International

Ukraine forces ordered to withdraw from key battleground city

Published

2 years ago

June 25, 2022

Russia's attack on Ukraine continues, in Sievierodonetsk

Ukrainian forces have been ordered to withdraw from the key battleground city of Sievierodonetsk after weeks of fierce street fighting, in order to limit more casualties and regroup, but the move will be seen by Russia as a significant victory.

Ukraine officials said there was very little left to defend in the bombed-out eastern city, where hundreds of civilians remain trapped in a chemical plant.

The order to withdraw on Friday came four months to the day since Russian President Vladimir Putin sent tens of thousands of troops over the border, unleashing a conflict that has killed thousands, uprooted millions and reduced whole cities to rubble.

Luhansk regional governor Serhiy Gaidai said troops inSievierodonetsk had already received the order to move to newpositions.

“Remaining in positions smashed to pieces over many monthsjust for the sake of staying there does not make sense,” Gaidaisaid on Ukrainian television.

The withdrawal from Sievierodonetsk would mark the biggest reversal for Ukraine since the loss of the southern port of Mariupol in May.

The latest Russian advances appeared to bring the Kremlincloser to taking full control of Luhansk, one of Moscow’s statedwar objectives, and set the stage for Sievierodonetsk’s twincity of Lysychansk to become the next main focus of fighting.

Vitaly Kiselev, an official in the Interior Ministry of theseparatist Luhansk People’s Republic – recognised only by Russia- told Russia’s TASS news agency that it would take another week and a half to secure full control of Lysychansk.

Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24, but abandoned an earlyadvance on the capital Kyiv in the face of fierce resistancebolstered by Western arms.

Since then Moscow and its proxies have focused on the southand Donbas, an eastern territory made up of Luhansk and itsneighbour Donetsk, deploying overwhelming artillery in some ofthe heaviest ground fighting in Europe since World War Two.

Ukraine on Friday again pressed for more arms, with its topgeneral, Valeriy Zaluzhniy, telling his U.S. counterpart in aphone call that Kyiv needed “fire parity” with Moscow tostabilise the situation in Luhansk.

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‘ORDERLY RETREATS’

South of Sievierodonetsk, Ukrainian soldiers also withdrew from the towns of Hirske and Zolote in the face of overwhelming Russian forces, said Oleksiy Arestovych, an adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy.

Arestovych said the orderly retreat from the towns was a good thing in that it broke with a Soviet and post-Soviet military tradition to never retreat, whatever the circumstances.

He said Ukraine’s military had learnt the hard lesson of trying to defend positions at all cost during battles with pro-Russian forces in 2014.

“Now, for the first time, we have a precedent where our boys retreated in an orderly fashion,” he said in an online video post.

Russian troops had entered Hirske and fully occupied the surrounding district on Friday, municipal head Oleksiy Babchenko said.

“There is a red flag flying over the municipaladministration (in Hirske),” a spokesperson for the regionaladministration told Reuters by telephone.

Ukraine’s foreign minister played down the significance ofthe possible loss of more territory in the Donbas.

“Putin wanted to occupy the Donbas by May 9. We are (there) on June 24 and still fighting. Retreating from a few battlesdoes not mean losing the war at all,” Dmytro Kuleba said in aninterview with the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera.

The general staff of Ukraine’s armed forces said its troopshad some success in the southern Kherson region, forcing theRussians back from defensive positions near the village ofOlhine, the latest of several Ukrainian counter-assaults.

Ukrainian media showed footage of a school smouldering andgutted by Russian shelling in Avdiivka — a town in Donetskregion just inside Ukrainian-held territory. Reports said theschool had been used as a first aid centre and the attackdestroyed medicine and other supplies.

Reuters could not confirm the details of the fighting.

Russia says it sent troops into Ukraine to degrade itssouthern neighbour’s military capabilities and root out peopleit called dangerous nationalists.

Ukraine, which says Russia has launched an imperial-styleland grab, this week won new support from the West.

The war has had a massive impact on the global economy andEuropean security arrangements, driving up gas, oil and foodprices, pushing the EU to reduce its heavy reliance on Russianenergy and prompting Finland and Sweden to seek NATO membership.

The West has imposed an unprecedented package of sanctions on Russia, its top companies and its business and political elite in response to Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.

The measures have triggered an exodus of foreign firms, raised the prospect of Russia defaulting on its sovereign debt, and look set to trigger a deep economic contraction.

In a major sign of support, European Union leaders this week approved Ukraine’s formal candidature to join the bloc – a decision that Russia said on Friday amounted to the EU’s “enslaving” neighbouring countries.

Related Topics:battleground Sievierodonetsk Ukraine force withdraw

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International

BREAKING : Israel launches deadly attacks on Iran

Published

16 hours ago

April 19, 2024

Trends Admin

File photo

BREAKING : Israel launches deadly attacks on Iran

Israel has attacked Iran, three people familiar with the matter said, as Iranian state media reported early on Friday that its forces had destroyed drones, days after Iran launched a retaliatory drone strike on Israel.

One source told Reuters the U.S. was not involved but was notified by Israel before the attack.

Iran’s Fars news agency reported three explosions were heard near an army base in the central city of Isfahan. An Iranian official told Reuters there was no missile attack and the explosions were the result of the activation of Iran’s air defense systems.

Iranian state TV said that shortly after midnight “three drones were observed in the sky over Isfahan. The air defense system became active and destroyed these drones in the sky.”

The broadcaster later said the situation in Isfahan was normal and no ground explosions had occurred.

The Israeli military had no comment on the reports.

Israel had said it would retaliate, opens new tab against Iran’s weekend attack, which involved hundreds of drones, opens new tab and missiles, in response to a suspected Israeli strike on its embassy compound in Syria. Most of the Iranian drones and missiles were downed before reaching Israeli territory.

Analysts and observers have raised concerns about the risks of the Israel-Gaza war spreading into the rest of the region.

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi had warned Israel before Friday’s strike that Tehran would deliver a “severe response” to any attack on its territory.

BREAKING : Israel launches deadly attacks on Iran

(REUTERS)

International

Updated: Tragedy hits Kenya, Defence chief, nine others die in military helicopter crash

Published

20 hours ago

April 19, 2024

Trends Admin

Updated: Tragedy hits Kenya, Defence chief, nine others die in helicopter crash

A military helicopter on Thursday crashed in Kenya, claiming the life of the country’s Defence chief, Francis Ogolla, and nine officers on board.

Kenya’s President, William Ruto, confirmed the unfortunate accident in a televised address.

He said the helicopter crashed shortly after take-off Thursday afternoon local time, killing Ogolla and nine other members of the military.

Two people survived the crash, he added.

“I am deeply saddened to announce the passing on of General Francis Omondi Ogolla, the Chief of the Kenya Defence Forces,” he said.

A team of investigators was immediately dispatched to the site of the crash in Elgeyo Marakwet County to determine the cause of the accident, Ruto said.

Ogolla left Nairobi on Thursday to visit troops in the North Rift region of the country for inspection of ongoing school renovations, the president said.

Ruto has convened an urgent meeting of the country’s National Security Council in Nairobi, according to presidential spokesperson, Hussein Mohamed.

“For me, as the Commander in Chief of the Kenya Defence Forces, it is a tragic moment for the Kenya Defence Forces fraternity and it is a most unfortunate day for the nation at large,” Ruto said.

“Our motherland has lost one of her most valiant generals. We have also lost gallant officers, servicemen, and women,” he added.

Ruto said Kenya would observe three days of mourning beginning from Friday.

Ogolla is the first Kenyan military chief to die in active service.

The general joined the Kenya Defence Forces in 1984, becoming 2nd Lieutenant in 1985 before he was posted to the Kenya Air Force, according to the Ministry of Defence website.

International

JUST IN: Court orders Mohbad’s wife to do DNA test

Published

1 day ago

April 18, 2024

Trends Admin

Mohbad’s father, Joseph Aloba, Mohbad and baby

JUST IN: Court orders Mohbad’s wife to do DNA test

A Magistrate Court sitting in the Ikorodu area of Lagos has ordered that singer late Mohbad’s wife, Wunmi, be served notice of a pending DNA test application, by substituted means.

A statement signed by a member of the legal team to the Aloba family, Monisola Odumosu, disclosed this on Wednesday, April 17.

Mohbad’s father, Joseph Aloba, in the application filed by the legal team to the family sought an order to serve Wunmi by posting all the originating processes and other processes in the suit on the last-known address of the respondent.