alaska – followed by frustration as it appeared that Trump was siding with the Russian leader. Trump reportedly told European leaders that he believed a peace deal could be negotiated if Volodymyr Zelenskyy agreed to give up the areas of the Donbas region that the Russian invaders have not been able to seize in more than three years of fighting. Halyna Yanchenko, an independent member of Ukraine's parliament, said demands that Ukraine 'simply surrender new territories without a fight – just because Putin wants it – is absurd from the very start'. The MP, an anti-corruption activist previously part of Zelenskyy's Servant of the People party, said that hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians would be affected by Putin's proposal, initially favoured by Trump after Friday's Alaska summit. Official estimates are that 255,000 people still live in the 9,000 sq km (3,500 sq miles) of Donetsk province that Russia has been unable to seize in its three and a half year invasion, which includes the industrial cities of Kramatorsk and Sloviansk. The Donbas also comprises Luhansk province, which is almost totally occupied by Russia. Prior to Russia's full-scale invasion the population of Donetsk was 1.9 million, so the number of people with property and other connections to the area wanted by Russia is higher. 'So when someone brings up the idea of 'trading territory' we must understand that, in practice, it is trading people,' Yanchenko said. Serhii Kupavykh, who was born and raised in Kramatorsk, but now lives in Kharkiv, said he believed that allowing Russia to take his city and the rest of Donetsk would amount to 'a defeat in the war, which will lead to a split in society', though he recognised that gradual Russian advances had made the defence of them difficult. Zelenskyy had 'no right to resolve such issues unilaterally' and he said he believed that 'renouncing the territory is political suicide for the entire government' – though he acknowledged that Ukraine was in a complex position. Cartoons and memes circulated widely online over the weekend with a particular focus on the sight of US soldiers kneeling to straighten out the red carpet in Alaska for the Russian president. 'Dishonored,' wrote Ukrainian drone fundraiser Serhii Sternenko on X, comparing the image to soldiers raising the US flag at Iwo Jima towards the end of the second world war. Maksym Palenko, a cartoonist, drew a picture of a glum-looking Trump with his trademark red tie spooling out beneath him and turning into a carpet on which a laughing Putin was standing. It reflected shots of Putin smiling as he was sitting in Trump's limousine while it was setting off. 'We do not deserve to surrender, and we are not in a position to surrender,' said Oleksiy Goncharenko, an MP with the opposition European Solidarity party. 'This part of Donetsk is a fortress and Putin has tried and failed to take it for 11 years. Now he wants to take it through diplomatic tricks and manoeuvres.' Russia's military has struggled to capture urban centres during the war, and the Kramatorsk area is one of the most heavily defended in Ukraine. Last week Zelenskyy said it effectively protected the centre of the country and there was no guarantee handing it over would not prevent a new war. Putin's offer to freeze the conflict in the western Kherson and central Zaporizhzhia provinces if Ukraine hands over Donetsk was designed to provoke splits in Ukraine and abroad, the MP argued, but the situation needed to be handled with care. The president's response needed to be 'well framed, to persuade Trump that Putin has set a trap, because we have seen in the past that the relationship between Trump and Zelenskyy can be quite explosive,' Goncharenko said. On his previous visit to see Trump at the White House, Zelenskyy was ambushed by Trump and vice-president JD Vance, and got into a bitter public argument with both – leading to a pause in intelligence sharing and arms deliveries at a crucial point in the battle. Sevgil Musaieva, the editor of Ukrainian Pravda, said in a column published on Sunday that 'we are being forced to behave as if we have to admit defeat. Not military, but political. Not a surrender of arms, but a surrender of thought.' This was, she continued, 'the most dangerous form of defeat. Because if we accept it internally, then external defeat will only be a matter of time.' In fact 'for the first time in a century, Ukrainians put up a worthy resistance,' she said. 'We have no right to forget Bucha, Izium, Mariupol. We have no right to forget the torture, the mass graves, the children killed and abducted by Russia,' she said, arguing that 'without memory we will lose ourselves'. Oleksii Kovzhun, a popular Kyiv-based video blogger, said that 'Putin's demands are akin to capitulation' and said that 'Zelenskyy could not legally hand over Donetsk even if he would want to (and he does not)' because it would have to be subject to a referendum. 'Ukrainians will not allow it,' he said.
