UKRAINE WRAP | Steenhuisen calls on Ramaphosa to change SA's non-aligned position

May 09 2022 - 17:58

'This will truly be the winter of our discontent,' warns Steenhuisen amid Russia-Ukraine war

DA leader John Steenhuisen says the consequences of the war between Russia and Ukraine will be felt most by SA’s poorest during the winter.   

The price of staple foods, including maize and cooking oil, have been on the rise due to restrictions on Ukrainian exports through its ports.

Steenhuisen warned that it will get worse before it gets better.

May 09 2022 - 17:44

Renault CEO says decision on Russian operations to come in weeks

Renault's top executive said on Monday the carmaker will decide in the coming weeks on the future of its operations in Russia, where it suspended operations in late March after the invasion of Ukraine.

“Negotiations are still ongoing,” CEO Luca de Meo said at the FT Future of the Car 2022 conference, adding that leaving Russia entirely involves writing down the value of its assets.

“But we also know that we've been working for 10 years investing a lot of money there, so we are also here to protect our assets and what we've done.”

May 09 2022 - 16:31

Europeans want fairer, greener, more agile EU

European Union citizens would like the 27-nation bloc to become fairer, show greater solidarity, lead the fight against climate change and make swifter decisions, even if it means scrapping the need for unanimity on some issues, an EU report showed.

The report is the result of a year of consultations with citizens by EU institutions, a process called the Conference on the Future of Europe, and it spells out ideas for change, some of which might require amending EU treaties — a highly sensitive topic.

The 49 proposals will now be examined by the European Parliament, EU governments and the European Commission, the latter the only one able to propose new EU laws.

May 09 2022 - 15:31

Steenhuisen calls on Ramaphosa to change SA's non-aligned position on Russia, Ukraine war

DA leader John Steenhuisen has warned that the war between Russia and Ukraine is far from over and says he will pressure the ANC-led government to change its non-aligned position.

He made the remarks on Monday after returning from a six-day fact finding mission to Ukraine.  

“This is a fight between good and evil and in such a fight you cannot sit on the fence, you have to choose and you have [to choose] the right side. The people I spoke to cannot fathom how SA’s government has taken the stance it has,” he said. 

May 09 2022 - 14:01

Russian ambassador doused in red by anti-war protesters in Poland

The Russian ambassador to Poland was doused in a red substance on Monday by people protesting against the war in Ukraine as he went to lay flowers at the Soviet Military Cemetery in Warsaw to mark the 77th anniversary of the victory over Nazi Germany.

The war in Ukraine has cast a shadow over this year's Victory Day, when Moscow honours the 27 million Soviet citizens who lost their lives in World War 2. Poland, a strong supporter of Ukraine in its resistance to Russia's invasion, opposed any large-scale commemoration taking place.

Video footage posted on Twitter showed the protesters, some with Ukrainian flags, surrounding the Russian delegation and chanting “fascists” before the ambassador was doused in the red substance.

Ambassador Sergey Andreev told reporters he and his team were not seriously hurt in the incident, TASS news agency reported.

May 09 2022 - 13:44

Ukraine war spurs US to ramp up security probe of software maker Kaspersky

The Biden administration ramped up a national security probe into Russia's AO Kaspersky Lab antivirus software earlier this year amid heightened fears of Russian cyberattacks after Moscow invaded Ukraine, three people familiar with the matter told Reuters.

The case was referred to the Commerce Department by the Department of Justice last year, a fourth person said, but Commerce made little progress on it until the White House and other administration officials urged them to move forward in March, the three people added.

At issue is the risk that the Kremlin could use the antivirus software, which has privileged access to a computer's systems, to steal sensitive information from American computers or tamper with them as tensions escalate between Moscow and the West.

May 09 2022 - 12:23

Russian satellite TV shows a Ukraine message: 'blood on your hands'

Russian satellite television menus were altered on Monday to show viewers in Moscow messages about the war in Ukraine: "You have blood on your hands", according to screenshots obtained by Reuters.

The photographs showed Moscow satellite television menus on Victory Day, when Russia celebrated the 77th anniversary of Soviet Union's victory over Nazi Germany, with every channel showing anti-war slogans.

"You have the blood of thousands of Ukrainians and hundreds of dead children on your hands," said one slogan.

"The TV and the authorities are lying. No to war."

The slogans appeared just before the Victory Day parade on Red Square at which President Vladimir Putin compared the war in Ukraine to the Soviet battle to defeat Adolf Hitler in World War Two.

It was not immediately clear how the slogans appeared.

Interfax news agency said the slogans appeared on cable television too after they were hacked.

A Russian news website also showed anti-war material that was deeply critical of Putin. It was not immediately clear how the negative articles appeared. They swiftly disappeared.

Russia's Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine has killed thousands of people, displaced millions more and raised fears of the most serious confrontation between Russia and the United States since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis.

Putin says the "special military operation" in Ukraine is necessary because the United States was using Ukraine to threaten Russia and Moscow had to defend against the persecution of Russian-speaking people.

He casts the conflict as an inevitable confrontation with the United States, which he accuses of threatening Russia by meddling in its backyard and enlarging the NATO military alliance.

NATO and Ukraine deny they were a threat to Russia. Ukraine says it is fighting an imperial-style land grab and that Putin's claims of genocide are nonsense. 

Reuters 

May 09 2022 - 11:53

Trudeau in Kyiv announces more aid for Ukraine

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced new weapons and equipment for Ukraine after an unannounced visit to Ukraine’s capital Kyiv.

May 09 2022 - 11:49

Russia’s Victory Day puts focus on military's losses in Ukraine

While Russia is preparing a show of force to celebrate the anniversary of its World War II victory, the reality of its battle in Ukraine seems much bleaker.

Ukraine’s military says more than 25,000 Russian soldiers have been killed since the invasion on February 24, while Moscow’s Defence Ministry says less than 1,300 soldiers have been killed.

Al Jazeera was given rare access to the bodies left behind as Russia retreated from the Kyiv region.

May 09 2022 - 11:30

Ukraine breaking the Russian army is "very possible," says UK's Wallace

British Defence Secretary Ben Wallace said on Monday that Ukraine defeating the Russian army was very possible, while calling on Russian President Vladimir Putin to come to terms with the fact that Moscow has lost in the long run.

"It is very possible that Ukraine will break the Russian army to the extent that they either have to go back to pre-February or they have to effectively fold in on itself," Wallace told an audience in the National Army Museum in London."

He (Putin) must come to terms with how he's lost in the long run, and he's absolutely lost. Russia is not what it was." 

Reuters

May 09 2022 - 11:14

EU should seize Russian reserves to rebuild Ukraine, Borrell says

The European Union should consider seizing frozen Russian foreign exchange reserves to help pay for the cost of rebuilding Ukraine after the war, its foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, said in an interview with the Financial Times.

The EU and its western allies have put curbs on the Russian central bank's international reserves since the country began its invasion of Ukraine, actions Moscow describes as a “special military operation”.

Borrell told the newspaper it would be logical for the EU to do what the US did with Afghan central bank assets after the Taliban took over the Asian nation.

May 09 2022 - 10:57

Ukraine war drives De Beers to step up diamond traceability efforts

De Beers, the world's No. 2 diamond producer, is stepping up efforts to formally track its products from mine to retailer, the company's CEO said, as Western customers want assurance that their purchases do not come from Russia.

De Beers, a unit of Anglo American, is also looking to adjust its supply chains, CEO Bruce Cleaver told Reuters in an interview, as it sees rising demand in the United States for its diamonds after US authorities banned the import of diamonds from Russia's Alrosa, the world's biggest producer.

"Traceability and pipeline integrity are going to be the things that get accelerated out of the Russia-Ukraine war," Cleaver said.

May 09 2022 - 10:45

Putin 'mirroring fascism' of 77 years ago, UK's Wallace says

Russian President Vladimir Putin and his generals are mirroring the fascism and tyranny of 77 years ago and their invasion of Ukraine dishonours its military past, British Defence Secretary Ben Wallace said on Monday.

In a speech to coincide with Russia's Victory Day parade commemorating the end of the World War Two, Wallace said the Russian generals were as complicit as their president, and should face court martial.

"Through the invasion of Ukraine, Putin and his inner circle of generals are now mirroring fascism and tyranny of 77 years ago, repeating the errors of the last century's totalitarian regime," he said.

Wallace was speaking as Putin addressed the massed ranks of service personnel on Red Square on the anniversary of victory over Nazi Germany, evoking the memory of Soviet heroism to urge his army towards victory in Ukraine.

Britain has been one of the most vocal supporters of Ukraine's efforts to resist what Putin calls a "special operation" to disarm its smaller neighbour and protect it from fascists. Ukraine and the West say this a false pretext for an unprovoked war of aggression by Russia.

Referring to Russian generals, Wallace said: "For them and for Putin there can be no victory day, only dishonour and surely defeat in Ukraine."

Reuters 

May 09 2022 - 10:12

Russian attacks on rail system fail to paralyse 'lifeline of Ukraine'

A salvo of missiles brought the Kremlin’s war on Ukraine to Fastiv, a quiet town abounding with flowering cherry trees and set in sweeping farmland hundreds of kilometres from the front lines.

The strike on April 28, which injured two people, hit an electrical substation that feeds power to a confluence of railway lines that forms a key hub of networks linking central Europe, Russia, and Asia.

The damage quickly was repaired, said Ukrainian officials, and a Reuters visit last week revealed no lingering impact. Trains plied between Kyiv and the southern port of Odesa, disgorging passengers into the station at Fastiv, a town of 45,000 people 75km (45 miles) south of the capital.

May 09 2022 - 09:00

LIVE: Russia marks World War Two victory with parade

President Vladimir Putin presides over a parade in Moscow's Red Square as Russia marks the anniversary of the Soviet Union's victory over Nazi Germany in World War Two.

May 09 2022 - 08:35

Ukraine's president says road to victory in war with Russia difficult but 'we will win'

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, marking victory over Nazi Germany in World War Two, said on Monday his country was fighting for a new victory and would win its war with Russia."The road to it is difficult, but we have no doubt that we will win," he said in a statement.

Reuters

May 09 2022 - 08:24

Russia has enough missiles and munitions, Interfax cites Deputy PM

Russia has enough high-precision missiles and ammunition to fulfil all the tasks assigned to the country's armed forces, the Interfax news agency quoted Deputy Prime Minister Yuri Borisov as saying on Monday.

A senior Pentagon official said in March that Russia, which sent thousands of troops into Ukraine on Feb. 24 in what it calls a special military operation, was running out of precision guided munitions. 

Reuters 

May 09 2022 - 08:10

Russia is developing new-generation hypersonic missiles - Ifax

Russia is developing new-generation hypersonic missiles to carry out strikes from air, land and sea, the Interfax news agency quoted Deputy Prime Minister Yuri Borisov as saying on Monday. 

Reuters 

May 09 2022 - 06:21

US first lady makes unannounced visit to Ukraine

US first lady Jill Biden made an unannounced trip to Ukraine to show support for its people amid Russia's invasion.

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