International
Russia accuses the United States of recruiting Mexican and Colombian prisoners to fight in Ukraine
Russia’s Foreign Espionage Service (SVR) accused private military companies in the United States of recruiting inmates from Mexico and Colombia in US prisons to send them to fight in the war in Ukraine.
“Private US military companies, under the direction of the Federal Drug Control Administration and the FBI, began recruiting representatives of Mexican and Colombian drug cartels who are serving sentences in U.S. prisons to participate in the Ukrainian conflict,” the SVR said in a statement.
According to the entity, “the United States is resorting to increasingly desperate methods in its attempts to change the situation on the Ukrainian front, by reinforcing the ranks of demobilized Ukrainian military with multinational scum with tendencies to armed violence.”
“Of course, the prospects of a new injection of ‘fortune soldiers’ chosen from serial killers, drug addicts and rapists (…) raise concern. However, the US plans to achieve a tactical advantage on the battlefield with this are destined for failure,” the SVR added.
He added that the first game of “these hitmen is scheduled to be transferred to the battlefield in the summer of this year.”
“The criminal gang will be made up of several hundred Mexicans and Colombians. In case they accept this ‘work’ they are promised total amnesty in the hope that they will never return” from Ukraine, the entity said.
The SVR warned that “if the pilot project (…) turns out, the recruitment program of killers will continue and will be expanded with the appeal of criminals from other countries with serious crime situations.”
However, he pointed out that this process is going through difficulties, since “negotiations with the narco-barons are difficult” and no criminal dares to cooperate with the US authorities without the approval of their bosses.
“The bosses of the gangs try to sell their henchmen as expensive as possible, putting compliance with American plans at risk,” the Russian espionage estimated.
The SVR pointed out that this shows that President Joe Biden’s Administration “admits in practice his impotence and shows us once again the inconsistency of the Kiev regime boosted by them.”
After the failure of the summer counteroffensive of 2023, Ukraine has had great difficulties with the call to ranks, which have been aggravated by the delays in the approval of a new mobilization law, which has been bogged down in the Supreme Rada for four months.
The president of Ukraine himself, Volodymyr Zelensky, called on Ukrainian deputies to put aside “populism” and approve the new mobilization law.
International
Pope Francis meets former Gaza hostages
Pope Francis met on Thursday at the Vatican with 16 Israelis who had been held hostage in Gaza for months by the Islamist group Hamas, according to the official Vatican news website.
The group consisted of ten women, four men, and two children, as reported by the same source. Several of the former hostages showed the Argentine pontiff banners or photos of their loved ones who remain in captivity.
Francis had previously met with the families of hostages in April this year and November 2023, but this was the first time he had met with individuals who had personally endured captivity.
Since the conflict between Israel and Hamas began, the pope has repeatedly called for the immediate release of Israeli hostages, while also condemning the suffering of the Palestinian population.
The war erupted on October 7, 2023, when Islamist militants attacked southern Israel, killing 1,206 people, mostly civilians, and kidnapping 251, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures that include hostages who died in captivity.
Of the kidnapped, 97 are still being held in Gaza, but the Israeli military estimates that 34 of them have died.
The military offensive launched by Israel in response has killed at least 43,736 people in the Gaza Strip, mostly civilians, according to data from the Ministry of Health in the Hamas-governed territory.
International
Israeli airstrikes on Damascus kill 15 and injure 16, including women and children
Israeli forces carried out airstrikes on residential buildings in the Syrian capital, Damascus, and its surroundings on Thursday, resulting in at least 15 deaths and 16 injuries, according to Syria’s Ministry of Defense and state television.
The ministry stated that around 3:20 p.m. local time (12:20 GMT), the Israeli military launched an aerial attack from the direction of the occupied Golan Heights, targeting several residential buildings in the Mazzeh neighborhood in western Damascus and the Qudsaya suburb to the northwest of the capital.
The airstrikes “resulted in the death of 15 people and injuries to 16 others, including women and children,” based on initial estimates, in addition to significant damage to private property and civilian buildings, the ministry added.
Meanwhile, state television reported Israeli airstrikes on three buildings in Mazzeh and another on a building in an educational complex located in a residential area of Qudsaya.
Following the strikes, loud explosions were heard throughout the city, and thick plumes of smoke could be seen rising from the targeted locations. Ambulances and emergency services rushed to the scene to attend to the victims.
International
Drug trafficker dies after boat collision with Guardia Civil Vessel in Sanlúca
Three people were on the boat that collided with a Guardia Civil vessel around midnight at the mouth of the Guadalquivir River in Sanlúcar de Barrameda, near the Andalusian city of Cádiz, a spokesperson for the Civil Guard reported.
Two officers sustained “contusions,” the spokesperson explained.
The drug traffickers managed to bring the boat to shore, where one of them was “abandoned” severely injured. The other two fled.
The Civil Guard officers attempted to resuscitate the victim before transporting him to Sanlúcar de Barrameda, but he ultimately died early in the morning.
The other two suspects took advantage of the officers’ absence while they were taking the victim and returned to set their boat on fire.
The collision occurred very close to the site of another accident on September 1, where a drug trafficker died following a Guardia Civil pursuit.
The suspects’ boat traveled “400 meters” before crashing head-on and “at full speed” into the riverbank, where a hundred bundles of hashish were found.
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