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KYIV: The Ukrainian military said on Tuesday it shot down 48 out of 79 drones and two missiles launched by Russia overnight.
The air force said the location of 30 other drones had been lost, while another had returned to Russia.
LONDON: More than 2,000 resettlement applications by former Afghan Armed Forces commandos were rejected after UK Special Forces personnel vetoed their claims, preventing them from testifying to an inquiry into alleged war crimes, the BBC reported on Monday.
The UK Ministry of Defense revealed in a court case brought by a former Afghan soldier that officers denied applications from thousands of men who had fought the Taliban alongside the British in Afghanistan, having previously denied that a policy of doing so existed.
The MoD also refused to say, when asked by the BBC, if any applications for Triples Afghan soldiers — so-called because of the three-number identifications their units were assigned — had been supported by UK Special Forces senior figures.
Afghan Triples units were trained and funded by the UK. They were deemed at risk of reprisals following the fall of Afghanistan to the Taliban in 2021, and allowed to apply for resettlement in the UK.
However, controversy has surrounded the failure to support applications by UK Special Forces officers, as an inquiry is ongoing into allegations of war crimes committed by Special Forces soldiers in Afghanistan, where Triples commandos were present.
If resettled in the UK, the Triples could be compelled by the inquiry to give evidence. Many remain in hiding in Afghanistan.
One former Triples officer told the BBC: “Although (some asylum application) decisions have been overturned, it’s too late for some people.
“The delays have caused a lot of problems. People have been captured by the Taliban or lost their lives.”
The officer said Afghan commandos felt “betrayed” by their former “brothers” in the Special Forces, adding: “If Special Forces made these rejections they should say why. They should have to answer.”
The MoD denied that the Special Forces had the power to veto asylum applications, but former Defense Minister Andrew Murrison later admitted that they did after a BBC investigation.
Mike Martin MP, a former British Army officer who served in Afghanistan, told the BBC: “There is the appearance that UK Special Forces blocked the Afghan special forces applications because they were witnesses to the alleged UK war crimes currently being investigated in the Afghan inquiry.”
He added: “If the MoD is unable to offer any explanation, then the matter should be included in the inquiry.”
Former Conservative MP Johnny Mercer, who also served in Afghanistan and was an armed forces minister while in government, said he had heard “horrific” allegations made by Triples soldiers against UK Special Forces members.
It is “very clear to me that there is a pool of evidence that exists within the Afghan (special forces) community that are now in the UK that should contribute to this inquiry,” he added.
The ministry previously told the BBC: “There has been no evidence to suggest that any part of the MoD has sought to prevent former members of the Afghan specialist units from giving evidence to the inquiry.”
BUDAPEST: Hungary’s foreign minister said European leaders’ meeting in Paris on Monday to discuss Washington’s shock policy shift on the Ukraine war was an effort to “prevent” peace.
The summit comes after US President Donald Trump sidelined Kyiv and its European backers last week when he called his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin to talk about starting negotiations to end the conflict.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban – one of the closest EU partners of Trump and Moscow – has repeatedly called for peace talks and refused to send military aid to Ukraine since Russia’s invasion in 2022.
“Today, in Paris, pro-war, anti-Trump, frustrated European leaders are gathering to prevent a peace agreement in Ukraine,” Peter Szijjarto told a press briefing which was livestreamed on his Facebook page.
“Unlike them, we support Donald Trump’s ambitions, unlike them, we support the US-Russian negotiations, unlike them, we want peace in Ukraine,” he added.
Leaders from the UK, Germany, Italy, Poland, Spain, the Netherlands and Denmark are expected at the Paris meeting, which falls ahead of the third anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on February 24.
Antonio Costa, who heads the European Council representing the European Union’s 27 nations, EU chief Ursula von der Leyen, and NATO secretary general Mark Rutte will also be present.
The French presidency said the meeting would address “the situation in Ukraine” and “security in Europe.”
Meanwhile, Slovenia’s pro-EU president also criticized the Paris meeting for not including all 27 of the bloc’s leaders.
“On a symbolic level, the organizers of the Paris summit show to the world that even within the EU not all states are treated equally,” Slovenian President Natasa Pirc Musar said in a statement.
SINGAPORE: Singapore’s opposition leader was fined on Monday for lying to parliament while helping a fellow party member cover up a false witness account, but narrowly avoided being barred from contesting upcoming national elections.
Pritam Singh, 48, secretary-general of the Workers’ Party, was found guilty on two counts of lying to a parliamentary committee probing a fellow MP.
The conviction comes as the Southeast Asian nation’s struggling political opposition is seeking to challenge the overwhelming dominance of the ruling People’s Action Party (PAP) in elections expected within months.
The PAP has ruled the wealthy city-state since 1959.
District court judge Luke Tan said that contrary to what Singh told the committee, he had not done enough to get rookie MP Raeesah Khan to admit to her lie in parliament.
The judge also gave credence to Khan’s testimony that Singh had told her during a meeting to “take the lie to the grave.”
Singh, who said he would appeal the court’s decision, was fined S$7,000 ($5,200) for each charge.
“It’s not going to be an easy election... we’ll have to fight hard, and that’s what we will do,” Singh told reporters outside the court.
“The path of choosing opposition politics is not for the faint hearted.”
Under the constitution, a person fined a minimum of Sg$10,000 or jailed for at least one year, is disqualified from running for election or holding a parliamentary seat for five years.
“He will not be disqualified as the threshold of $10,000 fine per charge is not crossed. You can’t stack up the fines,” Eugene Tan, who teaches constitutional law at Singapore Management University, said.
The Elections Department later confirmed this via a statement on Facebook.
Khan, who resigned from the legislature following the scandal, had admitted to making up a story she told in parliament about a female rape victim she accompanied to make a police report.
The former MP confessed that she lied when telling parliament in 2021 that a police officer supposedly made “insensitive comments” about the way the alleged victim was dressed and that she had drunk alcohol.
But Home Affairs Minister K. Shanmugam had said there was no record in the police files of such an incident and Khan eventually admitted to lying.
Singh was then accused of lying to the parliamentary committee investigating Khan.
He allegedly told the committee that he was not aware that Khan had made up the story about the rape victim, in an apparent attempt to downplay his responsibility as party leader, court documents said.
But the judge tore through Singh’s credibility as a witness.
In the 2020 general elections, the PAP won 83 of the 93 seats at stake to retain its dominance.
The main opposition Workers’ Party captured 10 seats – four more than previously held – in its strongest performance since independence in 1965.
Its leaders have said they hope to further increase the party’s numbers in parliament in the upcoming elections, which will be new premier Lawrence Wong’s first major political test.
MOSCOW: Ukrainian drones struck a key pumping station at a major international pipeline in southern Russia disrupting supplies from Kazakhstan, the operator said Monday.
Kyiv has targeted Russia’s energy infrastructure throughout the three-year conflict, seeking to hit sites it says supply fuel to Moscow’s army or heps provide funds to support its offensive.
In the latest attack overnight, seven explosive-packed drones hit a pumping station of the Caspian Pipeline Consortium which carries Kazakh oil across southern Russia for export via the Black Sea, including to western Europe.
“Oil transportation through the Tengiz-Novorossiysk pipeline system is carried out at reduced pumping modes,” it said on social media.
The 1,500-kilometer pipeline is owned by a consortium in which the Russian and Kazakh governments as well as Western energy majors Chevron, ExxonMobil and Shell hold stakes.
In 2024 it loaded more than 63 million tonnes of oil onto tankers at a terminal at the southern Russian port of Novorossiysk, the company said.
The company said the attack hit the Kropotkinskaya pumping station — the pipeline’s largest in Russia’s southern Krasnodar region.
Nobody was wounded and staff prevented the attack causing an oil spill, it added.
Both Moscow and Kyiv launched massive drone attacks in an overnight wave, days after US President Donald Trump called the leaders of both countries to press for a ceasefire.
Ukraine’s air force said it downed 83 out of 147 drones that Russia launched overnight, adding another 59 were “lost” without causing damage.
Russia’s defense ministry said it had “intercepted and destroyed” 90 Ukrainian drones, including 24 over the southern region of Krasnodar, where the Caspian Pipeline Consortium runs.
Ukraine’s grid operator Ukrenergo announced emergency outages in some regions of Ukraine “due to the consequences of Russian attacks on energy facilities.”
Amorgós: For three weeks Dionysia Kobaiou has been dealing with “the anxiety and stress” of her students on the Greek island of Amorgos which has felt thousands of earthquakes.
She has been teaching remotely since Greek authorities shut down all schools on Amorgos, its more famous neighbor Santorini and other nearby islands until at least until February 21.
Some children ask her whether they should hide under a bed when they feel a tremor.
“It’s like during the Covid-19 pandemic,” Kobiaou told AFP.
But in 2020-21 “we could stay home and protect ourselves (from the virus) whereas now, at any moment, we don’t know what might happen,” she added.
Seismic swarm
Between January 26 and February 14, more than 19,200 quakes were recorded off the islands in the Cyclades archipelago, according to the University of Athens (EKPA) seismology laboratory.
Amorgos and three other islands are in a state of emergency until March 11.
On Monday, another 5.1-magnitude undersea quake was recorded off Amorgos.
The seismic swarm has caused no casualties or significant damage, and the tremors have lessened in intensity and frequency in recent days. But they still mystify scientists.
On the rocky island, over nine hours by ferry from Piraeus in the winter, the 1,900 permanent residents have mainly stayed on Amorgos “except for a few due to professional or health reasons,” stated Mayor Lefteris Karaiskos. Thousands have fled Santorini.
The island’s cafes and the taverns are closed for winter and, between the whitewashed domed chapels, only frogs and kittens give a glimpse of life in the sleepy alleys.
Many of the quakes have been too weak to be felt, but nerves were put to the test by one 5.3-magnitude tremor on February 10, that was felt as far as Athens.
That evening, Sotiris was in his kitchen.
“We rushed outside because we were scared!” recounted the man, who chose not to reveal his last name, as he hauled construction materials in his wheelbarrow.
“But you know, in Greece, we’re used to earthquakes,” he added.
The tremors have hit the island “continuously,” according to Poppi Prasinou as she set up vegetables in front of her mini-market.
Exhausted
“People are starting to get tired,” noted the mother of two, while expressing “relief” that the tremors have decreased in intensity.
As part of the state of emergency, rescue reinforcements have been dispatched from the mainland.
At the port of Katapola, seated with their thick morning coffee, the elders remembered a 1956 earthquake, measuring between 7.5 and 7.7, followed by a tsunami with 20-meter-high waves. Amorgos was devastated.
“There was no information or anything like that at the time,” recalled 83-year-old Vaggelis Mendrinos. “We were terrified (...) We don’t want to see that again!“
From the cliffs, a group of firefighters watched the islet of Anydros. Most epicenters are being recorded just off the uninhabited rocklet.
Amorgos is surrounded by six faults, and seismologists are installing new sensors to better understand the phenomenon.
In the countryside, the sheep bleat as usual, although shepherds say their herds are more nervous from constantly feeling the ground shaking.
At the Chozoviotissa Monastery, built into the rock on a cliffside, only the noise made by the quakes slightly disturbs the two monks and a volunteer who live in near seclusion during winter.
“If we have to leave, this is the best place to leave quickly for heaven,” said the volunteer Constantin Papakonstantinou with a smile, pointing to the open Aegean Sea below the monastery.
Another, less spiritual concern is beginning to emerge in the islands that see an annual summer invasion of tourists.
Amorgos hosts 100,000 tourists each year, according to its mayor. “Don’t scare people away; otherwise, they won’t come this summer!” one resident told AFP.
