Sudan army calls on ex-soldiers to re-enlist, sporadic fighting persists

Sudan's army called on Friday for reservists and retired soldiers to re-enlist amid a deadly conflict with a rival paramilitary and asked the United Nations to change its envoy to the country.

The call to former soldiers to present themselves at their nearest military base looked aimed at strengthening the army in its battle with the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) paramilitary, but may add fuel to the conflict days into a truce.

Sporadic fighting has continued all week, though the ceasefire monitors Saudi Arabia and the United States said earlier on Friday that compliance was improving, but the army moves may indicate it is gearing up for a long conflict.

An army spokesperson said enlistment would be voluntary. Sudan's existing armed forces law says, however, that retired soldiers remain as reservists, eligible for compulsory re-enlistment. That does not include those who only did Sudan's mandatory two-year military service.

Army leader Abdel-Fatteh al-Burhan wrote to U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres on Friday asking him to replace his envoy Volker Perthes, sources in the Sudanese presidency said.

The sources did not give details but Perthes, who was appointed in 2021, had pushed a political transition to civilian rule that some in the army opposed.

"The Secretary-General is shocked by the letter," U.N. spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said on Friday. "The Secretary-General is proud of the work done by Volker Perthes and reaffirms his full confidence in his Special Representative."

Army sources said the military had also intercepted weapons smuggled into a Red Sea province of Sudan by a foreign country, without giving details.

The army and RSF began a seven-day truce on Monday intended to allow access to aid and services after battles since mid-April that have killed hundreds and created a refugee crisis.

Despite a drop in fighting, there have still been reports throughout the week of clashes, artillery fire and air strikes.

Saudi and U.S. representatives "cautioned the parties against further violations and implored them to improve respect for the ceasefire on May 25, which they did," it added.

Residents of Khartoum who have stayed in the city suffer from breakdowns of electricity, water, health and communication services.

Many homes, particularly in well-off areas, have been looted, along with food stores, flour mills and other essential facilities.

"It's all part of the chaos of this war," said Taysir Abdelrahim, who found out from abroad her home was looted. "Even if we were in Sudan there's nothing you can do about it."

One organisation helping children with cancer said a guesthouse it operates had been raided, including its safe and patients' rooms. The children had been previously transferred.

AID DELAYS

The RSF has denied looting, blaming people who have stolen its uniforms. Its fighters are largely bunkered down in Khartoum neighbourhoods, while the army relies on air power.

It is unclear if either side has gained an edge.

Some 1.3 million people have fled their homes, either across borders or within the vast nation.

The Health Ministry has said at least 730 people have died, though the true figure is likely much higher.

With half of Sudan's roughly 49 million people in need of aid, the U.S. Agency for International Development said grain to feed 2 million for a month was being sent by ship.

However, it is unclear how that and other aid will reach Sudanese without security guarantees and bureaucratic approvals.

"We are in a race against time to get aid to millions of people before the rainy season arrives in June," said Islamic Relief programme manager Eltahir Imam.

The Saudi-U.S. statement said some aid had been delivered to Khartoum on Friday, without giving details. The Red Cross has said it managed to deliver supplies to seven hospitals.

Fighting has flared in several major cities of west Sudan in recent days, according to human rights monitors living in the area, most recently overnight in El Fashir, capital of North Darfur state.

Zalingei and El Geneina have had a communications blackout amid militia attacks. Residents of Nyala said calm had returned after days of fighting, although water was still cut off.

Reuters

Here’s how a change in perspective can help relieve financial stress and allow you to address life’s more fundamental problems.

When you think about it, the entire concept of money is pretty bizarre.

Governments produce paper bills and metal disks adorned with pictures of deceased leaders—and their citizens center their lives around the getting, keeping, and using of these objects.

What’s more, the paper and metal objects themselves are not even necessary these days, as our money is more likely to be numbers on a screen that we spend by clicking buttons or tapping cards.

It’s almost like the whole system is made up.

Of course, just because the financial system is a human invention doesn’t mean money doesn’t occupy a very real place in our lives. Anyone who has ever lost sleep when rent was due can attest to the “realness” of money stress. But acknowledging the fact that money is a construct can help us think more rationally about our finances.

Here’s how to navigate the unreal reality of money so you can make the best possible decisions with your finances and your life.

Collective Psychosis

Jason Vitug, financial wellness expert and best-selling author of Happy Money, Happy Life, wryly describes money as “a collective psychosis we all share.” But Vitug is quick to follow this up by explaining that “money is real as a form of exchange.”

This is the kind of basic economics that you probably learned in high school social studies. Widely accepted currency is an elegant solution to the inefficiencies of bartering. The problem is that both society and individuals lose sight of what money truly is.

“Money is storage,” Vitug says. “It is not an object in itself. It has a use and it needs to flow, which is something that people often forget.”

In other words, money only has value and power because it can be exchanged. But both individually and collectively, we tend to think the money itself has value and power—which leads us to make some seriously disordered decisions about money.

Money and Mood

Since money does not technically exist, we put our own emotional meaning on it. Whether you are letting the fluctuations of your investments dictate your daily mood, chasing the high of hitting the jackpot on a one-armed bandit, or avoiding any purchases for fear of running out, you are having an emotional response to your finances. That’s because money is emotional, even if we rarely think of it that way.

Here’s the good news: We know how to improve our emotional state. “Move to change your mood,” Vitug says. “There is a meditative aspect of physical activity, and movement alters our mood immediately in the moment.”

Scientific studies have proven the link between exercise and mood, which gives us a clear playbook for how to make good decisions when feeling financially overwhelmed. Vitug recommends anything from going for a walk to doing a couple of yoga poses to simply standing up for a few moments when you become emotionally dysregulated.

Getting your body moving can help you emotionally contextualize your financial stress, instead of letting yourself spiral. Once you have done that, you are in a better position to tackle the problem you want money to solve.

Know the Problem

“Money can solve money problems,” Vitug says. “It can’t solve life problems.”

Unfortunately, people often try to solve life problems with money. Remembering that money is storage can help us better recognize when we are trying to use it to solve a life problem.

For example, a devoted parent may believe working overtime is the best way to show their love. The extra hours lead to fatter paychecks that the parent spends on the family. But children almost universally prefer their parents’ presence to their presents. By working overtime, this parent is trying to solve a life problem—how to show love and devotion for the family—with a money solution.

When you are feeling dissatisfied about your finances, it can be helpful to ask yourself what problem you are trying to solve with money. It may be that you have a money problem that money will solve. But you may be trying to use money as a solution to a life problem, in which case, money will not fix anything.

To help you figure out if you’re trying to solve a money problem or a life problem, ask yourself this question: “What would a sudden infusion of cash change about this situation?” For instance, the workaholic dad might recognize that buying a new bike for his child will not fix their relationship—especially if the kid is sad because Dad was a no-show at the school play.

Intentionality and Reality

“Working on the bigger picture of the life you want to live can help you let go of thinking of money as an object,” Vitug says.

An intentional vision of your life gives you a destination to work toward. When you see money as a component of the specific goals you want to accomplish, “money loses its ‘thingness,’” Vitug explains.

And when we stop viewing money as a “thing” to get, keep, or spend, and instead recognize it as the tool it is, we are freer to make the choices that align with the life we want.

** Emily Guy Birken is a personal finance writer. Her books include The 5 Years Before You Retire, Choose Your Retirement, Making Social Security Work for You, and End Financial Stress Now.

Fast Company

According to psychologists, habits rather than conscious choices account for 40% of your behaviour. Your daily routine and everyday activities, which you might believe to be inconsequential, actually make up a substantial portion of your life and can tell a lot about your personality and how you're feeling right now.

The proverb "habits make a man" is accurate for everyone. Your life's habits and decisions have formed a long pattern that makes up your personality.

We have one such entertaining yet educational personality test for you today. Your boldest personality qualities are revealed by the way you squeeze your toothpaste. Discover how by diving in.

You squeeze from the top

You have a stubborn nature if you squeeze the toothpaste from the top, towards the cap.

You have a strong sense of independence and focus. You don't trust people readily and will use whatever means necessary to help you reach your goal. Although you have a strong determination, you can be cynical. You enjoy working independently and find it difficult to rely on others. You can, however, be cunning and take advantage of others to advance.

You squeeze from the middle

You are a practical, driven individual who tends to be a little hurried.

Although you are not the neatest or most organised person, once a problem arises, you have the ability to put your differences aside and find a solution. You enjoy being in public, are quite gregarious, and have many friends. You have a good sense of balance in your life and emotional stability.

You keep it in shape

You like to be by yourself, you fantasise a lot, and you're creative. You could occasionally feel as though you exist solely inside your thoughts.

You exhibit tenderness, gentleness, amiability, consideration, and tolerance. You may be very forthright and kind at the same time.

You are always open to sharing your many views and ideas with people.

You squeeze from the bottom

You are a special person if you squeeze the toothpaste tube from the bottom and fold it as you go. Even though this is the best approach to extract toothpaste, most people ignore it. But you're extremely organised and a perfectionist.

You are overly prudent and problem-solve in original methods. You don't waste anything and make maximum use of the available resources to finish your task. You lead a similarly disciplined lifestyle, with careful preparation and organisation. You put in a lot of effort and are dependable.

You squeeze from the centre

You are like the vast majority of individuals on the earth if you squeeze the toothpaste from the centre.

You are a person who excels at everything and is looking for their niche. You lead a busy, independent life that is also social. Although you might not be the most organised person, you are tough. When an issue arises, you tackle it head-on. You are well liked and have many close friends. You enjoy social interaction while maintaining emotional stability.

Times of India

After wearing masks in public for three long years, many Japanese are signing up for smiling classes to learn how to smile again without looking awkward.

Smiling used to be a natural response, but apparently, three years of hiding behind a mask have left many Japanese unable to smile naturally. Some of them are now paying so-called smiling educators to teach them how to display their pearly whites again without looking awkward. They participate in specialized classes where they are taught how to stretch and flex various parts of their faces and even their neck muscles to smile properly and actually convey happiness without looking weird.

“A smile is only a smile if it’s conveyed,” Keiko Kawano, a radio personality-turned-entrepreneur, told The Japan Times. “Even if you’re thinking about smiling or that you’re happy, if you have no expression, it won’t reach the audience.”

Kawano said that she has taught smiling classes to around 4,000 people so far and has also helped train around 700 certified “smile specialists” since she started her work in 2017. However, demand for her services has skyrocketed recently after people started giving up the medical masks they have been wearing for the last 3 years.

“I’ve heard from people who say that even if they’re able to remove their masks, they don’t want to show the bottom half of their faces, or that they don’t know how to smile anymore,” smile trainer Miho Kitano said. “Some say that they see more wrinkles around their eyes after using them more to smile, or they feel like their face is drooping because they haven’t been using it as much as before.”

Smiling instructors like Kitano claim that exercising one’s smile is just like training other parts of the body. It’s all about the muscles, so exercising the expressive facial muscles is the most important thing.

A standard smiling education class begins with a stretching session, after which participants are asked to pick up small handheld mirrors and observe themselves as they follow the instructions of a trainer who teaches them how to flex their facial muscles to convey the warmest and brightest expression of happiness possible.

Interestingly, instructional smiling classes have been a part of Japanese culture for several decades, because of the people’s notorious difficulty to convey their feelings through facial expressions, but they’ve once again risen in popularity after the Covid-19 pandemic restrictions were lifted.

Oddity Central

Nigeria's state-owned oil company NNPC Ltd said on Thursday it had renewed a production sharing contract with Total, China National Offshore Oil Corp and others, a major step to resolving disputes on a deepwater oil block in the Niger Delta.

Oil Mining Lease 130 is located offshore Niger Delta at water depths of over 1000 meters. The block contains the producing Akpo and Egina fields and the Preowei discovery.

NNPC said in a statement that the agreements will pave the way "to firm up final investment decision on the Preowei amounting to USD$ 2.1 billion."

NNPC said the agreements would convert the oil mining lease into a petroleum mining licence, in line with a new law.

Nigeria has struggled with low oil production due to massive crude theft, pipeline vandalism and underinvestment. Oil majors in the country are leaving onshore operations to concentrate on deepwater projects.

Reuters

The court of appeal has ordered Ambrose Owuru, presidential candidate of the Hope Democratic Party (HDP) in the 2019 elections, to pay a fine of N40 million for filing a frivolous suit to stop the inauguration of Bola Tinubu, president-elect.

Jamil Tukur, the justice who read the lead judgment of a three-member panel of the court, held that Owuru committed a gross abuse of the court process by filing a frivolous, vexatious and irritating suit to provoke the respondents.

Owuru had filed the suit in April challenging the outcome of the 2019 elections.

He asked the court to declare the president’s seat vacant and swear him in as the authentic winner.

In the suit marked CA/CV/259/2023, Owuru urged the appeal court to prohibit President Muhammadu Buhari, Abubakar Malami, the attorney-general of the federation and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), from going ahead with Tinubu’s inauguration.

He argued that he was the winner of the 2019 presidential election and had not spent his tenure.

Owuru maintained that Buhari has been usurping his tenure of office since 2019 because the supreme court has not determined his petition challenging the election’s outcome.

However, in its judgment on Thursday, the appellate court held that the appellant’s grievances against the 2019 presidential election were not only strange but uncalled for because they had been pursued up to the supreme court and were dismissed for want of merit.

The appeal court held that Owuru’s bid to resuscitate the case that died in 2019 was aimed at making the lower courts go on a collision course with the supremacy of the apex court.

The court ordered the appellant to pay N10 million each to Buhari, the AGF, INEC and Tinubu — the first to fourth defendants in the suit.

The Cable

Southern and Middle Belt Leaders (SMBLF), a coalition of pressure groups, says there are increased cases of killings and a rise in the cost of living in the country after the general election.

In a communique issued after a meeting with various stakeholders from the regions, on Wednesday, the coalition expressed concerns over the rising insecurity in the country, noting that agencies and state governors were not showing commitment to addressing the challenge.

“We express shock at the escalation of killings, pogroms, and total destruction of entire communities and means of livelihood in several targeted areas in select states since after the 2023 general election, mainly in Plateau, Benue, Nasarawa, Taraba, Southern Kaduna, Kebbi, and various states of the Southeast, where hundreds of armless citizens are being slaughtered daily,” the statement reads.

“Note with grave concern that the nation’s security agencies have continued to show unwillingness to decisively deal with the perpetrators of these monstrous acts, or rather, deliberately turned a blind eye to the atrocious occurrences, thereby exposing the country to a seeming state of war.

“It is shameful that non-state actors are allowed to openly tote dangerous weapons about and rampage the country unhindered.

“Condemn in unmistakable terms, the cavalier and totally nonchalant attitudes of the outgoing governors of some states over the collapse of security in certain parts of their states, which has continued to exacerbate the worrisome situation, and hope their successors will show greater commitment to the welfare of their citizens who are the victims of this sad situation.

“Further warns that the continuous abdication of government’s primary and abiding constitutional responsibility of safeguarding the lives and properties of its citizens is an irresistible signal to Nigerians to exercise their inalienable rights of self-defence, by all means.

“Again deplores the inhuman plight of thousands of indigenous people in the Middle Belt states driven out of their homes and have now become internally displaced persons (IDPs) for years as well as several other internally displaced persons in different parts of the country, left to live in conditions that impinge on their human rights as citizens of this country.

“Hence, calls on the federal government to, without any further delay, facilitate the return and reintegration of these Nigerians to their communities.”

ELECTION OUTCOME AND JUDICIARY

The group said the judiciary should be cautious as Nigerians were monitoring the election petition proceedings, adding that the outcome of the trial must be in line with the constitution.

“With regards to the 2023 general election, SMBLF commends Nigerian youths for their courage and astuteness in expressing their interest in the future of this country and calls on them not to become discouraged by some of the seeming outcomes,” the group added.

“Accordingly, calls on the youths of Nigeria to remain undeterred and emboldened to carry their foresight of building a new Nigeria to fruition, and to note that the struggle for the needed change has just begun.

“SMBLF strongly urges the nation’s judiciary to be aware that all Nigerians are watching with very keen interest the ongoing judicial processes at the presidential election petition tribunal as well as various election tribunals across the country.

“Further cautions the judicial arm, at all levels, to be mindful of the fact that the present process is a true test of our effort at building a country based on the rule of law and respect for our constitution.

“It is the expectation of Nigerians that the outcome of the processes will be a reflection of the provisions of the constitution of the country, which must be sacrosanct, and the rights of all affected parties upheld based on the provisions of the laws of Nigeria.

“SMBLF notes with serious concern, the continued snowballing level of indebtedness being incurred by the federal government, particularly the recent request for a $800 million World Bank loan, and calls on the federal government to rescind that request.

“Decries the rising cost of living in the country and the hyperinflation rate, confining a vast majority of ordinary Nigerians to a dire state of survival.

“Implores government at all levels to take urgent, practical steps to rejig the economy, check inflation and help improve citizens’ well-being and prospects.”

Signatories to the communique were Edwin Clark, an Ijaw national leader, Ayo Adebanjo, leader of Afenifere, Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu, president-general, Ohanaeze Ndigbo Worldwide, Pogu Bitrus, national president, of Middle Belt Forum, and Emmanuel Essien, national chairman, Pan Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF).

The Cable

Adamu Adamu, has confessed that he was a novice in education sector when President Muhammadu Buhari appointed him Minister of Education in 2015.

Adamu, who is the longest serving minister, stated this at a valedictory session with officials and heads of parastatals of  the Ministry on Thursday.

He said he was forced to apply wisdom by appointing some professors of education and other good hands, with the help of the officials of the Federal Ministry of Education to enable him kick off and make progress.

“I didn’t know anything about education sector when I was appointed Minister except superficially. But when Buhari decided to make me Minister of education, I called some people to assist me work on policy document on education because I was novice in the sector. I shared my idea with them and they assisted me greatly, and I remain grateful to them for these years,” he said.

The minister appreciated the President who found him worthy and trusted him with such a responsibility, “even when I was apparently not ready and unprepared for such task”.

He said: “I was busy making recommendations and suggestions to the President on who to appoint into his cabinet in 2015. All of a sudden, he announced my name to my surprise and that was it. We worked together till 2019.

“In 2019, I approached the President, and suggested that he reshuffle his cabinet because, in the eyes of many, it was unusual in our society for a President to work with same Ministers for four years. Buhari had graciously allowed his Ministers to stay in office for four years. Ordinarily, Ministers stay in office for two years before they are reshuffled.

“But I know him very well and I knew it will be difficult for him to do that. But I decided to make it easy for him by promising to bring people that would do the job better for me and others who served as Ministers in the first tenure,” he said.

“I promised him that I will give him names of competent people from at least, 19 northern states. So, I suggested to him to drop all the Ministers that worked with him in the first tenure including me, but I knew it would be difficult for him. But to confirm that I can do the job, I gave him a name from Bauchi state whom I had expected him to replace me with in the cabinet. That was how Maryam Katagun became Minister of the Federal Republic.”

He said he brought her to replace him and somehow but surprisingly, the President kept her and also kept him.

“Up till now, he never explained to me why he did that. However, I remain eternally grateful to the President for trusting me with such responsibilities. He has shown me love and trust over the years. In 1994, when he picked up assignment in Petroleum Trust Fund (PTF), he gave me an offer to work with him as Personal Assistant. That was how I found myself in Abuja,” the outgoing Minister said.

Adamu appreciated other people that worked with him particularly the Ministers of State that worked with him.

He said particularly Goodluck Opiah, who served briefly as Minister of State for Education and described him as a brother whom he worked closely with to achieve the desired results in education sector.

Daily Trust

Herders in the country have lamented that President Muhammadu Buhari failed them.

The herders under the umbrella of the Coalition of Pastoralists Association of Nigeria said Buhari never had an engagement with herders since he took the oath of office.

The Vice President, Tabital Pulaaku International, Nigeria Chapter, Auwal Gonga stated this while addressing journalists in Abuja on Thursday.

Gonga was flanked by the National President, Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria, Baba Ngelzarma, and President General, Fulbe Global Development and Right Initiatives, Salim Umar.

He said, “He never engaged stakeholders. Even if he thinks he can’t engage us, we have members who are former ministers, and former governors among us. One of them is Isa Yuguda, why can’t Buhari call him and engage him? It is wrong for the government to have done so and that is why they have failed.” he said.

Gonga called on the incoming administration to do better in uniting herders and farmers in the country.

“We are calling on the new government to change policy and strategy. It should create a ministry of livestock. Tanzania, and Cameron among others have it. We believe this coming administration will do well to unite both the farmers and the herders. Unfortunately, our brother Buhari failed.”

Umar, however, denied that the herdsmen were responsible for the killings in Plateau, Oyo, Gombe, and Benue, among others, adding that their members were also victims in the crisis.

He called on the security agencies to arrest and prosecute all those involved in the heinous crime.

Umar said, “We call on the state governments to note that activities of the vigilante in the past had only resulted in more heightened reprisals from bandits who have been unleashing terror in the surrounding areas.

“The security agencies in charge of these areas should do more to protect the innocent people who are continuously harassed by bandits. We believe the security agencies have the wherewithal to put a stop to this dastardly act of cowardice against unarmed civilians.”

Punch

WESTERN PERSPECTIVE

The head of the Russian private military contractor Wagner claimed Thursday that his forces have started pulling out of Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine and handing over control to the Russian military, days after he said Wagner troops had captured the ruined city.

Yevgeny Prigozhin, a convicted criminal and Wagner’s millionaire owner with longtime links to Russian President Vladimir Putin, said in a video published on Telegram that the handover would be completed by June 1. Russia’s Defense Ministry didn’t confirm this and it wasn’t possible independently to verify whether Wagner’s pullout from the bombed-out city has begun after a nine-month battle that killed tens of thousands of people. Prigozhin said his troops would now rest in camps, repair equipment and await further orders.

Ukraine’s deputy defense minister, Hanna Maliar, said Thursday that regular Russian troops had replaced Wagner units in the suburbs but that Wagner fighters remained inside the city. Ukrainian forces maintain a foothold in the southwestern outskirts, she said.

Prigozhin’s Bakhmut triumph delivered a badly needed victory for Putin, whose invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 has lost momentum and now faces a Ukrainian counteroffensive using advanced weapons that Kyiv’s Western allies have provided.

According to top Ukrainian presidential advisor Mykhailo Podolyak, that counteroffensive is already underway. He said Thursday that it should not be anticipated as a “single event” starting “at a specific hour of a specific day.” Writing on Twitter, Podolyak said that “dozens of different actions to destroy Russian occupation forces” had “already been taking place yesterday, are taking place today and will continue tomorrow.”

Prigozhin has long feuded with the Russian military leadership, dating back to Wagner’s creation in 2014. He has also built a reputation for inflammatory — and often unverifiable — headline-grabbing statements from which he later backtracks. During the 15-month war in Ukraine, he has repeatedly and publicly accused the Russian military leadership of incompetence, failure to properly provision his troops as they spearheaded the battle for Bakhmut, and failure to credit his troops for their successes and sacrifices.

Wagner’s involvement in the capture of Bakhmut has added to Prigozhin’s standing, which he has used to set forth his personal views about the war’s conduct.

“Prigozhin is … using the perception that Wagner is responsible for the capture of Bakhmut to advocate for a preposterous level of influence over the Russian war effort in Ukraine,” the Institute for the Study of War, a Washington think tank, said.

His frequent critical commentary about Russia’s military performance is uncommon in Russia’s tightly controlled political system, in which only Putin can usually air such criticism.

Seth Jones, director of international security at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said Prigozhin appears to be pressuring the Russian Defense Ministry to take a more active role and responsibility in Bakhmut but he questioned whether regular troops are capable of taking over from Wagner.

“If you pull those forces out of Bakhmut, you lose your entire sort of first line of offensive and then defensive operations, because the Russians aren’t going to use — haven’t used -- their seasoned military forces” for major advances, he said. “You don’t want to waste well trained capable forces in areas where they’re likely to get killed. So removing them would almost certainly allow the Ukrainians to retake territory.”

With Russian forces suffering high casualties and their inability to integrate their, forces, he added, they “just they look miserable.”

Nikolai Petrov, senior Russia and Eurasia research fellow at Chatham House, was skeptical about Prigozhin’s claim the Russian military will take over.

“Nobody knows if that will happen,” Petrov said, adding that Prigozhin is a “populist and he’s playing the cards of hatred” against ineffective Russian military commanders.

Earlier this week, Prigozhin again broke with the Kremlin line on Ukraine, saying its goal of demilitarizing the country had backfired, acknowledging Russian troops had killed civilians and agreeing with Western estimates that he lost more than 20,000 men in the battle for Bakhmut.

Meanwhile, Russia unleashed a barrage of Iranian-made Shahed 36 drones against Kyiv in its 12th nighttime air assault on the Ukrainian capital this month but the city’s air defenses shot them all down, Ukrainian authorities said Thursday.

The Kremlin’s forces also launched 30 airstrikes and 39 attacks from multiple rocket launchers, as well as artillery and mortar attacks across Ukraine, the Ukrainian military said.

At least one civilian was killed and 13 others were wounded in Ukraine on Wednesday and overnight, the Ukrainian presidential office said Thursday.

In other developments Thursday:

—Russia attacked a dam on the Vovcha River in Karlivka, 40 kilometres (24 miles) west of Donetsk, destroying it and raising a flooding risk for three villages, Gov. Pavlo Kyrylenko said. The villages might be evacuated, he said on Telegram.

— Russia and Belarus signed a deal formalizing deployment of Russian nuclear weapons on Belarusian territory. Control of the weapons will remain with Moscow. Putin had announced in March that his country planned to deploy tactical, comparatively short-range and small-yield nuclear weapons in Belarus.

— A U.K.-based technology firm says pro-Russia hackers faked the location data to form a giant letter “Z” — a symbol of Russia’s war in Ukraine — in the Black Sea. Geollect says location data for commercial ships has been remotely spoofed so vessels near Crimea appear to form a 65-mile (105-kilometer) long “Z” on open-source maritime tracking sites. Russia seized the Crimean Peninsula from Ukraine in 2014. The false location data increased the risk of collisions, the firm warned.

—A total of 106 Ukrainian prisoners of war have been released in another major exchange with Russia, chief Ukrainian presidential aide Andriy Yermak said. The eight officers and 98 soldiers released fought in the battle for Bakhmut. The bodies of two foreigners and a Ukrainian were also returned to Ukraine. Prigozhin posted a video of himself standing next to two wooden coffins, one draped with an American flag and another with a Turkish flag. Prigozhin said the bodies were being handed over to Ukrainian forces and provided the American’s name but the State Department couldn’t confirm it, pending an investigation and due to privacy concerns. Russian officials confirmed the swap, without providing any details on how many Russians were returned.

— The Russian Foreign Ministry announced that five Swedish diplomats are to be expelled from the country. A statement said the decision is a response to Stockholm’s “openly hostile step” to declare five employees of Russian foreign missions in Sweden “personae non grata” in April. Moscow additionally announced its decision to close its consulate in Goteborg in September, as well as its “withdrawal of consent” to the activities of the Swedish consulate in St. Petersburg. Russia and Western countries have often expelled each other’s diplomats since the war began.

RUSSIAN PERSPECTIVE

Kiev regime must cease to exist – ex-Russian president

There is no doubt that Ukraine has no future in its current form, former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev said on Thursday, outlining three possible scenarios for the collapse of its statehood and assessing the risks of renewed conflict in Europe and a global war.

“This conflict will last for long. For decades, probably. This is a new reality,” the former Russian leader, now the vice-chair of the national security council, told journalists upon wrapping his visit to Vietnam earlier this week.

“It is necessary to destroy the very nature of the Nazi government in Kiev,”Medvedev added, claiming that otherwise the conflict could drag on perpetually, with “three years of truce, two years of conflict, rinse and repeat.”

In a Telegram post on Thursday evening, Medvedev elaborated that the collapse of Ukraine’s statehood is inevitable, and could either happen quickly, or through a “relatively slow erosion, with the gradual loss of remaining elements of sovereignty.” He went even further to outline exactly how he believes the “Kiev regime” would cease to exist.

In the first scenario, parts of Western Ukraine will come under control and eventually be annexed by the neighboring European Union states, Medvedev claimed. The remaining “no man’s land” wedged between Russia and the EU protectorate will become the “new Ukraine,” still striving to join NATO and posing a threat to Russia. In that case, he believes, the armed conflict will shortly reignite, likely becoming permanent with a risk of quickly escalating into a full-blown world war.

In the second scenario, Ukraine would get a government-in-exile but de-facto cease to exist, with control over its entire territory split between the EU and Russia. In that case, according to Medvedev, the risk of world war is “moderate,”but the “terrorist activity by Ukrainian neo-Nazis” on the territories annexed by the EU neighbors would drag on.  

Medvedev said he would prefer the third scenario, in which Ukraine’s Western territories voluntarily join their EU neighbors, while the Eastern and some central regions exercise their “right for self-determination sealed in Article 1 of the UN Charter.”

Officials in Moscow have said repeatedly that the root cause of the ongoing crisis in Ukraine stems from decades of Western disregard of Russian national security. Back in 2021, the Kremlin made an attempt to push NATO to negotiate on long-standing political and defense grievances, but was ignored. In late February 2022, Russia launched its military operation to curb the threat, and now calls for a neutral, non-aligned status for a demilitarized and denazified Ukraine, insists Kiev drops its plans to join NATO and the EU and demands Kiev confirms its non-nuclear status.

Medvedev was president of Russia between 2008 and 2012, and then prime minister until 2020. Currently, he serves as the deputy head of the national security council, which is formally chaired by President Vladimir Putin. Despite his prior reputation as a moderate liberal, he has been far more hawkish on Ukraine than the official Kremlin.

** Ukrainian attacks on Russian nuclear plants foiled – FSB

Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) has said it intercepted a Ukrainian saboteur group that was planning a terrorist operation on two nuclear power plants in the country ahead of May 9, when the Soviet Union’s victory over Nazi Germany is celebrated.

The suspects were aiming to destroy more than 30 pylons bearing high-voltage lines linked to the nuclear power plants, the FSB announced in a statement on Thursday.

Before being detained, the Ukrainian agents were able to blow up one transmission tower and mine four others on power lines leading to the Leningrad nuclear plant near St. Petersburg, according to the statement.

They also placed improvised explosive devices at pylons connected to the Kalinin nuclear power plant in Tver Region, 350km northwest of Moscow, it added.

Ukraine’s Foreign Intelligence Service, which according to the FSB was behind the plot, hoped that the sabotage “would cause the shutdown of nuclear reactors, disruption of routine operations of the nuclear power plants, and deliver serious economic and reputational damage to Russia,” the statement claimed.

The FSB said two Ukrainian citizens were arrested, while another, who is believed to be in Belgium, was placed on the wanted list.

The three men were allegedly recruited by Ukrainian intelligence in September last year and underwent training at camps in the Kiev and Nikolaev Regions of Ukraine. They illegally crossed into Russia in Pskov Region from Belarus, which they had entered from Poland, the agency said.

Russian operatives discovered caches prepared by the suspects, containing 36.5kg of C-4 plastic explosives, 61 foreign-made electric detonators, 38 electronic timers and two Makarov pistols with ammunition, the statement read.

Two Russian citizens were also detained on suspicion of providing means of communication and vehicles with fake license plates to the Ukrainian saboteurs, the FSB added.

AP/RT