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Police in Northern Ireland said they removed Irish Foreign Minister Simon Coveney from an event in Belfast on Friday because of a security concern. 

Coveney was delivering a speech at a peace process event in the city when the alert was sounded, and the event venue was evacuated. 

In a statement posted to its Twitter account, Police North Belfast had declared a “security alert” during the event. Local media reported the incident involved a van that had been hijacked at gunpoint, with the driver forced to drive to the parking lot of the venue where Coveney was speaking.  

Organizers of the event told the Reuters news service a suspicious device was found in the van. Local media reports say the van was found abandoned in the parking lot with the driver inside unharmed. It is unclear what happened to the assailant. Police reportedly remained at the scene and urged the public to avoid the area. 

Coveney, who reportedly had been speaking about the importance of reconciliation in Northern Ireland, was about five minutes into his remarks when he was interrupted. 

A Foreign Ministry spokesperson said Coveney was taken to a safe location. From his Twitter account, Coveney thanked police for their work and said he was “saddened and frustrated that someone has been attacked & victimised in this way and my thoughts are with him and his family.” 

The incident comes three days after Britain lowered its Northern Ireland-related terrorism threat level for the first time in more than a decade, with police saying operations against Irish nationalist militants were making attacks less likely. 

Some information for this report was provided by The Associated Press, Reuters and Agence France-Presse.

 
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U.N. human rights monitors in Ukraine are condemning the use of explosive weapons and indiscriminate attacks by Russian military forces on civilians and civilian infrastructure as a probable violation of international humanitarian law.

Since Russia invaded Ukraine one month ago the United Nations human rights office reports at least 1,035 civilians have been killed and some 1,650 injured. It says it is difficult to get an accurate count on the number of casualties during a brutal, ongoing war.

However, what is certain is that the death toll and human suffering in cities, towns, and villages across Ukraine is increasing day after day. The head of the human rights monitoring mission in Ukraine, Matilda Bogner, says the biggest area of concern is the wide use of explosive weapons in populated areas.

Speaking on a video link from the western Ukrainian city of Uzhhorod, Bogner says Russian military forces have widely used missiles, heavy artillery shells, rockets, and other explosive weapons, as well as airstrikes in or near populated areas.

“Private houses, multi-story residential buildings, administrative buildings, medical and education facilities, water stations, electricity systems have all been destroyed on a massive scale, with disastrous effects on civilians and their human rights, including their rights to health, food, water, education and housing.”

Bogner confirms the use of cluster munitions by Russia and says monitors are looking into allegations of their use by Ukrainian armed forces. She says the attacks cause immeasurable suffering and may amount to war crimes.

“Since the 24th of February, we have received allegations of Russian forces shooting at and killing civilians in cars during evacuations, without taking feasible precautions or giving effective advance warning. We are also following up on other allegations that Russian forces have killed civilians, including during peaceful assemblies.”

Bogner says monitors are looking into allegations that thousands of people who have fled the city of Mariupol and other areas have been forcibly deported to the Russian Federation and, supposedly, are being held hostage by Russian authorities. She says U.N. monitors so far have not been able to verify whether Ukrainian civilians who have gone to Russia have been forcibly moved there.
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Western defense officials say Ukraine has been employing agile insurgency tactics to disrupt Russia’s invasion, and in the suburbs northwest and east of Kyiv, to push their adversaries back.  

 

Hitting and ambushing Russian forces behind the contact lines with fast-moving units, often at night, has proven among its most effective field tactics and is adding to the logistical missteps the Russians still have not been able to overcome, military strategists say. They add that the tactics are also demoralizing Russian troops. 

 

“They’re doing a tremendous job,” said Colonel John Barranco of the Atlantic Council, a New York-based think tank.  

“The Ukrainians have developed a very competent military with good leadership at the lower level and they’re motivated. And this is why, when I looked at the Russian forces deployed for the invasion, I thought, this doesn’t seem like a well thought-out effort.” 

Barranco, who oversaw the U.S. Marines’ initial operations in Afghanistan after the 9/11 attacks and served two tours in Iraq, said Russia miscalculated the resilience and capability of Ukrainian ground forces and the determination the Ukrainians would show in defending their territory. He said when he analyzed Russian forces arrayed along Ukraine’s borders in February, before the invasion, he discounted the likelihood of a full-scale offensive.  

 

“It seemed like the Kremlin attack plan might have been written in 2014. The Ukrainians have spent eight years building up their military and training,” he said. Barranco credited training the Ukrainians have received since 2014 by U.S. National Guard units from California and other states in small-unit tactics for some of Ukraine’s battlefield successes. 

 

 

In the past 48 hours, Russian forces have struggled to maintain offensive actions northwest and east of Kyiv and have lost ground, with Ukrainian ground forces reoccupying territory they had lost, according to the General Staff of Ukraine’s Armed Forces. Ukrainians say they have now managed to encircle the Russian-occupied towns of Bucha, Irpin and the village of Hostomel northwest of Kyiv.  

Earlier this week, the Ukrainians retook the strategically located village of Makariv outside Kyiv. Much of the success rests with the Ukrainians targeting Russia’s already challenged supply lines.  

 

Britain’s Defense Ministry said the Ukrainians will likely continue to target logistical assets in Russian-held areas, forcing the Russians to “prioritise the defence of their supply chain and deprive them of much needed resupply.” 

 

British defense officials also confirmed Friday that Ukraine has reoccupied towns east of Kyiv. “Ukrainian counter-attacks, and Russian Forces falling back on overextended supply lines, has allowed Ukraine to re-occupy towns and defensive positions up to 35 kilometers east of Kyiv,” they said in a public intelligence update.  

 

“In the south of Ukraine, Russian Forces are still attempting to circumvent Mykolaiv as they look to drive west toward Odesa, with their progress being slowed by logistic issues and Ukrainian resistance,” they added.

 

Russian forces also appear to be preparing defensive positions around Kyiv, ready for a war of attrition. Earlier this week VOA reported that satellite imagery released by Maxar Technologies, a space technology and earth-observation company, appeared to show Russians soldiers building protective dirt berms near the villages of Ozera, Zdvyzhivka and Berestyanka, northwest of Kyiv, and around Antonov Air Base. 

 

The berms are likely being built to guard against Ukrainian counterattacks, Western officials said. 

 

“The Ukrainians know their territory — they know their ground. They’ve thought about this for a long time, and they are outperforming the Russians at the small-unit level,” Barranco told VOA.  

 

He and other military analysts said the Ukrainians are using a variety of tactics to push the Russian forces onto the back foot.  

Among them are setting up so-called kill boxes, or defined target areas, and then drawing their foes into them; unleashing highly focused and ferocious attacks on isolated Russian troops; creating fallback routes after ambushes as they set up a subsequent attack; and striking mechanized units when they are stalled. 

 

Another advantage the Ukrainians are exploiting is competent leadership by noncommissioned officers (NCOs), the officials say, which is also consistent with U.S. military doctrine and training. 

 

“The U.S. puts a lot of focus on building a professional, noncommissioned officer corps of corporals and sergeants who understand the big picture and are given the delegated authority to make decisions on the battlefield as they lead their units,” Barranco said.  

 

“Junior officers are also taught to work closely with professional NCOs. The Russian military has acknowledged they have a problem with poorly trained NCOs and have started an NCO academy because they realize they do not have good leadership at the lower levels,” he added. 

 
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U.S. President Joe Biden is headed to Poland Friday, after meeting in Brussels with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.

Biden and von der Leyen announced formation of a joint task force to reduce Europe’s dependence on Russian fossil fuels.

Biden said Russian President Vladimir Putin has used the profits from its energy sales “to drive his war machine” in Ukraine. Biden said he wanted “to make it clear that the American people would not be part of subsidizing Putin’s brutal, unjustified war against the people of Ukraine.”

“We are determined to stand up against Russia’s brutal war,” von der Leyen said. “This war will be a strategic failure for Putin.”

The United States is providing Europe with 15 billion cubic meters of liquid natural gas this year.

In Poland, Biden will go to the eastern town of Rzeszów, near the border with Ukraine.   Poland, a NATO ally, has taken in millions of Ukraine refugees.

Late Thursday, Rafael Mariano Grossi, the director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency said that Ukraine told the agency that Russian forces were shelling Ukrainian checkpoints in the city of Slavutych, where many people live who work at the nearby Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant. This is putting them at risk and preventing further rotation of personnel to and from the site.

Earlier Thursday, Biden said there would be a Western military response if Russia uses chemical weapons in Ukraine.

“It would trigger a response in kind,” Biden replied to a reporter’s question during a news conference. “Whether or not you’re asking whether NATO would cross (into Ukraine to confront Russian forces), we’d make that decision at the time.”

He also said at NATO headquarters that Russia should be removed from the Group of 20 major economies and that Ukraine be allowed to attend G-20 meetings.

Biden confirmed the issue was raised during his meetings with other world leaders Thursday as they marked one month since Russia invaded Ukraine.

Asked whether Ukraine needs to cede any territory to achieve a cease-fire with Russia, Biden responded, “I don’t believe that they’re going to have to do that,” but that is a decision for Kyiv to make.

At his news conference, Biden said the United States is committing more than $1 billion in humanitarian assistance “to help get relief to millions of Ukrainians affected by the war in Ukraine.”

“With a focus on reuniting families,” the United States will welcome 100,000 Ukrainians and invest $320 million to support democratic resilience and defend human rights in Ukraine and neighboring countries, the president said.

NATO also announced Thursday that the defense alliance would bolster its capabilities after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had called on the organization’s leaders to provide more weaponry to his country ”without limitations” as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine enters its second month.

Zelenskyy’s appeal came as Biden met with NATO leaders to discuss their short- and long-term response to the Russian invasion.

Addressing the summit via video, Zelenskyy said his military needed fighter jets, tanks, and improved air and sea defense systems, as he warned Russia would attack NATO member Poland and other Eastern European countries. 

“Russia has no intention of stopping in Ukraine,” he declared. ”It wants to go further. Against Eastern members of NATO. The Baltic states. Poland, for sure.” 

A White House statement issued Thursday said that “between now and the NATO summit in June, we will develop plans for additional forces and capabilities to strengthen NATO’s defenses.”

A Biden administration official told reporters that Zelenskyy did not reiterate on Thursday his demand for a no-fly zone, which NATO previously rejected on the grounds it would lead to direct conflict between NATO and Russia. 

NATO members said in a joint statement after the summit that they would “accelerate” their commitment to invest at least 2% of their national budgets on the alliance, allowing for a significant strengthening of its “longer term deterrence and defense posture.”

The alliance also vowed to “further develop the full range of ready forces and capabilities necessary to maintain credible deterrence and defense.” 

In addition to participating in the NATO talks, Biden met Thursday with G-7 leaders and the European Council.

The White House on Thursday announced a new round of sanctions targeting 48 Russian state-owned defense companies and more than 400 Russian political figures, oligarchs and other entities — an action Biden said was being done in alignment with the European Union.

Britain said Thursday its new package of sanctions includes freezing the assets of Gazprombank, a main channel for oil and gas payments, as well as Alfa Bank, a top private lender in Russia. Oil tycoon Evgeny Shvidler, Sberbank CEO Herman Gref and Polina Kovaleva, stepdaughter of Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, are among individuals sanctioned. 

China has criticized the sanctions imposed on Russia and has drawn warnings from Biden about not helping Russia evade the measures.

Asked about his recent phone discussion on the topic with Chinese President Xi Jinping, Biden said he had made clear to Xi “the consequences of him helping Russia,” but, he noted, “I made no threats.”

Chief National Correspondent Steve Herman, National Security Correspondent Jeff Seldin and U.N. Correspondent Margaret Besheer contributed to this report.

Some information came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters. 
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