عربي English Türkçe اردو فارسى
Logo
Latest News
World

Kremlin Says New Western Armored Vehicles for Ukraine Will 'Deepen Suffering'

Ukrainian servicemen look on from a 2S3 Akatsiya self-propelled howitzer at their position in a frontline, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Donetsk region, Ukraine January 8, 2023. REUTERS/Anna Kudriavtseva TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY
Ukrainian servicemen look on from a 2S3 Akatsiya self-propelled howitzer at their position in a frontline, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Donetsk region, Ukraine January 8, 2023. REUTERS/Anna Kudriavtseva TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY
TT
TT

Kremlin Says New Western Armored Vehicles for Ukraine Will 'Deepen Suffering'

Ukrainian servicemen look on from a 2S3 Akatsiya self-propelled howitzer at their position in a frontline, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Donetsk region, Ukraine January 8, 2023. REUTERS/Anna Kudriavtseva TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY
Ukrainian servicemen look on from a 2S3 Akatsiya self-propelled howitzer at their position in a frontline, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Donetsk region, Ukraine January 8, 2023. REUTERS/Anna Kudriavtseva TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY

The Kremlin said on Monday that new deliveries of Western weapons, including French-made armored vehicles, to Kyiv would "deepen the suffering of the Ukrainian people" and would not change the course of the conflict.

France and Germany announced last week that they would send light combat vehicles to Ukraine, ramping up their military support for Kyiv. The United States said it would also provide armored fighting vehicles to Ukraine, Reuters reported.

"This supply will not be able to change anything", Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Monday.

"These supplies can only add to the pain of the Ukrainian people and prolong their suffering. They are not capable of stopping us from achieving the goals of the special military operation," Peskov said.

Ukraine, which has scored some battlefield successes since Russian forces invaded last February, has asked Western allies for heavier weapons and air defenses as it seeks to tip the balance of the conflict, now in its 11th month, further in its favor.

The Kremlin also said on Monday that despite France's decision to send more weapons to Kyiv, Moscow appreciated President Emmanuel Macron's contribution towards maintaining dialogue between the West and Russia.

"(Russian President Vladimir) Putin and Macron maintain contact, there are pauses in the dialogue, but during previous stages that contact was quite useful and constructive, despite all the differences," Peskov said.

Macron was criticized in Ukraine and in some Western capitals for holding hours-long phone calls with Putin in the early weeks of Russia's invasion.

Just last month Macron was rebuked by the Baltic states for saying the West should consider Russia's need for "security guarantees" in any future talks to end the fighting.

Most Viewed

 
 
World

France Holds Day of Mourning for Mayotte Islands Devastated by Cyclone

French President Emmanuel Macron (C-R) and his wife Brigitte Macron (C-L) stand for a minute of silence at the Elysee Palace during a day of national mourning for the lives lost after a cyclone hit the Indian Ocean territory of Mayotte, in Paris, France, 23 December 2024. (EPA)
French President Emmanuel Macron (C-R) and his wife Brigitte Macron (C-L) stand for a minute of silence at the Elysee Palace during a day of national mourning for the lives lost after a cyclone hit the Indian Ocean territory of Mayotte, in Paris, France, 23 December 2024. (EPA)
TT
TT

France Holds Day of Mourning for Mayotte Islands Devastated by Cyclone

French President Emmanuel Macron (C-R) and his wife Brigitte Macron (C-L) stand for a minute of silence at the Elysee Palace during a day of national mourning for the lives lost after a cyclone hit the Indian Ocean territory of Mayotte, in Paris, France, 23 December 2024. (EPA)
French President Emmanuel Macron (C-R) and his wife Brigitte Macron (C-L) stand for a minute of silence at the Elysee Palace during a day of national mourning for the lives lost after a cyclone hit the Indian Ocean territory of Mayotte, in Paris, France, 23 December 2024. (EPA)

France held a national day of mourning for Mayotte, its Indian Ocean territory devastated by a violent cyclone on Dec. 14, beginning in the morning on Monday with a minute of silence for the scores of residents left dead by the storm.

Cyclone Chido was the worst storm to hit Mayotte's two main islands in 90 years, and authorities have said that perhaps thousands of people may have been killed in its wake, though the government's death toll stands at 35.

To commemorate Mayotte's losses, French flags were lowered to half-mast. Separately, flags were flown at half-mast in Brussels and Strasbourg because of Mayotte, as well as following attacks last week on a German Christmas market and in a Croatian school.

"It is a communion in mourning," Prime Minister Francois Bayrou told reporters. He said the day showed solidarity for those in Mayotte, and that France was "present to reconstruct Mayotte and make sure the people of Mayotte feel surrounded by the entire country."

Following the storm, officials say corpses may have been buried quickly per religious custom, before they could be counted, and that many of the people killed may have been undocumented immigrants.

Mozambique has said 94 people died in the disaster, while 13 were killed in neighboring Malawi.

ANGER

The slow pace of aid and delays in the arrival of clean water have angered residents of Mayotte, France's poorest overseas territory located between Madagascar and Mozambique about 8,000 km (4971 miles) from the mainland, with some heckling President Emmanuel Macron during his visit last week.

For Mohamed Abdou, a doctor in Pamandzi, the day of French mourning was a political stunt and did not do enough to account for historic neglect leading up to this point.

"Whether in terms of hospitals, the lack of water infrastructure, electricity, and so on ... at this point, we need to say 'mea culpa' and acknowledge mistakes were made," he told Reuters, speaking from his town in the south of Mayotte's smaller island.

Francois-Noel Buffet, France's acting minister of overseas territories, told France 2 that water - a flashpoint even before the disaster - had made it to the island, saying: "We are not missing water. We have water, notably bottled water. We have a problem with distribution."

Buffet said he expected a special law on the reconstruction of Mayotte to be introduced in early January.

In Paris, Bayrou, France's fourth prime minister this year, is expected to unveil his cabinet Monday evening, though the timing was uncertain. The French presidency said the announcement would not take place before 6:00 p.m. (1700 GMT), to take into account the day of mourning.

Estelle Youssouffa, a lawmaker for Mayotte, criticized the government in an interview with Radio France Internationale for possibly making the announcement on the day of mourning, accusing Bayrou, who had not yet visited the islands, of "humiliating us a second time."