Dozens of Migrants Rescued at Türkiye Border

Refugees on their way from Türkiye to the Greek island of Lesbos across the Aegean Sea (AFP)
Refugees on their way from Türkiye to the Greek island of Lesbos across the Aegean Sea (AFP)
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Dozens of Migrants Rescued at Türkiye Border

Refugees on their way from Türkiye to the Greek island of Lesbos across the Aegean Sea (AFP)
Refugees on their way from Türkiye to the Greek island of Lesbos across the Aegean Sea (AFP)

Greek police on Wednesday said 39 migrants, including several minors, had been rescued from an islet in Evros river bordering Türkiye.

The group included 13 men, 11 women and 15 minors, the police said in a statement, without disclosing nationalities.

It added that rights activists had alerted the police to their presence.

According to AFP, the migrants were taken to the islet on a dinghy by a smuggler on the Turkish side of the river and left there, the police said.

Athens in 2020 erected a 37.5-kilometre (23-mile) steel barrier in this remote northeastern area after tens of thousands of migrants tried to break through, clashing for days with Greek security forces.

With the country headed into a tight general election later this month, the conservative government has vowed to extend the barrier by another 35 kilometres by the end of the year.

Greece's police minister has said some 265,000 migrants were barred from entering the country illegally last year.

Türkiye and rights groups accuse Greece of pushing asylum seekers back across the border.

Athens denies this, despite numerous testimonies from alleged victims.



Russia: Hypersonic Missile Strike on Ukraine Was a Warning to 'Reckless' West

Russian President Vladimir Putin makes a televised address, dedicated to a military conflict in Ukraine and in particular to Russia's launch of a hypersonic intermediate-range ballistic missile attack on a military facility in response to recent Ukrainian long-range strikes with Western weapons, in Moscow, Russia November 21, 2024. Sputnik/Vyacheslav Prokofyev/Pool via REUTERS
Russian President Vladimir Putin makes a televised address, dedicated to a military conflict in Ukraine and in particular to Russia's launch of a hypersonic intermediate-range ballistic missile attack on a military facility in response to recent Ukrainian long-range strikes with Western weapons, in Moscow, Russia November 21, 2024. Sputnik/Vyacheslav Prokofyev/Pool via REUTERS
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Russia: Hypersonic Missile Strike on Ukraine Was a Warning to 'Reckless' West

Russian President Vladimir Putin makes a televised address, dedicated to a military conflict in Ukraine and in particular to Russia's launch of a hypersonic intermediate-range ballistic missile attack on a military facility in response to recent Ukrainian long-range strikes with Western weapons, in Moscow, Russia November 21, 2024. Sputnik/Vyacheslav Prokofyev/Pool via REUTERS
Russian President Vladimir Putin makes a televised address, dedicated to a military conflict in Ukraine and in particular to Russia's launch of a hypersonic intermediate-range ballistic missile attack on a military facility in response to recent Ukrainian long-range strikes with Western weapons, in Moscow, Russia November 21, 2024. Sputnik/Vyacheslav Prokofyev/Pool via REUTERS

The Kremlin said on Friday that a strike on Ukraine using a newly developed hypersonic ballistic missile was designed as a message to the West that Moscow will respond to their "reckless" decisions and actions in support of Ukraine.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov was speaking a day after President Vladimir Putin said Moscow had fired the new missile - the Oreshnik or Hazel Tree - at a Ukrainian military facility.
"The main message is that the reckless decisions and actions of Western countries that produce missiles, supply them to Ukraine and subsequently participate in strikes on Russian territory cannot remain without a reaction from the Russian side," Peskov told reporters.
"The Russian side has clearly demonstrated its capabilities, and the contours of further retaliatory actions in the event that our concerns are not taken into account have been quite clearly outlined,” Reuters quoted him as saying.
Peskov said Russia had not been obliged to warn the United States about the strike, but had informed the US 30 minutes before the launch anyway.
President Vladimir Putin remained open to dialogue, Peskov said, but he said the outgoing administration of US President Joe Biden "prefers to continue down the path of escalation".
Putin said on Thursday that Russia had fired the new missile after Ukraine, with approval from the Biden administration, struck Russia with six US-made ATACMS missiles on Tuesday and with British Storm Shadow cruise missiles and US-made HIMARS on Thursday.
He said this meant that the Ukraine war had now "acquired elements of a global character".
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has said Russia's use of the new missile amounted to "a clear and severe escalation" in the war and called for strong worldwide condemnation.