Trump Moves Nuclear Submarines Near Russia After Putin Aide Medvedev Warns US Of "Dead Hand" Strikes
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The Hindu
11 minutes ago
- The Hindu
India will continue to buy Russian oil, government sources tell NYT
India will keep purchasing oil from Russia despite U.S. President Donald Trump's threats of penalties, two Government sources told The New York Times, not wishing to be identified due to the sensitivity of the matter. "These are long-term oil contracts," one of the sources said. "It is not so simple to just stop buying overnight." Mr. Trump last month indicated in a Truth Social post that India would face additional penalties for purchases of Russian arms and oil. On Friday (August 1, 2025), Mr. Trump told reporters that he had heard that India would no longer be buying oil from Russia. Soured relations: The Hindu editorial on Trump's 25% tariff, 'penalty' The New York Times on Saturday (August 2, 2025) quoted two unnamed senior Indian officials as saying there had been no change in Indian government policy, with one official saying the government had "not given any direction to oil companies" to cut back imports from Russia. Reuters reported this week that Indian state refiners stopped buying Russian oil in the past week, following a narrowing of discounts in July. "On our energy sourcing requirements ... we look at what is there available in the markets, what is there on offer, and also what is the prevailing global situation or circumstances," Foreign Ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal told reporters during a regular briefing on Friday. Mr. Jaiswal added that India has a "steady and time-tested partnership" with Russia, and that New Delhi's relations with various countries stand on their own merit and should not be seen from the prism of a third country. The White House in Washington did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Indian refiners are pulling back from Russian crude as discounts shrink to their lowest since 2022, when Western sanctions were first imposed on Moscow, due to lower Russian exports and steady demand, sources said earlier this week. The country's state refiners — Indian Oil Corp, Hindustan Petroleum Corp, Bharat Petroleum Corp and Mangalore Refinery Petrochemical Ltd — have not sought Russian crude in the past week or so, four sources familiar with the refiners' purchase plans told Reuters. India's top oil supplier On July 14, Mr. Trump threatened 100% tariffs on countries that buy Russian oil unless Moscow reaches a major peace deal with Ukraine. Russia is the top supplier to India, responsible for about 35% of India's overall supplies. Russia continued to be the top oil supplier to India during the first six months of 2025, accounting for about 35% of India's overall supplies, followed by Iraq, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. India, the world's third-largest oil importer and consumer, received about 1.75 million barrels per day of Russian oil in January-June this year, up 1% from a year ago, according to data provided to Reuters by sources. Nayara Energy, a major buyer of Russian oil, was recently sanctioned by the European Union as the refinery is majority-owned by Russian entities, including oil major Rosneft . Last month, Reuters reported that Nayara's chief executive had resigned after the imposition of EU sanctions and company veteran Sergey Denisov had been appointed as CEO. Three vessels laden with oil products from Nayara Energy have yet to discharge their cargoes, hindered by the new EU sanctions on the Russia-backed refiner, Reuters reported late last month.
Hindustan Times
11 minutes ago
- Hindustan Times
Ukraine hits military targets and pipeline in Russia
Ukraine said Saturday it hit military targets and a gas pipeline in drone attacks in Russia, where local authorities said three people were killed and two others wounded. President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy attends the parliament session in Kyiv, Ukraine Thursday, July 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Vadym Sarakhan)(AP) Ukraine's SBU security service said the strikes, carried out Friday night by long-distance drones, hit a military airfield in the southwestern town of Primorsko-Akhtarsk. They caused a fire in an areas where Iranian-built Shahed drones -- relied on by Russia to attack Ukraine -- were stored, the SBU said. It said the strikes also hit a company, Elektropribor, in Russia's southern Penza region, which it said "works for the Russian military-industrial complex", making military digital networks, aviation devices, armoured vehicles and ships. The governor for the Penza region, Oleg Melnichenko, said on Telegram that one woman had been killed and two other people were wounded in that attack. Russia's defence ministry said its air-defence systems had destroyed 112 Ukrainian drones over Russian territory -- 34 over the Rostov region -- in a nearly nine-hour period, from Friday night to Saturday morning. An elderly man was killed inside a house that caught fire due to falling drone debris in the Samara region, governor Vyacheslav Fedorishchev posted on Telegram. In the Rostov region, a guard at an industrial facility was killed after a drone attack and a fire in one of the site's buildings, acting Rostov governor Yuri Sliusar said. "The military repelled a massive air attack during the night," destroying drones over seven districts, Sliusar posted on Telegram. Heavy use of drones Ukraine has regularly used drones to hit targets inside Russia as it fights back against Moscow's full-scale invasion, launched in February 2022. Russia, too, has increasingly deployed the unmanned aerial devices as part of its offensive. An AFP analysis published on Friday showed that Russia's forces in July launched an unprecedented number of drones, 6,297 of them. The figure included decoy drones sent into Ukraine's skies in efforts to saturate the country's air-defence systems. In Ukraine's central-eastern Dnipropetrovsk region, Russian drone attacks Friday night wounded three people, governor Sergiy Lysak wrote on Telegram. Several buildings, homes and cars were damaged, he said. Russian forces have claimed advances in Dnipropetrovsk, recently announcing the capture of two villages there, part of Moscow's accelerated capture of territory in July, according to AFP's analysis of data from the US-based Institute for the Study of War (ISW). Kyiv denies any Russian presence in the Dnipropetrovsk area. Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has consistently rejected calls for a ceasefire in the more than three-year conflict, said Friday that he wanted peace but that his demands for ending Moscow's military offensive were "unchanged". Those demands include that Ukraine abandon territory and end ambitions to join NATO. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, meanwhile, said only Putin could end the war and renewed his call for a meeting between the two leaders. "The United States has proposed this. Ukraine has supported it. What is needed is Russia's readiness," he wrote on X.
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First Post
41 minutes ago
- First Post
Ukraine uncovers massive ‘corruption scheme' in defence sector, makes arrests
Ukrainian authorities have arrested several top officials in connection with a large-scale corruption scheme in the defence sector, involving the embezzlement of funds meant for military needs read more Ukrainian authorities said Saturday that they had arrested several politicians in connection with a 'large-scale corruption scheme' in the defence sector, shortly after an uproar over the independence of anti-graft bodies. A law passed at the end of July stripped the National Anti-Corruption Agency (NABU) and the Specialised Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office (SAP) of their independence and placed them under the supervision of the Prosecutor General, himself appointed by the head of state. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Thursday backtracked and restored the bodies' independence following an outcry from the country's allies and the first anti-government street demonstrations since the Russian invasion in 2022. The NABU said on Saturday that it and the SAP had exposed 'a scheme for the systematic misappropriation of budget funds allocated by local authorities for the needs of the defence forces, as well as the receipt and provision of unlawful benefits on an especially large scale'. It said the scheme involved inflating prices for electronic warfare and drone equipment, and then funnelling off 30 percent of the contract amounts. The suspects include a member of parliament, heads of district and city administrations, members of the National Guard, and executives at defence companies. The NABU said it has made four arrests so far but did not identify those detained. The interior ministry said it had suspended the suspected members of the National Guard. Zelenskyy said in a statement: 'I am grateful to the anti-corruption agencies for their work. 'It is important that anti-corruption institutions operate independently, and the law passed on Thursday guarantees them all the tools necessary for a real fight against corruption.' STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD The president initially said he needed to bring the NABU and the SAP under his control because they were inefficient and under 'Russian influence'. But he did an about-face when confronted with the outcry – first serious political crisis since he took office six years ago. Several cases of corruption – an endemic problem in the country – have been exposed within the armed forces and the defence ministry during the war with Russia.
