KYIV: Russian troops destroyed or captured several Ukrainian positions near the eastern city of Pokrovsk, Kyiv’s military said on Wednesday, as Moscow bears down on the strategic logistics hub that is home to a unique Ukrainian coking mine.
After months of accelerating advances toward Pokrovsk, Moscow’s forces are now as close as 3 kilometers (1.9 miles) from the southern outskirts of the city, according to Ukraine’s DeepState, which maps the front lines using open sources.
“As a result of prolonged clashes, two of our positions were destroyed, one was lost. Currently, measures are being taken to restore positions,” Nazar Voloshyn, Ukraine’s military spokesman for the eastern front, said in televised comments.
Pokrovsk, situated about 18 kilometers (11 miles) from the boundary of Ukraine’s Donetsk and Dnipropetrovsk regions, has for months been the area of the fiercest battles in Russia’s 33-month-old full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
In October and November, the Russian military advanced toward the city at its fastest rate since the early months of the war, analysts said. Ukraine, which has been on the back foot since its failed 2023 counteroffensive, says Russia has been sustaining some of its heaviest losses of the war to date.
Both Ukraine and Russia have their eye on the growing prospect of a push for peace talks, with US President-elect Donald Trump preparing to enter office on Jan. 20, having called for an immediate ceasefire and a swift end to the war.
Kyiv has urged its allies to get it into the strongest possible position on the battlefield before any talks do happen.
Russia, which Ukraine says has over 70,000 troops on the Pokrovsk front, has rapidly advanced toward Shevchenko, a village to Pokrovsk’s south, in recent weeks.
Its forces are currently trying to gain a foothold in the village and sending in reconnaissance and sabotage groups, Voloshyn said. Ukraine is holding them back for now, he added.
The fall of Pokrovsk, an important logistics center for the Ukrainian military in the east, would amount to the biggest military setback for Kyiv in months.
The city also hosts Ukraine’s only domestic coking coal supplier for its once-giant steel industry.
The mine, which was still operating as of Dec. 6, lies 10 km (6.2 miles) west of Pokrovsk, the far side from where Russian troops have been advancing.
Ukraine loses ground near Pokrovsk, Russian force within 3 km of strategic hub
https://arab.news/2c9jc
Ukraine loses ground near Pokrovsk, Russian force within 3 km of strategic hub
- “As a result of prolonged clashes, two of our positions were destroyed, one was lost,” Nazar Voloshyn, Ukraine’s military spokesman, said
- Kyiv has urged its allies to get it into the strongest possible position on the battlefield before any talks do happen
US military spent $6 billion in the past 3 years to recruit and retain troops
WASHINGTON: The US military spent more than $6 billion over the past three years to recruit and retain service members, in what has been a growing campaign to counter enlistment shortfalls.
The financial incentives to reenlist in the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines increased dramatically from 2022 through last year, with the Navy vastly outspending the others, according to funding totals provided by the services. The overall amount of recruiting bonuses also rose steadily, fueled by significant jumps in spending by the Army and Marine Corps.
The military services have routinely poured money into recruiting and retention bonuses over the years. But the totals spiked as Pentagon leaders tried to reverse falling enlistment numbers, particularly as COVID-19 restrictions locked down public events, fairs and school visits that recruiters relied on to meet with young people. Coupled with an array of new programs, an increased number of recruiters and adjustments to enlistment requirements, the additional incentives have helped the services bounce back from the shortfalls. All but the Navy met their recruiting targets last year and all are expected to do so this year.
Officials have tied them more directly to the widespread overhauls that the services have done, including the increased financial incentives.
The Army, the military’s largest service, spent more on recruiting bonuses in 2022 and 2024 than the other services. But it was significantly outspent by the Navy in 2023, when the sea service was struggling to overcome a large enlistment shortfall.
As a result, even though the Navy is a smaller service, it spent more overall in the three years than the Army did.
The Navy also has spent considerably more than the others to entice sailors to reenlist, doling out retention bonuses to roughly 70,000 service members for each of the past three years. That total is more than double the number of troops the Army gave retention bonuses to each year, even though the Army is a much larger service.
“Navy is dedicated to retaining our most capable sailors; retention is a critical component of achieving our end-strength goals,” Adm. James Kilby, the vice chief of naval operations, told a Senate Armed Services subcommittee in March.
He said reenlistment for enlisted sailors “remains healthy,” but officers are a challenge in specific jobs, including aviation, explosive ordnance disposal, surface and submarine warfare, health professionals and naval special operations. He added that the Navy has struggled to fill all of its at-sea jobs and is using financial incentives as one way to combat the problem.
The Army has seen the greatest recruiting struggles over the past decade, and by using a range of new programs and policies, has had one of the largest comebacks. The Navy has had the most trouble more recently, and took a number of steps to expand those eligible for service and spend more in bonuses.
While the Army spends hundreds of millions each year to recruit troops, it also has relied on an array of new programs and policies to woo young people. A key driver of the Army’s rebound has been its decision to create the Future Soldier Prep Course, at Fort Jackson, South Carolina, in August 2022.
That program gives lower-performing recruits up to 90 days of academic or fitness instruction to help them meet military standards and move on to basic training. It has resulted in thousands of enlistments.
Council of Europe defends court against criticism over expulsions
ROME: The Council of Europe has defended the independence of the European Court of Human Rights, after nine member states said its interpretation of rights obligations prevented them from expelling migrants who commit crimes.
In a joint letter made public, leaders of Denmark, Italy, Austria, Belgium, Czechia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland called for a “new and open-minded conversation” about how the court interprets the European Convention on Human Rights.
“Their concern centers on rulings in the field of migration,” Council of Europe Secretary-General Alain Berset said in a statement. “These are complex challenges, and democracies must always remain open to reflection through the appropriate institutional avenues.”
However, Berset stressed that the European Court of Human Rights “is not an external body” but the legal arm of the Council of Europe, and is “bound by a Convention that all 46 members have freely signed and ratified.”
“It exists to protect the rights and values they committed to defend,” he said. “Upholding the independence and impartiality of the Court is our bedrock.”
He warned against politicizing the court.
The nine European leaders said the court’s interpretation of the convention in cases concerning the expulsion of “criminal foreign nationals” has protected the “wrong people” and placed too many limits on deciding who can be expelled.
The Council of Europe is not an EU institution and was set up in the wake of the Second World War to promote peace and democracy.
Malaysia slams ‘double standards’ on Gaza atrocities
- Comments of the country’s minister come as Israel steps up campaign in the enclave
KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia’s foreign minister on Sunday condemned “atrocities” in Gaza, saying they reflected “indifference and double standards” on the plight of the Palestinian people.
“They are a direct result of the erosion of the sanctity of international law,” Mohamad Hasan told his counterparts from the regional ASEAN bloc.
Mohamad’s comments ahead of an ASEAN summit Monday in Kuala Lumpur come as Israel has stepped up its campaign this month in war-torn Gaza.
The bombardment has drawn international criticism, alongside calls to allow in more aid after Israel only partially eased a total blockade imposed on March 2.
“The atrocities committed against the Palestinian people continue to reflect indifference and double standards,” Mohamad said.
“ASEAN cannot remain silent,” said Mohamad, whose country holds the rotating chairmanship of the bloc.
Foreign ministers from the 10-member association in February asserted their “longstanding support” for Palestinian rights.
Muslim-majority Malaysia has no diplomatic relations with Israel and many in the Southeast Asian country support the Palestinians.
Kuala Lumpur has channeled donations and humanitarian aid amounting to more than $10 million to Palestinians in Gaza since the war erupted in October 2023.
On Saturday, Gaza’s civil defense agency said an Israeli strike in the southern city of Khan Younis killed nine children of a pair of married doctors, with the Israeli army saying it was reviewing the reports.
Civil defense spokesman Mahmud Bassal said the agency had retrieved “the bodies of nine child martyrs, some of them charred, from the home of Dr. Hamdi Al-Najjar and his wife, Dr. Alaa Al-Najjar, all of whom were their children.”
He added that Hamdi Al-Najjar and another son, Adam, were also seriously wounded in the strike on Friday, and that the family was taken to Nasser Hospital. A medical source at the hospital gave Adam’s age as 10 years old.
Muneer Alboursh, director general of the Health Ministry in Hamas-run Gaza, said on X that the strike happened shortly after Hamdi Al-Najjar returned home from driving his wife, a pediatric specialist, to work at the same facility.
Gaza conflict spurs hunger strike by California student activists
- Students on several campuses are protesting against Israeli actions in Gaza
DUBAI: Maya Abdallah’s message is clear: she will not eat until her university — the University of California, Los Angeles — hears her out on her cause, the crisis in Gaza.
The 23-year-old film student is Palestinian-Lebanese and is on hunger strike, protesting against her university’s funding of Israeli businesses that allegedly invest in manufacturing weapons being used by Israeli forces on the people of Gaza.
“I want to open a renegotiation for divestment … billions of dollars are spent on things like the gas that’s going into the Israeli tanks, to the manufacturers of the weapons used against the people of Gaza,” Abdallah said.
UC Chief Investment Officer Jagdeep Singh Bachher said in an official statement in 2024 that the university had $32 billion in assets in various companies, $3.3 billion of that in groups with ties to weapons manufacturers and $163 million in the investment firm BlackRock.
Abdallah is not alone. Although she is currently the only student at UCLA on hunger strike, students at other universities in California are also striking, including California State University Dominguez Hills and California State University Long Beach.
Hoping to be heard by policymakers and officials at their institutions, these students are now on Day 21 of their strikes.
So far, San Francisco State University and University of San Francisco have announced in official statements their divestment from companies such as Palantir and GE Aerospace who allegedly supply weapon systems and technology to the Israeli military.
“I didn’t just come up with the idea of a hunger strike. I saw students across California do it, and I wanted to contribute, even if I was the only one at UCLA,” Abdallah said.
Her strike began on May 9. Abdullah, who is subsisting only on liquids, said it has been harder than she anticipated, but she is willing to push herself.
“This isn’t easy. I’m exhausted, I’m hungry, and sometimes I’m scared. But none of that compares to what Palestinians in Gaza are facing right now. I remind myself of that every single day,” she said.
Abdallah said the hardest part of the strike is the mental strain of starving herself.
“More than the toll starvation takes on your body, it’s what it does to your brain. I can’t imagine the people who’ve suffered the loss of family members, left their homes, and felt abandoned in every way; now also going without food and dealing with that added stress. For me, there’s food around me. I could end my strike and eat. That’s not an option for them,” she said.
In addition to studying film, Abdallah is a social media entertainer turned activist, with more than two million followers on various platforms.
“I’ve tried protesting and raising awareness, but this was one of the things I hadn’t tried yet … when you’re fighting for such a cause, you have to try literally everything in your toolbox,” she said.
On the ninth day of her strike, Abdallah collapsed during a protest on campus and was rushed to the emergency room in an ambulance.
In a video she posted on her social media accounts, Abdallah said that first responders discovered her heart rate was 40 percent higher than the average person.
Since then, Abdallah is back home resting and is still actively fighting for her cause on campus and on social media.
The UN in 2024 reported that more than 80 percent of educational institutes in Gaza were damaged or destroyed.
“There are no universities left in Gaza, and yet our university is helping fund that destruction. It’s disgusting hypocrisy,” she added.
Abdallah said her university was aware of her strike, and that campus police as well as social workers are in contact with her, yet no official acknowledgement of her strike has been made. Even after she was admitted to hospital, Abdallah said no one from the university responded to check on her.
A UCLA spokesperson told Arab News the university supports freedom of expression of different points of view.
“We strongly urge all Bruins to peacefully express themselves and exercise their first amendment rights in ways that are safe. We will continue to make support available to all students through UCLA’s Student Health Services and other campus offices,” the spokesperson said.
Many people online have criticized Abdallah for her decision to strike, claiming that it will not lead to any meaningful outcome. But she said she does not care.
“An ‘indefinite hunger strike’ is ridiculous. She’s only harming herself. Ridiculous actions,” said a commenter on Instagram. Another said she was “A spoiled rich girl doing spoiled rich girl stuff. Your university owes you nothing but an overpriced gender studies degree. Grow up girl.” Another said “you go girl! Starve yourself. That’ll free Gaza.”
After a surge of student protests and encampments on university campuses in April 2024 to raise awareness about the crisis in Gaza after the Israeli military aggression on Gaza intensified in 2023, UCLA released a statement saying it would not divest from Israel.
“The University of California has consistently opposed calls for boycott against and divestment from Israel. While the University affirms the right of our community members to express diverse viewpoints, a boycott of this sort impinges on the academic freedom of our students and faculty and the unfettered exchange of ideas on our campuses,” according to the statement on UCLA’s official website.
Abdallah, who was on campus during the 2024 protests and encampments, described the situation as brutal but she felt motivated to see so many people fight for her cause.
“I felt pure joy that I have literally never felt at any other time in my life. To see so many people care about the thing that I’ve been begging people to care about my entire life,” she said.
But that feeling soon turned to sadness after experiencing brutality and pressure to stop. Abdallah recalled being attacked by a group of counter-strikers who she said got very aggressive and released mice into the encampments and set off fireworks.
Abdallah said it took a long time for law enforcement officers and police to arrive on the scene and the violence escalated.
“I was there the night the cops stormed and broke it up. They came in with rubber bullets and the batons. I was so traumatized,” she said.
At the time of the encampments, The Guardian reported that demonstrators told local media that police were “creating chaos” as they tried to peacefully demonstrate with “hands up”, and video footage showed chaotic scenes of baton-carrying police used flash-bang stun grenades to disperse protesters.
Abdallah said police were called several times during the violent night raids led by counter-protesters on the encampments but no one showed up.
A spokesperson for California Governor Gavin Newsom last year criticized the “limited and delayed campus law enforcement response”" to the unrest as “unacceptable.”
Arab News asked UCLA officials for a statement regarding the alleged police brutality that occurred on campus, but they have yet to reply.
Bangladesh court begins first trial of Hasina-era officials
- Court in Dhaka accepted a formal charge against eight police officials in connection to the killing of six protesters on August 5 last year
- It is the first formal charge in any case related to killings in last year’s student-led uprising that ended Hasina’s iron-fisted rule of 15 years
DHAKA: Bangladesh began the first trial on Sunday at a special court prosecuting former senior figures connected to the ousted government of Sheikh Hasina, the chief prosecutor said.
The court in the capital Dhaka accepted a formal charge against eight police officials in connection to the killing of six protesters on August 5 last year, the day Hasina fled the country as the protesters stormed her palace.
The eight men are charged with crimes against humanity. Four are in custody and four are being tried in absentia.
“The formal trial has begun,” Tajul Islam, chief prosecutor of Bangladesh’s domestic International Crimes Tribunal (ICT), told reporters.
“The prosecution believes that this prosecution will be able to prove the crimes done by the accused,” he said.
It is the first formal charge in any case related to the killings during last year’s student-led uprising, which ended Hasina’s iron-fisted rule of 15 years.
Up to 1,400 people were killed between July and August 2024 when Hasina’s government launched a brutal campaign to silence the protesters, according to the United Nations.
The list of those facing trial includes Dhaka’s former police commissioner, Habibur Rahman, who is among those being tried in absentia.
Hasina also fled by helicopter to India, her old ally.
She remains in self-imposed exile, defying Dhaka’s extradition request to face charges of crimes against humanity.
The launch of the trials of senior figures from Hasina’s government is a key demand of several of the political parties now jostling for power as the South Asian nation awaits elections that the interim government has vowed will take place before June 2026.
Islam said the eight men were accused of “different responsibilities,” including the most senior for “superior command responsibility, some for direct orders.. (and) some for participation.”
He said he was confident of a successful prosecution.
“We have submitted as much evidence as required to prove crimes against humanity, both at a national and an international standard,” he said.
Among that evidence, he said, was video footage of the violence, as well as voice recordings of Hasina in “conversations with different people where she ordered the killing of the protesters using force and lethal weapons.”
The ICT was set up by Hasina in 2009 to investigate crimes committed by the Pakistani army during Bangladesh’s war for independence in 1971.
It sentenced numerous prominent political opponents to death over the following years and became widely seen as a means for Hasina to eliminate rivals.
