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Iran has confirmed for the first time that it has supplied Russia with drones. Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian admitted on Saturday that the country had provided Putin with the equipment, despite earlier denials. “We gave a limited number of drones to Russia months before the war in Ukraine,” Amirabdollahian told reporters after a meeting in Tehran. He added that Iran “remained committed to ending the conflict.” It comes as the US Defense Department announced it is sending Ukraine $400 million in additional military aid as the war with Russia continues to rage. “With Russia’s relentless and brutal air attacks on vital Ukrainian civilian infrastructure, additional air defense capabilities are critical,” the Pentagon said in a statement. And Russia has claimed it will publish “proof” that British specialist troops were involved in a drone strike last weekend on Russia’s Black Sea fleet. The UK government had previously dismissed it as “false claims on an epic scale”. A UK government spokesman said the Russian claims were an attempt to “distract attention” from Moscow’s illegal invasion.
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German Chancellor Scholz defends controversial visit to China: ‘It’s right for me to be here’
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has defended his much-scrutinized visit to China, saying it was “good and right” for him to be in Beijing. Mr Scholz’s one-day trip to China on Friday has sparked both domestic and international controversy given Beijing’s support for Russia in the wake of Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine, which has affected Germany’s electricity supply, writes Alisha Rahaman Sarkar . “Ladies and gentlemen, it is good and right that I am here today,” Mr Scholz told reporters, sending a strong message in response to the criticism. “We can now talk concretely and directly with each other to respond to the challenges facing the world and the bilateral relations between Europe and China,” he said in a statement. Maryam Zakir-Hussain November 5, 2022 4:15 p.m 1667663122
Nuclear weapons should not be used over Ukraine, China’s president says in clear response to Russia
“The international community should … jointly oppose the use or threat of use of nuclear weapons, advocate that nuclear weapons should not be used and nuclear wars should not be fought, in order to prevent a nuclear crisis in Eurasia,” Xi said. during a meeting. with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in Beijing. President Xi told Chancellor Scholtz that he opposed the use of nuclear force in Europe without naming Russia, in his most direct remarks yet on the escalating crisis. Marooza Muzaffar has more: Maryam Zakir-Hussain5 November 2022 15:45 1667661322
Sweden to distance itself from Kurdish groups in bid to join NATO – Swedish Radio
Sweden’s new government will distance itself from the Kurdish YPG militia as it tries to win Turkey’s approval to join NATO, Sweden’s foreign minister said Saturday on Swedish Radio. The Syrian Kurdish YPG militia and its political offshoot PYD are considered by Turkey to be extensions of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which launched an insurgency against Turkey in 1980 and is considered a terrorist group by Turkey, the United States and the European Union . Sweden, along with the United States and many other NATO countries, has supported the YPG in the fight against the Islamic State. However, Turkey has vowed to block Sweden’s application to join NATO if it does not stop supporting the militia group. “There is a very close connection between these organizations and the PKK … to be good for the relationship between us and Turkey,” Sweden’s foreign minister, Tobias Billström, told Swedish Radio. “The primary goal is for Sweden to join NATO,” he said. The move comes just days before Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson is due to travel to Ankara to try to persuade Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan to let Sweden join the military alliance. Sweden and Finland applied to join NATO earlier this year as a direct consequence of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The application has been approved by 28 of the 30 NATO countries. The Nordic countries said this week they were optimistic that Hungary would also withdraw its objections. Maryam Zakir-Hussain5 November 2022 15:15 1667659522
Power cuts across Ukraine amid Russian shelling
Ukraine’s state electricity company on Saturday announced a blackout in Kyiv and seven other regions of the country after Russia’s devastating strikes on energy infrastructure. The move comes as Russian forces continue to pound Ukrainian towns and villages with missiles and drones, damaging power plants, water supplies and other civilian targets, in a war nearing the end of nine months. Russia has denied that the drones it used in Ukraine came from Iran, but the Islamic Republic’s foreign minister on Saturday acknowledged for the first time that it supplied Moscow with a “limited number” of drones before the invasion. Hossein Amirabdolakhian claimed, however, that Tehran did not know whether its drones were used against Ukraine and declared Iran’s commitment to ending the conflict. Ukrenergo, the sole operator of Ukraine’s high-voltage transmission lines, initially said in an online statement on Saturday that planned power outages would take place in the capital and greater Kyiv region, as well as in several areas around it — Chernihiv, Cherkasy , Zhytomyr, Sumy, Poltava and Kharkiv. Later in the day, however, the company released an update saying that scheduled outages of a certain number of hours are not enough and instead there will be emergency outages, which could last indefinitely. Ukraine has been experiencing blackouts and water cuts since Russia began unleashing massive barrages of missiles and drones on the country’s energy infrastructure last month. Moscow has said these came in response to what it claims were Ukrainian attacks in Crimea, the territory Russia illegally annexed in 2014. Ukraine has denied those claims. Maryam Zakir-Hussain5 November 2022 14:45 1667657964
Iran acknowledges drone missions to Russia before war in Ukraine
Iran acknowledged for the first time on Saturday that it supplied Moscow with drones, but said they had been sent before the war in Ukraine, where Russia used drones to target power plants and civilian infrastructure. Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdolahian said a “small number” of drones had been handed over to Russia a few months before Moscow’s forces invaded Ukraine on February 24. In Iran’s most detailed response to date on the drones, Amirabdollahian denied that Tehran continued to supply drones to Moscow. “This fuss made by some Western countries that Iran provided missiles and drones to Russia to help the war in Ukraine – the missile part is completely wrong,” the official IRNA news agency reported. “The drone part is real and we provided Russia with a small number of drones months before the war in Ukraine,” he said. Maryam Zakir-Hussain November 5, 2022 2:19 p.m 1667655396
Nuclear weapons should not be used over Ukraine, China’s president said
Chinese President Xi Jinping warned on Friday against using nuclear weapons against Ukraine. “The international community should … jointly oppose the use or threat of use of nuclear weapons, advocate that nuclear weapons should not be used and nuclear wars should not be fought, in order to prevent a nuclear crisis in Eurasia,” Xi said. during a meeting. with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in Beijing. President Xi told Chancellor Scholtz that he opposed the use of nuclear force in Europe without naming Russia, in his most direct remarks yet on the escalating crisis. Xi Jinping with Olaf Scholz (AP) Sam Rkaina5 November 2022 13:36 1667651416
Three civilians were killed and eight injured in the last 24 hours
In the eastern Donetsk region, also annexed and partially occupied by Russia, eight towns and villages have been bombed, including Bakhmut, Avdiivka and Porkovsky. According to Ukraine’s presidential office, at least three civilians were killed and eight others wounded in the past 24 hours by Russian shelling of nine Ukrainian regions, using drones, missiles and heavy artillery. In the Russian-held Kherson region, where a Ukrainian counter-offensive is underway, the Russian military continues to abduct local residents, the presidential office said, with the latest cases occurring in the past 24 hours. Sam Rkaina5 November 2022 12:30 1667649616
Russian bombing of Ukrainian areas continues
About 40 shells were fired overnight at the city of Nikopol, Dnipropetrovsk Governor Valentin Reznichenko said on Telegram. Russian forces targeted the city and surrounding areas with heavy artillery. Two fires broke out and more than a dozen residential and utility buildings, as well as a natural gas pipeline, were damaged, the official said. Elsewhere in the region, Ukrainian forces shot down a drone and another missile, according to Reznichenko. In the southern region of Mykolaiv, overnight shelling of rural areas destroyed many houses but caused no casualties, Mykolaiv Governor Vitaly Kim said on Telegram. Russian forces also fired missiles into the southeastern region of Zaporizhzhia, which has been illegally annexed by Moscow and large parts of which remain occupied. According to regional governor Oleksandr Starukh, the attack took place shortly after midnight and damaged the buildings of three businesses, as well as several cars. Sam Rkaina5 November 2022 12:00 1667647786
Blackouts continue in Ukraine
Ukraine’s state electricity company announced on Saturday regularly scheduled blackouts…
