Latest news with #RussiaUkraineWar
Arab News
2 days ago
- Politics
- Arab News
French foreign minister in Kyiv for show of support
KYIV, Ukraine: France's Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot on Monday emphasized France's support to Ukraine in a surprise visit, over three years into Russia's invasion. Barrot met his counterpart Andriy Sybiga, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and newly nominated Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko. He arrived in Kyiv just hours after a fresh Russian barrage on the Ukrainian capital, the latest in a record number of drone and missile attacks Russia has recently fired on Ukrainian cities. 'It is by putting pressure on Russia on the one hand, and providing resolute support to Ukraine on the other, that we will succeed in ending this cowardly and disgraceful war,' Barrot said. He was speaking at a press conference shortly after visiting the Chernobyl power plant, the site of the world's worst nuclear accident, which sent clouds of radiation across much of Europe in 1986. In February, Ukraine accused Russia of using an explosive drone to damage the confinement arch protecting the structure — prompting France to pledge 10 million euros ($11.7 million) to help fix the cover. Accompanied by a small group of journalists including AFP, Barrot inspected the structure, where the hole in the arch was still clearly visible. Barrot briefly got stuck in the elevator on his way out of the building with some of his team — though the group managed to operate the elevator manually, and emerged unharmed. Back from Chernobyl, Barrot said Russia 'targets energy infrastructure in defiance of international law, security and nuclear safety.' He also blasted the latest wave of Russian attacks, which killed two people and damaged an entryway to the capital's Lukyanivka metro station, which he visited earlier. 'This inhumane, cynical and cruel violence has no military purpose,' Barrot said. 'Its sole aim is to terrorize civilians in a failed attempt to undermine Ukrainian morale.'
The Independent
2 days ago
- Politics
- The Independent
A concert in Italy by Russian conductor Gergiev is canceled after protests
A concert by Russian conductor Valery Gergiev has been canceled, organizers in Italy announced Monday, following protests against giving the stage to the conductor who has been largely barred from European venues for failing to condemn Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Gergiev had been invited to conduct during a summer festival at the Royal Palace of Caserta near Naples next Sunday. The regional governor, Vincenzo de Luca, had defended the invitation, saying that 'the logic of preclusion … does not help peace.'' The invitation had been widely criticized by human rights activists, Russian opposition figures and European parliamentarians. Gergiev, who is head of the Bolshoi and Mariinsky Russian state theaters, is considered close to President Vladimir Putin. Milan's La Scala was the first theater in the West to cut off relations with Gergiev, who was engaged at the theater when Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, after he failed to respond to Milan Mayor Giuseppe Sala's appeal to speak out against the war.
New York Times
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- New York Times
Italian Festival Cancels Appearance by Russian Conductor With Ties to Putin
A concert at a festival in Italy that was to have been the conductor Valery Gergiev's first in Western Europe since Russia invaded Ukraine more than three years ago was canceled on Monday amid a backlash over the musician's close ties to President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia. Antonella Giannattasio, a spokeswoman for the Un'Estate da RE festival, said in a telephone interview that Mr. Gergiev would no longer perform on July 27 at the Royal Palace of Caserta, a historic site north of Naples. Italian activists and politicians had denounced plans for Mr. Gergiev to conduct at the event. Mr. Gergiev, a staunch ally of Mr. Putin, lost all his engagements in the West when Russia invaded Ukraine in early 2022. There was concern in Italy and more broadly in the European Union about Mr. Gergiev's participation, given that the festival is bankrolled by the bloc. There were fears that his presence could be seen as an endorsement of Russia at a time when Europe is scrambling to provide weapons to Ukraine as the Trump administration's support for Kyiv has seemed to waver. Italy's culture minister, Alessandro Giuli, said in a statement on July 15 that allowing Mr. Gergiev to participate in the festival 'risks passing the wrong message.' 'Ukraine is an invaded nation, and Gergiev's concert may turn a high-level but objectively controversial and divisive musical event into a sounding board for Russian propaganda,' Giuli added. 'Which for me would be deplorable.' The planned concert also drew international condemnation. Yulia Navalnaja, the widow of the Russian opposition leader Aleksei Navalny, wrote in a guest article for the Italian daily la Repubblica last week that Mr. Gergiev's performance in Italy 'would be a gift to the dictator.' Before the war in Ukraine, Mr. Gergiev was one of the world's most sought-after conductors, with regular engagements at leading concert halls and opera houses. But his work in the West dried up after he declined to denounce Mr. Putin's invasion of Ukraine. He lost numerous engagements, and the Munich Philharmonic removed him from his post as chief conductor three years before his contract had been set to expire. Mr. Putin rewarded Mr. Gergiev in 2023 by tapping him to lead the Bolshoi Theater in Moscow. The move put him at the pinnacle of Russian culture, since he was already the artistic and general director of the nation's other leading performing arts institution, the Mariinsky Theater in St. Petersburg. (In Moscow Mr. Gergiev replaced Vladimir Urin, who had been the Bolshoi's general director since 2013 and who had signed a petition expressing opposition to the war in Ukraine.) Mr. Gergiev and Mr. Putin have known each other since the 1990s, and the maestro has supported the Russian leader in election campaigns. Elisabetta Povoledo and Alex Marshall contributed reporting.
Time of India
2 days ago
- Politics
- Time of India
Russia SMASHES Over 70 Ukrainian Drones As Kyiv Attacks Moscow Again
Russia claimed a significant victory in Donetsk by capturing Bila Hora after a successful offensive by its Yug Group of Forces. The Russian Defence Ministry said it neutralized 74 Ukrainian drones over seven regions, including Moscow, thwarting a major drone attack. In response, Russia launched 426 drones and 24 missiles at Ukraine overnight, causing fires, killing one person, and injuring dozens. The ministry also claimed to have eliminated over 1,250 Ukrainian troops in the last 24 hours as part of its ongoing military operation.#RussiaUkraineWar #DonetskOffensive #DroneAttack #BilaHoraCaptured #RussianMilitary #UkraineConflict #MilitaryUpdate #WarNews #SpecialOperation #RussiaStrikes Read More
The National
2 days ago
- Business
- The National
EU's wave of Russia sanctions three years later doesn't signal urgency
If the Russia -Ukraine War was the First World War, then by now we would be past the Russian Revolution about three years in. If it were the Second World War, the Germans would be about to surrender at Stalingrad. But in our present, with fighting largely deadlocked, Europe has just begun a cautious offensive on the economic front. The latest package of sanctions adopted on Friday takes aim at Russia's energy earnings. The mostly ineffective cap on the price of Russian oil exports using EU ships or services will now be set at 15 per cent below market prices, instead of $60 per barrel as previously, meaning $47.6 per barrel initially, which will be revised several times per year. Czechia's exemption from the EU ban on Russian oil imports has ended, closing one small remaining spigot. Further ships in Russia's 'shadow fleet' and traders working with Russian oil have been added to the sanctions list, as has 'one entity in the Russian LNG [liquefied natural gas] sector'. And transactions with the Nord Stream gas pipelines under the Baltic Sea by any EU operator are banned. Perhaps most materially, the EU has also banned the import of refined petroleum products made from Russian crude in third countries, mostly affecting India and Turkey, but potentially GCC countries, too. Indian fuel exports to the EU doubled in 2023 to 200,000 barrels a day, and have remained elevated since. The latest European sanctions have already markedly tightened the diesel market. Indian refiner Nayara, owned 49.13 per cent by Russia's state Rosneft, is hit with sanctions. Previous European sanctions have been notably leaky. The Russian war juggernaut has been slowed but not derailed. Brussels still seems lackadaisical about the urgency of the situation, as missiles and drones pound Ukrainian cities, and thousands of North Korean troops appear on the battlefield. Europe's own bloody colonial history should tell it the fate of those who allow foreign military adventurers to interfere in their domestic affairs. Is it enough? Putting sanctions only now on a pipeline that was mostly blown up in September 2022 may not be the height of courage. More aggressive measures have been hamstrung until now by opposition from some EU members, who are either politically friendly to Russia, or who claim that special circumstances should entitle them to exemptions. Sanctioned goods, including military components, continue to flood into Russia through backdoors in Central Asian states and through China. The oil price cap has been largely ineffective because it is hard to monitor, and because Greek and other European shipowners have been happy to sell old vessels into the shadow fleet. The most effective sanctions on Russian energy were imposed by Moscow itself, and by the still mysterious bombers of the Nord Stream pipeline. Russia started cutting down on gas exports to the EU from September 2021, well before launching its invasion, then imposed payment conditions that most of its buyers rejected. The EU did at least move in March to ban the trans-shipment of Russian LNG through European ports. This was an inconvenience, as Russia's Arctic LNG terminals typically use expensive ice-class tankers, then transfer their cargoes to standard vessels in warmer waters. In May, the European Commission presented a roadmap to phase out remaining imports of Russian LNG and gas by pipeline. In 2024, Russia sold about 21 billion cubic metres of LNG and 27 BCM of gas by pipeline to the EU, still almost a fifth of the bloc's total. The pipeline gas would anyway fall this year, since transit by Ukraine, having remarkably continued through the war, was finally cut off at the end of last year. The LNG will be diverted to other markets, primarily in Asia, but the pipeline gas has no other outlet. Russia currently earns roughly $230 billion per year from its exports of oil, gas and coal. This has already fallen from around $400 billion during the invasion year of 2022. The new measures on gas would cut its revenues by some $5 billion annually. Effective wielding of the new, lower price cap on oil might chop off $30 billion or so over the course of a year. Enforcement will be crucial, as Russia, like Iran, continues to juggle the shadow fleet, and traders find way to obfuscate oil's origins. Higher costs for tankers and transactions add a few more billion. But this is nibbling at the edges, not biting into the jugular vein. The wildcard is the US. President Donald Trump's erratic moves on the conflict and his threats of the puzzling 'secondary tariffs' on countries buying Russian oil are hard to analyse. New, much more aggressive sanctions proposed in Congress would target Russia's trade partners, but they have been paused during a 50-day hiatus announced by Mr Trump. It is not clear if the US will join enforcement of the new oil price cap, which will be crucial in its effectiveness. Where Russia stands Still, the Russian economy is under strain. Budget revenues have been revised down this year because of lower global energy prices. The national wealth fund could be depleted by next year, as the government withdraws from it to cover the deficit. The economy contracted in the first quarter, despite the huge spending on military production, even official figures admit of inflation being about 10 per cent, and central bank interest rates are at 20 per cent. The future of the war effort depends crucially on the direction of oil prices, and how far Opec+ is able to keep raising output without seriously denting the market. By October, Russia's allowable crude production will not be far short of its previous historic high in 2022. It will become apparent how sustainable this level is. Oil prices have shrugged off the impact of the Israel-Iran war. They were not excited either by the news of the latest sanctions. As for gas, the expected increasing oversupply from next year onwards may stiffen sinews in European capitals to get off Russian supplies entirely. It does not seem likely that this war will end like the Eastern Front in the First World War, with bread riots in Petrograd, nor like the Second World War, with crushing battlefield defeats accompanying economic collapse. But sanctions are putting ever more sand in the gears of a war machine already strained to its limits. The hope in Kyiv must be that the pressure on their weary soldiers and civilians eases, and a combination of military and financial pressure opens a path to genuine peace.
