Russia-Ukraine war: List of key events, day 687
As the war enters its 687th day, these are the main developments. Here is the situation on Thursday, January 11, 2024. Fighting Two Russian S-300 missiles struck a hotel in the centre of northeastern Kharkiv injuring 11 people, including journalists, according to Mayor Ihor Terekhov. Several other buildings, including two apartment blocks, were also damaged. At least one person was killed in a Russian-guided bomb attack on the village of Olkhovatka in the Kupiansk district of the Kharkiv region, according to Oleg Sinegubov, the head of the regional military administration. At least 10 private homes, a shop and a school were damaged, he added. Authorities in Belgorod evacuated some 392 children from the Russian border city after weeks of shelling from Ukrainian forces. Some 300 residents have already left the city, one of the biggest civilian evacuations on Russian soil since Moscow began its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Russia and Ukraine reported intense battles along the front line in the south and east around Avdiivka, Mariinsky, Kupiansk and Kherson. Russia claimed Ukraine had lost at least 450 soldiers in the confrontations, while Ukraine claimed it had killed 800 Russian troops. Ukraine announced a new online service which will allow Russians whose relatives are soldiers missing in Ukraine to find out whether they have been confirmed killed or are being held as POWs. Politics and diplomacy Speaking in Lithuania, at the start of an unannounced visit to the three Baltic states, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned that Western hesitation on aid was emboldening Russia and that Ukraine needed to strengthen its air defences and replenish its supplies of ammunition. “He [Russian President Vladimir Putin] won’t finish this [war] until we all finish him together,” Zelenskyy said after talks with his Lithuanian counterpart Gitanas Nauseda. “Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Moldova may be next.” United Nations agencies will next week ask for $3.1bn to finance humanitarian assistance for Ukraine in 2024. Edem Wosornu, director of the Operations and Advocacy Division for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), told the UN Security Council that the war had driven “high levels of humanitarian need” and that financial support had to be sustained. Pope Francis expressed concern that international attention was shifting away from Ukraine. In a letter to the head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, Francis said he was sorry that “in an increasingly tragic international situation, the war in Ukraine risks becoming a forgotten one”. Weapons NATO allies said they would continue to provide Ukraine with major military, economic and humanitarian aid and outlined plans to provide “billions of euros of further capabilities” in 2024 to Ukraine. NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said the alliance strongly condemned Russia’s attacks and would boost Ukraine’s air defences. Authorities in Russia’s Belgorod said they had sent 392 children away from the city following alleged Ukrainian shelling attacks [Olga Maltseva /AFP] The UN Security Council discussed Russia’s alleged use of North Korean weapons in Ukraine. Russia’s UN ambassador Vasily Nebenzya said Western states had called the session an exercise in “anti-Russian propaganda” but stopped short of making an unequivocal denial that Moscow had fired North Korean missiles at Ukraine. South Korea’s UN envoy Hwang Joon-kook said Russia’s use of North Korean missiles gave Pyongyang “valuable technical and military insights” and enabled North Korea to use Ukraine as a “test site of its nuclear-capable missiles”. Lithuania approved a package of long-term military assistance to Ukraine, totalling 200 million euros (nearly $220m). President Nauseda said the country would send ammunition, generators and detonation systems this month, and M577 armoured personnel carriers in February. NATO members Turkey, Bulgaria and Romania are expected to sign on Thursday a preliminary agreement on demining the Black Sea, the AFP news agency reported, citing officials. The Russian navy mined Ukraine’s Black Sea coast in the early stages of its invasion. The UK’s Sky News, citing security sources, said Iran had developed a new attack drone for Russia to use in Ukraine and appears close to providing Moscow with surface-to-surface missiles. Adblock test (Why?)
Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal received letter asking him to block dates for Ram Mandir inauguration: AAP sources
With a couple of weeks left for the Pran Pratishtha of Ram Lalla at the Ayodhya temple, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal received a letter a few days ago saying he should block his dates as a formal invite for the ceremony, along with details will follow, party sources said. However, no subsequent formal invitation has come yet, party sources said.
Weather update: Delhi-NCR continues to reel under bone-chilling cold wave, dense fog in North India; check temperature
The India Meteorological Department (IMD) stated that no improvement is anticipated until at least January 15.
South Africa takes Israel to the ICJ claiming genocide in Gaza
NewsFeed South Africa is taking Israel to the International Court of Justice accusing it of crimes of genocide against Palestinians in Gaza. Al Jazeera’s Nabila Bana explains what’s behind South Africa’s case against Israel. Published On 10 Jan 202410 Jan 2024 Adblock test (Why?)
‘Still no endgame’ as Blinken concludes latest Middle East tour: Analysts
As the United States’ top diplomat concludes his fourth tour of the Middle East since the war in Gaza began, foreign policy analysts are questioning whether the visit was an act of diplomacy — or an exercise in “damage control”. On Wednesday, Secretary of State Antony Blinken travelled from Israel to the West Bank and then Bahrain. The stops were part of a tour that included visits to Turkey, Greece, Jordan, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, with a final stop in Egypt on Thursday. Much of the attention was on the US’s continued support of Israel, as it continues its months-long military campaign in Gaza. An estimated 23,357 Palestinians have died in that offensive, amid mounting concerns over human rights violations. At a Tel Aviv news conference on Tuesday, Blinken ran through oft-repeated themes: that the administration of US President Joe Biden “continues to stand” with Israel but that civilian casualties in Gaza remain “far too high”. Analysts described the latest tour as an attempt at “face-saving”, as Blinken sought to walk a fine line between exerting influence over Israel and failing to publicly exercise any real leverage. “We want this war to end as soon as possible,” Blinken told reporters on Tuesday. But three months into the war, an “endgame” remains elusive, said Michael Schaeffer Omer-Man, the director of research for Israel-Palestine at Democracy for the Arab World Now (DAWN). “There’s still no plan,” he told Al Jazeera. He cast doubt on Israel’s stated mission of eliminating the Palestinian group Hamas as part of the war. “Israelis are still living in fantasyland, in that they think they can accomplish the impossible, and the Americans are still in fantasyland [thinking] that they can bring Israelis around to something that’s acceptable to the world,” Omer-Man explained. Critics warned that the US and Israel are also articulating different visions for the path forward after the war. On his visit to Tel Aviv, for example, Blinken called on Israel to accept a two-state solution for Palestine, something he again discussed with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas on Wednesday. But Netanyahu has repeatedly rejected any moves towards a two-state solution and has said Israel will maintain security control over Gaza for an indefinite period after the war. Two far-right Israeli officials — Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich — have also voiced a desire for the “voluntary migration” of Palestinians out of Gaza, something critics have interpreted as a push for ethnic cleansing in the enclave. The latest rhetoric underscored the “yawning gap” between Washington’s vision for a post-war Gaza and what Israel’s government is willing to accept, according to Joshua Landis, the director of the Center of Middle East Studies at the University of Oklahoma. “Netanyahu, who has said numerous times that America is easy to manipulate and who has done end runs around one president after the next, is doing an end run around Biden,” Landis told Al Jazeera. “He’s getting all the arms he wants, and he’s continuing to do this massive damage in Gaza, and he’s not moderating his government officials, who are constantly spouting out this hate messaging, which is embarrassing America in front of the world,” he said. ‘Preempt’ ICJ hearings Still, Blinken sought to claim some victories during the trip. He announced, for instance, that US and Israeli officials had agreed on a plan for a United Nations assessment mission in northern Gaza to “determine what needs to be done to allow displaced Palestinians to return safely to homes in the north”. That announcement came before the World Health Organization (WHO) cancelled its latest aid mission to northern Gaza, saying Israeli approval and security assurances had not been granted. Blinken also hailed Israel’s announcement that it would begin to shift some troops out of Gaza, describing it as a transition to a “lower-intensity phase” in the enclave. On Monday, in interviews with the New York Times and Wall Street Journal, Israeli military spokesman Daniel Hagari said his country would move from the “intense-manoeuvring phase of the war” to “types of special operations”, in an effort to reduce civilian casualties. However, intense fighting would continue in the centre and south of Gaza. Hours later, speaking at a campaign event in South Carolina, Biden said in unscripted remarks that he had been “quietly working with the Israeli government to get them to reduce and significantly get out of Gaza”. But far from acquiescing to US pressure, DAWN’s Omer-Man said talk of a strategic shift was more likely a response to South Africa’s proceedings against Israel at the UN’s International Court of Justice (ICJ). South Africa has accused Israel of genocide in Gaza and requested a provisional injunction that would, in theory, order Israel to stop its operations. Preliminary hearings are set to take place on Thursday and Friday. Israel’s rhetoric about shifting tactics is “absolutely designed so they can tell the ICJ that any interim measures are not relevant any more because major military operations have ended”, Omer-Man explained. “I think a big part of this is the US and Israel trying to preempt [the ICJ hearings] in some way.” For his part, speaking in Tel Aviv, Blinken dismissed the charge of genocide as “meritless”. Israel-Lebanon ‘escalatory trend’ Blinken’s latest trip through the Middle East has also coincided with increased fighting along Israel’s northern border with Lebanon, where there have been a string of high-profile assassinations in recent days. Those include the killing of Hamas deputy leader Saleh al-Arouri in Beirut, which Israel has yet to claim or deny, as well as the killing of Hezbollah commander Wissam Hassan al-Tawil on Monday. Randa Slim, a senior fellow at the Washington-based Middle East Institute, described the killings as part of an “escalatory trend” fuelled by Israeli officials pledging to “change the status quo” in the Hezbollah stronghold of southern Lebanon. Hezbollah is an Iran-backed movement, and fighting along the Lebanon-Israel border has fuelled fears of a wider regional conflict erupting, with Iran and
UN Security Council demands Houthis stop Red Sea shipping attacks
Resolution backed by 11 members also calls for the immediate release of the seized Galaxy Leader’s multinational crew. The UN Security Council has passed a resolution demanding Yemen’s Houthis end attacks on ships in the Red Sea and free the Japanese-operated Galaxy Leader that was seized last year. Eleven members of the council voted on Wednesday for the measure calling on the Iran-aligned Houthis to “immediately cease all attacks, which impede global commerce and navigational rights and freedoms as well as regional peace”. Four members – Algeria, China, Mozambique and Russia – abstained. None voted against. As permanent members of the council, China and Russia have vetoes but chose not to use them. “The world’s message to the Houthis today was clear: Cease these attacks immediately,” Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the United States’ ambassador to the United Nations, said in a statement after the vote. The US sponsored the resolution alongside Japan. “With this resolution, the Council has lived up to its responsibility to help ensure the free flow of lawful transit through the Red Sea continues unimpeded,” Thomas-Greenfield added. The US says the Iran-backed Houthis have carried out 26 attacks on commercial ships in the Red Sea since commandeering the Galaxy Leader and its 25-strong multinational crew on November 19. The Houthis claim they are targeting Israeli-linked or Israel-bound vessels in protest against the ongoing war on Gaza, but many of the ships have had no discernible link with the country, and many lines have begun to avoid the area altogether. The key provision of the resolution noted the right of United Nations member states, in accordance with international law, “to defend their vessels from attack, including those that undermine navigational rights and freedoms”. The provision amounts to an implicit endorsement of Operation Prosperity Guardian, a US-led multinational naval task force, including the United Kingdom and Norway, that was established in December to defend commercial shipping from Houthi attacks. Norway has one of the world’s largest merchant shipping fleets, and its vessels have been targeted by the Houthis. Earlier on Wednesday, the US military said that it had shot down 21 Houthi missiles and drones that were part of a “complex attack” on southern Red Sea shipping lanes. The UK, which worked with the US to thwart the Houthi attack, said it was the largest in the area so far. The US accuses Iran of providing critical support for the Houthi attacks, including advanced missiles and drones, in violation of UN Security Council resolutions. Tehran denies the allegations. Mohammed Ali al-Houthi, the head of Yemen’s Houthi supreme revolutionary committee in Yemen, dismissed the UN resolution as a “political game” and claimed the US was the one violating international law. The Red Sea links the Middle East and Asia to Europe via the Suez Canal and its narrow Bab al-Mandeb Strait. Nearly 10 percent of all oil trade and an estimated $1 trillion in goods pass through the strait every year. At the time of its hijack, the Galaxy Leader – although ultimately owned by a firm linked to an Israeli businessman – was being operated by a Japanese shipping line with a crew from Bulgaria, Mexico, the Philippines, Romania and Ukraine. The Houthis have been engaged in a civil war with Yemen’s internationally recognised government since 2014. Adblock test (Why?)
VA gets flak for using staff to help ICE process illegal immigrant health care despite backlog of veterans
The Department of Veterans Affairs is getting some flak for helping U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) process health care treatment for illegal immigrants despite a growing backlog of U.S. veterans. Under the arrangement, which has been around for more than 20 years, ICE pays for the VA’s Financial Service Center (FSC) to process medical claims for ICE’s Health Services Corps (IHSC), as well as other government agencies. IHSC is only responsible for authorizing healthcare services and obtaining providers to deliver the health care. In fiscal year 2021, FSC processed $74 million worth of claims budgeted by IHSC. The following fiscal year, FSC budgeted more than $94 million in ICE funds, according to a Department of Homeland Security report on “Healthcare Costs for Noncitizens in Detention.” It comes amid a growing backlog of benefits claims by veterans. As of December 2023, that number stood at 378,000 claims. The department has attributed the growing number of claims to the PACT Act, which it says accounted for a surge of benefit applications — surpassing previous records by nearly 40%. The increase in the number of applications, the VA said, has led to an increase in application time. In some cases, processing can take longer than 125 days, and the department anticipates that the backlog will grow in 2024. PRO-PALESTINIAN PROTESTERS DEFACE VETERANS CEMETERY IN LOS ANGELES, SPRAY-PAINT ‘FREE GAZA’ A Wednesday report from The New York Post highlighting the VA’s arrangement with ICE, cited veterans and Republican lawmakers who criticized the deal, given the circumstances. GOP Rep. Derrick Van of Wisconsin, a retired Navy SEAL on the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, called the arrangement “despicable” and said it “needs to be stopped immediately.” Former Marine Chad Robichaux, who led civilian evacuation efforts in Afghanistan, said it was a “giant slap in the face to Americans and to the military community,” that “millions of taxpayer dollars [are being] taken from our veterans to instead incentivize and care for an invasion of illegal aliens.” A VA spokesman contacted by Fox News Digital called the report “extremely misleading,” and was emphatic that the department is not providing funds or healthcare to illegal immigrants in ICE detention. He distinguished veterans’ healthcare from veterans’ disability claims, which is a separate process. The VA says it processed veteran benefits at a record rate in 2023, delivering $163 billion in earned benefits, including $150 billion in compensation and pension benefits to more than 1.5 million veterans and survivors. VA Press Secretary Terrence Hayes said the VA’s work for ICE is administrative in function only, involves no more than 10 employees, and is fully paid for by ICE. None of these employees have been diverted from other roles, and no resources for veterans are used for this agreement. “[The arrangement] “has been in place for every administration since 2002,” Hayes said in a statement. “Our job is to deliver world-class care and benefits to our nation’s Veterans, and we will continue to fight like hell to do exactly that.” It remained unclear why, if ICE has the funds to pay the VA, it cannot — after 20 years — hire additional personnel of its own to process the paperwork within the department. ICE did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
ED summons Farooq Abdullah for questioning in money laundering case
The 86-year-old politician is understood to have been called in connection with the federal agency’s investigation into alleged irregularities in the Jammu and Kashmir Cricket Association (JKCA).
‘Ramayan is a bridge across geographies’: Indian envoy to US at Washington event
The top diplomat added the epic also gives insight into the significance of dialogue and having a measured and strategic approach for working with partner countries.
Gen Z conservative firebrand C.J. Pearson among 10 qualifying candidates for open Georgia legislative seats
Five candidates apiece are running in special elections for a Georgia state Senate seat west of Atlanta and a state House seat near Augusta. Qualifying closed Wednesday for the Feb. 13 votes to replace Republican Mike Dugan in Senate District 30 and Rep. Barry Fleming in House District 125. Dugan resigned to run for Congress, while Gov. Brian Kemp swore Fleming in as a superior court judge on Wednesday. Members of all parties will run together in the special elections with no primaries to select nominees. If no one wins a majority on Feb. 13, the top two candidates would advance to a runoff on March 12, the same day as Georgia’s presidential primary. GEORGIA VOTING SYSTEM UNDER SCRUTINY AS TRIAL OVER CONSTITUTIONAL CHALLENGE DRAWS NEAR Running in the Senate race as Republicans are former state Rep. Tim Bearden of Carrollton, real estate agent Renae Bell of Tallapoosa, contract administrator Amber Nixon of Carrollton and consultant Robert “Bob” Smith. Ashley Kecskes Godwin of Carrollton is running as a Democrat. The district covers all of Haralson County and parts of Carroll, Douglas and Paulding counties. Bearden was elected to the state House four times before former Gov. Nathan Deal appointed him as director of the Georgia Public Safety Training Center. Bearden is now the government affairs manager for a billboard company. He’s a former police officer who pushed for expansions of gun rights while in the House. “My goal is to make sure that this district is set up for a prosperous future,” Bearden told Carrollton radio station WLBB-AM on Tuesday. He said he would seek tougher criminal penalties for trafficking fentanyl and those who injure police officers and firefighters. Bell is a real estate agent, the wife of Haralson County school Superintendent Jerry Bell, and the former chair of the Greater Haralson Chamber of Commerce. Bell said she seeks to foster limited government, entrepreneurship and self-reliance. “As a small business owner, the Make America Great Again movement resonated with me. The Trump economy ushered in unheralded prosperity, hope for my grand children’s future, and restored my feeling of safety in my community,” Bell said in a statement. Republicans running in the House race include conservative commentator C.J. Pearson of Grovetown, Columbia County Commissioner and car wash owner Gary Richardson of Evans, farmer James Steed of Grovetown and software developer John Turpish of Grovetown. The lone Democrat running is cosmetologist Kay Turner of Grovetown. The district covers parts of Columbia and McDuffie counties. Currently national co-chair of the Republican National Committee Youth Advisory Council, Pearson won notice as a Black middle school student posting videos supporting Republican causes. Richardson can’t run for reelection as a commissioner because he’s term-limited after eight years.