WORLD BRIEFING: July 9, 2024
To read my CNN OpEd, click here
At NATO leaders’ summit in Washington which starts today - expect “several big announcements” on Ukraine to boost air defenses, the defence industry base and to protect its cities and power grid, National Security Communications Advisor John Kirby said. However there will be no change in US policy to allow Ukraine to strike further into Russia. He also said Ukraine can expect its future to be in NATO but would not say if its path into the alliance will be sealed as “irreversible.”
The toll from a Russian missile barrage on Ukraine yesterday has risen to at least 41 killed and almost 200 injured. Today a day of mourning will be observed nationwide and a call for all types of blood group donations has gone out. The attack leveled part of Ukraine’s largest children’s hospital in Kyiv and caused significant damage in several districts of the capital. President Volodymyr Zelensky said that Russia had launched more than 40 missiles on Monday, damaging almost 100 buildings in Kyiv, Dnipro, Kryvyi Rih, Sloviansk and Kramatorsk. The current toll in the capital stands at 31 dead and 117 injured. The mayor of Kyiv said the attack on the capital was one of the worst he’s seen.
Civilians and staff at Kyiv's Okhmatdyt Children's Hospital remove rubble from a flattened portion of the sprawling facility.
The UN Security Council will meet today to discuss the Russian attack on Kyiv's Okhmatdyt Children's Hospital. The British mission to the United Nations announced the Security Council meeting, which had been requested earlier by Zelensky. Rescue work at the hospital - the largest of its kind in Europe where 600 children are treated every day - ended Tuesday morning, officials said. Two people died at the site, 32 were wounded and four children were hospitalized
My analysis: After yesterday’s brutal Russian missile strike on Kyiv - a city which was considered to have the best air defences in the country - many Ukrainians are asking me: if so many missiles can get through without interception and cause such damage, where in Ukraine is safe? Nowhere, unfortunately. Oftentimes, significant damage is caused from falling debris from the shoot-downs. If Kyiv had more robust defence capability, in theory, the incoming missiles could be intercepted over water or barren land where less damage would be cause. In all yesterday, 30 of the 40 missiles were shot down, the Ukrainian air force said.
France had braced for a parliament dominated by the far-right, but instead, the left emerged victorious. Now they may be forced to enter an uneasy government with centrist Macron. If negotiations fail, deadlock looms. It was a triumphant night for the left and a disaster avoided for Macron and the centrists. But as the dust settled on Monday, reality set in. The task now will be to assemble a new government reflective of last night's election results but with the 577-seat parliament divided into three political blocs, nobody has the absolute majority needed to dominate and push through their policies. The cards may have been reshuffled in favor of the left and to the detriment of the far-right, but it is unclear who exactly will make it into the Cabinet of a government presided over by Macron. His Renaissance party and the New Popular Front did a lot of mud slinging on the campaign trail. But now they need each other to block the far-right. Chaos and potential deadlock could lie ahead. - France 24
Political turmoil in France has cast a shadow over the Paris Olympics as an inconclusive election sparked concerns about protests and governmental upheaval impacting the sporting extravaganza which opens in less than three weeks. French president Emmanuel Macron had been accused by the Paris mayor of risking “spoiling the party” of the Games by calling the snap election which ended on Sunday night in a hung parliament. He has since moved to steady the ship by rejecting the resignation of his prime minister, Gabriel Attal, to provide “stability” during the remaining run up to the Olympics, due to start on 26 July. Mr Attal, who had only been in office for five months before Mr Macron gambled with an election few in his own government had expected or wanted, signalled on Sunday that he would be willing to stay in position “as long as duty demands”, noting that his country was “getting ready to host the world” for the Olympics and Paralympics. But fears remain that political unrest could spark protests, placing extra strain on security and policing at a time when 15 million visitors will be descending on the French capital. There are also concerns that cyber hacks could be used to spread disinformation about the event. - iNews
A Russian military court found a playwright and a theater director guilty of “justifying terrorism” on Monday, sentencing them to six years in prison each in a case that critics say is the latest chilling example of the crackdown on free speech since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022. The playwright, Svetlana Petriychuk, 44, and the director, Yevgenia Berkovich, 39, are both acclaimed members of the Russian theater world and have been in custody since May 2023. In addition to the six-year sentences, exactly the time frame requested by prosecutors, both women will be banned from “administering websites” for three years following their release. The play Ms. Petriychuk wrote and Ms. Berkovich staged, “Finist the Brave Falcon,” is an adaptation of a classic fairy tale of the same name, interwoven with the stories of women baited online by men into joining the Islamic State. It is loosely based on the true stories of thousands of women from across Russia and the former Soviet Union who were recruited by ISIS terrorists. The main character of the play returns to Russia feeling betrayed and disappointed by the man who lured her there, only to be sentenced to prison as a terrorist herself. - NYT
