Sides say fierce fighting raging for center of Bakhmut

KYIV—Fierce fighting was raging for control of the centre of Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine, the longest-running and bloodiest battle of the war, both sides said on Monday.

“Wagner assault units are advancing from several directions, trying to break through our troops’ defensive positions and move to the centre of the city. In fierce battles, our defenders are inflicting significant losses on the enemy,” the Ukrainian military said in a morning briefing, referring to the Russian mercenary group that has claimed to be leading Moscow’s offensive.

Wagner meanwhile said: “the enemy is battling for every meter, the closer we are to the city centre, the harder the battles.”

Meanwhile, Swiss neutrality is more important than ever, President Alain Berset said in an interview published Sunday, defending the controversial ban on transferring Swiss-made arms to Ukraine.

“Swiss weapons must not be used in wars,” he told the NZZ am Sonntag weekly.

The long tradition of neutrality has been hotly debated since Russia’s fullscale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

While the wealthy Alpine country, which is not a member of the European Union, has followed the bloc’s lead on sanctions targeting Moscow, it has so far shown less flexibility on its military neutrality.

Despite pressure from Kyiv and its allies, Switzerland has continued to block countries that hold Swiss-made weaponry from re-exporting it to Ukraine. To date, requests from Germany, Spain and Denmark have been rejected under the War Materiel Act, which bars all re-export if the recipient country is in an international armed conflict. Berset told NZZ the policy was based on “commitment to peace, to humanitarian law, to mediation where possible”.

Switzerland’s role as the seat of the International Committee of the Red Cross and the Geneva Conventions, as well as of the United Nations’ European headquarters “is reflected in our laws, including those relating to the export of weapons,” he said. AFP stealth,” Park told AFP.

“North Korea says the weapons are deployed, but whether we believe it with credibility is another matter.”

Defensive drill

The Freedom Shield drills “involve wartime procedures to repel potential North Korean attacks and conduct a stabilisation campaign in the North”, the South Korean military has said.

It emphasised that the exercise was a “defensive one based on a combined operational plan”.

But North Korea views all such exercises as rehearsals for invasion and has repeatedly warned it would take “overwhelming” action in response.

“North Korea has been speaking in missiles against joint drills,” said Go Myong-hyun, a researcher at the Asan Institute for Policy Studies in Seoul.

“It wants to emphasise that the reason for developing missiles is for selfdefence purposes.”

More to come

The foreign ministry in Pyongyang also released a statement Monday slamming the United States over what it called “the US vicious ‘human rights’ racket”, after Washington said it would hold a UN meeting this week on abuses in North Korea.

Last year, North Korea declared itself an “irreversible” nuclear power and fired a record-breaking number of missiles.

Leader Kim Jong Un last week ordered his military to intensify drills to prepare for a “real war.” AFP

Biden meets Australian, British leaders in California on AsPac submarines deal

WASHINGTON—President Joe Biden meets Monday with the leaders of Australia and Britain at a California naval base for an expected announcement of a nuclear submarines deal aimed at stabilizing the Asia-Pacific region as it faces a rising China.

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Britain’s Prime Minister Rishi Sunak will join Biden at the base in San Diego 18 months after their countries formed an alliance called AUKUS with the principal goal of bringing Australia into the fold of navies possessing nuclear-powered submarines. While Australia has ruled out deploying atomic weapons, its acquisition of the nuclear-powered vessels will transform its role in a US-led project to maintain the decades-old balance of power in the Pacific.