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KREMLIN SAYS TRUMP'S CONVICTION IS ABOUT WHITE HOUSE 'ELIMINATION OF POLITICAL
RIVALS', AS RUSSIAN FORCES ADVANCE IN UKRAINE

Posted 19m ago19 minutes agoFri 31 May 2024 at 7:28pm
Ukranian forces have been struggling to hold off Russia advances along parts of
the frontline in recent months.(AP Photo: Andrii Marienko, File)
 * In short: The Kremlin says Donald Trump's conviction is evidence of a US
   government effort to eliminate political rivals.
 * It comes as Russian forces advance in Ukraine's Kharkiv region, and Moscow
   continues to deepen its cooperation with North Korea.
 * What's next? The US and Germany have begun loosening restrictions on what
   Ukraine can do with Western weapons, allowing it to use them to strike
   targets within Russia under certain circumstances.

Moscow says Donald Trump's guilty verdict shows that all "legal and illegal"
means are being used in the United States to get rid of political rivals.

Trump became the first US president to be convicted of a crime on Friday
morning, Australian time when a New York jury found him guilty of falsifying
documents to cover up a payment to silence a porn star ahead of the 2016
election.

"If we speak about Trump, the fact that there is simply the elimination, in
effect, of political rivals by all possible means, legal and illegal, is
obvious", Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told a news briefing on Friday,
local time.

The 34 felony charges of which Trump was convicted were brought against him by
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, rather than the US Justice Department,
which is nominally overseen by the White House.

Donald Trump has announced plans to appeal his guilty verdict.(Reuters: Brendan
McDermid)

There is no evidence US President Joe Biden or his campaign had anything to do
with the charges being brought against Trump or with the way the case was
prosecuted.

Speaking after the verdict, Mr Biden's campaign said it proved that "no one is
above the law", but would do little to change the dynamics of the November 5
election.

Trump, 77, is due to be sentenced on July 11, though he plans to appeal the
verdict.


RUSSIAN FORCES ADVANCING IN KHARKIV

The Kremlin's statement came after Russia's defence minister said the country's
forces were advancing in Ukraine, and had taken control of 28 settlements in
May.

Speaking at a meeting of regional defence ministers in Kazakhstan, Defence
Minister Andrei Belousov said Russian forces had captured a total area of 880
square kilometres so far this year, and had forced Ukrainian troops to fall back
by 8 to 9 kilometres in key parts of the north-eastern Kharkiv region.

Russian guided bombs hit this hardware store in Kharkiv earlier this month.  (AP
Photo: Andrii Marienko)

"Russia is continuing the special military operation and all its objectives will
certainly be achieved," Mr Belousov said.

"Russia's military grouping is forcing the enemy out of their positions,
advances are taking place in all tactical directions.

"Russian armed forces are systematically reducing the combat potential of the
Ukrainian armed forces."

Russia has increased its attacks on Kharkiv in recent months.(AP Photo: Andrii
Marienko)

Russia casts its decision to send tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine in
February 2022 to safeguard its own defence and that of Russian speakers living
in Ukraine.

Kyiv and most Western countries call it an illegal war of conquest, and
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has vowed to expel every Russian soldier
from Ukrainian territory.


NATO CHIEF DISMISSES RUSSIAN WARNINGS

NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg on Friday dismissed warnings by Russian President
Vladimir Putin that allowing Kyiv to use Western weapons for strikes inside
Russian territory might lead to an escalation.

Speaking on the sidelines of a NATO foreign ministers meeting in Prague, Mr
Stoltenberg said the alliance had heard such warnings many times before.

NATO foreign ministers met at the Czernin Palace in Prague.  (Peter David
Josek/Pool via Reuters)

"This is nothing new. It has … been the case for a long time that every time
NATO allies are providing support to Ukraine, President Putin is trying to
threaten us to not do that," he said.

"And an escalation – well, Russia has escalated by invading another country."


BIDEN MAY LET UKRAINE USE US ARMS IN STRIKES ON RUSSIA

US President Joe Biden will allow Ukraine to use American weaponry to strike
back at Russia, officials said, but only for the purpose of defending Kharkiv.  


Read more

Mr Putin on Tuesday warned NATO members against allowing Ukraine to fire their
weapons into Russia, and again raised the risk of nuclear war after several
allies lifted restrictions imposed on the use of weapons donated to Kyiv.

In a marked policy shift, Mr Biden on Thursday approved Ukraine using American
weapons to strike targets inside Russia that were attacking the Ukrainian city
of Kharkiv, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken confirmed in Prague.

Mr Blinken said the change in direction was simply the US adjusting and adapting
to the battleground, and indicated it was made necessary by Moscow's continuing
attacks on the city, which is just 30 kilometres from the border with Russia.

Russian fighter jets flying inside Russia out of reach of Ukrainian air defences
have been supporting the offensive on Kharkiv by loosing high-precision glide
bombs into the city, where they have caused numerous civilian casualties.

Watch
Duration: 4 minutes 32 seconds4m 32s

Ukraine will be allowed to deploy US weapons against targets inside Russia only
to defend Kharkiv.

Germany followed America's move soon afterwards, with a government spokesman on
Friday saying Ukraine could use weapons supplied by Berlin to defend itself
against attacks launched from just inside Russia against the Kharkiv border
region, in accordance with international law.

Lithuania, Poland and the Netherlands have already spoken out about the need to
allow Ukraine to define its own targets as it defends itself from Russia's
invasion.

But other allies such as Italy refuse to go this far, with its foreign minister
arguing that his country was banned by its constitution from allowing Kyiv to
use donated weapons outside Ukraine.


FIRST PRISONER SWAP IN MONTHS MADE

Ukraine and Russia exchanged prisoners for the first time in nearly four months
on Friday, after negotiations mediated by the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

Mr Zelenskyy said 71 members of the Ukrainian armed forces had been returned
from Russia, along with four civilians.

Russian authorities released this image showing what it said was Russian
servicemen on a bus following the exchange.(Russian Defence Ministry/Handout via
Reuters)

Russia's defence ministry said Ukraine handed over 75 people in a deal brokered
by the UAE, RIA news agency reported.

Pictures released with a statement from the committee showed servicemen draped
in blue and yellow national flags.

Ukrainian prisoners of war were draped in national colours on release back to
Ukraine.(Reuters: Valentyn Ogirenko)

Ukrainian officials said they brought back 19 defenders of Snake Island, a tiny
rocky outcrop in the Black Sea that became a symbol of Ukrainian defiance in the
first days of the war when Ukrainian guards refused to surrender to Russian
forces.

The committee also said that as a part of the swap, the bodies of 212 Ukrainian
defenders were handed over by Russia.


US, ALLIES 'GRAVELY CONCERNED' BY NORTH KOREAN INVOLVEMENT

Also on Friday, the US and its main allies said they were "gravely concerned" by
deepening cooperation between North Korea and Russia, and called for an end to
North Korean arms transfers for use against Ukraine.

Mr Blinken joined foreign ministers from Australia, Canada, France, Germany,
Italy, Japan, New Zealand, South Korea and Britain, as well the EU
representative, in issuing a joint statement highlighting their recent
coordination of sanctions measures in response to such activity.

"Our governments stand in resolute opposition to these continued arms transfers,
which Russia has used to strike Ukraine's critical infrastructure, prolonging
the suffering of the Ukrainian people," the foreign ministers said.

They added that the deepening North Korea-Russia cooperation was in "flagrant
violation" of multiple UN Security Council resolutions.

Moscow and Pyongyang have denied accusations of arms transfers, but vowed last
year to deepen military relations.

The joint statement also condemned Russia's March veto of a UN resolution that
would have extended the mandate of an expert panel tasked with monitoring the
implementation of UN sanctions against North Korea.

Days before its mandate expired, the UN panel submitted a report confirming
that, in a violation of UN sanctions, a North Korean-made ballistic missile
known as Hwasong-11 had struck the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv.

Reuters/ABC


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