World
Russia-Ukraine war: List of key events, day 576
As the war enters its 576th day, these are the main developments.
Here is the situation on Friday, September 22, 2023.
Fighting
- Ukraine warned that winter could be hard after a barrage of Russian missiles targeted civilian infrastructure. “Difficult months are ahead: Russia will attack energy and critically important facilities,” said Oleksiy Kuleba, the deputy head of Kyiv’s presidential office. Ukraine’s energy operator Ukrenergo said 398 settlements were without power after the attacks. Temperatures can fall as low as 20 degrees below zero Celsius (-4 Fahrenheit) in Ukraine during the winter months when it usually snows heavily.
- General Valeriy Zaluzhnyi, the commander-in-chief of Ukraine’s armed forces, said air defences shot down 36 of 43 missiles launched by Russia. Zaluzhnyi said the missiles were launched in several waves from 10 Russian warplanes. At least two people were killed and 21 wounded. A number of fires were also reported.
- Russia said it shot down all Ukrainian missiles fired in an attempted attack on the Saky airbase in Crimea, which was annexed by Moscow in 2014. Ukraine’s military said its forces had inflicted “serious damage” on equipment struck at the Russian base.
- The Institute for the Study of War (ISW), a US-based think tank, said it appeared Ukrainian forces were operating armoured vehicles beyond Russian anti-tank defences in a key stretch of the front line near Verbove in Zaporizhia in an “important sign of progress in the Ukrainian counteroffensive”.
- Ukraine’s Ministry of Defence said Junior Sergeant Sarah Ashton-Cirillo had been suspended from her duties as the spokesperson for the Ukrainian Territorial Defense Forces pending an investigation. The 45-year-old New Yorker appears to have been removed after saying in a video that “Russian devils [will] pay for their crimes”.
Diplomacy
- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy made his second visit to Washington, DC, since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of his country. Zelenksyy, who addressed the Senate and met key officials during his visit, struck a note of gratitude, saying talks in the United States capital had been “productive” and “strong” and thanking the US government and people for their support. He also welcomed a new package of military assistance. “It has exactly what our soldiers need now,” he said, calling it a “very powerful package”.
- Zelenskyy’s visit to Washington, DC, took place amid increasing scepticism on the right of the Republican party about the US providing continued aid to Ukraine. “Yesterday at a classified briefing over Ukraine, it became clear that America is being asked to fund an indefinite conflict with unlimited resources,” Ohio Republican Senator JD Vance wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter. “Enough is enough. To these and future requests, my colleagues and I say: NO.” He attached a letter, signed by 28 Republicans, protesting against increased aid.
- Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Zelenskyy would visit Ottawa from September 21 – 22, and address the country’s parliament.
- US President Joe Biden condemned Russia’s attempt to secure new weapons supplies from Iran and North Korea. “Russia alone stands in the way of peace. It could end this today. Instead, Russia is seeking more weapons from Iran and North Korea that would violate multiple UN Security Council resolutions that Moscow itself voted to put in place,” he said.
- Five Bulgarian nationals accused of spying for Russia will appear in court on September 26. The three men and two women, aged between 29 and 45, are accused of “conspiring to collect information intended to be directly or indirectly useful to an enemy”, the Crown Prosecution Service said.
Weapons
- Mateusz Morawiecki, the prime minister of Poland, was quoted saying the country would stop supplying weapons to Ukraine amid a growing dispute over grain exports. Polish President Andrzej Duda said the prime minister’s comments had been taken the wrong way. Morawiecki’s “words were interpreted in the worst way possible”, Duda told TVN24 television, saying the prime minister was speaking about the plan for equipment being bought to modernise Poland’s military. Poland has been one of Ukraine’s staunchest supporters.
- Zelenskyy met US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, General Mark Milley, the chair of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, and other officials at the Pentagon. “We discussed the deliveries of artillery systems and long-range capabilities, as well as strengthening air defence,” he wrote on X, as he shared a video of the meeting.
- Werner Hoyer, the head of the European Investment Bank (EIB), warned his soon-to-be-announced successor against bowing to pressure from some European Union capitals to fund weapons for Ukraine. “If we use their [our partners’] money to buy ammunition, we’re on the wrong track,” Hoyer told the Reuters news agency.
World
Ukraine and Russia exchange drone attacks while Russia continues its push in the east
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russia said it shot down some 60 drones and several missiles over its territory while Ukraine in turn said it destroyed over 30 Russian drones. At least four people were reported killed in an attack on the outskirts of Kharkiv on Sunday as Russia pushed ahead with its renewed offensive in Ukraine’s war-ravaged northeast.
Russian air defenses shot down 57 Ukrainian drones over the southern Krasnodar region overnight, the Russian Defense Ministry said.
Local military officials said drone debris hit an oil refinery in the town of Slavyansk-on-Kuban, but there was no fire or damage. News outlet Astra published videos appearing to show an explosion at the refinery as it was hit by a drone. The videos could not be independently verified.
Nine long-range ballistic missiles and a drone were destroyed over the Russia-occupied Crimean Peninsula, following Friday morning’s massive Ukrainian drone attack that cut off power in the city of Sevastopol.
A further three drones were shot down over the Belgorod region, which borders Ukraine. According to regional Gov. Vyacheslav Gladkov, a church roof was set on fire by falling drone debris, but there were no casualties.
The Russian-installed governor of Ukraine’s partially occupied Kherson region, Vladimir Saldo, said that one person died and 16 were wounded when a Ukrainian drone hit a minibus on Sunday morning.
In Ukraine, air force officials said air defenses shot down all 37 Russian drones launched against the country overnight.
In the northeastern Kharkiv region, where Moscow recently launched a new offensive, regional Gov. Oleh Syniehubov said Sunday morning that one person died and 11 were wounded as a result of shelling over the previous day.
Later on Sunday, Syniehubov said four people were killed and eight wounded in a Russian strike on the outskirts of the regional capital, also called Kharkiv.
Ukrainian troops are fighting to halt Russian advances in the Kharkiv region that began late last week.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Friday during a visit to China that Moscow’s offensive in the Kharkiv region aims to create a buffer zone but that there are no plans to capture the city.
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Morton reported from London.
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Follow AP’s coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
World
Argentina's Milei shuts up critics with miracle turnaround of economy, strong security policies
President Javier Milei of Argentina continues to stun his critics with an economy that has outperformed expectations and continues along an ambitious path for national security, including pursuit of a NATO global partnership.
“The fact that you have a president, head of state, who is defending the free market, who is defending the role of entrepreneurs and businessmen as creators of value and just defending deregulation when the tendency in Latin America and much of the West has been to regulate the economy . . . I think that’s very positive, not only for Argentina, but for the region as a whole and maybe beyond,” Daniel Raisbeck, a policy analyst at the CATO Institute, told Fox News Digital.
Milei won the presidency in November last year and prompted concern from some in the West that he would lead his country down a road to ruin with libertarian policies that would make an already troubled economy even weaker. Voters wanted economic relief from a market hit with some of the highest inflation in the world.
Those attitudes have shifted just months later as Milei has enacted a raft of policy changes: The International Monetary Fund (IMF) agreed to release a tranche of loans due to Argentina under a bailout program thanks to Milei’s government managing to create a fiscal surplus in the previous fiscal quarter and bring inflation down.
ARGENTINA REPORTS ITS FIRST SINGLE-DIGIT INFLATION IN SIX MONTHS AS MARKETS SWOON AND COSTS HIT HOME
Argentina’s inflation in March alone hit 287%, causing poverty to deepen, and citizens to take to the streets with strikes and protests against his policies. The monthly inflation rate was 25% in December when Milei first took office.
Milei then went on to significantly reduce spending with major cuts to public-sector wages as he suspended public works projects and cut subsidies. He also devalued the country’s currency by over 50%, which helped it stabilize in value even as the price of basic goods jumped.
The monthly inflation dropped to 8.8% by April, marking the first single-digit inflation rate in over six months.
Argentina recorded a $589 million budget surplus in January and continued to post a surplus for each of the first four months of 2024, even as the surplus shrank to $299 million in April, Reuters reported. This marks the country’s first quarterly surplus since 2008.
Raisbeck stressed that Milei’s primary measure of cutting spending has proven highly effective, while arguing that the significant deregulation in other parts of the economy has helped it revive over those first months of the new administration.
“Argentina was one of the most regulated economies in the world,” Raisbeck said. “So when you have a very well-thought-out package like the one that they introduced . . . and you get rid of as many of those regulations as you can, then it’s very positive.”
AT LEAST 90 INJURED AFTER PASSENGER TRAIN HITS BOXCAR, DERAILS IN ARGTENTINE CAPITAL
He noted that Milei has not adhered to some of his more aggressive campaign promises, which included a promise to dollarize the economy and shut down the Central Bank, saying that it was a “non-negotiable matter.”
Even days after he won the election, Milei appeared to favor more moderate Cabinet members than many would have expected of a man who jolted the international community with his outsider attitude and plans.
The Wall Street Journal, in December 2023, argued that Milei’s tenure “may turn out to be pretty conventional,” with pro-market Economy Minister Luis Caputo leading away from Milei’s more radical plans.
The promised dollarization has been delayed, and Raisbeck explained that Milei’s approach has relied heavily on using the Central Bank to help regulate the economy, though he argued that Milei’s policies remain libertarian due to the deregulation he has pursued in other areas.
“Everything related to deregulation is very libertarian, and we’ve seen great success already in the housing market, for instance,” Raisbeck said. “So that obviously brought a huge amount of supply that was suppressed because of price controls.”
Milei also brought Argentina back to the international foreground, with a stronger focus on national security and changing up the country’s goals from the previous administration – most notably, he rejected the invitation to join the China and Russia-led economic bloc BRICS.
PERUVIAN LAWMAKERS BEGIN YET ANOTHER EFFORT TO REMOVE PRESIDENT DINA BULARTE FROM OFFICE
Milei argued that it was not “opportune” for Argentina to join the bloc as a full member, according to German outlet DW. However, he will continue to develop ties with its members in the meantime.
“They have a good security minister, Patricia Bullrich, who has experience because she was a security minister in the previous government,” Joseph M. Humire, the executive director of the Center for a Secure Free Society, told Fox News Digital. “She has been able to get the ball rolling very quickly, and I think that was the benefit of having her in that position.”
Humire explained that Milei’s government has largely focused on clearing out external agitators, particularly those connected to Russian disinformation networks, which remain a paramount concern in most parts of the world as Moscow seeks to expand its influence.
“The external forces are usually the key,” Humire said. “Usually, it’s the Russians. The Russians have probably the biggest disinformation networks to be able to amplify local grievances and turn them into this macro instability, and they did that in Colombia, in Chile.”
“A lot of the specifics of the nation’s security has been in mitigating these agitation networks that create chaos throughout the country, and they have been neutralizing some of these threats while they’re studying others,” he added.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
World
Russia-Ukraine war: List of key events, day 815
Here is the situation on Sunday, May 19, 2024.
Fighting
- Slavyansk oil refinery in Russia’s southern Krasnodar region halted operations following a Ukrainian drone attack overnight, Interfax news agency reported. The refinery is a private plant with a capacity of 4 million metric tonnes of oil per year, about one million barrels per day.
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Ukraine’s air force claimed it destroyed all 37 Shahed attack drones launched by Russia overnight. The regions targeted by the drones include Kyiv, Odesa, Mykolaiv, Sumy, Vinnytsia, Zhytomyr, Cherkasy and Kherson.
- The governor of Kharkiv said nearly 10,000 people had been forced to leave their homes since Russian forces launched a surprise ground attack on May 10. Russia claimed its military took control of another village, Staritsya, in the Kharkiv region near the Russian border.
- Ukrainian prosecutors said Russian shelling killed a 60-year-old woman and injured three other civilians in the northeast city of Vovchansk, 5km (3 miles) from the Russian border. A 59-year-old man was also injured in the village of Ukrainske.
- Russia said its forces shot down nine US ATACMS missiles over Crimea and at least 60 drones over Russian sovereign territory. Its forces also shot down a Tochka-U missile fired by Ukraine in Russia’s Belgorod region.
- Belgorod regional Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said a Ukrainian drone attack injured a woman and a man in the village of Petrovka. The two were treated for shrapnel injuries.
Politics and diplomacy
- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy acknowledged issues with staffing and “morale” within the country’s troops as he signed a mobilisation law that came into force on Saturday. Kyiv has lowered the age at which men can be drafted from 27 to 25 and tightened punishments for those who avoid the call-up.
- Ukrainian prosecutors said they were investigating as a potential war crime a Russian air attack on a residential area of the regional capital, Kharkiv, in which six civilians were wounded, including a 13-year-old girl, 16-year-old male and an eight-year-old.
- Ukrainian officials accuse Russian soldiers in Vovchansk of using dozens of captured civilians as “human shields” to defend their command headquarters.
- Moscow denied deliberately targeting civilians even as thousands have been killed and injured since its February 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
- Poland announced it would spend $2.5bn to fortify its eastern border, which includes Russia, Belarus and Ukraine.
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