May 27, 2024 12:36 PM

Russian attack on Ukraine’s Kharkiv kills 14, injures dozens

A Russian strike on a crowded DIY hardware store in Kharkiv killed at least 14 people and wounded dozens more, Ukrainian officials said on Sunday, the death toll rising as the country's second-largest city reeled from two attacks a day earlier. Two guided bombs hit the Epicentr DIY hypermarket in a residential area of the city on Saturday afternoon, Regional Governor Oleh Syniehubov said on national television. The strikes caused a massive fire which sent a column of thick, black smo...

May 24, 2024 2:57 PM

OPEC+ to hold June 2 output policy meeting online

The OPEC+ group of oil producers, comprising the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and allies led by Russia, has pushed back its output policy meeting by a day to June 2 and will convene online. The meeting was to have been in Vienna on June 1, but will now be held online a day later, OPEC said on Friday. OPEC+ oil producers are making voluntary output cuts totalling about 2.2 million barrels per day (bpd) for the first half of 2024, led by Saudi Arabia rolling over an e...

September 16, 2024 5:55 PM

India to get next-generation nuclear fuel: Russian Nuclear Agency chief

Russia has announced that it will supply next-generation nuclear fuel to its strategic partner this summer. The announcement was made by Alexey Likhachev, the head of Russia's state nuclear corporation Rosatom, during a visit by Ajit Kumar Mohanty, Chairman of India's Atomic Energy Commission, to the Siberian region of Tomsk on Thursday. During the visit, Likhachev showcased the site of the Pilot Demonstration Energy Complex (PDEC) in Seversk, Tomsk region, which is part of the "Proryv" ("Break...

May 22, 2024 5:46 PM

Russia denies U.S. charge that it put anti-satellite weapon in space

Russia's top arms control diplomat dismissed as "fake news" on Wednesday an assertion by the United States that Russia had launched a weapon into low-Earth orbit that was capable of inspecting and attacking other satellites. The Kremlin has flatly denied assertions by U.S. officials that Moscow is developing a space-based anti-satellite nuclear weapon. U.S. Space Command on Tuesday pointed to the launch earlier this month of a Soyuz rocket from Russia's Plesetsk launch site, saying it likely i...

May 22, 2024 2:50 PM

Ukrainian gunners finally get shells to stop Russians near Kharkiv

Ukrainian servicemen operating a howitzer in Kharkiv region near the Russian border work around the clock to stop an incursion by Moscow's troops, and they are finally getting the shells to do it. Ukraine's defenders were hamstrung for months by shortages of artillery shells and other weapons as U.S. Congress held up billions of dollars worth of military aid. As the lawmakers in Washington argued, Russia's forces pressed their advantage on the frontlines, pushing forward on the eastern front. ...

May 21, 2024 6:28 PM

EU countries adopt plan to use frozen Russian assets for Ukraine’s defence

EU countries have formally adopted a plan to use windfall profits from Russian central bank assets frozen in the EU for Ukraine's defence, the Belgian government said on Tuesday. The text only needed a rubber-stamp by ministers after EU ambassadors reached the agreement in early May. Under the agreement, 90% of the proceeds will go into an EU-run fund for military aid for Ukraine, with the other 10% going to support Kyiv in other ways. The EU expects the assets to yield about 15-20 billion eu...

May 17, 2024 11:25 AM

Putin to push growing Moscow-Beijing trade in China’s northeast

After sealing pledges of a "new era" of strategic partnership with China's Xi Jinping, Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday is set to highlight the growing importance of trade near the Russian border in China's northeast. Putin ends his two-day, red-carpet visit to China in Harbin in Heilongjiang province, which has long-running trade and cultural ties to Russia, touring a Russian-China Expo and a forum on interregional cooperation. Facing political isolation and Western sanctions ov...

May 17, 2024 9:09 AM

In a tit-for-tat move, Russia expels UK defence attache from Moscow

In a tit-for-tat move, Russia on Thursday expelled UK defence attache Adrian Coghill from Moscow in response to 'unfriendly moves by the UK,' the Russian news agency TASS reported, citing the Russian Foreign Minister's statement. This came in response to the UK decision on May 8 to expel Russia's defence attache, whom the UK accused of being an "undeclared military intelligence officer," and to remove diplomatic status from the Russian-owned Seacox Heath property in Sussex and the Russian embas...

May 16, 2024 11:17 PM

Putin and Xi wrap up talks with tea ceremony in a Beijing park

Russian president Vladimir Putin and president of the People's Republic of China Xi Jinping ended negotiations with tea ceremony in Beijing's Zhongnanhai park on Thursday (May 16). Putin arrived early on Thursday for a two-day state visit that will include detailed talks on Ukraine, Asia, energy and trade with Xi, his most powerful political backer and fellow geopolitical rival of the United States. Xi said at a joint news conference that both countries agreed that a political settlement of th...

September 16, 2024 6:37 PM

Defying West, Russia’s Putin set to meet Xi Jinping in Beijing

Russian President Vladimir Putin's Beijing visit on Thursday is likely to be light on hard deals but will mark the start of his new presidential term with a show of support from his most powerful political partner, Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping. Putin's two-day mission is expected to highlight the pair's vaunted "no limits" partnership in defiance from pressure from the United States over Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine. The Chinese foreign ministry confirmed Putin's trip on Tuesday...