by tyler | May 30, 2023 | CNN, europe
Russia is blaming Ukraine for launching a drone attack on Moscow early Tuesday which reportedly left two people injured and several buildings damaged, a rare incident in the Russian capital after months of war.
While incidents in Moscow are uncommon, residents in Kyiv have faced 17 airstrikes this month. There was a Russian bombardment of the Ukrainian capital overnight, which officials said killed at least one person.
At least three residential buildings in Moscow were damaged by drones on Tuesday, Russian state news agency RIA Novosti reported, citing emergency services and residents.
Moscow mayor Sergei Sobyanin said there were no serious injuries reported from the aerial assault, which caused “minor damage” and emergency services were on the scene. Sobyanin added in a subsequent update that investigators had concluded work at the Moscow apartment buildings hit by drones and that evacuated residents would be able to return to their homes.
Ukraine has denied direct involvement with Tuesday’s drone attack on Moscow.
There have been a handful of incidents within Russian territory since Moscow launched a full-scale invasion of its neighbor last February, with most of the fighting taking place inside Ukraine.
Earlier this month, two unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) were destroyed over the Kremlin in a murky attack that Russia blamed on Kyiv and claimed was an attempt to target Russian President Vladimir Putin. Kyiv forcefully denied the allegation.
On Tuesday, Russia’s Ministry of Defense said Kyiv was also at fault for what it called a “terrorist attack” that involved eight aircraft-type UAVs which were shot down or diverted earlier in the morning.
“All enemy UAVs were destroyed,” the defense ministry said in a statement. “Three of them were suppressed by electronic warfare, lost control and deviated from their intended targets.
“Another five UAVs were shot down by the Pantsir-S surface-to-air missile system in the Moscow region,” it added.
Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak said Tuesday: “Of course, we enjoy watching and predicting an increase in attacks. But of course, we have nothing to do directly with it.”
Podolyak told the Breakfast Show YouTube channel: “What is growing in Russia is the karmic payment that Russia will gradually pay in aggravated form for everything it does in Ukraine.”
The governor of the Moscow region, Andrey Vorobyov, said on Telegram that the explosions residents heard in the early hours was “our air defense in action.”
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said later Tuesday there’s currently “no threat” to Moscow’s residents, following the alleged drone attack.
According to RIA, a UAV hit the upper floors of residential building number 98 on Profsoyuznaya Street in the southwest of Moscow, damaging the facade and glazing of the building. Another hit a flat on the 14th floor of an apartment building on Leninsky Prospekt (Lenin Avenue), RIA reported, citing a resident of the building.
RIA reported a third drone reportedly damaged the facade of a 24-story residential building on Atlasova Street in New Moscow, a former Moscow suburb in the southwest that was extended to become part of Moscow after an extensive territorial expansion of the Russian capital in 2012.
Alexander Khinshtein, a member of the Russian Parliament from Putin’s United Russia party, said Tuesday’s drone attack on Moscow was “a new reality we will have to recognize.”
“Undoubtedly, sabotage and terrorist attacks by Ukraine will only grow. We need to drastically strengthen defense and security measures, especially in the area of countering drones,” Khinshtein said.
He said the fact that drones were shot down “should not comfort anyone,” before adding: “Do not underestimate the enemy.”
Meanwhile, Yevgeny Prigozhin, the head of the Russian private military company Wagner, launched an expletive-laden tirade at the Russian defense ministry hours after the alleged drone attack.
“As a person who understands this somewhat, I can tell you that many years ago it was necessary to deal with these [drone] programs – that we are now years behind our opponents, years, maybe decades,” Prigozhin said in an audio recording responding to a question from a journalist.
The mercenary boss – who has been engaged in a bitter public feud with Russia’s military leadership – said the Russian Ministry of Defense was doing “absolutely nothing at all” to catch up with the needed technology.
“Why the f**k are you allowing these drones to hit Moscow?” Prigozhin added. “Let your houses burn.”
In Kyiv, Ukraine’s air defenses destroyed 29 Iranian-made Shahed drones launched at the capital overnight. Between 11:30 p.m. and 4:30 a.m. local, a total of 31 “kamikaze” drones were launched from the north and south, the Air Force said.
“Almost all of the drones were destroyed on the outskirts of the capital and in the Kyiv sky,” it added.
One person, a 33-year-old woman, was killed and 13 others were injured in the bombardment, Ukraine’s National Police said.
Nine people were injured in the city and four individuals in the wider Kyiv region, the police said.
“In addition, 16 objects were damaged, including civilian cars, buildings, and residential buildings,” the police said in the update.
Kyiv region’s police chief Andrii Nebytov said earlier there had also been 50 reports of damage to houses, commercial properties and cars.
“The police are recording every crime of the Russian army, for which they will definitely be held accountable,” Nebytov wrote. “And as always, we are proud of our air defense units.”
Speaking to CNN’s Fred Pleitgen outside a damaged apartment building in Kyiv’s Holosiivskyi district on Tuesday, the city’s mayor, Vitali Klitschko, said he wanted to thank Ukraine’s partners for sending “critically important” air defense systems.
“It worked well, we shoot down almost everything,” Klitschko said. The mayor stressed to CNN that if Ukraine “didn’t have modern air defense from our partners,” the situation would be “much worse” with “more destroyed buildings” and civilian deaths.
He addressed the recent uptick in attacks, highlighting that in May there have been more attacks not just on Kyiv but “also in other cities” throughout Ukraine.
Klitschko accused Putin of trying to bring a “depressing mood” to Ukraine with this latest bombardment, but said Ukrainians remain ready as ever to defend their homeland.
by tyler | May 26, 2023 | CNN, europe
Pope Francis canceled all of his scheduled meetings on Friday morning due to a fever, the Vatican said, again raising concerns about the 86-year-old pontiff’s health.
The Vatican press office didn’t provide any further details on the Pope’s illness.
The Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, said Francis was “tired” after a “very intense day” on Thursday, according to Italian news agency ANSA.
“The Pope was tired. Yesterday he had a very intense day and saw many people. There was the meeting with Scholas Occurrentes and he wanted to greet each person individually. At a certain point, one becomes less resistant,” Parolin said.
Francis was seen looking well Thursday afternoon at a live-streamed event from the Vatican for Scholas Occurrentes, an international education network that he founded, according to CNN’s team on the ground.
He was hospitalized in March for bronchitis but responded well to antibiotics.
Leaving hospital on that occasion, the Pope joked that he’s “still alive.”
The pontiff – who as a young man suffered from severe pneumonia and had part of a lung removed – has had a recent history of medical issues.
He has often been seen with a walking stick and sometimes uses a wheelchair due to pain in his right knee.
Last year, he canceled a trip to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and South Sudan after doctors said he might also have to miss a later trip to Canada unless he agreed to have 20 more days of therapy and rest for his knee. He ultimately went to the DRC and South Sudan in February.
Francis also suffers from diverticular disease, a common condition that can cause the inflammation or infection of the colon. In 2021, he had surgery to remove part of his colon.
by tyler | May 26, 2023 | CNN, europe
At least two people died and dozens more were left injured after Russian forces struck a medical facility in the city of Dnipro on Friday morning, after intense shelling rained over central Ukraine overnight.
A 69-year-old man was killed while “just passing by when the rocket struck the city,” and the body of another man “was pulled out of the rubble,” said Serhii Lysak, head of the regional military administration.
CNN geolocated the attack to Dnipropetrovsk City Hospital No. 14 and a veterinary clinic in an industrial district north of the Dnipro river in the central Ukrainian city. The explosions in Dnipro occurred at around 10:30 a.m. local time (3:30 a.m. ET) on Friday, according to CCTV.
Earlier, the Ukrainian Air Force reported strikes on the Kyiv and Dnipropetrovsk regions from 10 p.m. Thursday night to 5 a.m. on Friday morning.
The Air Force command reported 17 cruise missiles and 31 “attack drones” and noted that there were strikes in Dnipro and Kharkiv regions using S-300/S-400 missile systems.
Kyiv also saw some air attacks across the city, according to Serhii Popko, head of the city’s military administration. He added that there were no casualties.
Around 31 people were wounded in the bombardment in Dnipro, including eight doctors and two children, according to the head of Dnipro’s regional council Mykola Lukashuk. Among the injured, 16 people were taken to hospitals and the others are receiving outpatient treatment, Lukashuk said in a Telegram post.
Rescue operations were ongoing on Friday afternoon, with workers searching for survivors under the rubble. Three people were missing following the attack.
Scenes emerged of fires tearing through one of the buildings of the medical clinic. The video, posted by Lysak, also showed smoke pouring out of windows and a totally collapsed roof.
A CNN team on the ground saw emergency workers standing on cranes and lowering water hoses over the wreckage, while diggers cleared rubble from the scene.
Dnipro Mayor Boris Filatov said that a change of shifts for doctors meant fewer people than usual were working at the facility at the time of the attack.
“The moment the rocket struck there was a change of shifts. Hopefully, there will be no more victims,” Filatov told journalists at the hospital site.
“It is a miracle that the rocket struck at the very moment of the doctors’ change of shifts.” He added that there were outpatient consultations when the attack took place.
The clinic is used to treat mentally ill patients and also houses an inpatient treatment facility, according to the mayor.
The rocket strike also affected a veterinary clinic, where animals undergoing treatment had to be dug out of the rubble, the clinic’s owner said.
“All the employees are in a state of shock,” clinic owner Dr. Andrii Malyshko told Ukrainian TV. “All the animals were saved from the burning building.”
The rocket hit the clinic at around 10:30 a.m. local time, which caused a fire. The clinic had numerous dogs and some cats, which were all transferred to clinics nearby, according to Malyshko.
Kyiv and its Western allies fiercely condemned the Kremlin’s attack on central Ukraine, calling for accountability over the Russian strikes.
France called them “war crimes” that “cannot go unpunished,” according to a statement from the French Foreign Ministry.
The missile and drone attacks on Kyiv and the Kharkiv and Dnipropetrovsk regions of Ukraine “once again deliberately targeted civilian sites,” the ministry said, “in flagrant violation of international humanitarian law.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Friday: “Russian terrorists once again confirm their status of fighters against everything humane and honest.”
“The shelling aftermath is being eliminated and the victims are being rescued. All necessary services are involved,” he added.
by tyler | May 25, 2023 | CNN, europe
The chief of Russian paramilitary group Wagner told CNN on Thursday that he has handed the body of Nicholas Maimer, a retired US Army Special Forces soldier who was killed in the battle for Bakhmut, over to Ukraine.
Yevgeny Prigozhin, when asked by CNN if Wagner had returned the body of Retired Army Staff Sgt. Maimer as promised by Prigozhin last week, said in an audio recording: “Today at 15:00 hours we handed over the body of the American Nicholas Maimer to the Ukrainian side.”
Maimer was in a building in Bakhmut that collapsed after being hit by artillery fire, according to Retired Lt. Col. Perry Blackburn, founder of the non-profit AFGFree, with which Maimer was working in Ukraine.
Ukrainians who were with Maimer believed he was either trapped in the collapsed building or killed by a “barrage” of Russian artillery fire, Blackburn said. CNN cannot independently verify details of Maimer’s death.
In a video shared with CNN by Prigozhin’s press service, the Wagner boss is seen standing next to two coffins, one draped with an American flag and one with a Turkish flag, and says: “The American died in battle in the ‘nest’” – one of the last contested areas in west Bakhmut – and added that the second coffin contained the body of a Turkish citizen who was in Bakhmut with his female partner.
“They were found under the ruins of a building, or more accurately he and his documents. When the Ukrainians withdrew they blew up the building, and they died under the destroyed building. We weren’t able to get her out, but we got him out and will return to his motherland,” Prigozhin says of the Turkish citizens. CNN cannot independently verify the location in the video or the date it was filmed.
Ukraine’s Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War confirmed to CNN that Maimer’s body, along with the body of a Turkish citizen, had been returned to Ukraine on Thursday during a POW exchange. A video shared by the group showed a coffin covered with an American flag which matched the coffin seen in the video with Prigozhin.
CNN is unable to independently confirm that the coffin contains Maimer’s body. After his death last week, Prigozhin claimed to show the body of an American in a video posted on the Wagner Telegram group.
A pro-Kremlin military blogger, Alexander Simonov, introduces the video saying “we are advancing to the advanced positions of the PMC Wagner in the western regions of Artyomovsk,” the Russian name for Bakhmut. Prigozhin is shown inspecting a body, and what he claims are US identification documents.
Prigozhin says, “So we will hand him over to the United States of America, we’ll put him in a coffin, cover him with the American flag with respect because he did not die in his bed as a grandpa but he died at war and most likely a worthy [death], right?”
CNN cannot verify the authenticity of what is shown in the video, and Maimer’s family did not return CNN’s request for comment. However, Maimer’s uncle Paul confirmed to the Idaho Statesman that the body in the video was that of Maimer.
by tyler | May 25, 2023 | CNN, europe
Hundreds of people gathered at a London church on Thursday for the funeral of one of the last Black Royal Air Force (RAF) pilots to have fought in World War II.
Flight Sergeant Peter Brown, born in Jamaica in 1926, was one of the so-called “Pilots of the Caribbean,” a group of Afro-Caribbean RAF volunteers.
The veteran died alone aged 96 at his home in London in December, according to the United Kingdom’s PA Media news agency.
Brown’s funeral was held at St. Clement Danes Church, used by the RAF as a place of remembrance to those who served, where his coffin was draped in the Union Flag in front of hundreds of guests.
The ceremony was initially set to be much more a modest affair, until an appeal by the local council to give the veteran a more “fitting send-off” was picked up by archivists and historians, which then captured the public imagination.
Since the appeal went out, “there has been a search spanning the globe for his relatives and a number of leads were followed up by council officers and genealogists,” Westminster City Council said in a statement in April.
British defense secretary Ben Wallace, and Members of Parliament Tom Tugendhat and Johnny Mercer – who have each served in the military themselves – tweeted their support for finding his family.
After organizers were “inundated with requests to attend the service,” a new date and venue were arranged “to accommodate the very many well-wishers” the appeal had reached.
“Arrangements were made to ensure Mr. Brown received a dignified send-off worthy of his life story,” said a statement from Westminster council.
Hundreds of mourners responded to the call, with many flying thousands of miles to pay their respects.
Brooke Alexander, a relative of Brown’s contacted during the appeal, traveled from Kingston, Jamaica’s capital, to attend the funeral.
“Flight Sergeant Brown is an example of the selfless contribution of all Commonwealth personnel who have served throughout the RAF’s history,” an RAF spokesperson said.
Donald Campbell, 71, founder of The Forgotten Generations charity and a former RAF pilot, told PA Media: “When I joined the Royal Air Force in the 1970s, I had no idea there were African and Caribbean people like Peter Brown who served in World War Two.”
“I wish I’d known about people like Peter because it would have given me the confidence to say, my forebears fought for this country, some of them died, so I have a right to be here,” Campbell added to the news agency.
“There are so many Peter Browns out there whose stories are of benefit to future generations.”
by tyler | May 25, 2023 | CNN, europe
In 2018, the Irish public voted overwhelmingly to repeal the country’s Eighth Amendment, overturning one of the strictest abortion bans in the European Union.
There were scenes of jubilation as the referendum result was announced, with many in Ireland seeing it as a historic step that would give women control over their own bodies.
But five years on, although abortion is free and legally available in Ireland up to 12 weeks of pregnancy – after that allowed only in exceptional circumstances, if there is a risk to the mother’s life or the fetus is not expected to survive – the abortion system is still far from where campaigners and charities would like it to be.
“The system is failing a certain number of women every year,” Ailbhe Smyth, a longtime women’s rights activist who campaigned for the repeal, told CNN.
One woman who experienced a failed medical abortion which pushed her to the edge of Ireland’s 12-week limit for terminations, told CNN that she felt unsupported by medical practitioners during the process and was made to feel ashamed.
“I felt like I had to say I had a miscarriage as opposed to an abortion, because there’s still stigma in the country,” said the woman, who requested that CNN call her Sarah due to her fears of the effects of stigma.
A report ordered by the Irish government, published last month, highlighted restrictive legal provisions and alarming gaps in the availability of abortion services, among other issues.
Three years on from the introduction of these services, access to abortion is “unequal” in Ireland, with women subjected to a “postcode lottery,” the review led by barrister Marie O’Shea said.
Rural parts of the country suffer particularly sparse coverage, the report found.
In nine of the Republic of Ireland’s 26 counties, there are fewer than five general practitioners (GPs) registered to provide services.
Orla O’Connor, director of the National Women’s Council of Ireland, told CNN the gaps in services impacted Ireland’s “more marginalized” women the most, listing homeless women, women in experiencing domestic abuse and disabled women as examples.
In response to CNN’s request for comment on the report’s findings and concerns over uneven access to abortion services, Ireland’s Department of Health described the referendum as “a landmark day” for reproductive rights in the country. “Since that day, significant strides have been made in the rollout of termination of pregnancy services for those who need them,” a statement from the press office said.
“The Minister for Health is committed to ensuring that any remaining barriers to services are identified and addressed, to give full effect to the historic decision of the Irish people.”
Despite the failings identified by the review, Thursday’s anniversary will hold a special place for Irish women at home and across the world.
For those at the forefront of the campaign, repealing the Eighth Amendment – which banned abortion in Ireland unless there was a “real and substantial risk” to the mother’s life – was very much the “first step” in making abortion part of healthcare for women, according to Smyth. She recalled thinking after the result was announced, “the hard work begins now.”
Although strike action and endorsements from high profile Irish figures had proved effective, Smyth recalls that it was testimonies from Irish women who traveled abroad for abortions which really galvanized the Irish public.
“It was women stepping forward and saying, 50 years ago, ‘I had an abortion in England, and I’ve never told anyone.’ ‘I’m aged 21. Last year, I had to go to England on my own.’
“It was these real stories of the distress for many women over decades of having had to do something that was important to them and having to do it in secrecy without help. That really, really struck people,” Smyth told CNN last week.
The call to reform Ireland’s repressive ban had intensified since 2012 following the death of a young woman named Savita Halappanavar, who died of complications after abortion was denied to her when she was miscarrying in a County Galway hospital, western Ireland.
“It really brought into people’s consciousness that anybody could die simply by presenting at a hospital when they’re unwell and pregnant,” said Camilla Fitzsimons, an associate professor at the University of Maynooth who has researched the history of abortion in Ireland.
By the time the vote finally came around on May 25, 2018, there was a sense among Irish people that the abortion ban was “very wrong” and that if Irish society was ever to be equal, people would have “to put our trust in women and believe them when they say this is the best decision for me,” Smyth said.
Within four months of the referendum, Ireland’s president formally repealed the Eighth Amendment to the constitution. Irish lawmakers then passed the legislation that allows for terminations in the first 12 weeks of pregnancy.
But despite the changes heralded by the vote five years ago, the O’Shea review highlighted a number of obstacles to equal access to abortion services in Ireland.
Under current legislation, women must undergo a three-day waiting period after an initial consultation before gaining access to abortion medication, a requirement which medical practitioners have described as “patronizing,” according to the O’Shea review.
It’s a measure which medics and campaigners alike wish to scrap, especially in light of its impact on more vulnerable groups of women, who may find it difficult to attend two appointments.
One GP in the northwest of Ireland interviewed for the report highlighted the cost burden on lower income women, for example, stressing that “it’s not a free service if you have to spend 100 euro on petrol to get there and back” from appointments. During the Covid-19 pandemic, the Irish government allowed the first consultation to be done by phone, which report author Dr. Lorraine Grimes says improved but did not entirely solve the problem. Women still need to attend the second appointment in person for the procedure itself.
Dr. Mary Favier has played a huge part in organizing abortion services in GP clinics across Ireland. Although she acknowledges that coverage is “not perfect,” she is even more concerned about the situation in Irish maternity hospitals. At present, only 11 out of the 19 maternity facilities in the country are providing abortion services, the report states.
Favier says the expansion of services in maternity units has been held up by a controversial provision within the law which allows medical practitioners to refuse to provide abortion services on grounds of “conscientious objection.”
She chalks this up to “more conservative” attitudes among some Irish obstetricians and gynecologists, who she says for the most part did not actively participate in the “Repeal the 8th” campaign.
Although the proportion of conscientious objectors in Ireland’s health service is relatively small, Favier told CNN that they are concentrated in rural areas. And these tend to be places where there are fewer abortion providers already.
Favier also finds it “problematic” that abortion training, including on surgical procedures, has not been formally integrated into Irish medical schools’ curricula, and expressed support for the review’s recommendation that such training be “embedded” into teaching.
Probably the greatest obstacle for Irish medical professionals, however, is a legal provision which criminalizes any individual who assists a pregnant person to obtain an abortion outside the confines of the law. This becomes especially relevant when considering the 12-week gestational limit embedded in the new legislation.
It is a limit which Grimes describes as “extremely tight.” This strict cut-off is also exacerbated by the three-day waiting period. If a woman is near the limit during the weekend or around a public holiday, she will have more difficulty accessing an appointment and may “time out” of care, Favier explains.
After 12 weeks it becomes “extremely difficult” to have an abortion in Ireland, according to Grimes. She highlights that in the case of a fatal fetal abnormality, for example, two doctors must certify that the baby would die within 28 days of being born for an abortion to be approved.
“That is practically impossible to do, it is really a huge ask,” Grimes said, noting that because abortion is still criminalized beyond the first 12 weeks, doctors tend to make more conservative decisions when dealing with complex cases.
Because the failed first abortion left her with only limited time for a second attempt before the 12-week limit, Sarah was left fearing her only options would be “to go to the UK or to continue with the pregnancy.”
Ultimately, a second procedure was carried out successfully at an Irish maternity hospital before the cut-off.
Against this backdrop, more than 200 Irish women still traveled to the UK for abortion procedures in 2021, according to UK health service statistics, although the O’Shea review notes that the “rate of abortion travel has declined substantially.”
“We do need to acknowledge that any instance where a woman has to leave her country to access full reproductive health care is a failure of the health system,” Grimes stressed.
Campaigners such as Smyth and O’Connor are now focusing their efforts on lobbying the Irish government to accept the recommendations within the O’Shea review. The Irish parliament’s health committee is set to review the findings before the summer.
In its statement to CNN, the Department of Health said the Health Service Executive, Ireland’s healthcare system, would work toward implementing the report’s operational recommendations. The parliamentary Joint Committee on Health would consider recommendations proposing legislative change, it added.
On Wednesday, the National Women’s Council launched an online campaign encouraging Irish people to write to their elected representative to call for “cross-party political commitment to reform,” according to a press release.
“Repealing the 8th didn’t mean abortion access only for some women and not others – the provision of abortion services needs to be consistent and equitable,” O’Connor stressed.
Sarah told CNN that she just wants women in Ireland to “feel that the decision they made is the right one” if they chose to have an abortion and that there is “no guilt or stigma attached” to having an abortion in 2023.
