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Ukraine, Russia accuse each other of New Year’s Day attacks

Ukraine, Russia accuse each other of New Year’s Day attacks

At least five people have been killed in Donetsk and Odesa as the two sides continue a wave of escalating attacks that began on Friday. Five people have been killed in New Year’s Day attacks on Ukraine’s southern Odesa region and the Russian-occupied eastern city of Donetsk, amid escalating conflict between Moscow and Kyiv. Denis Pushilin, the Russian-installed head of the broader Donetsk region, said four people had been killed in Donetsk, accusing Ukraine of “massive shelling from multiple launch rocket systems”. At least 14 people had been injured, he added. Oleh Kiper, the governor of the Odesa region, meanwhile, said one person had been killed after a Russian air raid on Odesa. Kiper said that Ukraine’s air defence systems were engaged in repelling the drone attack, but the falling debris caused several fires in residential buildings in different parts of the city, and at least three people had been injured. A social media video, posted by Odesa Mayor Henadii Trukhanov, showed him inspecting a damaged apartment with broken windows. “They say that how you welcome the New Year is how you will live the year,” Trukhanov said in the post. “Well, this year Ukraine will break this rule: We will persevere and we will win. Ukraine’s Air Force said that Russian air attacks also targeted the Mykolaiv and Dnipro regions, as well as the city of Lviv. Air attacks have escalated since Friday when Russia launched some 158 missiles and drones on Ukraine’s major cities in a barrage that killed at least 30 people and injured more than 140. That was followed on Saturday by a Ukrainian attack on the Russian border town of Belgorod in which at least 21 people were killed and 111 injured. With Moscow promising to retaliate, on Sunday it launched a new aerial bombardment of Ukraine, targeting Kharkiv, the country’s second biggest city, with six missiles, as well as drones. Both sides deny targeting civilians in the war, which began when Russia sent its soldiers into Ukraine in February 2022 in a full-scale invasion of the country. Adblock test (Why?)

Best of 2023: Editor’s picks from the Asia Pacific

Best of 2023: Editor’s picks from the Asia Pacific

From the deepening conflict in Myanmar as a result of the 2021 coup to North Korea’s record years of weapons testing and confrontations in the South China Sea, it has been a busy year in the Asia Pacific. Here are some of our most-read and must-reads from our original reporting in 2023. Myanmar More than two years since the generals seized power in a coup in February 2021, civilians found themselves caught in an escalating conflict, and targeted by a military notorious for its brutality. Starting with satellite imagery of five villages burned to ashes in the country’s Sagaing region, Zaheena Rasheed and Nu Nu Lusan gathered evidence from villagers and witnesses to piece together what had happened. “We have been working so hard for generations to build these houses and own this land, but they burned our homes and our grain in just one day,” one farmer told them. “They want us to become so poor that we do not resist them. I think they believe that if we are left with nothing, we would not resist. But they are wrong.” You can read more in their story, Charred bodies, burned homes: A ‘campaign of terror’ in Myanmar. There is a video of the story as well. At the end of October, three ethnic armed groups formed an alliance to begin a major offensive against the military in northern Shan state along the border with China. Emily Fishbein, Jaw Tu Hkawng and Zau Myet Awng found Operation 1027, as the offensive was dubbed, sparking renewed optimism among anti-coup forces as the armed groups notched up early gains. They have since made further advances from Shan state across to western Rakhine state despite a ferocious response from the military. The fighting has worsened the humanitarian situation for many civilians, with local relief agencies providing assistance in the absence of an international response. In Rakhine’s Minbya, a Rohingya woman told Al Jazeera she was living in fear amid relentless shelling and artillery fire. “We can’t get out of Minbya right now. The fighting is all around,” she said in November. “I can hear bombing and gunfire every day, but I don’t know where they’re fighting. There’s no internet and the phone also often doesn’t work. I worry about everything.” Rakhine has long been a troubled state. Home to the mostly Muslim Rohingya, it was where the military launched a brutal crackdown that sent hundreds of thousands of people fleeing into neighbouring Bangladesh in 2017. Cyclone Mocha caused devastation in Myanmar’s western Rakhine state [File: Sai Aung Main/AFP] Many of those who remain are forced to live in camps where their movements are restricted. These areas were hit in May by Cyclone Mocha, the most serious storm to hit Myanmar since Cyclone Nargis killed thousands of people in 2008. Hpan Ja Brang, working with Emily Fishbein, were the first to report in international media of the devastation wreaked by the storm, especially in the Rohingya camps. You can read their report here. Surge in trafficking The Myanmar crisis has also had an increasing effect regionally – not just as a result of the generals’ refusal to carry through on promises to end the violence made to fellow members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), but because the instability is driving criminality. Kevin Doyle travelled up to northern Thailand and the so-called Golden Triangle where seizures of drugs including methamphetamine and heroin have soared since the coup. You can read more on what he found here. Chris Humphrey, meanwhile, who is based in Hanoi, found a surge in the number of Vietnamese being trafficked into Myanmar and forced to work as sex slaves or in scam call centres. And Alastair McCready went to Laos where he discovered the supply of methamphetamine had grown so much that it had become cheaper than beer. The crisis in Myanmar has increased the regional drugs trade [Alastair McCready/Al Jazeera] Vietnam Hanoi-based Chris Humphrey heard foreigners were being held in Vietnamese detention long after they had completed their prison sentences. The reason? Unpaid court fines and compensation to the victims of their crimes. At the time the story was published, nationals from countries including Malaysia, Cambodia, South Africa and Nigeria were being held beyond their sentences in sometimes horrific conditions. “It’s terrible. It is prison after prison,” Nigerian Ezeigwe Evaristus Chukwuebuka told Al Jazeera. “I was seriously humiliated, locked up in a dark, stinky, small room without a toilet, and my legs locked up in bars for two weeks.” Indonesia For 30 years until May 1998, Indonesia was ruled by strongman Soeharto. His departure, amid mass protests, brought new freedoms for Indonesia’s more than 200 million people, particularly its ethnic Chinese minority who had long endured government-sponsored discrimination and were often targeted for their perceived wealth. Randy Mulyanto and Charlenne Kayla Roeslie spoke to five Indonesians of Chinese descent to find out more about those times and how things had changed. Iskandar Salim told them that he used to struggle with his identity – feeling like he was not Indonesian enough but not fully Chinese either. Now, he is proud to define himself. “I can simply say, ‘I am Indonesian, more specifically Chinese Indonesian’,” Iskander told Al Jazeera. “In the end, our identity is ours to decide and define.” Find out more here. Staying in Indonesia, after Aisyah Llewellyn heard that school children had been caught up in tear gas fired by police at protesters on the island of Rempang – not too far from Singapore – she went there to find out what was going on. She discovered a controversial plan for a Chinese factory to make glass for solar panels and develop a massive eco-city. The problem? Thousands of residents would have to move to make way for it. “This is my home and this is where I want to die,” 80-year-old Halimah told Al Jazeera. “I love this place more than anything.” You can learn more about the villagers and their determination to

Russia-Ukraine war: List of key events, day 677

Russia-Ukraine war: List of key events, day 677

As the war enters its 677th day, these are the main developments. Here is the situation on Monday, January 1, 2024. Fighting Russia launched a new wave of drone and missile attacks across Ukraine, with at least 28 people injured after six missiles hit the northeastern city of Kharkiv. Russia said the attack on Ukraine’s second biggest city was “retaliation” for a deadly Ukrainian air raid on the Russian city of Belgorod not far from the border. Moscow targeted a hotel housing military commanders and “foreign mercenaries” as well as the headquarters of the Ukrainian Security Service for the region. Kharkiv city officials said the missiles struck residential buildings, hotels and medical facilities, while drones hit residential buildings. Ukraine’s Air Force said it had destroyed 21 of 49 Iranian-made Shahed drones Russia fired in its latest attack. Most were aimed at the front line and parts of the Kharkiv, Kherson, Mykolaiv and Zaporizhia regions, it said. Separately, Kharkiv regional Governor Oleh Syniehubov said that three people were killed when Russian forces shelled a village near the front line. In the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson, meanwhile, Russian shelling killed a 14-year-old boy and left a 9-year-old boy in hospital in critical condition, according to regional Governor Oleksandr Prokudin. People clear debris and broken glass after Russia fired six missiles at Kharkiv city [Kharkiv Regional Administration via AP Photo] Politics and diplomacy Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy struck an optimistic note as he sought to rally the country in his New Year address. The 20-minute video message from his Kyiv office made almost no direct reference to the situation on the 1,000km (600-mile) front line or the limited success of a counteroffensive launched in June. Nor did it refer to the political and diplomatic challenges facing Kyiv as it seeks to secure continued military and other aid from its allies. Instead, Zelenskyy stressed the strength and unity of the Ukrainian people in the face of Russia’s aggression and referenced successes against the Russian Navy in the Black Sea. He promised that Ukraine would wreak “wrath” on Russian forces in 2024. In his New Year’s address, Russian President Vladimir Putin made only passing reference to the invasion, praising Russia’s soldiers on the front line as “heroes” in a fight for “truth and justice”. He also called for unity among Russians in the face of “difficult tasks” and lauded Russian citizens’ “solidarity, mercy and fortitude.” The four-minute pre-recorded video was aired just before midnight in each of Russia’s 11 time zones. Adblock test (Why?)

Taiwan’s Tsai Ing-wen says island’s future must be decided by its people

Taiwan’s Tsai Ing-wen says island’s future must be decided by its people

Self-ruled Taiwan, which is claimed by Beijing, will go to the polls latest this month to choose a new president. Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen has stressed that the self-ruled island’s future and its relations with Beijing must be decided by its people after China’s leader Xi Jinping said “reunification” was inevitable. Beijing claims Taiwan as its own and has not ruled out the use of force to achieve its goal. It has been stepping up political and military pressure on the island since Tsai was first elected in 2016 and has ramped up its campaign in the weeks ahead of the next presidential and parliamentary elections on January 13. In a bullish New Year’s Eve address, Xi struck a stronger tone than usual over the island, promising the nation that China would “surely be reunified”. Asked about Xi’s speech at a New Year’s press conference at the presidential office in Taipei, Tsai stressed that the island was a democracy and it was its people who decided their future. “This is taking the joint will of Taiwan’s people to make a decision. After all, we are a democratic country,” she said, calling on Beijing to respect the outcome of the election and stressing it was the responsibility of both sides to maintain peace and stability in the strait that separates them. Earlier on Monday, Taiwan’s Ministry of Defence said it had detected four Chinese military aircraft and four Chinese navy vessels near the island. It said one of the aircraft had entered its air defence identification zone (ADIZ) in the southwest. Beijing sees Tsai as well as Vice President William Lai Ching-te, the frontrunner for the top,  job as “separatists” and has refused offers of dialogue. Reelected in a landslide in 2020, Tsai has bolstered relations with the United States, Taiwan’s most significant ally, and stepped up efforts to modernise the island’s military. “Everyone’s home has locks on them, which is not to provoke the neighbours next door but to make yourself safer. This is the same for the doors to the country. Taiwan’s people want peace, but we want peace with respect,” she said. Tsai and Lai are from the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), which has dominated the island’s politics in recent years leaving the China-friendly Kuomintang (KMT) in opposition. Analysts told Al Jazeera last month that Beijing was running a multi-pronged campaign to ensure the DPP is not re-elected and that the people of Taiwan make what it considers the “right choice”. In his New Year’s speech, Xi reiterated his goal of unifying China and Taiwan. “Compatriots on both sides of the [Taiwan] Strait should be bound by a common sense of purpose to share in the glory of national rejuvenation,” he said. Tsai cannot run for another term in office because she has already served two terms. She will step down in May when the next president is sworn in. Adblock test (Why?)