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Business Standard
19 hours ago
- Politics
- Business Standard
Zelenskyy warns NATO allies before Hague summit of Russia threat
President Volodymyr zelenskyy warned European NATO members on Tuesday that they risked being attacked by Russia if it was not defeated in Ukraine, urging them to heed calls to sign off a big new spending goal for the alliance at a summit. The two-day gathering is intended to signal to Russian President Vladimir Putin that NATO is united, despite President Donald Trump's past criticism, and determined to expand and upgrade its defences to deter any attack from Moscow. "Russia is even planning new military operations on NATO territory meaning your countries," zelenskyy told a defence industry event on the sidelines of the summit, hours after Russian missiles killed at least 11 people in southeast Ukraine. "No doubt we must stop Putin now, and in Ukraine, but we have to understand that his objectives reach beyond Ukraine. European countries need to increase defence spending." NATO'S RUTTE HAILS TRUMP'S 'DECISIVE ACTION IN IRAN' Trump, en route to the summit in the Netherlands, posted a screenshot of a message from NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte congratulating him on his "decisive action in Iran" and getting all NATO allies to agree to spend at least 5% of their GDP on defence. "Europe is going to pay in a BIG way as they should, and it will be your win," the message read. Trump was pressed by travelling reporters to say whether he remained committed to mutual defence among allies as set out by NATO's Article 5, and responded: "I'm committed to saving lives. I'm committed to life and safety. And I'm going to give you an exact definition when I get there." Trump is expected to meet zelenskyy for talks during the summit. zelenskyy has said he wants to discuss substantial purchases of weaponry including Patriot missile defence systems as well as sanctions and other ways to put pressure on Putin. In The Hague, zelenskyy said it was essential that Ukraine lead in drone technology, which has shaped the battlefield and developed at breathtaking pace in the 40 months the war has lasted so far. Rutte, a former Dutch prime minister, underlined the need for transatlantic cooperation in the defence industry. "Today, NATO's military edge is being aggressively challenged by a rapidly rearming Russia, backed by Chinese technology and armed with Iranian and North Korean weapons," he said. "Only Europe and North America together can rise up to meet the challenge of rearmament." RUSSIA CRITICISES NATO'S SPENDING BOOST The Kremlin accused NATO of being on a path of rampant militarisation and portraying Russia as a "fiend of hell" in order to justify its big increase in defence spending. The summit and its final statement will be focused on heeding Trump's call to spend 5% of GDP on defence - a significant jump from the current 2% goal. It is to be achieved both by spending more on military items and by including broader security-related spending in the new target. Russia has cited its neighbour's desire to join the -led transatlantic defence pact as one of the reasons why it invaded Ukraine in 2022. NATO was founded by 12 Western countries in 1949 to resist the threat from the communist Soviet Union. Russia denies any plan to attack the alliance, which now boasts 32 members, but Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said it was "largely a wasted effort" to assure the grouping of this because it was determined to demonise Russia. "It is an alliance created for confrontation ... It is not an instrument of peace and stability," he said.
Time of India
24-04-2025
- Politics
- Time of India
Zelenskyy cuts short South Africa trip after deadly attack on Kyiv
Volodymyr Zelensky in South Africa (AP) KYIV: Ukrainian President Volodymyr zelenskyyy cancelled part of his trip to South Africa on Thursday after Russia fired a barrage of missiles and drones at Kyiv, killing at least eight people and trapping others under rubble. Ukraine has been battered with aerial attacks throughout Russia's three-year invasion, but deadly strikes on Kyiv, which is better protected by air defences than other cities, are less common. The attacks threw yet more doubt on already fraught US efforts to push Russia and Ukraine to agree to a ceasefire, hours after US President Donald Trump lashed out at zelenskyy for refusing to accept Moscow's occupation of Crimea as a condition for peace. Russian President Vladimir Putin is yet to respond to zelenskyy's proposal to completely halt air attacks on civilian targets, and last month rejected a US-Ukrainian call for a full and unconditional ceasefire. Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Google Brain Co-Founder Andrew Ng, Recommends: Read These 5 Books And Turn Your Life Around Blinkist: Andrew Ng's Reading List Undo "It has been 44 days since Ukraine agreed to a full ceasefire and a halt to strikes... And it has been 44 days of Russia continuing to kill our people," zelenskyy said in a post on X. The Ukrainian leader, who was on a trip to South Africa, announced he would return to Ukraine immediately after meeting the country's president Cyril Ramaphosa. "The strikes must be stopped immediately and unconditionally," he added. Rescuers initially said nine people were killed, but interior minister Igor Klymenko later told reporters eight were dead, while more than 70 were injured. Rescuers were working to recover people from the rubble of buildings, he added. Olena Davydiuk, a 33-year-old lawyer in Kyiv, told AFP she saw windows breaking and doors "falling out of their hinges" during the barrage. "People were being pulled out of the rubble. They said that there were dead people there too," she added. Russia fired at least 70 missiles and 145 drones at Ukraine between late Wednesday and early Thursday, the main target being Kyiv, the Ukrainian air force said. Of the 215 projectiles, 112 were "confirmed to have been shot down", it wrote on Telegram. Loud blasts sounded over the Ukrainian capital at around 1:00 am (2200 GMT), after air raid sirens rang out across Kyiv warning residents to head to shelters, AFP journalists on the ground said. Through the night, rescue workers were scouring through the rubble of destroyed buildings and tackling blazes in apartment blocks. The interior ministry said damage was recorded at 13 separate locations across the capital. "Phone calls can be heard from under the rubble, the search will continue until we are confident that we have found everyone," Klymenko said, adding that two children were unaccounted for. In the Sviatoshinsky district in the west of Kyiv, an AFP journalist saw a body bag with one of the victims lain out on a strip of grass. Construction equipment was being used nearby to clear piles of debris from a destroyed building, and roofs and windows had been blown off an apartment block. A woman sat on a small folded-out chair stroking the arm of another person killed in the attack, the body covered in a striped blue sheet. Nearby an AFP journalist saw a first responder talking to a woman wounded in the attack, her face bloodied and bruised as she clutched a dog in her arms. Moscow's army has launched some of its most deadly and brazen aerial strikes at Ukraine over the last month, defying Trump's push to bring about a rapid end to the bloodshed. A ballistic missile strike on the centre of northeastern city of Sumy killed at least 35 on April 13. And an attack on zelenskyy's home town of Kryvyi Rig in early April killed at least 19, including nine children after a missile slammed into a residential area near a children's playground. Hours before the attack, Trump had said a peace deal was "very close," and effectively closed with Moscow, but accused zelenskyy of being "harder" to negotiate with. The Ukrainian president's refusal to accept US terms for ending the conflict, which began with Russia's full-scale invasion in 2022, "will do nothing but prolong the 'killing field'," he said. Russia also launched a large-scale attack on the northeastern city of Kharkiv overnight, firing at least seven missiles and hitting a "densely populated residential area," city mayor Igor Terekhov said. Separately, Russia's defence ministry reported downing 87 Ukrainian drones overnight, including 45 over Crimea.
