DIRS.INFO The most relevant business & tech news

☆ Biden and Putin Have Dueling Messages on the Mutiny in Russia
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-26 | by ( David E. Sanger | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

“We were not involved,” Mr. Biden insisted. But the lead item on the agenda is how to word political promises to Ukraine about how, and perhaps when, it might expect to join NATO. It was just such a drifting to the West, and toward the alliance, that contributed to Mr. Putin’s drive to invade the country last year. Since the start of the war in Ukraine, anticipating and undermining Russian information operations has been a key element of Mr. Biden’s strategy. That was why the president, over the objection of many in the intelligence agencies, decided to rapidly declassify intelligence in the fall of 2021 that Mr. Putin was planning to invade Ukraine.

Persons: ” Mr, Biden, “, Lithuania —, Putin Organizations: United States, NATO, Mr, Russian Locations: United, Vilnius, Lithuania, Belarus, Soviet Union, Ukraine, Bucha

☆ Russian troops still build battlefield defenses like they did in World War II, and it's one of their rare successes in Ukraine, experts say
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-22 | by ( Michael Peck | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Russian troops have spent the past several months constructing intricate fortifications in Ukraine. Ukrainian troops now have the tough task of fighting their way through those trenches and barriers. Current Russian fortification doctrine has seen "little methodological change" since the Cold War, according to the RUSI report. BEN STANSALL/AFP via Getty ImagesClearing minefields is difficult because Russian mines have multiple triggers and anti-tampering devices. In addition, Russia did not sign the 1997 Ottawa Treaty banning anti-personnel mines, which has allowed its forces to "freely utilize victim-initiated" anti-personnel mines, RUSI said.

Persons: —, Doce, BEN STANSALL, Ukraine isn't, Dominika Zarzycka, RUSI, Obama, Trump, Biden, Michael Peck Organizations: Service, Red Army, Britain's Royal United Services Institute, Technologies, Russian, REUTERS, Bradley, Getty, US, Pentagon, Defense, Foreign Policy, Twitter, LinkedIn Locations: Ukraine, Stalingrad, Velyka Blahovischenka, Kherson Oblast, Russia, Luhansk, Crimea, Posad, Kherson, Ukrainian, England, AFP, Russian, Finland, Nemishaieve, Bucha, Ottawa, North, South Korea, Forbes

☆ South Africa's Ramaphosa arrives in Ukraine on African peace mission
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-16 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

KYIV, June 16 (Reuters) - South African President Cyril Ramaphosa arrived in Ukraine on Friday as part of an African peace mission, the South African presidency said on Twitter. Ramaphosa is expected to meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Friday and then travel to Russia for talks with President Vladimir Putin in St Petersburg on Saturday. The South African presidency posted footage of Ramaphosa arriving by train in the Bucha area near Kyiv after travelling via Poland. Along with Senegal President Macky Sall, Ramaphosa is heading a delegation including leaders from Zambia, the Comoros, and Egypt's prime minister. The peace mission could propose a series of "confidence building measures" during initial efforts at mediation, according to a draft framework document seen by Reuters.

Persons: Cyril Ramaphosa, Ramaphosa, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, Vladimir Putin, Macky Sall, Putin, Pavel Polityuk, Timothy Organizations: Twitter, Ukrainian, Reuters, Timothy Heritage, Thomson Locations: Ukraine, Russia, St Petersburg, Bucha, Kyiv, Poland, Russian, Senegal, Zambia, Comoros, Belarus

CNN —An African delegation on a peace mission to Ukraine headed by South African President Cyril Ramaphosa was greeted with explosions and forced to shelter in bunkers amid air strikes on the capital Kyiv. The African leaders are expected to travel to Russia Saturday to hold talks with President Vladimir Putin. “Russia’s missile attack took place just as African leaders arrived in the capital,” Andriy Yermak, head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, said Friday. He has also come under fire after the US ambassador to South Africa, Reuben Brigety, said South Africa supplied arms to Russia in December last year. He added that the future of this agreement would be discussed at his meeting with the African leaders on Saturday.

Persons: Cyril Ramaphosa, Volodymyr Zelensky, Vladimir Putin, “, ” Andriy Yermak, “ Putin, ”, Joe Biden, Antonio Guterres, ” Yermak, ” Ramaphosa, Macky Sall, Hichilema, Azali Assoumani, Andriy Kostin, Valentyn Ogirenko, Andrzej Duda, Ramaphosa, Reuben Brigety, Vincent Magwenya, Putin, Moscow, ” Putin Organizations: CNN, South, UN, Russia, Ukraine's, Reuters, Polish Border Guard, United Nations General Assembly Locations: Ukraine, Kyiv, Russia, ”, Senegal, Zambia, Comoros, Egypt, Congo, Uganda, Africa, Bucha, Poland’s, Warsaw, Poland, South Africa, America, Latin America

☆ Kherson's unending nightmare: Occupation, shelling and floods
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-11 | by ( Max Hunder | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

Maybe it's the same with tragedy," said 52-year-old Radetska, who is deputy head of a school in the southern Ukrainian city. Pupils include 31 on the Russian-held east bank that was particularly badly hit by the floods, including the town of Oleshky. The past week's events have been a fresh tragedy for Radetska and Remyha, who both recounted threats, imprisonment and torture during Russia's occupation. He said the hospital's staff took risks to give illicit assistance to local Ukrainian soldiers left in the city after the occupation. Russia's FSB did not immediately respond when asked to comment on to the allegations made by Remyha and Radetska.

Persons: Iryna Radetska, Leonid Remyha, Remyha, Remya, Radetska, hasn't, that's, Max Hunder, Mike Collett, White, Frances Kerry Organizations: Russian, Reuters, Thomson Locations: Kherson, Moscow, KHERSON, Ukraine, Ukrainian, Russia, Dnipro, Kyiv, Oleshky, Radetska, LIBERATION, Kherson region, Russian

☆ Before-and-after photos show Ukraine's swift restoration of Bucha, once a byword for the horrors of Russian occupation
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-05 | by ( Ellie Zolfagharifard | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: 1 min

RFE/RL's Serhiy Nuzhnenko was one of the first photojournalists to enter the town of Bucha after Russian troops rolled in — and came back the year after to see it transformed. A main street in Bucha photographed on March 1, 2022, during a pause in fighting, and then again more than a year later in May 2023. Serhiy Nuzhnenko/RadioSvoboda.org/RFE/RL/InsiderHe returned to take photographs of the exact same sites where he had captured the horrors of the war a year earlier. City officials said more than 450 bodies of civilians were recovered from the Bucha after Russia's invasion, according to Politico.

Persons: Serhiy Nuzhnenko Organizations: RFE, Politico Locations: Bucha, —

☆ Russia's being more cautious with its tanks and trying to hide them after heavy losses in battle, but it's shooting itself in the foot
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-28 | by ( Ryan Pickrell | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +9 min

Heavy Russian tank and armored vehicle losses have led Russia to change its tactics, according to a new report. A Ukrainian soldier checks a wrecked Russian tank outside of the village of Mala Rogan, east of Kharkiv, on April 1, 2022. "It is pretty rare to find a Russian tank that hasn't blasted ERA on every single surface they can conceivably get it on, including somewhere it's really counterproductive," Watling said. While ERA is quite effective, the Ukrainians know where the weak points are to one-shot kill a Russian tank, though it's not always easy to get a clean shot off. Destroyed Russian tank is seen outside of Izyum district of Kharkiv Oblast, Ukraine on October 13, 2022.

☆ Opinion: How will Russia’s war end? Zelensky’s representative in the US has an unflinching view
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-16 | by ( David A. Andelman | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +17 min

Ukraine's ambassador to the US, Oksana Markarova, greets Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky as he arrives in Washington on December 21, 2022. From the start, our president has been very vocal, saying that we need to liberate Ukraine within its internationally recognized borders. We heard it also from our strategic partners here, and even at the recent phone call of our president with President Xi. Andelman: So why did President Zelensky recently have a long conversation with Xi Jinping? Andelman: You know President Zelensky very well personally.

☆ Facebook is wrong to say news lacks economic value, says Canada PM Trudeau
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-09 | by ( Ismail Shakil | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Speaking to a parliamentary committee about the Trudeau government's legislation on Monday, a Meta official said news has a social value, but not an economic value to the company. "If we are being asked to compensate these publishers for material that has no economic value to us, that's where the problem is," Meta's head of public policy in Canada, Rachel Curran, told the committee. Facebook's stance against paying news content "shows how deeply irresponsible and out of touch they are," Trudeau told reporters in Ottawa. Their main objection is paying for links to news articles posted on their websites that they say would be unsustainable for their businesses. "Someone reporting on the horrors in Bucha (in Ukraine) is not trying to get likes on their Facebook page," Trudeau said.

☆ Russia's version of NATO is crumbling, with even some of its closest allies frustrated by Putin's failing war in Ukraine
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-09 | by ( Sinéad Baker | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +11 min

CSTO, Russia's equivalent of NATO, was never a powerhouse, but relations have become more strained. And Frankopan said that countries had likely stopped trusting Russia's military abilities. Marin also said that CSTO members don't seem interested in taking big risks to protect the alliance's future. AP Photo/Felipe Dana, FileRussia a 'toxic partner'According to Frankopan, regional backlash to Russia's invasion of Ukraine could be happening for multiple reasons, including ideological objections to Russia's brutal tactics. Marin said the Ukraine invasion had made Russia a "rather toxic partner" to most of its post-Soviet neighbours.

☆ Massive incendiary attack in Bakhmut shows Russia's 'scorched earth' tactics have turned the eastern Ukrainian city to rubble
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-06 | by ( Katherine Tangalakis-Lippert | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

The eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut was bombed in an apparent incendiary attack on Friday. Video shows the city ablaze with a bright glow, demonstrating Russia's "scorched earth" tactics. "The Kremlin or Prigozhin might have decided to resort to incendiary weapons as a last roll of the dice to force out Ukrainian troops." Videos circulated on social media early Friday, showing the Ukrainian city ablaze with a glow that prompted military analysts to suggest chemical weapons had been used. "The use of these horrific arms may violate the 1983 Protocol on Prohibitions or Restrictions on the Use of Incendiary Weapons.

☆ Gamers are using a secret level to dodge Russian censorship and share news about the war in Ukraine
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-03 | by ( Chris Panella | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Gamers are using a secret room in "CS:GO" to share news about the Ukraine war with Russian players. A Finish newspaper designed the room to bypass Russian censorship and get the news to citizens. Players can find the secret room and read information about Russia's shocking war crimes and high casualties in the ongoing conflict. A map shows Russia's civilian targets in the war, mass graves in Bucha and Irpin, 70,000 Russian deaths in the war so far, and more. They wrote that while "Countless Russians are unaware of what is happening in Ukraine," the secret room is where "they are forced to see the truth with their own eyes."

CNN —A mural depicting a fallen Ukrainian soldier executed by Russian forces in 2022 has appeared in the heart of Kyiv on the side of a government building. The sighting was celebrated in a Facebook post by the Ukrainian parliament on Saturday. In the video, he was seen pulling a cigarette and saying: “Slava Ukraini (Glory to Ukraine)” – before fighters off camera fired several shots at him. Glory to Ukraine.”Zelensky posthumously awarded Matsiyevsky Ukraine’s highest honor, the “Hero of Ukraine” medal later that month. There, a common idea arose to create a mural in Kyiv,” the Parliament said.

☆ After a year of heavy losses, Ukraine's military is juggling a 'very uneven' force as it prepares for major fighting, expert says
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-28 | by ( Constantine Atlamazoglou | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

Ukraine's military is gearing up for offensives against Russian forces in spring and summer. Mustafa Ciftci/Anadolu Agency via Getty ImagesWhen Russia invaded in February 2022, Ukraine's military had about 196,000 active personnel and 900,000 in reserve, according to the International Institute of Strategic Studies' 2022 Military Balance report. The Western approachAn instructor briefs Ukrainian soldiers at a training center near Yavoriv in April 2017. The training they provided accompanied other efforts by Kyiv to reverse two decades of post-Cold War decay that weakened the Ukrainian military. "This is a continuous struggle in the Ukrainian military," Kofman said.

☆ Taras Stepanenko and Ruslan Malinovskyi keep playing despite Russia's invasion
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-27 | by ( Ben Church | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +9 min

Amid all the chaos and confusion, Stepanenko decided that his family would be safer hiding in the basement of their home. Midfielder Taras Stepanenko leads Ukraine out against Brentford B on March 23. A career amid conflictIn addition to representing his country, Stepanenko is proud to play for Shakhtar Donetsk, which is one of Ukraine’s biggest clubs. Like Stepanenko, he sees playing football as his national duty and a way of repaying those fighting on the frontline. Both Malinovskyi and Stepanenko will be key members of the Ukrainian national team in its bid to qualify for the European Championships, hosted by Germany, in 2024.

☆ Opinion: A chilling insight into life for deported Ukrainian children
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-19 | by ( David A. Andelman | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +14 min

She spoke with writer David A. Andelman about the remarkable mission to bring the Ukrainian children home. Here, Yana picks up the story from the moment the children and their grandmother crossed the border into Russia. The children went to a Russian school. David A. Andelman: Tell us about the school where the children went? They did not do anything to purposely hurt the Ukrainian children.

☆ Kremlin critic Yashin defiant after losing appeal against long jail term
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-19 | by ( Andrew Osborn | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Yashin's appeal was turned down two days after his fellow Kremlin critic Vladimir Kara-Murza was jailed for 25 years on charges of treason and also, like Yashin, "knowingly spreading false information". "The sentence handed down to me is staggering: eight-and-a-half years in prison for a 20-minute speech on the Internet. After Yashin was convicted in December, President Vladimir Putin was asked about the case during a news conference, and asked who Yashin was. In court, Yashin predicted that Russia would one day be a very different place. "I will become one of those who will build a new, free and happy Russia on the ruins of Putinism."

☆ With Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine, NATO Readies for Combat on Its Borders
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-17 | by ( Steven Erlanger | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

BRUSSELS — Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the costliest conflict in Europe since World War II, has propelled the North Atlantic Treaty Organization into a full-throttled effort to make itself again into the capable, war-fighting alliance it had been during the Cold War. The shift is transformative for an alliance characterized for decades by hibernation and self-doubt. After the recent embrace of long-neutral Finland by the alliance, it also amounts to another significant unintended consequence for Russia’s president, Vladimir V. Putin, of his war. NATO is rapidly moving from what the military calls deterrence by retaliation to deterrence by denial. They note that in the first days of the Ukrainian invasion, Russian troops took land larger than some Baltic nations.

☆ Factbox: Kara-Murza becomes latest Putin opponent to get long jail term
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-17 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

REUTERS/Maxim ShemetovApril 17 (Reuters) - Sentenced on Monday to 25 years in prison on charges including treason, Vladimir Kara-Murza joined a growing list of Russians who have received long jail terms after speaking out against President Vladimir Putin or the invasion of Ukraine. The 25-year term he received was the harshest of its kind since Russia invaded its neighbour last February. ILYA YASHINOpposition politician Yashin was sentenced to eight-and-a-half years in prison in December 2022 on charges of spreading "false information" about the army. ALEXEI GORINOVGorinov, a Moscow district councillor, was jailed for seven years in July 2022 on charges of spreading false information about the armed forces. ALEXEI MOSKALYOVMoskalyov was investigated by police after his daughter Masha, then 12, drew an anti-war picture at school in 2022.

☆ Opinion: How the battle for Bakhmut exposed Russia’s ‘meat-grinder’
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-14 | by ( Michael Bociurkiw | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +10 min

It will also be recorded in history as a battle that exposed more than anywhere the meat-grinder approach of Russian fighting. Taking Bakhmut would be the first Russian gain since it captured (and later lost) the key southern Ukrainian city of Kherson in November. That Ukrainian forces have demonstrated such endurance in the battle for Bakhmut should come as little surprise. Like the current battle for Bakhmut, it too became emblematic of Ukraine’s tenaciousness to defend itself against Russia’s aggression – particularly considering the Ukrainian Armed Forces were far less prepared and equipped. “The battle for Bakhmut in winter-spring 2023 will surely enter the history books as the bloodiest battle in Europe since World War II,” said Masliychuk.

☆ Russia accused of beheading Ukrainian soldier: 'How easily these beasts kill,' Zelenskyy says
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-12 | by ( Sinéad Baker | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

One video circulating online appears to show Russians beheading a Ukrainian serviceman with a knife. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said it was "the execution of a Ukrainian captive." Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Wednesday responded to one of the videos, saying that it showed "the execution of a Ukrainian captive." "There is something that no one in the world can ignore: how easily these beasts kill," Zelenskyy said, adding that Russia is trying to make "destroying life" into the "new norm." Dmytro Kuleba, Ukraine's foreign minister, described it as a "horrific video of Russian troops decapitating a Ukrainian prisoner of war."

☆ Russia is offering bonus pay for soldiers who can destroy tanks supplied by NATO, report says
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-10 | by ( Lloyd Lee | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

NATO countries such as the US, Germany, and Poland have agreed to send tanks to aid Ukraine. Leaked documents show that Russia is offering troops "financial incentives" to destroy them, per NYT. Videos of the tanks being destroyed will then be used to boost Russia's confidence, documents say. Some of the leaked documents also showed that Ukraine may deplete its air defenses by May, emboldening Russia to utilize bomber jets against Ukrainian forces. One repeated misstep by Russia was sending a fleet of unprotected tanks into an ambush in Bucha and, later, in Vuhledar.

☆ Western countries are speeding up tank deliveries to Ukraine, but tanks aren't what Ukrainian troops need to get around Russian forces
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-04 | by ( Michael Peck | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Western countries are hustling to deliver main battle tanks to Ukraine's military. Tanks will be useful in taking on Russian tanks and fortifications in a counterattack this spring. But Ukraine needs other armored vehicles to counterattack Russia effectively, one expert says. "There is a lot of mechanized infantry and tank brigades in each" corps that Ukraine is forming, Kofman said. Without the ability to build bridges strong enough to bear the weight of armored vehicles, a Ukrainian offensive would stall.

☆ Russia's war on Ukraine latest: IMF approves $15.6 billion Ukraine loan
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-01 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

April 1 (Reuters) - The International Monetary Fund said its executive board had approved a four-year $15.6 billion loan programme for Ukraine, part of a global $115 billion package to support the country's economy as it battles Russia's 13-month-old invasion. * A senior Ukrainian official ruled out any ceasefire in Russia's war on his country that would involve Russian forces remaining on territory they now occupy in Ukraine. * Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Russia faced "existential threats" to its security and development from "unfriendly states" as he presented President Vladimir Putin with an updated foreign policy doctrine. * U.S. Secretary of State Blinken will push back on Russia's attempts to "weaponise energy" and rally support for a Ukrainian counteroffensive when he meets NATO foreign ministers in Brussels next week, an official said. * Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said Russia, which has decided to station tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus, could if necessary put intercontinental nuclear missiles there too.

☆ Russia's war on Ukraine latest: IMF approves $15.6 bln Ukraine loan
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-01 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Search resuls for: "Bucha"

25 mentions found