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Daily Mirror
24-07-2025
- Politics
- Daily Mirror
Russia and Ukraine trade worst blows after peace talks fail in Battle of Black Sea
Ukrainian drones pummelled the Russian Black Sea city of Sochi - where Vladimir Putin is building his own palace - as Russia's bombs rocked the Ukrainian resort of Odesa Ukraine and Russia struck each other's most popular seaside resorts in major attacks as peace talks broke up in Istanbul. Major city Sochi - where Vladimir Putin is building a new palace after tearing down his old one - was hit by massive explosions striking oil depots, railway warehouses, and damaging a key road link. Footage shows the dramatic drone attacks which hit Kremlin-run Sirius Federal Territory, in Sochi, where discussions were reportedly held on sending Putin's young children, aged ten and five, to an elite school. One woman was killed and several wounded as a Russian S-400 air defence missile misfired and hit a residential building in the country's premier resort. Russia suffered around 100 flight delays as Sochi's airport was closed due to the drones. Tourists were seen huddling in the underground car park of elite five star hotels in the city in the first major Ukrainian strike on Sochi in almost two years, which involved Lyutyi‑196 long range drones. The Lukoil-Yugnefteprodukt oil depot exploded in flames in Sirius Federal Territory where head of administration Dmitry Plishkin urged people not to go out. Meanwhile, Odesa faced Russia's latest Putin strikes on civilians with a nine-storey residential building destroyed, and the city's iconic Privoz Market engulfed in flames. At least three people were injured in Odesa but the casualties were expected to rise. Apartments from the 5th to the 8th floors of the residential building were destroyed, with fires on the stairwells, as dozens of terrorised residents were evacuated. 'Odesa experienced another hellish night,' said Ukraine 's state emergency service. 'The Russians massively attacked the city with strike drones.' The obliterated landmark market dates from 1827, and locals say of it: 'Odesa begins from Privoz.' It is considered the city's heart - the soul and hub of humour, gossip, and local colour. 'There is damage to architectural monuments in the historic centre of Odesa, which is under UNESCO protection,' said the head of the regional administration, Oleh Kiper. Russia also hit Mykolaiv, with drones striking two enterprises overnight, causing major fires. And seven people, including a child, were injured in a Russian missile attack on Cherkasy. The Black Sea strikes came after perfunctory peace talks in Istanbul in which Russia's chief negotiator Vladimir Medinsky said the two sides were 'quite far from each other'. There was agreement on future exchanges of prisoners, including civilians, but little sign of a breakthrough towards ending the war. The Ukrainians demanded Putin agree to a ceasefire and face to face talks with Zelensky to end the war. Kyiv's leading negotiator Rustem Umerov said: 'We are now waiting for the ceasefire and the start of substantive peace negotiations. And it is up to the other side to take this basic step on the path to peace. We emphasise that the ceasefire must be real. It must include a complete halt to strikes on civilian and critically important infrastructure.'
Voice of America
11-03-2025
- Politics
- Voice of America
Russia's gains in Kursk threaten Kyiv's leverage
The images shared by Kremlin-controlled media were shocking: Russian troops hunched, dirt on their faces, as they crept through an empty gas pipeline under Ukrainian defense lines. Since Kyiv launched its audacious cross-border assault into the Kursk region last August, Moscow has been pushing back hard, using unconventional tactics and deploying thousands of North Korean troops against the Ukrainian army. They have since stepped up their advances. In the past five days, Moscow has broken through Kyiv's defensive lines, reclaiming dozens of square kilometers of territory, according to military bloggers. Russian military bloggers reported Tuesday that Moscow's troops had entered the town of Sudzha, the largest settlement in the region under Kyiv's control. "The enemy is retreating in panic and disorder without [having] received any orders. That's it. It's a collapse," a Russian serviceman, who identified himself as Zombie, told Kremlin-run television. The result is that Kyiv may have lost one of its only bargaining chips on swapping land with Russia, which has seized and occupied around a fifth of Ukraine since it took Crimea in 2014 and launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. For Ukraine, which has painted a more controlled picture of the fighting, the stakes of its difficult operation in Kursk could hardly be higher. The assault last summer injected a much-needed morale boost into the Ukrainian war effort and represented the first and only incursion by a foreign army into Russian territory since World War II. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the operation was key to future negotiations on ending the war and that holding Russian territory would give Kyiv vital leverage. But that leverage — just as Washington starts rounds of talks with Moscow and Kyiv — is dwindling as Russian forces press forward. Franz-Stefan Gady, a military analyst, said Russia had built up its force in Kursk over recent weeks and escalated strikes on Ukraine's supply route. "The result is that now that the Russians are pushing a lot. Parts of the front line are actually giving way," he told AFP. The British defense ministry estimates Ukraine controls around 300 square kilometers of Kursk, a five-fold territorial loss since Kyiv launched its gambit. On Monday, Ukrainian commander-in-chief Oleksandr Syrsky conceded the situation was worsening. He dismissed reports Ukrainian troops were in danger of being encircled but acknowledged they had been forced to fall back and that he was sending forward reinforcements. One Ukrainian soldier who had been deployed in Kursk told AFP on Monday his unit had "fortunately" withdrawn five days earlier and described fighting there as "very" hard. Another, who had overseen operations from inside Ukraine and also asked not to be identified to speak freely about the dynamics of the fighting, said Russia's use of drones to disrupt logistics was a key problem. "It was the end, so to speak. And we started to get out of there because if we didn't, we would have been surrounded," he said, recounting the decision of some troops to leave Kursk because of resupply problems and Russian advances. From the outset, analysts were skeptical of the purpose of diverting thousands of Ukrainian troops and key military assets from front lines inside Ukraine that were under immense Russian pressure. With Moscow now clawing back land, this question remains. Russia last week even claimed to have captured a village inside Ukraine, Novenke, which lies just several kilometers from the vital Ukrainian resupply route into Kursk. The Institute for the Study of War has said that Moscow is consolidating its gains and likely preparing to attack the largest town still under Ukrainian control, Sudzha.
BBC News
21-02-2025
- Politics
- BBC News
Inside RT training for journalists for Africa wey Kremlin dey back
Addressing journalists from across Africa, di director of Kremlin-funded global news channel RT say: "We be one of di best in fact-checking and add say nobody don catch dem bifor dey distribute false information." Im statement, wey dem pre-record and wey hundreds of journalists watch online, na part of a free international training scheme wey Russian broadcaster bin launch last year. One BBC journalist bin join di course to investigate dia content. Tori be say dem push RT, out of Europe and United States and sanction dem for spreading disinformation, but e no stop dem to repeat falsehoods to di journalists wey attend di programme. Di world according to RT Afta UK label dem as "Russian state propaganda vehicle" and dem chop ban for EU, Canada, and US for spreading disinformation about di war for Ukraine, di Kremlin-run RT (formerly Russia Today) bin roll out one training scheme for journalists from Southeast Asia, China and Africa. RT say di course for Africa na dia most successful yet, e attract ova 1,000 journalists and bloggers from 35 kontris. We no fit verify dis number but we witness ova 300 pipo for one Telegram channel wey dem bin set up for di participants of di programme. Dem bin accept one BBC journalist to do di course, wey bin hold online for one month. Dis give us access to live webinars and daily pre-recorded lessons wey di participants bin get to watch. Di videos – almost 30 – bin dey professionally produced, dem feem dem for RT studios and galleries. Leading RT presenters and senior managers teach di lessons. "We welcome you from dis RT studio hia for Moscow. E dey a bit colder dan wetin you dey used to, but we go try to dey warm," na wetin RT's general director announce for di course first video lesson. Di programme include wetin pesin go expect from any introductory journalism training course, like how to conduct interviews, search for story ideas, report on breaking news, and work for conflict zones – all dis dey happun as dem dey promote Kremlin viewpoints dem use RT's own reports and interviews as course material. One lesson on covering breaking news, for example, bin include one RT report from occupied Mariupol, wia dem describe Ukrainians wey don surrender as "neo-Nazis and radicals of all shapes and flavours". Anoda lesson bin focus on mainstream media. One RT presenter describe journalism wey "Western media" produce to "political warfare wey dem pump inside room." Throughout di course, staff describe RT as an "alternative news source". One of di seminars teach on how to debunk fake news. During dis session di host bin repeat well-known Kremlin falsehoods. Di instructor say di chemical weapons attack for Douma, Syria, for 2018 by di Russian-backed Bashar al-Assad regime, na a "canonical example of fake news". Im bin ignore di findings of a two-year investigation by di Organisation for di Prohibition of Chemical Weapons wey bin confam di attacks by di Syrian forces. Di report bin say a Syrian army helicopter bin drop toxic chlorine gas cylinders on civilian areas, wey kill 43 pipo. Di RT host also dismiss di mass killing of Ukrainian civilians by Russian forces for di Ukrainian town of Bucha for 2022, dem call dat one "di most well-known fake". E say: "Russia bin reject dis accusations. Di Ukrainian side neva still provide details regarding dis tragedy. Di permanent representative of di Russian Federation to UN for two years now don ask for di list of names of those wey die." However evidence boku of di kill-kill of civilians for Bucha by Russian forces, wit investigations from multiple independent sources including di UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. Di Ukrainian fact-checking organisation StopFake bin debunk RT's claim for 2022, dem say Bucha City Council bin confam di existence of one verified list of victims, wey dey available on request. Di names of di pipo wey Russian army kill dem inscribe am for di memorial for Bucha. Some of di journalists wey participate for di course for Africa no seem to mind di false information RT share. For interview wit BBC, Dereje Yiemeru, one Ethiopian journalist wey dey admire di Russian President – im use Vladimir Putin photo as im social media profile picture – repeat RT claims, e call di Bucha killings a "staged event". Im say im join di course out of curiosity sake of how RT dey operate and wetin make dem different from oda media. Ishmael Koroma, one participant from Sierra Leone, say even though im see misinformation and disinformation as serious problems, im believe say evri media institution dey operate wit dia own "news value and style." At di end of di training, di journalists wey bin take part dem tell dem to submit report on topic wey mainstream media no cover but align wit RT "alternative" narrative. Di BBC bin ask RT about di koko of di course and some of di claims wey di host bin make. Dem no respond directly to di questions, instead dem say: "For our training course we attempt to teach how to recognise subtle and sometimes not so subtle propaganda." Shift towards Africa For di end of 2024, RT Editor-in-Chief Margarita Simonyan cite di "continuing Western assault against RT" as reason "to redirect funding and focus dia efforts elsewhere". Since RT no dey available anymore for many Western kontris, Dem dey do dia programmes for environments wey dey friendly. Anti-colonialist and anti-imperialist sentiment and di legacy of Soviet support for liberation movements during di Cold War make am relatively common for many Africans to align wit Russia. Several nations also see di kontri as a pragmatic partner for military and diplomatic collaboration. Russian state media reports say RT now dey get at least seven African bureaux, dem sign contracts wit ova 30 local African TV channels to air dia content, and dem don increase dia daily reports from African kontris. In addition to broadcasting in English and Arabic, RT don also transfer dia French-language channel to target French-speaking African nations, according to Madam Simonyan. In collabo wit Russian Houses - official representatives of di Russian goment abroad – RT recently organise screenings of dia pro-Russian documentaries for some African kontris. Di propaganda documentary "Why I Moved to Russia" show Americans dey discuss reasons for dia relocation, for one example dem allege without evidence say schools for US secretly dey promote "transgender classes" while dia parents think say dia children dey attend art lessons. 'Conduits for Russianness' RT no dey alone for hosting training courses for African journalists. China don dey do am for ova a decade, dem dey frequently invite journalists to di kontri. Western outlets – including BBC World Service and BBC independent international charity Media Action – also dey offer dia own lessons. Philip Obaji Jr, a Nigerian journalist wey don cover Russian influence for Africa, believe say di RT training scheme na part of Russian strategy to "sway opinions" on di continent. "Wetin Russians dey do hi na to try to ensure say di narratives wey dey come out of political spots [di Kremlin] di average African fit relate wit am. And dem dey do dis by reaching out directly to di pipo wey dey spread di news – journalists." At di end of di RT course, dem promise di graduates say dem go give dem updates on future job opportunities wit RT. Oga Obaji Jr observe say RT fit not dey recruit only for diaself, but for broader Kremlin-backed information campaigns or Russian media organisations for di continent. Yevhen Fedchenko, head of Ukrainian fact-checking organisation StopFake, agree, wit drawing parallels wit Soviet-era tactics. Im explain say creating loyal networks through dis training na strategy Russia don dey use for long. "You fit use dem [di graduates] to promote your narratives, influence public opinion, and affect decision-making. Pipo become conduits for Russianness for dis region."
