Latest news with #Defence Ministry
Yahoo
03-08-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Putin, facing Trump deadline, signals no change in Russia's stance on Ukraine
By Dmitry Antonov MOSCOW (Reuters) -Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Friday that Moscow hoped for more peace talks with Ukraine but that the momentum of the war was in its favour, signalling no shift in his stance despite a looming sanctions deadline from Washington. U.S. President Donald Trump has said he will impose new sanctions on Moscow and countries that buy its energy exports - of which the biggest are China and India - unless Russia moves by August 8 to end the 3-1/2 year war. He has expressed mounting frustration with Putin, accusing him of "bullshit" and describing Russia's latest attacks on Ukraine as "disgusting". Putin, without referring to the Trump deadline, said three sessions of peace talks with Ukraine had yielded some positive results, and Russia was expecting negotiations to continue. "As for any disappointments on the part of anyone, all disappointments arise from inflated expectations. This is a well-known general rule," he said. "But in order to approach the issue peacefully, it is necessary to conduct detailed conversations. And not in public, but this must be done calmly, in the quiet of the negotiation process." He said Russian troops were attacking Ukraine along the entire front line and that the momentum was in their favour, citing the announcement by his Defence Ministry on Thursday that Moscow's forces had captured the Ukrainian town of Chasiv Yar after a 16-month battle. Ukraine denied that Chasiv Yar is under full Russian control. Ukraine for months has been urging an immediate ceasefire but Russia says it wants a final and durable settlement, not a pause. Since the peace talks began in Istanbul in May, it has conducted some of its heaviest air strikes of the war, especially on the capital Kyiv. The Ukrainian government has said the Russian negotiators do not have the mandate to take significant decisions and President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has called on Putin to meet him for talks. "We understand who makes the decisions in Russia and who must end this war. The whole world understands this too," Zelenskiy said on Friday on X, reiterating his call for direct talks between him and Putin. "The United States has proposed this. Ukraine has supported it. What is needed is Russia's readiness." Russia says a leaders' meeting could only take place to set the seal on agreements reached by negotiators. Ukraine and its European allies have frequently said they do not believe Putin is really interested in peace and have accused him of stalling, which the Kremlin denies. "I will repeat once again, we need a long and lasting peace on good foundations that would satisfy both Russia and Ukraine, and ensure the security of both countries," Putin said, adding that this was also a question of European security. Putin was speaking alongside his ally Alexander Lukashenko, the president of Belarus, at talks on an island in Lake Ladoga that is the site of a famous Russian monastery. Russian TV earlier showed the two men greeting monks at the Valaam Monastery, where they have met several times before, and holding candles during the chanting of prayers. (Additional reporting by Maxim Rodionov and Marina Bobrova; Writing by Mark TrevelyanEditing by Andrew Osborn and Philippa Fletcher) Solve the daily Crossword
CBC
02-08-2025
- Politics
- CBC
Ukraine military claims it struck major Russian refinery, electronics factory
Social Sharing Ukraine's military said Saturday it had struck oil facilities inside Russia, including a major refinery, a military airfield for drones and an electronics factory. In a statement on Telegram, Ukraine's Unmanned Systems Forces said they had hit the oil refinery in Ryazan, about 180 kilometres southeast of Moscow, causing a fire on its premises. Also hit, the USF said, was the Annanefteprodukt oil storage facility in the Voronezh region that borders on northeastern Ukraine. The statement did not specify how the facilities were hit, but the USF specializes in drone warfare, including long-range strikes. There was no immediate comment from Russia on the reported attacks on its infrastructure sites, but the Defence Ministry said air defences intercepted or destroyed 112 drones across eight Russian regions and the Russian-occupied Crimean Peninsula. A drone attack on the Rostov region, on the border with Ukraine, killed one person, said the acting governor, Yuri Slyusar. Further from the front line, a woman was killed and two other people wounded in a drone strike on business premises in the Penza region, according to regional governor Oleg Melnichenko. In the Samara region, falling drone debris sparked a fire that killed an elderly resident, regional governor Vyacheslav Fedorishchev said. Russia's Defence Ministry said in its daily report Saturday that its defence units had downed a total of 338 Ukrainian drones overnight. Its reports did not say how many Ukrainian drones were launched at any given time. Ukraine's air force said it had downed 45 of 53 Russian drones launched at its territory overnight. Dozens of Russian drones launched, Ukraine says According to the Ukrainian air force, Russia launched 53 drones and decoys at Ukraine overnight into Saturday. It said air defences shot down or jammed 45 drones. Eleven people were wounded in an overnight drone strike on the Kharkiv region, Gov. Oleh Syniehubov said Saturday. WATCH | Rescuers pull people out of rubble after Russian attack hits Kyiv apartment block: 'I was in shock,' Kyiv resident says after deadly Russian strikes 2 days ago Rescuers rushed to the scene of a deadly Russian attack on Thursday after a volley of drones and missiles hit an apartment block. The reciprocal drone strikes followed a day of mourning in the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv on Friday, after a Russian drone and missile attack killed 31 people, including five children, and wounded more than 150. Ukraine's SBU intelligence agency said its drones had hit Russia's Primorsko-Akhtarsk military airfield, which has been used to launch waves of long-range drones at targets in Ukraine. The SBU said it also hit a factory in Penza that it said supplies Russia's military-industrial complex with electronics. At the start of Russia's full-scale invasion in 2022, Ukraine had no response to Moscow's vast long-range strike capacity but it has since built up a fleet of long-range kamikaze drones able to carry explosive warheads for many hundreds of kilometres. On Ukraine's eastern battlefront, Russia's Defence Ministry said, Russian forces had captured the village of Oleksandro-Kalynove in the Donetsk region on Saturday. Reuters could not immediately verify the battlefield report. Continuing attacks come despite comments Monday from U.S. President Donald Trump about giving Russian President Vladimir Putin until Aug. 8, a shorter deadline than the 50 days Trump initially cited, to make peace with Ukraine. Trump said Thursday that special envoy Steve Witkoff is heading to Russia to push Moscow to agree to a ceasefire, and has threatened new economic sanctions if progress is not made. Russian forces reportedly now control almost 20 per cent of Ukraine in its east and south 3½ years into the war.
CNA
01-08-2025
- Politics
- CNA
Putin, facing Trump deadline, signals no change in Russia's stance on Ukraine
MOSCOW: Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Friday (Aug 1) that Moscow hoped for more peace talks with Ukraine but that the momentum of the war was in its favour, signalling no shift in his stance despite a looming sanctions deadline from Washington. US President Donald Trump has said he will impose new sanctions on Moscow and countries that buy its energy exports - of which the biggest are China and India - unless Russia moves by Aug 8 to end the three-and-a-half-year war. He has expressed mounting frustration with Putin, accusing him of "bullshit" and describing Russia's latest attacks on Ukraine as "disgusting". Putin, without referring to the Trump deadline, said three sessions of peace talks with Ukraine had yielded some positive results, and Russia was expecting negotiations to continue. "As for any disappointments on the part of anyone, all disappointments arise from inflated expectations. This is a well-known general rule," he said. "But in order to approach the issue peacefully, it is necessary to conduct detailed conversations. And not in public, but this must be done calmly, in the quiet of the negotiation process." He said Russian troops were attacking Ukraine along the entire front line and that the momentum was in their favour, citing the announcement by his Defence Ministry on Thursday that Moscow's forces had captured the Ukrainian town of Chasiv Yar after a 16-month battle. Ukraine denied that Chasiv Yar is under full Russian control. Ukraine for months has been urging an immediate ceasefire but Russia says it wants a final and durable settlement, not a pause. Since the peace talks began in Istanbul in May, it has conducted some of its heaviest air strikes of the war, especially on the capital Kyiv. The Ukrainian government has said the Russian negotiators do not have the mandate to take significant decisions and President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has called on Putin to meet him for talks. "We understand who makes the decisions in Russia and who must end this war. The whole world understands this too," Zelenskyy said on Friday on X, reiterating his call for direct talks between him and Putin. "The United States has proposed this. Ukraine has supported it. What is needed is Russia's readiness." Russia says a leaders' meeting could only take place to set the seal on agreements reached by negotiators. Ukraine and its European allies have frequently said they do not believe Putin is really interested in peace and have accused him of stalling, which the Kremlin denies. "I will repeat once again, we need a long and lasting peace on good foundations that would satisfy both Russia and Ukraine, and ensure the security of both countries," Putin said, adding that this was also a question of European security. Putin was speaking alongside his ally Alexander Lukashenko, the president of Belarus, at talks on an island in Lake Ladoga that is the site of a famous Russian monastery.
Reuters
01-08-2025
- Politics
- Reuters
Putin, facing Trump deadline, signals no change in Russia's stance on Ukraine
MOSCOW, Aug 1 (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Friday that Moscow hoped for more peace talks with Ukraine but that the momentum of the war was in its favour, signalling no shift in his stance despite a looming sanctions deadline from Washington. U.S. President Donald Trump has said he will impose new sanctions on Moscow and countries that buy its energy exports - of which the biggest are China and India - unless Russia moves by August 8 to end the 3-1/2 year war. He has expressed mounting frustration with Putin, accusing him of "bullshit" and describing Russia's latest attacks on Ukraine as "disgusting". Putin, without referring to the Trump deadline, said three sessions of peace talks with Ukraine had yielded some positive results, and Russia was expecting negotiations to continue. "As for any disappointments on the part of anyone, all disappointments arise from inflated expectations. This is a well-known general rule," he said. "But in order to approach the issue peacefully, it is necessary to conduct detailed conversations. And not in public, but this must be done calmly, in the quiet of the negotiation process." He said Russian troops were attacking Ukraine along the entire front line and that the momentum was in their favour, citing the announcement by his Defence Ministry on Thursday that Moscow's forces had captured the Ukrainian town of Chasiv Yar after a 16-month battle. Ukraine denied Chasiv Yar is under full Russian control. Ukraine for months has been urging an immediate ceasefire but Russia says it wants a final and durable settlement, not a pause. Since the peace talks began in Istanbul in May, it has conducted some of its heaviest air strikes of the war, especially on the capital Kyiv. Ukraine and its European allies have frequently said they do not believe Putin is really interested in peace and have accused him of stalling, which the Kremlin denies. "I will repeat once again, we need a long and lasting peace on good foundations that would satisfy both Russia and Ukraine, and ensure the security of both countries," Putin said, adding that this was also a question of European security. Putin was speaking alongside his ally Alexander Lukashenko, the president of Belarus, at talks on an island in Lake Ladoga that is the site of a famous Russian monastery. Russian TV earlier showed the two men greeting monks at the Valaam Monastery, where they have met several times before, and holding candles during the chanting of prayers.
CBC
26-07-2025
- Politics
- CBC
Fighting on Thai-Cambodia border enters 3rd day as Malaysia urges ceasefire
Social Sharing Fighting on the Thai-Cambodian border extended into a third day and new flashpoints emerged on Saturday as both sides said they had acted in self-defence in the border dispute and called on the other to cease fighting and start negotiations. More than 30 people have been killed and more than 130,000 people displaced in the worst fighting between the Southeast Asian neighbours in 13 years. There were clashes early Saturday, both sides said, in the neighbouring Thai coastal province of Trat and Cambodia's Pursat province early, a new front more than 100 kilometres from other conflict points along the long-contested border. The two countries have faced off since the killing of a Cambodian soldier late in May during a brief skirmish. Troops on both sides of the border were reinforced amid a full-blown diplomatic crisis that brought Thailand's fragile coalition government to the brink of collapse. As of Saturday, Thailand said seven soldiers and 13 civilians had been killed in the clashes, while in Cambodia five soldiers and eight civilians had been killed, said Defence Ministry spokesperson Maly Socheata. In the Thai border province of Sisaket, a university compound has been converted into temporary accommodation, where a volunteer said more than 5,000 people were staying. WATCH | A breakdown of the deadly clashes between Thailand and Cambodia: Why Thailand's F-16s just bombed Cambodia in escalating border dispute | About That 17 hours ago A century-old border dispute between Thailand and Cambodia has boiled over after Thai and Cambodian forces fired on each other in a deadly exchange. Andrew Chang explains what spurred this recent violence and why neither side appears eager to back down. Samrong Khamduang said she left her farm, about 10 kilometres from the border, when fighting broke out on Thursday. The 51-year-old's husband stayed behind to look after livestock. "We got so scared with the sound of artillery," she said. "But my husband stayed back and now we lost the connection. I couldn't call him. I don't know what is happening back there." In Kuala Lumpur, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, the chair of the ASEAN regional bloc, said he would continue to push a ceasefire proposal. Cambodia has backed Anwar's plan, while Thailand has said it agreed with it in principle. "There is still some exchange of fire," Anwar said, according to state news agency Bernama. He said he had asked his foreign minister "to liaise with the respective foreign ministries and, if possible, I will continue engaging with them myself — at least to halt the fighting." Thailand, Cambodia trade accusations Thailand's ambassador to the United Nations told a Security Council meeting on Friday that soldiers had been injured by newly planted land mines in Thai territory on two occasions since mid-July — claims Cambodia has strongly denied — and said Cambodia had then launched attacks on Thursday morning. "Thailand urges Cambodia to immediately cease all hostilities and acts of aggression, and resume dialogue in good faith," Cherdchai Chaivaivid told the council in remarks released to media. Cambodia's Defence Ministry said Thailand had launched "a deliberate, unprovoked and unlawful military attack" and was mobilizing troops and military equipment on the border. "These deliberate military preparations reveal Thailand's intent to expand its aggression and further violate Cambodia's sovereignty," the ministry said in a statement on Saturday. Cambodia called for the international community to "condemn Thailand's aggression in the strongest terms" and to prevent an expansion of its military activities, while Bangkok reiterated it wanted to resolve the dispute bilaterally. Thailand and Cambodia have bickered for decades over jurisdiction of various undemarcated points along their 817-kilometre land border, with ownership of the ancient Hindu temples Ta Moan Thom and the 11th-century Preah Vihear central to the disputes. Preah Vihear was awarded to Cambodia by the International Court of Justice in 1962, but tension escalated in 2008 after Cambodia attempted to list it as a UNESCO World Heritage site. That led to skirmishes over several years and at least a dozen deaths. Cambodia in June said it had asked the court to resolve its disputes with Thailand, which says it has never recognized the court's jurisdiction and prefers a bilateral approach.
