‘This is my land’: Ukrainians are bitter but resilient, two years into war
Kharkiv, Ukraine – Andriy’s undermanned squad can only shoot 10 shells a day at encroaching Russian troops because of a dire shortage of ammunition. The 45-year-old suffers from stomach pains, deteriorating eyesight and other consequences of multiple contusions that landed him in hospital several times. Two years ago, Andriy defended Kyiv in the full-scale war’s first weeks until Russian troops withdrew after heavy losses, and fought in the eastern town of Bakhmut that fell to the Wagner private army last May. The timing and duration of tours to “zero” positions, or the front lines of the eastern Donbas region, are unpredictable, and his commanding officers deliberately report less “zero” time for him to decrease his pay, he said. But when it comes to Andriy’s determination to stand his ground, he has no doubts or qualms. “This is my land, understand? I grew up here. I eat bread grown on this land. That’s what keeps me going,” he told Al Jazeera while on a break in the eastern city of Kharkiv. He withheld his last name and his unit’s location in accordance with wartime regulations. The absolute majority of Ukrainians – 85 percent – are confident of victory in the war that began two years ago today, according to a survey by the Rating Group, a Kyiv-based pollster, released on Monday. Most of the remaining 15 percent hail from eastern or southern regions next to the front lines and occupied areas that witness the worst consequences of the war firsthand, it said. “I’d agree for peace if they want to keep the occupied lands,” Konstantin, a resident of Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city that sits near the Russian border, told Al Jazeera. Last spring, the shockwave from an explosion right next to his apartment building shattered his windows and blew open his solid metal front door. He stayed on, but almost daily bombardments and the failure of last year’s counteroffensive have worn him out. “I don’t want to grow old hearing the incoming [shelling] every day and night, because one day it’ll hit my home,” he said. Western aid is crucial to Ukraine’s victory, say 79 percent of Ukrainians, according to the Rating Group’s poll. But the aid is dwindling, while Western governments tacitly urge Kyiv to sign a truce with Moscow by recognising the loss of occupied areas that amount to one-fifth of Ukraine’s territory. Peace talks – but on whose terms? Yet, the public mantra of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and every Ukrainian politician is: Moscow has to withdraw from all occupied areas before peace talks can begin. “The political acknowledgment of the occupation is impossible, no politician will go for it, and the public won’t accept it, ” Kyiv-based analyst Alexey Kushch told Al Jazeera. “There are unofficial talks about freezing the conflict according to the Korean scenario,” he said, referring to the Korean Armistice of 1953, under which North and South Korea agreed to an end to fighting without formally ending the war. But until the war is over, Ukraine will “officially announce maximal goals” to mobilise the public and Western allies, Kushch said. The war has cost Ukraine 30 percent of its gross domestic product (GDP) and 3.5 million jobs, Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said on Wednesday. But the biggest loss is to its people. At least 6.5 million people have fled abroad, and the population in Kyiv-controlled areas is below 30 million, analysts say – a far cry from the 52 million at the dawn of Ukraine’s independence in 1991. Many refugees have nothing to go back to. Last June, Halyna, a 28-year-old woman from the southern city of Mariupol, where tens of thousands of civilians died during a months-long siege, told Al Jazeera about the horrors her two young children went through during Russian air raids and shelling. “When things got real tense, they just convulsed with hysteria in those basements. And they asked questions: ‘Does it hurt to die?’ she said. After moving to the Czech Republic, her children are safe – but still scarred. “Only recently, my son stopped being frightened by the sound of planes. The daughter sometimes weeps at night, wants to go back to her past life, to her pillow with [the images of] cats,” she said. “There’s a new life looming for us, but it’s not in Ukraine, unfortunately,” she said. Last week, Russia scored a rare victory after Ukrainian forces pulled out of the town of Avdiivka in the Donbas region held by Russian-backed separatists since 2014. But the Kremlin-funded propaganda blew it out of proportion. “The Kyiv regime and its protectors have missed a blow they will possibly not recover from,” publicist Kirill Strelnikov wrote on Tuesday. The news coincided with the death of jailed opposition leader Alexey Navalny, and Russian President Vladimir Putin gloated. “The objectives our ill-wishers had in terms of limiting, isolating Russia, obviously fell apart,” he said on Wednesday. ‘Russia’s isolation not total’ While independent observers reject Putin’s assessment, they admit that Russia’s economy has shown unexpected resilience to Western sanctions designed to crush it. On Friday, the US imposed its latest round of sanctions against Russia, in response to Navalny’s death in an Arctic prison. “The sanctions didn’t affect Russia’s economy the way they had been expected to, Russia’s isolation didn’t become total,” Temur Umarov of the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center, a think tank in Berlin, told Al Jazeera. With all walks of life around them militarised, many Ukrainians tilted to the political right largely accepting fiercely anti-Russian slogans spawned by fringe nationalist groups, said Kyiv-based human rights advocate Vyacheslav Likhachev. These groups stood for banning all things Russian, including the language, the literature and the Orthodox Church that reported to Moscow Patriarch Kirill. These days, millions of Russian-speaking Ukrainians voluntarily switch to Ukrainian in daily life, while Zelenskyy’s government is pondering a ban on the Russia-affiliated church. “Radical ideas that used to be marginal are now shared by a sizable part of the public and are to some extent implemented by the government,” Likhachev told Al Jazeera. What
At least 15 killed in fire at apartment block in China’s Nanjing
Residential building fire is the latest in a series of blazes that have killed dozens across China. At least 15 people have been killed and dozens more injured in a fire at an apartment block in eastern China’s Nanjing, local authorities have said. The blaze in the Yuhuatai district of Nanjing appears to have started on Friday on the residential building’s first floor, where electric bikes were stored, officials said at a press conference, citing the results of a preliminary investigation. The fire was put out by about 6am and a search and rescue operation was wrapped up at about 2pm on Friday, authorities said. Forty-four people were sent to hospital for treatment, according to authorities, with one person in a “critical condition”. Twenty-five fire trucks were deployed to fight the blaze, emergency services said. Footage shared on Chinese social media sites showed a skyscraper on fire at night, with black smoke emitting from the structure. Fires and other disasters are a common occurrence in China, where safety standards have lagged behind the country’s break-neck development. After a fire in central China’s Xinyu that killed at least 39 people last month, Chinese President Xi Jinping called for “deep reflection” and greater efforts to “curb the frequent occurrence of safety accidents”. Xi’s call came just days after 13 children were killed in another inferno at a school dormitory in central China’s Henan province. The incident sparked outrage among social media users, who called for those responsible to be punished. In November, 26 people were killed and dozens of people were injured after a fire broke out at the office of a coal company in northern Shanxi province. In October, 31 people were killed in an explosion at a barbecue restaurant in the northwestern Ningxia region. Adblock test (Why?)
Israel’s war on Gaza: List of key events, day 141
EXPLAINER UN agency for Palestinian refugees say it can no longer provide services in northern Gaza, citing staff shortages and a ‘collapse of social order’. Here’s how things stand on Saturday, February 24, 2024: Humanitarian crisis, fighting on the ground: A UNRWA official says the UN’s agency for Palestinian refugees can no longer provide services in north Gaza, citing staff shortages and a “collapse of social order” amid Israeli attacks on civilians and restrictions on food aid access that have left the population starving. An Israeli strike on a home housing displaced Palestinians killed at least 24 people in Gaza’s Deir el-Balah on Friday. Staff at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital say they are still receiving wounded people, and the death toll is expected to rise. Gaza’s Health Ministry has reported that 104 people were killed and 160 injured in Israeli attacks between Thursday and Friday afternoon, according to the latest situation report from the UN Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). Israeli forces have raided villages, towns and cities across the occupied West Bank, searching homes and clashing with locals resisting the incursions, Palestine’s state news agency, Wafa, reports. Diplomacy Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has released his most detailed vision yet for a post-war Gaza. It includes maintaining indefinite military control over the Strip; ceding the enclave’s civilian administration to Palestinians with no link to Hamas – he didn’t cite the Palestinian Authority (PA) – and creating a buffer zone along Gaza’s border with Egypt that Israel will control. The PA has criticised the plan, saying security can only be obtained through the establishment of a Palestinian state. The UN’s top court has completed its fifth day of hearings following a request by the UN General Assembly to issue an opinion on the legal consequences of Israel’s occupation of Palestine. Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has repeated his criticism of Israel’s attack on Gaza, saying it “is not war, it is genocide”. Francesca Albanese, the UN special rapporteur on human rights in the occupied Palestinian territories, has warned that states that transfer weapons to Israel amid its war on Gaza could be complicit in “atrocity crimes”. Reuters news agency has reported that talks are under way in Paris in what appears to be the most serious push in weeks to halt the fighting in Gaza. Singapore has iterated its calls for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza at G20 meetings in Brazil, local media have reported. Regional tensions The United States military says it has destroyed seven antiship cruise missiles that Yemen’s Houthi rebel group planned to launch at targets in the Red Sea. US Central Command (CENTCOM) said the UK-owned bulk carrier MV Rubymar, which was attacked by Houthi forces last weekend in the Red Sea, is slowly taking on water, leaking oil and it poses an environmental hazard in the region. Adblock test (Why?)
Iran unveils plan for tighter internet rules to promote local platforms
Tehran, Iran – A new regulatory directive from Iran’s top internet governing body shows how authorities hope to steer Iranians away from foreign platforms and turn them towards local ones. Iran’s top internet policymaking body released a directive earlier this week that stipulates new rules with potentially wide-ranging ramifications for the country’s already constrained internet landscape, which the agency says were approved by Supreme Leader Ali Hosseini Khamenei. The Supreme Council of Cyberspace (SCC) asserted that using “refinement-breaking tools” is now “forbidden” unless the user has obtained a legal permit. That is the new word Iranian authorities have come up with for virtual private networks (VPNs), online privacy tools that mask the user’s IP (internet protocol), which most Iranians use regularly to circumvent heavy internet restrictions. All major social media platforms, including Instagram, Twitter, YouTube and Telegram, are banned in Iran but along with thousands of websites, remain highly popular with tens of millions of users – for years prompting users to resort to circumvention tools. Iran had made the purchase and sale of VPNs illegal in 2022, but news that using them, even without any commercial transaction involved, would also be banned prompted a backlash online. Many pointed out that an overwhelming majority of Iranians have no choice but to use them if they wish to access the free internet, so making the use of VPNs illegal would effectively include most people in the country. SCC Secretary Mohammad Amin Aghamiri told state television a day after the uproar that the regulations do not include the general public, and are only directed at top state entities – the office of the supreme leader, the presidency, the judiciary and the parliament, among others. Pushing foreign platforms away But regardless of whom the VPN ban covers, the SCC directive contains other regulations that call for large-scale changes in Iran’s internet landscape. For one, it asks the culture ministry to collaborate with the economy and information and communications technology (ICT) ministries to come up with a plan in one month that would incentivise content creators and businesses active on foreign platforms to stay “strictly on local platforms”. The goal: to bring at least half of the target audience to local platforms within six months. This effectively means that the SCC wants much of the content created by people inside Iran on the likes of wildly popular Instagram and YouTube to move to local platforms. It is unclear how the government expects to make this happen within months. “Any advertisement by legal entities on foreign platforms is illegal,” asserts the directive, which tasks the culture ministry, state television, law enforcement, the economy ministry and the judiciary to monitor this and report back every quarter. Moreover, the ICT ministry has been tasked with offering “comprehensive and essential government services” on local platforms “exclusively”, with at least two services ready within six months. Some of this has been in the works for several years. The Iranian state has been working on a “National Information Network”, obligating websites and services to position their servers inside Iran, limiting some government services only to local platforms, and making global internet traffic cost twice as much as local traffic to incentivise using local services. Unblocked ‘shells’ of foreign platforms Another part of the SCC directive could also have a significant impact on how social media platforms are used in Iran. It stipulates that authorities must provide technical capabilities that would allow Iranians to access “useful foreign services” in the form of “governable formats”. This, it said, could include negotiations for foreign platforms to establish representative offices inside Iran, in addition to “windows of access” baked into local platforms, and “shells” of foreign platforms that would not be blocked like the main versions. No foreign companies running social media platforms have agreed to place representatives in Iran – that would need to be accountable to the Iranian state – and major brands like United States-based Meta have said they are not interested. As for the so-called shells, Iranians have experienced them before, and have been exposed to breaches of privacy as a result. In 2018, after Iran blocked the massively popular messaging app Telegram, citing its alleged use in inciting and enabling “riots” during a period of protests and unrest, unfiltered shells of the app started being used by Iranians. Iran also underwent an almost total internet blackout that lasted for nearly a week during the November 2019 protests that started after the government significantly increased petrol prices. These shells would allow unblocked access, but would have access to users’ data as it was passed through them before reaching the servers of the original app. This exposed millions of Iranians to data leaks and fraud before people became aware of the dangers. Now, the Iranian state wishes to officially endorse such shells, essentially inviting people to use them instead of the main apps which will remain blocked. Internet restrictions in Iran reached new levels after nationwide protests began in September 2022 following the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in police custody. Adblock test (Why?)
Deadly blaze rips through apartment block in Spain
NewsFeed At least ten people were killed and others are missing after a fire ripped through an apartment block in Spain. Published On 23 Feb 202423 Feb 2024 Adblock test (Why?)
Qatar to ICJ: Israel carrying out “genocidal war” on people of Gaza
NewsFeed Qatar told the ICJ “Israel’s genocidal war on the people of Gaza” is the most pressing threat to international peace and security. Qatar presented its argument on day 5 of the UN top court’s hearing into legal consequences over Israel’s occupation of Palestine. Published On 23 Feb 202423 Feb 2024 Adblock test (Why?)
Russia-Ukraine two years on: towards an endless and wider war?
In an UpFront special, we discuss where the war in Ukraine currently stands and where it is heading. It’s been two years since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, causing mass destruction and a mounting civilian death toll. Even with support from the West, Ukraine is facing increased weapons and infantry shortages as its fight against Russian forces carries on, seemingly with no end in sight. So what future lays ahead for Ukraine and could the war spill over into neighbouring countries? Are peace negotiations even possible or does it run the risk of becoming an endless war? In an UpFront Special, Marc Lamont Hill discusses the fallout of Russia’s war on Ukraine with Ukrainian Member of Parliament Lesia Vasylenko, political scientist Ilya Matveev, and journalist Aaron Mate. Adblock test (Why?)
Is the Red Sea becoming fully militarised?
Some major world powers are increasing their military presence in the region amid Houthi attacks and Israel’s war on Gaza. The Red Sea is one of the busiest shipping routes in the world and one that’s been a source of contention for some time. Houthi fighters in Yemen have been targeting vessels that they say are linked to Israel since the war on Gaza began. They have also recently banned ships from the United States and the United Kingdom from their surrounding waters. Vessels being re-routed have caused considerable delays and come at a high cost. Major powers like the US, the UK and China and found themselves pulled into the crisis. The US and UK have launched several air raids against Houthi targets in Yemen – in an effort to stop the attacks on ships. They are also launching a multinational force to protect trade – which the EU is now joining. So, what’s the impact of the region’s growing militarisation? Presenter: Mohammed Jamjoom Guests: Betul Dogan-Akkas – Researcher at Ankara University who examines Gulf foreign policy, security strategies and political culture Stavros Karamperidis – Head of the Maritime Transport Research Group at the University of Plymouth Farea Al-Muslimi – Research fellow with the Middle East and North Africa Programme at Chatham House Adblock test (Why?)
Former Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz found guilty of perjury
Kurz receives eight month suspended sentence after being found guilty of lying to a parliamentary inquiry. Austria’s former Chancellor Sebastian Kurz has received an eight-month suspended sentence after being found guilty of perjury by a Vienna court after a four-month trial. The former leader, once hailed as a “wunderkind” of Europe’s conservatives, had denied downplaying his influence over the appointment of executives to the state-holding company OBAG when he was chancellor, and whose appointments were formally his finance minister’s responsibility. But Kurz’s corruption case centred on his testimony to a parliamentary commission of inquiry that he was “involved in the sense of informed”, but did not play an active role in appointments. The court, however, agreed with prosecutors that Kurz was actually the ultimate decision-maker, and produced evidence, including text messages and testimony from former loyalist Thomas Schmid, the first head of OBAG, who turned state witness. The trial and other ongoing corruption investigations have damaged the reputation of the charismatic hardliner, and damaged any chance he had of a political comeback. In 2017, Kurz became one of the youngest leaders in the world at age 31 and formed a coalition with the far-right Freedom Party (FPO). Amid a scandal in 2019 when the FPO’s leader was embroiled in a video sting, the coalition collapsed. Kurz then won a snap election and formed a coalition with the Greens, who later forced him from office in 2021 due to the corruption investigation. But his Austrian People’s Party continues to lead the government under current Chancellor Karl Nehammer. Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz waves as he leaves a session of the Parliament in Vienna, Austria May 27, 2019 [File: Leonhard Foeger/Reuters] Kurz has insisted he is innocent of having misled a parliamentary inquiry probing wide-ranging corruption scandals that brought down his first government with the far right in 2019. Throughout the trial, he portrayed himself as the victim of selective prosecution and an opposition out to “destroy him”. Kurz said that while he had been informed about Schmid’s appointment, he did not decide on it and dismissed suggestions that he had sought to control everything. On the other hand, Schmid testified that Kurz had built up a “system” where he held the reins and could veto any appointment of personnel in critical companies. Separately, prosecutors are still investigating Kurz on suspicion of having embezzled public money to fund polls skewed to boost his image and pay for the favourable coverage that allowed for his success in 2017. However, they have so far failed to obtain any convictions since a video emerged in 2019 showing Kurz’s then-vice chancellor of the FPO offering public contracts to a purported Russian investor for campaign help. After leaving politics, the conservatives, who are in an election year, have slid to second or third in the polls, making it likely that they will lose seats in a parliamentary election this year, prompting speculation that Kurz could eventually return to lead the party and reverse its fortunes. Polls, however, have shown that a clear majority of Austrians say they do not want to see his return to government, and Kurz has said that he is happy as a businessman and is now involved with numerous private international enterprises. Adblock test (Why?)
Funeral held for world marathon record holder Kelvin Kiptum
NewsFeed “In Kelvin we saw the future of athletics in Kenya.” Kenya’s president was among hundreds of mourners who gathered for Kelvin Kiptum’s funeral on Friday. The world marathon record holder died in a car crash in Kenya on February 11. Published On 23 Feb 202423 Feb 2024 Adblock test (Why?)