Ukraine ‘actively developing’ regional security arrangements for defence, food and energy, Zelenskyy says; Russia and Ukraine swap prisoners. What we know on day 1,522 Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy arrived in Azerbaijan on Friday for talks on “security and energy” , a senior Ukrainian official told AFP. Kyiv and Baku enjoy warm relations, with Azerbaijan repeatedly expressing support for...
Ukraine ‘actively developing’ regional security arrangements for defence, food and energy, Zelenskyy says; Russia and Ukraine swap prisoners. What we know on day 1,522 Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy arrived in Azerbaijan on Friday for talks on “security and energy” , a senior Ukrainian official told AFP. Kyiv and Baku enjoy warm relations, with Azerbaijan repeatedly expressing support for Ukraine’s territorial integrity and sending humanitarian aid since the Russian invasion in 2022. Ties between Moscow and Baku have soured over the past year, after an Azerbaijani passenger plane was mistakenly hit by a Russian anti-aircraft missile in 2024, killing 38 people. The trip follows one to Saudi Arabia, where Zelenskyy met with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, as the Ukrainian leader seeks to share Kyiv’s drone expertise with the Gulf countries affected by the war in Iran . Zelenskyy said Ukraine was “actively developing” its strategic security arrangement across three key areas, including exports of Ukrainian military expertise and air defence capabilities, energy cooperation to help Ukraine, and food security. US weapons deliveries to Ukraine haven’t stopped despite the Iran war , and Ukrainian long-range strikes continue to hammer Russian oil production and manufacturing plants, Zelenskyy said on Thursday. “Of course, we are hitting what is painful for Russia, and it is very painful,” Zelenskyy said in voice messages to reporters, adding that Russian losses in the strikes have reached tens of billions of dollars. Russian officials have reported that attacks have struck infrastructure in regions more than 1,000km (600 miles) inside Russia. Russia and Ukraine on Friday swapped 193 captured soldiers each , the second exchange this month in one of the few areas of cooperation between Moscow and Kyiv. The two countries have exchanged thousands of PoW throughout the four-year war – with the swaps often the only result of otherwise stalled peace talks. Photos of Ukr...
Brussels officials will draw up a plan on how to use the EU’s little-known mutual assistance pact in the event of a foreign attack – key US politics stories from Friday 24 April EU leaders have agreed that the European Commission “will prepare a blueprint” on how the bloc will respond if the little-known mutual assistance clause is triggered, according to Nikos Christodoulides, the president of Cy...
Brussels officials will draw up a plan on how to use the EU’s little-known mutual assistance pact in the event of a foreign attack – key US politics stories from Friday 24 April EU leaders have agreed that the European Commission “will prepare a blueprint” on how the bloc will respond if the little-known mutual assistance clause is triggered, according to Nikos Christodoulides, the president of Cyprus, who is hosting the talks. They discussed the mutual defence clause, article 42.7 of the EU treaty, on Thursday night, before reports emerged that the US was exploring how to suspend Spain from Nato. Continue reading...
Hon Wing, 77, and his family climbed 19 floors to their fire-ravaged flat in Hong Kong’s Wang Fuk Court housing estate on Tuesday but left almost empty-handed after a two-hour search for valuables. Hon, a retired part-time taxi driver, had hoped to find a bag of change he kept during his work shifts, but “nothing much was there” in his charred flat in Wang Sun House. His daughter Ice Hon wanted to...
Hon Wing, 77, and his family climbed 19 floors to their fire-ravaged flat in Hong Kong’s Wang Fuk Court housing estate on Tuesday but left almost empty-handed after a two-hour search for valuables. Hon, a retired part-time taxi driver, had hoped to find a bag of change he kept during his work shifts, but “nothing much was there” in his charred flat in Wang Sun House. His daughter Ice Hon wanted to retrieve items passed down from her late mother. “Dust and ruins are everywhere. It feels like the...
China would see India’s attempt to expand defence industry cooperation with South Korea in artillery and anti-aircraft guns as “inevitably sensitive” given Beijing’s border dispute with New Delhi in the Himalayas, according to analysts. After meeting with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday as part of his three-day visit to India, South Korean President Lee Jae Myung announced that Seoul...
China would see India’s attempt to expand defence industry cooperation with South Korea in artillery and anti-aircraft guns as “inevitably sensitive” given Beijing’s border dispute with New Delhi in the Himalayas, according to analysts. After meeting with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday as part of his three-day visit to India, South Korean President Lee Jae Myung announced that Seoul and Delhi had agreed to upgrade their economic cooperation, focusing on vital sectors such as...
Some 1,400 years ago, a young girl, celebrated as China’s “most pampered child,” was laid to rest in a palace-like stone coffin, surrounded by her grandmother’s affection and a wealth of treasures. Li Jingxun, an aristocrat from the Sui dynasty (581–618), also known as “Little Girl,” hailed from Longxi, located in what is now northwest China’s Gansu province. Her story unfolded during a tumultuous...
Some 1,400 years ago, a young girl, celebrated as China’s “most pampered child,” was laid to rest in a palace-like stone coffin, surrounded by her grandmother’s affection and a wealth of treasures. Li Jingxun, an aristocrat from the Sui dynasty (581–618), also known as “Little Girl,” hailed from Longxi, located in what is now northwest China’s Gansu province. Her story unfolded during a tumultuous period in Chinese history, marked by the transition from the fractured Northern dynasties (386–581)...