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Japan Today
5 hours ago
- Politics
- Japan Today
Zelenskyy says overnight strikes lay bare Russia's intentions in war
Firefighters work at the site of the Russian missile strike, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in the village of Sknyliv on the outskirts of Lviv, Ukraine August 21, 2025. REUTERS/Roman Baluk By Dan Peleschuk and Anastasiia Malenko Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Thursday that large-scale Russian attacks overnight in various parts of Ukraine showed Moscow was avoiding negotiations about ending the more than three-year-old war. The offensive included 574 drones and 40 missiles, Zelenskyy said, and was one of the largest of Russia's full-scale invasion of its neighbour, now in its fourth year. One person was killed and 22 were wounded in the overnight strikes, authorities said. Many targets were in western Ukraine. Zelenskyy said a missile strike on a U.S.-owned electronics firm was a "telling" indicator of Russian intentions in U.S.-led peace initiatives. After a flurry of diplomacy, U.S. President Donald Trump said earlier this week there was agreement for a bilateral meeting between Zelenskyy and Russian President Vladimir Putin. "Now the signals from Russia are simply, to be honest, indecent," Zelenskyy said in his nightly video address. "They are trying to back away from the need to hold meetings. They don't want to end the war. They carry on with massive strikes." Most of the overnight injuries were in an attack on the U.S.-owned Flex electronics manufacturer in Ukraine's far-west Zakarpattia region, authorities said. Storage facilities there were damaged. "We believe it was a deliberate strike precisely on U.S. property here in Ukraine, on American investment," Zelenskyy said, describing the company as a manufacturer of appliances. "A very telling the very time when the world waits for a clear answer from the Russians on their move in talks to bring an end to the war," he said, suggesting Russia's interest in U.S.-led peace efforts was not sincere. Russia did not comment on Zelenskyy's claim that its military deliberately hit a U.S.-owned facility, but Moscow denies targeting civilians and civilian infrastructure. A mayor near the damaged plant said it was owned by U.S.-listed Flex Ltd and employed thousands. In Ukraine's western city of Lviv, the attack killed one person, wounded three others and damaged 26 homes, said Governor Maksym Kozytskyi. Authorities in southeastern Ukraine's Dnipropetrovsk region reported damage to businesses, homes and gas lines. Two industry sources told Reuters a key gas pumping facility had been attacked, without giving a location. Russia said Putin had repeatedly expressed readiness to meet Zelenskyy but that Ukraine was trying to undermine Trump's efforts to resolve the conflict and its leader was illegitimate. The defence ministry in Moscow said it had struck Ukrainian energy and airfield infrastructure as well as military industrial facilities overnight, and captured another frontline village - Oleksandro-Shultyne. Ukraine said it had hit a Russian oil refinery, a drone warehouse and a fuel base. Reuters could not independently verify the battlefield reports. TRUMP: MOSCOW MAY NOT WANT A DEAL Trump met both Zelenskyy and Vladimir Putin over the past week in pursuit of a diplomatic end to the fighting but acknowledged that the Kremlin leader may not want a deal. Zelenskyy urged Trump to react firmly if that was the case. "If the Russians are not ready, we would like to see a strong reaction from the United States," he said in comments released on Thursday. U.S. and European military planners have begun exploring post-conflict security guarantees for Ukraine, according to U.S. officials and sources, but the path to peace remained uncertain. Zelenskyy said the discussions on security guarantees were "every day helping shape what will become the security architecture for Ukraine". Chiefs of defense for the United States, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Britain and Ukraine met in Washington, D.C., between Tuesday and Thursday. On Thursday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Moscow was ready for an honest talk about security guarantees for Ukraine and accused Ukraine's European backers of "adventurism" by excluding Moscow from their discussions. Thousands of civilians, the vast majority of them Ukrainian, have been killed since Moscow's full-scale invasion of February 2022. More than a million Russian and Ukrainian soldiers are estimated to have been killed or wounded. © Thomson Reuters 2025.
Straits Times
19 hours ago
- Business
- Straits Times
Russian strikes kill one, injure 18 people in largest aerial attack of August
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox Firefighters work at the site of the Russian missile strike, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in the village of Sknyliv on the outskirts of Lviv, Ukraine August 21, 2025. REUTERS/Roman Baluk KYIV - Russian overnight attack killed one person, injured at least 18, and struck a U.S. electronics manufacturer in western Ukraine, Ukrainian officials said on Thursday. A missile attack injured 15 people and destroyed storage facilities at the manufacturer in the town of Mukachevo, emergency services and local authorities in the western Zakarpattia region said. National television showed the region's governor Myroslav Biletskyi, standing near the building engulfed in smoke, who said the plant was producing consumer electronics, while Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha condemned the strike in a post on X. "A fully civilian facility that has nothing to do with defense or the military," he said. "This is not the first Russian attack on American businesses in Ukraine, after strikes on Boeing offices in Kyiv earlier this year and other attacks." In the western city of Lviv, the attack killed one person, injured three more, and damaged 26 homes, according to Governor Maksym Kozytskyi. Ukrainian Air Force said that Russia used 574 drones and 40 missiles in the overnight attack on the country, which was the biggest one so far in August. Top stories Swipe. Select. Stay informed. Singapore Singapore Parliament releases seating plan for 15th term: Find out who is sitting where Singapore District judge signals sterner penalties for vaping offences, cites public concerns Singapore Alleged vape seller faces new charge after he was found with more than 190 Kpods Singapore 3 people taken to hospital after fire at Bukit Purmei flat Singapore Police looking for car driver after hit-and-run incident with lorry in Kallang Singapore Fullerton Healthcare Corp co-founder admits approving falsified claims of over $213k Life Bucking sluggish retail, Singapore brands commit to wowing with experience-driven physical stores Singapore Continuing to ensure credibility non-negotiable for Straits Times: Editor Jaime Ho "This is why efforts to force Russia to end the war are so critical," Sybiha said. The strike took place at a time of intense efforts by U.S. President Donald Trump to bring an end to the Russian war in Ukraine. Russia, which denies targeting civilians, has used missiles and drones to strike Ukrainian towns and cities far from the front lines of the war. Thousands of civilians, the vast majority of them Ukrainian, have been killed since Moscow invaded in 2022. REUTERS
Straits Times
23-07-2025
- Politics
- Straits Times
Ukraine's Zelenskiy tries to limit backlash over law curbing anti-graft agencies
Ukrainians protest in the first wartime rally against a newly passed law, which curbs independence of anti-corruption institutions, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in central Lviv, Ukraine July 22, 2025. REUTERS/Roman Baluk KYIV - Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy promised a quick new plan on Wednesday to fight corruption, after a law curbing the independence of anti-graft agencies triggered the first street protests of the war and rare rebukes from European allies. Opposition lawmakers and European officials called on Wednesday for Kyiv to reverse the law, which Zelenskiy signed overnight. It was rushed through parliament on Tuesday a day after the security services arrested two anti-corruption officials for suspected Russian ties. In his nightly televised address, Zelenskiy said the corruption fighting agencies - an investigating agency known as NABU and a prosecutor's office known as SAPO - would continue to function "but without any Russian influence". "It all must be cleansed," he said. In the morning, he met officials including the heads of NABU and SAPO and said he would unveil a new plan to fight corruption within two weeks. "We hear society," he wrote on Telegram. "We all have a common enemy – the Russian occupiers, and the protection of the Ukrainian state requires sufficient strength of the law enforcement and anti-corruption systems, and therefore a real sense of justice." STRONGEST CRITICISM OF THE WAR Top stories Swipe. Select. Stay informed. Singapore Singapore's domestic recycling rate drops to all-time low of 11% Singapore Sota parent portal taken down for urgent patching following global cyberattack alerts Singapore HDB launches 10,209 BTO and balance flats, as priority scheme for singles kicks in Singapore Local buyers are key to recovery of prime district condo market Singapore New online channel for public to report illegal ride-hailing services Singapore Ex-Tanjong Pagar United footballer charged with assault after Singapore Premier League match in Feb Singapore COE prices for cars mostly unchanged; premium for commercial vehicles up 2.9% Singapore Cyclist charged after allegedly hitting elderly pedestrian, killing him The law prompted some of Kyiv's European allies to deliver their strongest criticism of Zelenskiy's government since Russia's invasion in 2022. Several hundred people took to the streets in Kyiv and other large Ukrainian cities late on Tuesday to protest, the first such demonstrations of the war. "This is complete nonsense from the President's Office," Solomiia Telishevska, 20, a student in Kyiv on holiday, told Reuters. "This contradicts what we are fighting for and what we are striving for, namely to (join) the European Union." The law's critics say the government appears to be trying to curb the work of anti-corruption agencies to protect officials. After decades when Ukraine was seen as one of the most corrupt countries in the world, cleaning up its government has been held up as the most important condition for Kyiv to join the European Union and integrate more broadly with the West. The issue risks antagonising Kyiv's most loyal allies at a particularly risky time, when it is trying to smooth over the relationship with Washington, where President Donald Trump has frequently criticised Zelenskiy. "Ukraine's anti-corruption institutions are vital to its reform path. Restricting them would be a significant setback," Dutch Foreign Minister Caspar Veldkamp said in a post on X. Benjamin Haddad, France's European Affairs minister, said it was not too late to reverse the decision. Yaroslav Zheleznyak, from Ukraine's opposition Holos party, said that he and several other lawmakers would propose a bill "to overturn this big shame that was adopted and signed", and also challenge the law in the Constitutional Court. EUROPEAN DREAM The law was passed a day after Kyiv's SBU domestic security agency one NABU official on suspicion of spying for Moscow and another suspected of illegal Russian business ties. It also conducted sweeping searches and arrests of a number of agency employees on other grounds, including traffic accidents. NABU said that even if Russian infiltration was a problem, the crackdown had gone too far, making it impossible to carry out its mission. Corruption is consistently cited by investors and the general public as one of the key challenges facing Ukraine. Fighting it is a condition attached to billions in Western financial aid. Ukrainian political analysts said the legislation risked undermining society's trust in Zelenskiy during a critical stage of the war against Russia. Fierce fighting rages along more than 1,000 kilometres of the frontline. Russian troops continue their grinding advance in the east and have stepped up near daily attacks on Ukrainian cities with hundreds of drones. The public's aspiration for a European future is vital to sustaining the war effort, said Valerii Pekar, a Kyiv-based analyst: "Only democracy and the European choice give us a chance to win," he posted on Facebook. REUTERS
