Jakarta, CNN Indonesia — Timnas Indonesia U-19 bantai Timor Leste 6-2 pada laga terakhir Grup A Piala AFF U-19 2024 di Stadion Gelora Bung Tomo, Surabaya, Selasa (23/7) malam. Kemenangan ini membuat Indonesia lolos semifinal Piala AFF U-19 2024 sebagai juara Grup A. Di menit ke-19 Timnas Indonesia U-19 berhasil unggul 1-0 lewat sontekan Jens Raven usai meneruskan umpan sepak pojok Muhammad Kafiatur.
Kemudian pada menit ke-22 Timor Leste mendapatkan penalti usai Alexandro Felix Kamuru melanggar penyerang Timor Leste Alexandro Bahkito di kotak penalti. Ricardo Rorinho yang menjadi eksekutor penalti sukses menjalankan tugasnya dengan baik untuk membawa Timor Leste menyamakan skor 1-1. Pada menit ke-27 Indonesia berhasil kembali unggul 2-1 lewat gol Raven usai meneruskan umpan silang Kafiatur.
Di menit ke-45+1, Indonesia berhasil menambah keunggulan menjadi 3-1 atas Timor Leste lewat gol indah Figo Dennis dari luar kotak penalti yang membentur mistar lalu mengenai kiper lawan dan masuk ke gawang Timor Leste.
Hingga pertandingan babak pertama berakhir tak ada gol tambahan yang tercipta. Indonesia unggul 3-1 atas Timor Leste di babak pertama.
Pada awal babak kedua atau di menit ke-50 Indonesia berhasil mencetak gol keempat untuk mengubah skor menjadi 4-1 lewat gol Kadek Arel usai meneruskan umpan sepak pojok Kafiatur.
Pada menit ke-53 Timnas Indonesia U-19 sukses menambah skor menjadi 5-1 lewat gol Arkhan Kaka usai meneruskan umpan Jens Raven.
Kemudian pada menit ke-57 Indonesia menambah keunggulan menjadi 6-1 lewat gol indah Kafiatur dari luar kotak penalti.
Di menit ke-86 Timor Leste mampu memperkecil ketertinggalan lewat gol Alexandro Bahkito Lemos setelah tembakannya mengenai kaki Kadek Arel sehingga membelokkan bola dan masuk ke gawang Indonesia.
Hingga pertandingan berakhir tak ada gol tambahan yang tercipta. Indonesia menang 6-2 atas Timor Leste.
Kemenangan ini membuat Indonesia finis sebagai pemuncak klasemen akhir Grup A dengan poin sempurna, sembilan angka usai menyapu bersih tiga laga dengan kemenangan. Kemenangan ini membuat Indonesia lolos ke semifinal Piala AFF U-19 2024.
Susunan Pemain Timnas Indonesia U-19 vs Timor Leste di Piala AFF U-19: Timnas Indonesia U-19 XI: Ikram Algiffari; Kadek Arel Priyatna, Muhammad Iqbal Gwijangge, Sulthan Zaky, Alexandro Felix Kamuru Rizdjar Nurviat; Welber Jardim, Figo Dennis, Muhammad Kafiatur; Jens Raven, Muhammad Ragil.
Timor Leste U-19 XI : Alexandre Oscar; Rui Juman, Carol Waitilia, Aureo Viera, Ricardo Rorinho; Palomito Antonio, Leonio Quilton, Marques de Carvalho; Alexandro Bahkito, Vabio Canavaro, Ario Melio
Jakarta – Setiap tempat makan dan restoran sejatinya punya patokan harganya masing-masing. Kawasan tempat wisata saat momen liburan, rest area, hingga banda biasanya yang mematok harga yang cenderung mahal. Namun, ada beberapa tempat yang menawarkan makanan dengan harga yang sangat tinggi. Sebagian orang yang mengeluh tempat tersebut punya harga makanan yang terlalu manal, yang bisa menguras kantong lho.
Saking mahalnya tak jarang orang ada yang protes dan membagikannya ke sosial media. Tak heran, beberapa tempat makan sempat viral karena masalah harga.
Lokasi yang Makanannya Punya Harga Terlalu Mahal Dari catatan detikFood, berikut adalah tempat yang disebut punya harga makanan yang terlalu mahal:
1. Makan di Kawasan Wisata Seorang pria menceritakan pengalamannya makan di sebuah restoran di kawasan wisata Situ Cileunca, Pangalengan, Jawa Barat.
Melalui video di YouTube, pria bernama Rudiman dan kawannya memesan 11 porsi ayam bakar dan goreng. Ketika ditotal, dirinya mendapatkan tagihan Rp 440.000.
Mereka juga memesan menu lain, seperti karedok, jengkol, ikan asin lengkap dengan minuman. Menu-menu sederhana tersebut totalnya mencapai Rp 915.000. Melihat totalan tersebut, dirinya pun merasa restoran tersebut menggetok harga.
Momen tersebut juga dibagikan channel YouTube Mang Dragon TV pada (09/01/2021). Videonya viral dan ramai ditanggapi netizen, setelah dibagikan ulang oleh akun Instagram @wisatapangalengan (10/01/2021).
Klasifikasi Pihak Restoran Pemilik restoran juga telah memberikan klasifikasinya, melalui unggahan di Facebook Abahnazeni yang dibagikan di Grup Pangalengan Lembur Kuring.
Menurut pihak restoran, kemungkinan Rudiman memesannya lewat jasa calo dan tidak langsung ke restoran sehingga harganya mahal.
“Kang Arip ini beli dari penjual jasa/calo. Kita buka ya hara standar jajanan warung nasi yang ada di Situ Cileunca. Untuk harga makanan Rp 25.000 per porsi,” katanya.
Pemilik restoran tersebut juga mengatakan, pihaknya telah menghubungi wisatawan untuk memberi klarifikasi secara langsung.
“Dari pihak pembeli makanan yang bernama Arif gak mau datang ke sini, dan kita mau datangi pun dia gak mau kasih alamat,” ungkapnya ketika Dihubungi detikcom (11/01/21) lalu.
Karena kasus ini, Abahnazeni memutuskan mengambil jalur hukum untuk menyelesaikan masalah ini. Menurutnya, masalah ini bukan salah dari warung makan, melainkan si wisatawan yang memesan makanan lewat calo.
“Saya sudah ngadain pengacara, untuk kesalah pahaman ini dan dari pihak wisata mau bawa ini ke jalur hukum,” tutup Abahnazeni.
2. Makan di Rest Area Seorang wanita bernama Nila Latarissa membagikan pengalamannya di akun TikTok. Dalam video, ia membagikan sebuah foto struk makanan dari salah satu restoran di rest area pada 05/07/2022.
Dalam video, ia membagikan sebuah foto struk makanan dari salah satu restoran di rest area. Kala itu, Nila dan lima orang lainnya makan di rest area Tol Jagorawi Km 10 yang ada di daerah Cipayung, Jakarta Timur.
Mereka memesan beberapa porsi makanan, seperti nasi gulai kikil, ayam goreng, soto daging,nasi ikan kembung, dan soto Kudus.
Harga makanan yang dipesannya dibanderol mulai dari Rp 10.000 – Rp 45.000 per porsinya. Jika, ditotal makan di restoran rest area itu Nilai perlu membayar Rp 495.000.
Menurutnya restoran tersebut melakukan getok harga, karena harga tersebut dianggapnya terlalu tinggi.
3. Nasi Padang di Bandara Harga nasi Padang yang dianggap mahal juga ditemukan di Singapura. Salah satu netizen bernama Udaya kecewa, membagikan pengalamannya memakan nasi Padang di Jewel Changi Airport, Singapura.
Dari struk yang dibagikan, diketahui dirinya mengunjungi ke gerai Padang Lezat di food court di Bandara Jewel Changi pada 28/04/2023 lalu. Ia memilih nasi putih dengan ayam goreng, ikan bilis, sayur tumis pare dan kacang panjang. Ketika ia melihat struk dia pun kaget, karena untuk seporsi nasi Padang itu ia harus membayar SGD 13 atau sekitar Rp 156 ribu (kurs 12.000 per 11/07/2024).
Dari ceritanya, dirinya hanya diarahkan untuk memesan dan memilih lauknya. Ia mengaku kalau pegawai di gerai di sana tidak memberikan informasi harga sama sekali.
4. Nasi Padang di Taman Safari Taman Safari Indonesia yang berlokasi Cisarua, Bogor, memang dikenal jadi destinasi wisata keluarga saat liburan. Tak hanya untuk melihat dan berinteraksi dengan para satwa, di sana juga banyak penjual makanan.
Namun, salah satu pengunjung terkejut karena ada nasi Padang di sana yang harganya mencapai Rp 120.000. Alasan seporsi nasi Padang tersebut punya harga selangit, adalah karena setiap lauk dan komponennya dihitung satuan.
Misal, tambahan sayur singkong dan sambal cabe ijo masing-masing dibanderol Rp 8.000. Ada juga sayur nangka yang dihargai Rp 15.000 per sendoknya. Kalau dilihat, porsi yang diberikan memang biasa saja.
Sayangnya, tidak diketahui dengan pasti siapa yang memposting dan kapan foto kejadian tersebut terjadi.
5. Makan Mie Instan di Kafe Pengguna Facebook bernama Derrel Surbakti, juga sempat membagikan bon tagihan setelah ia makan di sebuah kafe. Kala itu, dirinya makan di kafe bernama Poesaka Boenda, Siosa, Sumatra Utara pada 06/07/2023.
Lewat akun Facebooknya, ia menyebut memesan 3 gelas kopi susus aren, 2 es jeruk, 4 nasi goreng dan 1 mie instan goreng telur dengan harga Rp 25.000.
Setelah ditotal dengan PPN dan service charge, dirinya mendapat tagihan Rp 419.210. Unggahan Derrel pun langsung viral dan ramai ditanggapi netizen.
Banyak netizen yang setuju, kalau untuk menu-menu sederhana seperti itu harga yang dipatok terlalu mahal.
“Service charge itu menambah beban banget menurut saya. Sudah bayar service charge belum tentu pelayanannya excellent, kadang malah dijutekin,” tulis salah satu netizen.
Sementara itu, ada juga yang menganggap bahwa harga tersebut standar yang ditawarkan kafe-kafe kekinian. Terlebih, kafe itu menawarkan pemandangan perbukitan yang indah.
“Wajah aja sih, kalau gue cek emang kafenya bagus kayak nawarin pemandangan bagus juga. Tapi emang rata-rata harga makanan kafe ya segitu,” ujar netizen lainnya di kolom komentar.
Ngomongin kuliner, harga makanan seringnya jadi pertimbangan utama. Jadi, sebaiknya sebelum memesan makanan kalian bisa lihat menu atau tanya dulu ke pelayan berapa harganya ya.
Pegi Setiawan resmi bebas usai praperadilan dikabulkan. (Rifat Alhamidi/detikcom)
Jakarta – Praperadilan Pegi Setiawan yang dikabulkan Pengadilan Negeri (PN) Bandung menggugurkan status tersangkanya dalam kasus pembunuhan Vina Cirebon. Pegi Setiawan resmi bebas dari Mapolda Jabar. Dilansir detikJabar, Pegi keluar dari ruang tahanan Direktorat Perawatan Tahanan dan Barang Bukti (Dittahti) Polda Jabar, Senin (8/7/2024) sekitar pukul 21.39 WIB. Kebebasan Pegi sudah disambut keluarga hingga kuasa hukumnya yang datang ke Polda Jabar.
Setelah resmi bebas, Pegi yang mengenakan kaus kuning terlihat berulang kali melemparkan senyum. Pegi mengucapkan terima kasih kepada semua pihak yang telah mendukungnya hingga bisa bebas dari kasus Vina Cirebon.
“Saya mengucapkan terima kasih banyak terhadap masyarakat Indonesia. Terima kasih banyak kepada Bapak Presiden Joko Widodo, kepada Presiden terpilih Bapak Prabowo Subianto dan tim lainnya,” kata Pegi di Mapolda Jabar.
“Dan saya mengucapkan terima kasih kepada netizen Indonesia yang telah mendukung saya dan mau mendoakan saya. Terima kasih juga kepada tim kuasa hukum yang selama ini sudah membela saya,” ucap Pegi menambahkan.
Setelah resmi bebas, Pegi mengaku dalam kondisi sehat. “Sehat, alhamdulillah. Di sini seperti biasa, sehari-hari paling tidur, makan, tidur, makan,” ungkapnya.
Hasil Timnas U16 Indonesia vs Vietnam skor akhir 5-0, Gholy 2 gol, Mierza 2 asssit. Timnas U16 juara 3 AFF U16 2024.
Pesepak bola Timnas Indonesia Josh Holong Junior (kanan) berselebrasi bersama rekannya usai berhasil mencetak gol ke gawang Laos pada pertandingan penyisihan grup A Piala AFF U-16 di Stadion Manahan, Solo, Jawa Tengah, Kamis (27/6/2024). Timnas Indonesia menang atas Laos dengan skor 6-1. ANTARA FOTO/Mohammad Ayudha/foc.
Hasil Timnas U16 Indonesia vs Vietnam dalam perebutan juara 3 Piala AFF U16 2024 ditutup dengan skor 5-0. Gol kemenangan Garuda Muda dalam laga Rabu (3/7/2024) di Stadion Manahan, Solo ini dibukukan oleh Zahaby Gholy (2 gol), Daniel Alfrido (2 gol), dan Dafa Zaidan.
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Hasil Timnas U16 vs Vietnam ini memang tidak membuat Garuda berhak atas medali emas AFF U16 2024. Namun, setidaknya Garuda Muda dapat melanjutkan tradisi tidak pernah finis di bawah 3 besar dalam 4 edisi beruntun sejak 2018.
Sebaliknya, bagi Vietnam, lagi-lagi upaya mereka di Piala AFF U16 selalu dihentikan Indonesia dalam 3 edisi pemungkas. Pada 2019, The Golden Star Warriors kalah dari Garuda Muda di perebutan juara 3. Berselang 3 tahun, Vietnam lagi-lagi digagalkan Indonesia, kali ini dalam babak final. Kini, sekali lagi, The Golden Star Warriors roboh oleh Garuda.
Hasil Timnas U16 Indonesia vs Vietnam Juara 3 AFF Berapa Skor Akhir?
Awal babak pertama, Timnas U16 Indonesia berupaya untuk langsung mencecar Vietnam. Gebrakan Garuda Muda langsung terasa. Belum genap 2 menit, Andi Faith mengirim tembakan yang masih bisa diamankan oleh kiper Xoa Huan Tin.
Namun, Vietnam juga tidak mau menyerah. Tim yang kalah di semifinal lewat gol injury time Thailand tersebut mampu mengimbangi Garuda. The Golden Star Warriors bisa memaksakan 2 tendangan sudut beruntun.
Timnas U16 kembali mengancam ketika lemparan ke dalam Fabio Azkairawan disambut dengan tandukan Andi Faith (25′). Bola mengarah ke mulut gawang Vietnam. Hanya, sekali lagi Huan Tin cekatan menghalau.
Keasyikan menyerang, Garuda dibuat terkejut oleh gempuran mendadak Vietnam dari serangan balik. Bui Duy Dang (26′) membuka ruang di sisi kiri pertahanan Garuda sebelum menguji kiper Dafa Al Gasemi. Garuda harus menerima 3 tembakan bertubi, namun semuanya mentah.
Permainan Vietnam yang keras cenderung kasar berbuah beberapa kesempatan bola mati untuk Indonesia. Momentum datang lagi menit 37. Zahaby Gholy mengeksekusi tendangan bebas dari sudut sempit di sisi kiri pertahanan Vietnam. Tembakan lengkungnya dihalau Xuan Tin.
Tekanan Garuda yang tiada henti akhirnya berbuah juga. Umpan terobosan datar Fandi Ahmad membelah dua bek lawan. Zahaby Gholy menyambutnya, melewati Xuan Tin, dan mencetak gol pertama Indonesia di laga ini pada menit 45. Skor 1-0.
Pada injury time babak pertama, kerjasama apik Indonesia berbuah apik. Bermula dari keberhasilan Garuda merebut bola di wilayah tengah, Gholy membuka ruang. Para pemain Timnas U16 tidak egois dengan terus mengumpan ke sisi yang tidak ditutup Vietnam.
Dafa Zaidan yang jadi ujung serangan, mengirim tembakan datar yang menembus gawang Xuan Tin. 2-0 sebelum turun minum.
Tertinggal 2 gol, Vietnam lebih aktif di paruh kedua. Menit 56, The Golden Star Warriors mendapatkan hadiah tendangan bebas usai pelanggaran Tristan Raissa. Namun, tembakan Nguyen Thai Hoa terlalu mudah dibaca Dafa Al Gasemi.
Vietnam melanjutkan permainan kasar mereka. Indonesia kemudian melakukan pergantian dengan masuknya Mierza Firjatullah dan Matthew Baker. Garuda Muda tidak membiarkan Vietnam berkembang. Nyaris saja gol ketiga lahir ketika Evandra Florasta mendapatkan bola bagus. Namun, tekel pemain belakang Vietnam lebih cepat.
Momentum datang lagi pada menit 75. Lewat serangan kilat Garuda Muda nyaris mendapatkan gol via Evandra. Namun, bola disapu pemain Vietnam. Ketika The Golden Star Warriors mengira gawang mereka sudah aman, Garuda merebut bola lagi. Ketenangan Daniel Alfrido di kotak penalti menghasilkan gol ketiga Indonesia.
Garuda belum selesai. Menit 79, Mierza Firjatullah merangsek di sisi kiri pertahanan Vietnam. Ia membuat bek lawan kocar-kacir. Cut back Mierza dituntaskan Gholy untuk jadi gol keempat Indonesia.
Mierza benar-benar menjadi teror bagi Vietnam. Ketika Garuda menjebak lawan dalam serangan kilat, sang nomor 9 dapat melihat posisi Daniel Alfrido yang lowong. Daniel mencetak gol keduanya di laga ini, sekaligus semakin menghancurkan The Golden Star Warriors.
Skor akhir 5-0 untuk Timnas Indonesia. Garuda Muda menjadi juara 3 Piala AFF U16 2024 dengan akhir yang spektakuler. Laga berikutnya adalah Kualifikasi Piala Asia U17 2025.
Pencetak Gol: Zahaby Gholy 45′ dan 79′, Dafa Zaidan 45+3′, Daniel Alfrido 75′ dan 82′
Timnas U16 Indonesia (4-3-3): Dafa Al Gasemi; Dafa Zaidan, Ida Bagus Putu Cahya, Putu Panji, Andi Faith; Lucas Lee, Tristan Raissa, Fabio Azkairawan; M Zahaby Gholy, Fandi Ahmad, Josh Holong Jr.
Vietnam U16: Hoa Xuan Tin; Nguyen Hong Quang, Nguyen Manh Cuong, Le Tan Dung, Pham Duy Long, Tran Dong Thuc; Nguyen Luc Chu Ngoc, Nguyen Thai Hoa, Bui Duy Dang; Tran Thanh Bhinh, Nguyen Thai Hieu
Israeli forces have reportedly reached the centre of the southern Gaza city of Rafah and seized a strategically important hill overlooking the nearby border with Egypt.
Witnesses and local journalists said tanks were stationed at al-Awda roundabout, which is considered a key landmark.
They also said tanks were on Zoroub Hill, effectively giving Israel control of the Philadelphi Corridor – a narrow strip of land running along the border to the sea.
The Israeli military said its troops were continuing activities against “terror targets” in Rafah, three weeks after it launched the ground operation there.
Western areas of the city also came under intense bombardment overnight, residents said, despite international condemnation of an Israeli air strike and a resulting fire on Sunday that killed dozens of Palestinians at a tented camp for displaced people.
The Israeli military said it was investigating the possibility that the fire was caused by the explosion of weapons stored by Hamas in the vicinity.
It also denied reports from local health and emergency services officials on Tuesday afternoon that tank shells had hit another camp in al-Mawasi, on the coast west of Rafah, killing at least 21 people.
Reuters news agency cited local health officials as saying the blast occurred after Israeli tank shells hit a cluster of tents in al-Mawasi on Tuesday. An official in the Hamas-run civil defence force also told AFP there had been a deadly Israeli strike on tents.
Videos posted to social media and analysed by BBC Verify showed multiple people with serious injuries, some lying motionless on the ground, near tents and other temporary structures.
There was no clear sign of a blast zone or crater, making it impossible to ascertain the cause of the incident. The location – verified through reference to surrounding buildings – is between Rafah and al-Mawasi, and lies south of the IDF’s designated humanitarian zone.
The IDF said in a statement: “Contrary to the reports from the last few hours, the IDF did not strike in the humanitarian area in al-Mawasi.”
Israel has insisted that victory in its seven-month war with Hamas in Gaza is impossible without taking Rafah and rejected warnings that it could have catastrophic humanitarian consequences.
The UN says around a million people have now fled the fighting in Rafah, but several hundred thousand more could still be sheltering there.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) began what they called “targeted” ground operations against Hamas fighters and infrastructure in the east of Rafah on 6 May.
Since then, tanks and troops have gradually pushed into built-up eastern and central areas while also moving northwards along the 13km (8-mile) border with Egypt.
On Tuesday, they reportedly reached the city centre for the first time.
The al-Awda roundabout, which is only 800m (2,600 ft) from the border, is the location of major banks, government institutions, businesses, and shops.
One witness said they saw soldiers position themselves at the top of a building overlooking the roundabout and then begin to shoot at anyone who was moving.
Video posted online meanwhile showed tank track marks on a road about 3km west of al-Awda roundabout and 300m from the Indonesian field hospital, which was damaged overnight.
The UN says around a million people have fled Rafah since the start of the Israeli ground operation in the city
Earlier, residents told the BBC that tanks seized Zoroub Hill, about 2.5km north-west of al-Awda roundabout, after gun battles with Hamas-led fighters.
The hill is highest point along the Egyptian border and its seizure means the entire Gazan side of the border is now effectively under Israeli control.
Zoroub Hill also overlooks western Rafah, where residents said there had been the heaviest air and artillery strikes overnight since the start of the Israeli operation.
A local journalist said the bombardment forced hundreds of families to seek temporary shelter in the courtyard of a hospital, while ambulances struggled to reach casualties in the affected areas.
At dawn, thousands of people were seen heading north, crammed into cars and lorries and onto carts pulled by donkeys and horses.
“The explosions are rattling our tent, my children are frightened, and my sick father makes it impossible for us to escape the darkness,” resident Khaled Mahmoud told the BBC.
“We are supposed to be in a safe zone according to the Israeli army, yet we have not received evacuation orders like those in the eastern [Rafah] region,” he added. “We fear for our lives if no-one steps in to protect us.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) did not comment on the various reports but put out a statement saying that “overnight troops operated on the Philadelphi Corridor while conducting precise operational activity based on intelligence indicating the presence of terror targets in the area”.
“The activity is being conducted as efforts are continuing to be made in order to prevent harm to uninvolved civilians in the area,” it added.
“The troops are engaging with terrorists in close-quarters combat and locating terror tunnel shafts, weapons, and additional terrorist infrastructure in the area.”
The IDF has told civilians in eastern Rafah to evacuate for their own safety to an “expanded humanitarian area” stretching from al-Mawasi, a coastal area just north of Rafah, to the central town of Deir al-Balah.
Israel’s prime minister said the killing of civilians in an air strike and resulting fire in Rafah on Sunday was a “tragedy”
On Sunday night, at least 45 people – more than half of them children, women and the elderly – were killed when an Israeli air strike triggered a huge fire in a camp for displaced people near a UN logistics base in the Tal al-Sultan area, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.
Hundreds more were treated for severe burns, fractures and shrapnel wounds.
The IDF said it was targeting two senior Hamas officials in the attack, which happened hours after Hamas fighters in south-eastern Rafah launched rockets towards the Israeli city of Tel Aviv for the first time in months.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said a “tragic incident” had occurred “despite our immense efforts to avoid harming non-combatants” and promised a thorough investigation.
IDF chief spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said on Tuesday that the strike had targeted a structure used by the Hamas commanders which was away from any tents, using “two munitions with small warheads”.
“Following this strike, a large fire ignited for reasons that are still being investigated. Our munitions alone could not have ignited a fire of this size,” he said.
Rear Adm Hagari added that investigators were looking into the possibility that the fire was caused by the explosion of weapons or ammunition stored in a nearby structure, and played what he said was an intercepted telephone conversation between two Gazans suggesting that. The audio recording could not immediately be verified.
Sam Rose of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, Unrwa, told the BBC from western Rafah that the killing of so many civilians could not be dismissed as an accident.
“Gaza was already one of the most overcrowded places on the planet. It is absolutely impossible to prosecute a military campaign involving large-scale munitions, strikes from the sky, the sea, the tanks, without exacting large-scale civilian casualties,” he said.
“It seems like we are plumbing new depths of horror, bloodshed and brutality with every single day. And if this isn’t a wake-up call, then it’s hard to see what will be.”
Last week, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ordered Israel to “immediately halt its military offensive, and any other action in the Rafah Governorate, which may inflict on the Palestinian group in Gaza conditions of life that could bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part”.
Israel launched a military campaign in Gaza to destroy Hamas in response to the group’s cross-border attack on southern Israel on 7 October, during which about 1,200 people were killed and 252 others were taken hostage.
At least 36,090 people have been killed in Gaza since then, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.
Ukraine said it arrested two Ukrainian officials who worked with the Russian security services
The Ukrainian security service (SBU) says it has foiled a Russian plot to assassinate President Volodymyr Zelensky and other high-ranking Ukrainian officials.
Two Ukrainian government protection unit colonels have been arrested.
The SBU said they were part of a network of agents belonging to the Russian state security service (FSB).
They had reportedly been searching for willing “executors” among Mr Zelensky’s bodyguards to kidnap and kill him.
Ever since Russian paratroopers attempted to land in Kyiv and assassinate President Zelensky in the early hours and days of the full-scale invasion, plots to assassinate him have been commonplace.
The Ukrainian leader said at the start of the invasion he was Russia’s “number one target”.
But this alleged plot stands out from the rest. It involves serving colonels, whose job it was to keep officials and institutions safe, allegedly hired as moles.
Other targets included military intelligence head Kyrylo Budanov and SBU chief Vasyl Malyuk, the agency added.
The group had reportedly planned to kill Mr Budanov before Orthodox Easter, which this year fell on 5 May.
According to the SBU, the plotters had aimed to use a mole to get information about his location, which they would then have attacked with rockets, drones and anti-tank grenades.
One of the officers who was later arrested had already bought drones and anti-personnel mines, the SBU said.
The SBU said it found various ordnance, including an anti-tank grenade, on the plotters
SBU head Vasyl Malyuk said the attack was supposed to be “a gift to Putin before the inauguration” – referring to Russia’s Vladimir Putin who was sworn in for a fifth term as president at the Kremlin on Tuesday.
The operation turned into a failure of the Russian special services, Mr Malyuk said.
“But we must not forget – the enemy is strong and experienced, he cannot be underestimated,” he added.
The two Ukrainian officials are being held on suspicion of treason and of preparing a terrorist act.
The SBU said three FSB employees oversaw the organisation and the attack.
One of them, named as Dmytro Perlin, had been recruiting “moles” since before Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Another FSB employee, Oleksiy Kornev, reportedly held “conspiratorial” meetings “in neighbouring European states” before the invasion with one of the Ukrainian colonels arrested.
In a released interrogation with one of the suspects, they can be heard describing how they were paid thousands of dollars directly by parcels or indirectly through their relatives. It is not clear whether he was speaking under duress or not.
Investigators insist they monitored the men throughout. We are unlikely to know how close they came to carrying out their alleged plan.
The plot may read like a thriller but it is also a reminder of the risks Ukraine’s wartime leader faces.
Last month, a Polish man was arrested and charged with planning to co-operate with Russian intelligence services to aid a possible assassination of Mr Zelensky.
At the weekend Ukraine’s president appeared on the Russian interior ministry’s wanted list on unspecified charges.
The foreign ministry in Kyiv condemned the move as showing “the desperation of the Russian state machine and propaganda”, and pointed out that the International Criminal Court had issued a warrant for Vladimir Putin’s arrest.
ReutersElon Musk (pictured) has accused Anthony Albanese of censorship
Australia’s leader has called Elon Musk an “arrogant billionaire” in an escalating feud over X’s reluctance to remove footage of a church stabbing.
On Monday, an Australian court ordered Mr Musk’s social media firm – formerly called Twitter – to hide videos of last week’s attack in Sydney.
X previously said it would comply “pending a legal challenge”.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s criticism followed Mr Musk using a meme to accuse his government of censorship.
On Tuesday, Mr Albanese told ABC News that Mr Musk “thinks he’s above the law but also above common decency”.
Last week Australia’s eSafety Commissioner, an independent regulator, threatened X and other social media companies with hefty fines if they did not remove videos of the stabbing at the Assyrian Christ the Good Shepherd church, which police have called a terror attack.
X has argued the order is “not within the scope of Australian law”.
The commissioner sought a court injunction after saying it was clear that X was allowing users outside Australia to continue accessing footage.
“I find it extraordinary that X chose not to comply and are trying to argue their case,” Mr Albanese told a press briefing.
In a subsequent series of online posts, Mr Musk wrote: “I’d like to take a moment to thank the PM for informing the public that this platform is the only truthful one.” Another depicted a Wizard of Oz-style path to “freedom” leading to an X logo.
Earlier, he also criticised eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant personally, describing her as the “Australian censorship commissar”.
Mr Albanese defended Ms Inman Grant, saying she was protecting Australians.
“Social media needs to have social responsibility with it. Mr Musk is not showing any,” he said.
The platform will have 24 hours to comply with Monday evening’s injunction, with a further hearing into the matter expected in the coming days.
Putin reset the clock on his term limits, changing Russia’s constitution during his current term to allow him to serve potentially two more stints. Mikhail Metzel/Pool/AFP/Getty ImagesCNN —
Russia is holding a presidential election that is all but certain to extend Vladimir Putin’s rule throughout this decade and into the 2030s.
The vast majority of votes will be cast over three days from 15 March, though early and postal voting has already begun, including in occupied parts of Ukraine where Russian forces are attempting to exert authority.
But this is not a normal election; the poll is essentially a constitutional box-ticking exercise that carries no prospect of removing Putin from power.
The president’s dominance over the Russian electoral system has already been reinforced as the election looms. The country’s only anti-war candidate has been barred from standing, and Alexey Navalny, the poisoned and jailed former opposition leader who was the most prominent anti-Putin voice in Russia, died last month.
Here’s what you need to know about the election.
When and where is the election taking place?
Voting will be held from Friday March 15 until Sunday March 17, the first Russian presidential election to take place over three days; early voting was underway earlier, including among Russia’s ex-pat population around the world.
Voting has also been organized in the four Ukrainian regions Russia said it would annex in September 2022, in violation of international law. Russia has already held regional votes and referenda in those occupied territories, an effort dismissed by the international community as a sham but which the Kremlin sees as central to its campaign of Russification.
A second round of voting would take place three weeks after this weekend if no candidate gets more than half the vote, though it would be a major surprise if that were required. Russians are electing the position of president alone; the next legislative elections, which form the make-up of the Duma, are scheduled for 2026.
In-person voting takes place over the weekend. Natalia Kolesnikova/AFP/Getty Images
This election will mark the start of the first of those two extra terms.
He has essentially been the country’s head of state for the entirety of the 21st century, rewriting the rules and conventions of Russia’s political system to extend and expand his powers.
That already makes him Russia’s longest-serving ruler since Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin.
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Putin’s previous efforts to stay in control included a 2008 constitutional amendment that extended presidential terms from four years to six, and a temporary job swap with his then Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev the same year, that preceded a swift return to the presidency in 2012.
Is Putin popular in Russia?
Truly gauging popular opinion is notoriously difficult in Russia, where the few independent think tanks operate under strict surveillance and where, even in a legitimate survey, many Russians are fearful of criticizing the Kremlin.
But Putin undoubtedly has reaped the rewards of a political landscape tilted dramatically in his favor. The Levada Center, a non-governmental polling organization, reports Putin’s approval rating at over 80% – an eye-popping figure virtually unknown among Western politicians, and a substantial increase on the three-year period before the invasion of Ukraine.
The invasion gave Putin a nationalist message around which to rally Russians, boosting his own image, and even as Russia’s campaign stuttered over the course of 2023, the war retained widespread support.
National security is top of mind for Russians as the election approaches; Ukrainian strikes on Russian border regions have brought the war home to many people inside the country, but support for the invasion — euphemistically termed a “special military operation” by Russia’s leaders — remains high.
The Levada Center found at the end of 2023 that “increased inflation and rising food prices may have a lasting impact on the mood of Russians,” with the proportion of Russians cutting back on spending increasing.
But that is not to say Russians expect the election to change the direction of the country. Putin benefits heavily from apathy; most Russians have never witnessed a democratic transfer of power between rival political parties in a traditional presidential election, and expressions of anger at the Kremlin are rare enough to keep much of the population disengaged from politics.
Putin’s former speechwriter, Abbas Gallyamov, told CNN last month that discontent against the president was increasing in Russia. Gallyamov said Putin is attempting to eliminate opposition leaders from society to at least ensure such discontent remains “unstructured,” “disorganized” and “leaderless” ahead of future elections.
Who else is running?
Candidates in Russian elections are tightly controlled by the Central Election Commission (CEC), enabling Putin to run against a favorable field and reducing the potential for an opposition candidate to gain momentum.
The same is true this year. “Each candidate fields juxtaposing ideologies and domestic policies, but collectively they feed into Putin’s aim of tightening his grip on Russia during his next presidential term,” wrote Callum Fraser of the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) think tank.
Nikolay Kharitonov will represent the Communist Party, which has been allowed to run a candidate in each election this century, but has not gained as much as a fifth of the vote share since Putin’s first presidential election.
Two other Duma politicians, Leonid Slutsky and Vladislav Davankov, are also running. Davankov is deputy chair of the Duma, Russia’s lower house of parliament, while Slutsky represents the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia, the party previously led by ultra-nationalist firebrand Vladimir Zhirinovsky, who died in 2022. All are considered to be reliably pro-Kremlin.
But there is notably no candidate who opposes Putin’s war in Ukraine; Boris Nadezhdin, previously the only anti-war figure in the field, was barred from standing by the CEC in February after the body claimed he had not received enough legitimate signatures nominating his candidacy.
In December, another independent candidate who openly spoke out against the war in Ukraine, Yekaterina Duntsova, was rejected by the CEC, citing alleged errors in her campaign group’s registration documents. Duntsova later called on people to support Nadezhdin’s candidacy.
Writing on social media in February, opposition activist and Navalny’s former aide, Leonid Volkov, dismissed the elections as a “circus,” saying they were meant to signal Putin’s overwhelming mass support. “You need to understand what the March ‘elections’ mean for Putin. They are a propaganda effort to spread hopelessness” among the electorate, Volkov said.
Volkov was attacked outside his house on Tuesday in the Lithuanian capital of Vilnius. Lithuania’s intelligence agency has said it believes the attack on former Navalny aide Leonid Volkov was likely “Russian organized.”
The Kremlin on Thursday declined to comment on the assault on Volkov.
Putin has three nominal challengers in the election, but Russia strictly controls who can and cannot appear on the ballot — with genuine rivals to the President almost inevitably excluded. Stringer/AFP/Getty Images
Are the elections fair?
Russia’s elections are neither free nor fair, and serve essentially as a formality to extend Putin’s term in power, according to independent bodies and observers both in and outside the country.
Putin’s successful campaigns have been in part the result of “preferential media treatment, numerous abuses of incumbency, and procedural irregularities during the vote count,” according to Freedom House, a global democracy watchdog.
Outside of election cycles, the Kremlin’s propaganda machine targets voters with occasionally hysterical pro-Putin material, and many news websites based outside Russia were blocked following the invasion of Ukraine, though more tech-savvy younger voters have grown accustomed to using VPNs to access them.
Protests are also tightly restricted, making the public expression of opposition a perilous and rare occurrence.
Then, as elections come into view, genuine opposition candidates almost inevitably see their candidacies removed or find themselves prevented from seeking office, as Nadezhdin and Duntsova discovered during this cycle.
“Opposition politicians and activists are frequently targeted with fabricated criminal cases and other forms of administrative harassment designed to prevent their participation in the political process,” Freedom House noted in its most recent global report.
People take part in an election event in the Chechen capital Grozny, Russia. The slogan next to Putin on the poster reads: “Putin is always right! Vote for Putin!” Chingis Kondarov/Reuters
How did Navalny’s death affect the run-up to the election?
The timing of the death of Alexey Navalny – Putin’s most prominent critic – served to emphasize the control Russia’s leader exerts over his country’s politics.
In one of Navalny’s final court appearances before his death, he urged prison service workers to “vote against Putin.”
“I have a suggestion: to vote for any candidate other than Putin. In order to vote against Putin, you just need to vote for any other candidate,” he said on February 8.
His death cast an ominous shadow over the campaign. Navalny’s widow, Yulia Navalnaya, urged the European Union to “not recognize the elections” in a passionate address to its Foreign Affairs Council a few days after she was widowed.
“Putin killed my husband exactly a month before the so-called elections. These elections are fake, but Putin still needs them. For propaganda. He wants the whole world to believe that everyone in Russia supports and admires him. Don’t believe this propaganda,” she said.
Thousands then gathered for Navalny’s funeral in Moscow despite the threat of detention by Russian authorities.
Navalnaya has urged Russian people to turn out at noon on the final day of https://terserahapapun.com the elections, March 17, as a show of protest. In a video posted on social media, Navalnaya told Russians they could “vote for any candidate besides Putin, you can ruin your ballot, you can write Navalny on it.”
She added that Russians did not have to vote, but could “stand at a polling station and then go home… the most important thing is to come.”
Market watchers are hoping India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party wins a third term. Channi Anand/APNew DelhiCNN —
For the last three decades, Peeyush Mittal has frequently driven the 185 miles from the Indian capital to the city of Jaipur. The journey always took him six hours.
“For 30 years there’s been this promise of doing that journey in three hours. It has never been possible,” said Mittal, a portfolio manager at Matthews Asia, a San Francisco-based investment fund. “They’ve expanded the highway, gone from one lane to two lane to three lane, everything has been done. But that journey has always remained six hours.”
Except last year, when he cruised at 75 miles per hour on a new expressway connecting the two cities, and made the trip in half the time.
“My jaw dropped when I first time got on that highway. I was like, ‘Wow, man, how is this even possible … in India?” he said.
The quality of India’s new infrastructure is just one of many reasons why Mittal, who manages funds focussed on emerging markets, and other investors areexcited about the country’s growth prospects.
Financial professionals around the world are noticing India’s development since 2014 under two-term Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who has said he wants the South Asian nation to become a $5 trillion economy by 2025.
The optimism around the world’s most populous nation is in stark contrast to the mood found in China, which is grappling with a myriad of economic challenges, including an accelerated flight of capital from the country.
Its stock markets have suffered a protracted slump since recent peaks in 2021, with more than $5 trillion in market value having been wiped out from the Shanghai, Shenzhen and Hong Kong bourses. Foreign direct investment (FDI) plunged last year, and fell again in January, down nearly 12% compared to the same month in 2023.
India’s stock market, meanwhile, is hitting record highs. The value of companies listed on India’s exchanges surpassed $4 trillion late last year.
The future appears even brighter. India’s market value is expected to more than double to $10 trillion by 2030, according to a Thursday report by Jefferies, which would make it “impossible for large global investors to ignore.”
“China is a no go, so … which is the other country that can maybe replace China?” said Mittal. “There’s no country like China other than India … in some form or fashion, it is the substitute that maybe the world is looking for to drive growth.”
Japan has benefited from investors seeking an alternative to China — Tokyo’s benchmark index hit a new high for the first time in 34 years last week, helped by improving corporate profits and a weak yen. But the country is stuck in recession and recently lost its position as the world’s third biggest economy to Germany.
The latest revision by global stock index compiler MSCI reflects the bullishness towards India. MSCI said this month that it would increase India’s weighting in its emerging markets index to 18.06% from 17.98%, while reducing China’s to 24.77%.
MSCI’s indexes help institutional investors worldwide decide how to allocate money and where to focus their research.
“India’s weight in the MSCI emerging market index was about 7% a couple of years back,” said Aditya Suresh, head of India equity research at Macquarie Capital. “Do I think that 18% [in the MSCI index] is naturally gravitating more towards 25%? Yeah, that’s kind of clearly where our conversations are leading us to believe.”
As India heads towards national elections in the coming months, market watchers are hoping that Modi’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party wins a third term, bringing greater predictability to economic policies for the next five years.
“If Modi is back with a majority and political stability is there, then I can certainly say with confidence that there’ll be a lot more investor interest in India on a more sustainable basis,” said Mittal.
The next global growth engine
There are good reasons for the euphoria around India. From a surging young population to humming factories, the country has a lot going in its favor.
Much like China more than three decades ago, India isonly at the beginning of a infrastructure transformation, spending billions on building roads, ports, airports and railways.
There is a “very strong multiplier effect” on the economy from the investments in digital and physical infrastructure, which “you cannot roll back,” Suresh said.
The world’s fastest growing major economy is also trying to capitalize on the rethink underway among companies on supply chains. Global businesses want to diversify operations away from China, where they faced obstacles during the pandemic andare exposed to risks arising from tension between Beijing and Washington.
“India is a prime candidate to benefit from the ‘friend-shoring’ of supply chains, notably at the expense of China,” wrote Hubert de Barochez, a market economist at Capital Economics, in January.
As a result, some of the world’s biggest companies, including Apple (AAPL) supplier Foxconn, are expanding their operations in India. Tesla (TSLA) CEO Elon Musk said last June his company is looking to invest in India “as soon as humanly possible.”
“[Modi] really cares about India because he’s pushing us to make significant investments in India, which is something we intend to do,” Musk told reporters.
But some worry that India’s confidence may be bordering on hubris.
Is it worth the hype?
While interest in the world’s fifth largest economy is rising, thelofty prices of India’s stocks are scaring some international investors away.
Indian shares have always been expensive compared to other emerging economies, said Suresh, but now “the premium on the premium has expanded.”
Domestic investors, both retail and institutional, seem to be brushing aside these high valuations, driving India’s stock market to unprecedented peaks.
According to Macquarie, retail investors alone own 9% of India’s equity market value versus foreign investors at slightly under 20%. Analysts, however, expect foreign investments to pick up in the second half of 2024, once the election is out of the way.
Workers laboring at the ‘Chennai Metro Rail project’ construction site in the city of Chennai. R. Satish Babu/AFP/Getty Images
There’s another potential challenge. Despite its new economic swagger,India does not have the capacity to absorb all the money that is flowing out of China, whose economy is still about five times bigger.
China “has a few too many companies which are $100 and $200 billion plus [in value],” Mittal said. “It is difficult to find home for that kind of chunk of money in India.”
But the fact that India’s sizzling rally is driven by domestic investors adds to the country’s strengths and reduces its dependence on foreign fund flows.
“It just massively insulates India from global dynamics,” Suresh said.
Apart from geopolitical rifts and an uncertain economic outlook, foreign companies and investors have grown increasingly wary of domestic political risks in China, including the possibility of raids and detentions. Institutional investors are still very wary about buying Chinese stocks, even though many now look like a bargain.
“There are many good businesses in China, but with all the regulatory issues it becomes very difficult to predict what they will look like in the long run,” said Priyanka Agnihotri, portfolio manager at Baltimore-based Brown Advisory.
India, on the other hand, enjoys healthy relations with the West and other major economies, and is aggressively wooing large firms to set up factories in the country.
In her budget speech in February, Indian Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said FDI inflows since Modi first came to power in 2014 stood at nearly $600 billion, which is twice the amount during the previous decade.
“For encouraging sustained foreign investment, we are negotiating bilateral investment treaties with our foreign partners, in the spirit of first develop India,” she added.
Analysts say that it would hard to https://terserahapapun.com stop the economic juggernaut India has set in motion, irrespective of what happens to China.
“Even if China comes back to the table and resolves a lot of problems, I don’t think India is going back into the background anymore,” said Mittal. “It has arrived.”
Destroyed buildings in Avdiivka, Ukraine, on February 15. Kostiantyn Lieberov/Libkos/Getty ImagesCNN —
A Ukrainian drone spots Russian soldiers hiding amid the remains of what was once someone’s home, in the middle of a lunar-like landscape of charred ground, craters and sapless trunks.
Another drone carrying a small warhead moves in and detonates on impact. A second one follows. Then a third. Finally, the Russian unit is eliminated.
“We are smoking the occupiers,” says the drones’ controller, a Ukrainian unit fighting to keep the key town of Avdiivka out of Moscow’s hands, which shared video footage of the attacks with CNN.
For the drone operators, it is a victory, but such wins are becoming rare in this part of Ukraine, as Moscow throws everything it has at the small, battered and now largely deserted town.
In an apparent nod to the importance of Avdiivka, which lies to the northwest of Donetsk city, Ukraine’s new army chief Oleksandr Syrskyi and Ukraine’s Defense Minister Rustem Umerov this week visited soldiers on the front lines there.
“The operational situation is extremely complicated and tense,” Syrskyi acknowledged. “We are doing everything possible to prevent the enemy from advancing deeper into our territory and to hold our positions.”
Quelling rumors that Ukraine was considering a withdrawal from Avdiivka, Syrskyi has instead sent in reinforcements.
He’s deployed one of Ukraine’s most battle-hardened units – the 3rd Separate Assault Brigade – which earned praise for its daring attacks on Russian forces around Bakhmut.
“We made a number of important decisions aimed at strengthening the combat capabilities of our military units and preventing enemy actions,” Syrskyi explained during his visit to the front line.
On Tuesday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky promised “maximum attention” for the eastern front and said the new army chief’s visit to the area would help address the issues facing units on the ground.
“The existing problems are being solved – manning the units, reinforcement, command and control,” Zelensky said in his nightly address. “We will be reinforced with drones, electronic warfare, and command positions will also be strengthened.”
But just a couple of days later, amid the ongoing Russian onslaught, even the reinforcements were describing “hellish” conditions.
“Our brigade is carrying out combat missions in conditions that even we could hardly imagine,” Maksym Zhorin, the 3rd Separate Assault Brigade’s deputy commander said in a battlefield report on Thursday. “The battles in Avdiivka are several times more hellish than the hottest battles of this phase of the war, which took place in Bakhmut.”
Much as it did in Bakhmut this time last year, Russia is throwing everything it has at Avdiivka in pursuit of victory, pummeling the town with airstrikes and artillery, while launching wave after wave of ground assaults by armored vehicles and soldiers.
It’s turned the town into what Ukrainian soldiers call a “meat grinder.”
During the offensive Russia has suffered immense losses — so large it might make other militaries regroup and rethink — but Moscow appears to be calculating these losses are worth it, given its numerical advantage.
“The enemy is huge, coming from all sides,” Zhorin added.
‘I’m not going anywhere’
Other video footage from Avdiivka shows a quite different side to the town’s plight.
Scenes caught on the bodycams of two Ukrainian policemen, seen by CNN, shows the moment they approach a grey-haired elderly resident in an effort to convince him to evacuate the town.
He shies away as the policeman approach, holding up a smartphone. The man’s adult daughter is on the other end, trying to convince him to leave.
“I’m not going anywhere,” he tells her.
“I’ll send you money and you will come to me, in Kherson,” his daughter pleads in desperation. “I’ll pay for travel and accommodation.”
A resident of Avdiivka, Ukraine, near destroyed buildings on February 14. Kostiantyn Lieberov/Libkos/Getty Images
But her cries fall on deaf ears.
The officers who approached the man with the phone are part of a special Ukrainian police unit known as the “White Angels,” which has been tasked with helping vulnerable civilians flee the town, home to 30,000 people two years ago.
Already this year they’ve evacuated more than 120 people, mostly elderly, but also some children. Many of these battle-worn citizens have been living through some level of conflict ever since Avdiivka– about 20km from the city of Donetsk – became the front line against Russian-backed fighters in 2015.
Reluctant to leave, many resisted the first thrust of Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022, holding outuntil they could no longer bear it. Now, with Russian shelling intensifying since the end of last year, there’s little left to cling to.
Other footage collected by Ukrainian units shows scenes of devastation, with high-rise buildings covered in holes from the constant Russian barrages. Some high-rises have been knocked over completely and most small buildings have been reduced to mounds of rubble.
Pushing back
The Russian assault on Avdiivka comes after an unconvincing Ukrainian counter-offensive in the summer and as Western support for Kyiv falters. European shipments of ammunition and financial aid have been delayed by Brussels’ notorious red tape — and some resistance from Hungary — but it’s the delays in Washington that are most concerning to Kyiv.
The United States has been Ukraine’s largest backer since day one, but its continued military support has become a divisive issue among lawmakers. The reluctance of Trump-supporting Republicans to back the White House is giving Putin and Russia an edge, according to NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg.
“We see the impact already of the fact that the US has not been able to make a decision,” Stoltenberg said in an interview Thursday.
Ukrainian servicemen of the 47th Mechanized Brigade prepare for combat in a Bradley Fighting Vehicle, near to Avdiivka, on February 11, 2024. Genya Savilov/AFP/Getty Images
Seemingly outmanned and outgunned, the 3rd Separate Assault Brigade admits the situation is “critical,” but insists it will continue to push back, and claims to have critically damaged two Russian brigades.
CNN cannot independently verify the claim, though recent combat footage geolocated to the town suggests Russia continues to suffer heavy losses even while it makes territorial gains there.
Still, even if the claim is true, the brigade is well aware that Russia has plenty more soldiers to replace its loses as it “continues to actively rotate its troops and deploy new forces and equipment to the town.”
“We are forced to https://terserahapapun.com fight 360 degrees against new brigades that the enemy is deploying,” says the commander of the 3rd Brigade, Andrii Biletskyi. “Our soldiers are demonstrating unprecedented heroism.”
ReutersElon Musk (pictured) has accused Anthony Albanese of censorship
