The United States and its NATO allies together with Ukraine want to defeat Russia “on the battlefield” in order to destroy it, Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told the state TASS agency in remarks published Monday.
“The actions of the countries of the collective West and (Ukrainian President Volodymyr) Zelensky under their control confirm the global nature of the Ukrainian crisis,” Lavrov said.
“It is no secret to anyone that the strategic goal of the United States and its NATO allies is to defeat Russia on the battlefield as a mechanism for significantly weakening or even destroying our country.”
President Vladimir Putin launched his invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, calling it a “special operation” to “denazify” and demilitarise Ukraine, which he said was a threat to Russia. Kyiv and its Western allies say Moscow’s invasion was merely an imperialist land grab.
The coalition of countries opposing Russia’s invasion in Ukraine — from NATO members to US allies such as Japan and Australia — has proven resilient, defying predictions that rising energy prices in part caused by the war could fracture the grouping.
Like most senior Russian officials, Lavrov has over the last decade adopted an increasingly hawkish position, supporting Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and railing against what he and Putin have called the West’s attempts to constrain Russia and dominate global affairs.
Lavrov reiterated that Russia and the United States cannot maintain normal connection, blaming the administration of the US President Joe Biden.
“It is objectively impossible to maintain normal communication with the Biden administration, which declares the infliction of a strategic defeat on our country as a goal,” Lavrov said.
He added that Washington’s “confrontational anti-Russian course is becoming more and more acute and comprehensive.”
US-Russia ties have fallen to their lowest point in decades amid the fallout from Russia’s military campaign in Ukraine, and the consequent imposition of Western sanctions.
The United States has provided billions of dollar in support to Ukraine, with the latest $1.85 billion aid package announced last week, further angering Moscow.
In Lavrov’s remarks published earlier by TASS, the foreign minister gave Kyiv an ultimatum to meet Moscow’s demands for settlement or the Russian army will decide the issue.
Russia’s Lavrov: West and Ukraine want to destroy Russia
https://arab.news/8c839
Russia’s Lavrov: West and Ukraine want to destroy Russia
- US-Russia ties have fallen to their lowest point in decades amid the fallout from Russia’s military campaign in Ukraine
Teenager 'stabbed 50 times', burned alive in Marseille: prosecutors
Speaking to reporters, Marseille prosecutor Nicolas Bessone said the teenager was murdered on Wednesday, describing the case as one of "unprecedented savagery."
Marseille, France's second-largest city but also one of its poorest, is plagued by drug-related violence.
Bessone said that victims and perpetrators of such violence were getting increasingly younger.
The city has in recent years witnessed a turf war for control of the highly profitable drug market between various clans including DZ Mafia.
The teenager had been hired by a 23-year-old prisoner to intimidate a competitor by setting fire to his door, the prosecutor said, adding he had been promised 2,000 euros.
The teenager had however been spotted by members of a rival gang who repeatedly stabbed him then set him on fire, he added.
The same prisoner then recruited a 14-year-old minor to carry out a revenge attack and kill a member of the Blacks gang, promising to pay him 50,000 euros.
The 14-year-old hired a 36-year-old driver who angered the minor and ended up being killed.
The two latest cases mean that the number of drug-related killings in Marseille has risen to 17 since the start of the year.
By comparison, a total of 49 people were killed in drug related violence in Marseille in 2023.
san-ol-as/rlp
1 dead as Russia strikes Ukraine with drones and missiles
KYIV: One person has died after Russian forces attacked Ukraine overnight with 87 Shahed drones and four different types of missiles, officials said Sunday.
A 49-year-old man was killed in the Kharkiv region after his car was hit by a drone, said regional Gov. Oleh Syniehubov. A gas pipeline was also damaged and a warehouse set alight in the city of Odesa, Ukrainian officials reported.
Ukraine’s air force said in a statement that air defenses had destroyed 56 of the 87 drones and two missiles over 14 Ukrainian regions, including the capital, Kyiv.
Another 25 drones disappeared from radar “presumably as a result of anti-aircraft missile defense,” it said.
The barrage comes a day after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Saturday that he will present his “victory plan” at the Oct. 12 meeting of the Ramstein group of nations that supplies arms to Ukraine.
Zelenskyy presented his plan to U.S. President Joe Biden in Washington last week. Its contents have not been made public but it is known that the plan includes Ukrainian membership in NATO and the provision of long-range missiles to strike inside Russia.
In a statement Sunday, the Ukrainian leader paid tribute to the country’s troops, which he also described as “preparing (for) the next Ramstein.”
“They demonstrate what Ukrainians are capable of when they have enough weapons and sufficient range,” he said in a statement on social media. “We will keep convincing our partners that our drones alone are not enough. More decisive steps are needed — and the end of this war will be closer.”
Teenager ‘stabbed 50 times’, burned alive in Marseille: prosecutors
MAREILLE: A 15-year-old boy was “stabbed 50 times” and burned alive this week in the southern French city of Marseille in an apparent case of drug-related violence, prosecutors said on Sunday.
Speaking to reporters, Marseille prosecutor Nicolas Bessone said the teenager was murdered on Wednesday, describing the case as one of “unprecedented savagery.”
Indian villagers kill last wolf from man-eating pack
LUCKNOW: Villagers in India have beaten to death a wolf believed to be the last of a six-member pack that killed nine people, eight of them children, wildlife officials said on Sunday.
The grey wolves sparked hysteria among residents in Bahraich district of the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, where the animals were said to have attacked more than 40 people.
More than 150 armed personnel and dozens of government forestry officials were deployed to capture the wolves last month.
Five of the animals were trapped, with drones and surveillance cameras suggesting only one remained free.
Government forest officer Ajit Singh said villagers had contacted his team on Sunday after they killed a prowling wolf.
"We were informed about a dead animal in the village, and upon reaching the scene, we found a wolf with clear signs of physical injuries," Singh told AFP.
"It seems it is part of the same pack of wolves," Singh said.
Further investigations were needed to verify that no more wolves remained in the area, he said.
Experts say wolves attack humans or livestock only as a last resort when they are starving, preferring less dangerous prey such as small antelopes.
However, wildlife officials say heavy flooding from extreme torrential rains had swamped the wolves' usual territory, depriving them of hunting grounds, and driving them into areas of more populated farmland.
Some of those killed or injured were attacked while sleeping on the veranda of their homes, a common practice during the hot and humid days of the monsoon rains.
The grassland plains of Bahraich district lie about 50 kilometres (30 miles) south of the border with Nepal, where thick forests cover Himalayan foothills.
The majority of India's roughly 3,000 wolves survive outside protected areas, often in close proximity to people.
Numbers have been dwindling due to the loss of habitat and a lack of wild prey, experts say.
The animals, also known as the plains wolf, are smaller than the stronger Himalayan wolf and can be mistaken for other species such as jackals.
In Rudyard Kipling's 1894 novel The Jungle Book, the "man-cub" Mowgli was raised in the jungle by grey wolves.
India’s ruling party set to lose two state elections, exit polls show
- Congress holds clear advantage in northern state of Haryana, local media reports say
- Reports say opposition also holds edge in Himalayan territory of Jammu and Kashmir
NEW DELHI: India’s ruling party is projected to have lost two key provincial elections to the main opposition Congress party and its allies, exit polls showed, suggesting another setback after the party fared poorly in national elections.
Local media reported that Congress had a clear advantage in exit polls in the northern state of Haryana, indicating an end to a decade of rule by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the state. The opposition also held an edge in the Himalayan territory of Jammu and Kashmir.
The two elections were held in phases that ended on Saturday. Votes will be counted on Tuesday and results will be announced the same day. The exit poll results were released late on Saturday.
Exit polls, conducted by private polling firms including TV broadcasters, have a patchy record in India, which analysts say poses a particular challenge due to its large and diverse voting population.
The exit polls had projected Modi’s BJP would win a large majority in the general election in June, but it fell short and had to depend on regional parties to secure a majority and form a coalition government.
The two Indian territories are the first to go to the polls since the national elections.
India’s industrial hub of Maharashtra and the mineral-rich eastern state of Jharkhand, next up in provincial elections, are awaiting the announcement of poll dates that are expected to be in November.
The Jammu and Kashmir election was the first in a decade in the Himalayan region, which has endured years of militant violence. It is India’s only Muslim-majority territory and has been at the center of a dispute with neighboring Pakistan since 1947.
Its status as a special semi-autonomous entity was revoked in 2019 by Modi’s government, which says the move has helped to restore normalcy in the area and boosted development.
