The delta and omicron variants of COVID-19 have combined to form a new one but some experts not concerned
The new variant was identified just days before the second anniversary of the WHO’s declaration of a global pandemic
The World Health Organization has warned that a new COVID-19 variant, which is a combination of the previously identified delta and omicron versions, is spreading quickly in parts of Europe.
The organization said on Wednesday that the variant, dubbed “deltacron” by some, “has been found to be spreading in France, Holland and Denmark. WHO also believes it has also identified two cases in the US. It plans to publish a report of its findings soon.
The worrying announcement came just days before March 11, the second anniversary of the day on which the WHO declared a global pandemic. The organization issued grave warnings that the new variant has the potential to become a major problem in both Europe and US. Some experts, however, are not so concerned.
William Lee, chief science officer at Helix, a lab in California that sequences COVID-19 samples, told the Daily Mail: “The fact that there is not that much of it, that even the two cases we saw were different, suggests that it’s probably not going to elevate to a variant-of-concern level.”
Overall numbers of deltacron cases remain low, even in countries where some person-to-person spread has been detected. Lee said he does not even expect the variant to warrant its own name based on Greek letters.
In the US and most of Europe, where virus cases and deaths generally have been falling, the highly infectious omicron variant remains the dominant strain.
Imran Khan’s remark came after the heads of 22 diplomatic missions released a joint letter urging Pakistan to support a resolution at the UN condemning Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Islamabad: Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan hit out on Sunday at Islamabad-based Western envoys who last week urged Pakistan to condemn Russia’s actions in Ukraine, asking them if they thought Pakistan was their “slave”.
The heads of 22 diplomatic missions, including those of European Union member states, released a joint letter on March 1 urging Pakistan to support a resolution in the United Nations General Assembly condemning Russia’s aggression against Ukraine.
The move to release the letter publicly was rare.
“What do you think of us? Are we your slaves…that whatever you say, we will do?” Imran Khan said while addressing a political rally.
In the event, Pakistan, a traditional ally of the West, abstained from voting as the UN General Assembly overwhelmingly reprimanded Russia for invading Ukraine.
“I want to ask the European Union ambassadors: Did you write such a letter to India?” Imran Khan said, noting that Pakistan’s arch-rival had also abstained.
He said Pakistan had suffered because it had supported the Western NATO alliance in Afghanistan, and instead of gratitude faced criticism.
Khan and his government found themselves in the spotlight after he went ahead with a visit to Moscow in late February as fears of an invasion were growing, and met Vladimir Putin a few hours after the Russian president had ordered his troops into Ukraine.
“We are friends with Russia, and we are also friends with America; we are friends with China and with Europe; we are not in any camp,” Khan added, saying Pakistan would remain “neutral” and work with those trying to end the war in Ukraine.
On Friday, a Pakistani foreign office spokesman said it was “not usual diplomatic practice” for envoys to make appeals such as their letter public, “and we have made that clear”.
Incredible footage has emerged of an elderly driver being pulled out of a car moments after being run over by a military tank.
Watch Video:
The shocking incident took place in the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv, as Russian forces start to descend on the city amidst its military invasion of the country.
In the short clip, a tank – said to have been stolen by Russian troops – can be seen travelling down a main boulevard in the Obolon district in the north of the city.
Disclaimer: This video is not a work by Kashmir Today Staff.
An armored brigade is starting to make its way to Europe, as part of the U.S. response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, a senior defense official confirmed Thursday.
Most of the troops will come from the 1st Armored Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division at Fort Stewart, Georgia, along with some supporting fires and transportation units, the official said.
Another group of U.S. troops will head to Germany to beef up defense of NATO. (Chris Seward/AP)
“So they’re going to Germany initially,” the official said. “They could be repositioned after originally getting into Germany to other places as needed.”
The official could not confirm whether the brigade will be taking advantage of prepositioned equipment housed in Germany or Belgium, though it’s unlikely they will be bringing heavy armored vehicles from Georgia.
Some members of the brigade and its supporting elements are part of the 8,500 troops put on prepare-to-deploy orders earlier this month, when intelligence assessments began to point toward an imminent Russian invasion.
When they arrive, there will be 14,000 U.S. troops mobilized in Europe specifically to respond to the Ukraine situation, in addition to 80,000 already based there.
They include 4,700 from the 82nd Airborne Division in Poland, 300 from the XVIII Airborne Corps in Germany and 1,000 from the Germany-based 2nd Cavalry Regiment, who made their way to Romania in early February.
President Joe Biden reiterated during a press conference Thursday that none of the mobilized troops are tasked with defending Ukraine or fighting Russian attacks.
A day into on-the-ground combat, the senior defense official couldn’t confirm how many Ukrainian or Russian casualties have accumulated so far.
“Without being too specific, we have seen some indications that Ukrainian units are fighting back,” he said. “But with what effect, and on what scale, I can’t be more specific than that.”
And while he did confirm reports that Russian airborne troops are actively fighting in Kharkiv, he couldn’t say whether multiple reports of a takeover of the Chernobyl nuclear site.
“We do believe with some confidence that some Russian soldiers have moved through that area and may still be in that area,” he said.
Meghann Myers is the Pentagon bureau chief at Military Times. She covers operations, policy, personnel, leadership and other issues affecting service members.
KYIV, Ukraine — Kyiv came under heavy air attack on Friday as Russian troops entered the Ukrainian capital, imperiling one of Europe’s most populous cities and its democratically elected seat of government.
A Russian missile struck a multistory residential building in Kyiv’s southeastern Pozniaky district, injuring three people — including one critically — and causing significant structural damage, Mayor Vitali Klitschko said. Ukrainian surface-to-air defense systems intercepted another missile and downed a fighter jet in roughly the same area.
Pete Kiehart for BuzzFeed News | Ukranian armored vehicles on the highway near Kyiv, Feb. 25, 2022.
Armored artillery vehicles rolled into Obolon, a neighborhood on the northwest outskirts, as Ukraine’s military urged residents there to hunker down and “make Molotov cocktails, neutralize the occupiers!”
BuzzFeed News; Google Maps
In central Kyiv, BuzzFeed News heard sirens and an announcement over loudspeakers urging people to “immediately go to the nearest shelter.” Gunfire rang out in the government quarter, the Associated Press reported.
Guests and staff were evacuated from the Hotel Ukraina, which overlooks the city’s iconic Independence Square.
“Last time our capital experienced anything like this was in 1941 when it was attacked by Nazi Germany,” Dmytro Kuleba, the country’s foreign affairs minister, tweeted early Friday morning. “Ukraine defeated that evil and will defeat this one.”
Pete Kiehart for BuzzFeed News | A fully armed Ukrainian Su-27 fighter jet flies toward Kyiv on Feb. 25.
Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, said in a video address that he was Russia’s “ target number one” but would remain at work in Kyiv.
“They want to destroy Ukraine politically by destroying the head of state,” he said.
Zelensky added: “Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is not just an invasion, it is the beginning of a war against Europe.”
Amid rumors in Russian media that he had fled the country, Zelensky later posted a video to social media on Friday evening showing him and his team outside Kyiv’s presidential administration building. “We are here. We are in Kyiv. We are defending Ukraine,” he said.
Ukrainian Police Department Press Service via AP | An image from Ukrainian Police Department Press Service released on Friday, shows firefighters inspecting the damage at a building following a rocket attack on the city of Kyiv.
Soon, air raid sirens began blaring once again as missiles were fired on the capital. Explosions reverberated across the city, rattling windows and lighting up the night sky with a haunting orange glow.
The fresh onslaught came as the US, UK, and EU all said they would level personal sanctions on Russian President Vladimir Putin and Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, freezing the pair’s assets.
“Kyiv falling is a real possibility,” White House spokesperson Jen Psaki told reporters on Friday as she announced the sanctions.
Moments ago in Kyiv. Sirens and empty streets. Never in 12 years have I seen it so bare and eerie. pic.twitter.com/ewujNtznEo
The streets of Kyiv had been eerily quiet Friday morning, beyond the continuing sound of air raid sirens. Feral dogs roamed squares normally packed with people. Most businesses were closed and those that were open had few customers.
Many of the city’s 3 million people spent Thursday night sleeping on their floor, in basements, or in bomb shelters. Thousands sought safety hundreds of feet underground in the Kyiv subway system, which was built after the Second World War.
A centrally located hotel where BuzzFeed News journalists stayed called guests around 3 a.m. local time to ask them to relocate to its shelter, where employees distributed pillows and blankets and offered beanbags to sleep on. Families and businesspeople stayed glued to their phones for news of expected air raids.
Many others chose to flee. Long lines of outward traffic continued throughout Friday after a curfew limiting people’s movements ended at 7 a.m.
Pete Kiehart for BuzzFeed News
But there were some people who clearly opted to stay — and to fight. Some dressed in camouflage and other military-type attire, while others simply donned neon puffer coats. They were volunteers with the newly created Territorial Defense Brigade of Kyiv, and they carried AK-47 and AR-15 rifles, as well as shotguns. BuzzFeed News saw them standing on nearly every other street corner, beside local government buildings and cultural institutions, and on overpasses around the capital. One man was seen on the outskirts of Kyiv running with a rifle through traffic and jumping into a car that then sped off.
Far from regular soldiers, Ukraine’s scrappy territorial fighters look like weekend hobbyists. But according to the Interior Ministry, they dealt a serious blow to Russian troops trying to storm Kyiv, stopping their advance from the northwest.
Russia’s full-scale invasion continued apace across the rest of the country on Friday. Hundreds of miles away in the Luhansk region in eastern Ukraine, emergency responders were rescuing people from buildings struck by shelling, officials said. At least six people were rescued and one was killed, according to state emergency services.
Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the invasion despite tougher sanctions imposed by the international community and widespread condemnation, including from the NATO North Atlantic Council, United Nations, and G7 leaders.
Zelensky on Thursday compared Russia’s actions to those of the Soviet Union, describing the invasion as the “sound of the new Iron Curtain that’s falling and closing Russia from the civilized world.”
He also asked world leaders for “powerful assistance” in fighting Russia on multiple fronts, saying that if they don’t, “tomorrow the war will knock on your door.”
To that end, President Joe Biden said he was sending additional troops to Germany to strengthen NATO members against Russian aggression, although he made it clear that US forces would not be on the frontlines of the conflict. Instead, he announced new sanctions that included blocking the assets of four large Russian banks, export controls, and sanctioning more oligarchs and their families.
“This is a dangerous moment for all of Europe and freedom around the world,” he said.
Emilio Morenatti / AP | Traffic clogs roadways as people try to leave Kyiv on Feb. 24, 2022.
In one of multiple addresses issued Thursday and Friday, the Ukrainian president again pointed to the lack of military support from foreign nations, saying “the world’s most powerful forces are watching from afar.”
“Did yesterday’s sanctions convince Russia? We hear in our sky and see on our earth that this is not enough,” Zelensky said. “Foreign troops are still trying to become more active in our territory.”
Even before the invasion of Kyiv, Ukrainian officials said they were losing ground on multiple fronts and that Russian forces had seized control of the decommissioned Chernobyl nuclear power plant.
The invasion started with air missiles striking cities across Ukraine in the early morning hours on Thursday, and escalated hours later with ground troops moving over the border from Crimea, which Russia took by force in 2014.
The violence expanded to regions previously untouched by the conflict in eastern Ukraine. Video posted on social media Thursday morning appeared to show a missile hitting Ivano-Frankivsk, a city hundreds of miles west of that front line.
Emilio Morenatti / AP | A woman holds her baby as she boards a bus leaving Kyiv on Feb. 24, 2022.
As night fell, the Russian military claimed to have destroyed at least 74 Ukrainian military sites, including 11 airfields. Zelensky said that at least 137 Ukrainians had been killed so far, including both civilian and military casualties, and another 316 people had been wounded. Ukraine’s health minister said earlier that the casualties included a boy who died when shelling struck an apartment building.
The situation had started to rapidly deteriorate when on Monday, Putin recognized the “independence” of the eastern Donetsk and Luhansk regions — two areas that actually belong to Ukraine but were taken by Russia during a war it started eight years ago. Reacting to bogus and unproven reports of alleged Ukrainian aggression, Putin then ordered his troops into the two territories on a “peacekeeping mission” in what was widely seen as a false pretext for war. Even though Putin has denied his ambitions to occupy Ukraine, he has also said he sees no reason for the country to exist independently of Russia, and the US suspects his aim is to install his own puppet regime.
Many Ukrainians continue to expect the situation to deteriorate. Friday afternoon the air threat persisted, and BuzzFeed News spotted two Ukrainian fighter jets heading northeast toward Kyiv and then back in the southwesterly direction from which they came.
France is to deploy 500 military personnel as part of NATO forces to Romania after Russia invaded neighbouring Ukraine, the army chief of staff said Friday.
“NATO has decided to reinforce its presence to send a very clear sign of strategic solidarity, to position forces in Romania,” Thierry Burkhard told Radio France Internationale and broadcaster France24.
“We will send around 500 men with armoured vehicles.”
He said France would also maintain a military presence in Estonia, which borders Russia, beyond March.
Ukrainian embassy in Ankara appeals Turkey for help by preventing Black Sea waterways to Russian ships.
Later Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan spoke to his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and condemned Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as a “heavy blow to regional peace and stability”.
Turkey has opposed sanctions on Russia, and has been calling for NATO and Russia to tone down their rhetoric. Erdogan said last month Turkey was “ready to do whatever is necessary” to avoid a war, but Ankara has also described Russian steps against Ukraine as unacceptable.
While building close cooperation with Russia on defence and energy, Turkey has also invested in the Ukrainian defence industry. It has also sold sophisticated drones to Ukraine and signed a deal to co-produce more, angering Moscow.
Earlier this month, six Russian warships and a submarine transited the Dardanelles and Bosphorus Straits to the Black Sea for what Moscow called naval drills near Ukraine waters.
Under the 1936 accord, Turkey has control over the Bosphorus and Dardanelles and the power to regulate the transit of naval warships. It also guarantees the free passage of civilian vessels in peacetime and restricts the passage of ships not belonging to countries bordering the Black Sea.
In wartime, or when it is threatened by aggression, Turkey is authorised to close the straits to all foreign warships. It can also refuse transit for merchant ships from countries at war with Turkey and to fortify the straits in case of conflict.
All non-Black Sea countries wishing to send vessels must notify Turkey 15 days in advance, while Black Sea nations must give eight days notification.
Passage is limited to nine warships of a specific aggregate tonnage at any one time, with no ship above 10,000 tonnes allowed to pass. A non-Black Sea country’s ships cannot exceed a total of 30,000 tonnes at any time, and the vessels are allowed to stay in the region no more than 21 days. Black Sea states may transit ships of any tonnage.
Black Sea countries can send submarines through the straits with prior notice, as long as they have been built or bought by them or sent for repair outside the Black Sea.
Civil aircraft can be transited along routes authorised by the Turkish government. The accord does not contain restrictions on the passage of aircraft carriers, but Ankara says it has control over that as well.
Russian President Vladimir Putin met Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan in the Kremlin today in his first face-to-face talks since the start of a special military operation in eastern Ukraine and the two leaders are expected review the entire array of bilateral ties including energy cooperation besides exchanging views on major regional and international issues.
Imran Khan, who arrived in Russia on Wednesday on a two-day visit – the first by a Pakistani premier in over two decades – began his engagements in Moscow by laying a wreath at ‘Tomb of the Unknown Soldier’, hours after the Russian President ordered a special military operation in eastern Ukraine, ignoring last-minute appeals and warnings from the West.
President Putin is holding a meeting with Prime Minister Khan in the Kremlin, state-run TASS news agency reported.
“These are the first face-to-face talks of the Russian leader since the start of a special military operation to protect Donbass,” the agency said.
Earlier, the Prime Minister’s Focal Person on Digital Media, Dr Arslan Khalid, said that his visit to Russia “continues as per plan”, dismissing reports in a section of media that Imran Khan has cut short his visit to Moscow in the wake of the latest developments.
The meeting between Imran Khan and Vladimir Putin to discuss issues including economic cooperation came hours after US President Joe Biden and other Western governments imposed tough economic sanctions on Russia for sending its military into parts of eastern Ukraine.
Imran Khan was expected to push for the construction of a long-delayed, multi-billion-dollar gas pipeline to be built in collaboration with Russian companies, the Pakistani media reported.
In Washington, Department of State Spokesperson Ned Price said that the US has communicated its position to Islamabad on Russia’s “renewed invasion” of Ukraine and it was the “responsibility” of every country to voice objection to Vladimir Putin’s actions.
“Well, we’re certainly aware of the trip,” Mr Price said. “We’ve communicated to Pakistan our position regarding Russia’s further renewed invasion of Ukraine, and we have briefed them on our efforts to pursue diplomacy over war.”
“We believe it’s the responsibility of every responsible country around the world to voice concern, to voice objection to what Putin appears to have in mind for Ukraine,” he said in response to a question on Wednesday.
In an interview to Russia’s state-run RT television network ahead of his trip, Imran Khan, 69, had voiced concern about the situation in Ukraine and the possibility of new sanctions and their impact on Islamabad’s growing cooperation with Moscow.
Imran Khan, a cricketer-turned-politician, is the first Pakistani premier to visit Russia in 23 years after former premier Nawaz Sharif travelled to Moscow in 1999.
Pakistan’s ties with Russia have moved past the bitter Cold War hostilities in recent years and the chill in the relations between Pakistan and the US has further pushed the country towards Russia and China.
The two countries are not just exploring options to deepen economic ties, but Russia is also keen to sell arms to Pakistan, something it avoided in the past because of India’s opposition.
The two countries have already been holding regular joint military exercises since 2016 in another sign of deepening ties between Moscow and Islamabad. Besides, the two countries also share the same view on key regional and international issues including Afghanistan.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by Kashmir Today staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
Russian air strikes hit military facilities across the country and ground forces moved in from the north, south and east, triggering condemnation from Western leaders and warnings of massive sanctions.
The attack came on the first day of an invasion of Ukraine that President Vladimir Putin launchedKyiv:
Russian President Vladimir Putin launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine on Thursday, killing dozens and forcing hundreds to flee for their lives in the pro-Western neighbour.
Russian air strikes hit military facilities across the country and ground forces moved in from the north, south and east, triggering condemnation from Western leaders and warnings of massive sanctions.
The attack came on the first day of an invasion of Ukraine that President Vladimir Putin launched
Weeks of intense diplomacy failed to deter Putin, who massed over 150,000 troops on Ukraine’s borders in what the West said was the biggest military build-up in Europe since the Second World War.
“I have decided to proceed with a special military operation,” Putin said in a television announcement in the early hours of Thursday.
Shortly afterwards, the first bombardments were heard in Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, and several other cities, according to AFP correspondents.
As many as 40 Ukranian soldiers and around 10 civilians have been killed by Russian shelling, a Reuters report quoting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy adviser, said on Thursday. The AFP, meanwhile reported that Ukraine said it killed ‘around 50 Russian occupiers’ without providing details. The casualties are the latest in a series of fast-paced developments that began when Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a military operation in Ukraine early Thursday. Meanwhile, Ukraine’s ambassador to India urged PM Narendra Modi to contact Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr to mediate the crisis.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Thursday said that the country has severed diplomatic relations with Russia after Moscow launched an all-out invasion of Ukraine by land, air and sea on Thursday, the biggest attack by one state against another in Europe since World War Two and confirmation of the worst fears of the West. Zelenskiy has declared martial law in the country and Ukrainian foreign minister vowed to fight and defeat Russia.
An AFP reporter in the northern part of the city saw several low-flying helicopters overhead amid reports that an airfield was under attack.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said a “full-scale invasion” was underway.
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