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Moscow sending air backup, as Volodymyr Zelensky prepares to meet African leaders in mediation hope
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Ukraine: Residential building in Zelensky’s hometown engulfed by flames after deadly strike
Advancing Ukrainian troops are facing “desperate resistance” from Russian forces around the eastern city of Bakhmut, a senior Ukrainian commander has said.
Colonel General Oleksandr Syrskyi, who is in charge of Ukrainian ground forces, said the situation in the east was tense and Russia was bringing its best divisions into the Bakhmut sector with backup from artillery and aircraft.
The small, ruined city of Bakhmut in Ukraine’s Donetsk region has suffered some of the fiercest and bloodiest fighting of the war.
Earlier, at least two explosions rocked Kyiv and air raid sirens blared as African leaders visited Ukraine on a peace mission.
Mayor Vitali Klitschko reported explosions in the central Podil district and warned that more missiles were headed towards the capital.
The African leaders, including South African President Cyril Ramaphosa and Senagal President Macky Sall, had begun their visit with a trip to a mass grave in Bucha, near Kyiv ahead of a meeting with Volodymr Zelensky.
The African peace mission could propose a series of “confidence building measures” during initial efforts at mediation, according to a draft framework document seen by Reuters.
President Vladimir Putin on Friday touted Russia’s prospects at the country’s main international economic forum despite heavy international sanctions imposed because of the war in Ukraine.
Western officials and investors steered clear of this year’s St. Petersburg International Economic Forum that for decades has been Russia’s premier event for attracting foreign capital and is sometimes likened to the Davos World Economic Forum.
The Kremlin earlier also banned journalists from countries that Russia regards as “unfriendly” from covering the proceedings that began Wednesday and continue through Saturday. Moscow has imposed that designation on scores of countries including the United States, Canada, European Union members and Australia in connection with sanctions imposed over the fighting in Ukraine.
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President Vladimir Putin is touting Russia’s prospects at the country’s main international economic forum despite heavy international sanctions imposed because of the war in Ukraine
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg seems increasingly likely to have his term at the helm of the world’s biggest security organization extended yet again, as members struggle to agree on another candidate to replace him.
Stoltenberg, a former Norwegian prime minister, has been NATO’s top civilian official since 2014. His term was due to expire last year but was extended for a second time to keep a steady hand at the helm after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
President Joe Biden and his NATO counterparts are due to choose a successor when they meet for a summit in Vilnius, Lithuania, on July 11-12. No candidate has been proposed publicly, and leaders usually decide by consensus on who should be appointed.
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NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg seems increasingly likely to have his term at the helm of the world’s biggest security organization extended again
It has been claimed by those familiar with the game of thrones in the Kremlin that Yevgeny Prigozhin’s vitriolic aggression towards the Russian military high command could not have taken place without the sanction of Vladimir Putin.
Even if Putin had just tolerated, rather than encouraged, the Wagner mercenary boss in the feud, then that indulgence seems to be over for the time being. Russia’s president has backed defence minister Sergei Shoigu’s directive that Prigozhin’s mercenaries must sign contracts with the army.
Yevgeny Prigozhin’s mercenaries have played a key role in the fight for control of the city of Bakhmut – a symbolic battle for both Ukraine and Russia. But, writes Kim Sengupta, Putin’s indulgence of his tirades may be over as the president backs his defence minister’s call for Wagner fighters to sign contracts with the army:
Yevgeny Prigozhin’s mercenaries have played a key role in the fight for control of the city of Bakhmut – a symbolic battle for both Ukraine and Russia. But, writes Kim Sengupta, Putin’s indulgence of his tirades may be over as the president backs his defence minister’s call for Wagner fighters to sign contracts with the army
It is unclear whether water from the huge reservoir of the Kakhovka dam in Ukraine that burst last week can still be pumped to the nearby Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant (ZNPP) for cooling, the U.N. nuclear watchdog said on Friday.
While the reservoir was a main source of water for cooling the six reactors and spent fuel ponds at Europe’s biggest nuclear power plant, the plant can fall back on other sources including a large cooling pond which the International Atomic Energy Agency says has enough water to last for months.
The bursting of the dam has, however, further complicated an already difficult situation in terms of ensuring Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia operates safely, the IAEA says. Shelling has repeatedly downed external power lines that are also vital to ensuring the cooling necessary to prevent a nuclear meltdown.
“There are…indications that some water resources from the reservoir itself currently remain available in areas near the ZNPP,” the IAEA said in a statement.
“But it is unclear if the level is high enough to pump it up for use at the plant. The pumps were last in operation about a week ago.”
An IAEA team including the agency’s Director General Rafael Grossi visited the plant on Thursday, crossing the front line to get there. A small team of IAEA experts based at the plant was also rotated out and replaced.
“The plant informed the Director General that additional cooling water can be pumped from an underground water system and on-site wells. But … it is not yet known whether these wells can reliably provide all the required water,” the IAEA said.
“New pumps that can potentially continue to access water at lower reservoir levels may also be installed,” it added.
The White House on Friday denounced comments from Russian president Vladimir Putin on the possible use of nuclear weapons, but said the United States had made no adjustments to its nuclear posture in response to the rhetoric.
The White House comments came after Putin said earlier on Friday that Russia could “theoretically” use nuclear weapons if there was a threat to its territorial integrity or existence, but that it did not need to.
Responding to questions aboard Air Force One, White House deputy press secretary Olivia Dalton also reaffirmed the U.S. commitment to NATO’s principle of collective defense.
Rheinmetall will ramp up production of propellant powder for ammunition at its plant in the Bavarian town of Aschau by 500 to 600 metric tons per year, adding some 10% to its current global capacity of more than 6,000 tons, its CEO Armin Papperger said.
Rheinmetall has already kicked off an investment programme with this goal, Papperger told Reuters in an interview late on Thursday.
While this does not mean that earlier plans for a completely new powder plant were off the table, the construction of a new plant with a planned capacity of some 1,500 tons per year would only be commercially viable with state aid or a very large contract, he said.
“You can only do it if you have a very, very large order of, for example, 800,000 artillery shells,” Papperger said. “This is not a situation we find ourselves in, which means we are finding other ways such as expanding our powder plant in Bavaria.”
In January, Papperger told Reuters that Rheinmetall was considering building a new powder plant, possibly in the eastern German state of Saxony, but that the investment of 700-800 million euros would have to be footed by the government in Berlin.
He argued the plant was needed as shortages in the production of special powders could turn out to be a bottleneck, hampering efforts to boost the output of tank and artillery shells.
Global demand for ammunition has soared since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in Feb. 2022, with Rheinmetall benefiting from it as one of the biggest global producers of artillery and tank shells.
Ukrainian president Volodymyr President Zelensky said during a visit of African leaders to Kyiv on Friday that he wanted to hold a Ukraine-Africa summit, and for Kyiv to step up its relations with the continent.
Kyiv has been courting the Global South and trying to challenge Russia’s influence in the region. Russia, which launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, plans to hold its second Russia-Africa summit this summer.
Zelensky gestures as he addresses media after talks with African Presidents in Kyiv
South Africa’s president Cyril Ramaphosa added that African leaders were “here to share the African perspective” on finding peace in Ukraine.
South Africa’s president Cyril Ramaphosa said on Friday that international investigations on alleged abuses in the Ukrainian city of Bucha should be allowed to go on, and that it was important to listen to what both Russia and Ukraine had to say.
President Volodymyr Zelensky said he did not understand the logic of the decision by African leaders to visit Russia following talks in Kyiv.
President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Friday he had invited African leaders to take part in a global peace summit and rejected the idea of peace talks with Moscow now, which he said would simply freeze the war in Ukraine.
Speaking at a news conference with visiting African leaders, Zelensky said Ukraine needed a real peace with the withdrawal of Russian troops from occupied territory.
African countries are prepared to participate further in a peace pact, South Africa’s president Cyril Ramaphosa said after the meeting, during which he called for a free flow of grain.
He added that there must be a de-escalation on both sides of the war in Ukraine, and peace should be achieved through negotiations and diplomatic means.
South African president Cyril Ramaphosa called on Ukraine and Russia to de-escalate their conflict, as he arrived in the war-torn country on a mission to broker peace
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