Ukraine: Protests erupt over law eroding independence of two anti-corruption agencies
"Shame," "Government resign, gang out!" chanted protesters gathered in Kyiv around the garden facing the national theater, just a five-minute walk from the iconic Maidan Square, where the "Revolution of Dignity" took place more than a decade ago. Early Tuesday evening, around 40 former soldiers – enlisted in 2014 (during the annexation of Crimea) or 2022 – gathered at the foot of the presidential palace, many in shorts and with prosthetics. But the vast majority of the crowd was very young: Arrests for recruitment have made those over 25 far more cautious.
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France 24
2 hours ago
- France 24
Russia kills 25 in Ukraine, as Kremlin says 'committed' to peace
The strikes on several regions came hours after US President Donald Trump issued Moscow with a new deadline to end its grinding invasion of Ukraine -- now in its fourth year -- or face tough new sanctions. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky accused Russia of purposefully targeting a prison in the Zaporizhzhia region -- that Russia claims as its own -- killing 16 people and wounding more than 40 others. "It was a deliberate strike, intentional, not accidental. The Russians could not have been unaware that they were targeting civilians in that facility," Zelensky said on social media in response. The Kremlin denied that claim. "The Russian army does not strike civilian targets," spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters, including from AFP. Peskov added that Moscow had "taken note" of Trump's new deadline and told journalists that it remained "committed to the peace process to resolve the conflict around Ukraine and secure our interests." 'War crimes' Ukraine's justice ministry said Moscow's forces hit the prison with four glide bombs, while police said 16 inmates were killed and 43 were wounded. Bricks and debris were strewn on the ground around buildings with blown-out windows, according to images released by the ministry. The facility's perimeter was intact and there was no threat that inmates would escape, it added. Rescue workers were seen searching for survivors in pictures released by the region's emergency services. The source added there were no Russian war prisoners being held at the centre. Ukraine's human rights ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets said the Zaporizhzhia attack was further evidence of Russian "war crimes". "People held in places of detention do not lose their right to life and protection," he wrote on social media. In addition to the glide bomb attack, the Ukrainian air force said that Russia had launched 37 drones and two missiles overnight, adding that its air defence systems had downed 32 of the drones. Zelensky said that among the separate attacks, Russian forces had targeted a hospital in the town of the Kamyanske in the Dnipropetrovsk region. Hospital targeted "Three people were killed in the attack, including a pregnant woman. Her name was Diana. She was only 23-years-old," Zelensky said. Separate strikes in the eastern Kharkiv region that borders Russia killed six people, regional authorities said. In the southern Russian region of Rostov, a Ukrainian drone attack killed one person, the region's acting governor said. Kyiv has been trying to repel Russia's summer offensive, which has made fresh advances into areas largely spared since the start of the invasion in 2022. The Russian defence ministry claimed fresh advances across the sprawling front line on Tuesday, saying its forces had taken control of two more villages -- one in the Donetsk region, and another in the Zaporizhzhia region. The prison strike on Tuesday came on the three-year anniversary of a attack on another detention facility in occupied Ukrainian territory that Kyiv blamed on Moscow and that was reported to have killed dozens of captured Ukrainian soldiers. Ukraine and Russia blamed each other for the strike over the night of July 29 three years ago on the detention centre in the Russian-occupied Donetsk region, which the Kremlin says is part of Russia. Ukraine says that dozens of its soldiers who laid down their arms after a long Russian siege of the port city of Mariupol were killed in that attack on the Olenivka detention facility.
Euronews
3 hours ago
- Euronews
Exclusive: Cross-party MEPs call for EU sanctions on Israel over Gaza
A group of 40 cross-party MEPs are pressing on the European Union to suspend its trade deal with Israel and impose sanctions on the Netanyahu-led government, as an UN-backed body warns of signs of famine and widespread starvation in the Gaza Strip. In a joint statement seen exclusively by Euronews, the lawmakers call on the EU to hold the Israeli government accountable for actions that 'blatantly breach the Geneva Convention and international humanitarian law.' The statement also urges Hamas to immediately release Israeli hostages still held captive in Gaza after they were kidnapped from Israel during October 7 2023 attacks. 'Future generations will judge today's leaders on their response, or lack thereof, to the atrocities in Gaza. Failing to act now will be remembered as a moral stain on humanity,' the statement reads. 'The time for moral cowardice is over, and action must be swift.' The coalition of MEPs explicitly call for sanctions on the Israeli government, a move the EU has so far avoided despite allies including the United Kingdom and Norway moving to sanction two Israeli ministers considered extremist, Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich. On Tuesday, the Netherlands imposed travel bans on both ministers in response to the deepening crisis in Gaza. The 40 signatories also press on the Commission to suspend the EU's Association Agreement with Israel, which defines the trading and political relations between both sides, and which has often been touted as the best tool at the EU's disposal to pressure Israel into improving a spiralling humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip. A previous review by the EU's diplomatic arm found indications Israel had breached the human rights obligations enshrined in its Association Agreement with the bloc, but the process failed to trigger any concrete reprisals beyond a discussion between the EU's top diplomat Kaja Kallas and her Israeli counterpart, foreign minister Gideon Sa'ar. Those talks resulted in an 'agreement' by Israel to scale up the humanitarian assistance reaching Gaza. But concerns about the humanitarian situation on-the-ground have mounted since. On Monday, the European Commission tabled the partial suspension of Israel's access to the EU's Horizon Europe research and innovation programme in response to its actions in Gaza. But the signatories of the statement call for a much more stringent response, warning "mere words of condemnation are inadequate." They represent 14 of the EU's 27 countries and six different political groups, from The Left to the centre-right European People's Party (EPP). Israel's war against Hamas in Gaza has exposed deep political and national fault-lines in the European Union. But the deepening humanitarian crisis is prompting lawmakers from ideologically opposed groups to join forces in calling for more decisive EU action. 'MEPs from across the spectrum of pro-European, pro-democratic parties have united behind this statement,' MEP Evin Incir, who sits on the centre-left Socialists and Democrats (S&D) group, told Euronews, adding that more signatories were expected to support the statement in the coming hours. 'Our concerns are directed at both the European Commission and EU member states, who all need to be more decisive in their response to the unfolding humanitarian crisis,' she added. The statement comes as the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), a global watchdog monitoring hunger with the backing of governments and the UN, said there is 'mounting evidence' that 'widespread starvation, malnutrition, and disease are driving a rise in hunger-related deaths' in the besieged territory. Israeli government officials have either denied that there is famine in Gaza or deflected the blame. There have been multiple reports of armed gangs looting aid deliveries and selling the contents on the black market, which could be exacerbating the crisis.
LeMonde
4 hours ago
- LeMonde
Russian strikes on Ukraine kill over 20
A Russian airstrike on a prison in southeastern Ukraine overnight killed 17 inmates and wounded dozens of others, Kyiv said on Tuesday, after Washington pressured Russia to end its invasion. The strike came hours after US President Donald Trump issued Moscow with a new deadline to end its grinding invasion of Ukraine – now in its fourth year – or face tough new sanctions. And it also comes on the three-year anniversary of a strike on another detention facility in occupied Ukrainian territory that Kyiv blamed on Moscow and that was reported to have killed dozens of captured Ukrainian soldiers. "It was a deliberate strike, intentional, not accidental. The Russians could not have been unaware that they were targeting civilians in that facility," Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky said on social media. Russia carried out eight strikes on the Zaporizhzhia region overnight, hitting the prison, according to Ivan Fedorov, the head of the military administration. Ukraine's justice ministry said Moscow's forces hit the prison with four glide bombs, killing 17 inmates and wounding another 42, including one of the detention center's employees. Bricks and debris were strewn on the ground around buildings with blown-out windows, according to images released by the ministry. The facility's perimeter was intact and there was no threat that inmates would escape, it added. Rescue workers were seen searching for survivors in pictures released by the region's emergency services. 'War crimes' A senior Ukrainian source said that 274 people were serving sentences in the Bilenkivska facility, where 30 people worked. The source added there were no Russian war prisoners being held at the center. Ukraine's human rights ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets meanwhile said the Zaporizhzhia attack was further evidence of Russian "war crimes." "People held in places of detention do not lose their right to life and protection," he wrote on social media. In addition to the glide bomb attack, the Ukrainian air force said that Russia had launched 37 drones and two missiles overnight, adding that its air defense systems had downed 32 of the drones only. In the Kharkiv region, five people were killed and three wounded, hours after US President Donald Trump set a new deadline for Moscow to end its invasion. "According to preliminary data, five civilians were killed and three more were wounded to varying degrees as a result of the shelling," the police said on Telegram, adding that Russia struck the area "presumably with a multiple launch rocket system". In the Dnipropetrovsk region, a missile strike on the town of Kamianske killed two, wounded five and damaged a hospital, Sergiy Lysak, head of the regional military administration said on Telegram. Another person was killed and several wounded in an attack in the region's Synelnykivsky district, he said. In a separate attack on Velyka Mykhailivka, Monday night, a "75-year-old woman was killed. A 68-year-old man was wounded. A private house was damaged," he posted on Telegram. In southern Russia, a Ukrainian drone attack killed one person, the region's acting governor said Tuesday. "A car was damaged on Ostrovsky Street. Unfortunately, the driver who was in it died," Yuri Slyusar, acting governor of the Rostov region, said in a post on Telegram.
