International Glance
With both sides in the Russia-Ukraine war preparing for further fighting, Ukraine was test-launching a new long-range cruise missile, Zelenskyy said. Ukraine’s president announced the huge missile, known as Flamingo, could strike targets as far as 3,000km (1,864 miles) away. “The missile has undergone successful tests. It is currently our most successful missile,” Zelenskyy told reporters. Mass production could begin by February, he added.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Thursday that large Russian attacks in various parts of Ukraine showed Moscow was avoiding negotiations about ending the more than three-year-old war. The latest offensive included 574 drones and 40 missiles, said Ukraine’s president, and was one of the largest yet.
A missile strike on the US-owned electronics firm Flex in Ukraine’s far-west Zakarpattia region was a “telling” indicator of Russian intentions in peace initiatives led by Donald Trump, Zelenskyy said. “Now the signals from Russia are simply, to be honest, indecent. They are trying to back away from the need to hold meetings. They don’t want to end the war. They carry on with massive strikes.”
“We believe [the Flex attack] was a deliberate strike precisely on US property here in Ukraine, on American investment,” Zelenskyy said. “A very telling strike … at the very time when the world waits for a clear answer from the Russians on their move in talks to bring an end to the war.” Nineteen people were injured in the attack. Zelenskyy said both sides were preparing for further fighting, citing Russian troop build-ups and Ukraine’s own preparations including the Flamingo missile rollout.
Ukraine war briefing: Zelenskyy reveals huge Flamingo cruise missile as no peace in sight
Israeli military says first stages of assault on Gaza City have begun
The Israeli military says it has begun the "preliminary actions" of a planned ground offensive to capture and occupy all of Gaza City and already has a hold on its outskirts.
A military spokesman said troops were already operating in the Zeitoun and Jabalia areas to lay the groundwork for the offensive, which Defence Minister Israel Katz approved on Tuesday and which will be put to the security cabinet later this week.
About 60,000 reservists are being called up for the beginning of September to free up active-duty personnel for the operation.
Hamas has accused Israel of obstructing a ceasefire deal in favour of continuing a "brutal war against innocent civilians", Reuters news agency reported.
Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians in Gaza City are expected to be ordered to evacuate and head to shelters in southern Gaza as preparations for Israel's takeover plan get under way.
Many of Israel's allies have condemned its plan, with French President Emmanuel Macron warning on Wednesday that it "can only lead to disaster for both peoples and risks plunging the entire region into a cycle of permanent war".
Netherlands sending 300 troops, Patriot missile systems to Poland
Dutch Defence Minister Ruben Brekelmans has said his country is sending 300 troops and Patriot air defence missile systems to Poland to “defend NATO territory, protect supply to Ukraine, and deter Russian aggression”.
The Netherlands’ announcement on Wednesday came as Polish officials said that an object that fell in a cornfield in Poland’s east on Tuesday night may have been a Russian version of the Shahed drone.
The explosion from the drone broke windows in several houses in the village of Osiny, near Poland’s border with Ukraine, but no injuries were reported, according to an official cited by Poland’s state news agency PAP.
Brekelmans told Dutch public broadcaster NOS on Wednesday that the military support to Poland came alongside other countries providing similar assistance to the NATO-member country, which borders Ukraine.
Australia fires back at Netanyahu: ‘Strength not measured by how many people you can blow up’
Australia lashes Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu after he said the country’s prime minister was weak, with a top minister saying strength is more than “how many people you can blow up.”
For decades Australia has considered itself a close friend of Israel, but the relationship has swiftly unravelled since Canberra announced last week it would recognize a Palestinian state.
Netanyahu drastically escalated a war of words on Tuesday night, calling his Australian counterpart Anthony Albanese a “weak politician who betrayed Israel.
‘Basically impossible to get them back’: Russia’s mass abduction of Ukrainian children is a war crime, say experts
As many as 35,000 Ukrainian children are still missing and thought to be held in Russia or Russian-occupied territories, according to an American team of experts, with families saying they are being forced to take desperate and risky measures to try to rescue them.
As Russian forces began their invasion in February 2022, children were abducted from care homes, from the battlefield after the death of their parents, or under coercion directly from their families.
Russia has rejected demands for the children to be returned, with an official accusing Ukraine of “staging a show on the topic of lost children” during ceasefire talks in Turkey this month.
Speaking to the Guardian, one mother has described her own dramatic rescue of her two teenage sons who were held in a camp in Russia for almost six months.
Hamas source says group agrees to latest Gaza ceasefire proposal
Hamas has agreed to the latest proposal from regional mediators for a Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal with Israel, a source in the Palestinian armed group has told the BBC.
The proposal from Egypt and Qatar is said to be based on a framework put forward by US envoy Steve Witkoff in June.
It would see Hamas free around half of the 50 remaining Israeli hostages - 20 of whom are believed to be alive - in two batches during an initial 60-day truce. There would also be negotiations on a permanent ceasefire.
It is unclear what Israel's response will be, as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said last week that it would only accept a deal if "all the hostages are released in one go".
In a video released after the reports of Hamas's approval emerged, Netanyahu did not comment directly but said that "from them you can get one impression - Hamas is under immense pressure."
The Israeli military's chief of staff, Lt Gen Eyal Zamir, meanwhile said it was at a turning point in the 22-month war, with the "focus on enhancing the strikes against Hamas in Gaza City".
Son of Norway’s crown princess charged with four counts of rape
Marius Borg Høiby, the son of the Norwegian crown princess, has been charged with 32 offences including four counts of rape, a prosecutor has said.
Høiby, whose mother is the crown princess, Mette-Marit, and whose stepfather is the crown prince, Haakon, Norway’s future king, is expected to stand trial early next year and could face up to 10 years in prison if found guilty of the most serious charges.
The charges, made public on Monday, include the rape of four different women, domestic abuse of a former partner, and illegally filming a number of women, including their genitals, without their knowledge or consent.
He is also charged with harassment of police and traffic violations.
Høiby’s lawyer, Petar Sekulic, who is representing him together with Ellen Holager Andaenæs, said: “Our client denies all charges of sexual abuse, as well as the majority of the charges regarding violence. He will present a detailed account of his version of events before the court.”
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