World

MOSCOW — Russia's defence ministry claimed on Sunday to have captured a tiny village in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine, where it has been on the offensive making territorial gains.

Russian troops "have managed to liberate the village of Umanskoye in the popular republic of Donetsk", the ministry said in reference to the Ukrainian village of Umanske.

Umanske is a tiny village that had fewer than 180 inhabitants before Russia launched its military offensive in Ukraine in February 2022.

It lies about 25 kilometres to the northwest of Donetsk, which is the main city of the region and is under Russian control.

Russian Defence Minister Andrei Belousov said on Friday Russia had made advances "in all tactical directions".

Moscow's forces had seized 880 square kilometres of territory this year alone, he said.

Ukraine's outnumbered and outgunned forces have been under pressure for several months, particularly since Russia launched a new push in early May around the eastern city of Kharkiv, the second largest in Ukraine.

Russian soldiers have also been pushing hard in the east towards Pokrovsk, a city around 30 kilometres northwest of Umanske.

Kyiv hopes the imminent delivery of Western munitions it has long been waiting for will allow its troops to regain the upper hand on the battlefield.

Likewise, US President Joe Biden's decision to allow Kyiv to use American-supplied weapons to strike certain targets inside Russia has provided Ukraine with a significant boost.

Meanwhile, nine people were wounded in Ukrainian strikes on the Russian border regions of Belgorod and Kursk, the respective regional governors said on Sunday.

“Six civilians were wounded as a result of the bombardment of Shebekino town,” Belgorod Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said on Telegram, adding that they had been taken to hospital.

All six, five of whom were in two buses and the sixth who was on the street, were wounded by shrapnel.

Shebekino is a town of 40,000 people close to the border with Ukraine, fewer than 100 kilometres from Kharkiv.

Kharkiv, the second largest city in Ukraine, has been the target of a sustained push by Russian forces since early May.

Ukraine regularly attacks Belgorod.

Kyiv says it is targeting military sites from which Russia launches its deadly missile and drone assaults on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure and towns.

Gladkov also announced on Sunday the death of a local official in an explosion that wounded three other officials, without giving any more details.

Meanwhile, a Ukrainian drone attack “on a car this morning” in the Kursk region “wounded three” people, who were taken to hospital, Governor Alexei Smirnov said.

ROME — Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni held up next week’s European elections as a “turning point” when far-right parties could triumph, at a final rally of her post-fascist party in Rome.

“We have a clear objective, we want to do in Brussels what we have done in Rome,” said Meloni, whose Brothers of Italy party has led the government since topping national elections in September 2022.

Meloni said she wanted to “build a right-wing government in Europe too and send definitively into opposition the left... who have done so much damage to our continent in all these years”.

Speaking on a stage before thousands of flag-waving supporters, in front of a banner saying: “With Giorgia, Italy Changes Europe”, she urged Italian voters to back her.

“If the Italians tell us that they are still at our side... then we will have the necessary strength to attempt an undertaking that until a few months ago was unthinkable,” she said.

“And that is, after having made Italy change course, make Europe change course too.”

Surveys predict Europe’s far-right parties will gain ground in the EU vote, when around 370 million voters across 27 countries are called to cast ballots on June 6-9.

Mainstream players are still expected to end up ahead, but such a surge could change the balance of power.

Meloni railed against EU regulation, particularly on green issues — accusing the bloc of becoming a “paradise for bureaucrats” and a “hell for those who do business”.

“We are at a turning point and it is as if it were a sort of referendum between two opposing visions of Europe,” she said.

“The EU must be a partner of nation states, not a superstructure that suffocates nation states.”

Meloni is leader of one of two far-right groups in the parliament, the European Conservatives and Reformists group (ECR).

The other is the Identity and Democracy (ID) group that includes the National Rally of France’s Marine Le Pen and Meloni’s coalition partner, Matteo Salvini’s League.

They expelled Germany’s AfD Party last month after a series of scandals involving its lawmaker Maximilian Krah, who is being investigated for suspicious links to Russia and China.

There are also tensions between the ECR and ID, especially over attitudes to Russia, with Meloni’s ECR strongly supportive of Ukraine.

Meloni said many expected Rome to be the “weak link in Western unity”, but stressed she had held firm, and had “brought back seriousness into our relationships”.

Many of Meloni’s supporters like her strong stance on world affairs.

“She has put Italy back in the centre of the international discussions,” said Marco Arnaboldi, 64, who attended the rally.

Meloni is contesting the EU election — even if as a national lawmaker she cannot take up her seat — making it a personal referendum on her time in office.

Her speech was periodically interrupted with chants of “Giorgia! Giorgia” from the crowd, many of them wearing party-issued hats saying “Italian pride”.

The speech covered everything from economics to migration and abortion and what Meloni called “creeping Islamisation”. Meloni also denied claims that she had politicised the RAI public broadcaster.

Meloni has said she wants to match her 2022 national vote share of 26 per cent next weekend, well ahead of her coalition allies.

Salvini’s League is aiming for around nine percent, and the right-wing Forza Italia of the late ex-premier Silvio Berlusconi is aiming for about 10 per cent.

The centre-left Democratic Party is currently polling at around 21 per cent, with the populist Five Star Movement polling around 15.5 per cent.

SINGAPORE — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky arrived at a Singapore security forum on Saturday as he seeks to rally support for Kyiv while a Russian offensive gains ground.

Zelensky got out of a white Audi sedan in front of the luxury hotel hosting the Shangri-La Dialogue and walked quickly into the lobby, which was crowded with defence officials from around the world, journalists and hotel guests.

After shaking hands with the organisers of the three-day event, Zelensky was applauded by onlookers and then escorted to an elevator.

Zelensky is set to speak at the security forum at 11:30am (03:30 GMT) Sunday, according to event organisers the International Institute for Strategic Studies.

US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin is also attending and a US official travelling with him said Austin would meet Zelensky and Ukrainian Defence Minister Rustem Umerov on Sunday on the sidelines of the conference.

They would meet to “discuss the current battlefield situation in Ukraine and to underscore US commitment to ensuring Ukraine has what it needs to defend itself against ongoing Russian aggression”, said the US official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Zelensky said in an earlier post on social media platform X he would also “hold a number of meetings, particularly with Singapore’s President Tharman Shanmugaratnam and Prime Minister Lawrence Wong, Timor-Leste’s President Jose Ramos-Horta, US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin and Singaporean investors”.

Zelensky has been touring European nations in recent days appealing for more military aid for the Ukrainian army, which has been ceding ground to relentless Russian attacks.

His Singapore stop was announced shortly before his arrival at the hotel. It followed a decision by Washington to partially lift restrictions on using US-provided weapons to strike inside Russia, which Zelensky hailed as a “step forward”.

US President Joe Biden had come under increasing pressure from a desperate Ukraine to ease the curbs, but had resisted for fear doing so could drag the NATO alliance into direct conflict or even a nuclear stand-off with Moscow.

Germany said on Friday it too had given Ukraine permission to fire German-delivered weapons at targets in Russia.

Russian President Vladimir Putin warned on Tuesday that there would be “serious consequences” if Western countries gave approval to Ukraine.

Ukraine is struggling to hold back a Russian ground offensive in the Kharkiv region, where Moscow recently made its largest territorial gains in 18 months.

With Russia’s war against Ukraine in its third year, Ukrainian soldiers are exhausted and outgunned.

Many of Kyiv’s allies remain uneasy about the prospect of sending Western troops to Ukraine.

French President Emmanuel Macron sparked an uproar among NATO members in February when he refused to rule out sending troops to Ukraine.

Zelensky has visited Spain, Sweden, Portugal and Belgium in recent days as he seeks more weapons and aid for his struggling military, and to drum up support for a peace summit due to be held in Switzerland this month.

In his X post Saturday, Zelensky said the “Asia-Pacific voice” must be at the peace event, which was aimed at “restoring just peace for Ukraine and ensuring global food and nuclear security”.

Sweden pledged 13.3 billion kronor ($1.25 billion) in military aid to Ukraine on Wednesday.

The Scandinavian country, which formally joined NATO in March, will donate a range of military supplies, including ASC 890 surveillance aircraft, Rb 99 medium-range air-to-air missiles and artillery ammunition, and its entire fleet of PBV 302 armoured tracked personnel carriers.

Russia fired a combined 100 missiles and drones at Ukraine in an overnight barrage targeting energy sites across the country, Ukrainian officials said on Saturday.

Russia has launched hundreds of aerial attacks at Ukraine’s power facilities throughout the war, causing significant damage and energy shortages as Ukraine’s stretched air defences struggle to repel waves of drones and missiles.

NEW YORK — A New York jury convicted Donald Trump on all charges in his hush money case on Thursday in a seismic development barely five months ahead of the election where he seeks to recapture the White House.

The historic first criminal trial of a former US president ended with the 77-year-old Trump found guilty on each of the 34 charges of falsifying business records to hide a payment meant to silence porn star Stormy Daniels.

Trump, who is all but certain to appeal, did not immediately react, but sat still, his shoulders dipping.

The conviction thrusts the United States into uncharted political territory but does not bar Trump from a White House run, even in the unlikely event that Judge Juan Merchan sentences him to prison time.

The verdict comes just weeks before the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, where Trump is due to receive the party’s formal nomination to face Democratic President Joe Biden on November 5.

The 12-member jury deliberated for more than 11 hours over two days at the end of the extraordinary five-week trial held in a drab Manhattan courtroom.

Trump was convicted of falsifying business records to reimburse his lawyer, Michael Cohen, for a $130,000 payment to Stormy Daniels on the eve of the 2016 election, when her claim to have had sex with him could have proved politically fatal.

The trial featured lengthy testimony from the adult performer, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford and who described to the court in graphic detail what she says was a 2006 sexual encounter with the married Trump.

Prosecutors successfully laid out a case alleging that the hush money and the illegal covering up of the payment was part of a broader crime to prevent voters from knowing about Trump’s behaviour.

Trump’s defence attorneys had countered that “trying to influence an election” was simply “democracy” and that the former president did nothing wrong.

The trial has distracted Trump from his campaign to unseat Biden.

However, he milked the media attention throughout, with daily speeches in front of the cameras outside the courtroom in which he complained about being a political victim.

Jury identities kept secret

Identities of the 12 jurors deciding the case were kept secret, a rare practice more often see in cases involving mafia or other violent defendants.

After teasing the prospect for weeks, Trump — who denied ever having sex with Daniels at a 2006 celebrity golf tournament — opted not to testify.

The Republican, who made his name as a brash real estate mogul before a stunning ascent to the nation’s highest office in the 2016 election, now faces prison or, more likely, probation.

In theory, he could face up to four years in jail for each count of falsifying business records, but legal experts said as a first-time offender he is unlikely to go behind bars.

An appeal could take months to complete.

Should he win the presidency he will not be able to pardon himself, given that the case was not brought by the federal government but by the state of New York, where only the governor could clear his name.

Trump also faces federal and state charges of conspiring to overturn the results of the 2020 election won by Biden, and for hoarding secret documents after leaving the White House.

BEIJING — Chinese President Xi Jinping called on Thursday for a peace conference on the war between Israel and Palestinian group Hamas as he addressed Arab leaders and diplomats at a forum in Beijing.

China is this week hosting Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al Sisi and several other Arab leaders for a forum at which discussions on the war in Gaza were expected.

Addressing the delegations on Thursday morning, Xi said China supported a "broad-based" peace conference to resolve the conflict.

"The Middle East is a land bestowed with broad prospects for development, but the war is still raging on it," Xi said.

"War should not continue indefinitely. Justice should not be absent forever," he added.

Xi also said China "supports Palestine's full membership in the UN, and supports a more broad-based, authoritative and effective international peace conference".

China, which has good relations with Israel, has advocated for decades for a two-state solution to the conflict.

Meeting Egypt’s Sisi on Wednesday, Xi said he was “deeply pained” by the “extremely severe” situation in Gaza, where the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry says 36,171 people, mostly civilians, have been killed.

“The top priority task now is an immediate ceasefire, in order to avoid spillover of conflict, impact on regional peace and stability, and... to prevent a more serious humanitarian crisis,” Xi said.

He also said China was ready to work with Egypt, which neighbours Gaza and Israel, to “push for an early, comprehensive, just and lasting settlement of the Palestinian issue”.

‘Golden opportunity’

In recent years, China has sought to build closer ties with Arab states. Last year, it brokered a detente between Saudi Arabia and its long-time foe Iran.

China also hosted rival Palestinian groups Hamas and Fateh last month for “in-depth and candid talks on promoting intra-Palestinian reconciliation”.

Analysts say China is seeking to leverage the war in Gaza to boost its standing in the region, framing its efforts to end that conflict against perceived US inaction.

“Beijing sees the ongoing conflict as a golden opportunity to criticise the West’s double standards on the international scene and call for an alternative global order,” Camille Lons, a policy fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations, told AFP.

“When speaking about the war in Gaza, it speaks... to a wider audience, and frames the conflict around the opposition between the West and the Global South,” she added.

On Thursday, Xi hailed his “deep sense of affinity” with the Arab world.

United Arab Emirates President Sheikh Mohamed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan was among a host of regional leaders and diplomats attending this week’s forum.

Xi said that China would seek to deepen cooperation with the region on energy.

“China will further enhance strategic cooperation with the Arab side on oil and gas, and integrate supply security with market security,” he said.

“China is ready to work with the Arab side on new energy technology R&D and equipment production,” he added.

CHISINAU — US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Wednesday that Israel needed a post-war plan as soon as possible after a senior Israeli official predicted that fighting in Gaza would last until the end of the year.

"In the absence of a plan for the day after, there won't be a day after. And this is where we need to go, and [what] we need to get, as quickly as possible," Blinken told reporters on a visit to Moldova.

Such a plan would ensure that Israel is not in control of Gaza's security in the long term, he said.

"If it is, it will simply have an enduring insurgency on his hands for as far as one can see into the future," Blinken said.

"Or if not, Hamas will be left in charge, which is not acceptable. Or if not, we'll have chaos, lawlessness and a vacuum that eventually will be filled again by Hamas or maybe something, if it's possible to imagine, even worse."

Israeli National Security Adviser Tzachi Hanegbi said earlier that the military would need "another seven months" to "consolidate our success" against Hamas.

President Joe Biden has supported Israel's response to the October 7 Hamas surprise attack but has called on Israel to do more to protect civilians and has faced growing pressure as he seeks reelection in November.

Blinken said that a weekend Israeli strike that ignited an inferno in a displacement camp outside Rafah, killing 45 people according to Palestinian officials, was "horrific".

"Anyone who has seen the images cannot be deeply affected by them, just on a basic human level," Blinken said.

"We have been very clear with Israel on the imperative — in this instance as in other instances — to immediately investigate and determine exactly what happened and why it happened, and if accountability is necessary to make sure that there is accountability," Blinken said.

He said he could not verify a report that US weapons were used in the attack.

DRESDEN, Germany — France's President Emmanuel Macron on Monday raised the alarm over the "ill wind" of the rise of the far right in European politics, during a state visit to Germany ahead of key EU elections.

Macron noted a "fascination with authoritarian regimes" in Europe, singling out Viktor Orban's government in Hungary for criticism.

"Everywhere in our democracies these ideas thrive, pushed by the extremes and in particular the far right," Macron said in a speech in the eastern city of Dresden, a bastion of support for Germany's far-right.

"This ill wind is blowing in Europe, so let us wake up," he said in front of the city's famous Frauenkirche church.

Macron's trip comes two weeks ahead of European Union elections in which polls are indicating his centrist coalition is trailing the far right.

It could even struggle to reach a third-place finish.

Macron, undertaking the first state visit by a French president to Germany in a quarter of a century, made a plea for the defence of democracy against nationalist forces as he arrived on Sunday.

In Germany too, all three parties in Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s coalition are polling behind the far-right AfD in surveys, despite a series of scandals embroiling the anti-immigration party.

“Europe is not just a place where we give ourselves common rules, it is a set of values,” Macron said.

“We must find the strength and commitment to defend it everywhere,” he added.

Macron also underlined the threat posed by Russian aggression since the invasion of Ukraine, saying Europeans had a “new responsibility” to guarantee peace.

Without supporting Ukraine and stopping Russia from imposing the “law of the strongest” on the battlefield, there would be no peace in Europe, Macron said.

“In Ukraine, it is your security, our peace that is at stake,” Macron told the Dresden audience.

And Europe, he said, must think about “its own defence and security”. The French president repeated a warning that “our Europe could die”.

Earlier, Macron and his wife Brigitte Macron together with the German presidential couple visited the Holocaust memorial in Berlin that commemorates the 6 million Jews murdered by the Nazis.

Accompanying them was Nazi hunter Serge Klarsfeld and his German wife Beate, who underlined a resurgence of anti-Semitism, fuelled by Israel’s offensive in Gaza following Hamas attack on its territory.

“It’s very good that the French president is meeting the German president before this monument, especially at a tragic time for the global Jewish community,” said Klarsfeld.

The Klarsfelds have faced controversy lately over comments in favour of far-right leader Marine Le Pen, whom they praise for her engagement against anti-Semitism as opposed to her father Jean-Marie Le Pen.

Macron on Sunday labelled Le Pen’s National Rally a “threat to Europe”, stressing that he does not see them as “just another party”.

The French president however skirted the issue as he presented the Klarsfelds with honours at the French embassy in Berlin to acknowledge their work “opening eyes” to the past and confronting crimes committed under the Nazis.

Macron will on Tuesday travel to Muenster in western Germany, where he will be presented with the Westphalian Peace Prize.

He will later meet with Chancellor Olaf Scholz in Meseberg, near Berlin, for a joint Franco-German meeting of ministers.

Relations between the two leaders have been strained over their attitudes towards Europe and support for Ukraine, with the French president striking a more strident tone against Russia. 

SEOUL — North Korea’s latest satellite launch ended in a mid-air explosion on Monday night, Pyongyang said, hours after its announcement of the planned projectile was criticised by Seoul and Tokyo.

The launch of the Malligyong-1-1 reconnaissance satellite “exploded in the air during the first flight and failed to launch”, the country’s National Aerospace Technology Administration said in a statement carried by state media, adding the “cause of the accident was the reliability of the newly developed liquid oxygen and oil engine”.

Japanese broadcaster NHK ran footage of what appeared to be a flaming projectile in the night sky, which then burst into a ball of flame, saying it had filmed it from northeast China at the same time as the attempted launch.

Pyongyang had notified Japan earlier Monday that it was planning to put another satellite into orbit, after a successful attempt in November, plus two failed efforts earlier last year.

Nuclear-armed North Korea is barred by multiple UN resolutions from tests using ballistic technology, and analysts say there is significant technological overlap between space launch capabilities and the development of ballistic missiles.

“Our military detected around 22:44 [13:44 GMT] on Monday the trajectory of what’s suspected to be the North’s military reconnaissance satellite fired from Tongchang-ri area in North Pyongan province southwards,” Seoul’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said.

But two minutes later “many fragments of the projectile were detected in North Korean waters, and the US and South Korea are analysing whether it had an operational flight”, the JCS added.

Japan also confirmed the launch and the government briefly issued an alert warning residents of southern Okinawa prefecture to take cover in shelters, but it was lifted minutes later.

Nuclear-armed North Korea successfully launched its first reconnaissance satellite last November, drawing international condemnation, with the United States calling it a “brazen violation” of UN sanctions.

Hours after trilateral 

The attempted launch came just hours after Seoul, Beijing and Tokyo wrapped up their first trilateral summit since 2019.

South Korea’s President Yoon Suk Yeol said Monday that another satellite launch — North Korea’s fourth attempt — would “undermine regional and global peace and stability” and urged Pyongyang not to go ahead.

The South Korean military conducted attack formation flight and strike training on Monday to demonstrate “the strong capabilities and will of our military” after North Korea notified Japan of its plans to launch a satellite by June 4.

Experts say that spy satellites could improve North Korea’s intelligence-gathering capabilities, particularly over South Korea, and provide crucial data in any military conflict.

Seoul has said the North received technical help from Russia for its November satellite launch, in return for sending Moscow weapons for use in the war in Ukraine.

Kim Jong-un met President Vladimir Putin in Russia last September, and Putin suggested afterwards that his nation could help Pyongyang build satellites.

A group of Russian engineers has entered North Korea to help with the launch preparations, Yonhap reported Sunday, citing a government official.

Seoul had said on Friday that South Korean and US intelligence authorities were “closely monitoring and tracking” preparations for another launch.

North Korea claims the “Malligyong-1” satellite it put into orbit in November is successfully functioning, but Seoul’s intelligence agency has cast down on this claim.

Seoul’s National Intelligence Service collected and analysed debris from one of Pyongyang’s failed launches earlier last year, finding it had no military utility.