Ukraine war latest: Putin ‘weaponising’ food as troops target cargo ship in Black Sea

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky advised world leaders gathered on the U.N. General Assembly on Tuesday that Russia was making an attempt to control world food shortages to win worldwide recognition of land it grabbed from Kyiv.

In his first in-person look on the annual UNGA since Russia invaded his nation in 2022, Zelensky criticized Moscow for what he mentioned was an “attempt to weaponize (a) food shortage on (the) global market in exchange for recognition of some, if not all, of captured territories.”

He accused Russia of committing genocide by kidnapping Ukrainian kids and mentioned Kyiv was engaged on getting ready a world peace summit.

“Ukraine is doing everything to ensure that after the Russian aggression, no one in the world would dare to attack any nation,” Zelensky mentioned. “The occupier must return to his own land.”

The International Criminal Court (ICC) mentioned on Tuesday its pc system had been hacked, a breach at one of many world’s most high-profile worldwide establishments and one which handles extremely delicate details about war crimes.

The ICC mentioned it had detected uncommon exercise on its pc community on the finish of final week, prompting a response that was nonetheless ongoing. A spokesperson declined to touch upon how critical the hack was, whether or not it has been absolutely resolved, or who is perhaps behind it.

“Immediate measures were adopted to respond to this cybersecurity incident and to mitigate its impact,” the ICC mentioned in a brief assertion.

The ICC is the everlasting war crimes tribunal in the Dutch metropolis of The Hague, established in 2002 to strive war crimes and crimes towards humanity. Prosecutors on the court docket are at present conducting 17 investigations into conditions in Ukraine, Uganda, Venezuela, Afghanistan and the Philippines, amongst others.

In March, the court docket made headlines when it issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin on suspicion of illegally deporting kids from Ukraine. The Kremlin rejects the accusations and the court docket’s jurisdiction.

Highly delicate paperwork on the ICC might embody something from legal proof to names of protected witnesses, although the court docket didn’t disclose what a part of its methods had been accessed.

The court docket mentioned in its assertion that it was persevering with to “analyse and mitigate the impact of this incident” with the help of the Dutch authorities. It mentioned it was additionally taking steps to strengthen its cybersecurity.

Grant Shapps pledged the UK’s “unwavering commitment” to Ukraine with tens of 1000’s extra artillery shells as he met the nation’s new defence minister for the primary time.

The Defence Secretary attended the fifteenth assembly of the Ukraine Defence Contact Group (UDCG) on the US Air Force base in Ramstein, Germany, alongside Chief of the Defence Staff Admiral Sir Tony Radakin.

The group brings collectively ministers and senior officers from almost 50 nations to coordinate worldwide help for the war-torn nation.

Ukraine ought to keep in mind that it receives assist from Poland, the Polish president mentioned on Tuesday, amid a deepening row between the international locations over agricultural imports.

“It would be good for Ukraine to remember that it receives help from us and to remember that we are also a transit country to Ukraine,” Andrzej Duda advised reporters in New York following an deal with to the United Nations General Assembly.

Russia has focused a cargo ship in the Black Sea, the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office has alleged.

“Declassified intelligence shows Russia targeted a cargo ship in the Black Sea”, a press release on X, previously Twitter, learn.

“The Russian military’s pattern of targeted attacks against civilian ships demonstrates Putin’s willingness to weaponise food at the expense of the rest of the world.”

Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich filed an enchantment Tuesday to be launched from jail on espionage expenses, however the Moscow City Court didn’t instantly rule on it, inflicting confusion from Russian media that reported contradictory outcomes from the closed session.

The court docket mentioned in a press release it despatched Gershkovich’s case again to a decrease court docket attributable to procedural violations. The state information company Tass reported the court docket had rejected Gershkovich’s enchantment, which means he’ll stay jailed till Nov. 30.

Before the session was closed, Gershkovich appeared in the glass defendants’ cage, smiling at journalists and carrying a yellow sweater and blue denims. He was detained in March whereas on a reporting journey to the town of Yekaterinburg, about 2,000 kilometres (1,200 miles) east of Moscow.

Azerbaijan’s launch of reportedly intense artillery firing in the Nagorno-Karabakh area on Tuesday raised fears that one other full-scale battle with Armenia may very well be underway, lower than three years after a war that killed greater than 6,000 folks.

Nagorno-Karabakh, with a inhabitants of about 120,000, is an ethnic Armenian area of Azerbaijan that has been a flashpoint for the reason that collapse of the Soviet Union. The area and sizable surrounding territories got here below the management of ethnic Armenian forces backed by the Armenian navy on the 1994 finish of a separatist war. Azerbaijan regained the territories and components of Nagorno-Karabakh itself in combating in 2020.

The latter war ended with an settlement to deploy Russian peacekeepers in the area, however tensions have soared since December when Azerbaijan started blocking the street that connects Nagorno-Karabakh with Armenia correct. The artillery firing that Azerbaijan calls an “anti-terrorist operation” began hours after it mentioned 4 troopers and two civilians have been killed by landmines that it claimed have been planted by Armenian saboteurs.

President Joe Biden on Tuesday referred to as on world leaders to uphold the UN Charter’s “core tenet” of sovereignty and territorial integrity by supporting Ukraine’s battle towards Russia’s invading forces throughout remarks on the United Nations General Assembly in New York.

Mr Biden reminded the world leaders who had gathered to listen to him at UN headquarters that the annual gathering, which he described as one that’s “dedicated to peaceful resolution of conflicts,” was as soon as once more “darkened by the shadow of war, an illegal war of conquest brought without provocation by Russia against its’ neighbour, Ukraine”.

Mr Biden mentioned the US, which has been Ukraine’s chief supporter through the almost two-year war, desires the battle to finish, and confused that “no nation wants this war to end more than Ukraine”.

Britain will provide “tens of thousands” extra artillery shells to Ukraine this 12 months, the federal government’s defence division introduced on Tuesday.

“Today we’ve demonstrated the UK’s unwavering commitment to Ukraine and set out more military support, including pledging tens of thousands more artillery shells to enable Ukraine to defend itself,” defence minister Grant Shapps after a gathering of the Ukraine Defence Contact Group (UDCG) in Germany mentioned.

“We have also set out how the UK will go further in the coming months in our priority support areas, including air defence and long-range strike capabilities, and training.”

Britain, a key defence provider for Ukraine, is making an attempt to extend its manufacturing of weaponry, significantly artillery shells, to attempt to assist Kyiv push again Russian forces and replenish its personal stockpiles.

At the U.N. General Assembly, Joe Biden has warned that Russia the “aggressor” stands “in the way of peace.”

“Russia believes that the world will grow weary and allow it to brutalise Ukraine without consequence,” Biden mentioned in his speech to UNGA. “If we allow Ukraine to be carved up, is the independence of any nation secure?”

Elsewhere, he described the scenario in Ukraine as an “illegal war of conquest.”