News
Biden Visits Zelensky In Kyiv And Says Putin ‘Dead Wrong’ On Ukraine War
The United States will support Ukraine in its fight against Russia for “as long as it takes,” President Joe Biden said during an unannounced and symbolic visit to Kyiv.
“We have every confidence in your ability to prevail,” he said.
Russia invaded Ukraine a year before Mr. Biden went there for the first time as vice president.
He declared President Putin was “dead wrong” to believe Russia could outlast Ukraine and its Western allies.
He met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, and the two went to a memorial for soldiers who died in the nine years since Russia annexed Crimea and its proxy forces took control of parts of the eastern Donbas region.
A White House statement said that Mr. Biden’s presence was meant to show that the United States is “unwaveringly committed to Ukraine’s democracy, sovereignty, and territorial integrity.”
According to the New York Times, he took a 10-hour train ride from Poland to Kyiv.
On Monday, he left Ukraine for Poland.
The US Will Also Provide An Additional $10 Million To Ukraine
After the visit, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced a new $450 million (£373 million) package of security aid for Ukraine. It includes ammunition for howitzers and the Himars rocket system, Javelin missiles, and air surveillance radars.
The US will also provide an additional $10 million (£8.3 million) in emergency assistance to Kyiv “to keep Ukraine’s energy infrastructure up and running,” Mr. Blinken said.
A new round of sanctions targeting individuals and companies “trying to evade or backfill Russia’s war machine” will be announced later this week.
“The results of this visit will undoubtedly be seen and reflected on the battlefield in liberating our territories,” Mr. Zelensky said.
Mr. Zelensky said it was a “symbolic day” that demonstrated “how important Ukraine is to the world” in his nightly address on Monday.
He also stated that the two leaders discussed the possibility of sending additional weapons that had not previously been supplied.
The white House Has Planned The Trip For Months.
Mr. Zelensky has asked for F-16 fighter jets many times, but the US and other allies have not given their permission.
National security adviser Jake Sullivan – who was among President Biden’s entourage – said the US notified Russia about the trip a few hours before President Biden’s departure for “deconfliction purposes”.
He refused to comment on Moscow’s reaction to the news.
Officials at the White House said the trip had been planned for “months,” and the final decision to travel was made on Friday.
Air raid sirens wailed while President Biden and Mr. Zelensky were in St Michael’s Cathedral in central Kyiv, adding drama to the most high-profile visit to Ukraine since the war began. In Kyiv, sirens are heard regularly.
Joe Biden attends a wreath-laying ceremony at Kyiv’s war memorial.
Mr. Biden laid a wreath to remember those who died during the nine-year conflict.
While other world leaders have visited Ukraine in the last year, the US president’s visit during a war in which American soldiers are not fighting is a show of unity at a time when Russia claims Western support for Ukraine is dwindling.
Ukrainians In Kyiv Welcomed The Visit.
“I’m so grateful for his help – it means a lot to us,” Roksoliana Gera told the BBC.
“I admire his bravery in taking on this challenge and coming to show the American people’s support.”
Oleksandra Soloviova said the visit was an “important sign for the world”.
“First and foremost, it demonstrates that the United States supports us and will continue to support us with sanctions and military equipment,” she said.
Andriy Yermak, the chief of staff to Ukraine’s president, stated that the visit was strategic and historic. “Many issues are being addressed, and those that have stalled will be moved forward,” he said.
According to the US State Department, the US is one of Ukraine’s most important allies and has announced $24.9 billion (£20.6 billion) in military assistance.
Mr. Biden announced in January that the US would send 31 battle tanks and longer-range missiles.
However, there is a growing political divide in the United States over how much aid Kyiv should receive in the future.
President Biden is in Ukraine ahead of a three-day trip to Poland.
He will meet with Poland’s President, Andrzej Duda, and Nato military alliance members from Eastern Europe.
SOURCE – (BBC)
News
Australia Swelters Under Extreme Heat As Rare Early Cyclone Barrels Toward Northern Coast
A tropical cyclone has rapidly strengthened off Australia’s northern coast, as millions face heat wave conditions expected to last into the weekend.
According to the Joint Typhoon Warning Center, severe tropical storm Jasper strengthened to the equivalent of a Category 4 hurricane on Friday, with maximum winds of 220 kilometers per hour (138 mph).
“Further intensification Friday is possible, and a category 5 system cannot be ruled out,” according to the country’s meteorology bureau.
According to a CNN investigation of National Hurricane Center storm tracks, Jasper is the earliest Category 4 tropical cyclone to form in the Coral Sea since records began in 1900.
The storm, which is 1,195 kilometers (742 miles) northeast of Queensland and moving south at 9 kilometers per hour (6 miles per hour), could hit the coast near Cairns, a city of 250,000 people, with maximum sustained winds of 140 kilometers per hour (87 miles per hour) by early Tuesday.
Forecasters believe the expected route could change.
Australia Swelters Under Extreme Heat As Rare Early Cyclone Barrels Toward Northern Coast
During El Nio, a climate trend in the Pacific Ocean along the equator that often reduces rainfall on Australia’s east coast, the storm arrives unusually early.
This year’s system has had an impact on weather all over the world, and it has the potential to significantly impact storm seasons.
Meanwhile, heat advisories are in effect in various states and territories, including New South Wales, which has a population of almost 8 million people.
Temperatures in Sydney, the state capital of New South Wales, are anticipated to reach 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit) on Saturday, thanks to strong, dry winds.
Due to the elevated risk of bushfires, some Sydney schools were forced to close on Friday, and a total fire ban was in effect in some parts of NSW.
On Friday, regions of South Australia received a “catastrophic” fire rating, the highest on the scale, indicating that lives and property are likely to be lost if a fire starts.
Parts of New South Wales and Victoria have extreme fire risk ratings.
The heat is expected to subside by the end of the weekend and into early next week.
With frequent heat waves, excessive rains, and destructive bushfires, Australia is one of the most vulnerable countries to the effects of climate catastrophe.
Earlier this year, amid Australia’s warmest winter since records began in 1910, more than 20 runners in the Sydney Marathon were hospitalized due to heat exhaustion.
Ski resorts, including the country’s largest, Perisher, also closed early owing to a lack of snow.
Fears were especially high because the devastating 2020 Black Summer fires, the country’s worst in decades, are still fresh in the minds of millions of Australians.
The fires consumed 10 million hectares (24.7 million acres), killing hundreds and destroying over 3,000 homes.
SOURCE – CNN
World
Azerbaijan And Armenia Agree To Prisoner Swap And To Work Towards Peace Deal
Azerbaijan and Armenia have agreed to exchange prisoners and work toward restoring relations and a peace agreement to end a decades-long conflict, which the US and EU have applauded.
According to a joint statement issued by Azerbaijan’s state news agency, AZERTAC, Azerbaijan will swap 32 prisoners of war for two military personnel.
“The Republic of Armenia and the Republic of Azerbaijan both believe that there is a historical chance for the region to achieve long-awaited peace.” The two countries “reaffirm their intention to normalize relations and reach a peace treaty based on the principles of sovereignty and territorial integrity,” according to the statement. The breakthrough resulted from conversations between the offices of Azerbaijan’s president and Armenia’s prime minister.
“An agreement has been reached on taking tangible steps towards building confidence between two countries,” the statement says.
Azerbaijan And Armenia Agree To Prisoner Swap And To Work Towards Peace Deal
According to Matthew Miller, a spokesperson for the US State Department, the prisoner swap was “an important confidence-building measure” as the two countries worked toward a peace agreement.
“We commend Azerbaijani President (Ilham) Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister (Nikol) Pashinyan for their joint efforts to lay the groundwork for a more peaceful and prosperous future for the people of the South Caucasus,” the statement read. “The United States will continue to strongly support efforts to reach a durable and dignified peace.”
“Establishing and deepening the bilateral dialogue between sides has been a key objective of the EU-led Brussels process: today’s progress is a significant step,” said EU Council President Charles Michel on X. “I now encourage the leaders to finalize the … peace deal ASAP.”
The neighboring countries have been at odds for decades over Nagorno-Karabakh, an area in the Caucasus Mountains.
After mounting a quick 24-hour attack, Azerbaijan reclaimed control of Nagorno-Karabakh, an ethnic-Armenian enclave within its boundaries, in September.
Azerbaijan And Armenia Agree To Prisoner Swap And To Work Towards Peace Deal
Nagorno-Karabakh is internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan but has been controlled by Armenian rebels for decades. Since the fall of the Soviet Union, Armenia and Azerbaijan have fought two wars over Nagorno-Karabakh, and cease-fire agreements have proven unstable.
Armenia admitted earlier this year that the province was part of Azerbaijan, but there are still disagreements about the future of its administration.
The latest progress on prisoner swaps and repairing relations came as delegates from both countries gathered in Dubai for the COP28 climate conference.
The statement also stated that Armenia would withdraw from consideration to host the annual UN-backed climate meeting next year and that Azerbaijan hoped other nations would support its bid.
Azerbaijan And Armenia Agree To Prisoner Swap And To Work Towards Peace Deal
There is a vacancy for the summit host for COP29 in 2024, which, according to UN standards, should be hosted in Eastern Europe. Before Thursday, the two countries had been obstructing each other’s candidacy in the voting process.
A vote among the region’s nations determines the year’s host country. Russia voted against numerous countries that are members of or allies of the European Union.
Azerbaijan is a big oil and gas producer that has been strengthening ties with Russia. Oil and gas account for about half of the country’s GDP and over 90% of its exports.
SOURCE – (CNN)
U.K News
Ukraine Makes New Push To Defeat Russia’s Electronic Warfare
A drone video that appeared to show a targeted strike blowing up three antennas on the roof of an apartment building surfaced online in early November. The Ukrainian drone commander who shared it claimed to have destroyed a Russian Pole-21 electronic warfare equipment near Donetsk on the eastern front.
Regarding electronic warfare, Ukraine is already catching up to Russia.
This attack also demonstrates Kyiv’s urgency to destroy Moscow’s technology on the battlefield, indicating how critical it may be for the war’s future.
Electronic warfare, or EW, uses electromagnetic weapons or techniques. Both forces deploy it in this battle, primarily through electronic jammers that disrupt GPS-guided targeting systems, leading rockets to miss their objectives.
After nearly six months of Ukraine’s sluggish and grinding counteroffensive, it is evident that Russia has created not only great physical barriers but also formidable electronic defenses, and Ukrainian forces on the front lines must react rapidly.
Ukraine Makes New Push To Defeat Russia’s Electronic Warfare
The drone commander with Ukraine’s 59th Motorized Brigade, which carried out the early November strike, Pavlo Petrychenko, believes that successfully destroying these systems is crucial if Ukraine is to take more land. Since the summer, there has been an increase in the frequency of Ukrainian military and media claims of successful strikes against Pole-21 systems.
“At the beginning of the conflict, they used electronic warfare to interfere with our communication, our walkie-talkies, radiocommunications, telephones, and drones,” he told CNN via video chat from near Avdiivka on the war’s eastern front, which is currently the scene of some of the bloodiest fighting.
“However, as we began to receive foreign equipment, they began to use these systems to suppress our weapons.”
“Since (the both US-provided) HIMARS (High Mobility Artillery Rocket System) and Excalibur 155 (an extended range artillery projectile) are guided by satellites, electronic warfare is actively used by (Russia) as one element of the defense against us,” Petrychenko said in a statement.
A flaw in Ukraine’s NATO-supplied armor
And this is the issue for Ukraine. Russian jammers have exploited the technological advantage of Ukraine’s Western-supplied arsenal of “smart” – guided – weapons.
Precision-guided missiles and guided multiple-launch rocket systems, such as HIMARS, are more vulnerable to electronic warfare than unguided weapons due to their reliance on GPS to hit their targets. Unguided weapons, which were common in both Russia and Ukraine’s Soviet-era stocks before 2022, do not.
Ukraine Makes New Push To Defeat Russia’s Electronic Warfare
The Pole-21 device, designed to jam GPS signals to defend Russian assets from approaching drones or missiles, is only one component of Moscow’s expanding electronic arsenal.
The Kremlin’s playbook includes jamming, as well as “spoofing” GPS – a method that effectively fools an adversary drone or missile into thinking it is somewhere else – which also impairs radar, radio, and even cell connections.
According to state news agency TASS, Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin told a government meeting in September that production of major types of military equipment, including EW, had more than doubled in the first eight months of the year.
According to experts and Ukrainian officials, Russia has now fully incorporated electronic warfare into its forces.
In a recent essay, Ukraine’s commander-in-chief, Valery Zaluzhny, stated that Russia is now mass producing what he refers to as “trench electronic warfare.”
“The tactical level of Russian troops is saturated with (this equipment),” Zaluzhny said, adding that despite equipment losses, Moscow maintains “significant electronic warfare superiority.”
Zaluzhny also singled out American-made Excalibur shells, adding that their “capability has been significantly reduced, because the targeting system (using GPS) is very sensitive to the influence of enemy electronic warfare.”
Maj. Charlie Dietz, a Pentagon spokesperson, stated that “while the impact of Russian jamming has been observed” in certain US-supplied systems, including HIMARS rocket launchers, “it has not rendered these systems ineffective.”
Ukraine Makes New Push To Defeat Russia’s Electronic Warfare
According to Dietz, the agency has mitigated those vulnerabilities, including “substantial efforts to re-engineer and update these systems.” Updates are “being implemented as quickly as possible to counteract the effects of EW jamming,” he added.
Right now, the best hope they have is that videos of his early November drone strike go viral, according to Petrychenko. With so many Ukrainian troops on social media, any viral clip like this would serve as a manual, assisting them in identifying Russian antennas on the battlefield.
This is shifting the game outside of Ukraine.
“I think what you’re seeing play out in Ukraine is very much a glimpse into what modern warfare looks like today,” said Kari Bingen, director of the Aerospace Security Project at the think tank Center for Strategic and International Studies and a former Pentagon principal deputy undersecretary for defense. She envisions a future where “electronic warfare capabilities and tactics are integrated into conventional force operations.”
Ukraine Makes New Push To Defeat Russia’s Electronic Warfare
According to Dietz, a Pentagon spokesperson, the United States is “actively evaluating and adapting its strategies” in electronic warfare, which he sees as a “fundamental aspect of contemporary and future military engagements.”
Fedorov stated that Ukraine is actively investing in electronic warfare while also following in the footsteps of his drone program by promoting indigenous production.
And he is open about the fact that Ukraine requires assistance from its Western partners in terms of both equipment and knowledge.
“We have all the technology we need in the West.” The question may be how to use it, which is important. We must consider the next technological level of the conflict.”
SOURCE – (CNN)
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