President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, on a tour of European capitals, tells leaders at a summit in Brussels that Europe’s freedom depends on Ukraine’s.

Russian forces have significantly stepped up attacks in eastern Ukraine and are trying to break through defences near Kreminna, says the Ukrainian governor of Luhansk.

The Russian embassy in London warns of “military and political consequences” after Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said “nothing is off the table”, including combat aircraft for Ukraine.

Russia’s Wagner mercenary group says it has stopped recruiting prisoners to fight in Ukraine.

He was earlier given a standing ovation at the European Parliament in Brussels.

Czech Republic to repair damaged Ukrainian armoured vehicles

The Ukrainian army’s armoured vehicles will be repaired in the Czech Republic, the Czech Defence Ministry said.

The ministry said that state-owned company VOP CZ signed a memorandum of understanding with Ukraine’s government arms manufacturer Ukroboronprom on the repairs on Monday.

“The memorandum … contains a specific plan and timetable for the repairs or securing of spare parts,” said Ales Vytecka, director of the Czech government’s AMOS agency for military cooperation, who co-signed the memorandum.

The Czech Republic has been one of the top weapons providers to Kyiv among NATO allies, supplying Ukraine with armoured personnel carriers, tanks or howitzers.

Russia may take legal action over Nord Stream investigation

Russia might take political or legal action in response to a report alleging that the US was involved in the sabotage of the Nord Stream pipelines last year, the TASS news agency reported, citing a foreign ministry official.

In a blog post, Pulitzer Prize-winning American investigative journalist Seymour Hersh cited an unidentified source as saying US navy divers had planted explosives on the pipelines in the Baltic Sea on the orders of President Joe Biden.

The White House dismissed the report as “utterly false and complete fiction”, and Norway, which is investigating the explosions, said the allegations were “nonsense”.

Mr Zelensky said Germany and France had the potential to be « game-changers » in the war. The sooner Ukraine received heavy, long-range weapons and modern planes, « the quicker this Russian aggression will end », he explained.

Although President Macron has previously signalled some openness to providing fighter jets, Mr Scholz has not.

The French leader vowed Ukraine could count on his support, with France « determined to help Ukraine to victory and the re-establishment of its legitimate rights ». Chancellor Scholz added: « The position is unchanged: Russia must not win this war. »

Because of the 11-month long Russian invasion, Mr Zelensky rarely leaves his own country and a senior Ukrainian official said that the purpose of his trip was to obtain results.

He argues that fighter jets and long-range missiles are important in addition to the Leopard 2 tanks that Western nations have recently committed to supplying. While Mr Zelensky said he had discussed the issue of combat planes in Paris, he warned there was « very little time » to provide much-needed weaponry.

The Dutch prime minister said that many sensitive issues had to be discussed before a decision could be made on supplying fighter jets. « The pros and cons – you have to make absolutely sure that you are not getting into an Article Five direct confrontation between Nato and Russia, » Mr Rutte told the BBC.

Moscow has repeatably warned the West against weapons deliveries since the war began, frequently threatening to retaliate against what it calls « provocations ».

Asked by reporters in Moscow about the growing debate over sending warplanes to Ukraine, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russia saw it as evidence of the growing involvement of the UK, France and Germany in the conflict.

« We regret this and state that such actions of these countries lead to the escalation of tension around this conflict, prolong it and make it more painful and torturous for Ukraine, » said Mr Peskov.

Chancellor Scholz agreed only recently to allow German Leopard tanks and has warned against getting involved in a « public bidding war » of weapons systems for Ukraine.

Mr Zelensky had earlier addressed a joint session of the UK Parliament in Westminster Hall, underlining his plea for fighter jets: « Freedom will win – we know Russia will lose. »

Downing Street said UK Defence Secretary Ben Wallace was investigating what aircraft could potentially be offered, but emphasised this was « a long-term solution » and that training pilots could take years.

World Opinions – agencies

L’article Analysis. Zelenskyy lobbies EU leaders as battles rage est apparu en premier sur World Opinion | Alternative Média.

Ukrainian forces have seized even more territory from Russia as they continue their counter-offensive, the country’s president has said.

Volodymyr Zelensky said troops have now retaken more than 6,000 sq km (2,317 sq miles) from Russian control in September, in the east and the south.

The BBC cannot verify these figures.

Russia has admitted losing key cities in the north-eastern Kharkiv region, in what is seen by some military experts as a potential breakthrough in the war.

Moscow describes its troop withdrawal from the region in recent days as a « regrouping » with the aim of focusing on the Luhansk and Donetsk regions in Ukraine’s east.

That claim has been ridiculed even in Russia, with many social media users there describing the stated pull-out as « shameful ».

Speaking later on Monday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Ukrainian forces had made « significant progress » in their counter-offensive, but added that it was too early to predict the outcome.

« The Russians maintain very significant forces in Ukraine as well as equipment and arms and munitions. They continue to use it indiscriminately against not just the Ukrainian armed forces but civilians and civilian infrastructure as we’ve seen, » Mr Blinken said.

Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered a full-scale invasion of Ukraine on 24 February. Russia still holds about a fifth of the country.

In his late video address on Monday, President Zelensky said: « From the beginning of September until today, our warriors have already liberated more than 6,000 sq km of the territory of Ukraine – in the east and south ».

« The movement of our troops continues, » he said.

The counter-offensive appears to have been rapid. Last Thursday, President Zelensky said Ukrainian forces had retaken 1,000 sq km, but by Sunday that stated figure had tripled to 3,000 sq km.

Mr Zelensky thanked several of Ukraine’s brigades involved in the counter-offensive, describing their fighters as « true heroes ».

He did not reveal which Ukrainian cities and villages had been liberated.

Russia’s military earlier admitted that its troops had to leave the key cities of Balakliya, Izyum and Kupiansk in the Kharkiv region. Russia now controls only a small eastern part of the region.

Significant – albeit slower – advances by Ukrainian troops have also been reported in the southern Kherson region, which borders with Crimea – a Ukrainian peninsula annexed by Russia in 2014.

UK defence officials say the Ukrainian army’s recent successes will have « significant implications » for Russia’s overall operational design.

However, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has insisted that military operations in Ukraine will continue « until all the tasks that were initially set » have been fulfilled.

Russia says its forces have been carrying out strikes in those areas retaken by Ukraine in recent days.

Valerii Marchenko, mayor of Izyum, told the BBC the Ukrainian army was in his city and the state flag had been raised.

The military is now engaged in cleaning up the war-torn city and Ukrainian forces are searching for Russian soldiers potentially hiding in people’s houses.

Mr Marchenko said that after « about 10 days », residents who had to flee the city would be able to return « safely ».

Russia has been accused of targeting civilian infrastructure in revenge for setbacks on the battlefield.

A wave of missile strikes on Sunday caused massive power cuts across north-eastern Ukraine, leaving tens of thousands of people without electricity and running water for several hours.

World Opinions – BBC News

L’article Ukraine war: We’ve retaken 6,000 sq km from Russia, says Zelensky est apparu en premier sur World Opinion | Alternative Média.

What about the surname of Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, or Zelenskyy, depending on which U.S. publication you’re reading? (The Post and the New York Times, among others, prefer the single “y,” while USA Today, the Associated Press and others go with “yy.”) To some people, I’ve read, the single-y spelling reflects a more Russian approach, with the double-y appearing more Ukrainian. One notes that the president of Ukraine’s Twitter handle is @ZelenskyyUa.

This column should have been a slam-dunk: a little copyeditorial erudition and explication, a few historical quotes for context and support, perhaps a digression into Bombay and Mumbai, or Burma and Myanmar, maybe a joke or two — how about a sly reference to the 1953 novelty pop hit “Istanbul (Not Constantinople)”? (“If you’ve a date in Constantinople / She’ll be waiting in Istanbul.”)

It should have been simple to say: Things (and people) change, including the names of things (and people), and innocuous-looking shifts in nomenclature can carry significant content, and one does well to keep up.

But then other things changed, too, and conflict turned into invasion turned into war turned into war crimes allegations turned into humanitarian cataclysm, and the potential jokes palled and I wondered whether it’s even worth the keystrokes to explain the imperialist smell of the simple article “the.”

I’m not a global sociopolitical expert (or an epidemiologist, as so many people are these days); I’m a copy editor. When I find Major Ideas bubbling up in my brain, I tend to reach for the delete key. When I stare at a photograph of four Ukrainian teenagers newly volunteered for combat, three of them wearing skaters’ kneepads and one carrying a yoga mat, I have no Major Ideas, just an inchoate, looming sense of despair.

So, quickly, then, before I lose my nerve and something even worse happens than has already happened:

Ukraine is an independent country and has been so since it declared itself free of the moldering, moribund Soviet Union in 1991 — more than 30 years ago, I underline. It is not “the Ukraine” — that is, not a province, not a territory, which is indeed the whiff given off by that “the,” as in, reaching back into history, “the Levant” or “the Crimea.”

“The ‘the’ is gone,” noted the Ukrainian Weekly (published out of Jersey City) in its issue of Dec. 8, 1991.

“It is just Ukraine,” diplomat William B. Taylor Jr. told Time in 2014 after President Barack Obama referred to “the situation in the Ukraine.” “It is incorrect to refer to ‘the Ukraine,’” Taylor went on, “even though a lot of people do it. … It kind of denies their independence, denies their sovereignty.”

Even as recently as late last month at the Screen Actors Guild Awards, the majestic Brian Cox, accepting an award on behalf of the ensemble of the series “Succession,” made mention of “what’s going on in the Ukraine” before, twice, hitting the standalone “Ukraine” loud and clear.

Look, it’s an easy stumble, and I’ve caught myself a number of times these past weeks. Perhaps you have, too.

But this ostensible sliver of a difference, this “the,” is, to borrow an idea attributed to, of all people, Vladimir Lenin, the difference between “who” and “whom”: who does and to whom it is done, who owns whom, or asserts that they do.

As to Kiev and Kyiv, that’s simpler: Kyiv is the appropriate transliteration of the Ukrainian name of the country’s capital, whereas Kiev is the name of the city in Russian. (An online campaign — KyivNotKiev — was started in 2018 by the Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.) It doesn’t take a big thinker, I think, to understand why the Ukrainians would prefer the one over the other.

About chicken Kiev, a dish that was more than likely invented, a century or two ago, neither in Russia nor in Ukraine but in Paris, and that seems to exist mostly to squirt lava-hot butter onto your shirtfront: I’m not certain that renaming it chicken Kyiv, as the British supermarket chain Sainsbury’s has just done, makes a statement any more effective than “freedom fries” did in 2003 when someone was mad at the French, as someone always seems to be.

What about the surname of Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, or Zelenskyy, depending on which U.S. publication you’re reading? (The Post and the New York Times, among others, prefer the single “y,” while USA Today, the Associated Press and others go with “yy.”) To some people, I’ve read, the single-y spelling reflects a more Russian approach, with the double-y appearing more Ukrainian. One notes that the president of Ukraine’s Twitter handle is @ZelenskyyUa.

Those of us who follow publishers’ usages and standards at least as much as we set them out will continue to watch the Zelensky(y) matter with interest — and will be reminded that words, even “the” small ones, even their smallest components, can carry a big meaning.

World Opinions – washingtonpost

L’article Analysis. Kyiv vs. Kiev, Zelensky vs. Zelenskyy, and the immense meaning of ‘the’ est apparu en premier sur World Opinion | Alternative Média.