عربي English Türkçe اردو فارسى
Logo
Latest News
World

Zelenskiy Calls on Allies to Honor Promises on Arms Supplies to Ukraine

FILE PHOTO: Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy leaves after a trilateral meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron and US President-elect Trump at the Elysee Palace in Paris in Paris, France, December 7, 2024. REUTERS/Sarah Meyssonnier/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy leaves after a trilateral meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron and US President-elect Trump at the Elysee Palace in Paris in Paris, France, December 7, 2024. REUTERS/Sarah Meyssonnier/File Photo
TT
TT

Zelenskiy Calls on Allies to Honor Promises on Arms Supplies to Ukraine

FILE PHOTO: Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy leaves after a trilateral meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron and US President-elect Trump at the Elysee Palace in Paris in Paris, France, December 7, 2024. REUTERS/Sarah Meyssonnier/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy leaves after a trilateral meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron and US President-elect Trump at the Elysee Palace in Paris in Paris, France, December 7, 2024. REUTERS/Sarah Meyssonnier/File Photo

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy called on allies on Sunday to honor all promises to supply Ukraine with weapons, including those to counter Russian air attacks.
Zelenskiy said that over the past week Russian forces had launched hundreds of strikes on Ukraine and nearly 700 aerial bombs and over 600 attack drones were used, Reuters reported.
Ukrainian air defenses downed 60 out of 94 drones launched by Russia overnight, the air force said on Sunday. It said that 34 drones were "lost,” in reference to Ukraine's use of electronic warfare to redirect Russian drones.
"Every week, the Russian war continues only because the Russian army retains its ability to terrorize Ukraine and exploit its superiority in the sky," Zelenskiy said on the Telegram messaging app.
He called on Ukraine's allies to fulfil agreements already made.
"The decisions made at the NATO summit in Washington, as well as those adopted during the Ramstein meetings regarding air defenses for Ukraine, have still not been fully implemented," Zelenskiy said.
Ukraine's leader this week said he had discussed with partners and the United States the possibility of granting Ukraine licenses to produce air defense systems and missiles.

Most Viewed

 
 
World

Taiwan to Stage Five Days of Combat Readiness Drills

FILE PHOTO: Taiwan's High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS) fire rockets during a live-fire military exercise, which simulates an enemy invasion, in Taichung, Taiwan June 10, 2026. Picture taken with a mobile phone. REUTERS/Angie Teo/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Taiwan's High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS) fire rockets during a live-fire military exercise, which simulates an enemy invasion, in Taichung, Taiwan June 10, 2026. Picture taken with a mobile phone. REUTERS/Angie Teo/File Photo
TT
TT

Taiwan to Stage Five Days of Combat Readiness Drills

FILE PHOTO: Taiwan's High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS) fire rockets during a live-fire military exercise, which simulates an enemy invasion, in Taichung, Taiwan June 10, 2026. Picture taken with a mobile phone. REUTERS/Angie Teo/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Taiwan's High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS) fire rockets during a live-fire military exercise, which simulates an enemy invasion, in Taichung, Taiwan June 10, 2026. Picture taken with a mobile phone. REUTERS/Angie Teo/File Photo

Taiwan's military will this ‌week hold a five-day combat readiness drill, the defense ministry said on Sunday, part of modernization plans to shift the focus of training from set piece events to more realistic exercises simulating war.

Taiwan, which China claims as its own territory despite the objections of the government in Taipei, says China's armed forces routinely operate in the skies and seas around the island in an effort to pressure Taiwan to accept Chinese sovereignty.

Taiwan's military has begun basing some of its drills on ‌a scenario where China ‌suddenly turns one of its regular ‌exercises around ⁠the island into ⁠an actual attack, Reuters said.

In a statement, the defense ministry said the "Immediate Combat Readiness Exercise" would start on Monday and run until Friday, describing it as part of the armed forces' annual planned joint operations training.

"The main objective is to train units at all levels to become familiar with combat practices and ⁠the battlefield environment during the readiness deployment phase, and ‌to strengthen rapid peacetime-to-wartime transition ‌and priority deployment actions," the ministry said.

The exercise will be conducted with "actual ‌troops, on actual terrain, in real time, using actual ‌equipment, and through actual implementation", it added.

It will hone command mechanisms at all levels and the troops' combat-oriented capabilities, with an emphasis on improving joint operations command and control, logistical sustainment, and battlefield preparation, the ‌ministry said.

The announcement came on the same day the ministry said China staged another "combat readiness ⁠patrol" near ⁠Taiwan.

The ministry said China sent 21 aircraft, including J-16 fighters, KJ-500 airborne early warning and control aircraft, and Y-20 aerial refueling aircraft.

Of those aircraft, 19 entered the airspace to Taiwan's southwest and into the Western Pacific to conduct "long-distance training over open seas", it added.

Calls to China's defense ministry seeking comment were not answered outside of office hours on Sunday. Taiwan regularly holds military drills, including earlier this month when it fired its new US-made HIMARS rocket system, which is widely used by Ukraine, into the Taiwan Strait.

Taiwan's main annual Han Kuang war games are expected to take place in August.

World

Counterterror Police Investigate after 5 Hurt in Edinburgh Attacks that Appeared to Target Muslims

A still from a video showing British police officers arresting the suspect in Edinburgh.
A still from a video showing British police officers arresting the suspect in Edinburgh.
TT
TT

Counterterror Police Investigate after 5 Hurt in Edinburgh Attacks that Appeared to Target Muslims

A still from a video showing British police officers arresting the suspect in Edinburgh.
A still from a video showing British police officers arresting the suspect in Edinburgh.

Counterterrorism detectives in Scotland were investigating after five people were injured in attacks in Edinburgh that appeared to target Muslims, police said Saturday.

Police Scotland said that a 36-year-old man was arrested late Friday after officers received multiple reports of attacks in the west and north of the city, The Associated Press said.

The force said that five men — two of them age 22, and others ages 24, 27 and 39 — sustained a range of injuries and three needed hospital treatment. None of the injuries is considered life-threatening.

The charity Muslim Engagement and Development said that several of those injured are Muslim. The Scottish Association of Mosques said that two of the injured men were attacked after attending prayers at their local mosque.

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer said that the suspect “appears to be motivated by anti-Muslim hatred.”

“I will not tolerate this — he will face the full force of the law,” Starmer said in a post on X.

Video posted on social media appeared to show a shirtless man carrying a long weapon roaming a street and battering a restaurant door in the Scottish capital. Another video seemed to show the same man on the ground shouting about “protecting the country” while being held by a police officer.

U.K. Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood said that she was “horrified by news of the attack in Edinburgh.

“There is no place for hatred and violence against Muslims,” she said. “I know it is not who we are as a country.”

The Muslim Council of Britain said in a statement that the Muslim community is “rightly nervous and worried.” It said that the violence was “a direct consequence of political rhetoric that demonizes entire communities.”

Police Scotland Assistant Chief Constable Catriona Paton said that it was a “shocking” incident. She said that officers “are being supported by Counter Terrorism Policing.

“I want to send a clear message of support to all our communities that there is no place for racism or faith-based hate in a Scotland, which is at its best when we stand together,” she said.

World

Zelenskiy Again Urges Belarus to Dismantle Relay Stations

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy waits for arrival of Honduras' President Nasry Asfura in Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, June 19, 2026. (AP)
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy waits for arrival of Honduras' President Nasry Asfura in Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, June 19, 2026. (AP)
TT
TT

Zelenskiy Again Urges Belarus to Dismantle Relay Stations

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy waits for arrival of Honduras' President Nasry Asfura in Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, June 19, 2026. (AP)
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy waits for arrival of Honduras' President Nasry Asfura in Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, June 19, 2026. (AP)

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy urged authorities ‌in neighboring Belarus for the second day running to dismantle relay stations he said were playing a role in staging Russian drone attacks on Ukrainian regions.

Belarus, under longtime President Alexander Lukashenko, has been one of Moscow's closest allies in the more than four-year-old war against Ukraine and allowed the Kremlin to use its territory to launch the February 2022 invasion.

Lukashenko, in power since 1994, has repeatedly said he wants no further involvement in the conflict, but Zelenskiy has urged Belarus ‌to prove ‌that it will not provide direct ‌support for ⁠Moscow's war effort.

Zelenskiy ⁠did not refer directly to Lukashenko in his nightly video address and alluded to his contested re-election to new terms in office. But he said Ukraine knows of four relay stations in Belarus assisting Russian military activity.

"Belarus still has time to dismantle this equipment. We also know about every factory ⁠in Belarus that works for Russia and supports ‌the war," he said.

"Ukraine ‌does not want this and we have warned the de facto leadership ‌of Belarus which has influence over these developments."

On Friday, ‌Zelenskiy said a week should give Lukashenko sufficient time to remove relay equipment from his country and added a threat of Ukrainian action if Lukashenko did not do so.

"If he doesn't do ‌it, we'll do it," Zelenskiy said on Friday, without elaborating.

In his latest remarks on Belarus, ⁠Zelenskiy again ⁠alluded to Belarus's large oil refining sector and the role he said it played in Russia's war effort.

He said that from January until May, gasoline supplies from Belarus to Russia increased by 13 times compared with the same period last year, while diesel supplies tripled.

"Unfortunately, this helps Russia adapt to pressure and does not bring peace any closer," he said. "It should be the opposite: peace should be brought closer."

Ukraine's military is engaged in a campaign of medium and long-range drone strikes mainly targeting Russia's oil industry as part of efforts to hobble Russia's war efforts.