UK to Help Replenish Ukraine’s Artillery Reserves with $311 Mln Package

Local women stand next to their house heavily damaged by a Russian drone strike, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Odesa, February 24, 2024. (Reuters)

10:26-24 February 2024 AD ـ 15 Sha’ban 1445 AH

UK to Help Replenish Ukraine’s Artillery Reserves with $311 Mln Package

Local women stand next to their house heavily damaged by a Russian drone strike, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Odesa, February 24, 2024. (Reuters)

Britain will spend 245 million pounds ($311 million) over the next year to boost Ukraine’s artillery ammunition reserves, the defense ministry said on Saturday - the two year anniversary of Russia's invasion.

WHY IT IS IMPORTANT

Ukraine faces acute ammunition shortages and is seeking more military assistance from Western countries as it battles to hold off Russia. The prospect of further military aid from the United States, its largest donor, hinges on a congressional vote.

KEY QUOTE

"They cannot win this fight without the support of the international community – and that’s why we continue to do what it takes to ensure Ukraine can continue to fight towards victory." British defense minister Grant Shapps said in a statement.

BY THE NUMBERS

Britain has pledged more than $8.8 billion (7 billion pounds) of military assistance to Ukraine since February 2022.

US President Joe Biden's administration has so far provided $44 billion in security assistance to Ukraine and is currently awaiting congressional approval to secure $60 billion.

Germany, the second-largest provider of military assistance to Ukraine, says it has provided and committed to some 28 billion euros ($30.2 billion) of military aid so far.

The European Union has committed around 6 billion euros in military aid through the European Peace Facility.

Several individual Western countries have pledged military aid since February 2022, including Canada committing $2.4 billion.

World

Bangladesh Says Student Leaders Held for Their Own Safety

People take part in a song march to protest against the indiscriminate killings and mass arrest in Dhaka on July 26, 2024. (AFP)

08:37-27 July 2024 AD ـ 21 Muharram 1446 AH

Bangladesh Says Student Leaders Held for Their Own Safety

People take part in a song march to protest against the indiscriminate killings and mass arrest in Dhaka on July 26, 2024. (AFP)

Bangladesh said three student leaders had been taken into custody for their own safety after the government blamed their protests against civil service job quotas for days of deadly nationwide unrest.

Students Against Discrimination head Nahid Islam and two other senior members of the protest group were Friday forcibly discharged from hospital and taken away by a group of plainclothes detectives.

The street rallies organized by the trio precipitated a police crackdown and days of running clashes between officers and protesters that killed at least 201 people, according to an AFP tally of hospital and police data.

Islam earlier this week told AFP he was being treated at the hospital in the capital Dhaka for injuries sustained during an earlier round of police detention.

Police had initially denied that Islam and his two colleagues were taken into custody before home minister Asaduzzaman Khan confirmed it to reporters late on Friday.

"They themselves were feeling insecure. They think that some people were threatening them," he said.

"That's why we think for their own security they needed to be interrogated to find out who was threatening them. After the interrogation, we will take the next course of action."

Khan did not confirm whether the trio had been formally arrested.

Days of mayhem last week saw the torching of government buildings and police posts in Dhaka, and fierce street fights between protesters and riot police elsewhere in the country.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's government deployed troops, instituted a nationwide internet blackout and imposed a curfew to restore order.

- 'Carried out raids' -

The unrest began when police and pro-government student groups attacked street rallies organized by Students Against Discrimination that had remained largely peaceful before last week.

Islam, 26, the chief coordinator of Students Against Discrimination, told AFP from his hospital bed on Monday that he feared for his life.

He said that two days beforehand, a group of people identifying themselves as police detectives blindfolded and handcuffed him and took him to an unknown location to be tortured before he was released the next morning.

His colleague Asif Mahmud, also taken into custody at the hospital on Friday, told AFP earlier that he had also been detained by police and beaten at the height of last week's unrest.

Police have arrested at least 4,500 people since the unrest began.

"We've carried out raids in the capital and we will continue the raids until the perpetrators are arrested," Dhaka Metropolitan Police joint commissioner Biplob Kumar Sarker told AFP.

"We're not arresting general students, only those who vandalized government properties and set them on fire."

UK to Help Replenish Ukraine’s Artillery Reserves with $311 Mln Package

UK to Help Replenish Ukraine’s Artillery Reserves with $311 Mln Package

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Bangladesh Says Student Leaders Held for Their Own Safety

Bangladesh Says Student Leaders Held for Their Own Safety

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