Author: Daily Sabah With DPA

Russian President Vladimir Putin “will breach” a peace in Ukraine unless any potential deal is defended, British Premier Keir Starmer said as he attended a meeting of defence chiefs aimed at drawing up military plans for a peacekeeping force. The prime minister said he was “certain” the Russian president would flout the terms of a truce unless security arrangements were in place to ensure sovereignty for the war-torn country. Starmer and British Defence Secretary John Healey are meeting military planners from the UK and allied countries gathering in London to firm up proposals for a peacekeeping operation in Ukraine. Discussions…

A fire has broken out at an oil depot in the southern Russian region of Krasnodar following a Ukrainian drone attack on Wednesday, according to Russian authorities. The regional coordination staff said falling debris triggered the fire, which has spread to 1,700 square metres. More than 220 people are said to be involved in fighting the blaze. Russia’s Defence Ministry accused Kiev of a provocation, claiming the attack was intended to undermine the peace initiative proposed by US President Donald Trump on Tuesday. During a phone call on Tuesday, Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed that Russia would halt…

Russia launched another overnight attack on Ukraine’s infrastructure following a phone call between US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin, Ukrainian authorities said on Wednesday. In the Sumy region, one person was killed and three others injured by shelling, the regional military administration reported on Telegram. A hospital in the area was also hit and severely damaged. In the Bucha district near Kiev, two people were injured by falling drone debris, according to Ukraine’s civil defence. Drone attacks in the Dnipropetrovsk region damaged an infrastructure site, regional Governor Serhiy Lysak reported on Telegram. An industrial plant in Kramatorsk,…

Siemens said on Tuesday it is cutting around 6,000 jobs worldwide, including 2,850 in Germany. The bulk of the cuts are coming from the automation business, which is part of the Digital Industries division. The electric vehicle charging business is also affected. Chief executive Roland Busch had announced job cuts in the low-to-mid four-digit range in autumn, and now there are concrete figures. The company has been suffering from high inventory levels at customers and dealers, which has led to weak demand and poor capacity utilization. Turnover in the automation business has recently fallen significantly. So far, however, Siemens is…

French President Emmanuel Macron is set to visit Berlin on Tuesday, just two days before the EU summit, for talks with outgoing German Chancellor Olaf Scholz. During his short stay, Macron is also expected to meet with Scholz’s likely successor, conservative leader Friedrich Merz, following their previous meeting in Paris three weeks ago. The discussions between Macron and Scholz are expected to cover pressing topics, including the ongoing war in Ukraine and measures to strengthen Europe’s defence capabilities. EU leaders are set to meet on Thursday and Friday in Brussels for their next summit.

Audi, the luxury car manufacturer owned by Volkswagen Group, will cut 7,500 jobs in Germany by the end of 2029, the company and the works council announced on Monday, following extensive negotiations. Together with other financial cuts for employees, the move aims to save the carmaker more than €1 billion ($1.09 billion) per year in the medium term. The company and the works council had wrangled over the savings plan, but have now agreed on a concept. Works council chairman Jörg Schlagbauer said the company originally planned to eliminate 12,000 jobs. “Audi needs to become faster, more agile, and more…

Former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev on Sunday threatened to go to war against NATO if European countries stick to their plans to deploy peacekeepers to Ukraine. French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer “are playing dumb,” Medvedev, who is the deputy chairman of Russia’s Security Council, wrote on X. “Time and again they are told that peacekeepers must be from non-NATO states,” he wrote. “You want to give military aid to the neo-Nazis in Kyiv. That means war with NATO. Consult with [US President Donald] Trump, scumbags,” he added. Starmer has suggested establishing a “coalition of the…

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has accused Russia of showing no interest in ending the war, pointing to the continued wave of airstrikes on Ukrainian cities. “Those who want the war to end as soon as possible do not act this way,” Zelensky wrote on X, referring to Moscow’s claimed willingness to halt the fighting. Over the past week, “the Russians launched over 1,020 attack drones, nearly 1,360 guided aerial bombs, and more than 10 missiles of various types,” he wrote. While Zelensky has agreed in principle to a 30-day ceasefire proposed by the United States, Russian President Vladimir Putin has…

Finnish President Alexander Stubb considers the chances of his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin agreeing to a ceasefire in Ukraine are “abysmal.” “Putin doesn’t want peace,” Stubb said during an interview with the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) aired on Sunday. Putin’s original goal was for Ukraine to “cease to exist,” Stubb said, adding that “he has not changed his goal.” While Ukraine has expressed its willingness to consider a ceasefire, Russia remains unwilling to engage in immediate negotiations, especially following a recent US proposal. After a meeting via videolink of 29 world leaders on Saturday, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer accused…

Dozens of people died amid powerful storms and tornadoes that are sweeping across the United States, with more severe weather forecast. Twelve people died in the state of Missouri alone, state authorities said on social media platform X on Saturday. Neighbouring Arkansas confirmed three deaths and at least 32 injuries following Friday night’s storm. The Kansas Highway Patrol confirmed that eight people died in multiple crashes involving some 50 vehicles amid “near zero visibility” caused by a severe dust storm. In Mississippi, Governor Tate Reeves confirmed the death toll there rose to six amid “the severe storms, tornadoes and earthquake.”…