World

MOSCOW — Russia said on Tuesday that its troops had made gains in eastern Ukraine, building on recent advances against Ukrainian forces in critical need of Western aid.

Facing a difficult situation on the front lines, Kyiv has responded with an increasing number of incursions and attacks on Russian territory bordering Ukraine.

Some of the incursions have been carried out by Russians volunteering to fight in pro-Ukrainian units, which Putin has called to "punish".

"On the Avdiivka front, units of the 'Centre' grouping of troops liberated the village of Orlivka," the Russian defence ministry said.

It is the latest in a string of gains for Moscow, which has built on the capture of Avdiivka a month ago.

Avdiivka's seizure had forced Ukrainian troops to withdraw to defensive lines along Tonenke, Berdychi and Orlivka.

The Ukrainian army has not addressed the potential seizure of Orlivka.

But Kyiv has acknowledged a difficult situation on the battlefield and urged the West to keep up and deliver on its promises of support.

European deliveries have fallen behind, and its industrial capacities remain limited.

Kyiv has urged the US Congress to unblock a $60 billion aid package, which has been stalled due to political infighting.

The delays have been a "shock" for Ukrainian officials, Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said in an online briefing for foreign media.

"We are approaching the end of March and deliberations continue, deliberations on the issue of vital interest, strategic interest of the US in Europe," he added.

The day before, President Volodymyr Zelensky told US Senator Lindsey Graham that is was "critically important" for the US to make a swift decision.

Kyiv has intensified its attacks on Russian territory, with shelling and incursions in the regions of Belgorod and Kursk.

In the past week these attacks killed 16 people and wounded nearly a hundred in the region of Belgorod, its governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said.

Speaking at a meeting of ruling party members, he also announced the evacuation of thousands of children from areas at risk.

“We are evacuating a large number of villages, and now we are planning to evacuate about 9,000 children because of the shelling by the Ukrainian armed forces,” Gladkov said.

The surge in strikes took place ahead of elections that saw Putin win a predictable fifth term as president, after running against no real opposition.

“I am proud that the residents of the region did not succumb to the difficult situation and that many more people came to the polling stations than ever before,” Gladkov said.

‘Punish’ the ‘scum’ 

Putin addressed the border assaults, which have marred his reelection week, in a meeting with his FSB security services.

He claimed Russian troops inflicted “heavy losses” on units that he said where made up of regular Ukrainian soldiers, foreign mercenaries and pro-Ukrainian Russian fighters.

“About these traitors... we must not forget who they are, we must identify them by name. We will punish them without statute of limitations, wherever they are,” Putin said, calling them “scum”.

Ukraine-based militias, made up of Russian citizens who oppose Moscow’s offensive and have taken up arms for Kyiv, have claimed to be behind previous incursions into Russian territory.

One of them is the Russian Volunteer Corps. Its head of staff, identified as Aleksandr, gave an interview on Ukrainian television, denying heavy losses.

“There are losses, but absolutely not of the scale claimed by Putin or the defence ministry,” he said.

On the naval front, Ukrainian forces claim to have destroyed more than two dozen Russian ships since the conflict began in February 2022, including a military patrol boat this month.

Russian state media earlier confirmed that Moscow had replaced the head of its navy, after reports the previous naval chief had been sacked for repeatedly losing Black Sea warships to Ukrainian attacks.

FRANKFURT, Germany — Two Afghans linked to the Daesh group were arrested in Germany on Tuesday on suspicion of planning an attack around Sweden’s parliament in retaliation for Koran burnings, prosecutors said.

The men, identified as Ibrahim M.G. and Ramin N., were detained in the Gera area of eastern Germany, the federal prosecutor’s office said in a statement.

Last summer, the first, an Daesh member, was tasked by the extriemist group with carrying out an attack in Europe in response to Koran burnings in Sweden, it said.

He is accused of plotting along with Ramin N. “to use firearms to kill police officers and other people in the area of the Swedish parliament in Stockholm”, prosecutors said.

“The pair made concrete preparations for this in close consultation with officials” from a regional branch of Daesh, the prosecutors added.

“In particular, they researched conditions around the possible crime scene on the Internet and tried several times — albeit unsuccessfully — to procure weapons.”

Karin Lutz, a spokeswoman for Sweden’s Security Service (Sapo), confirmed to AFP that they had been working with German police, but declined to give further details.

Both suspects are accused of plotting to commit a crime. Ibrahim M.G. is suspected of having supported and of having been a member of a terrorist organisation.

Ramin N. is accused of having supported a terrorist organisation.

Prior to the plot, they are also accused of having collected around 2,000 euros ($2,170) for Daesh in Germany, which was sent to the group via intermediaries.

Sweden has been on high alert since a series of Koran burnings across the country, mainly by immigration opponents, sparked outrage in the Muslim world.

KABUL — Fighting has stopped on the Afghanistan-Pakistan border after Pakistani air strikes sparked skirmishes, a Taliban government spokesman said on Tuesday.

“The situation is calm, the fighting has stopped,” Taliban government spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told AFP.

Pakistan carried out strikes in the border areas in Khost and Paktika provinces in Afghanistan early on Monday.

Islamabad said it had targeted militants it said were responsible for a recent attack on its soil, but Taliban authorities said eight civilians, all women and children, were killed in the bombardment.

Afghanistan’s defence ministry said its border forces retaliated by targeting Pakistani military posts along the border with “heavy weapons”, with cross-border skirmishes reported by both sides.

A senior police officer in the Pakistani border district of Kurram told AFP that Afghan security forces struck the area with mortar shells.

“As a result, three security posts and five houses of civilians suffered partial damage, with nine individuals, including four security personnel wounded,” the officer told AFP, asking not to be named.

“Silence prevails on the border today, and security forces have reinforced their positions.”

Border tensions between the two countries have steadily escalated since the Taliban government seized power in 2021.

Islamabad has accused Kabul’s Taliban government of harbouring militant fighters, allowing them to strike on Pakistani soil with impunity.

Kabul has denied the allegations.

Gun battles also regularly erupt over the construction of checkpoints along the disputed border and trade crossings are closed over immigration disagreements.

BRUSSELS, Belgium — Brussels will propose to EU countries using revenues from frozen Russian assets, worth an estimated 3 billion euros a year, to help arm Ukraine, the bloc’s foreign policy chief said on Tuesday.

The European Commission is set to put forward its plan to member states on Wednesday, on the eve of a summit of the EU’s 27 leaders in part focused on support for Kyiv.

Foreign policy Chief Josep Borrell said the proposal envisioned that 90 per cent of the profits made on the assets would go to a fund used to cover the cost of weapons for Ukraine.

The other 10 per cent would go into the EU’s budget to be used to help increase the capacity of Ukraine’s own defence industry.

“If member states agree it will be about 3 billion euros per year that we can get from the frozen assets revenue,” Borrell said.

The push by the EU to find more funds for Ukraine comes as a $60 billion support package from Kyiv’s other major backer, the United States, remains blocked in Congress.

Dwindling weapons supplies two years into the war have left Ukraine’s forces outgunned on the front line and struggling to halt Russia’s advances.

The EU froze some 200 billion euros of Russian central bank assets held in the bloc as punishment after Moscow invaded its neighbour in February 2022.

About 90 per cent of those funds are held by the international deposit organisation Euroclear, based in Belgium.

EU countries have been wrangling for months over what to do with the Russian assets, amid calls from some member states and other Western allies to go further and seize the entire amount to pay for rebuilding Ukraine.

Countries such as Germany have been hesitant to touch the funds frozen in the EU out of fear that it would undermine investor faith in European markets.

Borrell said the European Central Bank had been consulted on the proposal and that it was now time for member states to take a decision as the war in Ukraine reaches a crucial stage.

“The summer will be critical,” he said.

“Russia is hitting the positions of Ukraine every day in order to weaken them and when the spring and summertime comes, for sure, we’ll see increased military activity.”

SEOUL — North Korea fired multiple short-range ballistic missiles on Monday in what analysts said was a calculated move to grab attention as US Secretary of State Antony Blinken visits South Korea for talks.

Blinken is attending the third Summit for Democracy and met President Yoon Suk-yeol in Seoul early Monday. He will also meet his South Korean counterpart on the sidelines of the event, for discussions now likely to be dominated by the allies' efforts to counter threats from the nuclear-armed North.

Washington and Seoul wrapped up one of their major annual joint military training exercises last week, prompting angry retorts and live-fire drills from nuclear-armed Pyongyang, which condemns all such exercises as rehersals for invasion.

Seoul's military said it had "detected around 07:44 [22:44 GMT] the launch of what appeared to be multiple short-range ballistic missiles", adding they flew around 300 kilometres before coming down into the East Sea, also known as the Sea of Japan.

"We are closely sharing relevant information with the US and Japan and are maintaining utmost readiness," the joint chiefs of staff added.

Japanese media reported three short-range ballistic missiles were launched, with Prime Minister Fumio Kishida condemning the North's "repeated and highly frequent" weapons tests.

This "series of actions threaten the peace and security of Japan, the region and the international community. We do not tolerate it," Kishida added.

The launches come just days after Seoul and Washington's annual Freedom Shield drills, which this year involved double the number of troops, ended Thursday.

Pyongyang this month warned that Seoul and Washington would pay a "dear price" over the drills, and later announced that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un had guided an artillery unit it says was capable of striking the South Korean capital.

“It’s a highly calculated move timing-wise by Pyongyang to fire multiple missiles to show they are capable of doing such an act even when the top US diplomat is in town,” Professor Choi Gi-il of military studies at Sangii University told AFP.

North Korea typically stages missile launches “as a tit-for-tat” after US-South Korea joint drills, Han Kwon-hee of Korea Association of Defence Industry Studies told AFP.

Blinken’s presence only adds to their motivation, he said, as it “means more attention from Washington and adds pressure on host Seoul”.

Boosting deterrence

Monday’s ballistic missile test is the North’s second this year, after Pyongyang launched one tipped with a manoeuvrable hypersonic warhead on January 14.

Blinken landed in South Korea on Sunday afternoon ahead of the democracy summit, which runs from March 18 to 20 and will bring together government officials, NGOs and civil society members.

Seoul is one of Washington’s key regional allies, and the United States has stationed about 27,000 American soldiers in the South to help protect it against the nuclear-armed North.

Conservative President Yeol has boosted ties with Washington and sought to bury the historical hatchet with former colonial power Japan to better guard against Pyongyang’s threats.

So far this year, Pyongyang has declared South Korea its “principal enemy”, jettisoned agencies dedicated to reunification and outreach, and threatened war over “even 0.001 mm” of territorial infringement.

Blinken will meet South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yul, the ministry said, for discussions on boosting the alliance, as Washington and Seoul look to improve their so-called “extended deterrence” against North Korea.

The democracy summit has attracted some criticism due to its selective invitation list, which excludes countries that consider themselves democratic, such as Thailand and Turkey.

After Seoul, Blinken heads to the Philippines, a trip that will reaffirm “our unwavering commitment to the Philippine ally”, according to State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller.

The United States is redoubling efforts to improve longstanding ties with regional allies, such as Manila, in an effort to counterbalance China.

WASHINGTON — A majority of justices on the US Supreme Court appeared sceptical on Monday of efforts to impose restrictions on federal government efforts to curb misinformation online.

Both conservative and liberal justices on the nine-member court appeared reluctant to endorse a lower court’s ruling that would severely limit government interactions with social media companies.

The case stems from a lawsuit brought by the Republican attorneys general of Louisiana and Missouri, who allege that government officials went too far in their bid to get platforms to combat vaccine and election misinformation, violating the First Amendment free speech rights of users.

The lower court restricted top officials and agencies of Democratic President Joe Biden’s administration from meeting and communicating with social media companies to moderate their content.

The ruling, which the Supreme Court put on hold until it heard the case, was a win for conservative advocates who allege that the government pressured or colluded with platforms such as Facebook and X, formerly Twitter, to censor right-leaning content under the guise of fighting misinformation.

Representing the Justice Department in the Supreme Court on Monday, Principal Deputy Solicitor General Brian Fletcher said there is a “fundamental distinction between persuasion and coercion”.

“The government may not use coercive threats to suppress speech, but it is entitled to speak for itself by informing, persuading or criticising private speakers,” he said.

The lower court, Fletcher said, “mistook persuasion for coercion”.

Justice Samuel Alito, a conservative, said the record showed that government officials had engaged in “constant pestering of Facebook and some of the other platforms” treating them “like their subordinates”.

“I cannot imagine federal officials taking that approach to the print media,” Alito said.

But Chief Justice John Roberts, also a conservative, said the federal government does not speak with one voice.

“The government is not monolithic,” Roberts said. “That has to dilute the concept of coercion significantly, doesn’t it?”

Fletcher said interactions between health officials and social media platforms at the heart of the case needed to be viewed in light of “an effort to get Americans vaccinated during a once-in-a-lifetime pandemic”.

“There was a concern that Americans were getting their news about the vaccine from these platforms and the platforms were promoting bad information,” Fletcher said, adding that “the platforms were moderating content long before the government was talking to them”.

‘No place in our democracy’

J. Benjamin Aguinaga, the solicitor general of Louisiana, denounced what he called “government censorship,” saying it has “no place in our democracy”.

“The government has no right to persuade platforms to violate Americans’ constitutional rights, and pressuring platforms in backrooms shielded from public view is not using the bully pulpit at all,” Aguinaga said. “That’s just being a bully.”

Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, a liberal, pushed back, saying “my biggest concern is that your view has the First Amendment hamstringing the government in significant ways”.

“Some might say that the government actually has a duty to take steps to protect the citizens of this country.” she said.

Justice Brett Kavanaugh, a conservative, asked whether it would be coercion if someone in government calls up a social media company to point out something that is “factually erroneous information”.

The lower court order applied to the White House and a slew of agencies such as the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the State Department, the Justice Department as well as the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention.

The decision restricted agencies and officials from meeting with social media companies or flagging posts.

Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry hailed the “historic injunction” at the time, saying it would prevent the Biden administration from “censoring the core political speech of ordinary Americans” on social media.

He accused federal officials of seeking to “dictate what Americans can and cannot say on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and other platforms about COVID-19, elections, criticism of the government, and more”.

Some experts in misinformation and First Amendment law criticised the lower court ruling, saying the authorities needed to strike a balance between calling out falsehoods and veering towards censorship or curbing free speech.

MOSCOW — Vladimir Putin said Russia would not be "intimidated" as he hailed an election victory that paves the way for Putin to become the longest-serving Russian leader in more than 200 years.

"I want to thank all of you and all citizens of the country for your support and this trust," Putin said early Monday morning in a news conference at his campaign headquarters in Moscow hours after polls closed.

"No matter who or how much they want to intimidate us, no matter who or how much they want to suppress us, our will, our consciousness — no one has ever succeeded in anything like this in history. It has not worked now and will not work in the future. Never," he added.

With more than 80 per cent of voting stations having submitted results, Putin had secured 87.2 per cent of all votes cast, official election data showed — a record victory in a presidential election where he faced no genuine competition.

The three-day election was marked by a surge in deadly Ukrainian bombardments, incursions into Russian territory by pro-Kyiv sabotage groups and vandalism at polling stations.

The Kremlin had cast the election as a moment for Russians to throw their weight behind the full-scale military operation in Ukraine, where voting is also being organised in Russian-controlled territories.

Putin singled out Russian troops fighting in Ukraine for special thanks in his post-election speech in Moscow.

And he was unrelenting in claiming his forces had a major advantage on the battlefield, even after a week which saw Ukraine mount some of its most significant aerial attacks on Russia and in which pro-Ukrainian militias barraged Russian border villages with armed raids.

“The initiative belongs entirely to the Russian armed forces. In some areas, our guys are just mowing them — the enemy — down,” he said.

If he completes another full Kremlin term, Putin will have stayed in power longer than any Russian leader since Catherine the Great in the 18th century.

Former Russian leader Dmitry Medvedev, meanwhile, congratulated Putin on his “splendid victory” long before the final results were due to be announced.

And state-run television praised how Russians and rallied with “colossal support for the president” as well as the “unbelievable consolidation” of the country behind its leader