KYIV: The European Commission will provide a clear signal next week on Ukraine’s EU candidate status bid, its chief Ursula von der Leyen said Saturday, as fighting raged in the east and south of the country.
Making a surprise visit to Kyiv, von der Leyen said talks she held with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky “will enable us to finalize our assessment by the end of next week” — the first time the bloc has publicly given a timing.
Zelensky has been pressing for rapid admission into the European Union as a way of reducing Ukraine’s geopolitical vulnerability, which was brutally exposed by Russia’s February 24 invasion.
But officials and leaders in the bloc caution that, even with candidacy status, actual EU membership could take years or even decades.
All 27 EU governments would have to agree to grant Ukraine candidate status, after which there would be extensive talks on the reforms required before Kyiv could be considered for membership.
Von der Leyen, in her second trip to Kyiv since the start of the war in February, reminded Zelensky that, despite progress on administrative reforms and elsewhere, much still needed to be done.
“You have done a lot in strengthening the rule of law but there is still need for reforms to be implemented, to fight corruption for example,” she told the joint news conference.
For his part, the Ukrainian president warned it was a “decisive time” for his country and the EU.
“Russia wants to ruin the European unity, wants to leave Europe divided and wants to leave it weak. The entire Europe is a target for Russia. Ukraine is only the first stage in this aggression, in these plans.”
Zelensky told the briefing: “All of Europe is a target for Russia, and Ukraine is just the first stage in this aggression.
“This is why a positive EU response to the Ukrainian application for membership can be a positive answer to the question of whether the European project has a future at all.”
Despite reservations among some member states, EU leaders are expected to approve Ukraine’s candidate status at a summit on June 23-24, though with stern conditions attached.
The EU and the US have strongly backed Ukraine, sending weapons and cash to help it see off Russian forces, and punishing Moscow with unprecedented economic sanctions.
Zelensky has urged them on during a continuous diplomatic offensive that has seen him appearing via video link at parliaments and summits around the world.
On Saturday, he warned the Shangri-La Dialogue security summit in Singapore of the dangers of a global food crisis posed by Russia’s blockade of Ukraine’s Black Sea ports.
He warned of “an acute and severe food crisis and famine,” adding that the “shortage of foodstuffs will inexorably lead to political chaos” — all of it “the direct consequence of the acts of the Russian state.”
Before the war, Ukraine was the world’s top producer of sunflower oil and a major wheat exporter, but millions of tons of grain exports remain trapped due to the blockade.
Speaking to delegates including Pentagon chief Lloyd Austin and China’s defense minister, Zelensky urged international pressure to end the blockade.
Kyiv is in discussion with the UN, Turkey and other countries to open a way to allow the grain exports, and Zelensky said the talks are focused on the “format” of the corridor.
After withdrawing from the capital Kyiv, Russian forces have concentrated their firepower on the eastern Donbas region and the south.
They continued their bombardment overnight Friday-Saturday of towns and villages around Kharkiv and in the Donbas regions of Lugansk and Donetsk, Zelensky’s office said.
“Russia wants to devastate every city in the Donbas, every single one, without exaggeration,” the president said in his nightly address Friday.
Moscow has particularly focused on the key eastern industrial city of Severodonetsk, which Lugansk regional governor Sergiy Gaiday said Saturday was “ruined” by Russian forces.
“This is their tactics — people are not needed, the infrastructure is not needed, houses are not needed, everything should be simply ruined,” he said in an interview posted on his Telegram channel.
He declined to estimate the number of civilian victims, but said he expected the figure would be “enormous and terrible.”
“Many people were buried in front of their houses’ entrances. A shell from heavy artillery is tearing people up into bits and pieces,” he said.
He added: “They lie like this for a day, three or four. It is impossible to take them out because there is constant shelling.”
In the Mykolaiv region near the front line in the south, regional governor Vitaliy Kim stressed the urgent need for international military assistance.
“Russia’s army is more powerful, they have a lot of artillery and ammo. For now, this is a war of artillery... and we are out of ammo,” he said.
British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace visited Ukraine on Friday, where Zelensky thanked London for its support.
Following Washington’s lead, Britain announced the delivery of multiple rocket launcher systems — with a range of about 80 kilometers (50 miles), slightly superior than the Russian systems.
It was not clear when Ukraine will be able to start using them.
In areas now controlled by its forces, Moscow has sought to impose its authority.
Authorities in the occupied city of Kherson in southern Ukraine handed out Russian passports to local residents for the first time on Saturday, news agencies reported.
Russia’s TASS agency said 23 Kherson residents received a Russian passport at a ceremony through a “simplified procedure” facilitated by a decree signed by Russian President Vladimir Putin in May.
Ukraine has denounced the move as a “flagrant violation” of its territorial integrity, saying Putin’s decree was “legally void.”
It follows the introduction last month in the Kherson region of the Russian ruble as an official currency alongside the Ukrainian hryvnia.
(With AFP and Reuters)
EU chief says to give signal on Ukraine’s hopes next week during Kyiv visit
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EU chief says to give signal on Ukraine’s hopes next week during Kyiv visit
- Ursula von der Leyen visited Ukraine to discuss the country’s hopes of joining the bloc
- President Volodymyr Zelensky warned the world not to look away from the conflict devastating his country
India’s mammoth election heats up in trend-defining second phase
- Turnout in first phase lower than expected at 66 percent compared with 70 percent in 2019
- PM Modi and his BJP are eyeing a rare third straight five-year term in power
NEW DELHI: India’s mammoth general election rolled on Friday into its second phase, which analysts widely believe will likely set the trend for the rest of the polls.
More than 968 million voters are registered to cast the ballot vote in the world’s most populous country, where incumbent Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party are eyeing a rare third straight five-year term in power.
Modi, who ahead of the election was targeting 400 seats for his BJP-led National Democratic Alliance led by his BJP, is challenged by an alliance of two dozen opposition parties: the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance, or INDIA, led by the Congress Party, which has ruled the country for close to 45 years since independence in 1947.
The first phase of the vote took place on April 19. Polling will go on for six weeks, with results expected on June 4. The other voting dates will be May 7, May 13, May 20, May 25 and June 1.
Analysts say the second phase of India’s polls will define the dynamics of the remaining five phases.
In the first phase, 66 percent of those eligible to vote cast their ballot, compared with 70 percent in 2019.
“From the first phase of the election, the message went that there is a silent undercurrent against the BJP and the dip in the voting percentage sent the signal that the BJP would slip in its strongholds in northern India particularly Uttar Pradesh,” Umakant Lakhera, political commentator in Delhi, told Arab News.
“If the trend of voters’ perceived apathy toward the election in general, and the BJP in particular, continues, then it’s an opportunity for the opposition Congress party to consolidate and mobilize its resources to widen its reach and capitalize on anti BJP sentiment.”
India has a total of 28 states and eight federally governed territories. Some regions complete the voting process in a single day, and others have it spread out in several phases.
Voting last week took place in 21 states and union territories, with nearly 169 million people eligible to cast their ballots. In the second phase, more than 160 million people are expected to vote across 13 states and federal territories.
As many as 1,202 candidates contested the polls on Friday, vying for 88 of the 543 seats in the lower house of Parliament. In the previous phase, 102 seats were up for grabs.
More than half of the 88 seats were in the southern states of Kerala and Karnataka and the northwestern state of Rajasthan.
The party or coalition that wins at least 272 will form the government.
‘MINI GENERAL ELECTION’
The key leader of the opposition coalition and a Congress member is Rahul Gandhi, the son of Rajiv Gandhi, a grandson of Indira Gandhi, and a great-grandson of Jawaharlal Nehru, all of whom have served as prime ministers of India.
But the Congress plunged to a historic low when it was swept out of power by the BJP in the 2014 general vote, and won its second-lowest number of 52 seats in 2019.
Gandhi is seeking re-election from Wayanad in Kerala, the only major state that has never elected a BJP member of parliament, and where Modi’s party was not a main competitor but has been trying to make inroads since last year.
The main contenders, besides Gandhi, are Annie Raja of the Communist Party of India and BJP’s K. Surendran.
“Kerala always has witnessed bipolar politics, but the BJP has been trying this time to make it a triangular contest, and this election will test whether a third force can find space in Kerala or not,” Prof. G. Gopa Kumar, political scientist and adviser to the Kerala-based Center for Public Policy Research, told Arab News.
“The second phase will test whether the stigma of the BJP of being an outsider in Kerala will continue or not, whether the stigma of not winning a seat in Kerala will continue or not.”
Another test for the Congress will be far from Kerala, in the north, where several states were also going to the polls.
“The second phase is a mini-general election. What is at stake is whether the Congress is going to challenge the dominance of the BJP in the north Indian states like Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh or not,” Kumar said.
“The contest is getting serious from now on. For the Congress, it is a survival question as they have to prove that they can defeat the BJP and survive as a big force.”
Although surveys suggest Modi will easily win a comfortable majority in parliament, his 400-seat target often repeated ahead of the polls has not been cited since last week’s first phase.
Asad Rizvi, an analyst based in Lucknow, the capital of India’s most populous state and BJP stronghold, Uttar Pradesh, said the party’s performance was not as good as expected despite its tactic to polarize along religious lines.
“A perception has come to dominate after the first phase of elections that the BJP has not performed well in its strongholds in Uttar Pradesh, therefore, the BJP will have a tough time mobilizing its core voters to retain the seats,” he told Arab News.
“The second phase is also crucial that will test whether the BJP’s communal agenda is working or not.”
Blinken says Gaza protests a hallmark of democracy, decries ‘silence’ on Hamas
Blinken said he understood the conflict elicited “strong, passionate feelings” and that the administration was doing it all it could to halt the war
BEIJING: US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Friday protests at US universities over US-ally Israel’s war in Gaza are a hallmark of American democracy, but criticized what he called the “silence” about Palestinian militant group Hamas.
Police have clashed with students critical of the war and the Biden administration’s support for Israel’s war in Gaza, with nearly 550 arrests made over the protests in the last week across major US universities, according to a Reuters tally.
Asked at a press conference in China whether he was taking on board the protesters’ message, Blinken said he understood the conflict elicited “strong, passionate feelings” and that the administration was doing it all it could to halt the war.
“In our own country, it’s a hallmark of our democracy that our citizens make known their views, their concerns, their anger, at any given time, and I think that reflects the strength of the country, the strength of democracy,” Blinken said.
But he suggested critics should focus their ire on Hamas militants who sparked the war with their Oct. 7 attack on southern Israel in which about 1,200 people were killed and some 250 taken hostage, according to Israeli tallies.
Israel’s military response has killed more than 34,000 Palestinians and injured more than 77,000, according to the health ministry in Hamas-ruled Gaza.
“It is also notable that there is silence about Hamas, as if it wasn’t even part of the story,” Blinken said.
“But as I’ve also said repeatedly, the way Israel goes about ensuring that Oct. 7 never happens again matters profoundly. And we’re working every day to try to minimize the damage that’s done to innocent people and to make sure that they have the assistance and support that they need.”
Blinken, who met Chinese President Xi Jinping and other officials in Beijing on Friday, said he had discussed how China can play a constructive role in global crises, including in the Middle East, where he said Beijing can discourage Iran and its proxies not to escalate the conflict.
Blinken said he spoke to Foreign Minister Wang Yi multiple times this month when tensions spiked between Israel and Tehran. China is the main buyer of oil exported by sanctions-hit Iran.
“I think the relationships, again, that China has can be positive in trying to calm tensions, prevent escalation, avoid the spread of the conflict, and we agreed that we’d remain in regular in regular touch on this, and that’s certainly my intention,” Blinken said.
UK man charged with ‘Russia-backed arson plot’ on Ukraine-linked targets
- Court documents allege that suspect Dylan Earl was connected to the proscribed terrorist group the Wagner Group
- He is accused of organizing and paying for an arson attack on two units on an industrial estate in Leyton
LONDON: A 20-year-old British man has been charged with masterminding an arson plot against a Ukrainian-linked target in London for the benefit of the Russian state, prosecutors said on Friday.
“Included in the alleged activity was involvement in the planning of an arson attack on a Ukrainian-linked commercial property in March 2024,” the Crown Prosecution Service said in a statement.
Court documents allege that suspect Dylan Earl, from Leicestershire in central England, was connected to the proscribed terrorist group the Wagner Group, the domestic Press Association news agency reported.
He is accused of organizing and paying for an arson attack on two units on an industrial estate in Leyton, east London, on March 20, which required 60 firefighters to bring under control.
The alleged target is referred to as “Mr X” in the charges.
The CPS, which brings prosecutions in England and Wales, said two other men — Paul English, 60, and Nii Mensah, 21 — had also been charged with aggravated arson in connection with the case.
A third, Jake Reeves, 22, had been charged with agreeing to accept a material benefit from a foreign intelligence service as well as aggravated arson.
A fifth man, Dmitrijus Paulauska, 22, has been charged with having information about terrorist acts, the CPS added.
UK Foreign Secretary David Cameron said: “While we must let the judicial process run its course, I am deeply concerned by allegations of British nationals carrying out criminal activity on UK soil to benefit the Russian state.
“We will use the full weight of the criminal justice system to hold anyone found guilty of crimes linked to foreign interference to account,” he wrote on the social media platform X.
Dominic Murphy, head of the Metropolitan Police in London’s Counter Terrorism Command which is leading the investigation, said: “This is a highly significant moment and investigation for us.
“Not only are the charges that have been authorized by the CPS extremely serious, but it is also the first time that we have arrested, and now charged anyone using the powers and legislation brought in under the National Security Act.”
The National Security Act 2023 came into effect in December last year, and was designed to respond to “the threat of hostile activity from states targeting the UK’s democracy, economy, and values,” the government said at the time.
All five suspects are due to appear at the Central Criminal Court at the Old Bailey, London, on May 10.
Wave of pro-Palestinian campus protests in US meets forceful response
- Fresh clashes between police and students opposed to Israel’s war in Gaza broke out on Thursday
- Questions abound over forceful methods being used to shut down intensifying protests
NEW YORK: Fresh clashes between police and students opposed to Israel’s war in Gaza broke out on Thursday, raising questions about forceful methods being used to shut down protests that have intensified since mass arrests at Columbia University last week.
Over the past two days, law enforcement at the behest of college administrators have deployed Tasers and tear gas against students protesters at Atlanta’s Emory University, activists say, while officers clad in riot gear and mounted on horseback have swept away demonstrations at the University of Texas in Austin.
At Columbia, the epicenter of the US protest movement, university officials are locked in a stalemate with students over the removal of a tent encampment set up two weeks ago as a protest against the Israeli offensive.
The administration, which has already allowed an initial deadline for an agreement with students to lapse, has given protesters until Friday to strike a deal.
Other universities appear determined to prevent similar, long-running demonstrations to take root, opting to work with police to shut them down quickly and in some cases, with force.
Overall, more than 530 arrests have been made in the last week across major US universities in relation to protests over Gaza, according to a Reuters tally. University authorities have said the demonstrations are often unauthorized and called on police to clear them.
At Emory, police detained at least 15 people on its Atlanta campus, according to local media, after protesters began erecting a tent encampment in an attempt to emulate a symbol of vigilance employed by protesters at Columbia and elsewhere.
The local chapter of the activist group Jewish Voice for Peace said officers used tear gas and Tasers to dispense the demonstration and take some protesters into custody.
Video footage aired on FOX 5 Atlanta showed a melee breaking out between officers and some protesters, with officers using what appeared to be a stun gun to subdue a person and others wrestling other protesters to the ground and leading them away.
“Several dozen protesters trespassed into Emory University’s campus early Thursday morning and set up tents,” the school wrote in response to an emailed request for comment. It described the protesters as “activists attempting to disrupt our university,” but did not comment directly on the reports of violence.
Atlanta police did not immediately respond to inquiries about the number of protesters who were detained or about reports over the use of tear gas and stun guns.
Similar scenarios unfolded on the New Jersey campus of Princeton University where officers swarmed a newly-formed encampment, video footage on social media showed.
Boston police earlier forcibly removed a pro-Palestinian encampment set up by Emerson College, arresting more than 100 people, media accounts and police said. The latest clashes came a day after police in riot gear and on horseback descended on hundreds of student protesters at the University of Texas at Austin and arrested dozens of them.
But prosecutors on Thursday dropped charges against most of the 60 people taken into custody, mostly on misdemeanor charges of criminal trespassing and disorderly conduct, and said they would proceed with only 14 of those cases.
In dropping the charges, the Travis County district attorney cited “deficiencies in the probable cause affidavits.”
‘Alarming reports’
Human Rights Watch and the American Civil Liberties Union have condemned the arrest of protesters and urged authorities to respect their free speech rights.
But some Republicans in Congress have accused university administrators of allowing Jewish students to be harassed, putting increasing pressure on schools to tightly control any demonstrations and to block any semi-permanent encampment.
US Education Secretary Miguel Cardona on Thursday said his department was closely monitoring the protests, including what he called “very alarming reports of antisemitism.”
In response, activist groups have strongly denied that the protests are antisemitic. Their aim is to pressure universities from divesting from companies that contribute to the Israeli military actions in Gaza, they say.
Even so, protest leaders have acknowledged that hateful rhetoric has been directed at Jewish students, but insist that people who tried to infiltrate and malign their movement are responsible for any harassment.
Friday deadline at Columbia
At Columbia, officials have given protesters until 4 a.m. on Friday to reach an agreement with the university on dismantling dozens of tents set up on the New York City campus in a protest that started a week ago.
An initial deadline of midnight Tuesday came and went without an agreement, but administrators extended it for 48 hours, citing progress in the talks.
The university already tried to shut the protest down by force. On April 18, Columbia President Minouche Shafik took the unusual move of asking police to enter the campus, drawing the ire of many rights groups, students and faculty.
More than 100 people were arrested and the tents were removed from the main lawn. But within a few days, the encampment was back in place, and the university’s options appeared to narrow.
Protesters have vowed to keep the protests going until their universities agree to disclose and divest any financial holdings that might support the war in Gaza, and grant amnesty to students suspended from school during the demonstrations.
Student protesters have also demanded that the US government rein in Israeli strikes on civilians in Gaza, which have killed more than 34,000 people, according to Palestinian health authorities. Israel is retaliating against an Oct. 7 Hamas attack that killed 1,200 people and led to 253 taken hostage, according to Israeli tallies.
India begins voting in second phase of election as Modi vs Gandhi campaign heats up
- Almost one billion people eligible to vote in seven-phase general elections that began on April 19 and concludes on June 1
- Modi is seeking record third straight term on the back of economic record, welfare measures, Hindu nationalism
BENGALURU/KOTTAYAM/MATHURA: India began voting on Friday in the second phase of the world’s biggest election, as Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his rivals raise the pitch of the campaign by focusing on hot-button issues such as religious discrimination, affirmative action and taxes.
Almost one billion people are eligible to vote in the seven-phase general elections that began on April 19 and concludes on June 1, with votes set to be counted on June 4.
Modi is seeking a record-equalling third straight term on the back of his economic record, welfare measures, national pride, Hindu nationalism and personal popularity. Surveys suggest he will easily win a comfortable majority.
His challengers have formed an alliance of more than two dozen parties and are promising greater affirmative action, more handouts and an end to what they call Modi’s autocratic rule.
Friday’s polling will be held for 88 of the total 543 seats in the lower house of parliament with 160 million people eligible to vote. It will be spread across 13 states and federal territories in the world’s most populous country.
More than half of those 88 seats are in the southern states of Kerala and Karnataka and the northwestern state of Rajasthan.
The campaign has changed tack since the first phase and become heated as Modi and the main opposition Congress party have faced off on communal issues with Modi accusing Congress of favoring minority Muslims, aiming to dilute affirmative action and planning to impose inheritance tax.
“Congress, which used to make noise in the name of the Constitution, has now been badly exposed for its hidden agenda,” Modi posted on X late on Thursday.
Congress has denied the charges and said Modi is distracting voters from real issues such as unemployment, price rise and rural distress and fears losing.
RAHUL GANDHI IN THE FRAY
“We spoke to you, we heard what was on your mind and drafted a revolutionary manifesto,” Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said in a video message on the eve of the vote. “This has been drafted by the Congress party but it is your voice.”
Gandhi, former Congress president and the face of the party, is among the 1200 candidates in the fray on Friday.
He is seeking re-election from Wayanad in Kerala and faces Annie Raja of the Communist Party of India (CPI) and BJP’s K. Surendran, among others, in the Left Front-ruled state.
In 2019, Gandhi defeated the CPI candidate by more than 400,000 votes, the highest margin in Kerala, although he lost his second seat to BJP in the family bastion of Amethi in north India. India allows a candidate to contest from more than one seat but they can retain only one if they win from more.
Congress slumped to a historic low when it was swept out of power by BJP in 2014 and won its second-lowest number of 52 seats in 2019, with Kerala contributing the highest of 15.
The party is also expected to do better in Karnataka where it won just one of 28 seats in 2019 but gained strength and defeated BJP in state elections last year.
It is still seen to be struggling nationally as bickering within the opposition alliance it leads and graft cases against some leaders has hobbled its challenge to Modi.
The Election Commission and political parties have been worried about voter turnout due to the summer heat and wedding season in some parts of the country with turnout falling to around 65 percent in the first phase from nearly 70 percent in 2019.
The poll panel has increased appeals for voter participation since, asking them to “vote with responsibility and pride.”
