Putin and Macron hold phone call
Russian President Vladimir Putin has spoken with his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron by telephone, the Kremlin press service said on Tuesday. It is the first phone contact between the leaders since September 2022.
The conversation revolved around the situation in the Middle East, as well as the Ukraine conflict.
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The Sun
an hour ago
- The Sun
Ukraine left scrambling after US says halting weapons shipments
KYIV: Ukraine summoned a senior US diplomat on Wednesday, urging its key ally not to cut or delay critical military aid after the White House said it was halting some weapons shipments. Kyiv said it had not been told anything by the United States about the halt to aid, which could thwart its ability to fend off escalating Russian air attacks. Moscow revelled in the decision, saying it could bring the end of the war closer. Kyiv has long feared halts to US aid after Donald Trump returned to the White House in January, having criticised the tens of billions of dollars in support and weapons sent by his predecessor, Joe Biden. The US embassy's deputy chief of mission, John Ginkel, was summoned on Wednesday -- a rare diplomatic move usually reserved for foes and rivals, not vital allies -- amid uncertainty about what the cuts would mean for Kyiv. 'The Ukrainian side stressed that any delay or procrastination in supporting Ukraine's defence capabilities would only encourage the aggressor to continue the war,' Ukraine's foreign ministry said in a statement. The White House announced Tuesday it was halting some key weapons shipments to Ukraine promised by the previous US administration, but did not provide details on what would be cut. Under Biden, Washington had spearheaded Western support for Ukraine, with Congress having approved more than $100 billion in aid, including $43 billion in weaponry. Trump, who has held several phone calls with Russian President Vladimir Putin and pushed the two sides into peace talks, has refused to announce new packages and Kyiv has been corralling Washington's European allies to step up support for when US deliveries end. Putin has rejected calls for an immediate and unconditional ceasefire and demanded Ukraine cede more territory if it wants Moscow to halt its invasion. Tens of thousands have been killed since February 2022 when Russia invaded, with millions forced to flee their homes and swathes of eastern and southern Ukraine destroyed. 'Seriously dependent' A senior Ukrainian military official raised concerns about the impact of the weapons halt to AFP. 'We are now seriously dependent on American arms supplies, although Europe is doing its best, but it will be difficult for us without American ammunition,' a high-ranking source in the Ukrainian military said, speaking on condition of anonymity. In Moscow, the Kremlin said reducing the flow of weapons to Kyiv will help end the conflict faster. 'The fewer the number of weapons that are delivered to Ukraine, the closer the end of the special military operation,' Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters in response to a question by AFP, using Russia's term for its more than three-year offensive. The US decision was taken 'following a DOD (Department of Defense) review of our nation's military support and assistance to other countries across the globe,' White House Deputy Press Secretary Anna Kelly told AFP in an email. Kyiv said it was caught off-guard by the move. 'Ukraine has not received any official notifications about the suspension or revision of the delivery schedules for the agreed defence assistance,' the defence ministry said. 'The path to ending the war lies through consistent and joint pressure on the aggressor, as well as through continued support for Ukraine,' it added. 'We are clarifying the situation. I think that everything will be clarified in the coming days,' presidential aide Dmytro Lytvyn told reporters. Politico and other US media reported that missiles for Patriot air defence systems, precision artillery and Hellfire missiles are among the items being held back. Last week at a NATO summit in the Netherlands, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky met with Trump, who gave no public indication he was thinking of cutting aid. 'We're going to see if we can make some available,' Trump said of the air defence missiles that Kyiv desperately seeks to shoot down Russian attacks. 'They're very hard to get,' Trump added. Russia has ramped up attacks on Ukraine in June, launching nearly twice as many missiles and over 30 percent more drones than in May, according to an AFP analysis of Ukrainian air force data.
The Star
an hour ago
- The Star
Germany says Russia using media platform Red to sow discontent
BERLIN (Reuters) -Russia is using the online media outlet Red to sow discontent in German society as part of a disinformation campaign waged alongside its war in Ukraine, the foreign ministry in Berlin said on Wednesday. "Red presents itself as a revolutionary platform for independent journalists. However, it has close links with the Russian state media outlet RT," a spokesperson for the foreign ministry told reporters in Berlin. "Today we can confirm that Red is being used by Russia specifically to manipulate information," the spokesperson added. Red is run by Turkish media company AFA Medya, which together with its founder Huseyin Dogru is already the subject of EU sanctions targeting Russia and is accused of "undermining the democratic political process" in Germany. After they were sanctioned, Red announced on May 16 that it was closing down. (Reporting by Rachel More and Miranda MurrayEditing by Madeline Chambers)
The Star
an hour ago
- The Star
Russia urges Azerbaijan to repair ties with Moscow amid diplomatic crisis
FILE PHOTO: Spokesperson of Russia's Foreign Ministry Maria Zakharova attends the annual press conference held by Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Moscow, Russia, January 14, 2025. REUTERS/Evgenia Novozhenina/File Photo MOSCOW/BAKU (Reuters) -The Russian Foreign Ministry on Wednesday urged Azerbaijan to restore its ties with Moscow to a level befitting "strategic cooperation" after saying that certain forces were trying to wreck the two countries' relationship. The diplomatic row began last week after two ethnic Azerbaijanis died during police raids in Russia and escalated after Baku then arrested two Russian state journalists and a further roughly 15 more Russians on suspicion of drug trafficking and cybercrime. Azerbaijan says post-mortems conducted in Baku on the two men who died in Russia showed they were beaten to death - though Moscow said one of them had died from heart problems - and that authorities in Baku had opened their own investigation. Relations have been under strain since late last year, when 38 people were killed after an Azerbaijani airliner headed from Baku to southern Russia crashed. Baku says the crash was the result of accidental damage caused by fire from air defence units in Russia. Nemat Avazov, the head of Baku's investigation into the accident, told reporters on Wednesday that his team would release its findings in the coming days. Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Wednesday that Moscow had been cultivating its relationship with Baku for many years based on mutual respect and suggested unknown actors were now trying to use the situation to "warm up their hands" - a Russian phrase meaning to enrich oneself. "Just don't let them get burned," she told Sputnik Radio in an interview. "Because for us, for the two peoples, friendship relations are extremely important. And those who want to spoil them should think carefully about what they are doing." She later said in a news briefing that Baku should restore its ties with Russia, complaining that Moscow did not have any consular access to its detained citizens. "We, of course, call on the Azerbaijani side to take measures to return our ties to the level of interstate relations as set out in official documents. Let me remind you that this is the level of strategic cooperation," she said. The Kremlin has said Russia aims to negotiate the release of its journalists, who have been charged with fraud and other crimes and placed in pre-trial detention in Baku. (Reporting by Dmitry Antonov and Nailia Bagirova; Writing by Lucy PapachristouEditing by Andrew Osborn)
