President Bola Tinubu has been accused of nepotism following the concentration of most of his recent appointments in the Southwest and Lagos State in particular.

Daniel Bwala, the spokesperson of the Atiku Abubakar presidential campaign council for the 2023 general election made the accusation while speaking on Channels TV Politics Today.

He claimed that Tinubu had beaten ex-president, Muhammadu Buhari, in nepotism.

Buhari was accused of making most of his appointments from the northern part of the country while in office, but Bwala said in the case of Tinubu, only a section of the southern part of the country was getting attention.

Bwala, a chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), stressed that the president had ignored the Southsouth and Southeast in his appointments so far.

He said: “APC as a political party is a party that commenced the idea of nepotism. Remember when Buhari was in power, people complained about nepotism…but he’s like iPhone 13 Promax.

“By the time Tinubu took over, his own even exceeded iPhone 14 and went straight to iPhone 15 Promax in the sense that his appointments have generated a conversation around the country that the government is being concentrated in one part of the country over and above others.

“In the case of Buhari, you could argue that he favoured the North…but you could see that it is populated by Northeast, Northwest, and Northcentral. There was a democratic distribution of appointments there but when it comes to this present government, if you look at it, the Southeast and the Southsouth are left behind.

“The dominance of the appointments is in the Southwest. And even when you go further in the Southwest, there are quite a number of people in the Southwest who will tell you that the appointments were concentrated in Lagos.”

He argued that the constitution stated that the country should not be run in a way that would reflect the dominance of one part over the other, stressing that Tinubu is breaking the law.

The former member of the All Progressives Congress (APC), said the president may not be able to enjoy loyalty from all sections of the country, following his obvious disregard for other parts of Nigeria.

It’s too early – APC

Reacting, a member of the ruling APC, Aliyu Audu, who was also featured on the programme, said criticisms of the government should be constructive.

He argued that it was too early to accuse the president of nepotism, stressing that there were more appointments to be made.

While pointing out that the concerns have been noted, he assured that Tinubu would not leave any part of the country behind.

“We should critique our own, we should praise our own but we should understand where to draw the line. We should always have an objective, we should not criticize just for the sake of criticism, we shouldn’t criticize for the sake of causing disaffection among Nigerians,” he said.

Daily Trust

A new Nigeria can only be born with a new constitution says the leader of the Church of Nigeria Anglican Communion,Henry Ndukuba. 

Ndukuba the Archbishop Metropolitan and Primate of all Nigeria declared in Nnewi: "We need a new constitution that would reinforce true federalism, granting states more powers to address local challenges and drive development initiatives."

Delivering his opening address at the just concluded 14th  General Synod of the Church  of Nigeria Anglican Communion at St Mark's Anglican Church Nnewichi Ndukuba said: "To address the pressing issues and lay a solid foundation for a stronger future, Nigeria must embark on the arduous but essential task of crafting a new Constitution that reflects the aspirations and values of all people and culture.

"One is convinced that what 

we need is a totally new Constitution made by a Sovereign Representation of the Ethnic Nationalities of this country."

He stressed further that this new Constitution must "reflect the nation's identity and diversity and be a unifying force that recognizes and protect our diversity."

He noted that Nigeria, "is a diverse and dynamic nation, which has seen significant progress over the years, but it also faces numerous challenges. The current constitution has limitations that hinder the nation's growth and stability", the Primate concluded.

French defense attache Emmanuel Pasquier and his team have been told to leave Burkina Faso, according to Reuters. France recalled its ambassador from the country, following his expulsion by

leaders of the coup who took power in September 2022.

“The government of Burkina Faso has decided… to withdraw the approval of Mr. Emmanuel Pasquier, defense attache at the French embassy in Burkina Faso for subversive activities,” the Burkinabe Ministry of Foreign Affairs wrote in a letter to Paris on Thursday, granting “a period of two weeks to leave Burkinabe territory,” Reuters reported.

According to the letter, the French military mission in the capital, Ouagadougou, will be closed while Burkina Faso will also close its defense office in Paris.

“The accusation of subversive activities is obviously fanciful,” a spokesperson for the French Foreign Ministry told AFP in Paris.

French television channels La Chaine Info and France24, as well as Radio France Internationale, have been suspended by authorities in Burkina Faso and correspondents from French newspapers Liberation and Le Monde have been expelled, local journalist Kader Nalima Bado told RT on Saturday. Nalima Bado claimed that the news has been perceived in his country as a "good sign" because of local perceptions that French media companies were one-sided in their reporting.

Russia Today

WESTERN PERSPECTIVE

Top US general: Removing Russia from Ukraine a ‘very high bar’

Army Gen. Mark Milley said a quick outcome to the war in Ukraine is unlikely, noting that a Ukrainian victory in the conflict is a “very high bar” and would take a “very long time.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has resisted negotiating a peace with Russia since the country’s invasion began more than a year and a half ago, citing unserious terms from Moscow. He said the best outcome would be to remove Russia from all Ukrainian territory.

Milley, who is the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and is retiring from his post at the end of this month, said that objective won’t be possible, however, in the country’s current counteroffensive.

“There’s well over 200,000 Russian troops in Russian-occupied Ukraine. This offensive, although significant, has operational and tactical objectives that are limited, in the sense that they do not — even if they are fully achieved — they don’t completely kick out all the Russians, which is the broader strategic objective that President Zelensky had,” Milley said in a CNN interview Sunday. 

“That’s going to take a long time to do that. That’s going to be very significant effort over a considerable amount of time,” he continued.

He refused to say exactly how long he believes it will take, citing the changing aspects of war, but he doubted that the conflict will end any time soon.

“I can tell you that it’ll take a considerable length of time to militarily eject all 200,000 or plus Russian troops out of Russian-occupied Ukraine,” he said. “That’s a very high bar. It’s going to take a long time to do it.”

Ukraine’s long-awaited counteroffensive has made slow progress against Russian lines in the country’s east. 

That slow pace has worried Western allies, and Milley has previously both defended the Ukrainian effort and said its success will require patience.

“This is going to be long; it’s going to be hard; it’s going to be bloody,” Milley said in July, adding that the effort “is far from a failure, in my view.” 

“That’s a different war on paper and real war,” Milley said. “These are real people in real machines that are out there really clearing real minefields and they’re really dying. So when that happens, units tend to slow down … in order to survive, in order to get through.”

** Russian air attack on Ukraine's Lviv injures one, sparks fire - Ukraine's officials

Western Ukrainian city of Lviv was rocked by blasts in the early hours on Tuesday, with local officials saying the Russian air attack injured one man and caused a major fire at an industrial warehouse.

"A woman and a man were found under the rubble in Lviv. According to preliminary information, the woman was not injured. The man is in a serious condition," Lviv's region Governor Maxim Kozitsky said on the Telegram messaging app.

Reuters could not independently verify the report. The scale of the attack and full extent of the damage was not immediately known. There was no immediate comment from Russia.

Lviv city mayor Andriy Sadovyi said air raid alerts for the region were called off after nearly three hours at around 0300 GMT.

Since the start of the war in February 2022, Russia has carried out countless attacks on Ukraine's territory far away from the front lines, aiming at destroying infrastructure critical to Kyiv's defence, energy and agriculture.

But the New York Times reported late on Monday that a reported Russian attack that killed at least 17 people earlier this month in a crowded market in the eastern Ukrainian city of Kostiantynivka, appeared to be a "tragic mishap" on Ukraine's part.

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy condemned the attack at the time, saying Russia was behind it.

"Evidence collected and analyzed by The New York Times, including missile fragments, satellite imagery, witness accounts and social media posts, strongly suggests the catastrophic strike was the result of an errant Ukrainian air defense missile fired by a Buk launch system," the newspaper reported.

Reuters could not verify the report. There was no immediate comment from Ukraine or Russia.

RUSSIAN PERSPECTIVE

Situation in Russian economy better than previously projected on some key figures — Putin

Russian President Vladimir Putin believes that the economic situation on a number of key indicators is better than projected earlier.

"I would like to say at once that on a number of key indicators the situation is much better than previously projected," he said at a meeting on draft federal budget for 2024-2026.

Despite negative forecasts, Russia’s GDP may grow by 2.8% by the end of the year, Putin said. "Back in April this year’s GDP growth was expected at 1.2%. Initially some even projected [GDP] contraction, though later the outlook was adjusted to 1.2% growth, though in fact we have already surpassed this mark, and GDP growth may reach 2.5% by the end of the year, maybe even up to 2.8%," the president added.

Russia’s economy has coped with an unprecedented external pressure and fully recovered, with the country’s GDP having reached the level of 2021, Putin noted.

"Overall it is safe to say that the stage of recovery of the Russian economy is over. We coped with an absolutely unprecedented external pressure, the sanctions pressure of some ruling elites in the so-called Western bloc, some ruling elites in certain countries that we call unfriendly," he said, adding that "Russia’s GDP has reached the level of 2021."

Moreover, Russian President has tasked the government and the Central Bank with taking measures to support the national currency.

"Obviously one of the main problems is related to inflation acceleration now, with the ruble’s weakening being clearly the key factor here," he said.

"It is necessary to clearly understand its reasons and take timely measures. I am confident that the government, the Central Bank will work professionally," Putin noted.

** Russian Su-34 hits Ukrainian brigade’s deployment point in Kupyansk direction

The Russian Battlegroup West’s Su-34 fighter-bomber delivered a strike on a temporary dislocation point of Ukraine’s 103rd territorial defense brigade in the Kupyansk direction, Battlegroup Spokesman Sergey Zybinsky told TASS.

"During combat in the Kupyansk area, the crew of a Su-34 fighter-bomber of the Battlegroup West delivered an airstrike on a temporary deployment point of the [Ukrainian] 103rd territorial defense brigade near Peschanoye," said Zybinsky.

According to him, the crews of Ka-52 and Mi-29 attack helicopters and assault aviation carried out 14 missile strikes on concentrations of manpower, weapons and military hardware of Ukraine’s 14th mechanized brigade and territorial defense units near Sinkovka, Kotlyarovka, Makeyevka and Terna.

In addition, in counterbattery fire, the battlegroup’s artillery destroyed a US-made 155mm M109 Paladin self-propelled howitzer system and three mortar crews near Peschanoye, Krakhmalnoye, Sinkovka and Stelmakhovka.

In all, the enemy lost more than two platoons, a car and nine unmanned aerial vehicles, Zybinsky said.

The Hill/Reuters/Tass

According to a survey by Open society foundations, more than a third of 18-35 year olds favour a military regime or an authoritarian leader. How did it come to this?

Do people still believe in democracy? This was the question asked by a recent Open Society Foundations poll, which for the second consecutive year surveyed more than 36,000 people in 30 countries around the world to hear their opinions and feelings about human rights, democracy, and other important issues facing countries around the world.

The "Open Society Barometer: Is Democracy Effective?" survey, one of the largest global polls ever conducted, was conducted between May and July 2023 and the results, published in the run-up to International Democracy Day, are surprising, to say the least.

The concept of democracy is still widely popular in every region of the world: 86% of respondents say they would prefer to live in a democratic state and 62% believe that democracy is the best possible form of government. In Italy, the results were 91% and 69% respectively.

Only 20% of people said that authoritarian states are more capable of satisfying citizens' demands and are more efficient in dealing with major issues at home and in the international arena.

What is surprising, however, is that although trust in democracy is still high across the board, the age group that is most sceptical about its effectiveness is the youngest one, those aged 18 to 35.

If we look at the data disaggregated by age group, the percentage of citizens who consider democracy to be the best possible form of government drops to 55% among the youngest, while it is 61.4% among the 35 to 55-year-olds and 69% among those older than 56. 

What is more, 42% of those aged 18-35 said that a military regime is a good way to govern a country, while 35% are in favour of a 'strong' leader who dispenses with elections and parliament. In Italy, the percentages drop to 24 and 32%, respectively. 

But how did we get here - and what does it mean for the survival of democracy?

"It is really worrying that the lowest support is in the youngest group, the 18 to 35-year-olds because today we have the largest generation of young people. Half of the world is under 30," says Natalie Samarasinghe, Global director for advocacy at Open Society Foundations.

But, she says, context is important. "It is a combination of factors. We are facing a generation that has experienced a series of shocks: economic crises, COVID-19, climate change, and it is more than proven that authoritarian states have not handled these crises well, but neither have democracies. When you grow up in an era of instability and crisis, you have little trust in politicians. So I think this translates to scepticism about the system as a whole."

In addition to the feeling that politicians have failed to deal with the major crises of recent years, there is also the impression 'that they are worse off' than their parents in terms of socio-economic conditions and, finally, the lack of representation: "How many young people feel that they have a say in democracy when the issues they fight for are never at the top of the agenda?", asks Samarasinghe.

This disaffection for democracy thus stems from a general and continuous mismatch between what citizens demand and what is then actually delivered by the political class. On average, about one-third of the respondents do not trust politicians to work in their interests and address the issues they care about. Primarily poverty, inequality and human rights, climate change and corruption.

The responsibility of other generations

Gianfranco Pasquino, Professor Emeritus of Political Science, agrees with Samarasinghe not only on the socio-economic difficulties that have marked the last generations but also on the responsibility of the political class. "Parties have become inadequate structures. Parties teach democracy, practise it and show how to practise it. A great American political scientist wrote a book in the early 1940s saying that parties are born with democracy and democracy is born with parties. Consequently, democracy dies if parties die and instead thrives if parties recover. But I do not see this effort on the part of politicians," Pasquino explains.

However, the professor also attributes some of the responsibility for young people's disaffection with the democratic system to the older generations, who are progressively more pro-democracy. Among the over 56 interviewed, the most authoritarian regimes are not particularly popular: only 20% are open to a military state, and 26% to a strong leader.

A considerable difference with younger people, but one that is easily explained according to Pasquino: "Quite simply, many of them have lived part of their lives under an authoritarian regime and know that they would never want to go back. Instead, they have had positive or at least better experiences with democracy than young people. But it would have been better if they had passed on this information, feelings and emotions to their children. Perhaps they did not do it enough."

Is democracy at risk of extinction?

So what does this data tell us about the health and future of democracy? Is there really a risk that the democratic system will gradually fade away? Neither expert sees this as even remotely possible.

"Democracies continue to appear, and the established ones have never fallen. It is actually wrong to say that there is a crisis of democracy, there are problems in the functioning within some democracies, for example,Hungary, for example, Poland, but democracy is not in crisis," says Professor Pasquino.

Samarasinghe goes even deeper: "The trend has always been and will be towards more freedom. And I think this survey also shows that there is this desire. Only that people now see a discrepancy between this desire and their lives. But I don't think their solution is 'OK, we will turn to an authoritarian system'. It may be a short-term solution, but not a long-term one. The values that people personally hold dear, including human rights, are so deeply rooted even in countries that currently have more authoritarian governments, that they cannot possibly fade away."

Rather, the concern is another: what can happen during this period of misalignment. "I think political leaders, national and international, need to keep in mind what the consequences of inaction are. It is not just a matter of saying: 'OK, we don't want to give up coal production now because we have this industry in the lobby and we might lose the next election.' The whole system is at stake here."

Euronews

Cassiy Johnson always wanted a second income source. But selling concrete candles and coffee mugs swirled in nail polish from her Howell, Michigan, home proved too time-consuming and heavy to ship.

Then, she tried designing T-shirts.

It was April 2020, and Johnson had been furloughed from her full-time job as a daycare salesperson, where she made $70,000 per year. Her Etsy shop launched the next month — and in the fall, it brought in $30,000 in revenue in just two months, she says.

Even better, she adds: She spent less than 30 minutes per day on the side hustle, running it entirely on her phone, she says. The rest of her time went toward her new sales job, making $17 per hour. The following year, she made $90,000 off Etsy and decided to run the online store full-time, she says.

The store has brought in more than $766,400 in lifetime revenue, according to documents reviewed by CNBC Make It. Roughly a third of that is profit, Johnson estimates: She brought in $100,900 in her highest-earning month to date, and was able to pocket $26,100 of that money.

Johnson initially ran her business from her phone. She has since moved it to a bigger screen, she says.

Mary Colleen Photography

The store’s success spawned two additional businesses and enabled her husband to quit his job, she says.

“My husband was having a really stressful time at work, and I knew we could live off $90,000 [per year],” says Johnson, 31. “It was a magical time, to be able to be like, ‘You know what, honey, just quit your job.’”

Here’s how Johnson developed her side hustle, giving herself more free time and turning it into three different income streams.

A ‘print on demand’ side hustle

Johnson’s Etsy shop, which she prefers not to name to prevent potential copycats, was inspired by a YouTube channel. The account was dedicated to teaching viewers about “print-on-demand” stores, where sellers create designs on blank T-shirt templates — called mock-ups — and send orders to manufacturers, who print and ship them.

It seemed “simple and easy,” Johnson says. Her strategy is straightforward, she adds: Figure out what “people are already looking for [and] put something up for sale in front of them.”

Once per month, Johnson does a research deep dive, searching Etsy’s site for trends worth jumping on. She also looks for inspiration while shopping at Walmart and scrolling social media, she says.

She uses graphic design platform Canva to create each new shirt, superimposing the final result onto a pre-purchased photo of a mock-up and uploading it to her Etsy page. The shirt doesn’t actually exist until someone orders it, sending an automated request to a manufacturer and distributor like Printify, which is integrated into Etsy.

Many of her designs involve popular phrases, either in unique fonts or with slightly altered language for demographics like nurses or teachers. Grandmother-themed shirts, for example, feature catchphrases like “My favorite people call me” followed by Nonnie, Mimi, Gammy or more.

Occasionally, Johnson buys an illustration from a designer that “parodies” or “duly references” popular characters or songs — carefully walking a “gray line” to avoid copyright infringement, she says.

She also sells customizable shirts, where people can plug their own text into existing design templates. Her most popular offering in 2021 was a repeatable design featuring letters that were half-cheetah print, half-neon font, she says.

“I made designs that look exactly the same, that say hundreds of different things,” says Johnson.

New streams of income

Two years ago, Johnson realized her business could lend itself to another side gig.

Print-on-demand sellers buy photos of models wearing blank T-shirts, and photoshop their designs on top. Those photos are called mock-ups, and Johnson wanted to sell them to other sellers.

In March 2021, she opened an Esty store called StopMockAndRoll, featuring photos of herself wearing blank shirts for others to buy. It’s a nice side income, but nowhere near as lucrative as print-on-demand, she says.

Last year, Johnson added a third income stream. The YouTubers who taught her how to start her business retired, she says, so she decided to film, edit and star in her own print-on-demand tutorial videos.

She gained 1,000 followers in her first six weeks, largely due to her already-established presence in print-on-demand Facebook groups, she says. Today, her channel has more than 118,000 subscribers.

Johnson declined to share her exact YouTube earnings, but says it has outpaced her Etsy profits over the last six months.

The grit that ‘really sets me apart’

Making those YouTube videos takes up to 20 hours per week, Johnson says. Print-on-demand selling, by comparison, is a lot less time-intensive — but it’s not effortless.

“It’s a grind,” says Johnson. “You have to do the easy stuff every day for weeks and months and years on end, until it works.” Then, you have to constantly stay up-to-date on your trend research, so your products can remain competitive against every other print-on-demand seller, she adds.

Anyone can do it, she says — but to reach her level of success, making money without sacrificing her personal life, you’ll need some grit.

“I think that’s what really sets me apart,” Johnson says. “I’m not afraid to put in the hours, and I don’t have the expectation of like, ‘What if I fail?’ So what if I do? Then I’ll find out.”

CNBC

Oil extended an upswing as OPEC+ supply cuts tightened the market, with Saudi Energy Minister Abdulaziz bin Salman due to address a conference on the kingdom’s crude policy and view on net zero.

Global benchmark Brent advanced above $94 a barrel after a three-week run of gains that boosted prices by 11%. With Saudi Arabia and Russia prolonging supply curbs to the year-end, Abdulaziz is set to be among keynote speakers at the World Petroleum Congress in Calgary later on Monday.

Crude in London is nearly 10% higher year-to-date as the OPEC+ linchpins curb production and the demand outlook brightens, with the US potentially avoiding recession just as refiners in China go all-out. Against that backdrop, crude stockpiles have dropped, while speculators boosted net-bullish wagers on Brent and US benchmark West Texas Intermediate to a combined 15-month high.

Oil’s surge will fan inflationary pressures around the globe just as central bankers, including those at the US Federal Reserve, try to determine whether they have already done enough to beat back the pace of price gains by hiking interest rates. It’ll be an important week for monetary policy, with decisions due from the Fed and the Bank of England, among others.

“Focus is likely to turn to the Fed meeting this week, but growing supply tightness and eroding inventories likely to continue underpinning bullish sentiment.’,”said Vandana Hari, founder of consultancy Vanda Insights.

In the physical market, refined products like diesel are increasingly showing warning signs, with the world’s refineries proving powerless to make enough of the industrial fuel. Prices have far outstripped those for crude.

Widely-watched crude timespreads are also signaling tightness, with the gap between Brent’s two nearest contracts at 90 cents a barrel in backwardation. That’s the widest since November and reflects scarce near-term supplies.

Bloomberg

Nigeria’s Tobi Amusan has emerged winner of the Diamond League trophy for an astonishing third consecutive time.

On Sunday night in Oregon, Amusan with a time of 12.33s emerged winner of the fiercely contested 100m hurdles event to shut her critics after a disappointing outing in Budapest.

Amusan with Sunday’s remarkable performance made history as the second woman in Diamond League history after Dawn Nelson-Harper to win a hat-trick of 100m hurdles titles.

Interestingly, it was in Oregon where Amusan won the world title last year and also set a world record in the process.

For Sunday’s race, the hard-charging Jasmine Camacho-Quinn of Puerto Rico finished second in 12.38 while American Keni Harrison was third in 12.44.

Danielle Williams of Jamaica who dethroned Amusan in Budapest finished fourth in 12.47.

The athletic season has been a torrid one for Amusan but she emphatically proved on Sunday she is arguably the best sprint hurdler in the world.

The sweet victory in Oregon brings a triumphant close to what has been a difficult summer for Amusan.

Many recall how Amusan was left shattered in the build-up to the World Championships in Budapest after she was provisionally suspended by the Athletics Integrity Unit for whereabouts failures.

The 26-year-old was declared by a disciplinary tribunal on the eve of the meet’s kickoff and it wasn’t surprising when Amusan uncharacteristic finished sixth in the 100m hurdle final in Budapest.

With many not initially sure whether the AIU will file an appeal against Amusan at the Court of Arbitration for Sports, the focus was already shifted to next year’s Olympic Games in Paris.

However, with a better frame of mind to prepare, Amusan came out smoking to win her third Diamond League trophy on Sunday.

The world record holder first made history in 2021 when she ran a 12.42 African record to become the first Nigerian to win a Diamond League title.

For those who said it was a fluke, Amusan went on to successfully defend her title the following year, running a new 12.29 Weltklasse meeting record in Zurich, Switzerland.

And on Sunday Amusan made it a hat trick of wins with a season-best time of 12.33s in Eugene Oregon.

PT

President Bola Tinubu has appointed two new ministers in charge of the Ministry of Youth.

They are Jamila Bio Ibrahim (Minister of Youth) and Ayodele Olawande (Minister of State For Youth).

This was disclosed in a statement by Ajuri Ngelale, Special Adviser to the President on Media & Publicity.

Ngelale said the appointments are subject to confirmation by the Senate.

“The President has further approved the nomination of Ayodele Olawande to serve as the Minister of State for Youth, pending his confirmation by the Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.”

“Jamila Bio Ibrahim is a young medical doctor and most recently served as the President of the Progressive Young Women Forum (PYWF). She has also served as the Senior Special Assistant to the Kwara State Governor on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

“Ayodele Olawande is a community development expert and youth leader in the governing All Progressives’ Congress (APC). He most recently served in the Office of the Special Adviser to the President on Innovation from 2019 to 2023.

“President Tinubu charges the above-mentioned nominees to ensure that they consistently reflect the dynamism, innovative zeal, and unyielding productivity that are synonymous with the young people of Nigeria as they discharge their duties,” the statement read.

Daily Trust

RUSSIAN PERSPECTIVE

Ukraine could have avoided conflict – Trump

Ukraine could have avoided hundreds of thousands of deaths and lost less land if it had reached a peace deal with Russia before the conflict began last February, former US President Donald Trump told NBC News in an interview aired on Sunday.

The loss of Ukrainian territory to Russia is “something that could have been negotiated,” Trump told NBC host Kristen Welker, adding that “a lot of people expected” Kiev to abandon its claims to “Crimea and other parts of the country” in exchange for peace.

“So they could have made a deal where there’s less territory [lost] than Russia has already taken,” Trump continued. “They could have made a deal where nobody was killed…they would have had a Ukrainian country. Now nobody even knows if Ukraine is going to be totally taken over.”

By “other parts of the country,” Trump was likely referring to the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics, whose sovereignty Russian President Vladimir Putin recognized three days before Russia’s military operation in Ukraine began. Following referendums last September, both regions have now joined the Russian Federation, along with the formerly Ukrainian territories of Kherson and Zaporozhye. Crimea voted to rejoin Russia in 2014.

Trump then repeated his claim that if elected next year, he would have a peace deal worked out within 24 hours.

“I’d get [Russian President Vladimir Putin] into a room, I’d get [Ukrainian President Vladimir] Zelensky into a room, then I’d bring them together and I’d have a deal worked out,” he told Welker. 

“It would have been easier if the war didn’t start, and you’d have hundreds of thousands of people living, most importantly,” he noted. “But I can get it done and I can get it done quickly.”

Trump then claimed that he kept Ukraine and Russia “from doing anything”during his presidency, arguing that the low oil prices that characterized his term in the White House would have made it too costly for Russia, a leading oil exporter, to finance a military operation.

Trump’s position on Ukraine is diametrically opposed to that of President Joe Biden, who has vowed to bankroll Kiev’s military “for as long as it takes” to defeat Russia on the battlefield. With the exception of businessman Vivek Ramaswamy, all of Trump’s opponents in the Republican primary field support some sort of continued military aid to Ukraine.

Among them is Trump’s former vice president, Mike Pence. Speaking to CNN on Sunday, Pence accused Trump of “embracing the politics of appeasement,” and “letting Vladimir Putin have what he wants.” 

** Russian Armed Forces deliver 11 strikes on Ukrainian port infrastructure over week

Russian forces have delivered 11 massive surgical strikes on port infrastructure targets, personnel locations and the production and storage facilities of Ukrainian unmanned motorboats over a week, the Russian Defense Ministry said.

"Over the September 9-16, 2023 period, the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation have delivered 11 massive strikes with sea-and ground-based long-range high-precision weapons as well as with unmanned aerial vehicles on port infrastructure targets, the production and storage locations of unmanned motorboats, fuel products, ordnance, Western armaments and stations of Ukrainian military personnel," the ministry said.

It specified that the strikes disrupted supplies to Ukrainian troops in the Donetsk and Zaporozhye areas and eliminated a large arsenal of the Ukrainian army’s armaments.

WESTERN PERSPECTIVE

Ukraine recaptures village near Bakhmut, Zelenskiy says

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Sunday his forces had recaptured an eastern village on the southern flank of Bakhmut, in what would be Ukraine's second significant gain in three days in its grueling counteroffensive against the Russian army.

"Today I would like to particularly commend the soldiers who, step by step, are returning to Ukraine what belongs to it, namely in the area of Bakhmut," Zelenskiy said in his nightly video address to the nation.

The heavy fight for the Klishchiivka village, spread on higher grounds about 9 km (6 miles) south of Bakhmut, has taken weeks and comes after Kyiv said on Friday it had gained control of a tiny nearby village of Andriivka.

The gains have been among the most significant in Ukraine's counteroffensive, which began in June and has struggled to break through entrenched Russian lines.

Oleksandr Syrskyi, commander of Ukraine's ground forces who is also in operational control of the counteroffensive, posted a video of Ukrainian forces displaying the blue and yellow national flag on ruined buildings with the sound of fighting in the background.

"Klishchiivka was cleared of the Russians," Syrskyi, who has often visited the Bakhmut frontline to devise strategy and boost the troops' morale, said on the Telegram messaging app.

Reuters could not verify the Ukrainian reports and there was no immediate comment from Moscow. On Sunday, Russia's defence ministry said in its daily briefing that its forces kept up their attacks near Klishchiivka, which had a pre-war population of around 400.

Ukrainian military analysts said this week the liberation of settlements near Bakhmut would allow the military to advance from the southern flank in the Bakhmut area.

"Ukraine always gets its own back," Zelenskiy's chief of staff Andriy Yermak wrote on the Telegram.

Zelenskiy thanked the successful units which he said were the 80th airborne assault brigade, the 5th assault brigade, the "glorious 95th" and a national police assault brigade.

Ilia Yevlash, spokesperson for Ukrainian troops in the east, said the battle inflicted "powerful damage" on Russian airborne units, the "Akhmat" battalion of Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov, Storm-Z made up of Russian criminals, the Russian General Staff's military intelligence, and motorised rifle units.

"So, now we have gained a base that will allow us to continue to develop offensive actions and liberate our land from the invaders," Yevlash wrote on Telegram.

Ukrainian Deputy Defence Minister Hanna Maliar said Russia was still trying to regain lost positions at the village.

"Today we had to fight off enemy attacks all day," she said.

Russia has been in control of Klishchiivka since January. Moscow still controls large swaths of Ukraine's land in the east and south.

Klishchiivka, just like Andriivka and other settlements in eastern Ukraine, has been turned into ruble in the long months of the fight for Bakhmut, which fell into Russian hands in May.

** Ukraine farm worker killed when tractor hit mine

One farm worker died and another was injured on Sunday in Ukraine's southern Kherson region after their tractor hit a mine while ploughing a field, Kherson Governor Oleksandr Prokudin said.

Liberated after a long Russian occupation, the Kherson region is heavily mined and farmers risk their lives trying to work in fields that have not yet been cleared of mines.

"I'm once again appealing to the residents of the region. Do not start any work until the fields have been inspected by sappers. Take care of your safety," Prokudin said on the Telegram messaging app.

Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmygal earlier this year said that Russia's invasion of Ukraine had created the world's largest minefield with an area of 250,000 square kilometres (96,525 square miles).

RT/Tass/Reuters