On November 10, the Ukrainian anticorruption authorities revealed that close associates of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy were allegedly involved in a scheme to embezzle $100m from Ukraine's energy sector. Zelenskyy's business partner Tymur Mindich as well as two government ministers have been named so far in the investigation, led by the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU), an agency backed by Western governments.
Russian drones struck two central districts Slobidskyi and Osnovyansk in Ukraine's second largest city Kharkiv, injuring five people in an apartment building and triggering a fire, authorities said. Kharkiv Mayor Ihor Terekhov said 22 residents had been evacuated from one section of the damaged apartment building while another drone struck an area outside a medical facility, injuring a doctor and damaging the building and nearby cars.
The Ukrainian military said it struck Russia's Ryazan oil refinery, located about 200km (125 miles) southeast of Moscow, as part of efforts to reduce the enemy's ability to launch missile and bomb strikes. The Ukrainian military said the strike caused multiple explosions and a large fire at the site. The Russian Ministry of Defence said its forces have taken control of the village of Yablukove in Ukraine's Zaporizhia region.
The man, whose identity remains anonymous due to security concerns, told Al Jazeera there was strong coordination between the Al-Majd Europe group and the Israeli army on such displacements. He said the process seemed routine and included a thorough search of personal belongings before he was put on a bus that moved through southern Gaza's Israeli-controlled Karem Abu Salem crossing (which Israelis call Kerem Shalom) into southern Israel and the Ramon Airport.
The Ukrainian army says it has struck a Russian oil refinery near the capital Moscow, a day after Russia launched massive, deadly attacks on Kyiv. The Ukrainian army said on social media on Saturday that it hit a refinery in the Ryazan region as part of efforts to reduce the enemy's ability to launch missile and bomb strikes.
The United States will slash its tariffs on goods from Switzerland to 15 percent from a crippling 39 percent under a new framework trade agreement that includes a pledge by Swiss companies to invest $200bn into the US by the end of 2028, the Swiss government has said. The announcement by Swiss Economy Minister Guy Parmelin on Friday brings the US tariff rate on Swiss goods in line with those from the European Union (EU). Parmelin told a news conference that the tariff reduction would provide relief for about 40 percent of Switzerland's total exports.
According to Ukraine's Specialised Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office (SAPO), the alleged $100m scheme was orchestrated by businessman Timur Mindich, a close ally of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. SAPO's investigators say Galushchenko helped Mindich manage illicit financial flows in the energy sector, while contractors working with Energoatom were forced to pay bribes of 10 to 15 percent to avoid losing contracts or facing payment delays.
Ukraine's top military commander, Oleksandr Syrskii, said the army's situation has significantly worsened in parts of the southeastern Zaporizhia region amid fierce fighting with Russian forces. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a post on X that he had received an update from Syrskii, which conveyed that the situation remains difficult in the Zaporizhia region, as well as in the direction of the embattled city of Pokrovsk. Zaporizhia Governor Ivan Fedorov said that a Russian drone attack killed a 56-year-old man in the Polohivskyi district. Also in Zaporizhia, the Kushuhum Village Council announced in a post on the Telegram messaging app that families with children must begin mandatory evacuations from the area.
Ukraine accuses Russia of luring recruits from Africa into suicidal' military contracts to bolster its war efforts. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha has said that more than 1,400 people from 36 African nations are known to be fighting for Russia in its war against Ukraine, urging governments to warn their citizens against joining a conflict where they are quickly killed. Foreign citizens in the Russian army have a sad fate, Sybiha wrote on X. Most of them are immediately sent to the so-called meat assaults', where they are quickly killed.
Days earlier, she said Moscow was forced to develop and test the cruise missile, which is named the Burevestnik, meaning storm petrel a type of seabird, in response to NATO's hostility towards Russia. The development can be characterised as forced and takes place to maintain strategic balance, she was quoted by the Itar-Tass news agency as saying. Russia has to respond to NATO's increasingly destabilising actions in the field of missile defence.
When presenting the reports, EU Enlargement Commissioner Marta Kos praised Ukraine for combatting corruption but warned there was more work to do. list of 3 itemsend of list Earlier this year, Zelenskyy's ruling party pushed amendments through parliament that gave the president's hand-picked general prosecutor the power to transfer cases away from the National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office (SAPO) and reassign prosecutors.
The centre-left D66 has almost tripled its seats in parliament, while the far-right Freedom Party suffered a sharp decrease in its representation from its record win in 2023. The centre-left D66 party has made huge gains in the Netherlands' general election, with it likely taking the lead in government formation talks as the far-right Freedom Party (PVV) haemorrhaged support among voters. With 90 percent of the votes counted early on Thursday, D66 and PVV were both projected to take 26 seats
NATO member Lithuania has closed its two biggest airports and shut crossings on its border with Belarus after helium weather balloons drifted into its territory, the third such incident in the Baltic nation this month. European aviation has repeatedly been thrown into chaos in recent weeks by drone sightings and other air incursions, including at airports in Copenhagen, Munich and the Baltic region.
A massive Russian attack killed four people and injured seven in the town of Novhorod-Siverskyi, in Ukraine's Chernihiv region, Governor Viacheslav Chaus wrote in a post on Telegram. Chaus said that Russian forces launched about 20 Shahed drones in the attack and that there was a lot of destruction in the city. Russian attacks killed two people and injured one person in the city of Kostiantynivka in Ukraine's Donetsk region, the head of the Kostiantynivka City Military Administration, Serhii Horbunov,
A Polish court has blocked the extradition of a Ukrainian diver wanted by Germany in connection with the 2022 Nord Stream gas pipeline explosions, a handover that Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said earlier this month was not in his country's best interests. The Warsaw District Court rejected the extradition of the man, only identified as Volodymyr Z, on Friday and ordered his immediate release.
Every day I see cars that ran out of fuel and were left on the curb, Ayder, a resident of Simferopol, Crimea's administrative capital, told Al Jazeera. His car runs on natural gas, which is more available these days. There are long lines and fistfights at gas stations after a limit of 20 litres (5.3 gallons) per car was introduced, he said, withholding his last name out of fear of punishment for talking to foreign media.
Russian forces have struck a hospital and a United Nations convoy in Ukraine, officials say, in attacks likely to bolster President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's pitch for long-range Tomahawk missiles when he meets his United States counterpart later this week. Officials said on Tuesday that overnight attacks involving drones and glide bombs struck a hospital in Kharkiv, injuring 57 people and forcing the evacuation of 50 patients.
