WORLD BRIEFING: February 26, 2024
For the first time since Russia full scale invasion of Ukraine, President Zelensky has revealed the number of soldiers killed: 31,000 - a number far lower than 70,000 estimate cited by US officials as of last August. Previously, the statistic was a tightly held state secret. In a press conference marking the painful, two-year mark of the war he said every death matters he refused to say how many troops have been injured and taken out of action. Zelensky also said about 180,000 Russian troops have been killed
Polls opened Sunday in Belarus' tightly controlled parliamentary and local elections that are set to cement the steely rule of the country's authoritarian leader, despite calls for a boycott from the opposition, which dismissed the balloting as a “senseless farce.” President Alexander Lukashenko, who has ruled Belarus with an iron hand for nearly three decades and on Sunday announced that he will run for the presidency again next year, accuses the West of trying to use the vote to undermine his government and “destabilise” the nation of 9.5 million people. Belarusian opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, who is in exile in neighbouring Lithuania after challenging Lukashenko in the 2020 presidential election, urged voters to boycott the elections. “There are no people on the ballot who would offer real changes because the regime only has allowed puppets convenient for it to take part,” Tsikhanouskaya said in a video statement. “We are calling to boycott this senseless farce, to ignore this election without choice.” - Euronews
Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh said on Monday he was resigning to allow for the formation of a broad consensus among Palestinians about political arrangements following Israel's war against the Islamist group Hamas in Gaza.The move comes amid growing U.S. pressure on President Mahmoud Abbas to shake up the Palestinian Authority as international efforts have intensified to stop the fighting in Gaza and begin work on a political structure to govern the enclave after the war - Reuters
Months out from November’s high-stakes election, the White House and the Biden campaign are going public with growing frustration about how the president is being portrayed in the media. Biden’s camp is taking swings at press coverage of the incumbent as his reelection bid fends off persistent concerns about whether the 81-year-old is fit for another four years in the Oval Office - The Hill
Former NATO commander James Stavridis said any additional sanctions on Russia from President Biden should be aimed at Russian President Vladimir Putin “personally.” He said: “These sanctions need to target Putin personally, they need to go after his personal wealth, his ability… and his friends and his family to travel in the world,” Stavridis said Sunday. He needs to be indicted in an international criminal court,” he added. “We need to personalize these sanctions…If Putin does not pay the price for his death and destruction, he will keep going,” Biden said in a statement. “And the costs to the United States—along with our NATO Allies and partners in Europe and around the world—will rise.” - The Hill
