УКРОПИ

Facebook owner Meta bans Russia state media outlets over ‘foreign interference’ 

London — Meta said it’s banning Russia state media organization from its social media platforms, alleging that the outlets used deceptive tactics to amplify Moscow’s propaganda. The announcement drew a rebuke from the Kremlin on Tuesday. 

The company, which owns Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram, said late Monday that it will roll out the ban over the next few days in an escalation of its efforts to counter Russia’s covert influence operations. 

“After careful consideration, we expanded our ongoing enforcement against Russian state media outlets: Rossiya Segodnya, RT and other related entities are now banned from our apps globally for foreign interference activity,” Meta said in a prepared statement. 

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov lashed out, saying that “such selective actions against Russian media are unacceptable,” and that “Meta with these actions are discrediting themselves.” 

“We have an extremely negative attitude towards this. And this, of course, complicates the prospects for normalizing our relations with Meta,” Peskov told reporters during his daily conference call. 

RT was formerly known as Russia Today. Rossiya Segodnya is the parent company behind state news agency RIA Novosti and news brands like Sputnik. 

“It’s cute how there’s a competition in the West — who can try to spank RT the hardest, in order to make themselves look better,” RT said in a release. 

Rossiya Segodnya did not respond to a request for comment from The Associated Press. 

Meta’s actions comes days after the United States announced new sanctions on RT, accusing the Kremlin news outlet of being a key part of Russia’s war machine and its efforts to undermine its democratic adversaries. 

U.S. officials alleged last week that RT was working hand-in-hand with the Russian military and running fundraising campaigns to pay for sniper rifles, body armor and other equipment for soldiers fighting in Ukraine. They also said RT websites masqueraded as legitimate news sites but were used to spread disinformation and propaganda in Europe, Africa, South America and elsewhere. 

Earlier this month, the Biden administration seized Kremlin-run websites and charged two RT employees of covertly providing millions of dollars in funding to a Tennessee-based content creation company to publish English-language social media videos pushing pro-Kremlin messages. 

Moscow has rejected the allegations. 

Meta had already taken steps to limit Moscow’s online reach. Since 2020 it has been labeling posts and content from state media. Two years later, it blocked state media from running ads and putting their content lower in people’s feeds, and the company, along with other other social media sites like YouTube and TikTok, blocked RT’s channels for European users. Also in 2022 Meta also took down a sprawling Russia-based disinformation network spreading Kremlin talking points about the invasion of Ukraine. 

Meta and Facebook “already blocked RT in Europe two years ago, now they’re censoring information flow to the rest of the world,” RT said in its statement. 

Moscow has fought back, designating Meta as an extremist group in March 2022, shortly after sending troops into Ukraine, and blocking Facebook and Instagram. Both platforms — as well as Elon Musk’s X, formerly known as Twitter, which is also blocked — were popular with Russians before the invasion and the subsequent crackdown on independent media and other forms of critical speech. The social media platforms are now only accessible through virtual private networks. 
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French man admits to drugging wife so he and dozens of men could rape her

AVIGNON, France — A 71-year-old French man acknowledged in court on Tuesday that over nearly a decade, he was drugging his wife at the time and inviting dozens of men to rape her, as well as raping her himself. He pleaded with her and their three children for forgiveness.

“Today I maintain that, along with the other men here, I am a rapist,” Dominique Pelicot told the court. “They knew everything. They can’t say otherwise.”

Pelicot’s testimony is the most important moment so far in a trial that has shocked and gripped France and raised awareness about sexual violence. Many also hope his testimony will shed some light — to try to understand the unthinkable.

While he previously confessed to investigators, the court testimony will be crucial for the panel of judges to decide on the fate of some 50 other men standing trial alongside him. Many deny having raped Gisele Pelicot, saying they were manipulated by her then-husband or claiming they believed she was consenting.

Gisele Pelicot has become a symbol of the fight against sexual violence in France for agreeing to waive her anonymity in the case, letting the trial be public and appearing openly in front of the media. She is expected to speak in court after her ex-husband’s testimony on Tuesday.

Under French law, the proceedings inside the courtroom cannot be filmed or photographed. Dominique Pelicot is brought to the court through a special entrance inaccessible for the media, because he and some other defendants are being held in custody during the trial. Defendants who are not in custody come to the trial wearing surgical masks or hoods to avoid having their faces filmed or photographed.

After days of uncertainty due to his medical state, Dominique Pelicot appeared in court Tuesday and told judges he acknowledged all the charges against him.

His much-awaited testimony was delayed by days after he fell ill, suffering from a kidney stone and urinary infection, his lawyers said.

Seated in a wheelchair, Pelicot spoke to the court for an hour, from his early life to years of abuse against his now ex-wife. Expressing remorse, his voice trembling and at times barely audible, he sought to explain events that he said scarred his childhood and planted the seed of vice in him.

“One is not born a pervert; one becomes a pervert,” Pelicot told judges, after recounting, sometimes in tears, being raped by a male nurse in a hospital when he was 9 years old and then being forced to take part in a gang rape at age 14.

Pelicot also spoke of the trauma endured when his parents took a young girl in the family, and witnessing his father’s inappropriate behavior toward her.

“My father used to do the same thing with the little girl,” he said. “After my father’s death, my brother said that men used to come to our house.”

At 14, he said, he asked his mother if he could leave the house, but “she didn’t let me.”

“I don’t really want to talk about this, I am just ashamed of my father. In the end, I didn’t do any better,” he said.

Asked about his feelings toward his wife, Pelicot said she did not deserve what he did.

“From my youth, I remember only shocks and traumas, forgotten partly thanks to her. She did not deserve this, I acknowledge it,” he said in tears.

At that moment, Gisele Pelicot, standing across the room, facing him across a group of dozens of defendants sitting in between them, put her sunglasses back on.

Later, Dominique Pelicot said, “I was crazy about her. She replaced everything. I ruined everything.”

A security agent caught Pelicot in 2020 filming videos under women’s skirts in a supermarket, according to court documents. Police searched Pelicot’s house and electronic devices and found thousands of photos and videos of men engaging in sexual acts with Gisele Pelicot while she appears to lie unconscious on their bed.

With the recordings, police were able to track down a majority of the 72 suspects they were seeking.

Gisele Pelicot and her husband of 50 years had three children. When they retired, the couple left the Paris region to move into a house in Mazan, a small town in Provence.

When police officers called her in for questioning in late 2020, she initially told them her husband was “a great guy,” according to legal documents. They then showed her some photos. She left her husband, and they are now divorced.

He faces 20 years in prison if convicted. Besides Pelicot, 50 other men, ages 26 to 74, are standing trial.
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Big Tech, calls for looser rules await new EU antitrust chief 

Brussels — Teresa Ribera will have to square up to Big Tech, banks and airlines if confirmed as Europe’s new antitrust chief, while juggling calls for looser rules to help create EU champions.

Nominated Tuesday by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen for the high-profile antitrust post, Ribera has been Spain’s minister for ecological transition since 2018.

The 55-year-old Spanish socialist, one of Europe’s most ambitious policymakers on climate change, will have to secure European Parliament approval before taking up her post.

As competition commissioner, she will be able to approve or veto multi-billion euro mergers or slap hefty fines on companies seeking to bolster their market power by throttling smaller rivals or illegally teaming up to fix prices.

One of her biggest challenges will be to ensure that Amazon, Apple, Alphabet’s Google, Microsoft and Meta comply with landmark rules aimed at reining in their power and giving consumers more choice.

Apple, Google and Meta are firmly in outgoing EU antitrust chief Margrethe Vestager’s crosshairs for falling short of complying with the Digital Markets Act.

Another challenge will be how to deal with the increasing popularity of artificial intelligence amid concerns about Big Tech leveraging its existing dominance.

Ribera may ramp up a crackdown on non-EU state subsidies begun by Vestager aimed at preventing foreign companies from acquiring EU businesses or taking part in EU public tenders with unfair state support.

Recent rulings from Europe’s highest court, which backed the Commission’s $14.5 billion tax order to Apple, and its $2.7 billion antitrust fine against Google, could embolden Ribera to take a tough line against antitrust violations.

That would mean she would be in no hurry to ease up on antitrust rules, despite Mario Draghi’s call to boost EU industrial champions so that they are able to compete with U.S. and Chinese competitors.

Ribera was also named on Tuesday as executive vice president of a clean, just and competitive energy transition, tasked with ensuring that Europe achieves its green goals.

Her credentials include negotiating deals last year among EU countries on emissions limits for trucks and a contentious upgrade of EU power market rules.

 
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COP29 leaders unveil climate funding and energy storage goals

LONDON — Less than two months ahead of the COP29 United Nations Climate Summit, the Azerbaijani leadership laid out its plans on Tuesday for what it hoped to achieve, as countries continue to wrestle with how to raise ambitions for a new financing target.

The main task for the November summit is for countries to agree on a new annual target for funding that wealthy countries will pay to help poorer nations cope with climate change. Many developing countries say they cannot upgrade their targets to cut emissions faster without first receiving more financial support to invest in doing this.

With countries remaining far from agreement on the financing goal, the COP29 presidency this week outlined more than a dozen side initiatives that could raise ambitions, but do not require party negotiation and building consensus which can hamper progress. These take the form of new funds, pledges, and declarations that national governments can adopt.

Notably, this includes a fund with voluntary contributions from fossil fuel producing countries and companies for the public and private sectors working on climate issues, as well as grants that can be doled out to assist with climate-fueled natural disasters in developing countries.

Such side agendas use “the convening power of COP and the hosts’ respective national capabilities to form coalitions and drive progress,” said Mukhtar Babayev, who holds the rotating COP presidency, in a letter to all parties and stakeholders.

Over 120 countries pledged at last year’s COP28 summit in Dubai, for example, to triple renewable energy capacity by 2030.

The COP29 presidency also hopes to build support around a pledge to increase global energy storage capacity six times above 2022 levels, reaching 1,500 gigawatts by 2030. This would include a commitment to scale up investments in energy grids, adding or refurbishing more than 80 million km by 2040.

Babayev, who is Azerbaijan’s minister of ecology and natural resources, said the agenda would “help to enhance ambition by bringing stakeholders together around common principles and goals.”

“We hope to address some of the most pressing issues while also highlighting remaining priorities,” he said.

Another declaration would see countries and companies create a global market for clean hydrogen, addressing regulatory, technological, financing and standardization barriers.

COP29 leaders have also appealed for a “COP Truce” that would highlight the importance of peace and climate action.

Despite countries’ existing climate commitments, carbon dioxide emissions from burning fossil fuels hit a record high last year, and the world just registered its hottest summer on record as temperatures climb.
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As election for IOC president looms, what is the job and who are the 7 candidates?

geneva — Seven candidates are competing for one of the biggest and best jobs in world sports that traditionally becomes available only every 12 years.

The International Olympic Committee announced on Monday which of its members in a most exclusive and discreet club have entered the race to be its next president. The election by secret ballot is in March.

The winner will replace Thomas Bach, a German lawyer who steps down in June upon reaching the maximum 12 years in office.

The 10th IOC president could be its first female leader, or its first from Africa or Asia. Or even its first from Britain.

They will take over a financially stable organization that demands deft skills in the challenging arenas of sports and real-world politics.

Who are the candidates?

• Prince Feisal al Hussein, an IOC member since 2010, on its executive board since 2019. Founder of the Generations for Peace sports charity. His older brother is King Abdullah II of Jordan.

• Sebastian Coe, IOC member since 2020. President of World Athletics since 2015. Olympic champion in men’s 1,500 meters in 1980 and 1984. Elected lawmaker in British Parliament from 1992 to 1997. Led the 2012 London Olympics organizing committee.

• Kirsty Coventry, IOC member since 2013, on executive board for a second time since 2023. Olympic champion in women’s 200-meter backstroke in 2004 and 2008. Appointed sports minister in Zimbabwe government since 2018. Chairs IOC panel overseeing the 2032 Brisbane Olympics.

• Johan Eliasch, IOC member since August. President of International Ski and Snowboard Federation since 2021. Owner of Head sports equipment brand, CEO until 2021. Swedish-British citizen.

• David Lappartient, IOC member since 2022. President of International Cycling Union since 2017. President of France’s Olympic committee and leader of French Alps bid that will host 2030 Winter Games. Chair of IOC esports panel that steered the Esports Olympic Games to Saudi Arabia.

• Juan Antonio Samaranch Jr., IOC member since 2001, vice president since 2022, and member of the executive board from 2012 to 2020. Founder of a Spain-based investment bank. Created Samaranch Foundation to promote the Olympics in China in honor of his father, who was IOC president from 1980 to 2001.

• Morinari Watanabe, IOC member since 2018. Japanese president of the International Gymnastics Federation since 2017.

When is the election and who votes?

The IOC election meeting is on March 18-21 at a resort hotel in Greece, near the site of Ancient Olympia.

Candidates and their compatriots cannot vote, leaving about 95 eligible to take part in March. Among them, members of European and Asian royal families, including the Emir of Qatar; diplomats and lawmakers, including a former president of Croatia, Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović; businesspeople, including Nita Ambani, whose husband is India’s richest man; leaders of sports bodies; current and former Olympic athletes.

What is the IOC president’s job?

It’s an executive role running a not-for-profit organization that employs hundreds of staff at a modern lakeside headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland.

The IOC earns several billion dollars in revenue every four years from selling broadcasting and sponsor rights for the Summer Games and Winter Games.

Most of the money is distributed to the Olympic family: organizers of upcoming Games, including youth editions, governing bodies of Olympic sports, more than 200 national Olympic bodies, scholarships for potential Olympic athletes and special projects.

The job ideally calls for a deep knowledge of managing sports, understanding athletes’ needs and political skills.

How long can IOC presidents stay in the job?

A maximum of 12 years, with a first term of eight years and the chance for one re-election for a further four.

However, the IOC has an age limit of 70 and complex rules around membership status. It means some of the seven candidates could have to seek a special exemption while in office to complete a full eight-year mandate.

What are the challenges and big decisions ahead?

• Picking a host for the 2036 Summer Games, with India and Qatar as strong contenders.

• Renewing the United States broadcast deal that has typically underwritten Olympic finances. Bach moved quickly in 2014 to renew NBC’s deal through 2032. The next deal starts with the 2034 Winter Games in Salt Lake City.

• Both decisions factor into wider questions in regard to drafting the global sports calendar. July-August has been the optimal Summer Games slot since 2004. But a 2036 Doha Olympics could not be held in those months, and where could Games be comfortably held after another decade of climate change?

• When and how can Russia be reintegrated fully into international sports with no end to its invasion of Ukraine in sight? Coe’s world track and field body currently excludes Russian athletes entirely.
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Germany implements border checks as migration debate stirs election tensions 

Germany began implementing checks on all its land borders Monday as the government tries to crack down on irregular migration. As Henry Ridgwell reports, many of Germany’s neighbors have criticized the plan, which they say undermines the core European Union principle of freedom of movement.
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Thousands protest in France as high-profile rape cases rock country

Paris — Thousands of people protested sexual violence across France this past weekend, as two high-profile cases rock the country: one involving a woman who was allegedly drugged and raped by dozens of men for years; the other targeting a once-beloved French clergyman, who fought for the rights of the homeless.  

In French cities like Marseille and Nantes, both men and women took part in demonstrations calling for an end to sexual violence.  

They carried signs with messages like “No, to the culture of rape,” and “Gisele, we believe you” — in support of 72-year-old Gisele Pelicot.  

Pelicot’s former husband is on trial in the southern city of Avignon, accused of drugging her and recruiting dozens of men to rape her over nearly a decade.  

Speaking to reporters on Monday, Pelicot thanked the protesters and other supporters. They have given her force, she said, to fight for all those who are victims of sexual violence.  

The Avignon trial is only the latest of a raft of sexual violence accusations targeting famous French actors and other figures. 

Most recently, the spotlight has been on Abbe Pierre, once a crusader for the homeless. For years one of the most popular personalities in France, the priest died in 2007 at the age of 94. But in recent weeks, multiple allegations have surfaced that he sexually assaulted women in France and other countries over the decades. There are now efforts to strike his name from the charities he founded, as well as from parks and streets named after him.  

Speaking to reporters Friday, Pope Francis said Abbe Pierre did a lot of good, but was also a sinner — and such things must be spoken about, not hidden.  

The head of the French bishop’s association has since said that at least some French bishops had known about the cleric’s alleged abuses for decades. 
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US imposes sanctions on 4 Georgians over protest crackdowns

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Treasury Department imposed on Monday sanctions on two Georgian government officials and two members of the country’s pro-Russian far-right movement who it said were involved in violent crackdowns on protests.  

Large street protests erupted in Georgia over a “foreign agent” law, which the South Caucasus country’s parliament passed in May despite criticism, including from U.S. officials, that it was Kremlin-inspired and authoritarian. 

A Treasury statement said the financial sanctions on Monday targeted Georgia’s Chief of the Special Task Department Zviad Kharazishvili and his deputy, Mileri Lagazauri, who oversaw security forces who violently suppressed the spring protests. 

“The violence perpetuated by the Special Task Department included the brutal beatings of many attendees of the non-violent protests against the new foreign influence law, including Georgian citizens and opposition politicians,” the Treasury said. 

It added that Kharazishvili was personally involved in the physical and verbal abuse of protesters. 

Also targeted were Konstantine Morgoshia, founder of media company Alt-Info, and associated media personality Zurab Makharadze, Treasury said, accusing them of amplifying disinformation and spreading hate speech and threats. 

The dispute around the foreign agents law was seen as a test of whether Georgia, for three decades among the more pro-Western of the Soviet Union’s successor states, would maintain its Western orientation or move closer to Russia. 

The Georgian Dream party that controls parliament said the legislation was needed to ensure transparency in foreign funding of NGOs and protect the country’s sovereignty. 

Washington has long criticized the law and launched a review into bilateral cooperation with Georgia. 

The Biden administration has previously imposed visa bans on members of Georgian Dream, members of parliament, law enforcement and private citizens over the law and the protests. 
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Coe among 7 candidates to succeed Bach as IOC president

Lausanne, Switzerland — World Athletics chief Sebastian Coe is the highest profile of the seven candidates to have declared on Monday their bid to succeed International Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach.

Coe will face stiff opposition from, among others, Kirsty Coventry, bidding to become the first woman and African to head the IOC, and cycling boss David Lappartient.

The election will be at the IOC Session in Athens, which runs from March 18-21 next year.

Bach, 70, is standing down after serving 12 years. The German announced at the end of the Paris Games that he would not be seeking another term. 

The other four candidates include two from Asia  another continent never to have had an IOC president — Jordan’s Prince Faisal al-Hussein and gymnastics chief Morinari Watanabe.

Juan Antonio Samaranch Junior, whose father of the same name was IOC president from 1980-2001 and transformed it into a commercial powerhouse, and a surprise entrant, ski federation president Johan Eliasch, round up the candidates.

First up for the septet is presenting their respective programs to the IOC members at the turn of the year.

“The candidates will present their programs, in camera, to the full IOC membership on the occasion of a meeting to be held in Lausanne (Switzerland) in January 2025,” read a short IOC statement unveiling the candidates.

There will be a transition period post-election — not something Bach enjoyed when he succeeded Jacques Rogge in 2013  with the new president and his team assuming control in June.
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Russian drone attacks target Kyiv

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Death toll rises as torrential rain and flooding force evacuations in Central Europe  

PRAGUE — The death toll was rising in Central European countries on Sunday after days of heavy rains caused widespread flooding and forced evacuations.

Several Central European nations have already been hit by severe flooding, including Austria, the Czech Republic, Poland and Romania. Slovakia and Hungary might come next as a result of a low pressure system from northern Italy dumping record rainfall in the region since Thursday.

The floods have claimed six lives in Romania and one each in Austria and Poland. In the Czech Republic, four people who were swept away by waters were missing, police said.

It’s not over yet

Most parts of the Czech Republic have been affected as authorities declared the highest flood warnings at around 100 places across the country. But the situation was worst in two northeastern regions that recorded the biggest rainfall in recent days, including the Jeseniky mountains near the Polish border.

In the city of Opava, up to 10,000 people out of a population of around 56,000 have been asked to move to higher ground. Rescuers used boats to transport people to safety in a neighborhood flooded by the raging Opava River.

“There’s no reason to wait,” Mayor Tomáš Navrátil told Czech public radio. He said that the situation was worse than during the last devastating floods in 1997, known as the “flood of the century.”

“We have to focus on saving lives,” Prime Minister Petr Fiala told Czech public television on Sunday. His government was set to meet Monday to assess the damages.

The worst “is not behind us yet,” the prime minister warned.

President Petr Pavel sounded more optimistic, saying “it’s obvious we’ve learned a lesson from the previous crisis.”

At least 4 missing and villages cut off

Thousands of others also were evacuated in the towns of Krnov, which was almost completely flooded, and Cesky Tesin. The Oder River that flows to Poland was reaching extreme levels in the city of Ostrava and in Bohumin, prompting evacuations.

Ostrava, the regional capital, is the third-largest Czech city. Mayor Jan Dohnal said the city will face major traffic disruptions in the days to come. Almost no trains were operating in the region.

Towns and villages in the Jeseniky mountains, including the local center of Jesenik, were inundated and isolated by raging waters that turned roads into rivers. The military sent a helicopter to help with evacuations.

Jesenik Mayor Zdenka Blistanova told Czech public television that several houses in her and other nearby towns have been destroyed by the floods. A number of bridges and roads have been badly damaged.

About 260,000 households were without power Sunday morning in the entire country, while traffic was halted on many roads, including the major D1 highway.

A firefighter dies as Lower Austria declared a disaster zone

A firefighter died after “slipping on stairs” while pumping out a flooded basement in the town of Tulln, the head of the fire department of Lower Austria, Dietmar Fahrafellner, told reporters on Sunday.

Authorities declared the entire state of Lower Austria in the northeastern part of the country a disaster zone, while 10,000 relief forces have so far evacuated 1,100 houses there. Emergency personnel have started setting up accommodation for residents who had to flee their homes due to the flooding.

The municipality of Lilienfeld with about 25,000 residents is cut off from the outside world. Residents were told to boil tap water as a precaution.

In Vienna, the Wien River overflowed its banks, flooding homes and forcing first evacuations of nearby houses.

Romania reports 2 more flooding victims

Romanian authorities said Sunday that another two people had died in the hard-hit eastern county of Galati after four were reported dead there a day earlier, following unprecedented rain.

Dramatic flooding in Poland

In Poland, one person was presumed dead in floods in the southwest, Prime Minister Donald Tusk said Sunday.

Tusk said the situation was “dramatic” around the town of Klodzko, with about 25,000 residents, located in a valley in the Sudetes mountains near the border with the Czech Republic. Helicopters were used to pick up people from roofs in a few cases.

In Glucholazy, rising waters overflowed a river embankment and flooded streets and houses. Mayor Paweł Szymkowicz said, “we are drowning,” and appealed to residents to evacuate to high ground.

The weather change arrived following a hot start to September in the region. Scientists have documented Earth’s hottest summer, breaking a record set just a year ago.

A hotter atmosphere, driven by human-caused climate change, can lead to more intense rainfall.
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Zelenskyy again urges West to allow strikes deep inside Russia

Kyiv, Ukraine — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy once again Sunday urged Western allies to permit Kyiv to strike military targets deep inside Russia, especially air bases, after a deadly attack on Kharkiv.  

“Only a systemic solution makes it possible to oppose this terror: the long-range solution to destroy Russian military aviation where it is based,” Zelenskyy said in his daily address.  

“We are waiting for appropriate decisions coming primarily from the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy.”  

Earlier, a guided Russian bomb struck a residential building in Kharkiv, the latest of a series of attacks on the northeastern city, starting a blaze which firefighters extinguished.  

Rescuers pulled out the dead body of an elderly woman from the rubble, Kharkiv Mayor Igor Terekhov said on Telegram, adding that 42 people were wounded.   

In his speech, Zelenskyy said Russia had also struck the Sumy and Donetsk regions Sunday with guided bombs.   

He said the Russian army carried out “at least 100 such air attacks” daily.

It is to prevent these sorts of attacks that Ukraine is asking for permission to strike military targets deep inside Russia from Western allies, who remain hesitant for fear of an escalation.  

Also Sunday, Russian shelling killed one person in the eastern Ukrainian city of Pokrovsk, local authorities said, as Moscow’s troops inched closer to the key logistics hub.  

More than 20,000 people — almost half of its population — have fled the city since August, while Russian strikes over the past two weeks have cut off water and electricity to many of its remaining residents.  

“Around 11 a.m. (0800 GMT), the enemy shelled the western part of the city… Unfortunately, one person died,” Pokrovsk’s military administration said on Telegram.  

Russia has been advancing toward Pokrovsk for months, getting to within 10 kilometers Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy once again Sunday urged Western allies to permit Kyiv to strike military targets deep inside Russia, especially air bases, after a deadly attack on Kharkiv.  

“Only a systemic solution makes it possible to oppose this terror: the long-range solution to destroy Russian military aviation where it is based,” Zelenskyy said in his daily address.

“We are waiting for appropriate decisions coming primarily from the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy.”  

Earlier, a guided Russian bomb struck a residential building in Kharkiv, the latest of a series of attacks on the northeastern city, starting a blaze which firefighters extinguished.  

Rescuers pulled out the dead body of an elderly woman from the rubble, Kharkiv Mayor Igor Terekhov said on Telegram, adding that 42 people were wounded.   

In his speech, Zelenskyy said Russia had also struck the Sumy and Donetsk regions Sunday with guided bombs.   

He said the Russian army carried out “at least 100 such air attacks” daily.

It is to prevent these sorts of attacks that Ukraine is asking for permission to strike military targets deep inside Russia from Western allies, who remain hesitant for fear of an escalation.  

Also Sunday, Russian shelling killed one person in the eastern Ukrainian city of Pokrovsk, local authorities said, as Moscow’s troops inched closer to the key logistics hub.  

More than 20,000 people — almost half of its population — have fled the city since August, while Russian strikes over the past two weeks have cut off water and electricity to many of its remaining residents.  

“Around 11 a.m. (0800 GMT), the enemy shelled the western part of the city… Unfortunately, one person died,” Pokrovsk’s military administration said on Telegram.  

Russia has been advancing toward Pokrovsk for months, getting to within 10 kilometers (6 miles) of its eastern outskirts, according to the local administration.   

The city lies on the intersection of rail and road routes that supply Ukrainian troops and towns across the eastern front line and has long been a target for Moscow’s army.  

Russian strikes damaged two overpasses in the city earlier this week, including one that connected Pokrovsk to the neighboring town of Myrnograd, local media reported.  

Other eastern cities such as Bakhmut and Mariupol suffered massive bombardment before falling to Russian forces. of its eastern outskirts, according to the local administration.   

The city lies on the intersection of rail and road routes that supply Ukrainian troops and towns across the eastern front line and has long been a target for Moscow’s army.  

Russian strikes damaged two overpasses in the city earlier this week, including one that connected Pokrovsk to the neighboring town of Myrnograd, local media reported.  

Other eastern cities such as Bakhmut and Mariupol suffered massive bombardment before falling to Russian forces.
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