Ukraine war: Russian forces ‘blow up first British Challenger 2 tank’
Valdimir Putin’s forces have destroyed a British Challenger 2 tank for the first time since they were deployed to the battlefield in Ukraine.
A video circulating online appears to show the burning wreck of the tank. It is unclear what caused the explosion.
Britain initially supplied 14 Challenger 2 tanks to Ukraine and then doubled that number to 28.
Meanwhile, Kim Jong-un is planning to travel to meet Putin to discuss the possibility of providing weapons for Russia’s war in Ukraine, according to US intelligence.
North Korea’s leader is planning to travel from Pyongyang later this month, likely by armoured train, to Vladivostok on the Pacific Coast of Russia where he would meet the Russian president, reported The New York Times.
It is believed that while in Vladivostok, a port city not far from North Korea, the two leaders would discuss Kim sending Russia artillery shells and anti-tank missiles in exchange for more advanced technology relating to satellites and nuclear-powered submarines, according to US officials.
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Russian forces ‘blow up first British Challenger 2 tank’ in Ukraine
A battlefield video circulating online appears to show the destruction of a British Challenger 2 tank in Ukraine.
The burning wreck of the military vehicle is seen in footage from the frontline and would be the first time one of the tanks has been destroyed in combat.
In the video, a vehicle with a cracked windscreen drives past as black smoke is seen rising from the roadside, although it is unclear what caused the explosion.
Britain initially supplied 14 Challenger 2 tanks to Ukraine and then doubled that number to 28.
Russian forces ‘blow up first British Challenger 2 tank’ in Ukraine
A battlefield video circulating online appears to show the destruction of a British Challenger 2 tank in Ukraine. The burning wreck of the military vehicle is seen in footage from the frontline and would be the first time one of the tanks has been destroyed in combat. In the video, a vehicle with a cracked windscreen drives past as black smoke is seen rising from the roadside, although it is unclear what caused the explosion. Britain initially supplied 14 Challenger 2 tanks to Ukraine and then doubled that number to 28.
Eleanor Noyce5 September 2023 13:05
ICYMI: Cluster munition deaths in Ukraine pass Syria, fueling rise in a weapon the world has tried to ban
More than 300 people were killed and over 600 wounded by cluster munitions in Ukraine in 2022, according to an international watchdog, surpassing Syria as the country with the highest number of casualties from the controversial weapons for the first time in a decade.
Russia’s widespread use of the bombs, which open in the air and release scores of smaller bomblets or submunitions as they are called, in its invasion of Ukraine — and, to a lesser extent, their use by Ukrainian forces — helped make 2022 the deadliest year on record globally, according to the annual report released Tuesday by the Cluster Munition Coalition, a network of non-governmental organizations advocating for a ban of the weapons.
The deadliest attack in Ukraine, according to the country’s prosecutor general’s office, was a bombing on a railway station in the town of Kramatorsk that killed 53 people and wounded 135.
Eleanor Noyce5 September 2023 17:28
Ukraine lawmakers back anti-graft disclosure rule, but with loophole
Ukrainian lawmakers voted on Tuesday to restore a requirement that officials declare their assets, a measure sought by the International Monetary Fund, but included a loophole critics say dampens its effect.
The mandatory disclosures were introduced in 2016 but were made optional and restricted from public view after Russia’s full-scale invasion last year because they were considered a security risk.
The IMF had singled out the return of the requirement as one of several benchmarks for paying out part of a $15.6 billion assistance package.
Fighting graft is also a requirement for Ukrainian accession to the European Union and President Volodymyr Zelensky’s government has declared it a priority alongside the war effort.
Parliament approved a version of the measure requiring officials to declare their assets, lawmaker Yaroslav Zheleznyak said, but keeping the disclosures sealed off from the public for another year.
Anti-graft campaigners say keeping the registry closed defeats the primary purpose of the declarations, a key pro-transparency reform introduced after the 2014 Maidan revolution.
“The hidden fortunes of deputies and officials will destroy the trust of Ukrainians. Honest officials have nothing to hide,” the Anti-Corruption Action Centre, a leading Ukrainian NGO, said in a statement.
“The desire to hide one’s property from the public only indicates a desire to steal public money.”
The head of Zelensky’s own party called the bill “an incredible disappointment”. It now goes to the president for approval, and supporters of the reform have urged him to veto it.
Eleanor Noyce5 September 2023 17:00
Russia says southeast Ukraine is now the main focus of fighting in the war
The Zaporizhzhia region of southeast Ukraine has become the most recent hot spot for battles in the 18-month war, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said Tuesday, as Kyiv’s forces press ahead with their counteroffensive.
Shoigu told Russian military officers that Ukraine has brought up reserve brigades there that were trained by Kyiv’s Western allies. He offered no evidence for his claim, which could not be independently verified.
Fighting in the southeast could be one of the keys to the war. If Russian defenses there collapse, Ukrainian forces could push southward toward the coast and potentially split Russian forces into two.
Eleanor Noyce5 September 2023 16:40
Hundreds of Ukrainian refugees to be housed at Irish festival site for six weeks
Tents at the site of an Irish music festival are to be used to house hundreds of Ukrainian refugees for the next six weeks, a junior minister has said.
Over the weekend, 70,000 revellers attended Electric Picnic at Stradbally, Co Laois – but its tents are now to be used to help with a shortage in emergency beds.
The Department of Integration said that due to a drop-off in rooms in the tourism sector and as student accommodation became unavailable ahead of the academic year, it was expected that tents “will be the primary source of accommodation” for new arrivals from Ukraine from this week.
The return to the use of tents comes after the Minister for Children and Integration said in November that Ireland would stop using tents to house refugees.
Military-grade tents at the Gormanston army camp in Co Meath and other locations have been used to house refugees temporarily as more permanent accommodation is sourced.
As of June, 84,613 people have fled to Ireland from the Russian invasion of Ukraine which began in February last year.
The government has sought to address this by procuring beds in hotels and B&Bs, by looking to refurbish unused public buildings, and using rooms pledged by members of the public for a limited time.
Minister of State Ossian Smyth said that 750 Ukrainian refugees were to be moved onto the festival site this week amid what he called a “short-term” squeeze on accommodation options.
Mr Smyth, who has responsibility for public procurement, e-government and the circular economy, has said he is confident other accommodation will be found in six weeks’ time.
“We’ve been using tents in Tullamore in a military facility up to now as a last resort, and in the last four months we’ve had 10,000 Ukrainians arrive in the country,” he told RTE’s Morning Ireland.
“So in other words, the rates they’re arriving has increased.
“We’re now faced with a real short-term difficulty for the next few weeks, and the Government has contracted to take over the tents that were at the Electric Picnic over the weekend.
“And I think that today or tomorrow, up to 750 Ukrainians will be moving into those tents but that’s obviously a very short-term facility…six weeks I would expect.”
Eleanor Noyce5 September 2023 16:21
Cuba uncovers human trafficking of Cubans to fight for Russia in Ukraine
Cuba has uncovered a human trafficking ring that coerced its citizens to fight for Russia in the war in Ukraine, its foreign ministry said, adding that Cuban authorities were working to “neutralize and dismantle” the network.
The statement from Cuba’s foreign ministry late on Monday gave few details, but noted the trafficking ring was operating both within the Caribbean island nation, thousands of miles from Moscow, and in Russia.
“The Ministry of the Interior… is working on the neutralization and dismantling of a human trafficking network that operates from Russia to incorporate Cuban citizens living there, and even some from Cuba, into the military forces participating in war operations in Ukraine,” the Cuban government statement said.
Russia’s defence ministry did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.
Russia last year announced a plan to boost the size of its armed forces by more than 30% to 1.5 million combat personnel, a lofty goal made harder by its heavy but undisclosed casualties in the war.
In late May, a Russia newspaper in Ryazan city reported that several Cuban citizens had signed contracts with Russia’s armed forces and had been shipped to Ukraine in return for Russian citizenship.
It was not immediately clear if the Cuban foreign ministry statement was associated with the Ryazan report.
Russia, which has strong political ties with communist-run Cuba, has long been an important destination for Cuban migrants seeking to escape economic stagnation at home.
The defense ministers of Cuba and Russia earlier this year discussed the development of joint “technical military” projects at a meeting in Moscow. But the administration of Cuban president Miguel Diaz-Canel denies any involvement in the Ukraine conflict.
“Cuba is not part of the war in Ukraine,” the foreign ministry said late on Monday. “(Cuba) is acting and will act energetically against anyone… who participates in any form of human trafficking for the purpose of recruitment of Cuban citizens as mercenaries to use arms against any country.”
Cuba said it had already begun prosecuting cases in which its citizens had been coerced into fighting in Ukraine.
“Attempts of this nature have been neutralized and criminal proceedings have been initiated against people involved in these activities,” the statement read.
Eleanor Noyce5 September 2023 16:06
ICYMI: Dodging a constant assault of Russian missiles – the war weary keep fighting in Ukraine’s blood-soaked east
The missile aimed at the mayor’s office took an estimated 64 seconds to fly 55 miles and detonate in shrapnel and flames after being fired by Russian forces.
Thankfully for Oleksandr Goncharenko, the mayor of Kramatorsk – near the frontline in east Ukraine – it missed the target by 200 metres, hitting a garden square.
There is plenty of pride in the cities around the frontline in managing to keep Putin’s forces at bay, writes Kim Sengupta from Druzhkivka. But it has come at the cost of crushing loss:
Eleanor Noyce5 September 2023 15:46
Drone warfare map reveals how Ukraine is striking Russia hundreds of miles from the frontline
The strikes are now daily and on Tuesday the Russian defence ministry said its air defence systems destroyed two drones over the Kaluga and Tver regions, which border the Moscow region, as well as one closer to the capital, over the Istra district.
Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said that the drones “were trying to carry out an attack on Moscow“ and that a consumer services facility was damaged in the Istra district, which is located some 65 km (40 miles) northwest of the Kremlin.
Maryam Zakir-Hussain has more:
Eleanor Noyce5 September 2023 15:25
The US sent cluster munitions to Ukraine but activists still seek to bolster a treaty banning them
Backers of an international agreement that bans cluster munitions, which harm and kill many more civilians than combatants, are striving to prevent erosion in support for the deal after what one leading human rights group calls an “unconscionable” U.S. decision to ship such weapons to Ukraine for its fight against Russia.
Advocacy groups in the Cluster Munitions Coalition released their latest annual report on Tuesday, ahead of a meeting next week of envoys from the 112 countries that have acceded to or ratified the Convention on Cluster Munitions, which prohibits the explosives and calls for clearing areas where they litter the ground — often during or after conflicts.
A further 12 countries have signed the convention. The United States and Russia are not among them.
Eleanor Noyce5 September 2023 15:10
Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman: Ukraine uses Australian drones to attack Russia’s territory
Russia said on Tuesday that Ukraine had used Australian drones to attack targets on Russian territory and that Australia was increasingly being drawn into the conflict.
“As it turns out, Australian drones are actually used to strike targets in Russia,” Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said.
She was responding to a question about a report in the Sydney Morning Herald last week that Ukrainian had used the Australian drones to attack an airfield in the Russian city of Kursk.
Zakharova accused the Australian government of “enthusiastically contributing to the anti-Russian campaign directed from Washington” while trying to hide from public opinion “the unenviable circumstances indicating that Australia is increasingly being drawn into the conflict in Ukraine“.
Eleanor Noyce5 September 2023 15:03