World

Russian forces edged toward the centre of the eastern Ukrainian city of Severodonetsk Monday, while President Volodymyr Zelensky prepared to appeal to EU leaders at an emergency summit where a ban on Russian oil imports is on the agenda. 

Zelensky is expected to press EU officials at the summit “to kill Russian exports” as he seeks to crank up international pressure on Moscow.

Member states are searching for a compromise on a sixth round of sanctions, which has been delayed by resistance from within the bloc, namely from Hungary.

Meanwhile, Russia forces continued their push in the eastern Donbas region, upping the pressure on the twin cities of Severodonetsk and Lysychansk.

Since failing to capture Kyiv in the war’s early stages, Russia’s army has narrowed its focus, hammering cities with relentless artillery and missile barrages as it seeks to consolidate its control.

The situation in Severodonetsk, just across the Donets river from Lysychansk, was “very difficult”, the local Lugansk regional governor Sergiy Gaiday said in a statement on social media.

“The Russians are advancing into the middle of Severodonetsk”, while the fighting continued, Gaiday said.

– Pressure on the east –

While Russia concentrated its efforts in the east, Ukrainian forces pushed back over the weekend in the southern region of Kherson, the country’s military leadership said.

At the same time, two people were injured following an explosion in the Moscow-controlled city of Melitopol in southeastern Ukraine, with local pro-Kremlin authorities said pinning the blame on Kyiv.

Newly appointed French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna also made the journey to the Ukrainian capital Monday for talks with Zelensky.

The highest-ranking French official to visit Kyiv since Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, Colonna also visited the town of Bucha, where Russian troops have been accused of committing war crimes against the civilian population.

In the eastern Donbas region, Moscow’s forces were making slow progress towards taking the city of Severodonetsk.

Zelensky, in his daily address Sunday, described a scene of devastation in Severodonetsk. 

“All critical infrastructure has already been destroyed… More than two-thirds of the city’s housing stock has been completely destroyed,” he said. 

– ‘Constant shelling’ –

In Severodonetsk, where an estimated 15,000 civilians remain, a local official said “constant shelling” made it increasingly difficult to get in or out while the water supply is increasingly unstable.

Ukrainian forces counterattacked in the region of Kherson, the only region of the country fully controlled by Russian troops.

Russia gained control over most of Kherson, which borders Crimea, in the early stages of the war and Moscow-backed officials in the region have recently pushed for annexation.

While limited in nature, the attack could have the effect of stretching Russian forces. 

The Ukrainian general staff claimed the move had put their adversary into “unfavourable positions” around the villages of Andriyivka, Lozovo and Bilohorka and forced Moscow to send reserves to the area.

“Kherson, hold on. We’re close!” it tweeted Sunday.

In Melitopol, Russia-installed authorities said in a statement the city had been targeted by a “terrorist attack”.

According to the statement, car packed with explosives exploded in the city centre, injuring two “humanitarian aid” volunteers, a 28-year-old woman and a 25-year-old man.

“The Ukrainian government continues its war on the civilian population and the infrastructure of cities,” the officials said.

– Oil sanctions –

A new, sixth round of European sanctions has been held up by Hungary, whose Prime Minister Viktor Orban has close relations with Russian leader Vladimir Putin.

EU ambassadors made a final push ahead of the summit to persuade Hungary to accept a watered-down oil embargo against Russia.

The landlocked country is heavily dependent on Russian crude oil supplied via the Druzhba pipeline.

Hungary has asked for at least four years and 800 million euros ($860 million) in EU funds to adapt its refineries and increase pipeline capacity for alternative suppliers, like Croatia.

But under the compromise proposal the Druzhba pipeline could be excluded from a sanctions package “for the time being”, an EU official told AFP.

– ‘New face’ –

Meanwhile Zelensky on Sunday made his first visit to the embattled east since the start of the war, walking the streets of the Kharkiv region’s devastated capital in a bullet-proof vest.

While in Kharkiv, Zelensky discussed reconstruction plans with local officials, saying there was a chance for areas wrecked by Russian attacks to “have a new face”.

Despite an estimated 2,000 apartment blocks having been wholly or partially destroyed by shelling, the city has returned to a degree of normality in recent weeks.

While one-third of the northeastern region remains under Russian control, “we will for sure liberate the entire area,” the Ukrainian president said after the visit.

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Here are the latest developments in the war in Ukraine:

– Russians advance into eastern city –

Russian forces advance closer to the centre of the eastern Ukrainian city of Severodonetsk, which has been under bombardment for weeks in the battle for Ukraine’s industrial heartland, the Donbas.

“The Russians are advancing into the middle of Severodonetsk. The fighting continues. The situation is very difficult,” Luhansk governor Sergiy Gaiday says on Telegram.

Severodonetsk is the easternmost city still in Ukrainian hands. Capturing it would give Russia de-facto control over Luhansk, one of two eastern regions that make up the coveted Donbas.

Gaiday says the city’s critical infrastructure has been “destroyed” and 60 percent of its housing is damaged beyond repair.

– Zelensky visits Kharkiv –

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky leaves the Kyiv region for the first time since the invasion started to visit the northeastern city of Kharkiv, where Ukrainian troops beat Russian forces into retreat in recent weeks.

Zelensky’s office posts a video of him wearing a bulletproof vest and being shown heavily destroyed buildings in Ukraine’s second-biggest city, which came under relentless attack for nearly three months.

He sacks Kharkiv’s security chief, “for not working to defend the city from the first days of the full-scale war but thinking only of himself”.

– Eurovision trophy auctioned for army –

Ukraine’s Kalush Orchestra, which won the Eurovision song contest this year, auctions off its trophy on Facebook to raise funds for the Ukrainian army.

The trophy — a large crystal microphone with the song contest’s logo — nets $900,000 (836,000 euros) after a bidding war won by Ukrainian bitcoin company WhiteBIT

“You guys are amazing!” Kalush Orchestra says on Facebook, announcing the winner.

– Ukraine counterattack in Kherson –

Ukrainian forces counterattack in the south, claiming to have pushed back Russian troops in Kherson, the only region fully controlled by Russian forces.

“Kherson, hold on. We’re close!” Ukraine’s general staff tweets.

Kherson, which borders Crimea, was taken by Russian forces in March and Moscow-backed officials in the region have recently pushed for its annexation.

– French foreign minister in Kyiv –

French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna visits Kyiv for talks with Zelensky, the first visit by a French minister to Ukraine since the invasion.

Paris says her visit aims to show solidarity with Ukraine, “from a humanitarian and financial point of view as well as in terms of supplying defence equipment”.

Zelensky has at time been critical of French President Emmanuel Macron, accusing him of pressuring Ukraine to offer territorial concessions to Russia in return for peace, claims France rejects.

– Lavrov denies Putin is ill –

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov denies speculation that President Vladimir Putin is ill, saying there are no signs pointing to any ailment.

Putin’s health and private life are taboo subjects in Russia and are almost never discussed in public.

Answering a question from France’s broadcaster TF1, Russia’s top diplomat says: “I don’t think that sane people can see in this person signs of some kind of illness or ailment,” adding that Putin appears in public “every day”.

– Germany OKs fund to modernise military –

Germany’s government and conservative opposition agree on an amendment to the constitution to allow the creation of a special 100-billion-euro fund to modernise the army in the face of the Russian threat.

The deal will allow Berlin to achieve NATO’s target of spending two percent of GDP on defence “on average over several years”, according to the text of the agreement obtained by AFP.

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Ten Pacific island nations rebuffed China’s push for a wide-ranging regional security pact Monday, amid worries the proposal was designed to pull them into Beijing’s orbit.

Talks in Fiji between Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and leaders from the small island nations failed to reach an agreement, in a high-profile diplomatic setback for Beijing.

China is offering to radically ramp up its activities in the South Pacific, directly challenging the influence of the United States and its allies in the strategically vital region.

The proposed pact would see Beijing train Pacific island police, become involved in cybersecurity, expand political ties, conduct sensitive marine mapping and gain greater access to natural resources on land and in the water.

As an enticement, Beijing is offering millions of dollars in financial assistance, the prospect of a potentially lucrative China-Pacific islands free trade agreement and access to China’s vast market of 1.4 billion people.

Behind the scenes, Pacific leaders have voiced deep misgivings about the offer.

In a recent letter to fellow leaders, David Panuelo, the President of the Federated States of Micronesia, warned the offer was “disingenuous” and would “ensure Chinese influence in government” and “economic control” of key industries. 

A more soft-spoken public rebuke came after the talks, when leaders said they could not agree to Beijing’s proposed “Common Development Vision” due to a lack of regional consensus.

“As always, we put consensus first,” co-host and Fijian Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama said after the meeting, indicating that broad accord would be needed before inking any “new regional agreements”.

Papua New Guinea, Samoa and the Federated States of Micronesia were said to be among those concerned about the proposals, along with Taiwan-recognising Palau, which was not invited.

“We would rather deal with our own security issues with China”, Papua New Guinea Foreign Minister Soroi Eoe told AFP, indicating concern about any region-wide pact.

Chinese officials — working frantically to secure support during Wang’s 10-day diplomatic blitz of the region — admitted their entreaties had fallen short.

“There has been general support from the 10 countries,” Chinese ambassador to Fiji Qian Bo told reporters in Suva. “But of course, there are some concerns on some specific issues and we have agreed that these two documents will be discussed afterwards until we have reached an agreement.”

Speaking from Suva, Wang made the face-saving announcement that the 10 countries had agreed to memorandums of understanding on China’s “Belt and Road” infrastructure initiative. 

The two sides will “continue to have ongoing and in-depth discussions and consultations to shape more consensus on cooperation”, he said, urging those worried by Beijing’s intentions not to be “too anxious and don’t be too nervous”.

The full proposal has not been made public, but was leaked to media including AFP ahead of Monday’s meeting. 

China has said it will release a “position paper” highlighting the proposals to the public in the coming weeks. 

– Balancing act –

Western powers have bristled against China’s move into the region, with the US State Department warning South Pacific nations to be wary of “shadowy, vague deals with little transparency”.

Australia joined the United States in urging a spurning of China’s attempts to expand its security reach deep into the region, with the country’s new foreign minister warning of the “consequences” of such deals.

Many in the Pacific are uneasy at being thrust to the centre of a geopolitical tussle between China and US allies.

Most capitals are keen to maintain amicable ties with China, balancing relations between Beijing, Washington, Canberra and Wellington, while focusing on the more urgent threat of climate change and day-to-day economic issues.

During a joint appearance with Wang, Bainimarama hit out at those engaged in “geopolitical point-scoring”.

It “means less than little to anyone whose community is slipping beneath the rising seas, whose job has been lost to a pandemic or whose family is impacted by the rapid rise in the price of commodities”, he said.

All but a few of the Pacific Islands are low-lying and deeply vulnerable to sea-level rises caused by climate change.

Before the meeting, President Xi Jinping sent a message that China would be “a good brother” to the region and that they shared a “common destiny”, according to state broadcaster CCTV.

Australia’s conservatives elected hardliner and China hawk Peter Dutton as the country’s new opposition leader Monday, an outcome many will see as a lurch to the right for his party.

Dutton came out swinging after accepting the top spot, saying the country’s newly elected Labor government was not “ready to govern and we are already seeing their inexperience on display”.

Elected unopposed, the former police officer inherits a Liberal party decimated by Australia’s May 21 election, when many of its long-time voters swung to independent candidates who promised action on climate change.

The new opposition leader will have to rebuild his shattered party and try to unite its fiercely divided moderate and conservative wings, with climate a key sticking point.

Dutton described himself Monday as “a very passionate believer” in Australia’s need for an “appropriate response” to emissions reduction.

During his two decades in politics, the Queenslander has made a name for himself with tough talk and a penchant for headline-grabbing commentary.

On election day, he tweeted out a Border Force statement about the interception of an asylum seeker boat, adding his comment: “Don’t risk Australia’s national security with Labor.”

In previous posts as defence minister, Dutton often likened China’s expansionist ambitions to Nazi Germany.

“The only way you can preserve peace is to prepare for war,” he said in one.

During Monday’s speech, he described China under Xi Jinping as “the biggest issue our country will face in our lifetime”.

Dutton served as Australia’s immigration minister for nearly four years, overseeing the country’s widely criticised offshore detention regime.

He sparked outrage when he claimed some asylum seekers who said they had been raped in Australia’s offshore detention centres were “trying it on” by seeking an abortion on the mainland.

He also had to apologise after a quip about the threat climate change poses to the Pacific was picked up by a microphone.

“Time doesn’t mean anything when you’re about to be, you know, have water lapping at your door,” Dutton was caught saying.

Dutton and his allies in the Liberal party have sought to play down his right-wing past since the election, saying Australians will see his softer side.

The new opposition leader said Monday his policies would be “squarely aimed at the forgotten Australians, in the suburbs, across regional Australia”.

He also expressed regret about a decision earlier in his political career to boycott a national apology to Aboriginal Australians forcibly separated from their families.

At the time he believed “the apology should be given when the problems were resolved, and the problems are not resolved”, Dutton said, citing the welfare issues many Indigenous Australians face.

Ousted Prime Minister Scott Morrison, who stepped down from the Liberal leadership after the election drubbing, offered his “full support” to Dutton on Monday.

Australia’s newly elected Prime Minister Anthony Albanese last week praised Dutton, saying he had a better relationship with him than Morrison.

“Peter Dutton has never broken a confidence that I’ve had with him,” Albanese said.

Talks between Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and 10 Pacific Island nations failed to reach an agreement on a wide-ranging security deal Monday, after sharp warnings the proposal would push the region into “Beijing’s orbit”.

A virtual summit of leaders and foreign ministers was expected to discuss proposals to radically increase China’s involvement in the security, economy and politics of the South Pacific.

But the effort appeared to have fallen short after some regional leaders voiced deep concern.

“As always, we put consensus first,” co-host and Fijian Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama said after the meeting, indicating that broad agreement would be needed before inking any “new regional agreements”.

Wang is in the Fijian capital Suva as part of a 10-day diplomatic blitz, as Beijing jostles with Washington and its allies over influence in the strategically vital Pacific.

Ahead of his visit, China proposed a pact that would see Beijing train Pacific Island police, become involved in cybersecurity, expand political ties, conduct sensitive marine mapping and gain greater access to natural resources on land and in the water.

As an enticement, Beijing offered millions of dollars in financial assistance, the prospect of a China-Pacific Islands free trade agreement and access to China’s vast market of 1.4 billion people.

China has pitched itself to the South Pacific as a “major developing country” that stands shoulder to shoulder with small and medium-sized nations.

Before the meeting, President Xi Jinping sent a message that China would be “a good brother” to the region and that they shared a “common destiny”, according to state broadcaster CCTV.

But in a letter to other regional leaders, President of the Federated States of Micronesia David Panuelo warned the proposed agreement was “disingenuous” and would “ensure Chinese influence in government” and “economic control” of key industries.  

Following Monday’s closed-door meeting, Wang did not cite the proposed “Common Development Vision” document directly, but said the two sides would “continue to have ongoing and in-depth discussions and consultations to shape more consensus on cooperation.”

He added: “China will release its own position paper” highlighting “our own positions and propositions and cooperation proposals with Pacific Island countries”.

Wang instead announced that 10 Pacific Island nations had agreed on memorandums of understanding on China’s “Belt and Road” infrastructure initiative and urged those worried by Beijing’s intentions not to be “too anxious and don’t be too nervous”.

– Balancing act –

Western powers have bristled against China’s move into the region, with the US State Department warning South Pacific nations to be wary of “shadowy, vague deals with little transparency”.

Australia joined the United States in urging a spurning of China’s attempts to expand its security reach deep into the region, with the country’s new foreign minister warning of the “consequences” of such deals.

Many in the Pacific are keen to maintain amicable ties with China, balancing relations between Beijing and Washington while focusing on the more urgent threat of climate change and day-to-day economic issues.

During a joint appearance with Wang, Bainimarama hit out at those engaged in “geopolitical point-scoring” that “means less than little to anyone whose community is slipping beneath the rising seas, whose job has been lost to a pandemic or whose family is impacted by the rapid rise in the price of commodities”.

All but a few of the Pacific Islands are low-lying and deeply vulnerable to sea-level rises caused by climate change.

Many of Ukraine’s historic monuments have been destroyed in the three months since Russia invaded, but cultural experts are working to conserve their memory using cutting-edge technology and 3D scans.

One of them is volunteer French engineer Emmanuel Durand, a specialist in 3D data acquisition, who is assisting a bevy of architects, engineers, historic building experts and a museum director to record buildings in Kyiv, Lviv, Chernigiv and Kharkiv.

Durand steps over a jumbled pile of beams and crunches over the rubble that was once Kharkiv’s 19th-century fire station.

He plants his laser scanner, a sort of tripod with a pivoting head, in a strategic corner of the severely damaged building.

The redbrick fire station and its watchtower, built in 1887, are a monument to Kharkiv’s industrial revolution.

Durand’s gadget records the building from all angles.

“The scanner records 500,000 points per second. We’ll get 10 million points from this location. Then we’ll change location and go round the whole building, outside and inside. A billion points in all,” he explains.

At the end of the day, Durand assembles all the data on a computer “like the pieces of a jigsaw” to digitally reconstruct the building. 

The result is a perfect reproduction, accurate to within five millimetres (a fraction of an inch) that can be rotated in any direction or sliced into sections. You can even see the holes where blast waves from explosions have damaged the structure.

“This enables us to map out the building for the future. That could help us work out if anything has moved, which is important for safety purposes, and see what can be restored and what can’t. It’s also useful from a historical point of view,” he says.

“We’ve got the actual missile-damaged building and an exact replica of how it used to look.”

– ‘Cultural genocide’-

In Kharkiv alone, around 500 buildings are listed as being of historic architectural significance. Most are in the dense historic city centre, on which Russian airstrikes are concentrated, according to architect Kateryna Kuplytska, a member of the body documenting damaged heritage sites.

She estimates that over a hundred of them have been hit already.

And while Russian troops have loosened their noose around Ukraine’s second city, shells still rain down with regular monotony.

New explosions and blast waves, inclement weather, construction work and site visits will all contribute to hastening the destruction of these already weakened buildings, Kuplytska says.

“That’s why it’s essential to record them in accurate detail so we can plan urgent interventions that will stabilise the structures” and preserve their memory, she explains. 

“Recording the destruction will also assist in criminal proceedings. We see serious damage to heritage across the whole country. It’s genocide towards Ukrainian people and genocide towards Ukrainian culture,” she says.

After two days at the fire station, Durand moves on to the economics faculty at the Karazin National University in Kharkiv. It is located right next to the imposing headquarters of the Ukrainian secret services, which is being targeted by the Russians and has been hit on numerous occasions. 

The current iteration of the economics faculty was built in Soviet times. It was designed by Serhiy Tymoshenko, the father of the  “modern Ukrainian” style of architecture of the early 20th-century, and is one of the country’s first reinforced concrete structures.

Some critics suggest it is futile to document historic buildings in such meticulous detail while the war is still raging and people are dying every day.

But Tetyana Pylyptshuk, the director of the Kharkiv literary museum, begs to disagree.

“Culture is the basis of everything. If culture had developed well, people probably wouldn’t be dying and there wouldn’t be a war,” she said.

Pylyptshuk, who also sits on the commission on damaged historical sites, has sent most of her museum collections to western Ukraine to protect them from damage — and from looting, should Russian troops overrun Kharkiv.

“Today, everyone realises this. Maybe they were not so attentive to our cultural heritage before… but when you lose it, it hurts.”

Nepali rescuers pulled 14 bodies on Monday from the mangled wreckage of a passenger plane strewn across a mountainside that went missing in the Himalayas with 22 people on board. 

Air traffic control lost contact with the Twin Otter aircraft operated by Nepali carrier Tara Air shortly after taking off from Pokhara in western Nepal on Sunday morning headed for Jomsom, a popular trekking destination.

Helicopters operated by the military and private firms scoured the remote mountainous area all day Sunday, aided by teams on foot, but called off the search when night fell, as bad weather hampered the recovery operation at around 3,800-4,000 metres (12,500-13,000 feet) above sea level.

After the search resumed on Monday, the army shared on social media a photo of aircraft parts and other debris littering a sheer mountainside including a wing with the registration number 9N-AET clearly visible.

Four Indians were on board as well as two Germans, with the remainder Nepalis. There was no word on the cause of the crash. 

The Civil Aviation Authority confirmed that the plane “met an accident” at 14,500 feet (4,420 metres) in the Sanosware area of Thasang rural municipality in Mustang district.

“Fourteen bodies have been recovered so far, search continues for the remaining. The weather is very bad but we were able to take a team to the crash site. No other flight has been possible,” authority spokesman Deo Chandra Lal Karn told AFP.

Pokhara Airport spokesman Dev Raj Subedi told AFP the rescuers had followed GPS, mobile and satellite signals to narrow down the location. 

Pradeep Gauchan, a local official, said that the wreckage was at a height of around 3,800-4,000 metres (12,500-13,000 feet) above sea level.

“It is very difficult to reach there by foot. One team has been dropped close to the area by a helicopter but it is cloudy right now so flights have not been possible,” Gauchan told AFP earlier in the day.

“Helicopters are on standby waiting for the clouds to clear,” he said.

According to the Aviation Safety Network website, the aircraft was made by Canada’s de Havilland and made its first flight more than 40 years ago in 1979.

– Past crashes –

Tara Air is a subsidiary of Yeti Airlines, a privately owned domestic carrier that services many remote destinations across Nepal. 

It suffered its last fatal accident in 2016 on the same route when a plane with 23 on board crashed into a mountainside in Myagdi district. 

Nepal’s air industry has boomed in recent years, carrying goods and people between hard-to-reach areas as well as foreign trekkers and climbers. 

But it has long been plagued by poor safety due to insufficient training and maintenance. 

The European Union has banned all Nepali airlines from its airspace over safety concerns. 

The Himalayan country also has some of the world’s most remote and tricky runways, flanked by snow-capped peaks with approaches that pose a challenge even for accomplished pilots. 

The weather can also change quickly in the mountains, creating treacherous flying conditions.

In March 2018, a US-Bangla Airlines plane crash-landed near Kathmandu’s notoriously difficult international airport, skidded into a football field and burst into flames.

Fifty-one people died and 20 miraculously escaped the burning wreckage but sustained serious injuries.

That accident was Nepal’s deadliest since 1992, when all 167 people aboard a Pakistan International Airlines plane died when it crashed on approach to Kathmandu airport.

Just two months earlier a Thai Airways aircraft had crashed near the same airport, killing 113 people.