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A Congolese military court has a high-ranking policeman to death for his role in the 2010 murder of human rights activist Floribert Chebeya, which caused national outrage.

Commissioner of police Christian Ngoy Kenga Kenga was found guilty of murder, desertion and misappropriation of weapons and ammunition.

Mr Chebeya’s body was found bound and gagged in his car in Kinshasa.

There is a moratorium on capital punishments in DR Congo.

However, the death penalty has not been abolished and military courts continue to hand down such sentences.

Another policeman, Jacques Migabo, was also eligible to 12 years during the trial.

He admitted to having strangled Mr Chebeya and his driver, Fidèle Bazana.

Police commissioner Paul Mwilambwe, who had been a key witness in the trial, was acquitted, UN-sponsored Radio Okapi says.

Mr Mwilambwe, who had been a fugitive since the murder and was only repatriated last year, named ex-President Joseph Kabila and the former head of police General John Numbi, as having ordered the killing.

Neither Mr Kabila nor Gen Numbi have commented publicly, but a military court has charged the general with the murder of Mr Chebeya and his driver.

He has fled the country and his current whereabouts are not known.

Kenga, Migabo and Mr Mwilambwe were initially to death in 2011, with Kenga arrested in 2020 in the southern city of Lubumbashi before the case was re-opened last September.

Mr Chebeya led the Congolese charity Voice of the Voiceless, and as a prominent critic of the government received regular death threats during his career of more than 20 years.

He went to the police headquarters to meet the then head of the national police force, Gen Numbi, on the day he was killed.

His driver Mr Bazana also went missing that day with authorities later pronouncing him dead.

The killing of Mr Chebeya prompted widespread international condemnation.

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If confirmed, the attacks would mark the first time a Russian has been killed inside the country by Ukraine shelling since Moscow’s invasion in February.

One person was killed and seven were wounded in a Russian village bordering Ukraine in what may be the first death of a Russian civilian inside the country since Moscow launched the war.

Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov of Russia’s Belgorod province said on Thursday the attack by Ukraine forces occurred in the village of Solokhi.

The village came under shelling from the Ukrainian side late Wednesday, and residents were later evacuated “to a safe place”, Gladkov said. With a population of 638, Solokhi lies 20km (12 miles) north of the Ukrainian region of Kharkiv.

“Seven wounded, another victim was brought late at night. Everyone is provided with qualified medical care, medicines are available in full. One person died. We will provide material assistance to all the victims and the family of the deceased,” Gladkov said on his Telegram channel.

Al Jazeera could not independently verify Gladkov’s account. If confirmed, it would mark the first death in Russia under Ukraine fire since the start of the war.

‘Most severe to date’

Russian authorities in areas bordering Ukraine have accused Kyiv of a series of attacks, including a helicopter raid on a fuel depot. Ukraine, which has been fighting off the Russian invasion since February 24, has not claimed responsibility for the attacks.

Gladkov described the shelling as “the most severe to date”, adding an apartment building had been destroyed, according to Russia’s state-run news agency TASS.

A series of explosions was heard on April 27 in three Russian provinces bordering Ukraine, authorities said, and an ammunition depot in Belgorod province caught fire about the same time.

Ukraine Presidential Adviser Mykhailo Podolyak described the attacks as payback and “karma” for Moscow’s invasion.

“If you [Russians] Decide to massively attack another country, massively kill everyone there, massively crush peaceful people with tanks, and use warehouses in your regions to enable the killings, then sooner or later the debts will have to be repaid,” Podolyak said at the time.

Belgorod province borders Ukraine’s Luhansk, Sumy and Kharkiv regions, all of which have seen heavy fighting since Russia invaded Ukraine.

On April 1, a Russian official alleged two Ukrainian military helicopters flew across the border and bombed a fuel depot in the city of Belgorod. It was the first known air raid by Ukraine’s forces on Russian soil since Moscow invaded its neighbor.

Video images of the purported attack posted online showed what looked like several missiles being fired from low altitude, followed by an explosion that sparked a huge fire.

At the time, Ukraine’s top security official Oleksiy Danilov denied Kyiv had carried out that attack.

The incidents have exposed Russian vulnerabilities in areas close to Ukraine that are vital to its military logistics chains.

Russia sent tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine on February 24 in a “special military operation” to degrade its military capabilities and root out what it calls dangerous nationalists. Thousands of Ukrainians have been killed and millions displaced.

Ukrainian forces have mounted stiff resistance and the West has imposed sweeping sanctions on Russia in an effort to force it to withdraw its troops.

Mansur Mirovalev contributed to this report from Kyiv.

BRUSSELS (AP) — It’s likely to be the quickest NATO enlargement ever and one that would redraw Europe’s security map. Finnish leaders announced Thursday their belief that Finland should join the world’s largest military organization because of Russia’s war in Ukraine. Sweden could soon follow suit.

Should they apply for membership, the move would have far-reaching ramifications for Northern Europe and trans-Atlantic security.

No doubt, it will also anger their large neighbor Russia, which blames, at least in part, its war in Ukraine on NATO’s continued expansion closer to its borders. It’s unclear how Russian President Vladimir Putin might retaliate. The Kremlin said Thursday that it certainly won’t improve European security.

The following is a brief look at what Finland and Sweden’s membership in the 30-country NATO alliance could mean, with the Nordic partners expected to announce their intention to join within days.

FINLAND AND SWEDEN

Not neutral like Switzerland, Finland and Sweden traditionally think of themselves as militarily “nonaligned.”

But Russia’s war in Ukraine and Putin’s apparent desire to establish a Moscow-centered “sphere of influence” has shaken their security notions to the core. Just days after he ordered the Feb. 24 invasion, public opinion shifted.

Support in Finland for NATO membership has hovered around 20-30% for years. It now stands at over 70%. The two are NATO’s closest partners but maintaining good ties with Russia has been an important part of their foreign policy, particularly for Finland.

Now they hope for security support from NATO states — primarily the United States — in case Moscow retaliates. Britain pledged on Wednesday to come to their aid.

THE NORDIC REGION

NATO membership for the two, joining regional neighbors Denmark, Norway and Iceland, would formalize their joint security and defense work in ways that their Nordic Defense Cooperation patch hasn’t.

NORDEFCO, as it’s known, focuses on cooperation. Working within NATO means putting forces under joint command.

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Accession would tighten the strategic Nordic grip on the Baltic Sea — Russia’s maritime point of access to the city of St. Petersburg and its Kaliningrad exclave.

Finland and Sweden also join them, along with Iceland, at the heart of the triangle formed with the North Atlantic and maritime areas in the Arctic, to where Russia projects its military might from the northern Kola Peninsula. Integrated NATO military planning will become a lot simpler, making the region easier to defend.

NATO

Finland and Sweden are NATO’s closest partners. They contribute to the alliance’s operations and air policing.

Most importantly, they already meet NATO’s membership criteria, on functioning democracies, good neighborly relations, clear borders and armed forces that are in lock-step with the allies. After the invasion, they formally boosted information exchanges with NATO and sit in on every meeting on war issues.

Both are modernizing their armed forces and investing in new equipment. Finland is purchasing dozens of high-end F-35 warplanes. Sweden has top quality fighter jets, the Gripen.

Finland says it’s already hit NATO’s defense spending guideline of 2% of gross domestic product. Sweden too is ramping up its military budget and expects to reach the target by 2028. The NATO average was estimated at 1.6% last year.

RUSSIA

Putin has demanded that NATO stop expanding and in his May 9 speech blamed the West for the war.

But public opinion in Finland and Sweden suggests that he has driven them into NATO’s arms.

If Finland joins, it would double the length of the alliance’s border with Russia, adding a further 1,300 kilometers (830 miles) for Moscow to defend.

Putin has promised a “military, technical” response if they join. But many troops from Russia’s western district near Finland were sent to Ukraine, and those units suffered heavy consequences, Western military officers say.

So far, Moscow is doing nothing obvious to dissuade the two — apart perhaps from a couple of incidents where Russian planes entered their airspace. The Kremlin said Thursday that its response could depend on how close NATO infrastructure moves toward Russia’s borders.

Some at NATO worry that the Russians might deploy nuclear weapons or more hypersonic missiles to the Kaliningrad exclave, across the Baltic Sea wedged between allies Poland and Lithuania.

___

Karl Ritter in Stockholm, and Jari Tanner in Helsinki, contributed to this report.

Shireen Abu Akleh was murdered.

She was not “killed”. She was murdered.

She was shot in the face. Not in the arm or a leg. In the face. That is not a “kill” shot. That is a murder shot.

Abu Akleh was shot in the face, on purpose, while doing what she has been doing since 1997 for Al Jazeera: telling the truth.

She was murdered for telling, yet again, the truth about how Israel has corralled, bludgeoned, “raided”, evicted, jailed, traumatised, tortured, murdered, and pressed Palestinian after Palestinian, day after day, week after week terror, month after month , year after year, decade after decade.

Abu Akleh did her job well. She did it with grace, patience and resilience despite the indignities, horrors and dangers. It was her duty, obligation, and responsibility to bear witness.

Every day, Palestinians risk being murdered because they are Palestinian.

It does not matter where they live – in Gaza, Jerusalem or the West Bank – every day, Palestinians risk being murdered because they are Palestinian.

It does not matter what they do for a living – if they can find work at all – every day, Palestinians risk being murdered because they are Palestinian.

It does not matter whether they are young or old, a man or a woman, Muslim or Christian – every day, Palestinians risk being murdered because they are Palestinian.

As it happens, Abu Akleh, a 51-year-old Palestinian, was in Jenin yesterday morning when she was murdered.

She was there to do her job: reporting on how more Israeli soldiers were “raiding” – a euphemism for terrorising – more Palestinians.

She was wearing a helmet and body armour marked “Press”.

She was standing at a roundabout with other Palestinian when she was shot in the face. An Al Jazeera producer, who survived, was shot in the back.

Abu Akleh’s body lay on the side of a road, next to a wall. Her colleagues screamed for help as they pulled her away from a sniper’s crosshairs. Later, an ambulance arrived. She died in hospital. Alone.

Another day, another murdered Palestinian.

But, unlike so many other murdered Palestinians, including four boys who were dismembered by an Israeli missile while playing football on a beach, Abu Akleh was well-known. She was on TV. She was popular. She was admired and respected because she told the truth about the cruelty Palestinians suffer and endure every day.

So, her murder, the murders of so many other Palestinians made news in Europe and North America.

I doubt her murder would have made much news in Europe and North America save for one inconvenient fact: Abu Akleh was also an American.

I doubt her murderer knew she was an American when they shot her, on purpose, in the face. Now they know. Damn. That meant powerful people and institutions who normally do not give a damn when Palestinians are murdered had to say something since Abu Akleh was an American.

I do not remember the US ambassadors to Israel or the United Nations, the State Department or the White House acknowledgment, let alone condemning, any one of the slayings, since 2000, of 46 Palestinians or saying anything about the 144 Palestinians who have , since 2018, been shot with rubber or steel bullets, tear-gassed or had stun grenades fired at them.

Do you?

Of course not. They were not American. That meant they were nobodies. Inconsequent. Forgettable. Worse, they were Palestinians. They were nothing. Probably tools of Hamas. Anyway, like every other Palestinian living, working and going to school every day in imprisoned Palestine, those make-believe Palestinian asked for it and they got it – good.

Nothing to see here. Move on.

This time, some US politicians and diplomats said they were “very sad” that Abu Akleh had been shot in the face. They said that there needed to be a “thorough investigation” into who, precisely, shot Abu Akleh in the face.

Blah. Blah. Blah.

They had to say it. They did not mean it. But they had to say it. Otherwise, it might look like they did not give a damn that a celebrated American journalist had been shot in the face by – several witnesses say – an Israeli sniper.

Come on, you and I know that they do not really give a damn. Abu Akleh may have carried an American passport, but she was not a real American or even a real journalist like the late Daniel Pearl. He worked for the Wall Street Journal. He mattered. The manner of his murder mattered.

Abu Akleh was a Palestinian. She worked for Al Jazeera. You and I know that most American politicians and media agree with Donald Rumsfeld who once said that Al Jazeera’s reporting is “vicious, inaccurate and inexcusable”.

The US politicians and diplomats pretending to care about Abu Akleh’s murder could have told America’s dearest friend and client state in the Middle East a long time ago to stop shooting and murdering crimes and blowing up buildings where they work.

They have not and they will not.

Instead, they do what they always do when Israel murders Palestinians – American or not. Nothing.

Israel is obliged to play along to relieve the phantom pressure.

Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett played his part in the pantomime. On cue, he muddied the bloody waters by trotting out the tired and absurd line that the “most moral army in the world” does not murder Palestinians on purpose.

Abu Akleh’s “unfortunate death,” he suggested on Twitter, was a case of Palestinian on Palestinian violence.

“According to the data, we currently have, there is a considerable chance that armed Palestinians, who fired wildly, are what led to the unfortunate death of the journalist,” Israel’s foreign ministry tweeted on his behalf.

Most American politicians – Republicans and Democrats – and much of the establishment media will believe Bennett. He is Israel’s prime minister. Israeli prime ministers never lie. They, unlike Hamas, tell the truth. Always. They are America’s pal. Trusted. America never doubts the word of its Israeli pals.

America does not need to see, let alone question, Bennett’s so-called “data”. If the Israeli prime minister says he has it, then, there is a “considerable chance” that is what happened. That is good enough for America and the chattering class.

Doubt son. mission accomplished. Quick, back to Ukraine.

Sure, US speaker Nancy Pelosi wrote: “The killing of American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh is an (sic) horrific tragedy.”

Newsflash, Speaker Pelosi, shooting a Palestinian-American journalist in the face on purpose is not a “tragedy”. It is a crime. We know, we know, Israeli soldiers never commit crimes.

Quick, back to the baby formula shortage.

Oh, wait. Bennett’s once iron-clad “data” has gone poof – if it ever existed. Late Wednesday, an Israeli general said, well, maybe Abu Akleh was not the victim of Palestinian on Palestinian violence. Maybe an armed Israeli soldier, not an “armed” Palestinian – are there any other kind? – shot her in the face. Maybe.

It does not matter. The “narrative”, like cement, has already been cast.

It goes like this: We will never know who shot Abu Akleh in the face. Israel wants an “inquiry” to find out who shot Abu Akleh. It does. Honest. The Palestinians will not cooperate. Fanatics.

Still, if an Israeli sniper shot a journalist in the face, that is the terrible cost of war. That sniper was doing their duty, too, protecting Israel from terrorists. She knew the risks. She got in the way. Tough luck.

The truth is that it will work because it has worked every other time Israel has murdered a Palestinian.

Shireen Abu Akleh knew that, I suspect, better than anyone.

The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera’s editorial stance.

North Korea announced its first official cases of Covid-19 on Thursday, saying the highly transmissible Omicron variant had been detected and a national emergency declared.

The isolated country has never reported a case of Covid-19 before, and leader Kim Jong Un had ordered nationwide lockdowns in a bid to prevent the spread of the virus.

Here’s what we know:

Is it a major outbreak?

State media said “persons with fever” at an organization in the capital Pyongyang had tested positive for Omicron, without specifying how many people were infected.

The virus could already have spread across the country, analysts said, as North Korea celebrated major holidays in April with mass events in Pyongyang, including a military parade at which neither nor spectators were masked.

“People from all over the country attended these events and may have carried back the virus,” Park Won-gon, a professor at Ewha University, told AFP.

The fact that North Korea held an emergency Politburo meeting overseen by Kim and issued an immediate report in state media — which typically reports on events a day later — indicates the situation is serious.

It shows “much urgency”, said Yang Moon-jin, a professor at the University of North Korean Studies.

Why now?

North Korea was one of the first countries to close its borders in January 2020 after the virus first emerged in neighbor China.

It quickly kicked out all foreigners — including diplomats and international aid workers — and has blocked inbound travel, keeping itself in strict isolation for more than two years.

Kim’s regime has previously hailed the success of the strategy, with state media highlighting nationwide “anti-epidemic work”.

But experts said it was inevitable that Covid-19 would sneak in, with outbreaks in all neighboring countries.

The virus could have come from a human making an illegal crossing from China, or via an infected animal, like a bird or boar, which cross the border freely, experts say.

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North Korea and China suspended rail trade in April this year due to Pyongyang’s fears of infection, but sea cargo shipments continued.

“North Korean seamen may get infected while interacting with other crews, eventually passing the virus onto port crew,” Seoul-based specialist site NK News said in an analysis.

What will they do?

With crumbling health infrastructure, no vaccines and no anti-viral treatments, North Korea has very limited options.

Kim has called for a nationwide lockdown, according to KCNA, although details of the restrictions were not immediately provided.

“North Korea will likely do the same as China,” said Go Myong-hyun, a researcher at the Asan Institute for Policy Studies.

“Stronger anti-epidemic measures, stronger social distancing, and stronger lockdowns,” Go said.

But unlike China, North Korea has not vaccinated anyone, and lacks the capacity to conduct mass Covid-19 testing. It also has little ability to treat people who become really sick.

As a result, the country “could see a lot of deaths”, said Lim Eul-chul, a professor at Kyungnam University.

Do they want help?

North Korea’s announcement comes days after South Korea inaugurated a new president, and a week before US President Joe Biden is due to visit Seoul.

Pyongyang has previously repeatedly rejected offers of pandemic assistance — and vaccines — from relief groups, the World Health Organization and even its main benefactor China.

It is unlikely Kim will ask for help now.

To do so would be “acknowledging the failure of the emergency anti-epidemic system in place until now and will inflict considerable damage to Kim Jong Un’s leadership”, Lim said.

Even so, Korea’s new government has assigned a budget to send Covid vaccines to the North, Kwon Young-se, the nominee for unification minister, said at his confirmation hearing.

And their nukes?

Impoverished North Korea chooses to spend a significant chunk of its GDP on its banned weapons programmes, despite widespread food insecurity.

Its pandemic closure exacerbated its economic woes, prompting its biggest contraction in over two decades in 2020, according to South Korea’s central bank.

Kim has repeatedly pledged to solve the “food, clothing and housing problem for the people” but has pushed ahead with missile launches — more than a dozen this year — and signs indicating he may restart nuclear tests.

But a major Covid outbreak could sour public sentiment surrounding weapons.

“The Kim regime’s domestic audience may be less interested in nuclear or missile tests when the urgent threat involves coronavirus rather than a foreign military,” said Leif-Eric Easley, a professor at Ewha University.

However, professor Yang said that if public fears over an outbreak were to spread, Kim might go ahead with a nuclear test “to divert this fear to another place”.

sh/ceb/axn

DEVELOPING STORYDEVELOPING STORY,

State funeral service for the killed Al Jazeera journalist will take place at the presidential compound in Ramallah.

Ramallah, occupied West Bank – A state funeral service for the murdered Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh is expected to begin shortly in the Palestinian city of Ramallah.

The ceremony will begin at the Istishari Hospital in the occupied West Bank city on Thursday morning, from where her body will be taken to the Palestinian Authority’s (PA) presidential compound, where President Mahmoud Abbas plans to honor her and bid her farewell.

A military service will then be held for Abu Akleh at the compound shortly afterwards.

After the service, Abu Akleh’s body will be taken in a convoy to the St Louis French Hospital in Sheikh Jarrah, in occupied East Jerusalem, where Abu Akleh’s family reside.

Abu Akleh’s burial is expected to take place on Friday in occupied East Jerusalem.

Journalists and mourners began gathering on Thursday morning at the hospital in preparation for the ceremony.

On Wednesday, Abu Akleh was honored in several Palestinian cities, such as Jenin, where she was killed, Nablus, and Ramallah, as it was brought to the city. Several protests were held, with hundreds of Palestinians.

Witness, including Al Jazeeras, said that Abu Akleh was killed by Israeli forces during coverage of a raid in the vicinity of Abu Akleh, denying initial Israeli claims that Palestinian fighters were likely responsible, and that word were taking place in the vicinity of Abu Akleh and her crew, who were clearly marked as members of the press.

Ali Samoudi, an Al Jazeera Israeli journalist who was also shot, said that forces had fired at Abu Akleh.

Israel now appears to be walking back some of its initial claims after government officials, including the Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, claimed that a video appearing to show Palestinian fighters firing in a Jenin alleyway was evidence that Palestinians had killed Abu Akleh.

Verification efforts have shown that the alleyway was not the area where Abu Akleh was shot.

Israel’s military chief, Lieutenant General Aviv Kochavi, has now said that it is unclear who shot Abu Akleh.

Abu Akleh was a well-known and respected television correspondent across Palestine and the wider Arab world, having joined Al Jazeera in 1997, a year after the network was launched.

The 51 year old Palestinian-American native of Jerusalem reported from across the Palestinian occupied territories and the wider region.

Three Senegalese midwives involved in the death of a woman in labor have been found guilty of not assisting someone in danger.

They received six-month suspended sentences, after Astou Sokhna died while reportedly begging for a Caesarean. Her unborn child also died.

Three other midwives who were also on trial were not found guilty

The case caused a national outcry with President Macky Sall ordering an investigation.

Mrs Sokhna was in her 30s when she passed away at a hospital in the northern town of Louga.

During her reported 20-hour labor order, her pleas to doctors to carry out a Caesarean were ignored because it had not been in advance, local media reported.

The hospital even threatened to send her away if she kept insisting on the procedure, according to the press reports.

Her husband, Modou Mboup, who was in court, told the AFP news agency that bringing the case to light was necessary.

“We highlighted something that all Senegalese deplore about their hospitals,” AFP quotes him as saying.

“If we stand idly by, there could be other Astou Sokhnas. We have to stand up so that something like this doesn’t happen again.”

A lawyer for one of the convicted midwives said his client is considering an appeal, AFP reports.

“The accused have denied and continue to deny [the accusations],” it quotes Abou Abdou Daffas saying.

“A medical team has the duty to respond with what is available, not to provide the outcome,” he continued.

In the lead up to the trial health workers went on strike, saying that the midwives should not be prosecuted.

The director of the hospital was dismissed after the incident, and has now been replaced according to AFP.

The circumstances of the deaths of the mother and child sparked an outpouring of complaints on social media with people describing the deficiencies of the public health system.

Death during childbirth is a leading cause of mortality in Africa.

In Senegal, the government says that rates have been falling in recent years with current figures around 156 deaths per 100,000 live births – down from 392 four years ago.

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The UN goals are for countries to have fewer than 70 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births by 2030.

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The 11th week of the Russian invasion of Ukraine saw Kyiv’s forces mount a counteroffensive. Ukrainian troops have recaptured towns to the north and east of the country’s second city Kharkiv, in eastern Ukraine.

Hundreds of civilians were evacuated from the besieged Azovstal steel plant in the Russian-occupied port city of Mariupol, and the European Union struggled to agree on a round of sanctions, as Hungary bristled at a potential oil embargo.

Here, Al Jazeera looks at the major events that marked the eleventh week of the war in Ukraine:

May 4

Ukrainian and Russian reports confirm that a Ukrainian counteroffensive north and east of Kharkiv has pushed Russian troops 40km back from the city, in the first major Ukrainian battlefield success since winning the battle for Kyiv. Russian forces launch several unsuccessful attacks in the eastern Donbas region.

In Mariupol, Russian troops reportedly attempted to storm the tunnels under the Azovstal plant, where some 2,000 Ukrainian fighters are holding out. Denys Prokopenko, a commander of the Azov Regiment inside the plant, says Ukrainians are fighting “difficult, bloody battles”. A top Ukrainianarian parliament confirms that Russian troops are now inside the plant. The United Nations evacuated 344 civilians from Mariupol and surrounding villages to safety in Zaporizhzhia. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy makes an appeal to the UN to save an estimated 200 civilians still in the city’s Azovstal plant.

Russian forces conduct an unsuccessful ground offensive from Kherson towards Zaporizhzhia in the southwest.

The European Commission unveils a sixth round of sanctions, including “a complete import ban on all Russian oil, seaborne and pipeline, crude and refined” by the end of the year, Commission President Ursula von der Leyen tells the European Parliament.

Von der Leyen also calls for banning Russia’s largest bank, Sberbank, from the Swift interbank transaction system, along with Credit Bank of Moscow and the Russian Agricultural Bank. “This will solidify the complete isolation of the Russian financial sector from the global system,” she says. Von der Leyen also calls for a ban on three Russian state broadcasters: Rossiya RTR/RTR Planeta, Rossiya 24, and TV Center International, and a ban on the sale of accounting, consulting and public relations services to Russia.

May 5

Ukrainian forces repel Russian attempts to regain positions that were lost around Kharkiv in the northeast. Ukrainian Commander-in-Chief Valerii Zalyzhnyi states that Ukrainian forces are transitioning to counteroffensive operations around Kharkiv and Izium, the first direct Ukrainian military statement of a shift to offensive operations.

Ukrainian officials and military officers confirm that Russian forces have breached underground tunnels at the Azovstal plant in Mariupol.

A Reuters investigation reveals the identities of Russian units believed to have committed war crimes in Bucha. They include the 76th Guards Air Assault Division, an elite paratrooper unit under the personal command of defense minister Sergey Shoigu, and the Vityaz security force, commanded by former Putin bodyguard Viktor Zolotov. The investigation also reveals the identities of Ukrainian civilians allegedly tortured and killed by these units.

A US defense official reveals that the US gave Ukrainian forces intelligence on the whereabouts of the Russian Black Sea flagship Moskva before Ukraine targeted and sank it with two missiles.

Zelenskyy calls for the rescue of the last remaining civilians from the Azovstal plant in Mariupol.

May 6

Ukrainian forces continue to retake the northeast territory of Kharkiv, marking the first large-scale counteroffensive on the eastern front. The Ukrainian general staff and news sources say the villages of Oleksandrivka, Fedorivka, Ukrainka, Shestakovo, Peremoha, Tsirkuny and parts of Cherkasy Tishki fall to Ukraine.

The Pentagon says most Russian forces have left Mariupol to fight in the Donbas region, a garrison of leaving about 2,000 troops – the same as the number of Ukrainians believed to be in the Azovstal plant. The Red Cross and United Nations evacuated 50 civilians from the Azovstal plant in Mariupol to Zaporizhzhia.

Russian offensives around Izium are repelled, but Russian forces make small advances around Severdonetsk.

Germany says it will send seven self-propelled howitzers to Ukraine, which had requested a dozen. The Netherlands had already committed to sending five.

The European Commission tweaks its 6th sanctions proposal, giving Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic until the end of 2024 to wean themselves off Russian oil. The Commission also triples a transition period for EU-flagged ships to stop carrying Russian oil for three months. According to some reports, the measure could be scrapped altogether.

Zelenskyy for the first time outlines strict conditions on which he would enter peace talks with Russia, including a withdrawal of Russian forces to pre-February 24 borders, the return of five million refugees, membership in the European Union, and accountability for those Russians who committed war crimes.

May 7

The Ukrainian general staff says Russian forces destroy three bridges in their retreat from Kharkiv, at Circuna and Rusky Tyshky, 22km (14 miles) from Kharkiv city centre. The destruction of the bridges indicates that they are unlikely to attempt to retake the territory the Ukrainian counteroffensive is seizing around the city. Russia confirms the withdrawal.

The Russians are also bogged down near Izium, with Ukrainian forces preventing their branching out to take surrounding villages to the west and southwest. There is also no Russian attempt to break out southeast towards Sloviansk, a presumed Russian objective that would help surround Ukrainian forces.

Ukrainian officials confirm that Russian forces have occupied Popasna, an advanced position in Luhansk province, and a presumed jumping-off point to march on Sloviansk.

Mariupol municipal adviser Petro Andryuschenko says Russians are preparing to hold a May 9 parade in the city, and are offering residents food in return for clearing rubble and dead bodies. Deputy Prime Minister Irina Vereshchuk says all civilians have now been evacuated from the Azovstal plant in the city.

Russian forces continue to target Odesa with missiles.

May 8

Russian forces amass in Belgorod, southern Russia, presumably to move against the Ukrainian counteroffensive around Kharkiv. On the eastern line of contact, Russians continue their offensives in an effort to take all of Luhansk and Donetsk oblasts. Sixty civilians are believed to have been killed by a Russian air raid on a school, where 90 were sheltering. In Izium, Russian forces have paused to regroup. Russian forces continue to attack the Azovstal plant in Mariupol.

May 9

Russian forces make marginal gains around Severdonetsk.

In Mariupol, Russian forces continue to conduct artillery raids and assaults on the Azovstal plant, reportedly advancing into its northern side.

Russian President Vladimir Putin says in his Victory Day speech that his “special military operation” in Ukraine was necessary as a preemptive defense of Russia, because NATO and Ukraine were plotting to take aggressive action against his country.

“We saw military infrastructure being ramped up, hundreds of military advisers working and regular deliveries of modern weapons from NATO. [The level of] danger was increasing every day. Russia preventively rebuffed the aggressor. It was necessary, timely and … right. The decision of a sovereign, strong, independent country.”

Putin does not use the speech to order a general mobilisation or to ramp up his war aims.

French President Emmanuel Macron pours cold water on any notion of rapid EU membership for Ukraine, saying it will likely take “many decades”, in a speech to the European Parliament. Instead, Macron says he supports creating a strengthened form of association with the EU that would enable Ukraine and other EU hopesfuls like Moldova and Georgia to enjoy many aspects of membership quickly.

“It is our historic obligations … to create what I would describe before you today as a European political community,” he says. “This new European organization would allow democratic European nations … to find a new space for political cooperation, security, cooperation in energy, transport, investment, infrastructure, the movement of people.”

May 10

The Ukrainian counteroffensive continues to push Russian forces east of Kharkiv city, liberating Bairak, Zamulivka, Verkhnii Saltiv, and Rubizhne (different to the Rubizhne in the Donbas) and reportedly coming within 10km (six miles) of the Russian border. Ukrainian authorities report that Russian forces are retreating to regroup defensively near the border.

“Ukrainians are getting close to the Russian border. So all the gains that the Russians made in the early days in the northeast of Ukraine are slipping away,” says Neil Melvin of the RUSI think-tank in London.

Russian forces continue assaults in the Donbas, but make no confirmed advances. Pro-Russian reporter Alexandr Sladkov writes that Russian forces have good morale and are pressing the offensive, but cannot make progress because they are fighting at a 1:1 ratio with Ukrainian defenders, who are being replenished.

Russian forces continue aerial and artillery bombardment of the Azovstal plant. Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vershchuk says there are 1,000 fighters left in the plant, half the estimate of previous days, without explanation. A hundred civilians are also estimated to be trapped inside. Ukrainian defense intelligence says Russian authorities are trying to round up kindergarten teachers in the Donetsk region to be sent to work in Mariupol. Mariupol municipal adviser Petro Andrushchenko says Russian occupiers are calling steelworkers to return to the Ilyich plant to resume production that will help the Russian armed forces.

At least one person is reported killed as Russian missiles hit a shopping center in Odesa.

The US House of Representatives prepares to approve $39.8bn in additional funding for Ukraine, even more than the $33bn that President Joe Biden had asked for on April 28. The secretaries of state and defense say they will run out of the existing funding authority for Ukraine by May 19.

Ukraine defense intelligence says it has identified convoys of Russian trucks taking Ukrainian grain, sunflower seeds and vegetables towards the Crimea and the Russian border. Some shipments have reportedly been sent to Syria.

JOINT BASE ELMENDORF-RICHARDSON, Alaska (AP) — The US Army is poised to revamp its forces in Alaska to better prepare for the future cold-weather conflicts, and it is expected to replace the larger, heavily equipped Stryker Brigade in the state with a More mobile, infantry unit better suited for the frigid fight, according to Army leaders.

Army Secretary Christine Wormuth said she expects to make a final decision soon about the Alaska troop change, saying she will likely convert the Stryker unit, which uses heavy, eight-wheeled vehicles, to an infantry brigade.

“I think right now the purpose of Army forces in Alaska is much more about creating an extreme cold weather capable formation” that could be used in Europe or the Indo-Pacific, Wormuth told The Associated Press on a recent trip to Alaska to meet with senior commanders and troops. “We’re trying to get to a place where we have Arctic capable forces — forces that can survive and operate in that environment.”

The US has long viewed the Arctic as a growing area of ​​competition with Russia and China, particularly as climate change brings warmer temperatures and opens the sea lanes for longer periods of time. But officials have acknowledged that the US lags behind those nations. Russia has taken steps to increase its military presence there, and China views the region as economically valuable for shipping and natural resources.

The changes in the Army were under consideration well before US tensions with Russia soared following its invasion of Ukraine.

Under the new Army plan, the 1st Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, now based in Alaska, would be converted to a light infantry brigade. Combined with the division’s 4th Infantry Brigade Combat team, the two units will become the 11th Airborne Division, based in Alaska. And the large Stryker vehicles, which are somewhat old, would be replaced by other vehicles that are more suitable for the icy and snowy terrain, Wormuth said.

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The greater focus on cold-weather war includes a move to conduct major training exercises for the Alaska-based troops in their home state, under the weather conditions they would face in an Arctic fight. The troops had been scheduled to go to the Joint Readiness Training Center at Fort Polk, Louisiana, in March, but army leaders decided to keep them in Alaska so they could train under the frigid temperatures and frozen terrain that they would encounter in any cold- weather battle.

“I think it really makes sense to have forces trained in the Arctic environments that they would be used for,” Wormuth said after spending two days at the still snowy base. “If we’re going to have ground forces in Alaska, that’s what we need them to be able to do. They can’t get that experience going to the Mojave Desert or to Fort Polk.”

Last year, in an initial trial event, Pacific-based forces stayed in Hawaii for their scheduled exercises at the National Training Center in California’s Mohave Desert. Commanders said they have learned from these first two moves, as they try to recreate conditions and relocate personnel and equipment from well-established training centers to more remote locations.

During her visit to Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Wormuth met with commanders who called the training shift a success. Maj. Gen. Brian Eifler, commander of the US Army Alaska, said the benefits outweighed any shortfalls created by the need to build the infrastructure for the training exercise in the remote north.

“You’re getting the best of both worlds, without losing too much,” Eifler said. “We did get a lot more out of it than we thought we would.”

Eifler said that while they didn’t have as many training observers or civilian role players as they would have at one of the training centers, the trainers that did come were able to learn more about Arctic weather operations.

In addition, Eifler said, the change avoided the costly and time-consuming shipment of vehicles, weapons and other equipment to Louisiana and back. The lengthy packing and shipping process before and after a training exercise in Louisiana or California often forces troops to be without their weapons systems and other equipment for weeks.

During briefings at the Alaska base, commanders said the training included large-scale combat operations under extreme weather conditions in what they called the “most challenging environment on earth.” They said that 10,000 troops — including Canadian Army and Air forces — were involved in the exercise.

But they said the exercise also underscored the need for better cold-weather vehicles, including those capable of carrying Arctic infantry forces.

Gen. Joseph Martin, the vice chief of the Army who was in Alaska this year, said the service has been studying what would be the best type of vehicle for the troops. “Is the Stryker the right vehicle for an Arctic warrior? In the winter, you need vehicles that can move across snow,” he said.

In addition, he said, the vehicle also needs to be able to operate in the spring or summer thaw, when the ground turns to mud.

As Wormuth wrapped up her visit, she suggested that the decision on the Stryker Brigade is moving forward soon. Any final decision would need approval from Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin.

“If you’re going to do big movements of equipment and things like that, the summer is a pretty important window because it’s a lot easier to move vehicles around than doing it in the dead of winter,” she said.

And in conversations with congressional lawmakers, including during a hearing this week, she made clear that the change would not reduce the number of soldiers in Alaska. Instead, she said that while the infantry brigade will be smaller, the Army would offset that loss by increasing the size and capabilities of the headquarters.

More broadly, she talked with commanders in Alaska about the potential need for more changes as the US military’s Arctic strategy evolves.

The US, Wormuth said, has resisted moves to militarize the Arctic, even as Russia has expanded its military presence and basing there. But, she said, “will that mindset continue given what the Russians are doing in Ukraine? Or will that get revisited? Will that create a window to think about things differently?”

Commanders said there are questions about whether one of the Pentagon’s combatant commands — such as European Command or Northern Command, based in Colorado — should take full ownership of the Arctic and the US military role there. Wormuth said the issue needs further discussion, and any decision may be years away.

North Korea has confirmed its first-ever case of Covid-19 and declared a “severe national emergency”, with leader Kim Jong Un vowing to “eliminate” the virus, state media said Thursday.

The impoverished, nuclear-armed country has never admitted to a case of Covid-19, with the government imposing a rigid coronavirus blockade of its borders since the start of the pandemic in 2020.

But samples taken from sick patients with fever in the capital were “consistent with” the virus’ highly transmissible Omicron variant, the official Korean Central News Agency reported.

Top officials, including leader Kim Jong Un, held a crisis politburo meeting to discuss the outbreak and announced they would implement a “maximum emergency” virus control system.

Kim told the meeting that “the goal was to eliminate the root within the shortest period of time,” according to KCNA.

“He assured us that because of the people’s high political awareness… we will surely overcome the emergency and win the emergency quarantine project,” it said.

Kim called for tighter border controls and lockdown measures, telling citizens “to completely block the spread of the malicious virus by thoroughly blocking their areas in all cities and counties across the country”.

All business and production activities will be organized so each work unit is “isolated” to prevent the spread of disease, KCNA added.

– No vaccines –

Experts believe North Korea has not vaccinated any of its 25 million people, having rejected offers of vaccinations from the World Health Organization, and China and Russia.

North Korea’s crumbling health system would struggle to cope with a major virus outbreak, experts have said.

North Korea is surrounded by countries that have battled — or are still fighting to control — significant outbreaks of Omicron.

South Korea, which has high rates of vaccination, has recently eased almost all Covid-19 restrictions, with cases sharply down after an Omicron-fuelled spike in March.

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Neighboring China, the world’s only major economy to still maintain a zero-Covid policy, is battling multiple Omicron outbreaks.

Major Chinese cities, including the financial capital Shanghai, have been under strict lockdowns for weeks.

– Lockdown? –

Seoul-based specialist site NK News reported that areas of Pyongyang had been locked down for two days.

“Multiple sources have also heard reports of panic buying due to uncertainty of when the lockdown might end,” the site reported, citing sources in Pyongyang.

North Korea has long boasted of its ability to keep the virus at bay.

At a military parade in 2020, Kim Jong Un repeatedly and effusively thanked the citizens and military for their loyalty and for remaining healthy in the face of the global coronavirus epidemic.

From January 3 2020 to May 11 this year, there were zero confirmed cases of Covid-19 and zero reported deaths from North Korea, the World Health Organization said.

State media has previously reported on “epidemic prevention” measures, and civilians have sometimes been shown wearing masks in official photographs.

But at a huge military parade in Pyongyang late last month broadcast by state media, none of the thousands of attendees or participants were seen wearing masks.

North Korea’s health crisis could potentially disrupt the country’s banned weapons launches, analysts said.

Pyongyang has conducted more than a dozen weapons tests so far this year, including firing an intercontinental ballistic missile at full range for the first time since 2017.

Satellite imagery indicates North Korea is preparing to conduct a nuclear test, and the United has warned this could come as soon as this month.

“There is a possibility of delaying the nuclear test in order to focus on overcoming the coronavirus,” Yang Moo-jin, a professor at the University of North Korean Studies, told AFP.

But he said if public fears over an outbreak were to spread, Kim might go ahead with a test “to divert this fear to another place”.

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