Joe Biden announces new Ukraine assistance package as he makes surprise visit to Kyiv

It is the first time US President Joe Biden has visited Ukraine since Russia invaded in February 2022.(Reuters/Ukrainian Presidential Press Service)

US President Joe Biden has made an unannounced visit to the Ukrainian capital Kyiv, days before the first anniversary of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

Air raid sirens blared across the Ukrainian capital as Mr Biden visited Kyiv but there were no reports of Russian missile or air strikes.

He delivered remarks and met with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at Mariinskyi Palace to announce an additional half billion dollars in US assistance and to reassure Ukraine of American and allied support as the conflict continues.

"One year later, Kyiv stands. And Ukraine stands. Democracy stands," Mr Biden said.

"[Putin] is counting on us not sticking together. He was counting on the inability to keep NATO united. He was counting on us not to be able to bring in others to the side of Ukraine.

"He thought he could outlast us. I don't think he's thinking that right now. He's just been plain wrong."

Mr Biden said Washington would provide Kyiv with a new military aid package worth $US500 million ($A724 million) that would be announced on Tuesday.

He said it would include more ammunition for High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS).

The US would also be announcing additional sanctions this week, Mr Biden said, against the Russian elite and companies trying to evade sanctions to "back the Russian war machine".

In a speech, Mr Biden commended Ukraine's courage during the war and noted that he had visited Kyiv six times when he had earlier served as vice-president.

"I knew I would be back," he said.

The air raid sirens wailed while both presidents were inside the St Michael's Golden-Domed Cathedral on a square in central Kyiv where burnt-out Russian tanks have been placed.

"Your visit is an extremely important sign of support for all Ukrainians," Mr Zelenskyy said.

"We hope this year, 2023, will become the year of victory against this unprovoked and criminal Russian war against Ukraine."

In a statement, Ukraine's Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said both Mr Biden and Mr Zelenskyy were pleased with the outcome of their talks.

Ukraine is preparing for what it expects to be a major new Russian offensive that some military analysts say is already underway.

Mr Biden's trip fell on the day that Ukraine marks the deaths of more than 100 people — now known as the Heavenly Hundred — at anti-government protests that eventually toppled a Moscow-backed president in 2014.

It also comes just a day before Russian President Vladimir Putin was due to make a major address, expected to set out his country's aims for the second year of the invasion he launched on February 24 last year.The anniversary has taken on more than symbolic significance, becoming what the West views as motivation for the war's deadliest phase as Moscow hurls thousands of conscripts and mercenaries into a winter offensive. Source: https://www.fijivillage.com/

Read More........ → February 21, 2023

Chinese disengagement in Ladakh is a small lollipop to India!

It is quite possible that the Indian side conveyed to Beijing that with China’s rigid stance on the border standoff, Prime Minister Narendra Modi may consider it difficult to attend the summit, and more importantly, a one-to-one meeting between PM Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping may not be possible unless Beijing shows some progress on further disengagement

By Lt Gen Prakash Katoch (retd) : The 16th round of Corps Commander-level talks over the India-China standoff in Eastern Ladakh held on July 17, 2022, led by the Leh-based 14 Corps Commander, Lieutenant General Anindya Sengupta, and China's South Xinjiang Military District Commander, Major General Yang Yin, had indicated no breakthrough.

During the 15th round of talks, held on March 11, 2022, that lasted for around 13 hours, the Indian side had pushed China for the resolution of remaining intrusion areas (dubbed "friction points") in Ladakh but there was also no breakthrough. India had hoped that a resolution on Patrolling Point (PP) 15 in Hot Springs would be arrived at but the joint statement issued after the talks said that the "two sides carried forward their discussions from the previous round", 14th round, held on January 12, "for the resolution of relevant issues along the LAC in the Western Sector". It said both sides "agreed to maintain dialogue via military and diplomatic channels to reach a mutually acceptable resolution at the earliest".

Not only was the 14th round of talks inconclusive, but the 13th Corps Commander-Level meeting that took place on October 21, 2021, also ended in a stalemate, after which the Indian Army said that the "constructive suggestions" it made were not agreeable to the Chinese side, which also could not provide any "forward-looking" proposals. The Chinese later released a press statement calling India's demands "unreasonable".

Now almost two months after the 16th round of Corps Commander-level talks, India's Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has issued a statement on September 8, 2022, that reads: “On 08 September 2022, according to the consensus reached in the 16th round of India China Corps Commander Level Meeting, the Indian and Chinese troops in the area of Gogra-Hotsprings (PP-15) have begun to disengage in a coordinated and planned way, which is conducive to the peace and tranquillity in the border areas.”

Sudden disengagement

The next day on September 9, China’s state media Global Times tweeted: “Chinese and Indian troops in the area of Jianan Daban have begun to disengage in a coordinated and planned manner on Thursday (September 8), according to the consensus reached on 16th Round of China-India Corps Commander Level Meeting: Chinese Defense Ministry.”

It is significant to note that the 16th round of talks was held ten days after India's External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar had an hour-long meeting with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Bali, Indonesia, on July 7, 2022, on the sidelines of a meeting of the foreign ministers of the G20 countries. After the discussion, Jaishankar stated that he had focused on specific outstanding issues in India-China bilateral relationship pertaining to the border situation. But despite this, China gave no indication of any possibility of changing the status quo in Eastern Ladakh.

How then is this sudden disengagement at PP 15? The 2022 annual summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Heads of State is being held on September 15-16 at Samarkand, Uzbekistan, Uzbekistan has taken over the chairmanship of SCO from Tajikistan in September last year. It is quite possible that the Indian side conveyed to Beijing that with China’s rigid stance on the border standoff, Prime Minister Narendra Modi may consider it difficult to attend the summit, and more importantly, a one-to-one meeting between PM Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping may not be possible unless Beijing shows some progress on further disengagement.

As per recent news, the Chinese side has pulled back northeast of PP 17A while the Indian troops have pulled back to PP-17. In between is the no-patrol zone which means that Indian troops can no more patrol up to PP 15 which was our forward PP in this sector.

China loses nothing:  On the other hand, China loses nothing. The extent of the buffer zone has not been specified. China has ensured the buffer zone since PP-15 in the Kungrang Nullah area provides an access route to Kongka La - a key pass leading into the Aksai Chin hinterland and beyond. In the event of any possibility of hostilities, China can reoccupy PP 15 at the earliest.

The deepest intrusion by China is at Y Junction in the Depsang area – 20 km deep. This denies our patrols to go up to PPs 10, 11, 11A, 12 and 13, even as these PPS were cited short of the Line of Actual Control (LAC). Moreover, India vacated the Kailash Range without linking it with the Chinese withdrawal from Depsang and Demchok areas.

Having consolidated its defences in the intrusion areas, China is sitting pretty in Eastern Ladakh with buffer zones in Indian territory, continuing to block traditional patrolling areas in Depsang plains and Charding Nala regions, and denying traditional grazing areas to our villagers in Eastern Ladakh. Disengagement from PP 15 is just a small lollipop to India. Source:w!

Read More........ → September 23, 2022

China officially admits five military officers, soldiers killed in Galwan clash with Indian Army

FEB 19, 2021 Five Chinese military officers and soldiers were killed in last year's Galwan Valley clash in eastern Ladakh with the Indian Army, the People''s Liberation Army (PLA) officially acknowledged for the first time on Friday. Five Chinese frontier officers and soldiers stationed in the Karakoram Mountains have been recognised by the Central Military Commission of China (CMC) for their sacrifice in the border confrontation with India, which occurred in the Galwan Valley in June 2020, the PLA Daily, the official newspaper of the Chinese military reported on Friday. Those killed included Qi Fabao, the regimental commander from the PLA Xinjiang Military Command, state-un Global Times quoted PLA Daily report as saying. A total of 20 Indian soldiers died in the Galwan Valley clash on June 15, regarded as the worst in over four decades at the India-China border. The CMC, the overall high command of the PLA headed by President Xi Jinping,has awarded Qi Fabao, the regimental commander from the PLA Xinjiang Military Command, the title of "Hero regimental commander for defending the border," Chen Hongjun with "Hero to defend the border," and awarded first-class merit to Chen Xiangrong, Xiao Siyuan and Wang Zhuoran. This is the first time China has acknowledged casualties and details of these officers and soldiers'' sacrifice, four of whom died when dealing with the Indian military''s "illegal trespassing" of the Galwan Valley Line of Actual Control (LAC), the report said. A total of 20 Indian soldiers died in the Galwan Valley clash regarded as the worst in over four decades at the India-China border. While India has announced the casualties immediately after the incident, China did not officially acknowledge the casualties until Friday. The Russian official news agency TASS reported on February 10 that 45 Chinese servicemen were killed in the Galwan Valley clash. Qian Feng, director of the research department at the National Strategy Institute at Tsinghua University, told the Global Times that China unveiled the details of the incident to refute previous "disinformation" that stated China suffered greater casualties than India or China incited the incident. The admission of the casualties by the PLA coincides with the disengagement of troops by both sides at the North and South banks of the Pangong Lake, the most contentious part of the standoff which began in May last year. Copyright © Jammu Links News, Source:  Jammu Links News

Read More........ → February 19, 2021

India, China to hold round 9 of military talks today

Military commanders of India and China will meet today for a ninth time for talks to defuse tension along the Line of Actual Control in eastern Ladakh and find a solution to end the standoff. The talks will be held at Moldo, opposite Chushul sector in India.

In the last round of talks, the Indian Army strongly insisted on an early disengagement of troops by China from all points of friction in eastern Ladakh.

The nearly nine-month-long military standoff has seen tension rise along the LAC. Some 50,000 Indian Army troops are currently deployed in a high state of combat readiness in mountainous locations in eastern Ladakh in sub-zero conditions, as multiple rounds of talks between the two sides have failed to resolve the standoff.

China has deployed an equal number of troops, officials said.

India will not reduce its troop strength unless China initiates the process, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said on Friday in an interview to Times Now. Expressing confidence that a solution to the row could be found through talks, he said India is developing its border infrastructure, some of which China has objected to, at a "very fast rate".

According to a transcript of the interview issued by the channel, when asked about the dialogue process with China on the row, Mr Singh said, "There is no deadline when it comes to matter like the ongoing standoff. You can't fix a date."- NDTV.DailyBangladesh/SA Source: https://www.daily-bangladesh.com/

Read More........ → January 24, 2021

Army to test indigenous artillery system with 48-km strike range

The Army will soon begin testing an indigenously-developed artillery system, which the DRDO contends is the best in its class in the world with a record-breaking strike range of 48-km. If the big gun passes muster, it can fulfill the Army’s requirement for 1,580 such guns worth over Rs 25,000 crore. The 155mm/52 caliber advanced towed artillery gun system (ATAGS) is set to undergo “winter user trials” by the Army in Sikkim in January-February, which will be followed by the “mobility trials” and then the “summer trials” in May-June. With the development of ATAGS, which has Bharat Forge (Kalyani Group) and Tata Advanced Systems as the production partners, DRDO officials contend the Army has no need to import such guns from Israel or other countries. But the Army says the indigenous guns will have to first prove their worth in the forthcoming user trials. The force has a parallel project stuck in the final stages to procure 400 Athos towed gun systems for Rs 5,147 crore from Israeli firm Elbit Systems, which was originally supposed to be followed by the domestic production of another 1,180 guns in collaboration with the Ordnance Factory Board. The Israeli gun had emerged as L-1 (lowest bidder) a year ago to beat the French one from Nexter Systems after trials. “Our procurement case for towed artillery guns has been hanging fire since 2010,” said an Army officer. Amidst this wrangling, the user-trials of the indigenous ATAGS also got somewhat delayed after the barrel of one of the guns burst during test-firing at the Pokhran field firing range in Rajasthan, which injured four personnel, in September. “It was most probably due to defective ammunition. There was no issue with the barrel. Over 2,000 rounds have already been successfully test-fired from the ATAGS during high-altitude trials in Sikkim and then in Pokhran,” a senior DRDO official said. “Further tests are currently underway at the Proof and Experimental Establishment range at Balasore. Why should the Army import such guns if a much better indigenous option with a longer 48-km range is available? Other contemporary guns have a 40 to 45-km range,” he added. The ATAGS has “excellent accuracy, consistency, mobility, reliability and automation”, and can fire five-round bursts as compared to three-round bursts by other foreign contemporary guns. “ATAGS is also configured with an `all-electric drive technology’ for the first time in the world, which will ensure maintenance free and reliable operation over longer periods of time,” said another official. But the Army contends DRDO often “over-promises and under-delivers”. The force has also had to contend with recurring scandals in artillery procurement projects, from the Swedish Bofors in the mid-1980s to the South African Denel in 2005 and Singapore Technology Kinetics in 2009. It was only in 2018 that the Army finally managed to exorcise the Bofors ghost by beginning to induct 145 US-origin M-777 ultra-light howitzers (155m/39-calibre) and 100 South Korean-origin K-9 Vajra tracked self-propelled guns (155mm/52-calibre). ///(Timesofindia) Source: Defenseblog-njs.blogspot.com

Read More........ → December 24, 2020

Common efforts needed to maintain good ties, China on Jaishankar's remarks on Ladakh situation

DEC 10, 2020 BEIJING: Underlining that common efforts were needed to maintain good relations between China and India, a senior Chinese official on Thursday said that Beijing is committed to resolving the border standoff through dialogue but was also determined to safeguard its territorial sovereignty. Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said this while reacting to External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar's remarks that China has given India "five differing explanations" for deploying large forces at the Line of Actual Control (LAC) and the violation of bilateral pacts has "very significantly damaged" their relationship. The comments by Jaishankar on Wednesday during an online interactive session organised by Australian think tank Lowy Institute came against the backdrop of the over seven-month-long military standoff between India and China at the LAC in eastern Ladakh. "China and India are neighbours and the world's two biggest emerging markets and keeping good relations serves the fundamental interests of both countries and its people but it requires common efforts from both sides", Hua underlined at a regular Chinese foreign ministry briefing here. "The merits of the situation at the border area is very clear and the responsibility totally lies with the Indian side. China has been strictly observing the agreements signed between the two sides and committed to resolving the border issue through dialogue and we are committed to safeguarding regional peace and tranquillity at border areas," she said. "In the meantime, we are determined in safeguarding our territorial sovereignty," she said in response to a question at the briefing. Asked to elaborate on the common efforts needed to defuse the current standoff at the border, the spokesperson said, "like all sovereign states we are determined in safeguarding our territorial integrity. So on the Indian side, I think this is a serious question on what it should reflect upon." "There are challenges in bilateral relations but China''s position and the policy on India hasn't changed," she said. As two major countries and emerging markets, "keeping good relations serves the fundamental interests of both and we will stay committed to safeguarding the peace and tranquillity in the border area," she said. "On the historical issues, China believes that we should find fair, reasonable and mutually acceptable solutions based on equal-footed consultation and put it on the proper position in our bilateral relations", Hua said. "We hope we can reach consensus, properly manage differences, enhance practical cooperation and bring our bilateral relations back on the right track," she said. The two countries have held eight rounds of Corps Commander-level talks to resolve the military standoff in eastern Ladakh. However the talks have not yielded any concrete outcome yet to ease the border tensions. Copyright © Jammu Links News Source: Jammu Links News

Read More........ → December 16, 2020

India needs to build 'dissuasive deterrence' against China: Chief of Defence Staff

India's Chief of Defence Staff, General Bipin Rawat on Friday said the like-minded partners need to build "dissuasive deterrence" against China's attempts at establishing its hegemony in the Indo-Pacific region.

General Rawat was speaking at the Global Dialogue Security summit on Contesting the Indo-Pacific for Global Domination organized online by Global Dialogue Forum in partnership with Global Dialogue Review and Konrad Adenauer Stiftung.

In his keynote address, General Rawat said today India is "facing increased security challenges and the best guarantor to peace and stability is to have dissuasive deterrence."

Though he did not mention India's ongoing standoff with China along the Line of Actual Control in Ladakh for the last seven months, he alluded to the Asian neighbour in several references to the Indo-Pacific region.

For nations like India, General Rawat said, the security of land and borders remains a primary concern. "Therefore, there is a need to develop integrated structures to ensure modernization programs to be undertaken by our armed forces based on correct assessment of the nature of threats and challenges. In addition, we are also partnering with like-minded nations to ensure peace and stability in our region."

"Our approach to security needs to shift from a unilateral mode to multilateral mode, which mandates increasing training, engagements with partner nations so as to fructify joint response in the future," he added.

The US, he said, recognizes Indo-Pacific as consequential for its future, adding that similarly, Japan, Australia, France, the UK, Indonesia and Germany also find the region of strategic importance to them. However, China's rise as a military and economic power, has made the region highly contestable.

Based on the challenges India faces as a rising regional power, he said, "We require structured long time planning for capability building and development of our defence forces. In a quest to building stronger India, we need a peaceful and stable secure environment."

"We need to maintain strategic autonomy and cooperative relations with extra regional powers, regional linkages. We need to build bilateral, trilateral and multilateral mechanisms like Japan, Australia and India (JAI), India-Asean and similar existing mechanisms to have the right balance in our strategic autonomy."

Technology, he said, will play an important role in any nation's quest for supremacy, be it in the military or any other sphere of activity. Therefore, investment in research and development will determine the future course of action for any enterprise, he said.

However, he warned, "Quest to acquire proprietary rights on technology must not deny benefits of development to the global community at large. It must in fact, create linkages between the haves and have nots. Humanity must not be guided by profiteering alone but must consider equal opportunity for growth for all."

In the military, he said, technology must become the means of deterrence and not a source of destruction. "Technology must benefit mankind and not be used for destroying existing systems." Source: https://southasiamonitor.org/

Read More........ → December 13, 2020

120 warships deployed in Indian Ocean to ‘deal’ China!

China has been trying to increase its influence in a wide area of ​​Asia for a long time. India and its allies, on the other hand, are now making various preparations to deal with China, even though they did not look into the matter the way before.

“More than 120 warships were deployed in the Indian Ocean on Friday as part of this,” said Bipin Rawat, India’s chief of defense staff. — reports Indian media Hindustan Times. 

Speaking at the Global Dialogue Security Summit, he said that most of the countries in the region want to improve communication in economic interest. Various infrastructures are also being built. 

“Taking advantage of geographical location, almost all countries want to influence each other in the interest of their own development, as a result, the competition for influence in the Indo-specific region has begun,” he also said, adding: “Realizing the situation, various countries have deployed more than 120 warships in the Indian Ocean to help with various projects there.”

India’s Chief of Defense Staff sharply criticized China in the discussion titled ‘Contesting the Indo-Specific for Global Domination’. “China’s economy and military power have grown more than ever in the past few years. Others are also preparing to see China’s efforts to increase its power to serve its own interests,” he said. Thus, many countries, including India, have deployed more than 120 warships in the Indian Ocean to help with various projects, resulting in the peaceful atmosphere in the area, said Bipin Rawat. Source:https://www.daily-bangladesh.com

Read More........ → December 12, 2020