Latest News
Ukraine admits Russia has entered key region of Dnipropetrovsk
Ukrainian forces have acknowledged that Russia’s military has crossed into the eastern industrial region of Dnipropetrovsk and is trying to establish a foothold.
“This is the first attack of such a large scale in Dnipropetrovsk region,” Viktor Trehubov, of the Dnipro Operational-Strategic Group of Troops told the BBC, although he made clear their advance had been stopped.
Russia has claimed throughout the summer that it has entered the area, as its forces try to push deeper into Ukrainian territory from the Donetsk region.
In early June, Russian officials said an offensive had begun in Dnipropetrovsk, although the latest Ukrainian reports suggest they have barely breached the regional border.
Any Russian advance into Dnipropetrovsk would be a blow to Ukrainian morale, as a US-led diplomatic bid to bring the war to an end appears to be flagging despite President Donald Trump meeting Russia’s Vladimir Putin in Alaska.
The Ukrainian DeepState mapping project assessed on Tuesday that Russia had now occupied two villages just inside the region, Zaporizke and Novohryhorivka.
However, Ukraine’s armed forces general staff denied that was the case. The military “continue to control” Zaporizke, it said in a statement, and “active hostilities are also ongoing in the area of the village of Novohryhorivka”.
Moscow has not laid claim to Dnipropetrovsk, unlike Donetsk and Ukraine’s four other eastern regions, but it has attacked its big cities, including the regional capital Dnipro.
Before the war Dnipropetrovsk had a population of more than three million and was Ukraine’s second biggest centre of heavy industry after the Donbas, which is made up of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions.
Although Russian forces have made slow progress in capturing territory and have suffered very high casualties, they have made recent gains in Donetsk.
A small infantry group made a sudden 10km (six mile) push beyond Ukraine’s defensive lines near Dobropillia earlier this month, but latest indications suggest their advance has been halted.
Putin is reported to have told Trump he would be willing to end the war if Ukraine handed over the areas of Donetsk region it still controls, but many Ukrainians believe Russia’s leader has other plans.
Col Pavlo Palisa, deputy head of the presidential office in Kyiv, warned reporters in the US in June that the Kremlin wanted to occupy all of Ukraine east of the Dnipro river, which cuts Ukraine in half.
The EU’s foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, also warned that handing Ukrainian territory to Russia as part of a peace deal was “a trap”. “We are forgetting that Russia has not made one single concession and they are the ones who are the aggressor here,” she told the BBC.
After meeting Putin in Alaska and then Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky in Washington, Trump said last week he had begun arrangements for a summit between the two leaders.
By the end of last week hopes of a breakthrough had dimmed.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov insisted the “agenda [for a summit] is not ready at all” and no meeting was planned.
He also said any discussion on future security guarantees without Russian involvement was “pointless”, even though that would be a non-starter for the West.
President Zelensky has meanwhile urged his Western allies to intensify efforts aimed at agreeing future security guarantees in the event of a deal.
He met the head of Britain’s armed forces, Adm Sir Tony Radakin, in Kyiv on Tuesday and the UK prime minister’s spokesman said the UK would be ready to put troops on the ground once hostilities had ended.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said on Tuesday that security guarantees for Ukraine would first and foremost enable the Ukrainian army to defend their country in the long term.
Merz said Zelensky had made clear he was ready to sit down with Putin and now it was Moscow’s turn: “If the Russian president is serious about putting an end to the killing, then he’ll accept the offer.”
Ukraine meanwhile has announced that men aged 18 to 22 can travel abroad, in an easing of a law that has required all up to the age of 60 to gain authorisation.
Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko said the change also included those currently in other countries – meaning they could now return to Ukraine and leave again if they wished.
A growing number of Ukrainian parents are sending teenage boys abroad before they reach 18. “We want Ukrainians to maintain their links with Ukraine as much as possible,” Svyrydenko said. Men aged 18 to 22 are not subject to military conscription, which has a minimum age of 25 after it was lowered last year.
An estimated 5.6 million Ukrainian men currently live abroad.
[BBC]
The National Business Facilitation Centre (NBFC), which is being established under the Presidential Secretariat with the aim of removing administrative and regulatory barriers that exist among government institutions in relation to investment and industry and expediting these processes, will be opened tomorrow (22).
The centre is being established on the President’s initiative with the aim of bringing about a positive transformation in the industrial sector. The centre will provide solutions to issues that arise in dealing with the government machinery when starting and operating a business, while also coordinating with the relevant government institutions to provide the necessary facilities.
The “ViYASA” National Business Facilitation Centre (NBFC) has been established at Building C-80, Hector Kobbekaduwa Mawatha, Colombo 07, and is headed by Senior Additional( Secretary to the President, Seevali Arukgoda.
The centre will be opened under the patronage of Minister of Labour and Deputy Minister of Finance and Planning Dr Anil Jayantha Fernando and Minister of Industry and Entrepreneurship Development Sunil Handunnetti, with the participation of Secretary to the President Dr Nandika Sanath Kumanayake.
The website https://nbfc.presidentsoffice.gov.lk is also scheduled to be officially launched on the occasion.
President’s Media Division)
Latest News
Court of Appeal Judge M. Sri Mevan Anthony Edirimannasuriya Corea appointed as Acting President of the Court of Appeal
President Anura Kumara Dissanayake has appointed Court of Appeal Judge Mayadunna Sri Mevan Anthony Edirimannasuriya Corea as the Acting President of the Court of Appeal.
The appointment has been made as President’s Counsel Nalin Rohantha Abeysuriya, who currently serves as President of the Court of Appeal, will be overseas until the 24th.
Accordingly Judge Mayadunna Corea was sworn in as Acting President of the Court of Appeal before President Anura Kumara Dissanayake at the Presidential secretariat this morning (21).
Secretary to the President Dr Nandika Sanath Kumanayake was also present at the occasion.
(President’s Media Division)
Latest News
President instructs expediting further measures concerning Sivarasa Anojan, sentenced to death in Saudi Arabia
A discussion to review the further measures that could be taken regarding Sivarasa Anojan, a young Sri Lankan national who has been sentenced to death in Saudi Arabia, was held at the Presidential Secretariat this afternoon (21), under the patronage of President Anura Kumara Dissanayake.
The discussion focused on the measures taken to date concerning Sivaraasa Anojan and the further diplomatic and legal steps that could be pursued. Attention was also given to expediting the necessary further measures that could be taken to secure his release.
President Anura Kumara Dissanayake instructed officials to continue the necessary diplomatic engagement with the relevant authorities in Saudi Arabia and to maintain close and continuous involvement in all further measures concerning the case.
Reaffirming the Government’s continued attention to the safety and welfare of Sri Lankans living and working overseas, the President also stressed the need for the relevant ministries and institutions to work in close coordination and pursue all possible measures that could be taken in connection with the case.
Deputy Speaker Rizvie Salih, Deputy Minister of Religious and Cultural Affairs Muneer Mulaffer, Governor of the Western Province Hanif Yusoof, Secretary – Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Foreign Employment and Tourism Aruni Ranaraja, Secretary to the Ministry of Defence Air Vice Marshal Sampath Thuyacontha (Retd), Attorney General Parinda Ranasinghe and officials of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Foreign Employment and Tourism were also present at the discussion.
(President’s Media Division)
“ViYASA” National Business Facilitation Centre (NBFC) to be opened tomorrow (22)
Court of Appeal Judge M. Sri Mevan Anthony Edirimannasuriya Corea appointed as Acting President of the Court of Appeal
President instructs expediting further measures concerning Sivarasa Anojan, sentenced to death in Saudi Arabia
It’s Shafali vs Athapaththu as Sri Lanka seek to stop India juggernaut
Trophy row unlikely to repeat in Japan
Powerful explosions at Syrian army site near Aleppo injure at least four
‘Dates have the highest sugar content to fight Coronavirus’
Sunday Island 27 December – Headlines
#SundayIsland 17th December – Headlines
Sunday Island – 28th March
Sunday Island Headlines – 21 March
Sunday Island – 21st February – Headlines
-
News5 days agoUS embassy won’t comment on IGP’s probe into joint drug raid
-
News4 days agoBid for Basil’s extradition nears final stage: Police
-
Features7 days agoThe emptying university: why are academics leaving?
-
News3 days agoShanakiyan urges urgent action over reported death sentence for Lankan in Saudi Arabia
-
Business5 days agoAll-new Bolero MaXX unveiled in Sri Lanka
-
Opinion7 days agoWho committed genocide and created mass graves in Sri Lanka?
-
News2 days agoNamal Rajapaksa Buddhist gambit fails, bail denied
-
Opinion5 days agoA journalist who wrote across the divide