Tag: Defense and Military Forces

Israel Raids Al-Shifa Hospital Again; Netanyahu to Send Team for Talks in D.C.

The acute food shortage in the war-ravaged Gaza Strip has become so severe that “famine is imminent” and the enclave is on the verge of a “major acceleration of deaths and malnutrition,” a report from a global authority on food security and nutrition said on Monday. The group, the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification global […]

Read More

Rebellious Russians Stage Daring Attacks From Ukraine on Russian Soil

Gathered in a Ukrainian farmhouse, soldiers checked their kits: rifles, machine guns, grenade launchers, spare batteries for radios, red and white flashlights, all that would be needed for a stealthy and daring night assault across the border into Russia. The soldiers are Russians who have turned against the government of their country’s president, Vladimir V. […]

Read More

President Biden, You Have Leverage That Can Save Lives in Gaza. Please Use It.

President Biden is sounding tougher toward Israel these days and showing more compassion for people starving in Gaza. “There are a lot of innocent people who are in trouble and dying,” Biden said. “And it’s got to stop.” But it’s not going to stop on its own — indeed, it may get worse if Israel […]

Read More

In Occupied Ukraine, Casting a Vote (for Putin) as Armed Soldiers Watch

A new sign went up a few miles from the front line recently on the main billboard of an occupied town in Ukraine’s Luhansk region. “Vote for our president. Together we’re strong,” read the sign in the white, blue and red colors of the Russian flag, according to Anastasiia, a resident. The message was clear […]

Read More

Iran and U.S. Held Secret Talks on Proxy Attacks and Cease-Fire

Iran and the United States held secret, indirect talks in Oman in January, addressing the escalating threat posed to Red Sea shipping by the Houthis in Yemen, as well as the attacks on American bases by Iran-backed militias in Iraq, according to Iranian and U.S. officials familiar with the discussions. The secret talks were held […]

Read More

Second Gaza Aid Convoy Ends in Violence, With at Least 20 Killed

For the second time in just over two weeks, a convoy bringing aid to hunger-stricken northern Gaza ended in bloodshed late Thursday when Palestinians were killed and wounded in an attack surrounding the trucks, according to Gazan health officials and the Israeli military, which offered divergent accounts of what happened. The Gaza Health Ministry said […]

Read More

Macron and Scholz Meet, Looking to Patch Up Differences on Ukraine

Chancellor Olaf Scholz and President Emmanuel Macron of France met in Berlin on Friday looking to smooth over their differences on how to support Ukraine in its war with Russia and allay concerns that the Franco-German “engine of Europe” is sputtering. Mr. Scholz hosted Mr. Macron alongside Poland’s prime minister, Donald Tusk, as Europe struggles […]

Read More

Ukraine, Stalled on the Battlefield, Strikes Russia’s Oil Industry

With its army short of ammunition and troops to break the deadlock on the battlefield, Ukraine has increasingly taken the fight behind Russian lines, attacking warships, railways and airfields in an attempt to diminish Moscow’s military operations. Most recently, that campaign has focused on oil infrastructure, hitting refineries deep in Russian territory and driving home […]

Read More

Taiwan Is Building a Satellite Network Without Elon Musk

In Taiwan, the government is racing to do what no country or even company has been able to: build an alternative to Starlink, the satellite internet service operated by Elon Musk’s rocket company, SpaceX. Starlink has allowed militaries, power plants and medical workers to maintain crucial online connections when primary infrastructure has failed in emergencies, […]

Read More

U.S. Arms Will Help Ukraine, but Only for a Little While

The $300 million in new weaponry that the United States is sending to Ukraine, the first American military aid package in months, will help the Ukrainian military hold off Russian troops for a few weeks, analysts say, but it will not change the overall situation on the battlefield, where Moscow currently has the advantage. Ukraine […]

Read More

UN Aid for Gaza Is Turned Away Because of Scissors, an Official Says

A U.N. official said a truck carrying aid was turned around in Gaza this week because it contained scissors included in medical kits for children, calling attention to what aid groups have said is a laborious Israeli inspection process that is slowing down crucial humanitarian assistance. Philippe Lazzarini, the head of UNRWA, the main U.N. […]

Read More

Repairing Gaza’s Phone Network Is a Perilous and Important Task

When Mohammed Sweirky prepared to leave for a work trip in January to repair telecommunications infrastructure that had been destroyed in northern Gaza, his wife and children pleaded with him not to go. Fighting between Israeli troops and Hamas members was still raging in the area, said Mr. Sweirky, who is a technician for Paltel, […]

Read More

A Chance for Hope in Haiti’s Latest Crisis

Dead bodies are rotting on the streets of Haiti’s capital, Port-au-Prince. Clean drinking water is scarce, and a cholera outbreak threatens. Hunger looms. The outgunned police force has all but disappeared. Armed groups have seized control of ports and major roads in the capital and freed inmates from jails. They shut down the airport, preventing […]

Read More

U.S. to Send $300 Million in Weapons to Ukraine Under Makeshift Plan

The Biden administration announced on Tuesday that it was sending up to $300 million in weapons to Ukraine, the first new aid package for the country since funding ran out in late December. The package, pulled together from money that Army accountants cobbled from savings from contracts that came in under bid, includes air defense […]

Read More

‘Jamming’: How Electronic Warfare Is Reshaping Ukraine’s Battlefields

The Ukrainian soldier swore and tore off his headset. His video monitor had gone blurry at first, the landscape of shattered trees and shell craters barely visible, before blacking out completely. The Russians had jammed the signal of his drone as it was flying outside the town of Kreminna in eastern Ukraine. “Some days everything […]

Read More

Polish Leader to Press for Surge in NATO Spending to Counter Russia

The president of Poland plans to use a White House meeting with President Biden on Tuesday to propose that most NATO countries increase their military spending by at least half to meet what he sees as the growing threat of Russian aggression against Europe and the United States. The Polish president, Andrzej Duda, said that […]

Read More

Ukraine Faces Losses Without More U.S. Aid, Officials Say

Senior intelligence officials warned on Monday that without additional American aid, Ukraine faced the prospect of continued battlefield losses as Russia relies on a network of critical arms suppliers and drastically increases its supply of technology from China. In public testimony during the annual survey of worldwide threats facing the United States, the officials predicted […]

Read More

Ukraine Could Deploy F-16s as Soon as July, but Only a Few

The jets are ready, and the flight instructors are waiting, at a new training center in Romania that was created to teach Ukraine’s pilots to fly the F-16 warplane. But there’s a catch: The Ukrainian pilots have yet to arrive, despite declarations last summer that the center would play a crucial role in getting them […]

Read More

‘It’s a Way of Life’: Women Make Their Mark in the Ukrainian Army

On the front line just outside Bakhmut, Ukraine, a 32-year-old commander of a Ukrainian artillery platoon rocked to and fro in the passenger seat of a beat-up Lada, as another soldier navigated the car through a thick forest, sometimes mowing down young trees. When they reached their destination, a small village less than two miles […]

Read More

Biden’s Armageddon Moment: When Nuclear Detonation Seemed Possible in Ukraine

President Biden was standing in an Upper East Side townhouse owned by the businessman James Murdoch, the rebellious scion of the media empire, surrounded by liberal New York Democrats who had paid handsomely to come hear optimistic talk about the Biden agenda for the next few years. It was Oct. 6, 2022, but what they […]

Read More

Russia’s Advance Around Avdiivka Loses Momentum After Quick Gains

When the eastern city of Avdiivka, a Ukrainian stronghold, fell to Russian forces three weeks ago, Kyiv and its allies feared that Moscow’s troops could build on their momentum and quickly press ahead toward strategic military hubs and population centers. But after making rapid gains in the subsequent days, Russian assaults have stalled around three […]

Read More

Macron and Scholz Spar Over Policy on Ukraine and Russia

It was a private dinner in a Parisian garden on the Boulevard St. Germain, meant to cement the important personal relationship between the leaders of France and Germany. After the meal on July 4, 2022, Chancellor Olaf Scholz said “Merci beaucoup” in a Twitter post praising “close exchanges.” But on the way out, President Emmanuel […]

Read More

Zelensky Names Ukraine’s Ex-Top General Ambassador to U.K.

President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine on Thursday appointed Valery Zaluzhny as his new ambassador to Britain, just a month after he removed him from his post as the country’s top general amid tensions between the military and civilian leadership. “Gen. Valery Zaluzhny told me that this is the direction he would like to take — […]

Read More

Opposition Blasts Macron for Risking Escalation in Ukraine

Attacked at home and abroad for his statement last month that sending troops to Ukraine “should not be ruled out,” President Emmanuel Macron faced a torrent of outrage from the left and right on Thursday when he met with leaders of major political parties to hammer home his new position. Mr. Macron’s remark startled his […]

Read More

Sweden Officially Enters NATO Alliance, a Strategic Blow to Moscow

Sweden formally joined NATO on Thursday, becoming its 32nd member, two years after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine forced both Sweden and Finland to dump their traditional military nonalignment and seek the collective security of the American-led alliance. After months of uncertainty caused by the hesitations of Turkey and Hungary, Sweden officially joined by depositing its […]

Read More

Ukrainians Scale Up Crowdfunding to Help the War Effort

Earlier this year, Daria Chervona, a photo retoucher from Kyiv, was busy trying to raise 78 million Ukrainian hryvnia, about $2 million, for Ukraine’s army, posting daily on social media to urge friends and acquaintances to chip in. That was a high bar, but after a few weeks she announced she had cleared it, reaching […]

Read More

Russia Strikes Odesa During Visit by Zelensky and Greek Leader

A Russian strike on the Ukrainian city of Odesa on Wednesday occurred while President Volodymyr Zelensky and Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis of Greece were visiting the strategic port city. Neither was hurt, and they appeared to have continued their visit. It is unclear whether the Russian Army specifically targeted them or how close they were […]

Read More

Ukraine’s Retreat From Avdiivka Under Russia’s Harrowing Attacks

The fighting had become increasingly ferocious last month at the Zenith air-defense base a mile south of Avdiivka, where for years a company of Ukrainian soldiers had defended the southern approaches to the city. Russian troops had moved up on their flanks and were pounding them from all sides with tank, artillery and mortar fire, […]

Read More

China’s New Economic Agenda, a Lot Like the Old One: Takeaways

Beijing was abuzz with politics on Tuesday. China’s annual legislative meeting — the National People’s Congress, when Communist Party leaders promote their solutions for national ills — opened for business. The event is a chance for the leaders to signal the direction of the economy and outline how and where the government will spend money […]

Read More

Russia Intensifies Air War, Enabling Ukraine to Shoot More Planes Down

The Ukraine war has been fought largely on the ground in the past two years, with troops often locked in back-and-forth battles with heavy artillery and drone support. The countries’ air forces have played second fiddle because of Ukraine’s limited fleet of planes and Russia’s inability to gain the air supremacy it once expected. But […]

Read More

Now It’s Germany’s Turn to Frustrate Allies Over Ukraine

First it was France’s president, Emmanuel Macron, who angered his NATO allies by suggesting that soon the West could be forced to send troops to Ukraine, portending a direct confrontation with Russian forces that the rest of the alliance has long rejected. Then Chancellor Olaf Scholz of Germany took his own turn exposing new divisions. […]

Read More