DIRS.INFO The most relevant business & tech news

☆ Ukraine war live updates: German tanks decision 'half a step' away, Kyiv says; Ukraine government reshuffle expected
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-24 | by ( Holly Ellyatt | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

A decision on whether to supply Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine is in its final stages, Ukraine's Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said Monday, with only a last "half step" to be taken. "We have only half a step left to take in the matter of tanks," Kuleba said during a nationwide news telethon reported by news outlet Ukrinform Monday. "We have already received the British Challengers [tanks], which we were once told were impossible. I have no doubts that the Leopard tanks will reach us. Germany is under intense pressure to decide whether to give the greenlight for German-made tanks to be sent to Ukraine.

"Germany will always be at the forefront when it comes to supporting Ukraine," Chancellor Olaf Scholz told the German parliament, to applause. "At a critical moment in Russia's war, these tanks can help Ukraine defend itself, win and stand as an independent nation," NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said. [1/13] Germany delivers its first Leopard tanks to Slovakia as part of a deal after Slovakia donated fighting vehicles to Ukraine, in Bratislava, Slovakia, December 19, 2022. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said any U.S. tanks sent to Ukraine would "burn like all the rest". Ukraine defeated Russia's troops on the outskirts of Kyiv last year and later drove them out of swathes of occupied land.

☆ Davos 2023: Ukraine's first lady to deliver letter from Zelenskiy for China
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-17 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

DAVOS, Switzerland, Jan 17 (Reuters) - Ukraine's first lady told the World Economic Forum on Tuesday she would deliver a letter to China's delegation setting out President Volodymyr Zelenskiy's proposals for ending Russia's war against his country. China, like Russia a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council, is an important partner for Moscow and has refused to condemn Russia's invasion of Ukraine. She said she also had letters for European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Swiss President Alain Berset. "Today I will give the colleagues participating in this part (of the forum) 'formula letters' from the president of Ukraine," she said in Ukrainian. "How does the world expect to reach climate neutrality, if it can’t even stop the burning down of whole Ukrainian cities.

☆ German minister promises Ukraine weapons, EU accession help on surprise trip
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-10 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

In a statement ahead of a meeting with Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, Baerbock expressed Germany's solidarity with Ukrainians living through Russia's invasion and harsh winter conditions. After Germany last week promised to send Marder fighting vehicles to Ukraine as part of increased military support, Baerbock promised more weapons, without specifying which ones. Senior Russian legislator Leonid Slutsky, echoing Moscow's line that it launched the war to "denazify" Ukraine, said history would harshly judge the comments by Baerbock. Baerbock also said it was important not to lose sight of Ukraine's place in Europe and its desire to join the EU. She said Germany would provide 20 million euros ($21.47 million) for demining efforts and another 20 million euros to boost Ukraine's access to Starlink internet terminals.

The timing was also set to comply with a strict curfew of 11 p.m. local time (6 p.m. Tamara said she was set to be deployed near the city of Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine, where months of brutal fighting has seen Ukrainian forces hold up Russian efforts to advance. “This war is actually not almost a year old, it’s actually eight years old,” Tamara said, referring to Russia’s annexation of Crimea and backing of breakaway forces in other parts of eastern Ukraine in 2014. "This time, Russia’s mass missile attack is deliberately targeting residential areas, not even our energy infrastructure. War criminal Putin “celebrates” New Year by killing people," said Ukrainian foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba on Twitter.

☆ Russian missile attack on Ukraine kills one in 'terror on New Year's Eve'
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-31 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Rescuers work at a site of a building damaged during a Russian missile strike, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine on Dec. 31, 2022. Moscow's second major missile attack in three days badly damaged a hotel south of Kyiv's center and a residential building in another district. "This time, Russia's mass missile attack is deliberately targeting residential areas, not even our energy infrastructure," Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba wrote on Twitter after the attack. The cruise missiles had been launched from Russian strategic bombers over the Caspian Sea hundreds of miles away and from land-based launchers, he said on Telegram. Ukraine's human rights ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets described the attack as "terror on New Year's Eve."

☆ Massive Russian missile barrage pummels cities across Ukraine
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-29 | by ( Associated Press | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +4 min

After earlier attacks, the Ukrainian military reported shooting down incoming Russian missiles and explosive drones, but some still reached their targets, damaging power and water supplies and increasing the suffering of the population amid freezing temperatures. Ukrainian authorities in several regions said some incoming Russian missiles were intercepted. Efrem Lukatsky / APFragments from downed Russian missiles damaged two private buildings in the Darnytskyi district of Kyiv, the city administration said. Earlier this month, the United States agreed to give a Patriot missile battery to Ukraine to boost the country’s defense. Russian officials have said that any peace plan can only proceed from Kyiv’s recognition of Russia’s sovereignty over the regions it illegally annexed from Ukraine in September.

A total of 50 rockets fell in the Kherson region, including on military targets. Dimitar Dilkoff / AFP - Getty ImagesThe Kremlin dismissed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s 10-point so-called peace plan, saying proposals to end the conflict must take into account what it claims are “today’s realities” of four Ukrainian regions having joined Russia. In September Russia annexed the four regions of Ukraine after the occupied areas held sham votes, which were denounced by Kyiv and the West. We are entering the next year and must retain a common understanding of our national goals,” the statement read. Otherwise, the issue will be decided by the Russian army.”Zelenskyy has said his country will never relinquish land.

☆ Ukraine aims for a peace summit by the end of February, foreign minister says
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-26 | by ( Associated Press | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +5 min

KYIV, Ukraine — Ukraine’s foreign minister on Monday said that his government is aiming to have a peace summit by the end of February, preferably at the United Nations with Secretary-General António Guterres as a possible mediator, around the anniversary of Russia’s war. But Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba told The Associated Press that Russia could only be invited to such a summit if the country faced a war crimes tribunal first. Ukraine's Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba during an interview in Kyiv, Ukraine, on Monday. “Every war ends as a result of the actions taken on the battlefield and at the negotiating table.”Kuleba said the Ukrainian government would like to have a peace summit by the end of February. So we would welcome his active participation.”The foreign minister again downplayed comments by Russian authorities that they are ready for talks.

Since the early days of the invasion, Mr. Putin has conceded, privately, that the war has not gone as planned. “I think he is sincerely willing” to compromise with Russia, Mr. Putin said of Mr. Zelensky in 2019. To join in Mr. Putin’s war, he has recruited prisoners, trashed the Russian military and competed with it for weapons. To join in Mr. Putin’s war, he has recruited prisoners, trashed the Russian military and competed with it for weapons. “I think this war is Putin’s grave.” Yevgeny Nuzhin, 55, a Russian prisoner of war held by Ukraine, in October.

☆ Russia is tearing through its munitions stockpiles faster than it can refill them, top US intel chief says
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-05 | by ( Jake Epstein | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Russia is rapidly expending its stockpiles of munitions, the top US intelligence official said. In dealing with limited precision munitions, Russia has turned to Iran and North Korea for support. Avril Haines, the director of national intelligence, told the Reagan National Defense Forum on Saturday that Russia is burning through its munitions stockpiles "quite quickly," though she did not elaborate on any precise figures. "And of course, we've indicated that their precision munitions are running out much faster. These kamikaze drones, as they have been called, are cheaper than precision munitions, making them a suitable though less destructive supplement as Russia's stockpiles run low.

☆ 'Bloody parcels' containing animal eyes mailed to Ukrainian embassies
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-03 | by ( Leila Sackur | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +3 min

Bloody parcels containing the eyes of animals and explosives have been sent to several Ukrainian embassies and consuls across Europe, officials said late Friday. Foreign Ministry spokesperson Oleg Nikolenko said in a statement on Facebook that embassies in Spain, Hungary, the Netherlands, Poland, Croatia and Italy had received packages containing the disembodied eyes of animals. Consulates in Naples, Italy, Krakow, Poland, and the Czech city of Brno had also been targeted, he said. Letter bombs were mailed to six addresses in Spain earlier this week, including the Ukrainian Embassy and the U.S. Embassy, as well as to Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, causing security to be tightened. Farther south, the Ukrainian consul in Naples, Maksym Kovalenko, told the AP that his office received two letters containing fish eyes at around 10:30 a.m. Thursday.

☆ The death of an American soldier fighting in Ukraine exposes chaos and dysfunction in the foreign legion
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-03 | by ( Sophia Ankel | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +12 min

The widow, alongside other soldiers, told Insider about mismanagement and dysfunction in the legion. A Foreign Legion fighter looks on at wreckage in Ukraine following a Russian attack. "When we were told to go out again, in my mind I knew someone was going to die," AJ told Insider. "How everything was handled, especially after his death, was scandalous," Lipka told Insider. Mavericks told Insider he suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder and still mourns the deaths of his comrades.

☆ Ukraine says its embassies in countries across Europe have been receiving bloodstained packages with animal eyes in them
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-02 | by ( Natalie Musumeci | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Ukrainian embassies in Europe have gotten packages with "animal eyes," in them, an official said. This comes after an apparent bomb inside an envelope exploded at the Ukrainian embassy in Madrid. "The packages contained animal eyes," Oleg Nikolenko, a spokesperson for Ukraine's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said in a Facebook post on Friday. The gruesome packages were received by the Ukrainian embassies in Hungary, the Netherlands, Poland, Croatia, Italy, and Austria, Nikolenko said. "We have reasons to consider what's going on a well-planned campaign of terror and intimidation of embassies and consulates of Ukraine," Ukraine's Foreign Affairs Minister Dmytro Kuleba said.

CNN —Ukraine’s foreign minister has accused Russia of being behind a series of more than a dozen letters containing explosives or animal parts that were sent to Ukrainian diplomats around the world. “This campaign is aimed at sowing fear,” Dmytro Kuleba told CNN’s Matthew Chance in an exclusive interview in Kyiv on Friday. CNN was shown an image of one of the letters containing what officials said was the eyeball of a pig inside a padded envelope. ‘Who benefits?’Kuleba earlier urged foreign governments to guarantee maximum protection of Ukrainian diplomatic institutions in accordance with the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations. Nikolenko also stated that the Ukrainian Embassy in the United States received a letter with a photocopy of a critical article about Ukraine.

☆ Ukrainian embassies receive 'bloody packages' containing animal eyes - Kyiv
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-02 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

KYIV, Dec 2 (Reuters) - Several Ukrainian embassies abroad have received "bloody packages" containing animal eyes, the foreign ministry said on Friday, after a series of letter bombs were sent to addresses in Spain including Ukraine's embassy in Madrid. An embassy source in Rome said human faeces were left in front of the door. Nikolenko also said that the embassy in Kazakhstan had received a bomb threat, which was subsequently not confirmed. The embassy in the United States received a letter containing an article that was critical about Ukraine, he said. Reporting by Pavel Polityuk in Kyiv; additional reporting by Philip Pullela in Rome; writing by Tom Balmforth; editing by Timothy HeirtageOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Heaviest Ukraine fighting rages in the east, NATO seeks to sustain support against Russia
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-01 | by ( ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +4 min

This brutalization of Ukraine’s people is barbaric,” Blinken told a news conference in Bucharest following a two-day NATO meeting. At the NATO foreign ministers meeting, allies Wednesday pledged to help Moldova, Georgia and Bosnia-Herzegovina as they face pressure from Russia, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg and ministers said. Russia invaded Ukraine in February in what it calls a “special military operation” to rid Ukraine of nationalists it considers dangerous. “We are analyzing the intentions of the occupiers and preparing countermeasures — tougher countermeasures than is now the case,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in an address Wednesday evening. “We haven’t seen these Iranian unmanned aerial vehicles for about two weeks ... the first batch has probably already run out,” he told Ukraine’s main television network.

☆ Third suspected letter-bomb found at Spanish air force base
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-01 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/7] A ambulance is seen coming out of the Air Force base of Torrejon de Ardoz after a suspected explosive device hidden in an envelope was mailed to the base, in the wake of two others sent to targets connected to Spanish support of Ukraine, amidst Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, outside Madrid, Spain December 1, 2022. REUTERS/Violeta Santos MouraMADRID, Dec 1 (Reuters) - Spanish security forces found a third suspected explosive device hidden in an envelope mailed to a European Union satellite centre located at an air force base in Torrejon de Ardoz, outside Madrid, the defence ministry said on Thursday. After scanning the envelope by X-ray, air force security officers determined it contained "a mechanism", the ministry statement said. The satellite centre supports the EU's common foreign and security policy by gathering information from space intelligence devices, according to its website. After the first incident, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba ordered all of Kyiv's embassies abroad to "urgently" strengthen security and urged Spain to investigate the attack, a Ukrainian ministry spokesperson said.

☆ Spain rocked by wave of letter bombs, with the country's prime minister among those targeted
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-01 | by ( Sinéad Baker | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Spain's prime minister was targeted by a letter bomb, the interior ministry said on Thursday. One bomb exploded at the Ukrainian embassy in Madrid on Wednesday, injuring an embassy employee. Spain's interior ministry said in a statement on Thursday that an envelope containing explosives was addressed to Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, and was detected and neutralized by his security services. Investigations are underway, the interior ministry said. Spain has ramped up security around public buildings in response, the interior ministry said.

☆ Ukraine ramps up security at diplomatic missions after blast at embassy in Spain
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-30 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/4] Police stands outside of Ukrainian embassy after, Spanish police said, blast at embassy building injured one employee while handling a letter, in Madrid, Spain November 30, 2022. REUTERS/Juan MedinaMADRID/KYIV, Nov 30 (Reuters) - Ukraine on Wednesday ramped up security at its embassies abroad after Spanish police and government said an employee at the Ukrainian embassy in Madrid was injured opening a letter bomb. Ukraine's Foreign Affairs Minister Dmytro Kuleba has ordered all Ukrainian embassies abroad to "urgently" strengthen their security, according to a statement from Ukraine's foreign ministry. An officer at Ukraine's embassy to Spain declined to comment. The residential area surrounding the embassy in northwestern Madrid has been cordoned off and a bomb disposal unit is deployed at the scene, state broadcaster TVE reported.

☆ Letter bomb injures one at Ukraine's Madrid embassy, Kyiv ramps up security
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-30 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/5] Police stands outside of Ukrainian embassy after, Spanish police said, blast at embassy building injured one employee while handling a letter, in Madrid, Spain November 30, 2022. REUTERS/Juan MedinaMADRID/KYIV, Nov 30 (Reuters) - A security officer at Ukraine's embassy in Madrid was injured when he opened a letter bomb addressed to the ambassador on Wednesday, and Kyiv ordered a bolstering of security at all its representative offices abroad. The security officer suffered light injuries and went under his own steam to hospital for treatment, Spanish government official Mercedes Gonzalez told broadcaster Telemadrid. The residential area surrounding the embassy in northwestern Madrid was cordoned off and a bomb disposal unit was deployed to the scene. Reuters footage showed scores of police officers, armed with assault rifles and blocking roads with vans, in the neighbourhood around the embassy.

☆ An apparent letter bomb exploded at the Ukrainian Embassy in Madrid, Spanish authorities said
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-30 | by ( Natalie Musumeci | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

An apparent bomb concealed inside an envelope exploded at the Ukrainian Embassy in Madrid. Ukraine's foreign affairs minister ordered security to be beefed up at all Ukrainian embassies. The employee was not seriously injured in the blast but was hospitalized, Reuters reported, citing Spanish police. In the aftermath of the incident, Ukraine's Foreign Affairs Minister Dmytro Kuleba ordered security to be beefed up at all Ukrainian embassies. Kuleba also called on Spanish authorities to "urgently" investigate what Ukrainian officials described as an "attack."

☆ Heaviest Ukraine fighting rages in east, West seeks to sustain support against Russia
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-30 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

[1/2] Ukrainian servicemen fire with a Bureviy multiple launch rocket system at a position in Donetsk region, as Russia's attack on Ukraine continues, Ukraine November 29, 2022. In Washington, a $1.2 billion contract for six National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile Systems (NASAMS) for Ukraine was awarded to Raytheon, the Pentagon said. At the NATO foreign ministers meeting, allies on Wednesday pledged to help Moldova, Georgia and Bosnia-Herzegovina as they face pressure from Russia, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg and ministers said. Russia invaded Ukraine nine months ago in what it calls a "special military operation" to rid Ukraine of nationalists it considers dangerous. "We haven't seen these Iranian unmanned aerial vehicles for about two weeks ... the first batch has probably already run out," he told Ukraine's main television network.

☆ Ukraine says it will work to convince Germany to provide Patriot systems
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-30 | by ( John Irish | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

BUCHAREST, Nov 30 (Reuters) - Ukraine needs the U.S. made Patriot missile defence systems to protect its civilian infrastructure, under heavy attack by Russia, Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said on Wednesday, adding he would try to convince Germany to allow their delivery. Russia has carried out regular missile bombardments on Ukraine's energy infrastructure since early October, with damage accumulating as temperatures drop. Spare parts to repair the energy sector, air defence systems to prevent future attacks and NATO-style tanks were the priority, he said. "If Germany is ready to provide Patriots to Poland and Poland is ready to hand them to Ukraine then I think the solution for the German government is obvious," he said, adding that Kyiv would work with Berlin on the issue. Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev warned NATO on Tuesday against providing Ukraine with Patriot systems.

☆ NATO commits to future Ukraine membership, drums up aid
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-29 | by ( Associated Press | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +3 min

He said that Russian President Vladimir Putin “will get Finland and Sweden as NATO members” soon. Ukraine will not join NATO anytime soon despite Stoltenberg's comments. Yevhen Titov / AFP - Getty Images“We stand by that, too, on membership for Ukraine,” the former Norwegian prime minister said. “I think what he’s afraid of is democracy and freedom, and that’s the main challenge for him.”Even so, Ukraine will not join NATO anytime soon. During the two-day meeting, Blinken will announce substantial U.S. aid for Ukraine’s energy grid, U.S. officials said.

Search resuls for: "Dmytro Kuleba"

25 mentions found