World
Russia strikes south Ukraine city, presses attacks in east
POKROVSK, Ukraine (AP) — Russian missiles hit industrial services at a strategic metropolis in southern Ukraine Sunday as Moscow continued efforts to develop its features within the nation’s east.
Mykolaiv Mayor Oleksandr Senkevych stated that the Russian missiles struck an industrial and infrastructure facility within the metropolis, a key shipbuilding heart within the estuary of the Southern Bug river. There was no fast details about casualties.
Mykolaiv has confronted common Russian missile strikes in current weeks because the Russians have sought to melt Ukrainian defenses.
The Russian navy has declared a purpose to chop off Ukraine’s whole Black Coastline all the best way to the Romanian border. If profitable, such an effort would deal a crushing blow to the Ukrainian financial system and commerce and permit Moscow to safe a land bridge to Moldova’s separatist area of Transnistria, which hosts a Russian navy base.
Early within the marketing campaign, the Ukrainian forces fended off Russian makes an attempt to seize Mykolaiv, which sits close to the Black Sea Coast between Russia-occupied Crimea and the primary Ukrainian port of Odesa.
Since then, the Russian troops have halted their makes an attempt to advance within the metropolis however continued to pummel it with common missile strikes.
For now, the Russian navy has centered its efforts on making an attempt to take management of Ukraine’s japanese industrial heartland of Donbas, the place essentially the most succesful and well-equipped Ukrainian forces are positioned.
Ukraine says its forces nonetheless retain management of two small villages within the Luhansk area, one of many two provinces that make up the Donbas, and are efficiently heading off Russian makes an attempt to advance deeper into the second, the Donetsk area.
The Ukrainian navy’s Normal Employees stated Sunday that Ukrainian troops thwarted Russian makes an attempt to advance towards Sloviansk, the important thing Ukrainian stronghold in Donetsk, and different assaults elsewhere within the area.
Throughout a go to to the entrance strains Saturday, Russian Protection Minister Sergei Shoigu ordered “to additional intensify the actions of models in all operational areas.”
Whereas specializing in Donbas, the Russians hit areas all throughout the nation with missile strikes.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy urged Ukrainians to not fall for Russia’s makes an attempt to scare them with warnings of horrendous missile assaults to come back, which he stated have been aimed toward dividing Ukrainian society.
“It’s clear that no Russian missiles or artillery will be capable to break our unity or lead us away from our path” towards a democratic, unbiased Ukraine,” he stated in his nightly video handle to the nation. “And it’s also clear that Ukrainian unity can’t be damaged by lies or intimidation, fakes or conspiracy theories.”
On Thursday, a Russian missile strike killed not less than 24 individuals — together with three youngsters — and wounded greater than 200 in Vinnytsia, a metropolis southwest of Kyiv, the capital, removed from the entrance strains that had largely been spared from the Russian bombardment earlier than. Three of these lacking after the assault have been discovered alive within the rubble Saturday and one particular person remained lacking, the emergency service stated Saturday.
On Sunday, family and mates attended a mourning ceremony for Liza, a 4-year-old woman killed in a strike. The woman with Down syndrome was en path to see a speech therapist together with her mom in central Ukraine when the missile landed. Her mom, Iryna Dmytrieva, was among the many scores injured.
“She remembered that she was reaching for her daughter, and Liza was already useless,” Iryna’s aunt, Tetiana Dmytrysyna, instructed The Related Press. “The mom was robbed of essentially the most treasured factor she had.”
Within the Kharkiv area, not less than three civilians have been killed and three extra have been injured Saturday in a pre-dawn Russian strike on town of Chuhuiv, which is simply 120 kilometers (75 miles) from the Russian border, the police stated.
Lyudmila Krekshina, who lives within the residence constructing that was hit, stated a husband and spouse have been killed, and in addition an aged man who lived on the bottom ground.
One other resident stated she was fortunate to have survived.
“I used to be going to run and conceal within the toilet. I didn’t make it and that’s what saved me,” stated Valentina Bushuyeva. Pointing up at her destroyed residence, she stated: “There’s the toilet — explosion. Kitchen — half a room. And I survived as a result of I stayed put.”
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Comply with the AP’s protection of the struggle at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
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World
Trump could face renewed ISIS threat in Syria as Turkey goes after US ally
Concerns over a resurgence of the Islamic State in Syria remain heightened following the fall of the Bashar al-Assad regime and an increase in attacks targeting U.S.-aligned Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).
President-elect Donald Trump may well face another round against the extremist group as the SDF faces a reality in which it may have to divide its focus between ISIS and threats levied at it by Turkey.
The SDF said five of its soldiers were killed Saturday in attacks by Turkish-backed forces in northern Syria, reported Reuters.
TRUMP SAYS TURKEY ‘DID AN UNFRIENDLY TAKEOVER’ IN SYRIA AS US-BROKERED CEASE-FIRE APPEARS TO FAIL
The attacks came following an apparent collapse in a cease-fire agreement brokered by the Biden administration as the U.S. and the SDF ramp up efforts to counter ISIS.
National security advisor Jake Sullivan on Sunday told CNN that his “single biggest concern” is the return of ISIS, which was deemed “defeated” in 2019.
“ISIS loves vacuums,” he said in reference to the extremist group’s use of power struggles in places like North Africa to gain footholds. “What we see in Syria right now are areas that are basically ungoverned because of the fall of the Assad regime.
“Our goal is to ensure that we support the SDF — the Kurds — and that we keep ISIS in check,” he added.
The U.S. has long had to balance its campaign against ISIS in Syria — which it is fighting with the help of the Kurdish coalition forces, despite Turkey deeming the SDF as akin to the terrorist network the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) — with Washington’s partnership alongside Ankara as a NATO ally.
“The SDF and the Assad regime were the primary opponents of ISIS,” Bill Roggio, senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and founding editor of “The Long War Journal,” told Fox News Digital. “With the former gone and the latter under pressure from Turkish proxies, concerns about the expansion of ISIS are warranted.”
“Turkey wants to destroy the SDF,” Roggio confirmed. “Turkey has the ideal opportunity to destroy the SDF, and it will take advantage of this unique situation. I expect attack[s] against the SDF to increase.”
PRESIDENT-ELECT TRUMP’S SYRIA DILEMMA: INTERVENE OR LET IT TURN INTO TERROR STATE
The Biden administration has already taken steps to ramp up its campaign against ISIS, hitting more than 75 sites in a significant strike earlier this month on known “ISIS leaders, operatives and camps,” U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) confirmed.
The operation coincided with the fall of Damascus on Dec. 8 following a sweeping takeover of Aleppo, Hama and Homs by Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), which was aided by the Turkey-backed Syrian National Army (SNA).
In addition, CENTCOM on Thursday killed ISIS leader Abu Yusif aka Mahmud using a precision airstrike in eastern Syria — an area where, according to Syrian news outlets, ISIS has been able to seize weapons depots belonging to the former Syrian military under the Assad regime amid the “chaos.”
SDF forces in an attempt to clamp down on ISIS uprisings captured 18 ISIS terrorists and suspected collaborators on Sunday near the city of Raqqa, which was once an ISIS stronghold, according to ANF News.
The campaign was reportedly done “in cooperation with the international coalition forces,” but CENTCOM has not yet confirmed whether the U.S. was involved.
But concern remains high that the SDF could see its operational abilities divided as attacks from the Turkey-backed SNA coalition forces increase — which could spell trouble for the upcoming Trump administration as it looks to prevent another resurgence of ISIS, while balancing U.S. relations with Turkey, which is further expected to exercise outsized influence over the new Syrian government.
“We continue to monitor the situation in Syria,” Brian Hughes, Trump-Vance Transition spokesperson said in response to questions from Fox News Digital. “President Trump is committed to diminishing threats to peace and stability in the Middle East and to protecting Americans here at home.”
World
Gaza’s Kamal Adwan Hospital director pleads for help before it’s ‘too late’
Israel orders emptying of medical facility with nearly 400 civilians inside, including babies who need oxygen and incubators.
The director of one of Gaza’s last partially functioning hospitals is appealing for help, saying Israeli forces have surrounded the medical facility.
Dr Hussam Abu Safia, director of Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza, on Monday urged the international community to act “before it is too late”, calling the situation “horrifying”.
He said obeying an Israeli order to empty the facility would be “next to impossible” because nearly 400 civilians remain inside, including babies who need oxygen and incubators.
“The bombing continues from all directions, affecting the building, the departments and the staff. This is a serious and extremely horrifying situation,” Abu Safia said.
Outside the hospital in Beit Lahiya, Israeli forces have placed what is thought to be explosives at the gates. Witnesses said an automated guided vehicle delivered boxes with the word “danger” written on them.
Al Jazeera’s Gaza correspondent Tareq Abu Azzoum said the Israeli military has deployed automated remote vehicles called “explosive robots” around the hospital.
“[The robots] are loaded with tonnes of explosives that can lead to the destruction of the neighbourhood,” Abu Azzoum said.
“We’ve seen videos released by some of the medical workers inside Kamal Adwan Hospital showing how the Israeli military has been using these in the vicinity of the hospital,” he added, saying it could be a sign that further escalation might take place in the coming days.
“The Israeli military is systematically trying to exert ultimate pressure on the medical teams by causing severe destruction to the surroundings [of the hospital],” Abu Azzoum said.
Abu Safia said: “The world must understand that our hospital is being targeted with the intent to kill and forcibly displace us,” adding that the Israeli bombing did not stop throughout Sunday night, destroying homes and surrounding buildings.
“We urge the international community to intervene quickly and stop this fierce assault on us to protect the healthcare system, the workers and the patients within it,” the hospital director said.
Since Monday morning, the hospital has been targeted with bombs in its courtyards and on its rooftop dropped by quadcopters, once again threatening the hospital’s fuel and oxygen supplies, he said.
“The situation remains extremely dangerous and requires urgent international intervention before it is too late,” the doctor said.
Abu Safia made a similar appeal on Sunday, accusing Israel of directly bombing the hospital’s intensive care unit.
More than 14 months of Israeli attacks have devastated Gaza and displaced almost all of its 2.3 million people. More than 45,000 people, mostly children and women, have been killed in the offensive.
Israel’s genocide against Palestinians started shortly after a Hamas-led incursion inside Israeli territory on October 7, 2023 killed nearly 1,100 people, according to Israeli officials, and about 250 others were taken captive.
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