Attacco russo su Lviv e attacchi israeliani in West Bank 🗞️ Rassegna del 05/09/2024

Israele

(Al Jazeera) Israeli forces using ‘war-like’ tactics in occupied West Bank: UN

• The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said in a statement on Wednesday that Israeli attacks have killed more than two dozen people over the past week or so, including children. The continuing raids, mostly concentrated on the Tulkarem and Jenin refugee camps, constitute Israel’s largest assault on the occupied territory since the second Intifada in the early 2000s. Israeli forces are using “lethal war-like tactics” in the occupied West Bank, according to the UN’s humanitarian agency.
   
• The raids have seen significant violence and numerous arrests, while roads and other infrastructure have been destroyed by Israeli military bulldozers. OCHA said it had mobilised organisations from the UN and beyond to assess the damage and humanitarian needs on the ground. Visiting Tulkarem on Saturday, the teams confirmed the displacement of 120 people, including more than 40 children, whose homes were destroyed, the statement said.
   
• “At the time of the assessment, 13,000 people in Nur Shams refugee camp experienced water cut-offs, attributed to damages caused to the water network, and sewage overflow was observed. The teams also noted that the population was traumatized and in need of psychosocial support,” OCHA said.
   
• A similar assessment team was denied access to Jenin by the Israeli authorities on Wednesday. “OCHA warns that access impediments are impacting the ability to provide meaningful humanitarian response. The movement of ambulances and medical teams has been impeded and delayed since the onset of the now-week-long operation. Humanitarian access must always be facilitated,” the statement said.

Ucraina

(Al Jazeera) Russian air attack on Ukraine’s Lviv kills seven people

• A Russian air attack on Ukraine’s western city of Lviv has killed seven people, including three children, according to Ukrainian officials. Moscow has stepped up its aerial attacks after Ukraine’s surprise offensive in Russia’s Kursk region.

• The missile and drone strike on Lviv’s historic centre triggered renewed calls from Ukrainian officials for Western partners to provide air defence systems and long-range weapons to retaliate by attacking targets deep inside Russia.

• He said search and rescue operations were on in Lviv, located near the border with NATO member Poland, which has largely been spared over the last two and a half years of war.

• At least 40 people were wounded, the attack damaging schools and medical facilities as well as buildings in the city centre.

• The assault on Lviv was part of a wider barrage across Ukraine, with 13 missiles and 29 drones launched, the air force said, adding that it downed seven missiles and 22 drones.

(Kyiv Independent) New military app is set to revolutionize how Ukraine runs its army

• Ukraine’s fight for survival with a bigger and better-equipped enemy is forcing the country’s army to swiftly seek innovations. The latest modern solution being used to substitute bureaucratic Soviet army operations is the recently launched Army+ app, which aims to make the armed forces “paperless.” Presented with fanfare by President Volodymyr Zelensky and top government officials at an event on Aug. 8, it has been slower to be embraced by its target audience — soldiers — compared to the previous state digital product, Reserv+.

• Soldiers register on the app and get unique electronic ID numbers. Then, they can choose a template to create a report online and send it for review to their commander, who can either approve it online, decline it, or forward it to a higher command. This is the first time soldiers have the opportunity to send reports digitally instead of submitting them on paper, which is notoriously time-consuming and frustrating for the military.

• The current functionality of the app allows soldiers to use it to request various types of vacations, medical treatment, and financial assistance. In the near future, Army+ developers plan to add more, including the widely requested option to file digital reports to write off used and destroyed military equipment.

• But while the Defense Ministry order has been praised for its hands-on approach, it lacks a clear legal requirement for army commanders to use the Army+ app, which is essential for soldiers to start filing electronic reports. Since the app is a voluntary alternative to paperwork, soldiers can only file reports online if they have their commander’s unique ID number given after registration, which they can use to address the report. That means that before soldiers can use the app to file reports, their commander needs to get on it first.

(Kyiv Independent) Dismissal of Ukraine energy grid chief prompts resignations, international concern amid Russian energy strikes

• The head of Ukraine’s state-owned energy grid operator Volodymyr Kudrytskyi, who served as head of Ukrenergo since 2020, was dismissed on Sept. 2 on the grounds of failing to protect Ukraine’s energy infrastructure amid Russian missile strikes, according to a statement from the company’s supervisory board chairman Daniel Dobbeni and board member Peder Andreasen.
   
• Following his dismissal, however, the two said in a statement that the dismissal was “politically motivated” and had “no valid grounds.” “From the first days of our work in the Supervisory Board of Ukrenergo, we felt political pressure and observed constant attempts to bypass the competition to appoint people whose professional qualities were questionable to the company's management board,” their statement said, which also announced their resignation on Sept. 3.

• Oleksandr Kharchenko, managing director of the Energy Industry Research Center, said the dismissal will very likely erode trust with international partners.

• “I believe that the main consequence will be a lack of trust, and this means that the Ukrainian energy industry will lose a huge part of international support. Ukrenergo was a key focal point to accumulate international support to repair Ukrainian energy capacity that was damaged or destroyed,” Kharchenko said.

• Prior to his dismissal, international energy financing partners wrote to Ukraine’s Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal, expressing “grave concern” about rumors of his potential dismissal and requesting a delay in the decision until an empty independent board seat could be filled. Representatives for the EU, the European Bank of Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), the International Finance Corporation, and the Business Ombudsman Council signed the letter.

Europa

Germania: 

(Guardian) Volkswagen has ‘a year, maybe two to turn around’, financial chief warns

• Volkswagen says it has “a year, maybe two” to adapt to a slump in European car sales, as it seeks to justify proposals to close factories in Germany for the first time in its history. Volkswagen told workers at a meeting at its Wolfsburg headquarters on Wednesday that it expected to sell 500,000 fewer vehicles than before the Covid pandemic, “the equivalent of around two plants”, and predicted sales would not return to levels seen in 2019.
   
• The closure plans present a significant problem for the German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, whose governing coalition is under severe pressure after losing an election in the state of Thuringia to Alternative für Deutschland. It was the first time a state election had been won by a far-right party since the Nazi period.
   
• Volkswagen and other European rivals were slow to embrace electric cars, which has put them at a disadvantage as rivals from China target Europe to sell their cheaper models.
   
• Arno Antlitz, Volkswagen Group’s chief financial officer, said the carmaker had “a year, maybe two years, to turn things around”. Antlitz spoke of financial problems at the Volkswagen brand, in particular. “We have been spending more money at the brand than we earn for some time now. That doesn’t go well in the long term. If we carry on like this, we won’t succeed in the transformation.”

Politica internazionale

America Latina

Brasile:

(New York Times)Elon Musk’s Starlink Agrees to Block the X Social Network in Brazil

• Starlink, the satellite-internet service controlled by Elon Musk, reversed course on Tuesday and said it would comply with Brazilian government orders to block Mr. Musk’s social network X in the country.

• The move was the first sign of any backing down by Mr. Musk in Brazil since he began battling with the authorities there last month. X has been blacked out across the nation of 200 million since Saturday because of a dispute between Mr. Musk and Brazil’s Supreme Court over what can be said online.

• Justice Moraes blocked X in Brazil because Mr. Musk has refused to comply with court orders to remove certain accounts on the social network, and then closed X’s office in the country. X has begun publishing some of the sealed orders that Justice Moraes has issued to the company to suspend accounts. Those orders do not explain why a given account should be suspended.

• Starlink escalated the fight on Sunday when, according to Brazilian regulators, the company declared it would continue allowing its 250,000 customers in Brazil to log on to X, defying the government.

• Alexandre de Moraes, the Brazilian Supreme Court justice who has led the action against X, froze Starlink’s assets and blocked it from completing financial transactions in Brazil in a bid to collect more than $3 million in fines he has imposed against X.

• Brazil’s Supreme Court has already dismissed a request from Starlink to lift the sanctions. Unable to make financial transactions in Brazil, Starlink said it would offer free internet service to Brazilian customers for now.