Concerns that the Ukraine war could escalate into a wider
conflict grew on Tuesday as Kyiv accused Moscow of trying to create unrest in a
Russian-backed separatist region of Moldova.
The United Nations and United States warned of rising
tensions in the Transnistria region of Moldova, as UN chief Antonio Guterres
met with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow and pleaded for peace.
Russian forces have been in Transnistria for decades after
the predominantly Russian-speaking region seceded from the former Soviet
republic.
Blasts this week targeting the state security ministry, a
radio tower and military unit came after a Russian commander claimed Russian
speakers in Moldova were being oppressed.
The claim triggered alarm that Moldova could be Russia's
next target as Moscow used the same "false flag" argument after
launching its bloody invasion of Ukraine on February 24.
"Russia wants to destabilise the Transnistrian
region," Mykhaylo Podolyak, a Ukraine presidential aide wrote on Twitter.
"If Ukraine falls, tomorrow Russian troops will be at
Chisinau's gates," he said, referring to Moldova's capital.
Guterres "is following with concern reports of new
security incidents in the Transnistrian region of Moldova," a UN spokesman
said.
The United States echoed similar concerns, stopping short of
backing Kyiv's contention that Russia was responsible.
"We fully support Moldova's territorial integrity and
sovereignty," State Department spokesman Ned Price told reporters.
- Arms flow into Ukraine -
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky has been lobbying for
heavier firepower to push back the Russian advance now focused on the eastern
region of Donbas.
Western allies are wary of being drawn into an outright war
with Russia, but Washington pledged Tuesday at a summit to move "heaven
and earth" to enable Ukraine to emerge victorious.
"Ukraine clearly believes that it can win and so does
everyone here," US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told 40 allies gathered
at the Ramstein Air Base in Germany.
With arms flowing into Ukraine, Germany announced Tuesday it
would send anti-aircraft tanks -- a sharp U-turn dropping its much-criticized
cautious stance.
"I can say one thing: The Ukrainian army will have
something to fight with," Dmytro Kuleba, Ukraine's foreign minister, said
in a briefing on Facebook.
"We have entered a completely new phase.... But this is
just the beginning. Much more will come to us."
The Ukrainian defence ministry reported in its latest update
that fighting was raging across the east with shelling of Kharkiv city and
Russian troops launching an offensive on the town of Barvinkove near Izium.
- 'I made a wish' -
"I miss my kickboxing training and dance classes,"
nine-year-old Alina, who has slept in an underground car park in Kharkiv
through a barrage of Russian rockets since the war began over two months ago,
told AFP.
"Victory would make me very happy. The war won't end
straight away, but it will in a few weeks, I made a wish."
At the entrance to Barvinkove, not far from the Russian
lines, six Ukrainian soldiers were ready at any moment to dive into their
trench, which they dig every day with a shovel.
"Otherwise, we're dead," said Vasyl, 51, who
serves with his 22-year-old son Denys.
Ukraine officials said there was fighting all along
frontlines in the Donetsk region, and that resistance in the Azovstal factory
in the besieged port city of Mariupol was still holding out.
Fierce Ukrainian fighting in recent weeks has beaten back
Russian troops from around the capital Kyiv and from the Chernobyl nuclear
zone.
But Zelensky said Tuesday that Russian troops' conduct at
Chernobyl showed that "no one in the world can feel safe."
Russia treated the toxic site "like a normal
battleground, territory where they didn't even try to care about nuclear
safety," he said during a press conference with UN atomic watchdog chief
Rafael Grossi.
Ukraine's best-known singer Sviatoslav Vakarchuk made a
morale-boosting visit to the eastern front, where a military press officer
admitted the situation was difficult.
"It's far from rosy," Iryna Rybakova, of the 93rd
brigade, told AFP. "Of course, we were prepared for this war, especially
the professional army, but for those who've been recruited, it's more
complicated."
Guterres, at his talks with Putin, called for Moscow and
Kyiv to work together with the UN to set up aid and evacuation corridors to
help civilians escape.
After "very frank talks" with Foreign Minister
Sergei Lavrov, Guterres said that "Russia's invasion of Ukraine is a
violation of its territorial integrity and against the Charter of the United
Nations."
The UN chief's spokesman said Putin had agreed in principle
to the United Nations and the International Committee of the Red Cross being
involved in evacuating civilians from Mariupol.
Despite the bloodshed, Putin -- who shocked the world by
sending troops into Ukraine -- told Guterres that he believed peace
negotiations could succeed.
"We still hope that we will be able to reach agreements
on the diplomatic track," Putin said.
Sitting across from the UN chief at a long table at the
Kremlin, Putin said efforts at talks had been derailed by claims of atrocities
committed by Russian forces.
- Civilians flee -
Russia said it had carried out high-precision missile
strikes against 32 Ukrainian military targets including four ammunition depots
on Tuesday. It also launched airstrikes against 33 targets and 100 artillery
and rocket strikes.
In the south, two Russian missiles struck the industrial
city of Zaporizhzhia, which has welcomed many civilians fleeing Mariupol,
regional authorities said.
Russian forces are expected to soon advance on the city,
giving them the potential to seize Ukraine's largest nuclear power plant.
Strikes on Tuesday killed at least nine civilians in the
south and east, Ukrainian officials said.
The UN's refugee agency said it now expects more than eight
million Ukrainians to eventually flee their country, with nearly 5.3 million
already out, and that $1.85 billion would be needed to host them in
neighbouring countries, mainly Poland.
– BSS/AFP
Comment
American and British forces carried out a fresh wave of strikes Saturday against 18 Huthi targets in Yemen, following weeks of unrelenting attacks on Red Sea shipping by the Iran-backed rebels.
The strikes "specifically targeted 18 Huthi targets across eight locations in Yemen" including weapons storage facilities, attack drones, air defense systems, radars, and a helicopter, a joint statement said.
It was co-signed by Australia, Bahrain, Denmark, Canada, the Netherlands and New Zealand, who gave unspecified "support" to the new round of strikes, the second this month and fourth since the rebels began their attacks on ships in the region.
"The Huthis' now more than 45 attacks on commercial and naval vessels since mid-November constitute a threat to the global economy, as well as regional security and stability, and demand an international response," the statement said.
Huthi-run Al-Masirah television reported "a series of raids on the capital Sanaa," while AFP correspondents in the rebel-controlled city in western Yemen said they heard several loud bangs.
"The United States will not hesitate to take action, as needed, to defend lives and the free flow of commerce in one of the world's most critical waterways," Pentagon chief Lloyd Austin said in a separate statement after the strikes.
"We will continue to make clear to the Huthis that they will bear the consequences if they do not stop their illegal attacks, which harm Middle Eastern economies, cause environmental damage, and disrupt the delivery of humanitarian aid to Yemen and other countries."
Huthi military spokesman Yahya Saree was defiant, vowing in a social media statement that the rebels would "confront the American-British escalation with more qualitative military operations against all hostile targets in the Red and Arab Seas."
The UK Ministry of Defence said four Royal Air Force Typhoon FGR4s targeted "several very long-range drones, used by the Houthis for both reconnaissance and attack missions," on Saturday, at a site north-east of Sanaa.
Saturday's operation comes after several merchant vessels were struck this week in the region, including the fertilizer-filled Rubymar, whose crew had to abandon ship after it was hit Sunday and began taking on water.
Apart from the joint operations with Britain, the United States has also carried out unilateral strikes against Huthi positions and weaponry in Yemen, and downed dozens of missiles and drones in the Red Sea.
- Anti-ship missile downed -
Earlier on Saturday, US Central Command (CENTCOM) announced that an American Navy ship had shot down an anti-ship ballistic missile "launched into the Gulf of Aden from Iranian-backed Huthi controlled areas of Yemen."
The missile "was likely targeting MV Torm Thor, a US-Flagged, owned, and operated chemical/oil tanker," CENTCOM said on X, formerly Twitter.
US forces on Friday also shot down three attack drones near commercial ships in the Red Sea and destroyed seven anti-ship cruise missiles on land, CENTCOM said.
The Huthis say they are targeting Israel-linked vessels in support of Palestinians in Gaza, which has been ravaged by the Israel-Hamas war.
Following previous US and UK strikes, the Huthis declared American and British interests to be legitimate targets as well.
The Huthis will "persist in upholding their religious, moral and humanitarian duties towards the Palestinian people, and their military operations will not stop unless the aggression stops and the siege on the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip is lifted," military spokesman Saree said.
Anger over Israel's devastating campaign in Gaza -- which began after an unprecedented Hamas attack on October 7 -- has grown across the Middle East, stoking violence involving Iran-backed groups in Lebanon, Iraq, Syria and Yemen.
Comment
Israel launched air strikes Thursday on southern Gaza's Rafah after threatening to send troops into the city, where around 1.4 million Palestinians have sought shelter from around the territory.
Global powers trying to navigate a way to end the Israel-Hamas war have so far come up short, but a US envoy was expected in Israel on Thursday to try to secure a truce deal.
International concern has spiralled over the high civilian death toll and dire humanitarian crisis in the war sparked by Hamas's October 7 attack against Israel.
More than four months of relentless fighting and air strikes have flattened much of the Hamas-run coastal territory, pushing its population of around 2.4 million to the brink of famine, according to the UN.
International concern has in recent weeks centred on Gaza's southernmost city of Rafah, where more than 1.4 million people forced to flee their homes elsewhere in the territory are now living in crowded shelters and makeshift tents.
The last city untouched by Israeli ground troops, Rafah also serves as the main entry point via neighbouring Egypt for desperately needed relief supplies.
Israel has warned it will expand its ground operations into Rafah if Hamas does not free the remaining hostages held in Gaza by next month's start of the Muslim holy month Ramadan.
- 'My daughter' -
The war started when Hamas launched its attack on October 7, which resulted in the deaths of about 1,160 people in Israel, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of official Israeli figures.
Hamas militants also took about 250 hostages -- 130 of whom remain in Gaza, including 30 presumed dead, according to Israel.
Israel's retaliatory campaign has killed at least 29,313 people, mostly women and children, according to the latest count by the Hamas-run health ministry in the territory.
War cabinet member Benny Gantz said Israel's operation in Rafah would begin "after the evacuation of the population", although his government has not offered any details on where civilians would be evacuated to.
In the early hours of Thursday, AFP reporters heard multiple air strikes on Rafah, particularly in the Al-Shaboura neighbourhood.
The Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza said early Thursday that 99 people had been killed around Gaza during the night, most of them women, children and elderly people.
Abdel Rahman Mohamed Jumaa said he lost his family in recent strikes on Rafah.
"I found my wife lying in the street," he told AFP. "Then I saw a man carrying a girl and I ran towards him and.... picked her up, realising she was really my daughter."
He was holding a small shrouded corpse in his arms.
- 'Possibility of progress' -
Brett McGurk, the White House coordinator for the Middle East and North Africa, was expected to arrive in Israel Thursday -- his second stop in the region after Egypt as part of US efforts to advance a hostage deal and broker a truce.
Hamas's chief Ismail Haniyeh was in Cairo for talks as well, according to the group.
Israel's Gantz said there were efforts to "promote a new plan for the return of the hostages".
"We are seeing the first signs that indicate the possibility of progress in this direction."
Matthew Miller, US State Department spokesman, said Washington was hoping for an "agreement that secures a temporary ceasefire where we can get the hostages out and get humanitarian assistance", but declined to give details on ongoing negotiations.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has insisted the army will keep fighting until it has destroyed Hamas and freed the remaining hostages.
Israel's parliament on Wednesday overwhelmingly backed a proposal by Netanyahu to oppose any unilateral recognition of a Palestinian state.
The vote came days after the Washington Post reported that US President Joe Biden's administration and a small group of Arab nations were working out a comprehensive plan for long-term peace between Israel and the Palestinians.
It included a firm timeline for the establishment of a Palestinian state, the report said.
Separately, a report by an Israeli group that fights sexual violence said Hamas's October 7 attack also involved systematic sexual assaults on civilians, based on witness testimonies, public and classified information, and interviews.
The report came the same week UN rights experts called for an independent probe into alleged Israeli abuses against Palestinian women and girls -- which Israel rejected as "despicable and unfounded claims".
Israeli officials have repeatedly alleged the militants committed violent sexual assaults during the attack -- something Hamas has denied.
- 'Waiting for death' -
Combat and chaos have stalled sporadic aid deliveries for civilians in Gaza, while in Khan Yunis -- a city just north of Rafah -- medical charity Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said an Israeli tank had fired on a house sheltering their employees and families.
Two relatives of MSF staff were killed and six others injured, it said, condemning the strike in the "strongest possible terms".
When contacted by AFP about the incident, the Israeli army said its forces had "fired at a building that was identified as a building where terror activity is occurring", adding that it "regrets" harm to civilians.
In the same town, the Palestinian Red Crescent said another hospital was also hit by "artillery shelling".
Israel has repeatedly said Hamas militants use civilian infrastructure including hospitals as operational bases -- claims that Hamas has denied.
Comment
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina today stressed the need for expanding business between Bangladesh and India using their own currencies.
"We can do our business through exchanges of Bangladeshi Taka and Indian Rupee. It has already started, but we have to expand it further so that we can increase our businesses," she said while Indian External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar paid a call on the Prime Minister.
The meeting was held at Hotel Bayerischer Hof, the conference venue, here on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference (MSC) 2024, this morning.
Foreign Minister Dr Hasan Mahmud briefed newsmen about the outcome of the meeting upon its completion.
The Foreign Minister said the Bangladesh Premier and Jaishankar attached importance to doing business between the two friendly countries through their own currencies to reduce dependency on other currencies like the US dollar.
He said Bangladesh and India have excellent bilateral relations and it has elevated to another height under the leadership of the prime ministers of the two countries.
"The relations between the countries are getting stronger day by day," he said, adding that the two leaders discussed the issues during the meeting.
Quoting Jaishankar, Hasan said, "Our relations will further be closer in the days ahead."
Bangladesh Ambassador to Germany Md Mosharraf Hossain Bhuiyan and PM's Deputy Press Secretary Md. Noorelahi Mina were present during the briefing.
Bangladesh Prime Minister arrived in Munich on February 15 evening on a three-day official visit to join the Munich Security Conference 2024.
Upon completion of the tour, Sheikh Hasina will leave Munich tomorrow night and is scheduled to reach Dhaka on February 19.
(BSS)
Comment
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has called upon all concerned to find ways to stop Russia-Ukraine war while holding a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy here.
"Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina always says we are against all kinds of war. Today, she discussed time and again about how the war can be stopped while holding talks with Zelenskyy," said Foreign Minister Dr Hasan Mahmud at a news briefing after the meeting.
The meeting between the two leaders was held at Hotel Bayerischer Hof here on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference (MSC) 2024, this morning.
Hasan also said that they also discussed how the attacks on innocent men and women in Gaza can be stopped.
The Premier reminded all that war can't bring wellbeing for any one.
"Others can be benefitted from the war. But the war cannot bring welfare for the countries involved in war and their people have to be affected by the war," said Sheikh Hasina.
In this connection, the Prime Minister recollected her memories about the sufferings of the countrymen and she herself faced during the Great War of Liberation in 1971.
She recalled her inhuman sufferings and the birth of her only son Sajeeb Wazed Joy under the captivity of the Pakistani occupation forces during the War.
"Bangladesh's foreign policy - 'Friendship to all, malice to none’ - prominently came up in the discussion between Prime Minister and Zelenskyy," the foreign minister said.
Replying to a query, Hasan said the friendly relations between Bangladesh and Russia which got foundation during the Liberation war , will not hamper at all.
"Our relationship with Russia is very wonderful. Russia stood beside us during the Liberation War and played a pivotal role in rebuilding Bangladesh after the war," he said.
He said they only discussed how to stop the war.
Bangladesh Ambassador to Germany Md Mosharraf Hossain Bhuiyan and PM's Deputy Press Secretary Md. Noorelahi Mina were present during the briefing.
Bangladesh Prime Minister arrived in Munich on February 15 evening on a three-day official visit to join the Munich Security Conference 2024.
Upon completion of the tour, Sheikh Hasina will leave Munich tomorrow night and is scheduled to reach Dhaka on February 19.
(BSS)
Comment
Comment
American and British forces carried out a fresh wave of strikes Saturday against 18 Huthi targets in Yemen, following weeks of unrelenting attacks on Red Sea shipping by the Iran-backed rebels. The strikes "specifically targeted 18 Huthi targets across eight locations in Yemen" including weapons storage facilities, attack drones, air defense systems, radars, and a helicopter, a joint statement said.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina today stressed the need for expanding business between Bangladesh and India using their own currencies. "We can do our business through exchanges of Bangladeshi Taka and Indian Rupee. It has already started, but we have to expand it further so that we can increase our businesses," she said while Indian External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar paid a call on the Prime Minister.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has called upon all concerned to find ways to stop Russia-Ukraine war while holding a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy here. "Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina always says we are against all kinds of war. Today, she discussed time and again about how the war can be stopped while holding talks with Zelenskyy," said Foreign Minister Dr Hasan Mahmud at a news briefing after the meeting.