The latest news on the war between Russia and Ukraine | Wilnesh News

Authorities in Russia’s Belgorod region will evacuate about 9,000 children from the region due to repeated shelling by Ukrainian armed forces, the governor said on Tuesday. The region borders Ukraine.

“Today we are relocating a large number of villages,” Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov told a United Russia party meeting on Tuesday, the news agency reported. TASS reports.

“We now plan to move about 9,000 children out of Belgorod” and from several areas in the wider region, he said.

The governor said 16 people were killed and 98 injured in shelling in the Belgorod region over the past week.

CNBC could not immediately verify the claim. However, Belgorod has been the focus of numerous Ukrainian attacks on Russian territory, although Kyiv rarely comments on such attacks.

— Holly Elliot

Putin’s reelection to a fifth term over the weekend was one of the least surprising political events so far this year, but it raises questions about what we can expect from the strongman’s next six years in office.

With key factors to watch including the war in Ukraine, domestic economic reforms and a possible government reshuffle as Putin tightens his grip on power, analysts have their say on what we can expect.

Read more about this story here: War, reform and possible successors?Here’s what we can see from Putin’s six years in power

— Holly Elliot

Polish President Andrzej Duda said on Monday that NATO must urgently increase defense spending to ensure it does not become the next target of a Russian attack.

In an interview with CNBC, Duda cited unspecified German research that suggests Russian President Vladimir Putin is redoubling his efforts toward a war economy in a bid to attack NATO in 2026 or 2027.

“The alarm bells have been ringing,” he told Steve Sedgwick, according to a translation.

Duda said it was therefore more important than ever to increase the alliance’s military spending to 3%, describing his increase target as “common sense”.

— Karen Gilchrist

U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin will try to reassure European allies on Tuesday that President Joe Biden’s administration remains committed to supporting Ukraine, even though Washington has essentially run out of funds to continue arming Kyiv and there are few signs that Congress will Take action to replenish funds.

Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson has so far refused to vote on a bill that would provide another $60 billion to Ukraine, and the White House has been scrambling to find ways to deliver aid to Kyiv, which has been competing with Russian forces for more aid. more than two years.

Austin will chair a monthly meeting at Ramstein Air Base in Germany of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group (UDCG), a group of about 50 allies who have been supporting Ukraine militarily.

The Pentagon said Austin would reaffirm Washington’s commitment to Ukraine on his first trip abroad since receiving treatment for prostate cancer. But officials say the lack of available funds is already having an impact on the ground in Ukraine, with the Ukrainian military having to manage scarce resources.

The Biden administration said last week it would provide $300 million in military aid to Ukraine, but added that it was an unusual move after the Pentagon made unexpected savings from military contracts.

Officials did not rule out that they could find additional savings, but they said the amount would not be enough to make up for the shortfall in congressional action. Experts say Austin will face skepticism from European audiences.

— Reuters

Russian President Vladimir Putin briefly attended an open-air rally in Moscow late Monday, where he told the crowd that annexing Crimea and other parts of Ukraine would be difficult but worth it.

The rally and concert in Red Square marked the tenth anniversary of Russia’s annexation of Crimea from Ukraine. The annexation is a precursor to a conflict that has erupted in eastern Ukraine between pro-Russian separatists and Ukrainian armed forces since 2014 and a major Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

Russia has since also illegally annexed four other partially occupied regions of Ukraine in an attempt to “Russify” them and hold votes there ahead of last weekend’s three-day Russian presidential election, which Putin won. Ukraine condemned the vote held on its soil, calling it illegal.

Reuters pointed out that Putin told a large crowd waving flags that the situation in these other regions “returning” to Russia was “more serious and tragic” than that of Crimea, but he said that had been done.

Putin also told the crowd that rail lines from Rostov in southern Russia to Russian-occupied cities in eastern and southern Ukraine have been restored and will soon also be directly connected to Sevastopol in Crimea.

“Just this morning I learned that the railway from Rostov to Donetsk to Mariupol and Berdyansk has been restored. We will continue this work. Soon the train will go directly to Sevastopol “This will be an alternative road to the Crimean bridge,” he said in comments translated by Reuters.

— Holly Elliot

The dispute over military aid to Ukraine is deepening divisions in the German government, but Chancellor Olaf Scholz is expected to win despite “extremely unusual” public divisions.

At the center of the months-long dispute is whether Germany would launch long-range Taurus missiles into Ukraine, which can independently locate and destroy targets after being launched from an aircraft carrier.

Scholz has firmly rejected Kiev’s request for the missiles, but he has looked increasingly isolated in the post.

A key concern is that Ukraine may need on-the-ground help from German soldiers to use the Taurus missiles — a red line for Scholz.

There are few copies of the complex information needed to program the Taurus missile, according to leaked discussions among senior army chiefs reported in German media. This means that if Germany hands over these materials to Ukraine, Germany itself may lose access to the materials, making it a potentially dangerous move.

Read more about this story here: Germany’s refusal to launch “Taurus” missiles into Ukraine has caused great controversy, but it will not collapse the government.

——Sophie Kidlin

Images show the aftermath of shelling of several Ukrainian towns that have been attacked by Russia in recent days.

Russian President Vladimir Putin sounded optimistic after winning a fifth term in Russia’s presidential election over the weekend.

He chose to deliver a victory speech to supporters and Russian media, making his first public address on the death of his political rival, Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, and mentioning his name for the first time in years.

When asked about Navalny’s death by NBC’s Keir Simmons, Putin responded by calling his death a “sad event” and claiming he was ready to let him Varney participated in prisoner exchanges with the West.

Click here to read more about this story: Putin talks for the first time about the death of his nemesis Navalny as he celebrates election victory

— Holly Elliot

The European Union declared that Russia’s presidential elections were held in a “shrinking political space” and violated civil and political rights after Vladimir Putin was re-elected for another six-year term.

“Russian authorities continue to intensify systematic internal repression, targeting opposition politicians, civil society organizations, independent media and other critical voices through repressive legislation and politically motivated imprisonment,” The EU said in a statement released on Monday.

The group added that the circumstances of the election “denied Russian voters a real choice and severely limited their access to accurate information” while also condemning Russia’s conduct of the presidential election in the occupied territories of Ukraine.

— Ruksandra Jordash

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Vladimir Putin’s resounding victory in Russia’s weekend presidential election was a “unique” result and shielded the electoral process from Western influence. The accusation was defended.

In the comments on Google Translate According to Russian state news agency TASSPeskov said foreign statements questioning the legitimacy of the election were “ridiculous” and noted that he expected international congratulations on Putin’s victory to last more than a day.

The EU criticized Putin’s victory of more than 87% of the popular vote, highlighting the restrictive political environment and the lack of real opposition in the election. It also refuses to recognize polls held in Russian-occupied Ukrainian territory.

— Ruksandra Jordash