World
Lavrov says Russia will continue Ukraine war till ‘the end’
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Thursday he believed some foreign leaders were preparing for war against Russia and that Moscow would press on with its military operation in Ukraine until "the end".
Lavrov also said Russia had no thoughts of nuclear war.
Offering no evidence to back up his remarks in an interview with state television, a week after Russian invaded Ukraine, he also accused Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, an ethnic Jew, of presiding over "a society where Nazism is flourishing", Reuters reported.
He said he had no doubt that a solution to the crisis in Ukraine would be found, and a new round of talks were about to start between Ukrainian and Russian officials.
But he said Russia's dialogue with the West must be based on mutual respect, accused NATO of seeking to maintain supremacy and said that while Russia had a lot of goodwill, it could not let anyone undermine its interests.
Moscow would not let Ukraine keep infrastructure that threatened Russia, he said.
Moscow could also not tolerate what he said was a military threat from Ukraine, he said, adding that he was convinced that Russia was right over Ukraine.
"The thought of nuclear is constantly spinning in the heads of Western politicians but not in the heads of Russians," he said. "I assure you that we will not allow any kind of provocation to unbalance us."
Russia did not feel politically isolated, and the question of how Ukraine lives should be defined by its people, he said.
Ukrainian officials have accused Russian forces of hitting civilian areas but Lavrov said Russian troops had strict orders to use high-precision weapons to destroy military infrastructure.
Offering no evidence, Lavrov said Russia had information that the United States was worried about the prospect of losing control over what he described as chemical and biological laboratories in Ukraine and accused Britain of building military bases there, Reuters reported.
Russian businessman places $1m bounty on Putin’s head
A Russian businessman has placed a $1 million bounty on Vladimir Putin’s head and urged the country’s military officers to bring the president to justice.
Entrepreneur Alex Konanykhin made the promise in a post on social media site LinkedIn and called it his “moral duty” to take action and help Ukraine.
The bounty offered by Konanykhin, who is now based in the US, places an even more direct target on the Russian leader as backlash over the invasion continues to escalate, Newsweek reported.
Konanykhin said in a Facebook post Tuesday that he promised to pay the officer or officers the money for arresting "Putin as a war criminal under Russian and international laws."
An earlier version of Konanykhin's post on LinkedIn included a photo of Putin with the words "Wanted: Dead or alive. Vladimir Putin for mass murder," according to The Jerusalem Post. The post appears to have been taken down.
World
Biden is sending aid to help Ukraine keep fighting next year, Blinken says
NATO countries must focus their efforts on ensuring that Ukraine has the money, munitions and mobilized forces to fight effectively in 2025, Blinken said
The Biden administration is determined in its final months to help ensure that Ukraine can keep fighting off Russia’s full-scale invasion next year, sending it as much aid as possible so that it might hold Russian forces at bay and possess a strong hand in any potential peace negotiations, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Wednesday.
“President Biden has committed to making sure that every dollar we have at our disposal will be pushed out the door between now and Jan. 20,” when president-elect Donald Trump is due to be sworn in, Blinken said.
NATO countries must focus their efforts on “ensuring that Ukraine has the money, munitions and mobilized forces to fight effectively in 2025, or to be able to negotiate a peace from a position of strength,” Blinken said during a visit to Brussels.
The US will “adapt and adjust” with the latest equipment it is sending, Blinken said, without providing details.
The almost three-year war has shown no signs of winding down.
Russia attacked the Ukrainian capital Kyiv with a sophisticated combination of missiles and drones for the first time in 73 days on Wednesday.
That came a day after the Pentagon said most of the North Korean troops sent to help Moscow’s war effort are fighting to drive Ukraine’s army off Russian soil in the Kursk border region.
World
China’s largest air show off to flying start with fighter jets and attack drones
Stealth fighter jets and attack drones took center stage on Monday at the official opening of Airshow China in Zhuhai, Guangdong province.
The airshow is an opportunity for Beijing to showcase its growing military might to potential customers and rivals alike.
Over the past few years, China has poured resources into modernizing and expanding its aviation capabilities as it faces off against the United States and others around regional flashpoints like Taiwan.
The star of Airshow China 2024, which showcases Beijing's civil and military aerospace sector every two years in the southern city of Zhuhai, is the new J-35A stealth fighter jet.
Its inclusion in the airshow suggests it is nearly ready to enter operation, which would make China the only country other than the United States to have two stealth fighters in action, experts said.
The J-35A is lighter than China's existing model, the J20, and looks more similar in design to a US F-35.
The airshow will feature a dedicated drone zone for the first time, reflecting their increased prominence in warzones, including Ukraine.
World
Trump, Putin speak as Biden plans to lobby Trump to stick with Ukraine
Zelenskiy said on Thursday he was not aware of any details of Trump’s plan to end the Ukraine war quickly and that he was convinced a rapid end would entail major concessions for Kyiv.
U.S. President-elect Donald Trump spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin and advised him not to escalate the Ukraine war, a source familiar with the conversation told Reuters on Sunday, as President Joe Biden plans to urge Trump not to abandon Kyiv, Reuters reported.
Trump and Putin spoke in recent days, said the source. Trump spoke with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Wednesday. Trump has criticised the scale of U.S. military and financial support for Kyiv, vowing to end the war quickly, without saying how.
Ukraine's foreign ministry said it was not informed in advance of the call between Trump and Putin and subsequently could neither endorse or object to it.
"We do not comment on private calls between President Trump and other world leaders," said Steven Cheung, Trump's communications director, when asked about the phone call, which was first reported by The Washington Post.
The Russian embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Republican Trump will take office on Jan. 20 after defeating Vice President Kamala Harris in the Nov. 5 presidential election. Biden has invited Trump to come to the Oval Office on Wednesday, the White House said.
U.S. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said on Sunday that Biden's top message will be his commitment to ensure a peaceful transfer of power, and he will also talk to Trump about what's happening in Europe, in Asia and the Middle East.
"President Biden will have the opportunity over the next 70 days to make the case to the Congress and to the incoming administration that the United States should not walk away from Ukraine, that walking away from Ukraine means more instability in Europe," Sullivan told CBS News' "Face the Nation" show.
Sullivan's comments came as Ukraine attacked Moscow on Sunday with at least 34 drones, the biggest drone strike on the Russian capital since the beginning of the war.
When asked if Biden would ask Congress to pass legislation to authorize more funding for Ukraine, Sullivan deferred.
"I'm not here to put forward a specific legislative proposal. President Biden will make the case that we do need ongoing resources for Ukraine beyond the end of his term," Sullivan said.
Washington has provided tens of billions of dollars worth of U.S. military and economic aid to Ukraine since it was invaded by Russia in February of 2022, funding that Trump has repeatedly criticized and rallied against with other Republican lawmakers, read the report.
Trump insisted last year that Putin never would have invaded Ukraine if he had been in the White House at the time. He told Reuters Ukraine may have to cede territory to reach a peace agreement, something the Ukrainians reject and Biden has never suggested.
Zelenskiy said on Thursday he was not aware of any details of Trump's plan to end the Ukraine war quickly and that he was convinced a rapid end would entail major concessions for Kyiv.
According to the Government Accountability Office, Congress appropriated over $174 billion to Ukraine under Biden. The pace of the aid is almost sure to drop under Trump with Republicans set to take control of the U.S. Senate with a 52-seat majority.
Control of the U.S. House of Representatives in the next Congress is not yet clear with some votes still being counted. Republicans have won 213 seats, according to Edison Research, just shy of the 218 needed for a majority. If Republicans win both chambers, it will mean the majority of Trump's agenda will have a significantly easier time passing through Congress, Reuters reported.
Republican U.S. Senator Bill Hagerty, a Trump ally who is considered a top contender for secretary of state, criticized U.S. funding for Ukraine in a CBS interview.
"The American people want sovereignty protected here in America before we spend our funds and resources protecting the sovereignty of another nation," Hagerty said.
The 2-1/2-year-old war in Ukraine is entering what some officials say could be its final act after Moscow's forces advanced at the fastest pace since the early days of the war.
Any fresh attempt to end the war is likely to involve peace talks of some kind, which have not been held since the early months of the war.
Moscow's forces occupy around a fifth of Ukraine. Russia says the war cannot end until its claimed annexations are recognized. Kyiv demands all of its territory back, a position that has largely been supported by Western allies.
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