Kamis, 06 Juli 2023

Ukraine war: Six killed in Lviv as Russian strike hits apartment building in western city - BBC

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At least six people, including a woman aged 95, have been killed after a Russian rocket hit an apartment building in Lviv, western Ukraine.

Another 40 people were injured in what the mayor of Lviv described as "one of the biggest attacks" on the city's civilian infrastructure.

Mayor Andriy Sadovyi said 35 buildings were damaged in the overnight strike.

Russian state TV said a defence academy was hit. It gave no evidence to back up its claim.

Earlier, the Russian defence ministry released a statement saying points of temporary deployment of Ukrainian troops and depots storing foreign-made armoured vehicles were hit using sea-based "long-range precision weapons".

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky vowed a "tangible" response to the overnight assault by "Russian terrorists".

Two days of mourning were declared in Lviv on Thursday morning.

On Thursday evening, rescuers - who had been searching the rubble throughout the day - found the body of a woman, the sixth confirmed victim of the Russian strike.

"Several more people may still be trapped," Mr Sadovyi said.

He added that 60 apartments and 50 vehicles had been damaged.

Earlier in the day, Lviv region head Maksym Kozytskyi said the oldest of the victims - a World War Two survivor - was 95.

Emergency services inspect damaged buildings in Lviv
Reuters

"There is a shelter next to the house that was hit by the missile," Mr Kozytskyi said.

"It is in good condition and was open at the time of the alarm. But, only five people were in the shelter from the entire building. Very disappointing."

One witness called Olya told the BBC she was woken by the first explosion, but didn't have time to leave the apartment when she heard a second blast.

"The ceiling started to fall," she said. "My mother was immediately hit, I jumped out and I was covered in rubble only about knee-deep.

"I tried to reach my mother, but I couldn't, I got to the window, started screaming, and in about half an hour the rescuers got to me, took me out and took me to hospital.

"I came back and found out that my mother had died, my neighbours had died. At this point, it seems that I was the only one who survived from the fourth floor.

Lviv residents after rocket strike on apartment block
EPA

Dr Sasha Dovzhyk, who works at the Ukrainian Institute London but is currently in Lviv, described hiding in her bathroom when she heard the air raid siren.

"This is what we are supposed to do," she told BBC Newsday. "This is the Ukrainian routine.

"You are supposed to put two walls and preferably no windows, no glass, between yourself and the street, the outside.

"When the rocket, the missile, a Kalibr missile as we know now, hit the residential building 2km away, the walls in the bathroom where I was hiding shook, so the impact was quite strong."

Damaged Lviv building
Reuters

Ukraine's air force accused Russia of launching the missiles from the Black Sea.

Posting on Telegram, the Armed Forces of Ukraine said "seven out of 10 Kalibr cruise missiles" had been shot down.

It said the missiles - launched from the Black Sea - had been initially heading north but then "abruptly changed course" to the west and hit Lviv.

The BBC has been unable to verify these claims.

For months, Russia has been carrying out deadly missile and drone attacks on Ukrainian cities, often hitting civilian targets and causing widespread blackouts.

Last week, 13 people were killed - including children - when a restaurant and shopping centre were struck in Kramatorsk, an eastern city close to Russian-occupied parts of Ukraine.

Although Lviv is in western Ukraine, relatively far from the front lines in southern and eastern Ukraine, it has also previously suffered Russian attacks.

Last month, Lviv officials reported that critical infrastructure had been hit in the city in a drone attack.

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2023-07-06 21:15:09Z
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Ukraine war: Four killed as Russian strike hits apartments in western city Lviv - BBC

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A Russian rocket has hit an apartment building in the western Ukrainian city of Lviv, killing at least four people, Ukraine's interior minister has said.

Ihor Klymenko added another 32 people were injured in what the mayor of Lviv said was "one of the biggest attacks" on the city's civilian infrastructure.

President Volodymyr Zelensky vowed a "tangible" response to the overnight assault by "Russian terrorists".

Russia's military has not commented on the reported attack.

Writing on Telegram, Mr Klymenko said at least seven people had been rescued from the apartment block, adding there were fears more people could be trapped under rubble.

Mayor Andriy Sadovyi posted a video showing broken windows in the struck building, which appeared to have four floors.

Damaged cars and debris were also seen in the footage.

"Many apartments are damaged - more than 50," the mayor said in a short video message.

Mr Sadovyi said people had been pulled from the rubble a short while ago, but rescue teams were continuing their search, fearing that more residents could be trapped there.

The mayor later recorded a new video address after the scale of devastation became clearer.

He said a number of roofs of buildings had blown away, while a school and polytechnic university dormitories were also damaged.

onlookers lviv
EPA

Meanwhile, Lviv regional head Maksym Kozytskyi said a "critical infrastructure facility" was struck in the city. He gave no details.

Mr Kozytskyi said that Russia's "main goal is the destruction of the Ukrainian people... But we will win".

For months, Russia has been carrying out deadly missile and drone attacks on Ukrainian cities, often hitting civilian targets and causing widespread blackouts.

Only last week, 13 people were killed - including children - when a restaurant and shopping centre were struck in Kramatorsk, an eastern city close to Russian-occupied parts of Ukraine.

And despite being hundreds of kilometres from the main front lines in Ukraine's east and south, Lviv has also suffered Russian assaults.

On 20 June, Lviv officials reported that critical infrastructure had been hit in the city in a drone attack.

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2023-07-06 05:50:01Z
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Rabu, 05 Juli 2023

Palestinian families return to rubble in Jenin refugee camp - BBC

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"We had to flee. Or my daughters and I would have been killed," Fatina al-Ghoul says, weeping as she looks back at a pile of rubble that was once her home.

A bulldozer has already arrived and is clearing up debris from her street, which has been left in ruins.

She and nine other women, her family and neighbours, fled their homes in Jenin's refugee camp during one of the largest Israeli operations in the occupied West Bank in years.

Fatina's family is one of hundreds now returning to what's left of their homes, decimated by drone strikes and fighting between the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and armed Palestinians.

The IDF described it as a "counter-terrorism operation", saying they were targeting weapons stores and manufacturing facilities belonging to militant groups in the area.

But the Palestinian foreign ministry condemned the operation as "open war against the people of Jenin".

Hundreds of Israeli troops backed by drone strikes entered Jenin refugee camp - where almost 24,000 people live in an area of less than half a square kilometre - on Monday morning, triggering intense gun battles with armed Palestinians inside.

Palestinian health officials said 12 Palestinians were killed over the next two days, including four children, and that more than 100 others were injured. The Israeli military said one of its soldiers was killed as its forces started to withdraw on Tuesday night.

Thousands attend the funerals of the Palestinians killed during the Israeli military operation in Jenin (5 July 2023)

"My house has been completely destroyed. Everything is broken and burned. It's all damaged," Fatina says.

Several local hospitals also told the BBC that they were struggling to cope with the fallout from the fighting.

Thousands of locals also took to the streets on Wednesday for the funerals of those killed. So far, it has been confirmed to the BBC that eight of the dead were members of the military wings of the main Palestinian factions.

Guns were fired in support of the deceased fighters.

Many residents say they blame the Palestinian Authority (PA), the main governing body of the Palestinians in the West Bank, for not protecting them during the operation.

Videos circulating online showed two PA representatives forced to leave a funeral after being chastised by the crowd.

Residents complained that at the beginning of the operation the PA's security forces simply allowed the Israeli military vehicles to enter the city.

Fatina says she also blames the PA for their lack of action. "This is our home. We are living in fear, and we are the only ones left to protect it."

"There are agreements between the PA and Israel. The PA has not broken the agreement and security services have done their job during the military operation according to what it was asked to do by the Palestinian leadership," Mayor of Jenin City and PA member Akram Rajoub told the BBC.

One fighter from a Palestinian militant group said that Israeli forces had successful destroyed several of its facilities, including a storage unit containing explosives.

However, the scale of the operation inside a densely populated city and refugee camp was criticised by the UN's human rights chief.

For many residents like Fatina, immediate access to drinking water, food and shelter is now critical.

"Tonight we will sleep on the streets. We can't even sit down inside the house. There is nowhere else to go, for us or any of our neighbours."

The streets inside Jenin's refugee camp have been decimated shown here by rubble and bent metal

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2023-07-05 19:47:21Z
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Selasa, 04 Juli 2023

Biden pushing for Ursula von der Leyen to be next Nato boss after blocking Ben Wallace - The Telegraph

Joe Biden is pushing for Ursula von der Leyen to be installed as the next Nato secretary general after Ben Wallace’s candidacy was blocked, The Telegraph can disclose.

The president of the European Commission was said to be the United States’ preferred candidate after the White House rejected the Defence Secretary for the role.

On Tuesday, Nato allies agreed a one-year extension for Jens Stoltenberg, who has been secretary general since October 2014, to lead the alliance until autumn 2024.

Nato leaders had hoped to reach a deal on a successor to Mr Stoltenberg at their annual summit in Vilnius, Lithuania, next week, but have failed to agree on a candidate.

A Nato source said that the US president was attempting to convince Mrs von der Leyen, a former German defence minister, to succeed Mr Stoltenberg amid fears a suitable candidate will not emerge in the next 12 months.

“We’re going to have a problem next year when it becomes clear that the field is no stronger than this year,” a second source said.

Mr Biden and Mrs von der Leyen have built “a strong bond” in recent years, fostering close transatlantic ties over China, Ukraine and the climate, another source said.

Ben Wallace was said to have been a favourite with a number of Nato member states Credit: Reuters/Anna Gordon

She was said to now “rely on Washington for intelligence” in a shift away from information relayed to her by European agencies, which misjudged Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Fluent in French, she would likely secure the support of Emmanuel Macron, who was opposed to Mr Wallace’s candidacy

Meanwhile, Olaf Scholz, the German chancellor and a former political rival of Mrs von der Leyen, would like to see her out of the frame to keep a top EU job.

Concerns, however, may arise over her recent poor handling of the German defence ministry, which she led between 2013 and 2019. 

In 2015, it was reported that German soldiers had to replace heavy machine guns with broomsticks during a Nato exercise, to hide their lack of equipment.

The European Commission president has previously said it was an honour to be included on a list of potential successors. However, her spokesman said she was “not available for the job, be it now or in the future”.

In private talks, Mrs von der Leyen reportedly told Mr Biden she would not be available to take over any role at Nato until at least next year.

White House strategists see a window opening up to poach her after next year’s European elections.

Nato expansion since 1997

Mrs von der Leyen is expected to be a frontrunner for EU leaders to retain her role as the bloc’s most senior official in charge of the Commission.

However, there are doubts over whether she would also be able to command support from the European Parliament, with Right-wing MEPs, who oppose her green policies, set to form an alliance.

“It brings the Nato job into the discussions over Europe’s other top jobs,” a source said.

Last week, Mr Stoltenberg said he was “not seeking an extension” having already delayed his departure to provide stability for the alliance amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

He will remain in post until October 2024, meaning he will have served as Nato’s secretary general for a decade by the time he is due to stand down.

There is no official procedure for appointing the military alliance’s top official. Its 31 member states must hold discussions over potential candidates until a consensus is reached.

Mr Wallace dropped out of the race to replace Mr Stoltenberg last month after his candidacy was opposed by the White House and France, which wants a leader from the European Union to fill the role.

Wallace support for Ukraine an issue

The Defence Secretary was said to have been a favourite with a number of Nato member states, but there were significant tensions with Washington, the alliance’s de facto leader, over his unprecedented support for Ukraine.

He has often gone further in his military backing for Kyiv, including on tanks and long-range cruise missiles, than the US.

Other Nato allies favoured a prime minister or head of state to replace Mr Stoltenberg, while others still had pushed for a female candidate.

Mette Frederiksen, the Danish prime minister, emerged as the potential frontrunner to take up the role after a recent meeting with Mr Biden at the White House.

However, she ruled herself out of contention when member states raised concerns over the possibility of having a third consecutive Scandinavian leader of Nato.

Turkey was also expected to oppose the Danish prime minister after copies of the Koran and Turkish flags were set alight in Copenhagen last week.

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2023-07-04 19:49:00Z
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Russia has lost half its combat capability in Ukraine, says UK armed forces chief - Financial Times

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2023-07-04 17:11:29Z
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Jenin: Israeli forces start withdrawal after two-day operation - BBC

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Israeli forces have started withdrawing from Jenin refugee camp in the occupied West Bank, a defence source says.

This ends a major two-day operation in which 12 Palestinians and one Israeli soldier have been killed.

Gunfire and explosions could be across Jenin as the news emerged. Around this time, health officials reported the fatal shooting of a Palestinian man.

Later on Tuesday evening, an Israeli soldier was killed by "live fire" in the camp, the Israeli army said.

Earlier, Palestinian militant groups said a car-ramming and stabbing attack in Israel was a response to the raid.

Israeli authorities said seven people were injured on a busy shopping street in Tel Aviv and that the attacker was a Palestinian man from the West Bank.

Israel's Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, said: "Whoever thinks that such an attack will deter us from continuing our fight against terrorism is mistaken."

He also confirmed that Israeli forces were "completing the mission" in Jenin, but warned that it would not be a "one-time action".

Palestinian leaders accused Israel of mounting an "invasion".

The Israeli military launched its operation in Jenin refugee camp early on Monday with a drone strike that it said targeted a joint command centre of the Jenin Brigades - a unit made up of different militant groups, including Hamas.

Drones carried out further air strikes as hundreds of troops entered the camp and engaged in intense gun battles with armed Palestinians inside the camp.

The military said the "counter-terrorism operation" was focused on seizing weapons and "breaking the safe haven mindset of the camp".

Palestinian Red Crescent staff evacuate Palestinian civilians from the Jenin refugee camp (4 July 2023)
EPA

At a news conference in Geneva on Tuesday, a spokeswoman for the UN's humanitarian office said it was "alarmed at the scale of air and ground operations that are taking place in Jenin and continuing today in the West Bank, and especially [the] air strikes hitting a densely populated refugee camp".

She said the Palestinian health ministry had confirmed that three children - two 17-year-old boys and a 16-year-old boy - were among those killed, and warned that damage to infrastructure meant most of the camp now had no drinking water or electricity.

The World Health Organization said Palestinian ambulance crews had been prevented from entering parts of the camp, including to reach people who were critically injured. The health ministry has said more than 100 Palestinians have been injured, 20 of them critically.

A Palestinian Red Crescent official said about 3,000 Palestinians, including many sick and elderly, were allowed overnight to flee the drone strikes and gun battles between Israeli troops and armed Palestinians.

A man in a wheelchair who was escorted out of the camp with his family in the morning told the BBC that they had been held in a room by Israeli troops.

"We were encircled by a military barricade. Israeli soldiers came. Now we just went out. There were no people left in the camp. We were the only ones."

He added: "It's been a very difficult situation. The drone was shooting at us. Now we've just left. And we're all tired. We've had no food... No drink."

Map showing Jenin

Outside a hospital in the nearby city centre, Palestinians protesters threw stones at an Israeli military vehicle, prompting it to fire tear gas in response.

Medical charity Médecins Sans Frontières complained that paramedics had been forced to proceed on foot because Israeli military bulldozers had destroyed many roads, stripping them of tarmac.

In an interview with CNN on Tuesday night, chief military spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said that no non-combatants had been killed during the operation.

He also said he had seen ambulances driving freely inside the camp during the day, adding: "We are assisting those ambulances to evacuate the wounded."

The admiral said bulldozers had dug up about 2km (1.2 miles) of roads inside the camp along which militants had concealed explosive devices, putting civilians and troops at risk.

A street in Jenin, in the occupied West Bank, damaged during a major Israeli military operation (4 July 2023)
Reuters

Jenin has become a stronghold of a new generation of Palestinian militants who have become deeply frustrated by the West Bank-based Palestinian Authority's aging leadership and the restrictions of the Israeli occupation.

The city has seen repeated Israeli military raids in the past year as local Palestinians have carried out deadly attacks on Israelis. Other Palestinian attackers have hidden there.

Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammed Shtayyeh rejected statements from foreign governments saying that Israel had the right to defend itself.

"Israel is internationally recognised as the occupying power over our land and people," he tweeted. "[It] should be condemned for its use of force to destroy the camp's infrastructure, facilities, and homes, and to kill, arrest, and displace innocent people."

"It is the Palestinian people that have the right to self-defence. There is no such right for an occupying power," he added.

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2023-07-04 21:20:24Z
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