Director of the Office of European Security and Political Affairs Liam Wasley.
| Photo Credit: PTI

“India, as a critical security provider globally, must play a constructive role in ensuring peace in Ukraine and providing it with the impetus to be able to negotiate with Russia,” a senior U.S. official has said.

Liam Wasley, Director of the Office of European Security and Political Affairs at the U.S. State Department said this, days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s high-profile visit to Moscow and his meeting with President Vladimir Putin, including on the Ukraine conflict.

Mr. Wasley said Indians should understand how much of a threat President Putin and his country are to America’s European allies and the NATO alliance. “It has also been a very jarring direct threat to the security of a billion members of democracies,” Mr. Wasley told PTI in an interview.

“I think that the Indian people can recognise how that is impacting the understanding and the approach of our NATO allies. It’s really important for India to be playing a constructive role in ensuring a just peace for Ukraine and providing the impetus for Ukraine to be able to negotiate to ensure its own future,” he said.

Leaders of the 32-member NATO alliance gathered in Washington DC this week for the 75th anniversary summit meeting where Russia’s war in Ukraine and China has been the two major topics of discussion.

He mentioned NATO’s strong statement in Washington on Wednesday on China’s role in enabling the Russian war machine and continuing the war in Ukraine. Russia would not be able to continue its onslaught on the Ukrainian people if it were not for the technology and the support that they are getting from China, Iran, and North Korea.

When asked if the Indian Prime Minister was insensitive to the security concerns of Europe and NATO allies, Mr. Wasley said: “We think it’s important for Indians to understand how those forces are contributing to extending and continuing an unjust, unprovoked war for several years.”

Referring to the meeting between U.S. President Joe Biden along with NATO allies and with the heads of state of Indo-Pacific partners, Mr. Wasley said part of this is because many aspects of security are now global.

“The declaration yesterday focussed on undersea warfare, focused on cyberspace, focussed on war in space. These are conversations that we’re having with our Indo-Pacific partners. Those were conversations that I can see are a future role for India because their security, our security, all of our security is interconnected,” he said, adding that there is room for this conversation to grow.

Describing NATO as a defensive alliance, he said it relies on the interest of other partners to want to be engaged. “I think that that is a decision for India to take, whether it wants a deeper relationship with NATO or with individual NATO partners,” he said.

Responding to a question, he said India has not chosen to be a partner of NATO. “India is a critical security provider and projector in a very large part of the world. We think India has enormous influence and an enormous voice and will have a great impact on how the future of the international security environment develops. This is why I think India can play a constructive role in bringing peace to Ukraine,” he said.

“This is why I think India has a key role in the conversation as we deal with the global security threats that we are all grappling with,” he added.

Mr. Wasley said the NATO alliance has shown that it is united in support of Ukraine and providing Ukraine with the support, the political support, the material support it needs to defend its own people, defend its own territory, and forge a just and lasting peace.

“It’s up to India to figure out how it can best contribute to that role,” he said. “The reference to China in the Washington declaration,” he said, captures the mood of the alliance.

“It captures the tone of the conversations that we’ve been having as allies for the past two years. China has stepped up its role in supporting Putin and in his no-limits partnership. So, I think it’s a recognition that China has decided that it is seeking to influence this conflict by enabling Putin,” Mr. Wasley said.

China has broken with the United States and its European allies over the war in Ukraine, refusing to condemn Russia’s invasion. 
| Photo Credit: AP

China accused NATO on July 11 of seeking security at the expense of others and told the alliance not to bring the same “chaos” to Asia.

The statement by a Foreign Ministry spokesperson came a day after NATO labelled China a “decisive enabler” of Russia’s war against Ukraine.

“NATO hyping up China’s responsibility on the Ukraine issue is unreasonable and has sinister motives,” spokesperson Lin Jian said at a daily briefing. He maintained that China has a fair and objective stance on the Ukraine issue.

China has broken with the United States and its European allies over the war in Ukraine, refusing to condemn Russia’s invasion. Its trade with Russia has grown since the invasion, at least partially offsetting the impact of Western sanctions.

Explained | What is NATO’s stand on Ukraine’s entry?

NATO, in a communique issued at a summit in Washington, said China has become a enabler of the war through its “no-limits partnership” with Russia and its large-scale support for Russia’s defence industrial base.

Mr. Lin said that China’s trade with Russia is legitimate and reasonable and based on World Trade Organization rules.

He said that NATO’s “so-called security” comes at the cost of the security of other countries. China has backed Russia’s contention that NATO expansion posed a threat to Russia.

China has expressed concern about NATO’s budding relationships with countries in the region. Australia, New Zealand, Japan and South Korea sent their leaders or deputies to the NATO summit this week.

“China urges NATO to … stop interfering in China’s internal politics and smearing China’s image and not create chaos in the Asia-Pacific after creating turmoil in Europe,” Mr. Lin said.

Chinese troops are in Belarus this week for joint drills near the border with Poland, a NATO member. The exercises are the first-ever with Belarus, an ally of Russia.

Mr. Lin described the joint training as normal military exchange and cooperation that is not directed at any particular country..

Prime Minister Narendra Modi described Russia as India’s “all-weather friend” and hailed President Vladimir Putin’s leadership in strengthening the bilateral relationship over the past two decades.

Mr. Modi said he had a special appreciation for “his friend” President Putin for steering India-Russia friendship to greater heights over the last two decades.

The Prime Minister said for a long time the world had seen an “influence-oriented global order”.

“But, what the world needs right now is confluence not influence and no one can deliver this message better than India which has a strong tradition of worshipping confluences,” Mr. Modi said.

– PTI

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. File
| Photo Credit: AP

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on June 24 that his country has hit more than 30 Russian oil processing and storage facilities. The Ukrainian military has stepped up attacks on Russian oil infrastructure this year, seeking to disrupt oil supplies to the Russian army and curb Moscow’s revenues to finance its war against Ukraine.

“More than 30 oil refineries, terminals, and oil depots of the terrorist state have been hit,” Mr. Zelenskyy told officers of Special Operations Centre “A” of the State Security Service (SBU) involved in attacks. He did not provide any additional details or give a time period. A video of his address was shared on his account on X.

Ukraine has been using its long-range drones, developed both by military intelligence and the SBU, for the strikes.

“For SBU drones, a distance of 1,500 km is no longer a problem,” Mr. Zelenskyy said, apparently referring to a May 9 strike when a major oil processing plant in the Bashkiria region was hit.

In the most recent attack on June 21, drones hit four refineries, including the Ilsky refinery, one of the main fuel producers in southern Russia.

Kyiv, Ukraine:

Russia bombed a residential building in Ukraine’s northeastern city of Kharkiv on Saturday, killing three people and wounding almost 30, as it stepped up its renewed hostilities.

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky posted footage of the torn-off facade of an apartment block and a crater outside.

“Russian terrorists have again hit Kharkiv with guided bombs,” he wrote on Telegram after the latest attack on Ukraine’s second largest city, announcing three dead while rescuers still cleared debris.

Interior minister Igor Klymenko said there were 29 injured.

Regional governor Oleg Synegubov said two children had been hospitalised and “only civilian infrastructure was damaged”.

Kharkiv is close to the border with Russia, which launched an offensive in the region in May, taking significant territory. It has increasingly targeted the city with air launched bombs.

In May, a guided bomb attack on a hardware store killed 16 people and wounded dozens.

Defence Minister Rustem Umerov said last month that Russia has dropped almost 10,000 guided bombs on Ukraine this year.

“This Russian terror with guided bombs must be stopped and can be stopped. We need strong decisions from our partners so that we can destroy Russian terrorists and Russian combat aircraft where they are,” Zelensky said.

Russia also launched 16 cruise missiles and 13 attack drones at energy infrastructure in several regions, Ukraine’s military said.

The Ukrainian energy ministry said this was Russia’s “eighth massive, combined attack on energy infrastructure facilities” in three months.

More than two years into the Russian invasion, missile and drone attacks have crippled Ukraine’s electricity generation capacity and forced Kyiv to impose blackouts and import supplies from the European Union.

Russia said its troops “carried out a group strike with long-range high-precision weaponry from air and sea and also drones on Ukrainian energy facilities that power arms production”.

The defence ministry said strikes also targeted warehouses containing munitions and “air-launched weapons provided to the Ukrainian military by western countries”.

“All the set targets were hit,” the ministry said, justifying the strikes as retaliation for Ukrainian attacks on Russia’s energy network.

Ukraine’s energy ministry said equipment at operator Ukrenergo “facilities in the Zaporizhzhia and Lviv regions was damaged”.

Maksym Kozytskyi, governor of the Lviv region, said one Russian attack started a fire at “a critical energy infrastructure facility”.

Ukrenergo said two employees were wounded and hospitalised in Zaporizhzhia, where Europe’s biggest nuclear plant is located.

Russian attacks have destroyed half of Ukraine’s energy capacity, according to Zelensky.

He has repeatedly urged allies to send more air-defence systems to protect the country’s vital infrastructure.

In southern Zaporizhzhia, Russian shelling killed one civilian and destroyed residential buildings and infrastructure, according to the regional military administration.

Russia controls a part of the region,including its nuclear plant.

The Russian-appointed administration said Ukrainian attacks had damaged a substation linked to the plant but did not compromise nuclear safety.

Donetsk and Lugansk

Frontline clashes were reported Saturday in the Donetsk region area near the towns of Pokrovsk and Toretsk, where Moscow “continues to increase the pace of offensive actions, deploying significant forces,” Kyiv’s military said.

Russia’s defence ministry said troops had improved positions in the Donetsk and Lugansk regions and the Kharkiv region.

Five civilians were killed by Russian shelling in frontline areas of the Donetsk region, regional head Vadym Filashkin said.

In the southern Kherson region, a policeman manning a checkpoint was killed by a drone, Ukraine’s police said.

The head of Russian authorities in the Donetsk region, Denis Pushilin, said the separatist-controlled city of Donetsk and the nearby town of Gorlivka had come under heavy attack from Ukraine.

Three men working for a construction firm were killed by a rocket releasing cluster munitions, he said.

Three more were wounded by a drone attack on a civilian minibus, Pushilin added, and another man was wounded by an anti-personnel mine.

In Russia’s southern Belgorod region, a man was killed in the shelling of an business near the border with Ukraine’s Kharkiv, said governor Vyacheslav Gladkov.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Prime Minister Narendra Modi with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida (L) and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on the sidelines of the G7 summit in Italy, on June 4, 2024.
| Photo Credit: AFP

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday, June 14, 2024, left for home after concluding his day-long visit to Italy during which he attended the G7 summit and held bilaterals with several world leaders including British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, French President Emmanuel Macron and Pope Francis.

Also read:G7 Summit 2024 highlights: At Outreach session, PM Modi called for ending monopoly in technology

In an address at an Outreach session of the G7 summit in Italy’s Apulia region, Mr. Modi called for ending the monopoly in technology and said it must be made creative to lay the foundation of an inclusive society.

The Prime Minister spoke extensively on the importance of ending monopoly in technology with a particular emphasis on artificial intelligence. Mr. Modi said India is among the first few countries to formulate a national strategy on artificial intelligence.

On the sidelines of the summit, Mr. Modi met U.S. President Joe Biden, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, French President Macron, British Prime Minister Sunak, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni, Pope Francis and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida among others.

Also read:Way to peace is through ‘dialogue and diplomacy’: PM Modi tells Volodymyr Zelenskyy

The meeting with Mr. Macron was Mr. Modi’s first official bilateral meeting with an international leader since taking charge for his third term as Prime Minister earlier this month.

Besides India, Italy invited leaders from 11 developing countries in Africa, South America and the Indo-Pacific region to attend the G7 Summit.

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky (L) speaks during the 21st Shangri-La Dialogue summit at the Shangri-La Hotel in Singapore on June 2, 2024.
| Photo Credit: AFP

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky accused China on Sunday of working hard to stop countries from going to a peace summit, which Beijing has publicly criticised because Russia is not invited.

Mr. Zelensky made the remarks at a security forum in Singapore as he sought to rally support for the conference and appealed for more military aid for Ukraine, which has been ceding ground to Russian troops.

“China, unfortunately, is working hard today to prevent countries from coming to the peace summit,” Mr. Zelensky told reporters on the sidelines of the Shangri-La Dialogue, which draws defence officials from around the world.

Beijing believes the conference “should have the recognition of Russia and Ukraine, equal participation of all parties and fair discussion of all peace plans”, foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning told a regular news conference on Friday.

“Otherwise, it is difficult for the conference to play a substantive role in restoring peace,” she said.

Mr. Zelensky also expressed disappointment that “some world leaders” had not signed up to the conference, with China signalling Xi Jinping will not attend while U.S. President Joe Biden is yet to commit.

China said it would be “difficult” for it to attend if Russia did not participate, which Ukraine has rejected.

Through the peace summit, Kyiv hopes to win broad international backing for its vision of the terms needed to end Russia’s war.

Mr. Zelensky said on Sunday that more than 100 countries and organisations had signed up to the conference, and he urged Asia-Pacific nations to join.

The peace summit threatens to be overshadowed if key Ukraine backer Mr. Biden – who is locked in an election campaign against Donald Trump and has given no sign he would participate – ultimately stays away.

Mr. Zelensky said China was “a tool in Putin’s hands” and accused Russia of using Chinese influence and diplomats to do “everything to disrupt the peace summit.”

While China says it is a neutral party in the Ukraine conflict, it has been criticised for refusing to condemn Moscow for its offensive.

‘Unwavering U.S. support’

Mr. Zelensky also met with U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on Sunday on the sidelines of the Singapore security forum. Mr. Zelensky told reporters they had a “very good” meeting.

In a post on X, Mr. Zelensky said the pair discussed “the defence needs of our country, bolstering Ukraine’s air defence system, the F-16 coalition, and drafting of a bilateral security agreement.”

In a readout of the talks, Pentagon spokesman Major General Pat Ryder said Austin reiterated “unwavering U.S. support for Ukraine in the face of Russian aggression”.

Mr. Austin also “reaffirmed the U.S. commitment to maintaining the strong support of a coalition of over fifty countries to help Ukraine defend its freedom,” Mr. Ryder said.

The meeting came after Washington decided to partially lift restrictions on using U.S.-provided weapons to strike inside Russia, which Mr. Zelensky has hailed as a “step forward”.

Mr. Zelensky and Mr. Austin last met face-to-face in December in Washington, where Mr. Zelensky made a last-ditch plea for U.S. aid before it ran out.

The U.S. Congress approved in April a $61-billion aid package for Ukraine following months of political wrangling, unlocking much-needed arms for the country’s outgunned troops.

Chinese defence spokesman Wu Qian told AFP he was not aware of any plans for Chinese Defense Minister Dong Jun to meet with Zelensky in Singapore.

Ukraine is struggling to hold back a Russian ground offensive in the Kharkiv region, where Moscow recently made its largest territorial gains in 18 months.

Mr. Zelensky has been touring European nations in recent days seeking more military aid for Ukrainian troops, and warning partners of the risks if they show any signs of fatigue over the war.

“It is very important for Ukrainians that the world does not get tired… that the world understands that it cannot get tired of the war launched by the aggressor,” Mr. Zelensky said in Portugal on Tuesday.

Firefighters work at a site of a Russian missile strike, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, in Kharkiv, Ukraine on May 10, 2024.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

Russian forces began a renewed ground assault in Ukraine’s northeast, killing and injuring several people and forcing more than 1,700 civilians to evacuate from the Kharkiv region, officials said on May 11.

Artillery, mortar, and aerial bombardments hit more than 30 different towns and villages, leaving at least three people dead and five others injured, said Kharkiv Gov. Oleh Syniehubov.

Ukraine rushed reinforcements to the Kharkiv region on May 10 to hold off a Russian attempt to breach local defenses, authorities said.

Ukrainian forces also launched a barrage of drones and missiles on May 11 night, Russia’s Ministry of Defense said, with air defense systems downing 21 rockets and 16 drones over Russia’s Belgorod, Kursk and Volgograd regions. One person died in a drone strike in the Belgorod region, and another in the Kursk region, local officials said.

Another strike set ablaze an oil depot in Ukraine’s Russian-occupied Luhansk region, killing three people and injuring eight more, Leonid Pasechnik, the region’s Moscow-installed leader said on the messaging app Telegram on May 11.

Russian forces stepped up their bombardment of Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, in late March. May 10’s attack signaled a tactical switch in the war by Moscow that Ukrainian officials had been expecting for weeks.

Russian military bloggers said the assault could mark the start of a Russian attempt to carve out a “buffer zone” that President Vladimir Putin vowed to create earlier this year to halt frequent Ukrainian attacks on Belgorod and other Russian border regions.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy confirmed on May 10 evening that Russian forces were expanding their operations. He also called on the country’s Western allies to ensure that promised deliveries of military aid would swiftly reach the front lines.

“It is critical that partners support our warriors and Ukrainian resilience with timely deliveries. Truly timely ones,” he said in a video statement on X. “A package that truly helps is the actual delivery of weapons to Ukraine, rather than just the announcement of a package.”

The Kremlin’s forces have repeatedly sought to exploit Ukraine’s shortages of ammunition and personnel as the flow of Western military aid to Kyiv has tapered off in recent months, with promised new support still yet to arrive.

Ukraine previously said it was aware that Russia was assembling thousands of troops along the northeastern border, close to the Kharkiv and Sumy regions. Intelligence officials also said they had expected an attack there though Russia’s most recent ground offensive had been focused on parts of eastern Ukraine farther south.

While Russia’s gains in the region have so far been limited, analysts at the U.S. think tank Institute of the Study of War described them Friday as “tactically significant.”

They said Russia had only “committed relatively limited manpower to their initial assaults” but that the offensive in Kharkiv “is meant to … (draw) Ukrainian manpower and materiel from other critical sectors of the front in eastern Ukraine.”

The Russian military could also try to cut key supply routes and try to blockade Kharkiv, home to roughly 1.1 million people and only about 30 km south of the border.

In the war’s early days, Russia made a botched attempt to quickly storm Kharkiv but retreated from its outskirts after about a month. In the fall of 2022, seven months later, Ukraine’s army pushed them out of Kharkiv. The bold counterattack helped persuade Western countries that Ukraine could defeat Russia on the battlefield and merited military support.

A family of nine, including two young children, were brutally killed in their house in the Russian-occupied eastern Ukrainian town of Volnovakha. The horrifying event has sent shockwaves in Ukraine. The incident has triggered investigations by both nations. 

Ukrainian officials are blaming Russian soldiers for the gruesome killings of the family. According to BBC reports, the whole of the Kapkanets family were killed on October 27 for refusing to give the Russian soldiers their house. 

The Russian investigators have held two male suspects and said that they were Russian soldiers from the Far East. 

Pictures from the murder scene were uploaded by the Ukrainian Donetsk Region Prosecutor’s Office. The images show multiple family members shot while in their beds, still tucked in each other’s arms, with blood spatters visible on the walls. 

The caption of the post read, “Shot a sleeping family – an investigation into the murder in occupied Volnovas of 9 civilians, including two children.”

The office further said that armed men in military uniform demanded that the family living there vacate the house to accommodate a Russian army unit. 

When the owner of the house refused, “the attackers threatened his family members with physical violence and left.”

The office informed that days later the armed men returned and “shot all nine members of the family, who were already asleep at that time.”

“A pre-trial investigation was initiated in criminal proceedings over violation of the laws and customs of war,” the Ukrainian prosecutor’s office said.

“The suspects have been detained and transported to the investigative department, where investigative and procedural actions are being carried out to ascertain all the circumstances of the incident and gather evidence,” the committee added.

This month, Ukrainian forces have managed to resist a renewed Russian offensive in eastern Ukraine, even as Moscow’s forces continue to target residential areas. In response to the escalating conflict, Ukraine has ordered the mandatory evacuation of civilians, with a particular focus on safeguarding children in regions close to the front lines in the east and south, CNN reported.

Mr. Trudeau greeted Mr. Zelenskyy and will also speak in Parliament in Ottawa on Friday.
| Photo Credit: AP

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will address the Canadian Parliament on Friday as he continues his efforts to shore up support from Western allies for Ukraine’s war against the Russian invasion.

Mr. Zelenskyy arrived at Ottawa’s airport late Thursday after meeting with U.S. President Joe Biden and lawmakers in Washington, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s office said.

Mr. Trudeau greeted Mr. Zelenskyy and will also speak in Parliament in Ottawa on Friday.

It is Mr. Zelenskyy’s first visit to Canada since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022. He previously addressed the Canadian Parliament virtually after the war started.

Mr. Zelenskyy and Mr. Trudeau are scheduled to go from Ottawa to Toronto to meet with the local Ukrainian community. Canada is home to about 1.4 million people of Ukrainian descent, close to 4% of the population.

The Ukrainian president is making the trip after stops at the United Nations and the White House.

Canada’s U.N. ambassador, Bob Rae, said it is important for Zelenskyy to see the extent to which Canada supports Ukraine in the war.

“We have done a lot to help him and we need to do more,” Rae said. “We’re going to continue to do everything we can to support the Ukrainian people.”

Canada has provided more than $8.9 billion Canadian (US$6.6 billion) in support to Ukraine in what Trudeau’s government calls the highest per-capita direct financial support to Ukraine in the Group of 7 industrial nations.

More than 175,000 Ukrainians have come to Canada since the war started and n additional 700,000 have received approval to come as part of an initiative that supports temporary relocation of those fleeing the war. The initiative allows for an open work permit for three years with pathways to permeant residency and citizenship.

Mr. Zelenskyy is facing questions in Washington about the flow of American dollars that for 19 months has helped keep his troops in the fight against Russian forces.

Ukrainian troops are struggling to take back territory that Russia gained over the past year. Their progress in the next month or so before the rains come and the ground turns to mud could be critical in rousing additional global support over the winter.

Mr. Zelenskyy made his first official visit to Canada in 2019.