Zelensky presses top US military officials to allow Ukraine to strike deeper in Russia

Ukraine needs the ability to strike deep within Russia now, Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky urged top US and allied military leaders Friday. (dpa via AP)
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Updated 06 September 2024
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Zelensky presses top US military officials to allow Ukraine to strike deeper in Russia

  • Kyiv continues to press its case that without long-range strikes and bolstered air defenses, it faces a bleak winter
  • To date, the US has been reluctant to further loosen restrictions on the long-range missiles it does provide

RAMSTEIN AIR BASE, Germany: Ukraine needs the ability to strike deep within Russia now, President Volodymyr Zelensky urged top US and allied military leaders Friday in Germany, as Kyiv continues to press its case that without long-range strikes and bolstered air defenses, it faces a bleak winter.

The meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group was taking place during a dynamic moment in Ukraine’s fight against Russia, as it conducts its first offensive operations of the war while facing a significant threat from Russian forces near a key hub in the Donbas. It also comes days after Russia launched a deadly airstrike against a Ukrainian military training center that killed more than 50 and wounded hundreds.

Then on Friday Russia fired five ballistic missiles at the city of Pavlohrad in the eastern Dnipropetrovsk region, injuring at least 50 people, regional Gov. Serhii Lysak said. Three of those injured in the daylight attack were children aged four, nine, and 11 years old, he said.

“We need to have this long-range capability, not only on the divided territory of Ukraine, but also on the Russian territory, so that Russia is motivated to seek peace,” Zelensky told the contact group. “We need to make Russian cities and even Russian soldiers think about what they need: peace or Putin.”

To date, the US has been reluctant to further loosen restrictions on the long-range missiles it does provide, out of concerns that it could further escalate the conflict.

However, Canadian Defense Minister Bill Blair said Zelensky convinced him to support the long-range strike use and that he hopes the other Western allies also get behind the ask. Canada does not have long-range munitions it could provide on its own, Blair said.

“One of the things President Zelensky and his ministers have made very clear to us is that they are suffering significant attacks from air bases and military installations located within Russia,” Blair said. “We support their request for permission, but it’s still a decision of our allies.”

So far, the surprise assault inside Russia’s Kursk territory — in which Zelensky said Ukraine has been able to capture about 1,300 kilometers (800 miles) of Russian territory and kill or injure about 6,000 Russian soldiers — has not drawn away President Vladimir Putin’s focus from taking the Ukrainian city of Pokrovsk, which provides critical rail and supply links for the Ukrainian army. Losing Pokrovsk could put additional Ukrainian cities at risk.

While Kursk has put Russia on the defensive, “we know Putin’s malice runs deep,” and Moscow is pressing on, especially around Pokrovsk, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said.

Recent deadly airstrikes by Russia have renewed Zelensky’s calls for the US to further loosen restrictions and obtain even greater Western capabilities to strike deeper inside Russia. Zelensky also said systems that were already promised have been too slow to arrive.

“The number of air defense systems that have not yet been delivered is significant,” Zelensky said.

German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said the systems promised, particularly Patriot air defense systems, need to be delivered to help Ukraine defend its electrical grid and infrastructure during winter fighting. Last year Russia repeatedly struck power systems in Ukraine.

During the meeting Austin announced the Biden administration would provide another $250 million in weapons to Ukraine, including air defense munitions and artillery.

As well as resources for air defense and artillery, the meeting Friday was expected to focus on shoring up gains in expanding Ukraine’s own defense industrial base, to put it on more solid footing as the final days of Joe Biden’s US presidency wind down.

Western partner nations were working with Ukraine to source a substitute missile for its Soviet-era S-300 air defense systems, Austin said.

The US is also focused on resourcing a variety of air-to-ground missiles that the newly delivered F-16 fighter jets can carry, including the Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile, which could give Ukraine a longer-range cruise missile option, said Bill LaPlante, the Pentagon’s top weapons buyer, who spoke to reporters traveling with Austin.

No decisions on the munition have been made, LaPlante said, noting that policymakers would still have to decide whether to give Ukraine the longer-range capability.

“I would just put JASSM in that category, it’s something that is always being looked at,” LaPlante said. “Anything that’s an air-to-ground weapon is always being looked at.”

For the past two years, members of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group have met to resource Ukraine’s mammoth artillery and air defense needs, ranging from hundreds of millions of rounds of small arms ammunition to some of the West’s most sophisticated air defense systems, and now fighter jets. The ask this month was more of the same — but different in that it was in person by Zelensky and followed a similar in-person visit Thursday in Kyiv by Biden’s Deputy National Security Adviser Jon Finer as Kyiv shores up US support before the administration changes.

Since 2022, the member nations together have provided about $106 billion in security assistance to Ukraine. The US has provided more than $56 billion of that total.

The German government said Chancellor Olaf Scholz plans to meet Zelensky in Frankfurt on Friday afternoon.


Beijing slams ‘groundless accusations’ after Ukraine summons Chinese envoy

Updated 1 sec ago
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Beijing slams ‘groundless accusations’ after Ukraine summons Chinese envoy

AFP : Beijing on Wednesday dismissed as “groundless” Ukraine’s allegation that Chinese fighters and companies were directly assisting Russia’s military.
“China firmly opposes groundless accusations and political manipulation,” foreign ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun said at a press conference in response to a question about China’s ambassador being summoned by Kyiv.

Pope Francis’s coffin arrives in Saint Peter’s Basilica to lie in state

Updated 14 min 45 sec ago
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Pope Francis’s coffin arrives in Saint Peter’s Basilica to lie in state

  • Heads of state are expected for Pope Francis’ funeral Saturday in St. Peter’s Square
  • The three days of public viewing are largely for ordinary Catholics to grieve the pontiff

VATICAN CITY: Pope Francis’s body arrived at Saint Peter’s Basilica on Wednesday to lie in state before his weekend funeral.

The late pope’s open wooden coffin was carried by pallbearers the 500 meters from the Casa Santa Marta where he lived and died, behind a procession of red-robed cardinals.

Heads of state are expected for the funeral Saturday in St. Peter’s Square, but the three days of public viewing are largely for ordinary Catholics to grieve the 88-year-old pope, who died Monday after suffering a stroke.

Francis first lay in state in the Santa Marta Domus in a private viewing for Vatican residents and the papal household. Images released by the Vatican on Tuesday showed Francis lying in an open casket, wearing the traditional pointed headdress of bishops and red robes, his hands folded over a rosary. The Vatican’s No. 2, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, was pictured praying by Francis.

Italian police have tightened security for the viewing and the funeral, carrying out foot and horse patrols around the Vatican, where pilgrims continued to arrive for the Holy Year celebrations that Francis opened in December. The faithful who walk through St. Peter’s Holy Door are granted indulgences, a way to help atone for sins.

“For me, Pope Francis represents a great pastor, as well as a great friend to all of us,’’ said Micale Sales, visiting St. Peter’s Basilica from Brazil.

“I think he spread a positive message around the world, saying there shouldn’t be any violence, there should be peace around the world,’’ said Amit Kukreja, from Australia.

The funeral has been set for Saturday at 10 a.m. in St. Peter’s Square, and will be attended by leaders including US President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodmyr Zelensky.

Cardinals are continuing their meetings this week to plan the conclave to elect Francis’ successor, make other decisions about running the Catholic Church as world leaders and the ordinary faithful grieve the pontiff’s death.

History’s first Latin American pontiff charmed the world with his humble style and concern for the poor but alienated many conservatives with critiques of capitalism and climate change. He last appeared in public on Sunday with an Easter blessing and popemobile tour through a cheering crowd in St. Peter’s Square.

He had some reservations about looping through the square packed with 50,000 faithful, Vatican News reported on Tuesday, but overcame them – and was thankful that he had greeted the crowd. He died the next morning.

“The death of a pope is not a small thing, because we’ve lost our leader,’’ said Julio Henrique from Brazil. “But still, in a few days, we will have a new leader. So … the thing of hope remains. Who will assume Peter’s throne?”


China-led lunar base to include nuclear power plant on moon’s surface, space official

Updated 7 min 43 sec ago
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China-led lunar base to include nuclear power plant on moon’s surface, space official

  • The world’s second largest economy is aiming to become a major space power and land astronauts on the moon by 2030

SHANGHAI: Preliminary plans for the China and Russia-led International Lunar Research Station (ILRS) include building a nuclear reactor on the moon’s surface, a presentation by a Chinese space official on Wednesday showed.
The presentation by Pei Zhaoyu, chief engineer for China’s 2028 Chang’e-8 mission, showed that the base’s energy supply could also depend on large-scale solar arrays, which would be built on the moon’s surface.
China’s Chang’e-8 mission aims to lay the groundwork for the construction of a permanent manned lunar base. The world’s second largest economy is aiming to become a major space power and land astronauts on the moon by 2030.
China’s timeline to build an outpost on the moon’s south pole coincides with NASA’s more ambitious and advanced Artemis program, which aims to put US astronauts back on the lunar surface in December 2025.
Wu Weiren, academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and chief designer of the Chinese Lunar Exploration Project, said last year that a “basic model” of the ILRS, with the South Pole of the Moon as its core, would be built by 2035.
The Chang’e lunar probe launches are part of the construction phase for the “basic model” outlined by Wu.
In future, China will create the “555 Project”, inviting 50 countries, 500 international scientific research institutions, and 5,000 overseas researchers to join the ILRS.


Russia destroys energy facility in Ukraine’s Kherson

Firefighters extinguish a fire following a drone attack in Poltava. (AFP)
Updated 36 min 27 sec ago
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Russia destroys energy facility in Ukraine’s Kherson

  • The drone attacks are continuing and there could be emergency power cuts

DUBAI:Russian forces destroyed an energy facility in the southern Ukrainian region of Kherson early on Wednesday, the regional governor said.
Oleksandr Prokudin said the facility, which provided the city of Kherson with electricity, had come under Russian artillery and drone attacks for more than 24 hours.
“Our military fought all night to repel the enemy attacks. However, in the morning, the Russians succeeded in destroying the energy facility,” Prokudin said on Telegram.
The drone attacks are continuing and there could be emergency power cuts as energy workers are working to stabilize the situation, he added.


China’s Xi says tariffs ‘hurt’ multilateral trade

Chinese President Xi Jinping inspects honour guards during a welcoming ceremony (AFP)
Updated 23 April 2025
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China’s Xi says tariffs ‘hurt’ multilateral trade

  • China responded with a 125 percent duty on goods from the United States.

Beijing: Chinese President Xi Jinping said Wednesday tariffs “hurt” the multilateral trading system as he hosted his Azerbaijani counterpart for talks in Beijing, state media said.
Tariff and trade wars “undermine the legitimate rights and interests of all countries, hurt the multilateral trading system, and impact the world economic order,” he told Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, state news agency Xinhua reported.
Beijing and Washington have been embroiled in a blistering trade war since US President Donald Trump this month slapped a 145 percent blanket tax on Chinese imports.
China responded with a 125 percent duty on goods from the United States.
Beijing’s commerce ministry this week warned other nations to be wary in seeking a deal with Washington.
“China firmly opposes any party reaching a deal at the expense of China’s interests,” a ministry spokesperson said Monday in a statement.
“Appeasement will not bring peace, and compromise will not be respected,” the statement said.
On Wednesday, Xi said that “despite a constantly changing international situation,” China and Azerbaijan had maintained close ties.
A day earlier, in phone calls with his British and Austrian counterparts, Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi urged Britain and the European Union to help in defending multilateral trade.