POLAND: The top US military officer, Army Gen. Mark Milley, traveled to a site near the Ukraine-Poland border on Tuesday and talked with his Ukrainian counterpart face to face for the first time.
The meeting underscores the growing ties between the two militaries and comes at a critical time as Russia’s war with Ukraine nears the one-year mark.
Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, met for a couple of hours with Ukraine’s chief military officer, Gen. Valerii Zaluzhnyi, at an undisclosed location in southeastern Poland. The two leaders have talked frequently about Ukraine’s military needs and the state of the war over the past year but had never met.
The meeting comes as the international community ramps up the military assistance to Ukraine, including expanded training of Ukrainian troops by the US and the provision of a Patriot missile battery, tanks and increased air defense and other weapons systems by the US and a coalition of European and other nations.
It also marks a key time in the war. Ukraine’s troops face fierce fighting in the eastern Donetsk province, where Russian forces — supplemented by thousands of private Wagner Group contractors — seek to turn the tide after a series of battlefield setbacks in recent months.
Army Col. Dave Butler, a spokesman for Milley, told two reporters traveling with the chairman that the two generals felt it was important to meet in person. The reporters did not accompany Milley to the meeting and, under conditions set by the military, agreed to not identify the military base in southeastern Poland where they were located.
“These guys have been talking on a very regular basis for about a year now, and they’ve gotten to know each other,” Butler said. “They’ve talked in detail about the defense that Ukraine is trying to do against Russia’s aggression. And it’s important — when you have two military professionals looking each other in the eye and talking about very, very important topics, there’s a difference.”
Butler said there had been some hope that Zaluzhnyi would travel to Brussels for a meeting of NATO and other defense chiefs this week, but when it became clear on Monday that it would not happen, they quickly decided to meet in Poland, near the border.
While a number of US civilian leader s have gone into Ukraine, the Biden administration has made it clear that no uniformed military service members will go into Ukraine other than those connected to the embassy in Kyiv. Butler said only a small group — Milley and six of his senior staffers — traveled by car to the meeting.
He said that the meeting will allow Milley to relay Zaluzhnyi’s concerns and information to the other military leaders during the NATO chiefs’ meeting. Milley, he said, will be able to “describe the tactical and operational conditions on the battlefield and what the military needs are for that, and the way he does that is one by understanding it himself but by also talking to Zaluzhnyi on a regular basis.”
Milley also will be able to describe the new training of Ukrainian forces that the US is doing at the Grafenwoehr training area in Germany. The chairman, who got his first look at the new, so-called combined arms instruction during a nearly two-hour visit there on Monday, has said it will better prepare Ukrainian troops to launch an offensive or counter any surge in Russian attacks.
More than 600 Ukrainian troops began the expanded training program at the camp just a day before Milley arrived.
Milley and Zaluzhnyi’s meeting kicks off a series of high-level gatherings of military and defense leaders this week. Milley and other chiefs of defense will meet in Brussels on Wednesday and Thursday, and then the so-called Ukraine Contact Group will gather at Ramstein Air Base in Germany on Thursday and Friday. That group consists of about 50 top defense officials, including Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, and they work to coordinate military contributions to Ukraine.
The meetings are expected to focus on Ukraine’s ongoing and future military needs as the hard-packed terrain of the winter months turns into muddy roads and fields in the spring.
After several months of losing territory it had captured, Russia in recent days claimed it took control of the small salt-mining town of Soledar. Ukraine asserts that its troops are still fighting, but if Moscow’s troops take control of Soledar it would allow them to inch closer to the bigger city of Bakhmut, where fighting has raged for months.
And in a barrage of airstrikes over the weekend, Russia struck Kyiv, the northeastern city of Kharkiv and the southeastern city of Dnipro, where the death toll in one apartment building rose to 44.
Western analysts point to signs that the Kremlin is digging in for a drawn-out war, and say the Russian military command is preparing for an expanded mobilization effort.
US, Ukraine top military chiefs meet in person for 1st time
https://arab.news/2dyak
US, Ukraine top military chiefs meet in person for 1st time
- The meeting comes as the international community ramps up the military assistance to Ukraine
- Ukraine's troops face fierce fighting in the eastern Donetsk province
10 killed in Philippines when passenger bus slams into vehicles at a toll booth
- More than two dozen others were injured in the multiple-vehicle collision in Tarlac city, north of Manila
- The bus driver was taken into custody and initially told investigators that he dozed off shortly before the crash
More than two dozen others were injured in the multiple-vehicle collision in Tarlac city, north of Manila, at a heavy travel time on May Day holiday, police said.
The bus driver, who was among the injured, was taken into custody and initially told investigators that he dozed off shortly before the crash, Tarlac police chief Lt. Col. Romel Santos told reporters.
The bus crashed into a van, which was lined up with three other vehicles at the toll booth. Eight of the dead, including children, were in the van, which was pinned between the wayward bus from behind and another car in front, police said.
A couple died in a car in the collisions that happened around midday in the scorching summer heat, police said, adding that many of the injured were bus passengers.
Vehicular accidents are common in the Philippines because of poor enforcement of safety and traffic regulations, faulty vehicles and reckless driving.
UK court to rule on Prince Harry security appeal
- Prince Harry says security concerns have hampered his ability to visit the UK and bring his family with him
- Harry’s fraught ties with his family have worsened after various public allegations he and Meghan made against the royals
LONDON: Prince Harry will learn Friday whether his bid to restore his UK police protection has been upheld, in an appeals court verdict that could determine how often the estranged royal visits Britain.
King Charles III’s youngest son has been embroiled in the years-long legal saga – one of many – since the UK government downgraded his security when he stepped down from royal life and left to live abroad with his wife, Meghan.
Since moving to California in 2020, Harry and Meghan have had a second child, Lilibet, a sister to Archie born in 2019, and rarely engage with the British royals.
But the prince says security concerns have hampered his ability to visit the UK and bring his family with him.
The government committee which handles protection for royals and public figures in 2020 decided he would not receive the “same degree” of publicly funded protection when in Britain.
After initially losing a case in the High Court challenging the decision last year, the Duke of Sussex, as he is formally known, was allowed to launch an appeal against the interior ministry.
His lawyers argue Harry was “singled out” for “unjustified and inferior treatment,” and that the committee did not fully assess the security threats when downgrading his protection.
Harry, whose older brother is heir-to-the-throne Prince William, has long been haunted by the 1997 death of his mother Princess Diana in a high-speed car crash as she tried to escape paparazzi photographers.
The prince has blamed the press for the tragedy, and cited intense media scrutiny as one of the reasons he and Meghan took a step back five years ago.
In the two-day appeal hearing last month, Harry’s lawyers said the Sussexes had been threatened by Al-Qaeda and involved in a “dangerous car pursuit with paparazzi” in New York City, as an example of the security dangers he faces.
“There is a person sitting behind me whose safety, whose security and whose life is at stake,” the prince’s lawyer Shaheed Fatima said in concluding statements.
In a 2023 High Court hearing, Harry, a former British army captain who served in Afghanistan, said it was too dangerous to bring his family to the UK without bolstered security.
“The UK is my home,” he said. “The UK is central to the heritage of my children. That cannot happen if it’s not possible to keep them safe.”
However, the High Court concluded that the government had acted lawfully in its decision.
In the appeal hearing, government lawyers said Harry’s security was meant to be “bespoke” to his “revised circumstances,” adding it was a result of his decision to spend less time in the UK.
Harry’s fraught ties with his family have worsened after various public allegations he and Meghan made against the royals.
Harry and his brother William are barely on speaking terms, according to UK media.
He has also hardly seen his father King Charles – who has been receiving treatment for an unspecified type of cancer – for over a year.
While Harry has maintained a relatively low-profile since 2020, Meghan has been boosting her online presence this year, having already launched a podcast and Netflix series as well as making a return to social media.
Truck driver’s body recovered from huge Japan sinkhole after three months
- A road in the city of Yashio caved in during morning rush hour in late January while the man was driving his lorry on it
- The sinkhole, which was caused by corroded sewerage pipes, was reportedly 16 meters deep in February
TOKYO: Japanese rescuers have recovered the body of a truck driver who was swallowed by a huge sinkhole near Tokyo three months ago, an official said on Friday.
A road in the city of Yashio caved in during morning rush hour in late January while the 74-year-old man was driving his lorry on it.
The sinkhole, which was caused by corroded sewerage pipes, was reportedly 16 meters (52 feet) deep in February.
The search operation was hindered by unstable ground, which raised the risk of the chasm collapsing further and prevented rescuers from approaching the area where the driver was believed to be buried.
Since then the hole has grown to at least 40 meters across, almost the length of an Olympic swimming pool.
A slope later allowed rescuers to send heavy equipment into the hole while 1.2 million residents were asked to temporarily cut back on showers and laundry to prevent leaking sewage from hindering the operation.
Walls were built to ensure safety, regional officials said.
“We discovered a man inside the truck cabin and confirmed his death, then passed the incident to police,” a spokesman for the local fire department said Friday.
A police spokesman said investigations were under way, including officially confirming the body’s identity.
“Until the very end of his life, my father, who had a strong heart, must have been hoping to come home alive – fighting fear and pain – which makes me feel a tightening in my heart,” a family member of the unnamed driver said in a statement to Japanese media.
“I can’t believe or accept the fact that my father, who was loved by everyone, suddenly disappeared,” the statement said.
The number of sinkholes in Japan is rising, topping 10,000 in fiscal 2022. Many of these are sewerage-related in urban areas, a land ministry probe shows.
In 2016 a giant sinkhole around 30 meters wide and 15 meters deep appeared on a busy street in Fukuoka city, triggered by nearby subway construction.
No one was hurt and the street reopened a week after workers toiled around the clock.
China says evaluating US offer of tariff talks but wants ‘sincerity’
- China demands that the US “correct its wrong practices and cancel unilateral tariffs”
- Attempting coercion and blackmail under the guise of talks will not work, says commerce ministry
BEIJING: China said Friday it is evaluating a US offer for negotiations on tariffs but wanted Washington to show “sincerity” and be ready to scrap levies that have roiled global markets and supply chains.
Punishing US tariffs that have reached 145 percent on many Chinese products came into force in April while Beijing has responded with fresh 125 percent duties on imports from the United States.
High-end tech goods such as smartphones, semiconductors and computers have received a temporary reprieve from US tariffs.
US President Donald Trump has repeatedly claimed that China has reached out for talks on the tariffs, and this week said he believed there was a “very good chance we’re going to make a deal.”
Beijing’s commerce ministry on Friday confirmed the US had reached out and that it was “currently evaluating” the offer.
But, it said, any talks would first require sincerity from the US side.
“If the US wants to talk, it should show its sincerity to do so, be prepared to correct its wrong practices and cancel unilateral tariffs,” the ministry said.
“In any possible dialogue or talks, if the US side does not correct its wrong unilateral tariff measures, it just means the US side is completely insincere and will further damage the mutual trust between the two sides,” it added.
“Saying one thing and doing another, or even attempting coercion and blackmail under the guise of talks will not work,” the commerce ministry said.
Dozens of countries face a 90-day deadline expiring in July to strike an agreement with Washington and avoid higher, country-specific rates.
But Beijing had vowed to fight a trade war to the bitter end if needed, with a video posted on social media this week by its foreign ministry vowing to “never kneel down!“
But it has acknowledged global economic vicissitudes have strained its economy, long dependent on exports, with officials admitting that foreign-facing firms are facing difficulties.
Data this week showed factory activity shrank in April, with Beijing blaming a “sharp shift” in the global economy.
Chinese exports soared more than 12 percent in March as businesses rushed to get ahead of the swingeing tariffs.
Hegseth orders Army to cut costs by merging some commands and slashing jobs
WASHINGTON: The Army is planning a sweeping transformation that will merge or close headquarters, dump outdated vehicles and aircraft, slash as many as 1,000 headquarters staff in the Pentagon and shift personnel to units in the field, according to a new memo and US officials familiar with the changes.
In a memo released Thursday, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ordered the transformation to “build a leaner, more lethal force.” Discussions about the changes have been going on for weeks, including decisions to combine a number of Army commands.
Col. Dave Butler, an Army spokesman, said the potential savings over five years would be nearly $40 billion.
US officials said as many as 40 general officer slots could be cut as a result of the restructuring. They spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss personnel issues.
The changes come as the Pentagon is under pressure to slash spending and personnel as part of the broader federal government cuts pushed by President Donald Trump’s administration and ally Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency.
In his memo, Hegseth said the Army must eliminate wasteful spending and prioritize improvements to air and missile defense, long-range fires, cyber, electronic warfare and counter-space capabilities.
Specifically, he said the Army must merge Army Futures Command and Training and Doctrine Command into one entity and merge Forces Command, Army North and Army South into a single headquarters “focused on homeland defense and partnership with our Western Hemisphere allies.”
In addition, he called for the Army to consolidate units, including Joint Munitions Command and Sustainment Command, as well as operations at various depots and arsenals.
Officials said that while the mergers will result in fewer staff positions, there won’t be a decrease in the Army’s overall size. Instead, soldiers would be shifted to other posts.
On the chopping block would be legacy weapons and equipment programs, such as the Humvee and some helicopter formations, along with a number of armor and aviation units across the active duty forces, National Guard and Reserve. The units were not identified.
A key issue, however, will be Congress.
For years, lawmakers have rejected Army and Pentagon efforts to kill a wide range of programs, often because they are located in members’ home districts.
Defense Department and service leaders learned long ago to spread headquarters, depots, troops and installations across the country to maximize congressional support. But those efforts also have stymied later moves to chop programs.
It’s unclear whether the House and Senate will allow all of the cuts or simply add money back to the budget to keep some intact.
