NATO chief is 'confident' about Ukraine's fresh offensive
World
Stoltenberg said he is "confident" that Ukraine is ready to make territorial gains against Russia.
RAMSTEIN AIR BASE (AFP) - NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said Friday he is "confident" that Ukraine is ready to make territorial gains against Russia, as Ukrainian armed forces prepare for a new offensive. Stoltenberg spoke from Ramstein Air Base in Germany, where 50 countries attended a meeting hosted by the United States on Friday to discuss coordinating further support for Ukraine.
Russia on Friday added a Bulgarian journalist and longtime Kremlin critic to its list of "foreign agents" and ordered his arrest, in a rare use of the label against a non-Russian citizen.
Bulgarian Christo Grozev, 53, is the lead Russia journalist for the Bellingcat investigative website, and played a key role in its investigation into the poisoning of opposition politician Alexei Navalny. He has has extensively covered Moscow's offensive in Ukraine.
Late last year, Grozev was put on a wanted list by Russian authorities, and the FSB domestic security service has also accused him of helping Ukrainian intelligence.
Meanwhile, Belarusian prosecutors on Friday requested a 10-year prison term for an opposition activist who helped coordinate mass protests against President Alexander Lukashenko's regime in 2020.
Roman Protasevich, the editor of the opposition Telegram channel Nexta, was arrested in 2021 after his Ryanair flight was intercepted by a fighter jet and forced to land in Minsk.
After his arrest, which shocked aviation authorities worldwide, Protasevich is believed to have been coerced by authorities into issuing apologetic statements on state television. As his trial opened in February, he said he was "fully guilty," in a video published by state news agency Belta.
Prosecutor Natalia Sokolova also sought lengthy jail terms for two other exiled contributors to the Nexta channel, with a request for Stepan Putilo to serve 20 years in prison, and 19 years for Yan Rudnik.Sokolova said the shorter sentencing request for Protasevich was because he had "fulfilled the terms of cooperation."
On the other hand, The US decision to provide Ukraine with 31 advanced M1A2 Abrams tanks will make a difference in the war but is no silver bullet, US Army General Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said on Friday.
Milley's remarks came as the United States announced that Abrams tanks to be used to train the Ukrainians will arrive in Germany in the coming weeks.
"I'm biased, but I think the M1 tank's the best tank in the world ... I do think the M1 tank, when it is delivered, will make a difference," Milley, the top US general, said after a meeting of Ukraine's allies at Ramstein Air Base in Germany. "But I would also caution there's no silver bullet in war."
