NEWS FLASH: NATO Sources Tell RFE/RL That the primary reason for cancelling the Ramstein meeting on Ukraine was..
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy of Ukraine and U.S. Secretary of Defence Lloyd Austin (left) attend a previous meeting of the Ukraine Defence Contact Group on September 6.
A high-level meeting of the Ramstein group of Ukraine arms donors has been canceled after U.S. President Joe Biden scrapped a visit to Germany this week due to the impending landfall of Hurricane Milton in Florida, two sources from NATO told RFE/RL on October 9.
The Ramstein group, also known as the Ukraine Defense Contact Group, was to meet while Biden visited Germany from October 10-13.
The president postponed his trip on October 8 “in order to oversee preparations for and the response to Hurricane Milton, in addition to the ongoing response to the impacts of Hurricane Helene across the Southeast,” according to a White House statement.
Forecasters have warned the Category 5 storm, the second massive hurricane to hit Florida in as many weeks, could turn into the worst natural disaster to hit the state in a century.
Milton was centered early on October 9 about 580 kilometers southwest of the city of Tampa, with maximum sustained winds of 260 kph, according to the National Hurricane Center.
Milton is expected to make landfall later on October 9 as western Florida still reels from Hurricane Helene, which flooded streets and homes in the area two weeks ago. That storm left at least 230 dead across the southern United States.
Former Belarusian police captain and blogger Andrey Parotnikau went on trial on October 16 in Minsk. He faces up to 15 years in prison if convicted on charges including treason, conspiracy to seize power, and facilitating extremist activities. According to the human rights group Vyasna, the trial is being held behind closed doors. Parotnikau, who once ran the Belarus Security blog, was detained in Moscow in March 2023 and extradited to Minsk. A source close to the case suggests that Parotnikau’s health has deteriorated significantly during his detention in harsh prison conditions. Parotnikau is one of hundreds of bloggers, journalists, and activists imprisoned in Belarus amid an ongoing crackdown on democratic institutions and dissent. To read the original story by RFE/RL’s Belarus Service, click here.
Russia launched a drone attack on Kyiv late on October 15, prompting the mayor to tell people to stay in shelters. Mayor Vitali Klitschko wrote on Telegram that drones were headed toward the large Troieshchyna neighborhood on the outskirts of Kyiv. Serhiy Popko, head of Kyiv’s military administration, said on Telegram that air-defense units were engaged in repelling the attack. There was no immediate information about potential damage or injuries. The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine said earlier that since the beginning of the day, 164 combat clashes had taken place at the front. The largest number of battles took place in the areas of Pokrovsk and Kharkiv.
At least one person was killed in a fire at the Pars Petro Shushtar refinery in Iran’s Khuzestan Province, state media reported on October 15, as efforts to control the fire are ongoing. A local authority attributed the cause of the incident “to a tanker collision with gasoline tanks” and said the incident is under investigation. IRNA quoted a local official in the province as saying that several people were also injured. “Firefighters on the scene are trying to bring the fire under control,” the official added
The Iranian Foreign Ministry on October 15 summoned the ambassador of Hungary over EU sanctions against seven individuals and seven entities linked to Iran. Iran summoned the ambassador to condemn the sanctions, which were announced on October 14. Hungary currently holds the rotating presidency of the European Union. The ministry announced in a statement Iran’s “strong objection” and said “resorting to illegal and coercive methods such as sanctions against the Islamic Republic of Iran is not acceptable in any way and will lead nowhere.” EU foreign ministers approved the new sanctions after Kyiv’s Western allies accused Tehran of sending ballistic missiles to Russia to aid in its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The sanctions, reported in an exclusive by RFE/RL’s Radio Farda last week, target companies and individuals accused of being involved in the transfer of the weapons to Russia, including the country’s flagship carrier Iran Air, as well as airlines Saha Airlines and Mahan Air.
