World
Future of Ukraine depends on eastern battlefields: Zelenskyy
![Future of Ukraine depends on eastern battlefields: Zelenskyy Future of Ukraine depends on eastern battlefields: Zelenskyy](https://www.aljazeera.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/33BA46L-highres.jpg?resize=1920,1440)
Ukraine’s future relies on the end result of the battle raging round Bakhmut and different key cities and cities within the east of the nation, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has mentioned.
Zelenskyy mentioned in a video deal with late on Monday that Ukraine’s future relied on destroying Russian forces attacking Bakhmut and different war-torn areas within the nation’s jap Donetsk area.
“It is rather robust within the east, very painful. We have to destroy the enemy’s army may, and we are going to,” Zelenskyy mentioned.
“Bilohorivka and Marinka, Avdiivka and Bakhmut, Vuhledar and Kamyanka,” Zelenskyy mentioned, naming the important thing battlegrounds, including, “and all different locations the place our future is being determined. The place our future, the way forward for all Ukrainians, is being fought for.”
“I’m grateful to every one who’s now in fight…. to everybody who by no means lets down those that are subsequent to them on the frontline.”
Russia has mentioned that capturing Bakhmut opens a path to taking management of the complete Donetsk area, a central battle intention for Moscow.
After weeks of grinding and bloody battles, the Ukrainian army says it has not retreated from Bakhmut and is intent on staying to struggle as a way to inflict extreme losses on the Russian assault power, which is claimed to have thrown an enormous variety of troopers into the struggle with out regards for casualties.
Russian forces led by the Wagner mercenary military have captured Bakhmut’s east however have to date did not encircle the town regardless of making bulletins over current weeks {that a} Ukrainian defeat was imminent.
NATO additionally warned final week that Bakhmut might fall inside a matter of days.
Ukraine’s forces in persevering with to struggle have depleted and worn down Russian forces in Bakhmut, which has additionally diverted Russia’s focus and its firepower from launching a deliberate counterattack within the spring, Ukrainian officers say.
A Ukrainian counterattack to alleviate Bakhmut is more and more anticipated.
Based on Russian stories, a number of Ukrainian brigades have been massed between the cities of Sloviansk and Kostyantynivka for this function. To date, nevertheless, the mud that’s typical for this time of 12 months as winter snow melts in Ukraine has not allowed for fast advances off paved roads.
Ukrainian troopers deployed close to Kreminna, north of Bakhmut, mentioned on Monday they have been repelling intensified Russian assaults.
In a forested space some 8km (5 miles) from the entrance in Bakhmut, Ukrainian artillery boomed, firing at Russian positions to the northeast whereas explosions rumbled continuously within the distance because the heavy preventing floor on.
Mykhailo Anest, a 35-year-old Ukrainian medic, advised the Reuters information company that there was nonetheless numerous artillery and mortar hearth however that the preventing had lessened in contrast with final month.
“Two or three weeks in the past the preventing was at its peak nevertheless it has calmed down a bit,” he mentioned.
The battle for Bakhmut can be being fought out on social media as Russia spreads disinformation, Kyiv has claimed.
The Ukrainian Centre for Strategic Communications mentioned on Monday that Russia was spreading ads on Fb about alleged successes of Russian troops by nameless channels.
Amongst different issues, it claims that the battle for Bakhmut is “misplaced from the Ukrainian perspective” and that “the West doesn’t imagine in Ukraine”.
Different posts embody the US being mentioned to scale back its arms provides as a result of “Ukrainian authorities have been caught stealing”.
“The occupiers need to undermine Ukrainian society’s belief within the authorities by claiming that the battle for Bakhmut is misplaced and that our allies have left us to fend for ourselves,” the communications authority wrote.
Bakhmut officers mentioned Monday that there have been nonetheless greater than 4,000 individuals residing within the metropolis, together with 33 youngsters.
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World
A suicide bomber detonates in Afghan capital, killing at least 6 people and injuring 13
![A suicide bomber detonates in Afghan capital, killing at least 6 people and injuring 13 A suicide bomber detonates in Afghan capital, killing at least 6 people and injuring 13](https://dims.apnews.com/dims4/default/dcac1a4/2147483647/strip/true/crop/700x394+0+28/resize/1440x810!/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fassets.apnews.com%2F90%2F29%2F4e3c1cc7446089a9101a7bdff4c8%2Fdefaultshareimage-copy.png)
ISLAMABAD (AP) — Police in the Afghan capital say a suicide bomber carried out an attack Monday, killing at least six people and injuring 13 others.
The blast took place in the southwestern Qala Bakhtiar neighborhood in Kabul, said Khalid Zadran, spokesman for the Kabul police chief.
The dead included one woman, he said, while 13 people were wounded, all of them civilians who were taken to a hospital for treatment.
A police investigation is underway. No one immediately claimed responsibility for the bombing.
The Islamic State group’s affiliate, a major rival of the ruling Taliban, has carried out previous attacks on schools, hospitals, mosques and Shiite areas throughout the country.
The Taliban seized power in Afghanistan in August 2021 during the chaotic departure of U.S. and NATO troops after 20 years. Despite initial promises of a more moderate stance, the Taliban gradually reimposed a harsh interpretation of Islamic law, or Shariah, as they did during their previous rule of Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001.
World
Germany's right wing poised for major wins as centrist parties stumble
![Germany's right wing poised for major wins as centrist parties stumble Germany's right wing poised for major wins as centrist parties stumble](https://static.foxnews.com/foxnews.com/content/uploads/2024/09/GettyImages-2169317905.jpg)
Germany’s right wing Alternative for Germany (AfD) party is expected to win its first election since the party was formed in 2013, as anti-mass immigration sentiment sends voters to the polls.
Exit polls on Sunday showed AfD securing a winning 33.5% share of the vote in Thuringia and 31.5% in Saxony. Meanwhile, the center-left Social Democratic Party – to which Chancellor Olaf Scholz belongs – brought in less than 8% of the vote in both states, according to the Wall Street Journal.
The election follows a wider trend of success for conservative groups across Europe in recent months. French Prime Minister Emmanuel Macron’s government narrowly quashed a conservative takeover of the French parliament earlier this year.
Analysts say the ultimate impact that AfD and other party politicians can have will be determined by how willing centrists are to work with them.
GERMAN RIGHT WING CANDIDATE STABBED IN LATEST ATTACK AHEAD OF ELECTIONS
DRESDEN, GERMANY – AUGUST 29: A skinhead supporter of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) political party waves a German flag while taunting leftist, anti-fascist protesters following the final AfD Saxony election rally prior to state elections on August 29, 2024, in Dresden, Germany. The AfD is currently leading in polls in both Saxony and Thuringia ahead of state elections scheduled for Sunday in both states. (Photo by Sean Gallup/Getty Images)
“The center-right will decide to what extent an AfD win would be a turning point: So far, they have been relatively consistent in excluding cooperation — more so than in other Western European countries,” Manès Weisskircher, a political scientist at the Dresden University of Technology, told the Journal.
The German elections this weekend come just days after a Syrian immigrant killed three people in a stabbing spree in Solingen, Germany. ISIS claimed responsibility for the terrorist attack shortly after.
![Emergency services and police at a stabbing scene in Germany Friday](https://a57.foxnews.com/static.foxnews.com/foxnews.com/content/uploads/2024/08/1200/675/Stabbing-scene-Germany.jpg?ve=1&tl=1)
Emergency services and police are deployed near the scene where three people were killed and injured in an attack at a festival in Solingen, western Germany, the German dpa news agency reported, Friday, Aug. 23, 2024. (Gianni Gattus/dpa via AP)
Federal prosecutors in Germany identified the suspect as Issa Al H., omitting his family name because of German privacy laws.
GERMAN TERROR ATTACK SUSPECT IDENTIFIED AS A SYRIAN REFUGEE, CHANCELLOR VOWS TO IMPLEMENT STRICT IMMIGRATION
ISIS said the attacker targeted Christians “to avenge Muslims in Palestine and everywhere.”
Der Spiegel magazine, citing unidentified security sources, said that the suspect had moved to Germany late in 2022, and sought asylum.
![Scholz gives speech in Berlin](https://a57.foxnews.com/static.foxnews.com/foxnews.com/content/uploads/2024/06/1200/675/GettyImages-2156486483-1.jpg?ve=1&tl=1)
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz is facing a surge in right-wing sentiment across Germany. (John MacDougall/AFP via Getty Images)
Similar attacks by Muslim migrants across Europe have spurred anti-immigration sentiment. Even the left-leaning Scholz called for strengthening immigration laws and ramping up deportations in the wake of the attack.
“We will have to do everything we can to ensure that those who cannot and are not allowed to stay in Germany are repatriated and deported,” Scholz said while visiting the sight where the stabbing happened.
“This was terrorism, terrorism against us all,” he said.
Fox News’ Sarah Rumpf-Whitten contributed to this report
World
Seven EU members hadn’t received any post-Covid funding by end-2023
![Seven EU members hadn’t received any post-Covid funding by end-2023 Seven EU members hadn’t received any post-Covid funding by end-2023](https://static.euronews.com/articles/stories/08/69/58/16/1200x675_cmsv2_e50ff906-3ebe-5eb2-bccc-66f739cec99e-8695816.jpg)
Continued delays are jeopardising the EU’s €724bn post-Covid recovery fund, warns a new report by the European Court of Auditors (ECA).
Three years after creating a huge fund to stimulate post-pandemic recovery, EU member states have used under a third of the €724bn in grants and loans, EU auditors said in a report published today (2 September).
By the end of 2023, Belgium, Finland, Hungary, Ireland, the Netherlands, Poland and Sweden had not received any post-Covid money at all, the EU Court of Auditors said.
Almost all member states have experienced delays in submitting payment requests, whether due to political turmoil, uncertainty over the rules, or national administrative capacity, the report said.
The Netherlands and Hungary did not sign operational agreements, the first step required to access EU funds, while Sweden did not submit a payment application, it added – while others such as the Netherlands were held back by protracted coalition negotiations.
“For the Recovery and Resilience Plan you really need political consensus and support and that the government stands behind the plan, and the Netherlands was waiting for that stability,” Ivana Maletić, senior auditor at the Luxembourg-based EU agency, told Euronews in an interview.
In the more complex case of Hungary, Viktor Orbán’s government has to meet 27 milestones intended to fight corruption and safeguard judicial independence, which he hasn’t yet done.
The other four countries — Belgium, Finland, Ireland and Poland — submitted payment requests later than others, so they were still being assessed by the European Commission, which directly manages and implements the fund, at the end of 2023.
One quarter not completed on time
Unlike cohesion funds, the normal vehicle for EU regional spending, post-pandemic financial support is tied to progress on meeting commitments, and member states are behind schedule in meeting these targets and absorbing funds.
“Timely absorption of the RRF is essential: it helps to avoid bottlenecks in carrying out the measures towards the end of the Facility’s lifespan, and reduces the risk of inefficient and erroneous spending,” said Maletić, who led the audit.
Halfway through the six-year implementation plan for the post-pandemic funds, 24% of the planned reforms and investments have not been completed on time — meaning that a significant number of the trickiest promises have yet to be fulfilled, the ECA found.
With the RRF due to expire in August 2026 and no extension expected, EU auditors are recommending the Commission provide further support to strengthen how similar funds are designed in future.
“It can happen that for some actions, member states receive substantial amounts of funds without finalising them at all because it will not be possible to finalise them within the given time,” a senior auditor told a press conference on Monday (2 September) — though Brussels then doesn’t have the power to claw back money.
The EU executive however rejected auditors’ recommendations to stop funding incomplete actions and recover transfers.
“The Commission does not consider that payments based on progress is a risk and has no legal basis to recover funds already disbursed in relation to milestones and targets already and still fulfilled,” said its response.
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