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UK Paid Rwanda Additional $126 mln for Contested Migrant Plan

Demonstrators hold placards while protesting against the government's policy of deporting asylum seekers to Rwanda, outside the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom in London, Britain, 15 November 2023. EPA/NEIL HALL
Demonstrators hold placards while protesting against the government's policy of deporting asylum seekers to Rwanda, outside the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom in London, Britain, 15 November 2023. EPA/NEIL HALL
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UK Paid Rwanda Additional $126 mln for Contested Migrant Plan

Demonstrators hold placards while protesting against the government's policy of deporting asylum seekers to Rwanda, outside the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom in London, Britain, 15 November 2023. EPA/NEIL HALL
Demonstrators hold placards while protesting against the government's policy of deporting asylum seekers to Rwanda, outside the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom in London, Britain, 15 November 2023. EPA/NEIL HALL

Britain paid Rwanda an additional 100 million pounds ($126 million) in April, on top of 140 million pounds it previously sent, as the bill for its contested plan to relocate asylum seekers to the East African country continues to rise.
The Rwanda scheme is at the center of British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's strategy to deter illegal migrants but as yet none have been moved there because of legal battles since the scheme was announced in 2022, Reuters said.
The divisive policy is now seen as a threat to Sunak's leadership - with an election expected next year - after his immigration minister resigned this week.
On top of the 240 million pounds Britain has sent to Rwanda, London is also set to pay the East African country an additional 50 million pounds next year, according to a letter published by the British interior ministry on Thursday.
The revelations about the growing cost of a policy - which legal experts have warned could yet fail - was slammed by the opposition Labour party and will likely draw fresh criticism from some lawmakers within Sunak's own party.
"Britain can’t afford more of this costly Tory chaos & farce," Labour's shadow interior minister Yvette Cooper said on social media platform X.
But the new minister for legal migration, Tom Pursglove, justified what he called the 240 million-pound "investment" on Friday, saying that once the Rwanda policy was up and running it would save on the cost of housing asylum-seekers in the UK.
"When you consider that we are unacceptably spending 8 million pounds a day in the asylum system at the moment, it is a key part of our strategy to bring those costs down," Pursglove told Sky News.
The money sent to Rwanda would help its economic development and get the asylum partnership with the UK up and running, Pursglove added.
The payments to Rwanda were not linked to a treaty the two countries signed on Tuesday, the interior ministry letter said.
The treaty seeks to respond to a ruling by Britain's Supreme Court that the deportation scheme would violate international human rights laws enshrined in domestic legislation.
"The Government of Rwanda did not ask for any payment in order for a Treaty to be signed, nor was any offered," the letter said.
Sunak appealed to his Conservative lawmakers on Thursday to unite behind his Rwanda plan after Robert Jenrick quit as immigration minister on Wednesday, saying the government's draft emergency legislation to get the scheme up and running did not go far enough.

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Russian Missile Attack Forces Ukraine to Shut Down Power Grid

A serviceman of 13th Operative Purpose Brigade "Khartiia" of the National Guard of Ukraine fires a Giatsint-B howitzer towards Russian troops at a position on a front line, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kharkiv region, Ukraine January 6, 2025. (Reuters)
A serviceman of 13th Operative Purpose Brigade "Khartiia" of the National Guard of Ukraine fires a Giatsint-B howitzer towards Russian troops at a position on a front line, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kharkiv region, Ukraine January 6, 2025. (Reuters)
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Russian Missile Attack Forces Ukraine to Shut Down Power Grid

A serviceman of 13th Operative Purpose Brigade "Khartiia" of the National Guard of Ukraine fires a Giatsint-B howitzer towards Russian troops at a position on a front line, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kharkiv region, Ukraine January 6, 2025. (Reuters)
A serviceman of 13th Operative Purpose Brigade "Khartiia" of the National Guard of Ukraine fires a Giatsint-B howitzer towards Russian troops at a position on a front line, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kharkiv region, Ukraine January 6, 2025. (Reuters)

Russia on Wednesday launched a major ballistic and cruise missile attack on regions across Ukraine, targeting energy production and compelling authorities to shut down the power grid in some areas despite freezing winter weather, officials said.

The Russian Defense Ministry said that it launched a strike on “critically important facilities of gas and energy infrastructure that ensure the functioning of Ukraine’s military industrial complex.” It didn't give the target locations or other details.

The barrage came a day after the Russian Defense Ministry vowed a response to what it said was an attack on Russian soil using multiple Western-supplied missiles.

Kyiv hasn't confirmed that attack, though it said Tuesday that it hit an oil refinery and a fuel storage depot, a chemical plant producing ammunition and two anti-aircraft missile systems, in a missile and drone attack that reached around 1,100 kilometers (almost 700 miles) into Russia.

Long-range attacks have been a feature of the nearly three-year war, where on the front line snaking about 1,000 kilometers (600 miles) from northeast to southern Ukraine, the armies have been engaged in a war of attrition. Russia has been advancing on the battlefield over the past year, though its progress has been slow and costly.

Russia attacked Ukraine with 43 missiles and 74 drones overnight, the Ukrainian Air Force said. A total of 30 missiles and 47 drones were shot down, and 27 drones failed to reach their target, it said.

The Russian missiles sought out targets from the Lviv region in western Ukraine near Poland to Kharkiv in northeast Ukraine bordering Russia. The state energy company Ukrenergo reported emergency power outages in six regions. It often shuts down production during attacks as a precaution.

“The enemy continues to terrorize Ukrainians,” Energy Minister Herman Halushchenko wrote on Facebook.

Electricity supplies resumed to households in some areas by the middle of the day, but Ukrenergo urged customers to avoid using power-hungry electrical appliances.

Russia has repeatedly tried to cripple Ukraine’s power grid, denying the country heat, electricity and running water in an effort to break the Ukrainian spirit. The attacks have also sought to disrupt Ukraine’s defense manufacturing industry.

Last September, the UN refugee agency reported that Ukraine had lost more than an estimated 60% of its energy generation capacity.

Ukrainian authorities try to rebuild their power generation after the attack, though the barrages have eroded production. Western partners have been helping Ukraine rebuild.

“It is the middle of the winter, and Russia’s goal remains unchanged: our energy infrastructure,” Zelenskyy said on Telegram.

He urged Western partners to accelerate the delivery to Ukraine of promised air defense weapons, emphasizing that “promises have been made but not yet fully realized.”