International Courant
Putin says 95% of Russia’s nuclear forces are actually modernized
On this pool picture distributed by Russia’s state company Sputnik, the Tupolev Tu-160M ”Ilya Muromets” strategic bomber is seen on the grounds of an plane producer in Kazan on February 22, 2024.
Dmitri Azarov | Episode | Getty Photos
Russian President Vladimir Putin mentioned on Friday that just about all the nation’s strategic nuclear weapons have been modernized and that the Russian Air Pressure just lately took supply of 4 nuclear-capable bombers, the Russian president mentioned. state information company Tass.
Putin made his feedback in a video deal with to mark Russia’s Defender of the Fatherland Day, a vacation commemorating the nation’s veterans. A day earlier, the Russian president flew on a modernized strategic missile provider often called the TU-160M.
“Right now, the share of recent weapons and tools within the strategic nuclear forces has already reached 95%, whereas the maritime part of the ‘nuclear triad’ is sort of 100%. We’ve got began serial manufacturing of latest Zircon hypersonic missiles. different offensive techniques are nearing completion,” Putin mentioned in his speech. Tass reported.
“4 Tu-160M missile carriers have been just lately handed over to the armed forces in Kazan,” he added.
A key precedence for the Kremlin, Russia’s so-called “nuclear triad” refers back to the capability to launch nuclear missiles from land, air and sea.
-Sam Meredith
Two years after the beginning of its large-scale invasion, Russia has motive to be assured
On this swimming pool picture distributed by the Russian state company Sputnik late February 22, 2024, Russian President Vladimir Putin delivers a speech on Defender of the Fatherland Day on the Kremlin in Moscow.
Alexander Kazakov | Episode | Getty Photos
When Russia invaded Ukraine two years in the past, the fierce resistance of the nation’s armed forces and overwhelming Western assist for Kiev – together with a transparent army superiority by Moscow – raised hopes that Ukraine’s outnumbered and weapon-poor military would defeat the invading military may strike again. forces.
Quick ahead two years, and the hope of a Ukrainian victory seems to be diminishing and more and more hole, as are Western guarantees to assist Ukraine “for so long as essential.”
Because it stands, billions of {dollars} in U.S. army help stay unapproved, and extra bother is more likely to lie forward as battle and funding fatigue mount forward of the U.S. presidential election – a vote that might lead to an administration who’s much less sympathetic to Ukraine’s battle wants.
Learn the total story right here.
-Holly Ellyatt
Ukrainian Zelensky calls the scenario on the Polish border ‘fully unacceptable’
An aerial view of Ukrainian vans queuing as an ongoing blockade by Polish farmers continues on the Polish-Ukrainian border in Dorohusk, Poland on February 21, 2024. Since February 9, 2024, Polish farmers have referred to as for a nationwide protest in opposition to the proposed EU scheme. Inexperienced Deal and likewise in opposition to the import of sure Ukrainian agricultural merchandise beneath the FTA as a result of ongoing Russian battle in opposition to Ukraine.
Anadolu | Anadolu | Getty Photos
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy referred to as the blockades by Polish farmers on the border between the 2 allies “fully unacceptable.”
Talking in his conventional night deal withZelenskiy mentioned on Thursday he had spoken with European Council President Charles Michel in regards to the Polish farmers’ protests and Ukraine’s “efforts in the direction of European integration”.
“I knowledgeable him in regards to the Ukrainian initiative to instantly maintain a gathering between the representatives of Ukraine, Poland and the European Fee on the border,” Zelensky mentioned, referring to his latest name for top-level talks on the border. weekend.
Ukraine has been in battle for months with a few of its allied neighbors, together with Poland, over exports of Ukrainian grain, which native farmers say has pushed down costs.
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk appeared on Thursday to have rejected the chance to debate the border blockades with Zelenskyy this weekend. proverb he deliberate to fulfill the president of Ukraine on March 28 for talks in Warsaw.
-Sam Meredith
Three folks killed in Russian drone strike in Ukrainian Black Sea metropolis of Odesa, Kiev says
Emergency providers search the rubble after a drone strike in a single day hit an infrastructure facility and induced a fireplace in Odesa, Ukraine, on February 23, 2024.
Libkos | Getty Photos Information | Getty Photos
The Ukrainian army mentioned on Friday {that a} Russian drone strike within the Black Sea metropolis of Odesa killed three folks.
In a message on the Telegram messaging app, Ukraine’s southern forces mentioned they intercepted 9 drones in a single day, however one hit a constructing close to Odessa’s coast and induced a fireplace.
Rescuers have since discovered three our bodies beneath the rubble, the Ukrainian army mentioned.
CNBC couldn’t independently confirm the report.
-Sam Meredith
Navalny’s mom accuses Russian investigators of attempting to prepare a secret funeral
Kin of Russian opposition chief Alexei Navalny, Anatoly Navalny (L) and Lyudmila Navalnaya depart the IK-6 penal colony in Melekhovo, about 250 kilometers east of Moscow, the place Alexei Navalny is imprisoned on June 19, 2023.
Natalia Kolesnikova | AFP | Getty Photos
Alexei Navalny’s mom, Lyudmila, accused Russian investigators on Thursday of planning a “secret” funeral for her son and mentioned she didn’t comply with it.
“They need this to occur in secret, with out goodbye. They wish to take me to the sting of a cemetery, to a brand new grave and say: right here lies your son. I don’t agree with this,” she mentioned in a speech . Youtube video.
There was no quick response from Russian investigators.
Navalny, 47, Russia’s best-known opposition politician, died all of the sudden final week in a penal colony within the Arctic. His group and household have claimed the Kremlin killed him, a declare the Kremlin has angrily rejected.
His mom mentioned she was proven his physique and dying certificates.
Navalny’s group mentioned the dying certificates said the opposition politician had died of pure causes.
-Reuters
Russian Overseas Minister calls Western response to Navalny’s dying ‘hysteria’
Russian Overseas Minister Sergei Lavrov attends the assembly of G20 international ministers in Marina da Gloria, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on February 21, 2024.
Ricardo Moraes | Reuters
Russian Overseas Minister Sergei Lavrov described the West’s response to the dying of Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny on Thursday as “hysteria,” Reuters reported.
He additionally mentioned that the West had no proper to intrude in Russia’s affairs.
Putin critic Navalny died final week whereas serving a sentence in a Russian jail colony, sparking outrage amongst Western leaders, a lot of whom mentioned Russian President Vladimir Putin is liable for the dying. The Kremlin has denied any involvement.
Lavrov is at present attending a gathering of G20 international ministers in Brazil, the place Navalny’s dying was extensively mentioned.
Images present a gathering between Lavrov and Turkey’s international minister on the sidelines of the G20, and he’ll meet Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva afterward Thursday, Reuters reported.
-Sophie Kiderlin
