World
Ukraine likely to face bloody Crimea fight, satellite images show
![Ukraine likely to face bloody Crimea fight, satellite images show Ukraine likely to face bloody Crimea fight, satellite images show](https://www.aljazeera.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/1-Northen-trenches-_Zoom-in-only_.png?resize=1200,675)
An evaluation of satellite tv for pc pictures by Al Jazeera has revealed that Russian forces are fortifying the Crimean peninsula in anticipation of a Ukrainian try and recapture it.
Specialists say that these defences are prone to make any such effort troublesome and bloody.
Russia annexed Crimea in 2014, eight years earlier than launching a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Because the conflict grinds on for greater than a 12 months, Ukraine’s political and army management has made it clear that it defines victory as reclaiming its 1991 borders, which Russia had recognised. The United Nations and all of Ukraine’s Western allies additionally recognise these borders, which embody Crimea.
The investigation by Al Jazeera’s Sanad information verification and monitoring unit discovered that between February and March, the Crimean border and surrounding areas had been reworked right into a fortified barrier forward of an anticipated spring counteroffensive by Ukrainian forces.
Particularly, an intensive community of trenches and defences was constructed and now extends throughout the border villages of Crimea. Development and enlargement of a number of vital army bases additionally came about throughout the identical interval, based on the photographs supplied to Sanad by SkySat and Planet.com.
Photographs taken on April 1 additionally present that authorities in Crimea have arrange a sea barrier at a dock of the Russian Black Sea Fleet within the Sevastopol port, along with a number of new buildings and infrastructure developments inside the port space.
In the meantime, commercials for staff to construct fortifications have appeared on Russian job websites in Crimea over the previous few months. Analysts say a scarcity of manpower might be a big motive why these trenches should not but absolutely efficient.
“Not one of the trenches in any of the photographs are one hundred pc full. All point out ongoing work, as the ditch networks should not linked and lack full communications trenches,” Zev Faintuch, senior intelligence analyst at safety firm International Guardian, informed Al Jazeera after seeing the images.
The trenches in northern Crimea recommend Russia is performing to discourage Ukraine from mounting a floor assault from the north, Ukraine’s solely means in, stated Faintuch.
Additional south, the trenches and fortifications recommend Russia is anticipating any profitable breach of its first line of defence to maneuver alongside two highways, the E97 and E105.
“The brand new Russian defensive strains leverage the topography and current villages to create choke factors alongside these highways. In essence, if the Russians discover themselves on the defensive in Crimea, they plan on giving Ukraine a style of its personal drugs,” stated Faintuch, referring to the excessive casualties Ukrainian defenders have inflicted on Russian forces attempting to take the jap provinces of Luhansk and Donetsk.
Crimea operations ‘logical’
Final September, Ukraine’s Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, Valery Zaluzhnyi, and Lieutenant Common Mykhailo Zabrodskyi penned a technique paper wherein they described Crimea because the “centre of gravity” of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and a territory that might perpetually allow Russia to threaten Ukraine.
“Crimea was and stays the idea for strains of communication on the southern strategic flank of Russian aggression,” they wrote. “The territory of the peninsula permits for the deployment of serious teams of troops and provides of fabric assets.
“It’s logical to imagine planning for 2023 an operation or a collection of operations to grab the peninsula,” they stated.
![Trenches in Crimea](https://www.aljazeera.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/2-2023-03-27-خنادق.jpg?w=770&resize=770%2C355)
The generals additionally stated Ukraine would require “ten to twenty mixed army brigades – relying on the plan and ambitions of the Ukrainian command”. As Ukraine not had entry to sufficient Soviet-era weaponry to equip these brigades, the generals stated, “this may be executed completely by changing the primary kinds of weapons of already current brigades with trendy ones supplied by Ukraine’s companions”.
In late January, Western allies made a key determination to provide Ukraine with offensive weapons, pledging 258 important battle tanks and a whole bunch of armoured combating autos. However these tanks would equip solely three brigades in a NATO military, and solely about 4 dozen have been delivered.
Is it attainable?
Western leaders backing Ukraine with army help have been squeamish about giving the Ukrainian authorities the go-ahead to invade Crimea, not least as a result of Russian President Vladimir Putin has insinuated it’d set off the usage of tactical nuclear weapons.
That cautious strategy has its critics.
Alexander Vindman, a retired United States Military lieutenant colonel, argued in opposition to the “incremental escalation” Ukraine and Russia are at present following.
“By the summer time, Ukraine is prone to start focusing on extra of Russia’s army infrastructure in Crimea in preparation for a broader marketing campaign to liberate the peninsula,” he wrote in February, and the West was offering solely sufficient weapons to maintain Ukraine combating, not successful.
![Trenches near Kamianske](https://www.aljazeera.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/2023-03-27-trenches-of-Kamianske-source_planet.com-.png?w=770&resize=770%2C294)
However Russia, too, will not be successful. It has suffered huge attrition attempting to take Donetsk and Luhansk.
“While you get to the purpose the place the Russians are weak and the Ukrainians are at their peak, that’s when, if and when the choice is made, that we’re not searching for a diplomatic resolution, we actually suppose we are able to take Crimea,” Colonel Dale Buckner, a retired particular forces commander who runs International Guardian, informed Al Jazeera.
As for Putin’s nuclear threats, Ukraine dismisses them. Its army intelligence chief, Kyrylo Budanov, known as them “not true”.
“Crimea might be returned to us. I’ll let you know extra: It began in Crimea in 2014, and it’ll all finish there,” Budanov stated.
Oleksiy Danilov, the secretary of Ukraine’s Nationwide Safety and Protection Council, just lately repeated that perception as he listed plenty of steps Ukraine would take after it retakes Crimea, together with the destruction of Kerch bridge, which connects Crimea to the Russia mainland.
What has Ukraine executed to regulate Crimea?
The battle for Crimea might be stated to have begun final summer time, when Ukraine pressured Putin to drag again main army property.
A drone assault on the Russian naval base at Sevastopol in July 2022 injured six folks. One other assault utilizing naval drones induced a collection of explosions in late October, and satisfied Russia to relocate its submarines and frigates east to Novorossiysk.
On August 9, a Ukrainian drone assault in opposition to the Saky airfield put as much as 10 Russian Su-24 and Su-30M plane out of motion, forcing Russia to relocate its plane to mainland Russia. One other drone strike hit the Belbek airfield in October.
“The duty of the Armed Forces of Ukraine for 2023 is to make these emotions sharper, extra pure and fairly tangible for the Russians,” wrote Zaluzhny and Zabrodskyi, the Ukrainian generals.
On October 8, a truck bomb briefly disabled the Kerch bridge, which connects Crimea to the Russia mainland, hampering provides.
Two days later, Ukraine’s normal employees stated Russian occupation authorities had been drawing up contingency plans to evacuate the households of the occupation management in Crimea to Russia if mandatory. These evacuations have reportedly begun to happen in current weeks.
What might be the price of a Crimea operation?
“Simply because the Ukrainians had been in a position to make minced meat out of Russian armour and armoured combating autos, an assault on Crimea could be perilous for the attackers even with new and superior gear,” Faintuch stated.
Ukrainian forces managed to retake hundreds of sq. kilometres of occupied land in Kherson and Kharkiv final September, however Faintuch believes Crimea is a special story.
“Crimea is likely one of the most defensible items of strategic actual property on the planet,” he stated. “It has all of the belongings you need – defence in depth, extraordinarily restricted and slender entry factors, air cowl and the Black Sea Fleet to choose off invaders … Ought to we see an invasion, the battle is certain to take a flip for the more serious.”
Common Mark Milley, commander of the US Joint Chiefs of Employees, has described the whole elimination of Russian forces from Ukraine, together with Crimea, as a “very, very troublesome army job”.
Ukraine may content material itself with defanging Crimea, not less than for some time. Zaluzhny stated in December that the military deliberate to seize Melitopol, within the Zaporizhia area, in an effort to attain the shores of the Sea of Azov. From there, it might successfully lower off Russia from Crimea by firing on the Kerch bridge.
And Ukraine final 12 months requested Military Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) missiles with a 300km (186-mile) vary from the US in an effort to assault Russian airfields in Crimea. The US has not supplied ATACMS to keep away from frightening Russia, but it surely has given Ukraine 160km-range (99-mile) Floor Launched Small Diameter Bombs and loads of Phoenix Ghost kamikaze drones.
David Petraeus, a retired US Military normal and former CIA director, stated in January that severing Russia’s connection to Crimea “could be of huge worth”.
Faintuch agreed with this strategy. “Threatening Crimea is the important thing to ending this battle,” he stated.
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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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