World

AREQUIPA, Peru — Carmen Manchego looks down at the remnants of homes sticking out of the quagmire of mud that engulfed the Peruvian mining town of Pampaylima.

"I have nothing left, nothing at all," she moans.

Torrential rain late last week in Mariano Valcarel district of the southwestern Arequipa region provoked a mudslide on the San Martin Mountain.

Several communes were buried under mud and rocks, leaving 18 dead and around 20 others missing.

"My home is there," Manchego, a home maker, tells AFP. "Everything was taken away by the water, it buried everything."

She is one of more than 4,300 people affected by the disaster.

Some Pampaylima residents attempt to recover belongings that were spared the widespread destruction amongst the rubble from prefabricated homes demolished by the mud.

The ground floors of several two-storey houses have effectively disappeared from view.

"My home is completely covered. We'll have to see if we can save something, something valuable. Machines, more than anything," said Eleuterio Condena, 55.

Like most of his neighbours, he works in a gold mine in this mountainous area, around 800 kilometres south of Peru's capital Lima.

The suspension of mining activity, coupled with the economic losses caused by the disaster, will have massive consequences on the locals.

Most Pampaylima residents come from neighboring regions such as Ica or Ayacucho and are only staying there temporarily for work.

With families relying on their wages, they cannot afford to sit idle.

Some work in the San Martin and Arapa mines, carrying 50 kilogramme sacks on their backs that are full of minerals that require processing 5 kilometers away in Secocha.

That journey has to be taken on foot because part of the path linking the two towns has been destroyed by a landslide.

In Secocha, gold sells for around $31 per gram. Each miner earns around $30-$38 a day.

According to authorities, the mudslide damaged 40 per cent of the electricity grid in Valcarcel and more than 500 homes have been destroyed or rendered uninhabitable.

Another thousand have been damaged.

"We are sleeping in tents brought by the Civil Defence and we're eating in the canteen where help is being delivered," said Manchego.

There are not enough tents for everyone, forcing some people to sleep outside at the top of the mountains.

"We hope to be rehoused after all this is finished," said Nelly Huillca, 35, a small-scale miner.

KYIV — Ukraine said Friday that Russia had launched a major new wave of aerial attacks, as President Joe Biden announced he would mark one year since the invasion by visiting Kyiv's neighbour Poland.

Strikes were reported from the eastern region of Kharkiv to the western region of Ivano-Frankivsk, a day after President Volodymyr Zelensky travelled to Brussels to lobby EU leaders for long-range weapons and fighter jets.

Zelensky said Russian missiles had crossed over ex-Soviet Moldova and NATO member Romania while heading to Ukraine, though Bucharest denied the claim.

With the bloody conflict approaching its one-year anniversary on February 24, the White House said Biden would travel to NATO ally Poland on February 20-22.

Biden will make a speech to mark "Russia's brutal and unprovoked invasion of Ukraine, addressing how the United States has rallied the world to support the people of Ukraine as they defend their freedom and democracy," the White House said.

The Kremlin on Friday also announced that Russian President Vladimir Putin would deliver his annual state of the nation speech on February 21.

Russia last targeted Ukraine with a mass strike in late January, days after Western allies agreed to deliver heavy tanks to Kyiv.

Zelensky called the new Russian attacks "a challenge to NATO", adding "this is terror that can and must be stopped."

Romania's defence ministry said it detected an "aerial target launched from the Black Sea from a Russian Federation ship" but "at no point did it intersect with Romania's airspace".

The Moldovan defence ministry confirmed that Russian missiles had crossed its airspace, adding it would summon Russia's ambassador.

Kyiv residents on Friday rushed to shelters as Russia battered the pro-Western country with missiles and drones.

"Russian terrorists today again launched a massive missile attack on Ukraine's energy infrastructure," Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said.

The Ukrainian air force said Russians targeted cities and critical infrastructure, adding that Iranian-made explosive drones were launched from the Sea of Azov and Kalibr cruise missiles from the Black Sea.

Russia also carried out a “massive” attack with “up to 35 anti-aircraft guided missiles” targeting the eastern region of Kharkiv and the southern region of Zaporizhzhia, the air force said.

Ten missiles were shot down over Kyiv, according to officials.

After humiliating defeats on the ground, Russia has in recent months targeted Ukraine’s energy facilities, leading to power shortages that have left millions in the cold and dark.

Ukraine’s energy operator Ukrenergo said “power plants and high voltage network facilities” had been affected in the east, west and south, with the “most difficult situation” in the region of Kharkiv, near the border with Russia.

The country temporarily lost 44 per cent of its nuclear generation and 75 per cent of the capacity of thermal power plants, Shmyhal said.

The electrical grid instability caused by the shelling also led to the shutting down of one of the reactor units at Khmelnytskyi Nuclear Power Plant, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency.

“Despite this terror, the vast majority of Ukrainians remain with heating, water and electricity,” Shmyhal said.

Race for arms 

Friday’s wave of attacks follows Zelensky’s visit to Europe, where he urged allies to supply Ukraine with long-range missiles and fighter jets as Kyiv braces for a renewed Russian push in the east.

Zelensky warned that Ukraine needs military supplies faster than Russia can prepare what he said would be a dangerous new offensive.

He said he received “positive signals”, but some EU leaders were wary, fearing it could drag the West closer to direct conflict with Russia.

French President Emmanuel Macron warned that even if fighter jets were to be sent to Kyiv, it would not be in “the coming weeks”.

The situation, however, is becoming more pressing on the ground, where months-long fighting for control of Bakhmut, a key town in the eastern region of Donetsk, has left many casualties on both sides.

In one measure of the year-long conflict’s toll on Moscow, about half of Russia’s main battle tanks have likely been destroyed or captured by Ukraine, a senior US defence official said Friday.

Numerous foreign leaders have visited Kyiv since the war began, but Biden is considered unlikely to do so while in Poland due to security concerns.

Addressing a virtual summit of sports ministers chaired from London, Zelensky insisted that Russian athletes should not be allowed to take part in the 2024 Paris Olympics.

“The mere presence of representatives of the terrorist state is a manifestation of violence and lawlessness,” he said.

“If the Olympic sports were killings and missile strikes, then you know which national team would occupy the first place.”

BRUSSELS — Hailed as a European hero on his arrival in Brussels, Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky urged EU leaders on Thursday to accelerate the promised delivery of modern long-range weapons.

The Ukrainian leader warned that he could not return empty-handed from what was only his second foreign trip since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion just under a year ago.

With a renewed Russian offensive piling pressure on Kyiv's forces in the east, the former actor turned war leader urged his allies to turn what he said were their "positive signals" into "concrete" words.

After Wednesday's visits to London and Paris to lobby Britain, France and Germany for modern fighter jets and long-range missiles, Zelensky flew on to Brussels to address EU leaders and the European parliament.

MEPs treated him to cheers and a standing ovation as he portrayed Ukraine as the country fighting to defend Europe's eastern borders and urged a rapid welcome into the EU fold.

"We are defending against the most anti-European force of the modern world — we are defending ourselves, we Ukrainians on the battlefield, along with you," Zelensky told MEPs.

After the parliamentary address, Zelensky joined the 27 leaders of the EU member states as the special guest at their regular summit, invited by European Council president to make an opening address.

"I have to thank you personally for your unwavering support of our country and our aspirations, our aspirations to live in a united, free Europe," he told them.

But he also warned the leaders that Ukraine needs to receive artillery, munitions, modern tanks, long-range missiles and fighter jets “faster than the aggressor” can prepare what he said would be a dangerous new offensive.

“There are positive signals, concerning the respective weapons,” Zelensky said after the meeting.

“I really want these signals to move to concrete sounds to concrete voice, the voice that is not afraid that Russia will hear.”

Kremlin warning 

European Council president and summit host Charles Michel insisted that the summit had allowed EU leaders to “make it clear that they are ready to provide more military support”.

“The next weeks and the next months will probably be decisive,” he said. “It’s not the moment to tremble, but to deploy full support.”

But some EU leaders sounded wary on handing over fighter planes as fears swirl it could drag the West closer to direct conflict with Russia.

“There are many sensitive issues to be discussed, the pros and cons,” said Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte.

Polish Premier Mateusz Morawiecki said that his country “will not be the first to hand over fighters” but would would welcome others leading the way.

The Kremlin reacted with its usual grim warning.

“We see this as a growing engagement of Germany, UK, France in the conflict between Russia and Ukraine. The boundary between indirect and direct engagement is gradually disappearing. We can only regret it,” spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

“The actions of these countries lead to an escalation of tensions... make this conflict more painful... and these actions will not change the objectives of our country within the framework of the special military operation.”

The NATO and EU powers of Europe have been, along with the United States, the main backers of Ukraine’s beleaguered defenders since President Vladimir Putin’s Russia unleashed a full-scale invasion on February 24 last year.

EU leaders touted the 67 billion euros ($72 billion) they have spent on military and financial aid to Kyiv, including funds spent on hosting 4 million Ukrainian refugees.

European Commission head Ursula von der Leyen pledged a new round of sanctions to punish Russian “propagandists” and strangle off another 10-billion-euros worth of Moscow’s exports.

And she threw her support behind a 10-point peace proposal designed by Zelensky to prevent Ukraine from being pushed to capitulate.

Peace camp

Macron and Scholz both pledged that Europe would back Ukraine until its eventual victory.

Arriving at the summit, Scholz told reporters: “We are gathered here today to give a sign of solidarity and unity.

“We can send out this signal once again and show that we will continue our support for Ukraine in defending its independence and integrity for as long as necessary.”

But one leader sounded a different note. Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban, the EU leader closest to Putin, did not applaud as Zelensky joined his colleagues for the group photo.

In a social media post, he said Hungary would send Kyiv humanitarian aid but called for an immediate ceasefire, rather than Ukrainian victory. “Hungary belongs to the peace camp!” he declared.

In frontline eastern Ukraine, the Lugansk regional governor warned that Russia was attacking Ukrainian forces near the town of Kreminna and “systematically destroying” three nearby communities.

“For the offensive, we need more armoured vehicles and ammunition,” the statement said.

Moscow says Russian forces were advancing on Bakhmut and Vugledar — two key centres of fighting in the eastern Donetsk region of Ukraine, now the flashpoint of the war.

GAZIANTEP, Turkey — Green metal coffins were lined up 10 at a time under a shelter at Gaziantep's main cemetery on Wednesday for an imam to bless victims of Turkey's devastating earthquake before their hurried burial.

While rescuers searched rubble for survivors and aftershocks rattled Gaziantep, Yesilkent Cemetery overflowed with grieving relatives who had come from across the region.

The magnitude 7.8 quake and subsequent aftershocks killed more than 11,200 people and Gaziantep was near the epicentre.

Gaziantep Mayor Fatma Sahin has made an appeal for more Muslim preachers to come forward to help with funerals at cemeteries.

Hundreds of men formed lines in front of the coffins at Yesilkent as the imam spoke into a headset microphone, stopping in front of each victim to give a blessing.

Women formed their own congregation. Some wailed uncontrollably and one woman fainted and was carried away.

Women from Besni, a district about 100 kilometres north of Gaziantep, comforted Hatice, who lost her 17-year-old daughter Ruveyda. Her son, Serhat, 21, was still missing under the rubble.

The family lived on the sixth floor of an apartment block. Hatice, who gave only one name, said that when the quake struck she grabbed her eight-year-old daughter.

But the building was flattened by the tremor. Their escape was one miracle.

Ruveyda initially said she "felt fine", the mother told AFP.

Hours later, Ruveyda fell ill and quickly died in hospital from suspected injuries to internal organs.

Hatice did not want to see her daughter's body before the funeral. "I cannot see her like that," she said in tears.

Done and Ayas Sundar died in their apartment and were led in coffins next to each other in the line.

“It took many hours to find them and now the family is heartbroken. At least they were together but that is little consolation,” said their nephew Emre Cengiz.

“After the shock we all telephoned each other but no one could get through to Done and Ayas.

“Then there was the second quake and word spread that there were many dead. Our hearts knew.”

Ayse Colak, 35, also died with her husband and parents-in-law in Nurdagi district 65km east of Gaziantep. Her building completely collapsed.

Her sisters cried and touched the coffin in disbelief.

“There is no Nurdagi anymore, the city is completely destroyed”, said one sister, who declined to give a name.

The families slowly moved away. But in the male section of the cemetery mosque, groups stood around 10 more coffins, including those of children, awaiting a blessing.

Other bodies were in the women’s section. Outside, ambulances arrived at Yesilkent bringing more victims.

The imam would hold midday prayers in the mosque before starting another funeral, officials said as more tearful relatives gathered.

Across the Gaziantep region, international rescue teams joined local emergency services and volunteers in the increasingly desperate search for survivors.

Amid predictions that the death toll from Turkey’s worst earthquake in eight decades would mount, Yesilkent was considering extending its operating hours for funeral services, however, officials said.

BAMAKO (AFP) — Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov arrived in Mali early on Tuesday for talks with its junta leaders seeking Moscow's help in battling an Islamist insurgency that remains entrenched despite years of fighting.

Lavrov, who was in Iraq on Monday, was welcomed upon his arrival by his counterpart Abdoulaye Diop. The two men did not make any statements to journalists.

The visit of fewer than 24 hours will be his third trip to Africa since July, part of a bid to expand Russia's presence on the continent amid broad international isolation after Moscow's invasion of Ukraine last year.

Since taking control of Mali in two coups since August 2020, the military junta led by Col. Assimi Goita has embraced Russian support to aid its anti-militant fight after evicting the forces of former colonial ruler France.

Several Malian officials have travelled to Moscow, but the visit by Lavrov is "the first of its kind" aimed at cementing "a new dynamic" for security and economic cooperation between the two countries, according to Mali's foreign ministry.

Lavrov will hold talks Tuesday with Goita, as well as with foreign affairs minister Diop, and a press conference is scheduled afterwards.

Mali has already received planes and attack helicopters from Moscow as well as several hundred Russian soldiers described by Mali's leaders as instructors who are helping to reinforce its defence and sovereignty.

Western officials and some rights groups say the fighters are actually paramilitaries with the Wagner group, who have been accused of brutal tactics and rights abuses elsewhere in Africa.

Mali's leaders have claimed successes against Islamists that have targeted the government for the past decade, a crisis that has claimed thousands of lives and forced hundreds of thousands from their homes.

But foreign observers, including the United Nations, have cast doubt on the claims, noting persistent attacks in the north and northeast of the country.

On Monday, the UN rights chief Volker Turk denounced Mali's expulsion of the agency's top human rights representative over the weekend, saying his work was "more crucial than ever".

Lavrov's visit also comes amid uncertainty about whether Goita will stick to his agreement for a return to civilian rule in March 2024, especially if the security crisis continues.

Last month, the Coordination of Azawad Movements, a predominantly Tuareg alliance that fought the state for years before signing a peace deal in 2015, said it was pulling out of efforts to draft a new constitution, accusing the junta of foot-dragging.

Mali's new Russian allies are also accused by rights groups and witnesses of abuses against civilians, including by the UN's human rights envoy, which prompted his order to leave the country.

The military regime has repeatedly blocked attempts by the UN peacekeeping force, MINUSMA, to investigate reports of human rights abuses carried out by the armed forces.

As tensions with the international community rise, Moscow is hoping to seize a chance to expand its influence in the troubled region, with analysts noting that several African nations have declined to condemn Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

In January, Lavrov slammed the West while accusing the US and its allies of "colonial methods" as he visited Angola, South Africa and Eswatini, insisting that Moscow sought relations on the continent built on "solidarity and support".

CHARLY-SUR-MARNE, France — A mother and her seven children aged two to 14 died on Monday after a faulty dryer apparently set ablaze their house in eastern France, authorities said.

The fire, the deadliest such blaze involving children in France in a decade, broke out shortly after midnight in the rented family home in Charly-sur-Marne, a town around 80 kilometres east of Paris in the Champagne region.

The mother and her children suffocated from black smoke that filled their home while they were trapped in the attic, local prosecutor Julien Morino-Ros told AFP.

The origin of the fire appeared to have been a malfunctioning clothes dryer on the ground floor of the house, he said.

Neighbours called the fire department to report the blaze just before 1:00am (00:00 GMT).

The woman's husband, father to three of the children, was saved by a firefighter who lives nearby and who intervened before his colleagues arrived, officials said.

The father sustained serious but not life-threatening burn injuries and was taken to hospital.

According to the prosecutor, he had tried to put out the fire and told his wife and the children — five girls and two boys — to seek refuge from the flames in their converted attic on the second floor.

'We saw the horror' 

But that move turned tragic as more and more black smoke billowed up through the staircase.

Firefighters struggled to get ladders to the top windows of the house, because of the narrowness of the street where it is located in the centre of the village of 2,600 inhabitants.

The electric window blinds were blocked shut because of a power cut triggered by the faulty appliance, further hindering the rescue effort, the prosecutor said.

The eight victims died of smoke poisoning, not burns, he added.

"I hope with all my heart that they didn't feel or see anything," said Sylvie Corre, the house owner's wife.

"We were there on the street all night and we saw the horror," she told AFP by telephone.

She said the 40-year-old father worked for the Corre family's small champagne-producing business and was an "excellent employee".

His wife, also in her 40s, was a full-time mother.

Corre said the house met safety standards. "Obviously there will be a technical investigation and anything is possible," she said.

The prosecutor said there was no early indication of any safety issues with the house despite it being "a bit old".

It took 80 firefighters several hours to put out the blaze at the home, which is located down a narrow street in the centre of the village of 2,600 inhabitants.

Residents in a neighbouring house that was damaged by the blaze were evacuated from their home and firefighters blocked off the street to onlookers.

"I just saw smoke, lots of smoke," said Evelyine Renaud, a local resident. "Those poor children."

Another neighbour, who gave her name only as Nadine, said she often saw the mother pick up her kids from school. "I really liked that family," she said.

Pupils and teachers at the children's schools were being offered psychological support, said Catherine Albaric-Delpech, a regional education official.

"It's not much when you consider the drama that has happened here," she said.

The tragedy was the worst such incident in France since 2013, when five children between two and nine died asphyxiated in an accidental fire, also in northern France.

In the most recent similar accident, 10 people including four children died in December 2022 in a seven-storey building that was being renovated in a working-class district of Vaulx-en-Velin, near the southeastern city of Lyon.

BAKHMUT, Ukraine — Heavy fighting was under way on Sunday in the northern parts of the frontline hotspot Bakhmut, while Ukraine's defence minister said the reluctance of Kyiv's Western allies to send jets would cost it "more lives".

Despite the flow of Western weapons to Ukraine, Russia has claimed gains in recent days around war-ravaged Bakhmut in the eastern region of Donetsk.

The head of the Russian mercenary group Wagner said that fighting raged on in northern parts of Bakhmut.

"In the northern quarters of Artemovsk, fierce battles are going on for every street, every house, every stairwell," Yevgeny Prigozhin said in a statement, referring to Bakhmut by its previous name.

"The Ukrainian armed forces are fighting to the last," he said.

Russian forces have been trying to seize control of Bakhmut in the eastern region of Donetsk for months in what has become the longest and bloodiest battle since Russia invaded Ukraine last February.

"I am sure that we will win this war," Ukraine's Defence Minister Oleksiy Reznikov told a news conference in Kyiv, but he said that without the delivery of Western jets, "it will cost us more lives".

He also pledged that new long-range weapons Kyiv was receiving from the West would not be used against targets in Russian territory.

'Not ashamed 

of anything' 

Reznikov declined to confirm reports that he could soon be forced to resign following recent procurement scandals, saying the decision rested with President Volodymyr Zelensky, who last week stepped up efforts to clamp down on corruption.

"The stress that I have endured this year is hard to measure precisely. I am not ashamed of anything," he said. "My conscience is absolutely clear."

Reznikov, a lawyer by training, said he “will definitely find an interesting project for myself that will allow us not only to win the war, but also to punish the military and political leadership of the Russian Federation later”.

The Ukrainska Pravda news website, citing unidentified sources, reported that Reznikov, 56, could next week be replaced by Kyrylo Budanov, the 37-year-old head of military intelligence.

One of the best-known faces of Ukraine’s war effort, Reznikov was appointed defence minister in November 2021 and has helped secure Western weapons to buttress Ukrainian forces.

But his ministry has been beset by corruption scandals.

Reznikov’s deputy was forced to resign in late January after the ministry was accused of signing food contracts at prices two to three times higher than current rates for basic foodstuffs. Reznikov said on Sunday that an internal audit of procurement procedures was under way.

The ministry’s own anti-corruption department “failed” to accomplish its tasks and needs to “be completely rebooted”, Reznikov said.

‘I came to pray 

for peace’ 

In the deserted eastern town of Bakhmut, about 20 people, including two soldiers, attended a Sunday mass in the basement of the golden-domed All Saints’ church.

Three women sang hymns, punctuated by sounds of mortar shells in the background.

The room was lit by two dozen candles and a portable light used by the two priests to read from the bible.

“Today I prayed that everything will be better for me after I die,” said 20-year-old Serafim Chernyshov, standing outside the church, with loud sounds of a steady exchange of small arms fire and the pounding of mortar shells to and from Russian positions echoing in the background.

“Last night, a missile flew into my garden and a bullet flew inside my house, it could have hit me,” he added. “I might die now or in 30 years. If I’m killed, it will be God’s will.”

“I came to pray for peace,” added Lyubov Avramenko, 84.

Zelensky said on Friday that Kyiv’s troops would fight for Bakhmut “as long as we can”.

The British defence ministry said on Sunday that over the past week, Russia had made “small advances” in its attempt to encircle Bakhmut.

For months Moscow has targeted Ukraine’s civilian infrastructure, including the energy grid, leaving millions in the dark and cold in the middle of winter.

In Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, a missile strike hit a residential building on Sunday, wounding four people, said Oleg Synegubov, head of the regional administration. Another strike left a security guard injured when a missile hit a university, he said.

On Saturday, “the Russians killed four residents of the region of Donetsk”, said Pavlo Kyrylenko, head of the regional administration, adding that another 11 people were injured.

Around 280,000 households in the southern city of Odesa were still without power following an accident at an electrical substation, already damaged by Russian strikes, the day before, said Prime Minister Denys Shmygal.