Author: Steven Sahiounie

Wagner has led the Battle of Bakhmut since last summer. The head of Russia’s Wagner mercenary squad announced on Thursday that artillery bombardment in Bakhmut would be suspended to allow Ukrainian forces on the other side of the frontline to safely tour the city with visiting US journalists. Wagner has led the Battle of Bakhmut since last summer, but Ukrainian forces have so far blocked Russian attempts to gain full control of the city. The private military company is in control of almost 90% of the city at the moment, with Ukrainian forces holding on to the Western outskirts of…

UK Deputy Defense Minister Andrew Murrison dodges a question about long-range weapons to Kiev, which Russia has previously warned against. UK Deputy Defense Minister Andrew Murrison dodged a question about the probable sale of long-range weapons to Kiev on Thursday, adding that the UK had previously provided Ukraine with AS-90 self-propelled artillery systems. Murrison told the House of Commons when asked what long-range weapons the UK will supply to Ukraine that “AS-90 is a good artillery piece and Ukraine will certainly find a great benefit in doing what it has to do. The aim of our support to Ukraine is…

The pro-reform protests coincide with the negotiations at the president’s residence between coalition and opposition representatives to reach a broad consensus on the reform. After a streak of opposition demonstrations protesting Netanyahu’s judicial reforms, tens of thousands of settlers gathered tonight in occupied Al-Quds to protest in favor of the judicial reform, Israeli media reported. The objective of the demonstrations, which was dubbed the “March of the Million”, was to show support for Netanyahu and his judicial overhaul initiative. “I thank the hundreds of thousands of Israelis who came to Jerusalem tonight to support our government. Your passion and patriotism…

“We agreed to continue deepening the interaction in the economy and trade, stimulate the steady growth of the bilateral trade turnover and promote the inflow of reciprocal investments and help business companies of the two countries to enter markets of each other,” the Russian leader stressed Russia is keen to increase gas supplies to other countries via the gas hub to be established in Turkey, President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday. “We set ourselves up for making more active cooperation on gas supplies to third countries. This is the focus in the proposal to establish a regional gas hub in…

Russia supports international efforts to find a peaceful solution, Putin’s spokesman has said Moscow backs third-party contact with Kiev that seeks a political settlement to the Ukraine conflict but sees its objectives as sacrosanct, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov explained on Thursday. His comments came a day after Chinese President Xi Jinping spoke with his Ukrainian counterpart, Vladimir Zelensky, for the first time since Moscow launched its military operation in the neighboring state more than a year ago. “We are ready to welcome anything that can bring the conflict in Ukraine closer to an end and, naturally, the accomplishment of all of Russia’s…

The situation in Sudan escalated amid disagreements between the army chief, Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, who also heads the ruling Sovereignty Council, and the head of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo (also known as Hemedti), who is al-Burhan’s deputy on the council Russia is calling on the sides of the conflict in Sudan to reach a national consensus and cooperate, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov said on RT television on Thursday. Bogdanov, who is also the presidential special envoy for the Middle East and Africa, said Russia and Sudan always had friendly relations. “Our minister [Foreign Minister…

Washington has reportedly been surveilling Berlin through electronic means American spies have continued to eavesdrop on the German military even a decade after the 2013 NSA scandal, the newspaper Die Zeit and public broadcaster ARD reported on Thursday. The outlets cited a fresh ‘Pentagon leaks’ document detailing information that US intelligence had gathered about talks between the German and Chinese militaries. The document in question describes a February meeting between German Defense Ministry officials and a Chinese People’s Liberation Army delegation. The Germans demurred on deeper cooperation with their Chinese counterparts and called on Beijing to become more “transparent,” the paper seen…

Three demonstrators are charged with contempt of a person holding public authority and could be jailed for a year Three protesters from the commune of Selestat, near the German border, face criminal charges after making obscene gestures at French President Emmanuel Macron during his visit to the town last Wednesday. The trio have pleaded guilty to contempt of a person holding public authority, prosecutor Catherine Sorita-Minard of the nearby town of Colmar announced on Saturday. For giving their leader “le doigt” – the middle finger – the two men and a woman may be punished with up to a year in prison and €15,000…

A Palestinian young man was shot dead by Israeli gunfire this evening near the town of Salfit in the occupied West Bank, according to the Ministry of Health. MoH said in a brief statement that Ahmad Yaaqob Taha, a 39-year-old Palestinian, was shot dead by Israeli occupation soldiers at point blank range near Salfit. Videos of the incident circulating on the social media showed an Israeli occupation soldier asking the young man to get out of his car at gunpoint, and as soon as the young man got out of the car, the soldier fired live shots at him, killing…

President Al-Assad had said that he would only meet Erdogan after Turkey pulls its forces from northern Syria. In an interview with the NTV news channel, Turkish defense minister Hulusi Akar said that it’s probable Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan would meet his Syrian counterpart Bashar Al-Assad once the conditions are right. “We need to make the necessary preparations. It is important for the conditions to be right. There is a path forward. We are making efforts to this effect,” he told the NTV news channel. Erdogan had noted that he won’t be meeting Al-Assad until after the defense, intelligence, and foreign ministers met.…