News Trending War

Turkey’s Erdogan: Russia’s Putin willing to end war

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According to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, a “major move” will be taken to put an end to the war that Russia’s leader started in Ukraine. He claimed that based on recent conversations with Vladimir Putin, he intended to “finish this as quickly as possible.”

This month, Ukraine has reclaimed large portions of its land. The Turkish president said that Russia was facing “quite a dilemma.” At a summit in Uzbekistan last week, Mr. Erdogan mentioned having “extremely deep discussions” with Mr. Putin.

The Turkish president claimed in an interview with US channel PBS that he had the idea that the Russian president wanted the war to finish quickly.

He is genuinely demonstrating to me his willingness to put a stop to this as quickly as possible, Mr. Erdogan remarked. That was my impression because of how bad things are now going.

He added that the two sides would shortly exchange 200 “hostages.” He did not elaborate on who would be involved in such a prisoner exchange.

Mr. Erdogan has often attempted to negotiate during the conflict, advocating for Turkey as a Nato member to take a “balanced” approach while rejecting Western sanctions against Russia. He stated last week that he was attempting to set up direct ceasefire talks. He assisted the UN in mediating the restart of food exports from Ukraine.

Meanwhile, Ukraine has regained some of the area that Russian soldiers had taken two months earlier in the eastern region of Luhansk. Serhiy Haidai, the mayor of Luhansk, claimed that although Russian forces had left the settlement of Bilohorivka, they were still making every effort to fortify their positions elsewhere.

Along with taking back a large portion of the northeastern Kharkiv region, Ukrainian forces have started a counteroffensive in Kherson in the south, forcing the territory’s Russian-installed governor to postpone a referendum on joining Russia.

When asked by PBS if a peace agreement should include any area that Russia had seized since February, Mr. Erdogan responded, “No, and without a doubt no.”

He added that Ukraine would receive its seized regions back. It was unclear if he also mentioned areas controlled by separatists backed by Russia since 2014.

When asked if Russia should be allowed to retain control of Crimea, which it acquired in 2014, Mr. Erdogan responded that since then, Turkey had been in contact with Mr. Putin regarding this.

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Ukraine war: Russian pop megastar Alla Pugacheva condemns conflict

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Alla Pugacheva, one of the most well-known singers in Russia, has asked the government to label her a “foreign agent” in support of her adamantly anti-war husband Maxim Galkin. He is also a celebrity in show business, and on Friday after denouncing Russia’s invasion on Ukraine, he was called a “foreign agent.”

Pugacheva referred to her husband as “a truly incorruptible Russian patriot, who wants to put an end to our guys dying for illusory goals” on social media. She has a long history of success. The “illusory intentions” of the Kremlin in Ukraine, according to her, “make our country a pariah and the lives of our inhabitants very miserable.”

She noted that Galkin, a comedian, TV host, and singer, wished for “prosperity for his motherland, peace, and freedom of speech.”

The Russian government has branded a number of media outlets, political organisations, and people who openly oppose Kremlin policies as “foreign agents.”

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Ukraine war: Grave sites prompt calls for tribunal over Russian killings

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In response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the European Union leadership has called for an international tribunal. The appeal came from the Czech Republic, which is presently in charge of rotating the bloc’s presidency. It was made in response to the discovery of hundreds of graves in Izyum, a town that Ukrainian forces had just just recaptured.

It is said that many of them are civilians, including women and children. Foreign Minister of the Czech Republic Jan Lipavsky stated, “We support the prosecution of all war criminals.” In Izyum, where 59 remains have already been exhumed and more are anticipated from graves in a forest on the outskirts of the city, Ukraine claims it believes war crimes have been committed.

“In the 21st Century, such attacks against the civilian population are unthinkable and abhorrent,” Mr Lipavsky said.

“We must not overlook it. We stand for the punishment of all war criminals,” he said.

“I call for the speedy establishment of a special international tribunal that will prosecute the crime of aggression.”

Volodymyr Zelensky, the president of Ukraine, announced in his weekly address on Saturday night that additional proof of torture against those interred in Izyum, in the Kharkiv region, had been uncovered.

More than ten torture chambers have already been discovered in various cities and towns throughout the Kharkiv region’s freed territory, according to Mr. Zelensky.

The Russians would be required to respond, he warned, “on the battlefield and in courtrooms.”

President of the EU Commission Ursula von der Leyen stated on Thursday that she wanted Mr. Putin to testify before the International Criminal Court over war crimes committed in Ukraine.

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Twitter sued by Dutch town Bodegraven-Reeuwijk over paedophilia rumour

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A Dutch town has filed a lawsuit against Twitter for spreading the rumour that a group of paedophiles who worship Satan formerly lived there. In 2020, three men spread the first untrue information that Bodegraven-Reeuwijk was the scene of the abuse and murder of several children in the 1980s.

The primary perpetrator said he had seen the crimes when he was a young boy. He had grown up in the town close to The Hague. The posts should all be deleted, according to local officials. Numerous individuals have been drawn by the allegations to visit the town’s Vrederust cemetery and pay their respects to the graves of seemingly unrelated dead youngsters.

Prior to a hearing in The Hague District Court on Friday, Jens van den Brink, Twitter’s attorney, declined to comment. The same court ordered the three original guys to delete all tweets against the town last year, yet the allegations are still being spread.

Cees van de Sanden, the town’s attorney, claimed that Twitter had ignored a request in July for it to track down and take down all posts connected to the allegations. According to RTL Nieuws, Mayor Christiaan van der Kamp described the allegations as “extremely distressing and occasionally even dangerous for the relatives of the deceased.”

The three men who made the claims are currently in jail after being found guilty in separate incidents of inciting and issuing threats to kill several people, including Dutch Prime Minister.

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Italy: Floods and rain kill at least 10 overnight – officials

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Authorities in Marche, Italy, reported that at least 10 people had perished as a result of nocturnal flash floods. Late on Thursday, torrential rain forced rivers and streams to overflow, flooding coastal towns near the regional capital of Ancona.

A half-worth year’s of rain, or about 400mm (16 inches), fell in a few of hours. Four more people, including a kid who was split up when a river burst its banks, are still missing and being sought for by rescuers. Local mayor Ludovico Caverni told the state-run RAI radio station that “it was like an earthquake.”

A mother who managed to leave her car while holding her infant in her arms reportedly lost sight of him after becoming submerged in water when the River Misa burst its banks.

Emergency personnel were able to save the woman over night, but several people remain unaccounted for, according to local media. In addition to the 10 confirmed fatalities, 50 additional patients were reportedly being treated in hospitals in Italy for hypothermia and other flood-related injuries.

More than 180 firefighters are helping with the rescue operations by removing residents who were compelled to scale trees or climb onto their roofs to flee the rising water overnight. Video reveals that some of the rescuers reached the stranded families using dinghy rafts and helicopters.

The neighbouring coastal areas were parched after an extremely dry summer and unable to absorb the massive amounts of water that were raining down.

Local officials claim that even though rain was predicted for the area, the accompanying flash floods completely caught everyone off guard.

According to Reuters, regional administrator for the Marche region Stefano Aguzzi told reporters, “We were given a regular rain alert, but nobody had expected anything like this.”

Weather forecasters claimed that a combination of two factors—unusual high temperatures in September and an ongoing drought throughout the summer—explained the intensity of the floods.

Due to the heat, the water was warmer than usual for the season, which increased the amount of moisture in the air. Because of the extreme summer drought, the land was unable to quickly absorb the rain that a storm later discharged as moisture.

Fears about the effects of climate change have increased as a result of unusually hot weather and low rainfall levels in northern Italy.

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“24 Years Feels Like 24 Hours”: Roger Federer Announces Retirement

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The only male tennis player to win 20 grand slam titles, Roger Federer, has declared his intention to stop competing after the Laver Cup in 2022. Federer posted a message on his Twitter account announcing his choice. When he won the Wimbledon championship in 2003, Federer captured his maiden grand slam. Since then, he has won six Australian Opens, one French Open, eight Wimbledons, and five US Opens. He’s been dealing with a knee problem for a very long time.

He announced it on his Twitter account: “The Laver Cup next week in London will be my final ATP event.”The 20-time Grand Slam champion, 41, has been out since losing in the Wimbledon quarterfinals in 2021 before requiring more knee surgery. Serena Williams’ retirement and Federer’s announcement are related events. Serena retired having won the second-most grand slam titles in women’s tennis (23). In terms of the total number of grand slam titles won, Federer sits third, behind his top competitors Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal.

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Jean-Luc Godard: Legendary film director dies at 91 by assisted suicide

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The revolutionary French New Wave filmmaker Jean-Luc Godard has passed away at the age of 91. With 1960’s bout de souffle (Breathless), Godard made his debut and launched a string of critically acclaimed films that changed the norms of cinema and influenced filmmakers from Martin Scorsese to Quentin Tarantino.

According to a family member, he committed assisted suicide in Switzerland. Godard, according to French President Emmanuel Macron, “has the vision of a genius.” Mr. Macron described him as “like an apparition in French cinema” in a tribute on Twitter. He eventually mastered it.

“The most iconoclastic of the New Wave filmmakers, Jean-Luc Godard, created a resolutely contemporary, passionately free work. A guy with the vision of a genius has been lost to us; he was a national treasure.”

According to the AFP news agency, Godard’s legal counsel Patrick Jeanneret stated that the Franco-Swiss filmmaker “had recourse to legal assistance in Switzerland for a voluntary departure as he was plagued with’multiple invalidating illnesses,’ according to the medical report.”

In rare cases, assisted suicide is permitted in Switzerland.

Before taking the helm of the elegant and edgy Breathless, Godard worked as a cinema reviewer. The film’s actors, Jean Seberg and Jean-Paul Belmondo, were glamorous in a fresh, laid-back way, and the editing and dialogue were both semi-improvised.

“It was a film that took everything that cinema had done — girls, gangsters, cars — exploded all this and put an end, once and for all, to the old manner,” the filmmaker once said.

Jack Lang, a former minister of culture in France, stated to the news agency Reuters: “He crammed philosophy and poetry into the movies. We were able to notice the undetectable because to his keen eye.”

Actor Antonio Banderas was among many who paid tribute, writing: “Thank you monsieur Godard for extending the horizons of the film.”

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Ukraine war: We’ve retaken 6,000 sq km from Russia, says Zelensky

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According to the president of the nation, Ukrainian forces are continuing their counteroffensive and have taken additional Russian land. According to Volodymyr Zelensky, forces have now liberated more than 6,000 sq km (2,317 sq miles) of territory in the east and south from Russian rule in September.

Some military experts believe that Russia’s admission that it lost important cities in the Kharkiv region of eastern Ukraine could be a turning point in the war. Moscow refers to its recent troop pullout from the area as a “regrouping” with the intention of concentrating on the Luhansk and Donetsk areas in eastern Ukraine. Even in Russia, where many social media users have mocked the idea, the purported pullout has been called “shameful.”

Later on Monday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken stated that the counter-offensive by Ukrainian forces had made “substantial progress,” but cautioned that it was still too early to determine the outcome.

According to Mr. Blinken, “The Russians continue to utilise extremely considerable forces, as well as equipment, ammunition, and munitions, against not just the Ukrainian armed forces, but also against civilians and civilian infrastructure.

On February 24, Russian President Vladimir Putin gave the order to invade Ukraine completely. About a fifth of the country is still under Russian control. In his late-night video message on Monday, President Zelensky stated: “Our fighters have already liberated more than 6,000 sq km of the territory of Ukraine from the beginning of September till today.

The counteroffensive seems to have started quickly. President Zelensky claimed on Thursday that Ukrainian forces had retaken 1,000 square kilometres, but by Sunday, that claim had increased to 3,000 square kilometres.

Several Ukrainian brigades that participated in the counteroffensive were thanked by Mr. Zelensky, who called their soldiers “real heroes.” He withheld the names of the liberated Ukrainian towns and villages.

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Ukraine war: Russians ‘outnumbered 8-1’ in counter-attack

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According to Russia’s top occupation official there, Ukrainian forces outnumbered Russian ones eight to one during the counterattack last week in the Kharkiv region.  According to Vitaly Ganchev, who appeared on Russian television, the Ukrainian army had taken settlements in the north and reached the Russian border.

In a potential turning point in the six-month war, Ukraine claims to have reclaimed control over 3,000 sq km (1,158 sq miles) of land. The Ukrainian army claims that during its ongoing counteroffensive in the country’s northeast, 20 villages have been retaken in the last 24 hours alone.

Additionally, it said that its troops had taken control of almost 500 square kilometres in the southern Kherson region of the nation.

The success of the Ukrainian army, according to UK defence sources, will have “major ramifications” for Russia’s broader military strategy.

However, Dmitry Peskov, a spokesman for the Kremlin, remained unfazed and declared that operations in Ukraine will continue “until all the tasks that were initially established” had been accomplished. He continued that President Vladimir Putin was regularly informed of the most recent events.

Russia said that its soldiers were conducting strikes in the recent retaken Ukrainian territory. This included the Izyum and Kupiansk targets that Ukraine captured on Saturday. Russia declared that its troops had left both towns and that this would give them time to “regroup.”

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Kharkiv offensive: Ukrainian army says it has tripled retaken area

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Ukraine’s military claims that following a quick counteroffensive in the east of the country, its soldiers had retaken nearly 3,000 sq km (1,158 sq miles). If the impressive advance is true, Kyiv’s soldiers will have tripled their claimed gains in just over 48 hours.

President Zelensky stated the area to be 1,000 sq km on Thursday night and 2,000 sq km on Saturday night. Journalists have been barred access to the front lines, and the BBC is unable to confirm the Ukrainian figures.

Ukrainian army entered the crucial Russian-held supply towns of Izyum and Kupiansk on Saturday during the eastern counterattack. However, violence has persisted outside of those towns, according to UK defence officials. Ukrainian military, according to officials in Kiev, are battling to take control of several nearby communities.

The Russian defence ministry stated that its forces had left Kupiansk and Izyum, which would allow them to “regroup” in areas controlled by separatists backed by Moscow.

Additionally, the Russian ministry acknowledged the removal of forces from Balaklyia, a third significant town, in order to “bolster efforts” on the Donetsk front. On Friday, Ukrainian forces entered the town.

The speed of the counterattack caught the Russians off guard, and Ramzan Kadyrov, the leader of Chechnya and a fervent Putin supporter, seemed to question Moscow’s military plan.

In a message shared on Telegram, Mr. Kadyrov warned that if Russia’s circumstances did not improve, he would be forced to interrogate the country’s authorities about what was going on.

On Saturday, the leader of the administration that Russia has put in the Kharkiv region suggested that its citizens leave for Russia in order to “save lives.”

Unverified social media video appeared to show long traffic lines forming at border crossings. Vyacheslav Gladkov, the governor of Russia’s Belgorod border area, claimed that “thousands” of migrants had entered the nation.

The military chief of Ukraine, Gen. Valerii Zaluzhnyi, reported that his troops had moved to within 50 kilometres (31 miles) of the Russian border.

However, Russians still control about 5% of the nation, and few people think that the war will finish quickly.

Oleksii Reznikov, the defence minister of Ukraine, praised his forces while announcing the possibility of a Russian counterattack in an interview with the Financial Times.

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