World
‘Moving forward’: Ukraine claims gains on Bakhmut front
![‘Moving forward’: Ukraine claims gains on Bakhmut front ‘Moving forward’: Ukraine claims gains on Bakhmut front](https://www.aljazeera.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/AP23113722793326-1682296839.jpg?resize=1920,1440)
Ukraine forces are advancing along parts of the front line against Russian troops near the war-torn eastern town of Bakhmut.
“Our soldiers are moving forward in some areas of the front, and the enemy is losing equipment and manpower,” Oleksandr Syrskyi, commander of the Ukrainian Ground Forces, said on social media on Saturday.
“The defensive operation in the Bakhmut direction continues.”
Russia acknowledged on Friday its forces had fallen back north of Ukraine’s ruined eastern city in a retreat the head of Russia’s Wagner private army called a “rout” not a “regrouping”.
In its latest bulletin, Russia’s defence ministry said its forces gained control over another block in Bakhmut.
“The units of the Airborne Forces provided support to the assault units and pinned down the enemy on the flanks,” it said.
The ministry often uses the term “assault units” to denote the Wagner private militia, which has been spearheading the assault on Bakhmut at great cost in casualties.
Aircraft shot down
Videos posted on Russian social media, meanwhile, showed a helicopter apparently being shot down over Russia’s Bryansk region, bordering Ukraine.
The state news agency TASS cited an emergency services official as saying preliminary information indicated the engine caught fire before the crash near Klintsy, 40km (25 miles) from the border.
However, a video posted on the Russian pro-war Telegram channel Voyenniy Osvedomitel showed a helicopter high in the sky exploding, then plunging earthwards in flames.
A Russian Su-34 warplane also crashed in Bryansk, TASS reported. It was unclear what brought it down.
Russia said Ukraine used British-made long-range missiles to target civilian sites in the eastern Ukrainian city of Luhansk, wounding six children.
The United Kingdom on Thursday became the first country supply Kyiv with long-range cruise missiles, which will allow it to hit Russian troops and supply dumps far behind the front lines.
“Storm Shadow air-to-air missiles supplied to the Kyiv regime by Great Britain were used for the strike, despite London’s declarations that these weapons would not be used against civilian targets,” Russia’s defence ministry said.
It added Russia downed two Ukrainian aircraft – an Su-24 and a MiG-29 – that launched the missiles.
‘Historical shame’
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy arrived in Rome on Saturday for talks with government officials and Pope Francis.
In April, the pope announced the Vatican was involved in a peace mission to try to end the conflict between Russia and Ukraine but declined to give further details. Both Moscow and Kyiv publicly expressed surprise over his comments at the time.
It will be Zelenskyy’s first trip to Italy since Russia launched the full-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022.
Earlier in the month, Zelenskyy met with the leaders of the Nordic nations in Finland. He also visited the Netherlands, where he, among other things, delivered a speech at the World Forum.
In Italy, he is to meet separately with President Sergio Mattarella and Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni before heading to the Vatican. He is also expected to be the guest of a popular Italian television talk show before heading to Germany.
Germany’s Defence Ministry said the country is preparing a new weapons package for Ukraine worth 2.7 billion euros ($2.9bn), reportedly Berlin’s largest since Russia invaded last year.
Kyiv said the massive new weapons package was another sign that Russia would lose its war against Ukraine. “States declare large defence aid packages for Ukraine,” said Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to Zelenskyy.
The aid indicated Russia was “bound to lose and sit on the bench of historical shame”, he said.
Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said he discussed the next weapons supplies with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken. “I paid close attention to the importance of providing Ukraine with F-16s and steps necessary to begin training of Ukrainian pilots.”
Zelenskyy to meet the pope
The meeting with the pope is expected to be the most significant part of Zelenskyy’s time in Italy. He previously met the pontiff at the Vatican in 2020, and the two have had several phone conversations since the war began.
At the start of the war, the pope tried to take a balanced approach in hopes of being a mediator but later began forcefully condemning Russia’s actions, comparing them with some of the worst crimes against Ukraine during the Soviet era.
Francis met this week with Russia’s outgoing ambassador to the Vatican, Alexander Avdeyev, and the Italian newspaper Il Messaggero reported the Vatican may have given the envoy a letter for Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Francis has often repeated calls for peace and has frequently expressed a wish to act as a broker between Kyiv and Moscow. His offer has so far failed to produce any breakthrough.
Zelenskyy and his team have been promoting Kyiv’s 10-point peace plan and urging world leaders to hold a Global Peace Summit based on the proposals.
It calls for restoring Ukraine’s territorial integrity, the withdrawal of Russian troops and the cessation of hostilities. Zelenskyy has repeatedly said the plan is not open to negotiations.
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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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