Russia launches smallest nighttime attack on Ukraine in months in run-up to possible peace talks

Russia launches smallest nighttime attack on Ukraine in months in run-up to possible peace talks
Ukrainian airforce says Russia launched nighttime attacks. (AFP)
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Updated 13 May 2025
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Russia launches smallest nighttime attack on Ukraine in months in run-up to possible peace talks

Russia launches smallest nighttime attack on Ukraine in months in run-up to possible peace talks

KYIV: Russia launched 10 Shahed and decoy drones at Ukraine in nighttime attacks, the Ukrainian air force said Tuesday, in its smallest drone bombardment this year as the warring countries prepare for possible peace talks in Turkey.
The Kremlin hasn’t directly responded to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s challenge for Russian leader Vladimir Putin to meet him in person at the negotiations in Istanbul on Thursday.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov refused for the second straight day Tuesday to tell reporters whether Putin will travel to Istanbul and who else will represent Russia at the potential talks. “As soon as the president considers it necessary, we will make an announcement,” Peskov said.
Russia has said it will send a delegation to Istanbul without preconditions.
The U.S. has been applying stiff pressure on both sides to come to the table since President Donald Trump came to power in January with a promise to end the war.
Military analysts say both sides are preparing a spring-summer campaign on the battlefield, where a war of attrition has killed tens of thousands of soldiers on both sides along the roughly 1,000-kilometer (620-mile) front line. The Institute for the Study of War, a Washington think tank, said Monday that Russia is “quickly replenishing front-line units with new recruits to maintain the battlefield initiative.”
Zelenskyy will not be meeting with any Russian officials in Istanbul other than Putin, Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to Zelenskyy, said Tuesday on a YouTube show run by prominent Russian journalists in exile.
Lower-level talks would amount to simply “dragging out” any peace process, Podolyak said. European leaders have recently accused Putin of dragging his feet in peace efforts while he attempts to press his bigger army’s battlefield initiative and capture more Ukrainian land.
Russia effectively rejected an unconditional 30-day ceasefire demanded by Ukraine and Western European leaders from Monday, when it fired more than 100 drones at Ukraine. Putin instead offered direct peace talks with Ukraine in Istanbul on Thursday.
Russia shunned the ceasefire proposal tabled by the U.S. and European leaders but offered direct talks with Ukraine.
Putin has repeatedly questioned the legitimacy of the Ukrainian government, especially Zelenskyy himself, saying his term expired last year. Under Ukraine’s constitution, it is illegal for the country to hold national elections while it’s under martial law, as it now is.
In a further complication, a Ukrainian decree from 2022 rules out negotiations with Putin.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio spoke Monday with the top diplomats from the United Kingdom, France, Germany and Poland, who were meeting in London, to assess “the way forward for a ceasefire and path to peace in Ukraine,” spokesperson Tammy Bruce said.
Those European countries had pledged further sanctions on Russia if it didn’t comply with a full ceasefire that Ukraine had accepted from Monday, but they made no announcement of additional punitive measures.
 


Indonesian and French leaders meet for defense and trade talks

Indonesian and French leaders meet for defense and trade talks
Updated 11 sec ago
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Indonesian and French leaders meet for defense and trade talks

Indonesian and French leaders meet for defense and trade talks
  • Emmanuel Macron is on a week-long trip to Southeast Asia focused on strengthening regional ties
  • Military cooperation between Indonesia and France has grown in recent years
JAKARTA: French President Emmanuel Macron met with his Indonesian counterpart Prabowo Subianto on Wednesday in a visit aimed at boosting defense and trade cooperation as part of his roughly week-long trip to Southeast Asia focused on strengthening regional ties in an increasingly unstable global landscape.
Macron arrived in Indonesia’s capital, Jakarta, on Tuesday evening with French First Lady Brigitte Macron for a three-day visit to Southeast Asia’s largest economy. It was the second stop in his tour of the region after Vietnam, where Macron signed a deal to sell Hanoi 20 Airbus planes.
“We are very excited to meet again with my brother, President Prabowo,” Macron told reporters shortly after arriving at Jakarta’s Halim Perdanakusuma air force base late Tuesday, “He is a great friend of mine and the relationship with your country is a very strategic and friendly one.”
Military cooperation between Indonesia and France has grown in recent years, while Subianto was serving as Indonesia’s defense minister.
The two leaders met last November on the sidelines of the 2024 G20 Summit in Brazil, where they discussed Indonesia’s plans to buy fighter jets and submarines from France.
Indonesia finalized an order for 42 French Dassault Rafale fighter jets in January 2024, and the first delivery is expected in early 2026. The country also announced the purchase of two French Scorpene Evolved submarines and 13 Thales ground control interception radars. Five of the radar systems are expected to be installed in the country’s new capital, Nusantara.
Indonesian Defense Minister Sjafrie Sjamsoeddin said the two leaders will oversee the signing of letter of intent for the procurement of strategic weapons systems including fighter planes and submarines.
“The essence of this (visit) is to strengthen defense cooperation between Indonesia and France,” Sjamsoeddin told reporters after welcoming Macron and his wife at the air force base on Tuesday.
On Wednesday, Subianto hosted Macron and Brigitte in a ceremony at Merdeka Palace in Jakarta before the two leaders led a bilateral meeting.
Indonesia has embarked on a drive to upgrade and modernize its arsenal and strengthen its domestic defense industry.
Subianto has crisscrossed the globe since he was appointed as defense minister in 2019, traveling to China, France, Russia, Turkiye and the United States in a bid to acquire new military weapon systems as well as surveillance and territorial defense capabilities.
The Indonesian Air Force currently operates a mix of fighter jets made in various countries, including the United States, Russia and Britain. Some of those aircraft have reached or will soon reach their end-of-life phase and need to be replaced or upgraded.
During the visit, Macron is also scheduled to meet with ASEAN Secretary-General Kao Kim Hourn to discuss regional issues, and to give public lectures at Jakarta State University.
On Thursday, Macron and his wife are expected visit Borobudur, a 9th century Buddhist temple in the center of Indonesia’s Java island and to visit a military academy before heading to Singapore, where he will speak at Asia’s top defense conference, the annual Shangri-La Dialogue.

SpaceX launches another Starship mega rocket in latest demo after back-to-back explosions

SpaceX launches another Starship mega rocket in latest demo after back-to-back explosions
Updated 28 min 27 sec ago
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SpaceX launches another Starship mega rocket in latest demo after back-to-back explosions

SpaceX launches another Starship mega rocket in latest demo after back-to-back explosions
  • The 403-foot (123-meter) rocket blasted off on its ninth demo from Starbase, SpaceX’s launch site at the southern tip of Texas

After back-to-back explosions, SpaceX launched its mega rocket Starship again on Tuesday evening in hopes of making it through the entire test flight and releasing a series of mock satellites.

The 403-foot (123-meter) rocket blasted off on its ninth demo from Starbase, SpaceX’s launch site at the southern tip of Texas. Residents voted this month to organize as an official city.

Plans called for the spacecraft to target a splashdown halfway around the world in the Indian Ocean, after popping out eight objects meant to resemble SpaceX’s Starlink Internet satellites.

It was the first time one of CEO Elon Musk’s Starships — intended for moon and Mars travel — flew with a recycled booster that aimed for the Gulf of Mexico. There were no plans to catch the booster with giant chopsticks back at the launch pad unlike earlier tests.

The previous two Starships never made it past the Caribbean. The demos earlier this year ended just minutes after liftoff, raining wreckage into the ocean. No injuries or serious damage were reported, although airline travel was disrupted. The Federal Aviation Administration last week cleared Starship for another flight, expanding the hazard area and pushing the liftoff outside peak air travel times.

Besides taking corrective action and making upgrades, SpaceX modified the latest spacecraft’s thermal tiles and installed special catch fittings. This one was meant to sink in the Indian Ocean, but the company wanted to test the add-ons for capturing future versions back at the pad, just like the boosters.

NASA needs SpaceX to make major strides over the next year with Starship — the biggest and most powerful rocket ever built — in order to land astronauts back on the moon. Next year’s moonshot with four astronauts will fly around the moon, but will not land. That will happen in 2027 at the earliest and require a Starship to get two astronauts from lunar orbit to the surface and back off again.


Moscow airports disrupted as Russia says Ukraine launches drone assault

Moscow airports disrupted as Russia says Ukraine launches drone assault
Updated 28 May 2025
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Moscow airports disrupted as Russia says Ukraine launches drone assault

Moscow airports disrupted as Russia says Ukraine launches drone assault
  • Moscow’s mayor, Sergei Sobyanin, said on Telegram that 12 drones heading for the Russian capital had been shot down
  • The attack comes after Ukraine said it had faced the most intense three days of Russian drone attacks since Moscow launched its military offensive in 2022

MOSCOW: Russian authorities said they had battled a major Ukrainian drone attack late Tuesday and early Wednesday, with at least two Moscow airports forced to suspend flights.
The defense ministry said in a Telegram post that 112 Ukrainian drones had been “destroyed and intercepted” in six different regions in the three hours up to midnight.
Moscow’s mayor, Sergei Sobyanin, said on Telegram that 12 drones heading for the Russian capital had been shot down.
Some 59 had targeted the southwestern region of Bryansk, the defense ministry said. Others were fired at the Kursk, Belgorod, Tula, Oryol and Kaluga regions.
The attack comes after Ukraine said it had faced the most intense three days of Russian drone attacks since Moscow launched its military offensive in 2022.
The Russian military announces Ukrainian drone attacks most days but rarely of this intensity over such a short period of time.
Moscow, several hundred kilometers from the frontier, is not often the target of such a big attack.
But authorities have been increasingly forced to divert flights from Moscow airports in recent weeks.
This time, the Federal Aviation Transport Agency said restrictions had been introduced at Moscow’s Vnukovo and Zhukovsky airports.
Ukraine said that Russia launched more than 900 drones over three days up to Monday. Thirteen civilians were killed in attacks on Sunday, including three children.
Russia’s defense ministry said Tuesday that it had responded to Ukraine’s “provocation” by launching drone and missile attacks on Russian civilian installations.

 


Trump administration asks Supreme Court to halt judge’s order on deportations to South Sudan

Trump administration asks Supreme Court to halt judge’s order on deportations to South Sudan
Updated 28 May 2025
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Trump administration asks Supreme Court to halt judge’s order on deportations to South Sudan

Trump administration asks Supreme Court to halt judge’s order on deportations to South Sudan
  • This is the latest case where federal judges weighing in on the legality of the Trump administration’s sweeping agenda have used forceful, sometimes even scathing, language to register their displeasure

WASHINGTON: The Trump administration asked the Supreme Court on Tuesday to halt an order allowing migrants to challenge their deportations to South Sudan, an appeal that came hours after the judge suggested the Trump administration was “manufacturing” chaos and said he hoped that “reason can get the better of rhetoric.”
Judge Brian Murphy found the White House violated a court order with a deportation flight bound for the chaotic African nation carrying people from other countries who had been convicted of crimes in the US He said those immigrants must get a real chance to raise any fears that being sent there could put them in danger.
The federal government argued that Murphy has stalled its efforts to carry out deportations of migrants who can’t be returned to their home countries. Finding countries willing to take them is a “a delicate diplomatic endeavor” and the court requirements are a major setback, Solicitor General D. John Sauer wrote in an emergency appeal asking the court to immediately halt his order.
Murphy, for his part, said he had given the Trump administration “remarkable flexibility with minimal oversight” in the case and emphasized the numerous times he attempted to work with the government, according to an order published Monday night.
This is the latest case where federal judges weighing in on the legality of the Trump administration’s sweeping agenda have used forceful, sometimes even scathing, language to register their displeasure. The Trump administration has accused judges of thwarting the will of voters by stopping or slowing the White House agenda.
The judge said the men couldn’t advocate for themselves
In a hearing last week called to address reports that eight immigrants had been sent to South Sudan, Murphy said the men hadn’t been able to argue that the deportation could put them in danger.
But instead of ordering the government to return the men to the US for hearings — as the plaintiffs wanted — he gave the government the option of holding the hearings in Djibouti, where the plane had flown on its way to South Sudan, as long as the men remained in US government custody. Days later, the Trump administration filed another motion saying that Murphy was requiring them to hold “dangerous criminals in a sensitive location.”
Murphy, though, said it was the government’s “own suggestion” that they be allowed to process the men’s claims while they were still abroad.
“It turns out that having immigration proceedings on another continent is harder and more logistically cumbersome than Defendants anticipated,” the Boston-based Murphy, who was appointed by Democratic President Joe Biden, wrote.
The government has argued that the men had a history with the immigration system, giving them prior opportunities to express a fear of being deported to a country outside their homeland. And they’ve said that the men’s home countries — Cuba, Laos, Mexico, Myanmar, Vietnam and South Sudan — would not take them back.
“The district court’s invented process offers little but delay. While certain aliens may benefit from stalling their removal, the nation does not,” wrote Sauer. Keeping the migrants in Djibouti has also strained the US relationship with that country, officials have said.
The administration has also repeatedly emphasized the men’s criminal histories in the US and portrayed them as national security threats.
The administration is relying on third countries
The Trump administration has increasingly relied on third countries to take immigrants who cannot be sent to their home countries for various reasons. Some countries simply refuse to take back their citizens being deported while others take back some but not all of their citizens. And some cannot be sent to their home countries because of concerns they’ll be tortured or harmed.
Historically that has meant that immigration enforcement officials have had to release people into the US that it wants to deport but can’t.
But the Trump administration has leaned on other countries to take them. In the Western Hemisphere, El Salvador, Costa Rica and Panama have all agreed to take some people being removed from the US, with El Salvador being the most controversial example because it is holding people deported from the US in a notorious prison.
The Trump administration has said it’s exploring other third countries for deportations.
Murphy said in his order that the eight men were initially told May 19 they’d be going to South Africa and then later that same day were told they were going to South Sudan. He noted that the US government “has issued stark warnings regarding South Sudan.”
He said the men had fewer than 16 hours between being told they were going to be removed and going to the airport, “most of which were non-waking hours,” and “limited, if any” ability to talk to family or a lawyer. “From the course of conduct, it is hard to come to any conclusion other than that Defendants invite a lack of clarity as a means of evasion,” the judge wrote.


Trump says ‘Golden Dome’ free for Canada — if it joins US

Trump says ‘Golden Dome’ free for Canada — if it joins US
Updated 28 May 2025
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Trump says ‘Golden Dome’ free for Canada — if it joins US

Trump says ‘Golden Dome’ free for Canada — if it joins US
  • “I told Canada, which very much wants to be part of our fabulous Golden Dome System, that it will cost $61 Billion Dollars if they remain a separate, but unequal, Nation,” Trump posted on his Truth Social network

WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump said Tuesday that Canada could join his proposed “Golden Dome” missile defense system for free — but only if it becomes part of the United States.
Otherwise it would cost Canada $61 billion to be part of the system, said Trump, who has repeatedly called for the United States’ northern neighbor to become the 51st state.
Canada has expressed interest in joining the missile system — plans for which Trump unveiled last week to defend against a wide array of enemy weapons — but has firmly rejected any loss of sovereignty.
“I told Canada, which very much wants to be part of our fabulous Golden Dome System, that it will cost $61 Billion Dollars if they remain a separate, but unequal, Nation,” Trump posted on his Truth Social network.
“But (it) will cost ZERO DOLLARS if they become our cherished 51st State. They are considering the offer!“
There was no immediate response from Canada to Trump’s claims.
Trump announced plans for the “Golden Dome” system a week ago, saying it would eventually cost around $175 billion and would be operational by the end of his term in 2029.
Experts say the scheme faces huge technical and political challenges, and could cost far more than he has estimated to achieve its goals.
Trump also said at the time that Canada was interested in joining the missile system. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney then confirmed that his country had held “high level” talks on the issue.
NATO members Canada and the United States are partners in continental defense through the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD).
But the scheme now seems set to add to the tensions that Trump has sparked with Canada.
Carney politely but firmly dismissed Trump’s calls for Canada to become part of the United States when he visited the White House earlier this month, saying his country was “never for sale.”
The Canadian premier and Trump did however appear to smooth over some of the strains over the tariffs that the US president has slapped on Ottawa.