Closing summary
The White House asked Congress today to approve a $106bn (£87bn) package of emergency aid to Israel and Ukraine, as well as to the southern US border. The request includes $61.4bn for Ukraine, $44.4bn of which is to provide defence department equipment for the country. For Israel, the Biden administration is asking for $14.3bn. In addition, the package includes $9.15bn for the US state department to provide humanitarian assistance to Ukraine, Israel and Gaza.
A United Nations commission of inquiry found additional evidence that Russian forces had committed “indiscriminate attacks” and war crimes in Ukraine, including rape and the deportation of children to Russia.
The Security Service of Ukraine has sent an indictment to the court against the former abbot of the Ukrainian Orthodox monastary Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra. Authorites charged Metropolitan Pavel with the violation of the equality of citizens as an official, and justification, recognition as legitimate or denial of armed aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine as an official. This comes one day after Ukraine’s parliament voted overwhelmingly to advance legislation seen as effectively banning the Ukrainian Orthodox Church over its ties to Moscow, despite the church’s insistence it is fully independent and supportive of Ukraine’s fight against Russian invaders.
Ukraine has recovered 14 archaeological items allegedly stolen by a Russian man,
from Russian-occupied Ukrainian territory. The return of the artefacts is a small victory amid the widespread destruction and pillaging of historical sites and treasures that has accompanied the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Ukrainian authorities have estimated total losses as being in the hundreds of millions of euros, and the ministry of culture reports that the number of buildings of cultural value damaged or destroyed has reached at least 623. After Ukrainian forces liberated the city of Kherson, authorities discovered 16,000 items missing from the art museum.A Ukrainian strike on Russian helicopters and air defence equipment this week could prompt Moscow to once again move its operating bases and command and control nodes further from the frontline, the UK defence ministry said in its daily intelligence briefing.
A Russian-American journalist has been detained in Russia on charges of violating its foreign agents law, reportedly due to her coverage of Russia’s military mobilisation for its invasion of Ukraine. Alsu Kurmasheva, an editor with Radio Free Europe-Radio Liberty’s (RFE-RL) Tatar-Bashkir service, was detained on Wednesday.
European leaders are frustrated about the meeting between Vladimir Putin and Viktor Orbán, the prime minister of Hungary, in Beijing this week. “As it has been repeatedly shown, Putin does not meet European leaders with the aim of achieving peace in Ukraine,” said Petr Pavel, the president of the Czech Republic. “Peace can be achieved without any negotiations on his part simply by ceasing attacks and withdrawing his troops from Ukrainian territory.”
Ukraine claimed to make a small incremental gain of 400 metres to the south-west of Verbove in the Zaporizhzhia region. Military spokesperson Oleksandr Stupun said the southern advance was still difficult because of Russian minefields and heavily fortified defences.
Nato is stepping up patrols in the Baltic Sea after recent damage to undersea infrastructure. “The increased measures include additional surveillance and reconnaissance flights. A fleet of four Nato minehunters is also being dispatched to the area,” Nato said in a statement.
Bishop charged with justifying Russian invasion of Ukraine
The Security Service of Ukraine has sent an indictment to the court against the former abbot of the Ukrainian Orthodox monastary Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra.
Authorites charged Metropolitan Pavel with the violation of the equality of citizens as an official, and justification, recognition as legitimate or denial of armed aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine as an official.
The Security Service of Ukraine purports that Pavel repeatedly publicly denied the existence of Ukraine as a sovereign state, and called the Russian armed aggression against Ukraine a “civil conflict” that has been ongoing since 2014.
Pavel has been under house arrest since April. Kyiv has long accused the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of collaborating with Russia, raiding Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra, a thousand-year-old monastary, and several other Orthodox sites last year. Prior to his arrest, Pavel had cursed Volodymyr Zelenskiy, who is Jewish, and threatened him with damnation.
But he told reporters that he hadn’t “done anything”. “I believe this is a political order,” he said in April.
Pavel’s indictment came as the Ukrainian parliament gave initial approval on Thursday to a law that would ban the Ukrainian Orthodox church.
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Reuters is reporting that Mikhail Bogdanov, the Russian deputy foreign affairs minister, will be taking part in the Cairo peace summit on the Gaza conflict.
Russian forces launched five missiles, 33 airstrikes and 32 shellings yesterday, and engaged Ukrainian troops in 77 combat engagements, the general staff of the Ukrainian armed forces said in its evening briefing.
More than 110 settlements in the Sumy, Kharkiv, Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson oblasts came under artillery fire.
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“American leadership holds the world together,” said Joe Biden. “If we put that at risk and walk away from Ukrainians or turn our back on Israeli and Palestinian civilians, it’s just not worth it.”
American leadership holds the world together.
— President Biden (@POTUS) October 20, 2023
If we put that at risk and walk away from Ukrainians or turn our back on Israeli and Palestinian civilians, it's just not worth it.
That's why I've sent an urgent budget request to Congress to fund America's national security needs. https://t.co/VkbQ5cf0LL
Biden’s administration asked Congress today to approve a $106bn (£87bn) package of emergency aid to Israel and Ukraine, as well as to the southern US border. The request includes $61.4bn for Ukraine of which $44.4bn is to provide defence department equipment for the country. For Israel, the Biden administration is asking for $14.3bn. The package also includes $9.15bn for the US state department to provide humanitarian assistance to Ukraine, Israel and Gaza.
Updated
Volodymyr Zelenskiy said today that he spoke with Olaf Scholz, chancellor of Germany, to thank him for Germany’s support.
Scholz said the EU must collectively continue to financially support Ukraine in future. “We have a clear stance here: This aid for Ukraine, for the financial stability of the country, we will have to provide this jointly as Europeans,” Scholz told lawmakers.
I spoke with @Bundeskanzler Olaf Scholz and thanked him for Germany’s support.
— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) October 20, 2023
Our agreements in Granada are being successfully implemented. I am especially grateful for the latest large military aid package, which includes Patriot and IRIS-T systems, as well as ammunition for…
Jake Sullivan, the White House’s national security adviser, told reporters today that Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine and Hamas’ attack on Israel represented a “global inflection point”, the Associated Press is reporting.
“This budget request is critical to advancing America’s national security and ensuring the safety of the American people,” Sullivan said.
The White House has released the supplemental request for billions of dollars in aid for Israel and Ukraine. In the accompanying letter, Shalanda D Young, the director of the US office of management and budget, notes that the request “reflects how, under President Biden’s leadership, the US has marshalled a robust response to Putin’s brutal invasion of Ukraine and is now coming to the aid of our ally Israel”.
“The President has reaffirmed that we must stand up to tyranny and with Ukraine as it defends its sovereignty,” Young wrote. “We must send the unmistakable message that in the 21st Century, a dictator cannot conquer or carve up his neighbours’ territory.
“The United States has rallied the world to stand with Ukraine and built a coalition of more than 50 countries that are providing weapons and equipment to help Ukraine defend itself against Russian aggression. However, as we shared with the Congress as part of our recent supplemental funding request in August, previous supplemental appropriations for direct military aid, economic and humanitarian assistance, and other support have been committed or nearly committed.
“As Ukrainians wage a tough counteroffensive and as winter fast approaches, the world is watching what the Congress does next. It is important that we continue to do everything we can to help Ukraine succeed on the battlefield and protect its people. As the president said, we cannot under any circumstances allow America’s support for Ukraine to be interrupted—we are the indispensable nation in the world, let’s act like it.”
Updated
White House requests $106bn in aid for Ukraine, Israel, US southern border
The White House asked Congress today to approve a $106bn (£87bn) package of emergency aid to Israel and Ukraine, as well as to the southern US border, Politico is reporting.
The request includes $61.4bn for Ukraine, $44.4bn of which is to provide defence department equipment for the country. For Israel, the Biden administration is asking for $14.3bn. In addition, the package includes $9.15bn for the US state department to provide humanitarian assistance to Ukraine, Israel and Gaza.
The Biden administration faces a number of hurdles in getting this aid package approved. The House of Representatives is at a standstill without a speaker, with some of the more vocal conservative members of the House balking at the amount of aid sent to other countries.
Updated
Here are some of the latest images coming in from Ukraine via news agency wires:
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Ukraine has recovered 14 archaeological items allegedly stolen by a Russian man, the Associated Press is reporting.
The man allegedly stole the artefacts from Russian-occupied Ukrainian territory and then tried to transport them into the US, but was stopped at a US airport on suspicion of illegally importing artefacts, said Rostyslav Karandieiev, Ukraine’s acting minister of culture.
The recovered items included various types of axes and weaponry dating back to periods ranging from the Neolithic to the middle ages. One polished Neolithic axe dates from about 5,000-3,000 years BCE, said Karandieiev.
“It’s safe to say that Ukraine has received a new shipment of weaponry. The only catch is that this weaponry is incredibly ancient,” Karandieiev joked during the public handover of artefacts at the historic Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra, a sacred Orthodox monastic complex.
Most of the artefacts returned were handed over during last month’s visit of Volodymyr Zelenskiy to the US. Maksym Ostapenk, the acting director general of Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra, estimated the value of the repatriated items to be about $20,000. However, he emphasised that each artefact is a significant cultural treasure.
The Russian invasion of Ukraine has been accompanied by the destruction and pillaging of historical sites and treasures on an industrial scale, with Ukrainian authorities estimating total losses in the hundreds of millions of euros. The ministry of culture reports that the number of buildings of cultural value damaged or destroyed has reached at least 623. After Ukrainian forces liberated the city of Kherson, authorities discovered 16,000 items missing from the art museum.
“How long it will take to return our treasures, our artefacts, is hard to say,” Karandieiev said.
Updated
Russia charges Ukrainian war veteran mistakenly honoured by Canada with genocide
Last month, Canada mistakenly honoured the 98-year-old Ukrainian war veteran Yaroslav Hunka, who had served in a German Nazi division fighting the Soviet Union in the second world war.
With Russia long justifying its invasion of Ukraine by falsely claiming they had to “denazify” the country, Moscow has jumped on the incident, with investigators today charging Hunka with genocide, Reuters is reporting.
Russian state and military archives have “received documentary evidence of the places of deployment and the conduct of hostilities by the SS Galicia division, in which Hunka served”, the federal investigative committee said in a statement.
“Currently, the issue of putting Y Hunka on the international wanted list and ordering his arrest in absentia is being decided.”
The Waffen SS was an autonomous military corps of Adolf Hitler’s Nazi party that recruited hundreds of thousands of non-Germans. Joining this corps were thousands of Ukrainian nationalists who saw the Germans who had invaded the Soviet Union as liberators from Moscow’s oppression.
Historians believe its members took part in several massacres. The predominantly Ukrainian Galicia Division has been found guilty of war crimes by commissions in Germany and Poland.
The then-speaker of the Canadian lower house of parliament, Anthony Rota, has since resigned over the incident, in which he praised Hunka with the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, present in the chamber. Justin Trudeau, prime minister of Canada, also formally apologised last month.
Updated
Summary of the day so far
Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, has said he is grateful to Joe Biden for his “strong signal of support”, after speaking to the US president shortly before he gave a rare Oval Office address in which he asked Americans to back further military aid to both Ukraine and Israel.
Ukraine’s parliament has voted overwhelmingly to advance legislation seen as effectively banning the Ukrainian Orthodox Church over its ties to Moscow, despite the church’s insistence it is fully independent and supportive of Ukraine’s fight against Russian invaders.
A United Nations commission of inquiry found additional evidence that Russian forces had committed “indiscriminate attacks” and war crimes in Ukraine, including rape and the deportation of children to Russia.
A Russian-American journalist has been detained in Russia on charges of violating its foreign agents law, reportedly due to her coverage of Russia’s military mobilisation for its invasion of Ukraine. Alsu Kurmasheva, an editor with Radio Free Europe-Radio Liberty’s (RFE-RL) Tatar-Bashkir service, was detained on Wednesday.
European leaders are frustrated about the meeting between Vladimir Putin and Viktor Orbán, the prime minister of Hungary, in Beijing this week. “As it has been repeatedly shown, Putin does not meet European leaders with the aim of achieving peace in Ukraine,” said Petr Pavel, the president of the Czech Republic. “Peace can be achieved without any negotiations on his part simply by ceasing attacks and withdrawing his troops from Ukrainian territory.”
A Ukrainian strike on Russian helicopters and air defence equipment this week could prompt Moscow to once again move its operating bases and command and control nodes further from the frontline, the UK defence ministry said in its daily intelligence briefing.
Russian forces launched 12 missiles, 60 airstrikes and 53 shellings yesterday, and engaged Ukrainian troops in 90 combat engagements, the general staff of the Ukrainian armed forces said in its morning briefing.
A woman was killed in a Russian airstrike on Beryslav in the Kherson oblast this morning, the regional governor said. Oleksandr Prokudin said Russian forces used guided bombs on Beryslav and fired four anti-aircraft guns at the city. An 80-year-old woman was also seriously injured in her home.
Ukraine claimed to make a small incremental gain of 400 metres to the south-west of Verbove in the Zaporizhzhia region. Military spokesperson Oleksandr Stupun said the southern advance was still difficult because of Russian minefields and heavily fortified defences.
Kazakhstan has banned exports to Russia of 106 goods that could be used in the Ukraine war after the ex-Soviet state vowed not to help its ally circumvent western sanctions, local media said Thursday. On a visit to Berlin last month, President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev said his country will “follow the sanctions regime”, amid suspicions Moscow is still receiving vital goods via Kazakhstan.
Nato is stepping up patrols in the Baltic Sea after recent damage to undersea infrastructure. “The increased measures include additional surveillance and reconnaissance flights. A fleet of four Nato minehunters is also being dispatched to the area,” Nato said in a statement.
Updated
UN investigation finds new evidence of Russian war crimes
A United Nations commission of inquiry on Ukraine found additional evidence that Russian forces had committed “indiscriminate attacks” and war crimes in Ukraine, including rape and the deportation of children to Russia, Reuters reports.
“The commission has found new evidence that Russian authorities have committed violations of international human rights and international humanitarian law, and corresponding crimes, in areas that came under their control in Ukraine,” it said in a report submitted to the UN general assembly that highlighted attacks in the cities of Uman and Kherson, among others.
“The commission has recently documented attacks that affected civilian objects, such as residential buildings, a railway station, shops, and a warehouse for civilian use, leading to numerous casualties.”
Though Russia has denied committing war crimes or targeting civilians, the commission said it had documented cases of rape “with the use of force or psychological coercion”.
“Most of the incidents occurred after the perpetrators broke into the victims’ homes,” it said. “Victims reported rapes at gunpoint and threats of killing or of inflicting other serious harm to the victims or their relatives.”
The commission also documented the transfer of 31 children from Ukraine to Russia in May and “concluded that it was an unlawful deportation and a war crime”. Moscow has repeatedly denied forcibly taking Ukrainian children.
The Russian diplomatic mission in Geneva did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Updated
Ukrainian resistance forces in Russian-occupied Melitopol blew up a car of Russian soldiers who were allegedly looting empty apartments in the city, said Ivan Fedorov, the city’s exiled mayor.
“They regularly tracked and looted empty apartments in the city. And at this time, our resistance forces were tracking the occupiers,” Fedorov said. “During another night hunt in the area of Aviamistechka, at the very moment of loading looted goods into the car, an explosion occurred.”
Updated
European leaders are frustrated about the meeting between Vladimir Putin and Viktor Orbán, the prime minister of Hungary, in Beijing this week.
“As it has been repeatedly shown, Putin does not meet European leaders with the aim of achieving peace in Ukraine,” said Petr Pavel, the president of the Czech Republic. “Peace can be achieved without any negotiations on his part simply by ceasing attacks and withdrawing his troops from Ukrainian territory.
“He is only holding these meetings with the aim of breaking the unity of European countries and the entire democratic world. We should not fall for his tactics.”
Read more here:
Updated
UK defence ministry: strike on Russian helicopters may prompt relocation of operation bases
A Ukrainian strike on Russian helicopters and air defence equipment this week could prompt Moscow to once again move its operating bases and command and control nodes farther from the front line, the UK defence ministry said in its daily intelligence briefing.
Ukrainian forces utilised the US-provided long range tactical missiles for the first time on Tuesday, hitting the Berdyansk and Luhansk airfields. While the extent of damages is still unconfirmed, the defence ministry said it’s likely that the strike destroyed nine helicopters in Berdyansk and five in Luhansk.
“If confirmed, it is highly likely these losses will have an impact on Russia’s ability to both defend and conduct further offensive activity on this axis,” the defence ministry said. “Given the confirmed strain on Russian military production, the confirmed loss of any air frames will be difficult to replace in the short to medium term.”
Latest Defence Intelligence update on the situation in Ukraine – 20 October 2023.
— Ministry of Defence 🇬🇧 (@DefenceHQ) October 20, 2023
Find out more about Defence Intelligence's use of language: https://t.co/ZwZC6CaiUn
🇺🇦 #StandWithUkraine 🇺🇦 pic.twitter.com/J3dLz99k2V
The illegal and unprovoked invasion of Ukraine is continuing.
— Ministry of Defence 🇬🇧 (@DefenceHQ) October 20, 2023
The map below is the latest Defence Intelligence update on the situation in Ukraine – 20 October 2023.
Find out more about Defence Intelligence's use of language: https://t.co/IDEDjyQ8hL#StandWithUkraine🇺🇦 pic.twitter.com/ysNVzsuJFj
Updated
Here are some of the latest images coming in from Ukraine via news agency wires:
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The Kharkiv oblast sustained a number of attacks from Russian forces yesterday that injured several and damaged civilian homes and buildings, Oleg Sinegubov, the head of the Kharkiv regional state administration, said on Telegram.
Russian shelling of the city of Vovchansk injured two men, aged 57 and 69, and damaged a building for children and youth creativity as well as four residential buildings.
A Russian rocket attack on Kupyansk-Vuzloviy damaged nearby shops but caused no injuries.
In the village of Pidlyman, a Russian missile hit a private yard, damaging a shed and the roof of a house. Meanwhile, Russian shelling of the village of Pisky-Radkivski damaged two private houses and farm buildings.
In the city of Kharkiv, a 42-year-old civilian man was injured while collecting scrap metal when he stepped on an unknown explosive device.
Updated
One killed in Russian airstrike on Kherson oblast
A woman was killed in a Russian airstrike on Beryslav in the Kherson oblast this morning, the regional governor said.
Oleksandr Prokudin said Russian forces used guided bombs on Beryslav and fired four anti-aircraft guns at the city. An 80-year-old woman was also seriously injured in her home.
“The indomitable people of Berislav remain in their home town,” Prokudin said. “Their courage is amazing.”
Russian forces also struck Novoberislav with two guided bombs. Authorities are still assessing the damages there.
“People live in constant fear,” Prokudin said. “The enemy is close.”
Updated
Russian forces launched 12 missiles, 60 airstrikes and 53 shellings yesterday, and engaged Ukrainian troops in 90 combat engagements, the general staff of the Ukrainian armed forces said in its morning briefing.
Russian forces also deployed the wing rocket Iskander-K at a civilian object in Mykolaiv and launched Iranian kamikaze Shahed drones across southern Ukraine, most of which were destroyed by anti-aircraft defence.
About 150 settlements in the Chernihiv, Sumy, Kharkiv, Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson oblasts came under artillery fire.
According to the general staff of the Ukrainian armed forces, Russian forces lost 1,380 personnel yesterday.
Updated
Russia’s war in Ukraine gives it an added incentive to align itself with the Palestinian cause, according to analysis by Reuters journalists.
The United States has been trying, with limited success, to persuade the global south to rally behind Ukraine.
Portraying the US as a driver of the conflict helps blunt that effort.
Jon Alterman, the director of the Middle East programme at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, sees a similar motivation for China, which regards the US as its chief geopolitical rival.
“China is trying to play the global south card, irrespective of its close ties to Israel. More than actually supporting Hamas, it is quietly helping build resistance to US efforts to build international support for Israel,” said Alterman.
Ma Xiaolin, a Middle East expert and professor at Zhejiang International Studies University, said China was being even-handed between the Palestinians and Israel but if pushed, would side with its Arab partners.
“If Israel, with the support of the United States, expands the scale and scope of the war and causes more humanitarian casualties, China will definitely tilt the balance in favour of the Palestinians,” said Ma.
Updated
Bipartisan support from the United States is “incredibly encouraging” for Ukraine and its troops, the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, said after a phone call with the US president, Joe Biden.
Reuters reports:
Biden, who discussed military support for Kyiv with Zelenskiy in Thursday’s call, will ask Congress for $100bn in new spending, including $60bn for Ukraine and $14bn for Israel, a source familiar with his plan said.
The US has been the largest single source of assistance to Kyiv since Russia invaded Ukraine in February last year. Half of the $60bn Biden is requesting for Ukraine would go towards replacing and modernising US weapons stocks, the source said.
“The unwavering bipartisan support for Ukraine in the United States is incredibly encouraging for all of our warriors and for our entire nation,” Zelenskiy wrote on Friday on X, formerly known as Twitter.
“America’s investment in Ukraine’s defence will ensure long-term security for all of Europe and the world,” he said.
Updated
Reuters reports that the United States is concerned about Hungary’s relationship with Russia, and finds the decision of the prime minister, Viktor Orbán, to meet the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, “troubling”, the US embassy in Budapest said in a statement on Friday.
Orbán held a bilateral meeting with Putin earlier this week on the sidelines of the Belt and Road forum in Beijing, meeting his Russian colleague for the first time since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine began in February 2022.
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AFP reports that Kazakhstan’s trade ministry has denied banning the exports of goods to Russia as part of western sanctions after an official said more than 100 items including drones were prohibited.
On Thursday, the deputy trade minister, Kairat Torebayev, was quoted by local media as saying the ex-Soviet state has banned the export to Russia of 106 goods including “drones, their electronic components, special equipment and chips”.
AFP:
Local Kazakh media outlets reported that the ban would only apply to products “linked to the war.”
The quotes came amid suspicions that Russia was circumventing western sanctions imposed over its invasion of Ukraine by receiving goods via third countries, including Kazakhstan, a former ex-Soviet republic in Central Asia.
But late on Thursday, the Kazakhstan trade ministry dismissed the comments by the deputy trade minister as “incorrect”.
“No prohibitions have been imposed on the export of any goods to the Russian Federation in relation to the anti-Russia sanctions,” the trade ministry said in a statement.
“At the same time, the trade in so-called ‘double-use’ goods, the export of which is subject to controls, is carried out in accordance with Kazakhstan’s international obligations,” the ministry said.
Russia was slapped with western sanctions after invading Ukraine in February 2022, but is suspected of having avoided many of them by getting goods via third countries like China, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates and ex-Soviet republics.
Former Soviet states in Central Asia have had to walk a fine line to balance between Russia – the traditional power broker in the region – and Western countries.
During a meeting with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in Berlin in late September, leaders of Central Asian states vowed to take steps to prevent the evading of sanctions, with Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev saying his country will “follow the sanctions regime”.
Updated
President Vladimir Putin visited the headquarters of Russian forces in the southern city of Rostov-on-Don late on Thursday to hear a report on the progress of operations in Ukraine, state television reported on Friday.
Reuters reports:
It showed General Valery Gerasimov, chief of the general staff and commander of the war in Ukraine, telling Putin that the troops are “carrying out their tasks in line with the operation plan”.
Putin said this week that the counteroffensive by the Ukrainian forces had “completely failed” and Ukraine’s western backers were less hawkish than before.
Senior Ukrainian military officials said on Thursday their troops were facing a new Russian onslaught in the largely destroyed eastern city of Avdiivka, while making some progress on their counteroffensive in the south.
Updated
The Ukrainian parliament gave initial approval on Thursday to a law that would ban the Ukrainian Orthodox Church after Kyiv accused it of collaborating with Russia following last year’s invasion.
The UOC, which says it no longer aligned with the Russian Orthodox Church, denies the charges levelled at it by Kyiv and said the draft law would be unconstitutional.
Yaroslav Zheleznyak, a member of parliament, said on the Telegram messaging app that deputies had voted to support the bill in its first reading. It has to be backed in a second reading and approved by the president to go in to force.
The law would ban the activities of religious organisations affiliated with centres of influence “in a state that carries out armed aggression against Ukraine”, and such activities could be terminated by a court of law.
You can read the full report here:
Reuters reports that Russian prosecutors will ask a judge at a court hearing on Friday to place detained Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty journalist Alsu Kurmasheva in custody, the court’s press service said.
Alsu Kurmasheva, who works for RFE/RL’s Tatar-Bashkir Service and holds U.S. and Russian passports, is accused of failing to register as a foreign agent after she entered Russia on 20 May, her employer said on Thursday.
Reuters reports that the US President Joe Biden’s comment in which he called support for Ukraine and Israel an “investment” shows that Washington benefits from proxy wars rather than fights for ideas, a Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman said on Friday.
Reuters reports:
Biden said on Thursday that helping the two U.S. allies was “a smart investment that’s going to pay dividends for American security for generations”, as he sought to rally support for new aid packages.
Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on the Telegram messaging app that Biden’s comments betray a cynical approach.
“They used to call it ‘fighting for freedom and democracy’,” she said. “Now it turns out it is just calculations. It has always been that way, they just fooled the world using values for which Washington has never really stood.”
“Nothing personal, just business,” she said, using a comment made famous in the “Godfather” movie to sum up what she said was the true U.S. stance on conflicts abroad.
“Wars have traditionally been ‘smart investments’ for the United States as they did not take place on the American soil and they do not care about costs borne by others,” Zakharova said.
Zelenskiy grateful to Biden for his 'strong signal of support'
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy has said he is grateful to Joe Biden for his “strong signal of support”, after speaking to the US president shortly before he gave a rare Oval Office address in which he asked Americans to back further military aid to both Ukraine and Israel.
Zelenskiy said he had discussed a “significant support package for our country” in his telephone call with Biden, who said in his speech that he would send an urgent budget request to Congress on Friday to fund support for Kyiv and Israel.
“It’s a smart investment that is going to pay dividends for American security for generations,” Biden said.
Moscow immediately hit back, saying Biden’s comments betrayed a cynical attitude to the war in Ukraine. “They used to call it ‘fighting for freedom and democracy’,” foreign ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said on Telegram. “Now it turns out it is just calculations. It has always been that way, they just fooled the world using values for which Washington has never really stood.”
“Wars have traditionally been ‘smart investments’ for the United States as they did not take place on the American soil and they do not care about costs borne by others,” Zakharova added.
In other developments:
Ukraine’s parliament has voted overwhelmingly to advance legislation seen as effectively banning the Ukrainian Orthodox Church over its ties to Moscow, despite the church’s insistence that it is fully independent and supportive of Ukraine’s fight against Russian invaders.
A Russian-American journalist has been detained in Russia on charges of violating its foreign agents law, reportedly due to her coverage of Russia’s military mobilisation for its invasion of Ukraine. Alsu Kurmasheva, an editor with Radio Free Europe-Radio Liberty’s (RFE-RL) Tatar-Bashkir service, was detained on Wednesday.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un said he wants to build a “forward-looking” relationship with Russia as he met with foreign minister Sergei Lavrov, state media reported. The veteran envoy’s two-day visit is expected to lay the groundwork for a trip to the country by Russian President Vladimir Putin, who was invited by Kim last month at a high-profile summit in Russia’s far east.
Ukraine claimed to make a small incremental gain of 400 metres to the south-west of Verbove in the Zaporizhzhia region. Military spokesperson Oleksandr Stupun said the southern advance was still difficult because of Russian minefields and heavily fortified defences.
Kazakhstan has banned exports to Russia of 106 goods that could be used in the Ukraine war after the ex-Soviet state vowed not to help its ally circumvent western sanctions, local media said Thursday. On a visit to Berlin last month, President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev said his country will “follow the sanctions regime”, amid suspicions Moscow is still receiving vital goods via Kazakhstan.
The German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, said the EU must collectively continue to financially support Ukraine in future. “We have a clear stance here: This aid for Ukraine, for the financial stability of the country, we will have to provide this jointly as Europeans,” Scholz told lawmakers, while adding “that this cannot all be solved with additional funds”.
Ukraine’s parliament gave initial approval for the 2024 budget, which will increase funding for the army and national defence. Finance minister Serhiy Marchenko said the government’s priorities next year included accumulating funds for defence and security, and securing social payments for the population “to bring Ukraine’s victory closer”.
Nato is stepping up patrols in the Baltic Sea after recent damage to undersea infrastructure. “The increased measures include additional surveillance and reconnaissance flights. A fleet of four Nato minehunters is also being dispatched to the area,” Nato said in a statement.
Finland’s Ministry of Defence said on Thursday it had blocked three planned property transactions involving Russian buyers on grounds that allowing the acquisitions to take place could hamper the defence of Finnish territory.
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