There was confusion and panic on the Gaza Freedom Flotilla on Tuesday night after a drone was spotted circling overhead, prompting the crew to issue a distress signal while sailing outside Greek territorial waters. The drone was later identified as belonging to the Hellenic Coastguard. The Gaza-bound mission continues undeterred, a month after another flotilla ship was bombed by a drone and set ablaze.
Mexico says tariffs make ‘no sense’ as Canada seeks negotiations to remove the levies ongoing.
In a move that has reignited trade tensions with key allies, United States President Donald Trump has doubled tariffs on steel and aluminium imports.
The new rates, which came into effect early on Wednesday, raise duties from 25 percent to 50 percent. Trump says the measure is designed to bolster the struggling US metals sector.
“We started at 25 and then, after studying the data more, realised that it was a big help, but more help is needed. And so that is why the 50 [percent tariff] is starting tomorrow,” said White House economic adviser Kevin Hassett during a steel industry event in Washington on Tuesday.
The executive order applies to all trading partners except the United Kingdom, which has reached a provisional trade deal with Washington during a 90-day pause on broader tariffs.
British exports will continue to face a 25 percent rate until at least July 9.
Allies seek exemptions
The hike is expected to weigh heavily on Canada and Mexico, two of the US’s closest economic allies and among the largest suppliers of steel. Census Bureau data shows Canada alone exports more aluminium to the US than the rest of the top 10 countries combined. Almost half of the US aluminium consumption is imported.
Canada’s Prime Minister Mark Carney’s office confirmed that “intensive and live negotiations” were ongoing to remove the tariffs.
Mexico’s Economy Minister Marcelo Ebrard slammed the decision as irrational, noting the imbalance in steel trade between the two nations.
“It makes no sense for the United States to levy a tariff on a product in which you have a surplus,” he said, adding that Mexico would seek an exemption.
The European Union criticised the decision, saying it “strongly regrets” the move and warned it could take retaliatory action, accusing Washington of undermining attempts at a negotiated settlement.
OECD chief economist Alvaro Pereira told the AFP news agency that the tariffs have already dampened global trade, investment and consumption, and that the US will bear the brunt of the fallout.
While several of Trump’s tariff measures face legal scrutiny, they remain in force during the appeals process.
President Lee Jae-myung has pledged to tackle the economy and improve relations with North Korea after his swearing-in.
South Korea’s new President Lee Jae-myung has pledged to “heal wounds” after months of political and economic turmoil across the country and to reopen dialogue with North Korea in his first speech after taking office following a landslide win at the polls.
Lee, who hails from the liberal Democratic Party of Korea, replaces ousted President Yoon Suk-yeol, who last year triggered a national emergency when he briefly imposed martial law, citing antistate forces and North Korean infiltration.
After taking the oath of office at parliament on Wednesday, Lee pledged to help South Korea reverse course following months of uncertainty and political protest.
South Korea has also found itself under attack from the United States, a top economic and security ally, where trade protectionism is on the rise under President Donald Trump.
“A Lee Jae-myung government will be a pragmatic pro-market government,” Lee said in a speech.
Lee said he would try to make headway in South Korea’s relations with Pyongyang, working to “deter North Korean nuclear and military provocations while opening communication channels and pursuing dialogue and cooperation to build peace on the Korean Peninsula”.
“We will heal the wounds of division and war and establish a future of peace and prosperity,” he said.
“No matter how costly, peace is better than war,” he added.
Lee also warned that “rising protectionism and supply chain restructuring” posed a threat to South Korea’s export-driven economy, and said he would address cost-of-living concerns facing middle- and low-income families.
South Korea’s caretaker government, which ruled after Yoon’s ouster, failed to negotiate a trade deal with the Trump administration to cut down proposed tariffs on imports from the country.
Trump’s 25 percent “Liberation Day” tariffs on South Korea – aimed at addressing the US trade imbalance – are currently on pause pending negotiations, but South Korean exporters were hit with a new 50 percent tariff on steel and aluminium products.
Lee won this week’s snap election with 49.4 percent of the vote, well ahead of conservative candidate Kim Moon-soo, as South Korean voters turned out in the highest numbers since 1997.
Khan Younis, Gaza – Yazan Musleh, 13, lies in a hospital bed set up in a tent on the grounds of Nasser Hospital, his t-shirt pulled up to reveal a large white bandage on his thin torso.
Beside him, his father, Ihab, sits fretfully, still shaken by the bloodied dawn he and his sons lived through on Sunday when Israeli forces opened fire on thousands of people gathered to receive aid from the Israeli-conceived, and United States-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF).
Ihab, 40, had taken Yazan and his 15-year-old brother, Yazid, from their shelter in al-Mawasi, Khan Younis, to the Rafah distribution point that the GHF operates.
They set out before dawn, walking for about an hour and a half to get to the al-Alam Roundabout roundabout in Rafah, near the distribution point.
Worried about the size of the gathering, hungry crowd, Ihab told his sons to wait for him on an elevation near the GHF gates.
“When I looked behind the hill, I saw several tanks not far away,” he says. “A feeling of dread came over me. What if they opened fire or something happened? I prayed for God’s protection.”
“I was terrified. I immediately looked towards my sons on the hill, and saw Yazan get shot and collapse,” he recalls.
Yazid, also sitting by his brother’s bedside, describes the moments of terror.
“We were standing on the hill as our father told us, and suddenly, the tanks opened fire.” He says. “My brother was hit in the stomach immediately.”
“I saw his intestines spilling out – it was horrifying. Then people helped rush him to the hospital in a donkey cart.”
Down by the gates, Ihab was struggling to reach his sons, trying to fight against the crowd while avoiding the shots still ringing out.
“Shooting was coming from every direction – from tanks, quadcopters.
“I saw people helping my son, eventually dragging him away.”
When Ihab managed to get away from the crowd, he ran as best as his malnourished body could manage, towards Nasser Hospital, in hopes that Yazan had been taken there. It felt like more than an hour, he says.
At Nasser Hospital, he learned that Yazan had been taken into surgery.
“I finally breathed. I thanked God he was still alive. I had completely lost hope,” he says.
Ihab, left, and Iman Musleh hover near their son, Yazan’s, hospital bed in the makeshift tent ward [Abdullah al-Attar/Al Jazeera]
The bullet that hit Yazan had torn through his intestines and spleen, and the doctors say he needs long and intensive treatment.
Sitting by him is his mother, Iman, who asks despairingly why anyone would shoot at people trying to get food. She and Ihab have five children, the youngest is a seven-month-old girl.
“I went to get food for my children. Hunger is killing us,” says Ihab.
“These aid distributions are known to be degrading and humiliating – but we’re desperate. I’m desperate because my children are starving, and even then, we are shot at?”
He had tried to get aid once before, he says, but both times he came away empty-handed.
“The first time, there was a deadly stampede. We barely escaped. This time, my son was wounded and again… nothing,” he says.
But he knows he cannot stop trying.
“I’ll risk it for my family. Either I come back alive or I die. I’m desperate. Hunger is killing us.”
The group distributing aid
The GHF, marketed as a neutral humanitarian mechanism, was launched in early 2025 and uses private US military contractors to “secure the distribution points”.
The GHF’s head, Jake Wood, resigned his post two days before distribution began, citing concerns that the foundation would not be impartial or act in accordance with humanitarian principles.
Five days later, on May 30, the Boston Consulting Group, which had been part of the planning and implementation of the foundation, withdrew its team and terminated its association with GHF.
International aid organisations have been unanimous in criticising the GHF and its methods.
‘We went looking for food for our hungry children’
Lying nearby in the tent ward is Mohammed al-Homs, 40, a father of five.
He had also headed out early on Sunday to try to get some food for his family, but moments after arriving at the al-Alam Roundabout roundabout, “I was shot twice – once in the leg and once in the mouth, shattering my front teeth,” he says.
“I collapsed, there were so many injured and dead around me. Everyone was screaming and running. Gunfire was coming from tanks, drones everywhere. It felt like the end of the world.”
He lay bleeding on the ground for what felt like an hour, as medical teams were not able to reach the injured.
Mohammed al-Homs, father of five, was shot in the mouth and leg [Abdullah al-Attar/Al Jazeera]
Then, word spread that the gates had opened for distribution, and those who could move started heading towards the centre.
It was only then that people could start moving the wounded to a nearby medical point.
“This was my first time trying to get aid, and it will be my last,” Mohammed says.
“I didn’t expect to survive. We went looking for food for our hungry children and were met with drones and tanks.”
‘I never imagined I’d face death for a box of food’
Also in the tent is someone who had succeeded in getting an aid package on the first day of distribution, on May 27, and decided to try again on Sunday: 36-year-old Khaled al-Lahham.
Al-Lahham is taking care of 10 family members: his parents, one aunt, and seven siblings, all of whom are displaced in the tents of al-Mawasi.
He had managed to catch a ride with five friends that morning, driving as close as they could to the al-Alam Roundabout roundabout.
Khaled al-Lahham went to the distribution point to try to secure food for the 10 family members he supports [Abdullah al-Attar/Al Jazeera]
As the distribution time approached, the six friends started getting out of the car.
“Suddenly, there was loud gunfire all around and people screaming. I felt a sharp pain in my leg – a bullet had passed clean through my thigh,” says Khaled, who did not make it fully out of the car.
“I was screaming and bleeding while people around me ran and screamed. The shooting was frenzied,” he adds. “There were tanks, quadcopters – fire came from every direction.”
Injured, Khaled could not get out of the car and huddled there until one of his friends managed to return and drive him to the hospital.
“I never imagined I’d face death for a box of food,” Khaled says.
“If they don’t want to distribute the aid, why do they lie to people and kill them like this?
“This is all deliberate. Humiliate us, degrade us, then kill us – for food?”
US envoy says Syria strategy ‘will not be like the last 100 years’ as troops pull out.
The United States will shut down most of its military bases in Syria, consolidating operations to a single location, as part of a policy overhaul announced by its new special envoy.
Thomas Barrack, appointed by President Donald Trump last month as the US ambassador to Turkiye and special envoy for Syria, said the shift marks a rejection of Washington’s past century of failed approaches in Syria.
In an interview with the Turkish broadcaster NTV on Monday, Barrack said the troop drawdown and base closures reflect a strategic recalibration.
“What I can assure you is that our current Syria policy will not be close to the Syria policy of the last 100 years because none of these have worked,” he said.
US forces are expected to withdraw from seven of eight bases, including those in Deir Az Zor province in eastern Syria, with remaining operations centred in Hasakah in the northeast.
Two security sources told the Reuters news agency that US military hardware and personnel have already started relocating. “All troops are being pulled from Deir Az Zor,” one source told Reuters in April.
A US Department of State official later said troop levels would be adjusted “if and when appropriate”, depending on operational demands.
Roughly 2,000 American soldiers remain in Syria, largely embedded with the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a key partner in the US-led campaign against ISIL (ISIS).
The SDF, dominated by the People’s Protection Units (YPG), a Kurdish militia, has been a longstanding point of contention with NATO ally Turkiye, which views it as linked to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).
The PKK, which recently announced its disbandment, fought a decades-long armed rebellion against the Turkish state.
Barrack called the SDF “a very important factor” for the US Congress, stressing that integrating the group into Syria’s national army is now a priority. “Everyone needs to be reasonable in their expectations,” he said.
Since the ouster of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in December, international engagement with Damascus has resumed under new President Ahmed al-Sharaa. Barrack recently raised the US flag over the ambassador’s residence in Damascus for the first time since 2012.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan criticised the SDF last week, accusing it of “stalling tactics” despite its agreement to join the Syrian armed forces.
A New Jersey mayor has filed a lawsuit against a federal prosecutor and close ally of United States President Donald Trump after he was arrested at a protest outside an immigration detention centre.
In a civil complaint filed on Tuesday, Mayor Ras Baraka of Newark, New Jersey, accused acting US Attorney Alina Habba of “subjecting him to false arrest and malicious prosecution”.
The complaint also names Ricky Patel, a special agent with the Department of Homeland Security’s investigations unit, as a co-defendant.
“As a result of this false arrest”, the lawsuit argues that Mayor Baraka “suffered severe reputational harm, emotional distress and other damages”.
The suit is the latest fallout from a May 9 protest outside Delaney Hall, a privately run immigration detention facility in Newark.
Baraka, a longtime critic of the facility, had joined three Democratic members of the US House of Representatives for a tour of the 1,000-bed detention centre, as protesters gathered outside the gate.
The lawsuit alleges that a member of the GEO Group, which owns the facility, allowed Baraka to come inside Delaney Hall’s wire gate. But once inside, it says Patel ordered him to exit again, on threat of arrest.
Baraka complied, but a few minutes later, as he stood with protesters outside the gate, agents with the Department of Homeland Security surrounded the mayor, handcuffed him and led him away.
The complaint alleges that Patel ordered the agents to “take [the mayor] down” and that they “pushed, shoved and assaulted” the mayor’s security team before arresting him. Baraka denies trespassing onto the Delaney Hall grounds.
“They abused their power to violently arrest me at Delaney Hall despite being invited inside,” Baraka wrote on social media on Tuesday. “No one is above the law.”
Habba initially filed a trespassing charge against Baraka for his actions during the protest. But by May 19, she moved to dismiss the charge, prompting a rebuke from the judge overseeing the case.
“Your role is not to secure convictions at all costs, nor to satisfy public clamour, nor to advance political agendas,” Judge Andre Espinosa told a representative for Habba’s office.
“The hasty arrest of Newark Mayor Ras Baraka, followed swiftly by the dismissal of those trespassing charges a mere 13 days later, suggests a worrisome misstep by your office,” Espinosa added.
“An arrest, particularly of a public figure, is not a preliminary investigative tool. It is a severe action, carrying significant reputational and personal consequences, and it should only be undertaken after a thorough, dispassionate evaluation of credible evidence.”
At the same time as she announced she was seeking the dismissal of the trespassing charge, Habba revealed she would be pursuing criminal charges against US Congress member LaMonica McIver, who was also at the Delaney Hall protest.
Habba accused McIver of assaulting law enforcement during Baraka’s arrest. That case is ongoing. But Representative McIver has called the charges against her “purely political”, and she issued a statement on Tuesday in support of Baraka’s lawsuit.
“The way Mayor Baraka was treated at Delaney Hall was outrageous,” the statement reads. “It is beyond clear that there was never any legal or factual basis to arrest or charge him. The administration’s playing politics with our justice system is disgraceful.”
In the lead-up to Baraka’s lawsuit, Habba herself weighed in, suggesting the mayor’s complaint was a waste of time.
“He is planning to sue the Feds,” Habba wrote on social media Monday. “My advice to the mayor – feel free to join me in prioritizing violent crime and public safety. Far better use of time for the great citizens of New Jersey.”
Mayor Ras Baraka speaks to supporters and the media after a court appearance on May 15 [Seth Wenig/AP Photo]
Habba had served as part of Trump’s personal legal team before joining his administration following his second inauguration in January.
Trump has pledged to pursue a policy of “mass deportation” during his second term as president, but that goal has run up against logistical issues, including a lack of detention space. His administration awarded Delaney Hall a 15-year contract to help address the growing demand for beds, and the facility opened this past May.
Baraka, however, has argued that Delaney Hall failed to receive the proper local permitting and has been a visible presence at protests outside the immigration centre. The GEO Group denies any permitting violations.
Critics, particularly on the left, have long accused the Trump administration of retaliating against those who oppose the president’s signature policies, including his crackdown on immigration.
Tuesday’s lawsuit, for example, accuses Habba of defaming Baraka in her efforts to detain and charge him with trespassing.
“In authorizing and/or directing the arrest of Mayor Baraka without proper legal grounds, Defendant Habba was acting for political reasons and fulfilling her stated goal of ‘turning New Jersey red’,” the lawsuit argues.
The complaint further alleges that other members of the Trump administration participated “in promoting a false and defamatory narrative”, including that Baraka “broke into” the detention facility.
Baraka is running this November as a Democratic candidate in the race to be New Jersey governor. His lawsuit alleges the arrest and subsequent trespassing charge was designed to “damage him politically”.
Last month, Trump endorsed one of Baraka’s Republican rivals, businessman and former state Representative Jack Ciattarelli, for the governorship.
Orders tumble by 3.7 percent after a rise in March when businesses increased purchases in anticipation of tariffs.
Orders from United States factories have tumbled in April after a surge in March when businesses had front-loaded purchases in anticipation of tariffs.
New orders for US manufactured goods dropped by 3.7 percent on a monthly basis, worse than economists had expected, according to Census Bureau data released on Tuesday.
Economists polled by the Reuters news agency expected a 3.1 percent drop. Dow Jones forecast a 3.3 percent drop. On an annual basis, however, factory orders rose by 2 percent.
April’s report is in sharp contrast to the 3.4 percent increase in March, which topped five straight months of increases.
Manufacturing, which accounts for 10.2 percent of the US economy, has been put under pressure by President Donald Trump’s aggressive tariffs. Trump sees the tariffs as a tool to raise revenue to offset his promised extension of tax cuts and to revive a long-declining industrial base, a feat that economists argued was impossible in the short term because of labour shortages and other structural issues.
Hardest hit sectors
Orders in the transportation sector fell 17.1 percent, led by a sharp drop in the commercial aircraft sector. Aircraft orders fell by 51.5 percent in April. Orders for motor vehicles, parts and trailers dropped 0.7 percent.
Electrical equipment, appliances and component manufacturing fell by 0.3 percent. But manufacturing for computers and other electronic products actually grew by 1 percent.
Machinery orders also rose 0.6 percent. Excluding transportation, which led the surge in March orders, orders fell 0.5 percent, matching March’s decline of non-transportation goods.
The government also reported that orders for nondefence capital goods excluding aircraft, a measure of business spending plans on equipment, decreased 1.5 percent in April rather than 1.3 percent as estimated last month.
Shipments of these so-called core capital goods fell by an unrevised 0.1 percent, or $1.8bn.
An Institute for Supply Management survey showed manufacturing contracted for a third straight month in May and suppliers took the longest time in nearly three years to deliver inputs to factories.
To enhance their competitive advantage, they are placing a growing emphasis on innovation and driving business growth. The findings come as artificial intelligence (AI) is emerging as a crucial technology for banks, and demand for the technology is expected to become fierce.
Strategic priorities have shifted
European banks are shifting strategic priorities from reducing costs to innovation and growth. Investments are focused on scaling AI and cloud capabilities, accelerating digital transformation to enhance customer and employee experiences, and positioning for long-term competitiveness.
AI: From emerging promise to a reality
AI has transitioned from a promising concept to a foundational element in European banking operations. Banks are leveraging AI primarily to enhance fraud detection and elevate customer service, two critical areas given the region’s stringent regulatory environment and the imperative to safeguard financial integrity. Approximately 28% of European banks cite fraud detection and customer service as domains where AI delivers the highest value.
AI-powered chatbots and virtual assistants are streamlining interactions, enabling personalised, real-time customer engagement while optimising operational costs. Yet, the journey is ongoing: nearly half of AI initiatives remain in early stages, hindered by data management challenges and regulatory complexities. This signals a clear mandate for banks to strengthen data architectures and governance frameworks to unlock AI’s full potential.
Banks see the most impact from AI in enhancing productivity, quality, growth, and operational speed. Generative AI alone could add between $200 billion and $340 billion annually to the banking sector through productivity gains. Leading banks are already realising these benefits: ABN Amro uses generative AI to summarise customer calls, boosting contact center efficiency, while JP Morgan has reduced payment validation errors by up to 20% using AI-powered models, cutting fraud and operational costs.
At Infosys, we are witnessing firsthand how AI-driven innovation is transforming software development productivity, with improvements ranging from 7% to 15%. Nearly 18,000 developers have collectively generated nearly 7 million lines of code, supported by AI assistants tailored to their specific roles and functions. This AI-first approach enables us to optimize operations significantly, enhance predictive capabilities to stay ahead of market shifts, accelerate growth trajectories, and strengthen risk management frameworks, including compliance, ensuring our clients remain resilient in an evolving financial landscape.
Data, security, and compliance are what hold banks back
Data privacy and security remain the foremost challenges to AI and cloud adoption. Banks must navigate complex regulatory landscapes while ensuring robust data protection. Interestingly, while over half of European banks consider their data architecture AI-ready, they face the most challenge in implementing AI in their data architecture.
Security concerns also dominate cloud migration decisions. Strong governance, encryption, and compliance frameworks are essential to safely manage sensitive customer data.
Innovation drives customer loyalty
Historically, a bank’s size and reputation anchored customer trust; however, today’s customers prioritise convenience and relevant offerings. The demand for technology talent, particularly in AI and cloud infrastructure, is intensifying. Cybersecurity remains a critical focus, but the rapid growth in AI and cloud roles underscores the sector’s commitment to building robust digital expertise. To meet these demands, banks must harness powerful technology and skilled talent capable of driving ongoing innovation.
Unfortunately, recruiting tech talent — especially in AI — remains a significant hurdle for many banks in the region. The competition for skilled professionals is fierce due to the increasing presence of global banks are vying for the same talent pool.
Many banks are investing heavily in reskilling initiatives to address this talent gap. Governments are doing their part too to bridge the talent gap. For example, the European Commission’s AI Continent Action Plan aims to make Europe a global AI leader by expanding AI education and training. The Commission has launched the AI Skills Academy, which offers specialised education in AI and generative AI, apprenticeship programs, and scholarships to increase diversity and attract talent back to Europe. The plan also promotes European Digital Innovation Hubs to provide accessible AI skills and training services across the EU, supporting worker upskilling and reskilling.
Strategic partnerships: a catalyst for talent development
Banks must consider forming strategic partnerships with educational institutions and technology firms to tackle these challenges effectively. Collaborations can lead to tailored training programs that address specific industry needs. For example, BNP Paribas collaborates with AI startups and invests heavily in AI talent development through its Digital Data and Agile Academy, providing employees with ongoing data and AI skills training. The collaboration by European Social Partners on Employment Aspects of AI will help European banks responsibly navigate AI-driven transformation, safeguarding employee well-being and enabling sustainable adoption of AI.
Additionally, partnerships can facilitate the rapid adoption of new technologies while minimising risks associated with being the first movers in innovation. Lloyds Banking Group has partnered with the University of Cambridge to provide AI training for 300 senior staff as part of its technology transformation, delivering a program called “Leading with AI” that covers AI regulation, ethics, generative AI, and emerging concepts.
Partnerships are critical enablers for institutions to accelerate technology adoption while effectively managing the risks that come with being first movers. At Infosys, we recognize that bringing together diverse perspectives and expertise fosters innovation through meaningful collaboration and idea exchange. With over 270,000 employees who are generative AI-aware across all functions, not just engineering, we cultivate cross-functional teams that leverage varied experiences and insights. This diversity of thought drives richer, more inclusive outcomes that better serve our broad communities and positions us to lead confidently in the evolving AI landscape.
Digital transformation: a path to growth and efficiency
This year is poised to be transformative for European banking. Institutions equipped with effective digital transformation strategies will be able to expand their AI and cloud capabilities. By doing so, they will enhance operational efficiencies and improve customer experiences across all touchpoints to attract and grow their customer base and solidify their competitive edge within the market. While data privacy, security, and regulatory compliance challenges persist, banks that strategically invest in digital capabilities and balance innovation with risk management will emerge stronger and more resilient. Continuous training and collaboration will also remain paramount as banks strive for leadership within the European financial sector.
The Infosys Bank Tech Index is a survey-based research study of nearly 400 global banks that tracks the intricacies of how banks’ priorities across regions differ, where they spend their budgets on technology, and what skills they are looking for.
Jay Nair Executive Vice President and Industry Head for Financial Services in Europe, Middle East, and Africa| Infosys
About The Author
Jay Nair is the Executive Vice President and Industry Head for Financial Services in Europe, Middle East, and Africa. Additionally, he leads the UK Public Service business for Infosys. He is also part of the Supervisory board for Stater.ni (which is largest independent end-to-end service provider for the mortgage market in the Benelux).
He has spent close to three decades in Engineering -both in process control engineering and since 1999, within the BFSI (Banking, Financial Services and Insurance) sector. Jay has extensive experience in Business and Technology Consulting, Practice development, Engineering and Largescale enterprise-wide technology program management. He has led global teams and programs around in the Americas ,Europe ,India, China ,LATAM, and the Asia Pacific.
He has post graduate qualifications in both Software Engineering as well as Business Management.
Major European steel giants saw their share prices falter on Tuesday afternoon, as investors continue to weigh the impact of US President Donald Trump’s plan to double steel and aluminium tariffs from 25% to 50%, with the latter set to take effect from 4 June.
The announcement has escalated trade tensions and drawn significant criticism from worldwide trade partners. Trump, meanwhile, claims the move will make the US steel industry even stronger.
He said in a post on his social media platform Truth Social: “Our steel and aluminum industries are coming back like never before. This will be yet another BIG jolt of great news for our wonderful steel and aluminum workers. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”
German steel company Thyssenkrupp’s share price declined 0.5% on Tuesday afternoon on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange. Salzgitter AG’s share price also declined on the exchange, by 0.4%.
Following the trend, ArcelorMittal SA’s stock dipped 1.1% on the Euronext Amsterdam exchange on Tuesday afternoon, while Austrian steel company Voestalpine AG’s share price declined 0.8% on the Vienna Stock Exchange.
On the other side of the Atlantic, however, major US steel companies such as Cleveland-Cliffs, Nucor, and Steel Dynamics saw their share prices surge on Monday.
Cleveland-Cliffs’ share price closed 23.2% higher, whereas Nucor’s share price jumped 10.1%. Steel Dynamics’ share price also closed higher, up 10.3% on Monday.
US businesses risk significant harm due to tariffs
The unpredictability of recent US tariffs continues to pose considerable risks to US businesses, despite Trump’s reassurances that tariffs will benefit the economy. This is mainly because several US companies with international operations could be forced to scramble to find alternative foreign suppliers and customers.
It is also remains unclear how long steel and aluminium tariffs could stay at the 50% level proposed, as Trump continues to negotiate other tariffs with various countries.
Felix Tintelnot, professor of economics at Duke University, told TIME: “We’re talking about expansion of capacity of heavy industry that comes with significant upfront investments, and no business leader should take heavy upfront investments if they don’t believe that the same policy [will be] there two, three, or four years from now.
“Regardless of whether you’re in favour [of] or against these tariffs, you don’t want the President to just set tax rates arbitrarily, sort of by Executive Order all the time,” he added.
Tintelnot also highlighted that increasing the price of aluminium, which is a very common input material in several sectors such as automotive and construction, would, in turn, hurt those industries, even if there may be some advantages to the domestic US steel and aluminium sectors.
“The bread was dipped in blood.” A Palestinian child mourns his mother who was killed when Israeli forces opened fire at an aid distribution point in Rafah, Gaza. More than 100 people have been killed in days of attacks at aid hubs run by the US-Israeli backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation.
The Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) plans to lift its 10-year ban on issuing new banking licenses on July 1.
This change will open the market to fintechs and digital banks, which is expected to increase market competition and, possibly, bank consolidations as small banks are forced to merge or exit the industry.
“Fintechs will drive innovation in the sector, prompting traditional banks to adopt new technologies to stay competitive,” says Anne Kibisu, a banking analyst at Deloitte Kenya.
New and existing banks will face new capital requirements enacted in December 2024 under the Business Laws (Amendment) Act 2024. By 2026, banks will be required to maintain KES10 billion ($77 million) in capital.
This development follows a similar capital increase in 2009, when the requirement was raised from KES250 million to KES1 billion. That change prompted mergers, including KCB’s acquisition of National Bank in 2019. Analysts predict a similar wave of consolidation as smaller banks struggle to meet the new capital targets.
The central bank reports that 12 banks face a combined capital shortfall of KES11.8 billion. To comply with the new requirements, these banks needed to raise KES3 billion by December 2024, KES6 billion this year, and eventually KES10 billion by 2026.
“These increased capital thresholds are designed to help banks absorb economic shocks and continue supporting sustainable growth,” said CBK Governor Kamau Thugge.
Since December 2023, 27 of Kenya’s 39 licensed banks have met the new capital requirement. The remaining 12, primarily smaller banks with limited branch networks, now face significant pressure to recapitalize or merge with larger institutions.
“We are actively exploring strategic partnerships to meet the new capital requirements,” said an executive from an affected bank. “Mergers are also being considered.”
The CBK is expected to guide the consolidation process, as it did during the 2015-2016 banking crisis, which saw the collapse of Imperial Bank and Chase Bank. By 2027, Kenya’s banking sector is expected to be more robust and consolidated.
Israeli forces have killed at least 27 Palestinians and injured 90 more as they opened fire close to an aid distribution site in Rafah, according to the Ministry of Health in Gaza.
The latest killings came early on Tuesday at the Flag Roundabout, near an aid hub operated by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF).
It was the third such incident around the Rafah hub in as many days. Gaza’s authorities report that more than 100 aid seekers have been killed since the United States- and Israel-backed GHF started operating in the enclave on May 27, with reports of violence, looting and chaos rife.
The Israeli military said it had fired shots as “a number of suspects” deviated from the regulated routes, on which a crowd was making its way to the GHF distribution complex.
The “suspects” were about 500 metres (approximately 550 yards) from the site, the military said in a statement on Telegram, adding that it was looking into reports of casualties.
The death toll was confirmed by Zaher al-Waheidi, head of the Gaza Health Ministry’s records department.
A spokesperson for the International Committee of the Red Cross, Hisham Mhanna, said 184 wounded people had been taken to its field hospital in Rafah, 19 of whom were found dead on arrival, and eight others died later of their wounds.
Video verified by Al Jazeera’s Sanad fact-checking agency showed the arrival of dozens of injured people at the hospital.
Lured
Gaza’s Government Media Office accused Israel of “a horrific, intentionally repeated crime”, saying it has been luring starving Palestinians to the GHF centres – controversially opened following an 11-week total blockade to take over most aid distribution from the United Nations and other aid agencies – and then opening fire.
It said Tuesday’s death toll brought the number of aid seekers killed at aid sites in the Rafah governorate and the so-called Netzarim Corridor since GHF launched operations to 102, with 490 others injured.
“It is unacceptable that Palestinians are risking their lives for food,” said Secretary General Antonio Guterres. “I call for an immediate and independent investigation into these events and for perpetrators to be held accountable.”
“We heard from witnesses that there was chaos,” said Al Jazeera’s Hind Khoudary, reporting about Tuesday’s killings from Deir el-Balah in central Gaza. “The Israeli forces just opened fire randomly, shooting Palestinians … using quadcopters and live ammunition.”
Health Ministry officials and doctors said most of the wounded have been hit in their chest and head, she added.
The bloodshed, she continued, had unfolded in the same way as on the previous two days, amid ongoing chaos around the aid distribution centres.
“There’s no process. There’s no system,” she said. “You just need to run first to be able to get the food.”
‘Either way, we will die’
Rasha al-Nahal told The Associated Press news agency that “there was gunfire from all directions”, and that she saw more than a dozen people dead and several wounded on the road.
When she finally made it to the distribution hub, there was no aid, al-Nahal said, adding that Israeli troops “fired at us as we were returning”.
Another witness, Neima al-Aaraj, from Khan Younis, described the shooting as “indiscriminate”.
“I won’t return,” she said. “Either way, we will die.”
Gaza rescuers said Israeli gunfire killed at least 10 Palestinians and wounded more than 100 early on June 1, as thousands of people headed towards a US-backed aid distribution site [AFP]
The Israeli military, in its statement on Telegram, said troops had fired warning shots as people deviated from “designated access routes” and “after the suspects failed to retreat, additional shots were directed near a few individual suspects who advanced toward the troops”.
However, it denied firing on civilians or blocking them from accessing aid.
This account echoes statements around similar incidents on Sunday, when 31 aid seekers were reportedly killed, and on Monday, when three more were killed.
Israeli forces have opened fire again on Palestinians seeking humanitarian aid from a distribution site in Gaza, killing at least three people and injuring more than 30, as the United Nations demands an independent investigation into the repeated mass shootings of aid seekers in the strip.
The shooting erupted at sunrise on Monday at the same Israeli-backed aid point in southern Gaza where soldiers had opened fire just a day earlier, according to health officials and witnesses.
“The Israeli military opened fire on civilians trying to get their hands on any kind of food aid without any kind of warning,” Al Jazeera’s Tareq Abu Azzoum reported from Deir el-Balah in central Gaza.
“This is a pattern that’s been widely condemned by international aid organisations because it enhances the breakdown of civil order without ensuring humanitarian relief can be received by those desperately in need.”
Witnesses said Israeli snipers and quadcopter drones routinely monitor aid sites run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), which is backed by Israel and the United States.
A Red Cross field hospital received about 50 people wounded in the latest shooting, including two who were dead on arrival, said Hisham Mhanna, a spokesperson for the International Committee of the Red Cross. Most had been hit by bullets or shrapnel. A third body was taken to Nasser Hospital in nearby Khan Younis.
Moataz al-Feirani, 21, said he was shot in the leg while walking with thousands of others towards the food site.
“We had nothing, and they [the Israeli military] were watching us,” he told The Associated Press news agency, adding that surveillance drones circled overhead. The shooting began about 5:30am (02:30 GMT) near the Flag Roundabout, he said.
The pattern of deadly violence around the GHF aid distribution site has triggered mounting international outrage, and UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Monday demanded an independent inquiry into the mass shooting of Palestinians.
“It is unacceptable that Palestinians are risking their lives for food,” he said. “I call for an immediate and independent investigation into these events and for perpetrators to be held accountable.”
The Israeli military has denied targeting civilians, claiming its soldiers fired “warning shots” at individuals who “posed a threat”.
The GHF has also denied the shootings occurred although doubts about its neutrality have intensified since its founding executive director, former US marine Jake Wood, resigned before operations even began after he questioned the group’s “impartiality” and “independence”.
Critics said the group functions as a cover for Israel’s broader campaign to depopulate northern Gaza as it concentrates aid in the south while bypassing established international agencies.
Aid is still barely trickling into Gaza after Israel partially lifted a total siege that for more than two months cut off food, water, fuel and medicine to more than two million people.
Thousands of children are at risk of dying from hunger-related causes, the UN has previously warned.
At least 51 people killed in 24 hours
Elsewhere in the territory, Israeli air attacks continued to hammer residential areas.
In Jabalia in northern Gaza, Israeli forces killed 14 people, including seven children, in an attack on a home, according to the Palestinian Civil Defence agency. At least 20 people remained trapped under the rubble.
Two more Palestinians were killed and several wounded in another attack in Deir el-Balah, according to the Palestinian news agency Wafa, while a drone attack in Khan Younis claimed yet another life.
Gaza’s Ministry of Health reported that at least 51 Palestinians have been killed and 503 injured in Israeli attacks across the territory in the latest 24-hour reporting period alone.
Palestinian children wait for food at a distribution point in Nuseirat in central Gaza on June 2, 2025 [AFP]
Despite growing international condemnation, Israel’s military on Monday ordered the displacement of even more civilians from parts of Khan Younis, warning it would “operate with great force”.
Roughly 80 percent of the strip is now either under Israeli military control or designated for forced evacuation, according to new data from the Financial Times, as Gaza’s 2.3 million residents are crammed into an ever-shrinking patch of land in southern Gaza near the Egyptian border.
Israel has made little secret of its aim to permanently displace Gaza’s population as officials openly promote “voluntary migration” plans.
The Financial Times reported that the areas Palestinians are being pushed into resemble a “desert wasteland with no running water, electricity or even hospitals”.
Satellite images showed Israeli forces clearing land and setting up military infrastructure in evacuated areas.
Analysts who reviewed dozens of recent forced evacuation orders said the trend has accelerated since the collapse of a truce in March.
“The Israeli government has been very clear with regards to what their plan is about in Gaza,” political analyst Xavier Abu Eid told Al Jazeera.
Judges say Berlin broke EU law by refusing Somali asylum seekers entry.
A Berlin court has ruled that Germany violated asylum law when it deported three Somali nationals at its border with Poland in a decision that challenges Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s aggressive new migration stance.
The three asylum seekers – two men and one woman – were turned back by border police at a train station in Frankfurt an der Oder, a city on Germany’s eastern border.
“The applicants could not demand to enter Germany beyond the border crossing,” the court said in a statement on Monday. “However, the rejection was unlawful because Germany is obliged to process their claims.”
Officials cited the asylum seekers’ arrival from a “safe third country” as grounds for their refusal.
But the court determined the expulsion was illegal under European Union rules, specifically the Dublin regulation, which requires Germany to assess asylum claims if it is the responsible state under the agreement.
It marks the first such legal ruling since Merz’s conservative-led coalition took office in February, riding a wave of anti-immigration sentiment that has helped boost the far-right Alternative for Germany party, now the country’s second largest political force in parliament.
Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt defended the deportations, saying the asylum system was failing under pressure. “The numbers are too high. We are sticking to our practice,” he told reporters, adding that the court would receive legal justifications for the government’s position.
Migration policies in doubt
But opposition lawmakers were quick to capitalise on the ruling. Irene Mihalic of the Greens called it “a severe defeat” for Merz’s government, accusing it of overstepping its powers “for populist purposes”.
“The border blockades were a rejection of the European Dublin system and have offended our European neighbours,” she said.
Karl Kopp, managing director of Pro Asyl, an immigration advocacy group, said the expulsion of the Somalis reflected an “unlawful practice of national unilateral action” in asylum policy and called for their return to Germany, the Reuters news agency reported.
The ruling also casts doubt on Merz’s wider migration agenda. In May, his government introduced a directive to turn back undocumented people at Germany’s borders, including those seeking asylum – a sharp departure from former Chancellor Angela Merkel’s more open policy during the 2015 migrant crisis.
Last month, the European Commission proposed a bloc-wide mechanism that would permit member states to reject asylum seekers who passed through a “safe” third country. The measure, widely criticised by rights groups, still awaits approval from national parliaments and the European legislature.
Published on 02/06/2025 – 19:11 GMT+2•Updated
19:13
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EU trade Commissioner Maroš Šefčovič will meet his US counterpart Ambassador Jamieson Greer on Wednesday on the sidelines of an OECD meeting in Paris following a high-level gathering of EU and US experts in Washington on Tuesday against rising tensions over US customs duties.
The Commission is hoping to rekindle negotiation with the US a week after EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and US president Donald Trump spoke on the phone, despite Trump’s subsequent decision on 30 May to slap 50% tariffs on EU steel and aluminium.
“The EU in good faith paused its countermeasures on 14 April, to create space for continued negotiations, and following the call between president Ursula von der Leyen and president Donald Trump both sides agreed to accelerate the pace of talks,” Commission spokesperson Olof Gill said on Monday, acknowledging however that Trump’s last announcement on steel and aluminium undermined the Commission’s “ongoing efforts to reach a negotiated solution with the US”.
The Commission has suspended until 14 July a list of countermeasures targeting US products after Trump decided on a 90-Day pause in the trade dispute he launched against his partners across the globe. But the Commission could decide to move forward with those countermeasures, it said.
A second list of US product is also open to consultation from industry until 10 June, when EU member states will adopt them.
“If no mutually acceptable solution is reached, both the existing and the possible additional measures will automatically take effect on 14 July or earlier if circumstances require,“ Gill said.
Šefčovič has already travelled to Washington three times to meet with his US counterparts, but his efforts have so far failed to break the deadlock.
The US and the EU exchanged proposals to begin negotiations, but both sides have dismissed the other’s offers. It wasn’t until EU and US leaders spoke by phone that talks were able to move forward—until President Trump announced new tariffs on steel and aluminium at the end of last week, putting the negotiations at risk once again.
The US currently imposes 25% tariffs on EU steel and aluminium, 25% on cars and 10% on all EU imports. Several investigations in pharma, semiconductors or aircrafts could also lead to more US tariffs on EU goods.
Just 40 countries representing 3.5 percent of the world’s population respect all civil liberties, a new study has found, warning that “democracy and human rights are under attack worldwide in a way we have not seen for decades.”
The Atlas of Civil Society report published by the German relief organisation Brot fur die Welt (Bread for the World) on Monday said only 284 million people living in “open” countries – including Austria, Estonia, the Scandinavian countries, New Zealand and Jamaica – enjoy protection of unrestricted civil rights and liberties.
The nongovernmental organisation defines a country as “open” if it allows people to form associations “without legal or practical barriers, demonstrate in public spaces, receive information and are allowed to disseminate it”.
Forty-two countries making up 11.1 percent of the world’s population are listed in a second category in which civil rights are classified as “impaired”. These include Germany, Slovakia, Argentina and the United States.
In these countries, the rights to freedom of assembly and expression are largely respected, but there are recorded violations.
‘Restricted, suppressed or closed’
“In contrast, 85 percent of the world’s population lives in countries where civil society is restricted, suppressed, or closed. This affects almost seven billion people,” the report found.
“Their governments severely restrict civil liberties and harass, arrest, or kill critical voices. This applies to 115 of 197 countries,” it added.
Several European countries appear in the “restricted” category, including Greece, the United Kingdom, Hungary and Ukraine.
Civil society is considered “oppressed” in 51 countries, including Algeria, Mexico and Turkey. In these countries, governments monitor, imprison or kill critics, and exercise censorship, according to the data.
Finally, Russia and 28 other countries are classified as “closed” and characterised by an “atmosphere of fear”. Criticism of the government or regime in these countries is severely punished.
Brot fur die Welt drew on data collected by the Civicus network of civil society organisations worldwide for its annual report covering 197 countries and territories.
Nine countries improved their freedom of expression ratings last year, including Jamaica, Japan, Slovenia, Trinidad and Tobago, Botswana, Fiji, Liberia, Poland and Bangladesh.
However, nine countries were downgraded from the previous year, including Georgia, Burkina Faso, Kenya, Peru, Ethiopia, Eswatini, the Netherlands, Mongolia and the Palestinian territory.
Dagmar Pruin, president of Brot fur die Welt, warned that “the rule of law, the separation of powers and protection against state arbitrariness are under threat or no longer exist in more and more countries.”
At the time of writing (13:05 CEST), all major European indexes were in the red after China said the US “severely violated” the terms of their recent trade agreement. Market participants also considered the impact of US President Donald Trump’s plan to double current tariffs on steel and aluminium from 25% to 50% from this Wednesday.
The EURO STOXX 50 was down 0.68%, Germany’s DAX fell 0.48%, while France’s CAC 40 declined 0.63%.
“Donald Trump has upset markets once again,” Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell, said in an email note sent to Euronews.
“Doubling import taxes on steel and aluminium, and aggravating China once again, mean we face a situation where uncertainty prevails. Trump’s continuous moving of the goal posts is frustrating for businesses, governments, consumers and investors.
“Equity markets were down across Europe and Asia, with futures prices implying a similar pattern when Wall Street opens for trading on Monday. Unsurprisingly, gold got a boost as investors returned to safe-haven assets.”
US markets end May on flat note
Meanwhile, US markets ended May on a flat note, although for the month as a whole each of the main indices rose strongly following hopes of tariff reconciliations.
“Such optimism will face an immediate challenge as June begins, with comments over the weekend keeping the aggressive rhetoric in place. The latest broadsides from the White House were primarily directed at China and the EU, with both threatening a response in kind to any further tariff hikes,” Richard Hunter, head of markets at Interactive Investor, said in an email note to Euronews.
However, he noted, back on the ground, there were some promising economic signs with the Federal Reserve’s preferred measure of inflation, the Personal Consumption Expenditures index coming in lower than expected and with a consumer sentiment index showing higher than had been feared.
“However, such respite could prove short-lived as the latter was largely predicated on an apparent softening of hostilities between the US and China in the latter part of the month, which has since evaporated. There will be a further signal on the state of the economy at the end of the week, with non-farm payrolls expected to show that 130,000 jobs will have been added in May compared to 177,000 the previous month and that the 4.2% unemployment rate will remain unchanged.
“In the meantime, US markets have repaired much of the damage wrought over the last few months although sentiment remains fragile. The Dow Jones and Nasdaq are down by 0.6% and 1% respectively in the year-to-date, while the 0.5% gain for the benchmark S&P500 has in part been driven by a resurgence of the mega cap technology trade,” Hunter said.
Asia markets under pressure
In addition to contending with the weekend comments, Asian markets fell foul of geopolitical uncertainty following the latest Russia-Ukraine developments, with the Hang Seng under pressure based on the renewed likely tariff hikes on aluminium and steel.
“Mainland China was closed for a public holiday, which could leave some losses being stored up ahead of its reopening, likely exacerbated by a report which showed a further contraction in factory activity over the last month,” Hunter added.
Kyiv, Ukraine – Any description of Ukraine’s attacks on Russia’s fleet of strategic bombers could leave one scrambling for superlatives.
Forty-one planes – including supersonic Tu-22M long-range bombers, Tu-95 flying fortresses and A-50 early warning warplanes – were hit and damaged on Sunday on four airfields, including ones in the Arctic and Siberia, Ukrainian authorities and intelligence said.
Moscow did not comment on the damage to the planes but confirmed that the airfields were hit by “Ukrainian terrorist attacks”.
Videos posted by the Ukrainian Security Service (SBU), which planned and carried out the operation, which was called The Spiderweb, showed only a handful of planes being hit.
The strategic bombers have been used to launch ballistic and cruise missiles from Russian airspace to hit targets across Ukraine, causing wide scale damage and casualties.
The bomber fleet is one-third of Moscow’s “nuclear triad”, which also consists of nuclear missiles and missile-carrying warships.
According to some observers, the attack shattered Russia’s image of a nuclear superpower with a global reach.
The attack inadvertently “helped the West because it targeted [Russia’s] nuclear potential”, Lieutenant General Ihor Romanenko, former deputy head of the Ukrainian military’s general staff, told Al Jazeera.
While the assault decreases Russia’s potential to launch missiles on Ukraine, it will not affect the grinding ground hostilities along the crescent-shaped, 1,200km (745-mile) front line, he said.
(Al Jazeera)
Romanenko compared The Spiderweb’s scope and inventiveness to a string of 2023 Ukrainian attacks against Russia’s Black Sea fleet that was mostly concentrated in annexed Crimea.
Although Ukraine’s navy consisted of a handful of small, decades-old warships that fit into a football field-sized harbour, Kyiv reinvented naval warfare by hitting and drowning Russian warships and submarines with missiles and air and sea drones.
Moscow hastily relocated the decimated Black Sea fleet eastwards to the port of Novorossiysk and no longer uses it to intercept Ukrainian civilian vessels loaded with grain and steel.
The Spiderweb caught Russia’s military strategists off-guard because they had designed air defences to thwart attacks by missiles or heavier, long-range strike drones.
Instead, the SBU used 117 toy-like first-person-view (FPV) drones, each costing just hundreds of dollars, that were hidden in wooden crates loaded onto trucks, it said.
Their unsuspecting drivers took them right next to the airfields – and were shocked to see them fly out and cause the damage that amounted to $7bn, the SBU said.
“The driver is running around in panic,” said a Russian man who filmed thick black smoke rising from the Olenegorsk airbase in Russia’s Arctic region of Murmansk, which borders Norway.
Other videos released by the SBU were filmed by drones as they were hitting the planes, causing thundering explosions and sky-high plumes of black smoke.
Russia’s air defence systems guarding the airfields were not designed to detect and hit the tiny FPV drones while radio jamming equipment that could have caused them to stray off course wasn’t on or malfunctioned.
The SBU added a humiliating detail – The Spiderweb’s command centre was located in an undisclosed location in Russia near an office of the Federal Security Service (FSB), Moscow’s main intelligence agency, which Russian President Vladimir Putin once headed.
“This is a slap on the face for Russia, for FSB, for Putin,” Romanenko said.
However, Kyiv didn’t specifically target the pillar of Russia’s nuclear triad.
“They are destroying Russian strategic aviation not because it’s capable of carrying missiles with nuclear warheads but because of its use to launch … nonnuclear [missiles],” Nikolay Mitrokhin, a researcher with Germany’s Bremen University, told Al Jazeera.
The operation, which took 18 months to plan and execute, damaged a third of Russia’s strategic bomber fleet, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said.
“This is our most far-reaching operation. Ukraine’s actions will definitely be in history textbooks,” he wrote on Telegram late on Sunday. “We’re doing everything to make Russia feel the necessity to end this war.”
The SBU used artificial intelligence algorithms to train the drones to recognise Soviet-era aircraft by using the planes displayed at an aviation museum in central Ukraine, the Clash Report military blogger said on Monday.
‘The very logic of the negotiations process won’t change’
The attack took place a day before Ukrainian and Russian diplomats convened in Istanbul to resume long-stalled peace talks.
But it will not affect the “logic” of the negotiations, a Kyiv-based political analyst said.
“Emotionally, psychologically and politically, the operation strengthens the positions of Ukrainian negotiators,” Volodymyr Fesenko, head of the Penta think tank, told Al Jazeera. “But the very logic of the negotiations process won’t change.”
“Both sides will consider [US President] Donald Trump an arbiter, and whoever is first to leave the talks loses, ruins its negotiation positions with the United States,” Fesenko said.
Once again, the talks will likely show that the sides are not ready to settle as Russia is hoping to carve out more Ukrainian territory for itself and Ukraine is not going to throw in the towel.
“Russia wants to finish off Ukraine, and we’re showing that we will resist, we won’t give up, won’t capitulate,” Fesenko said.
By Monday, analysts using satellite imagery confirmed that 13 planes – eight Tu-95s, four Tu-22Ms and one An-12 – have been destroyed or damaged.
“What a remarkable success in a well-executed operation,” Chris Biggers, a military analyst based in Washington, DC, wrote on X next to a map showing the destruction of eight planes at the Belaya airbase in the Irkutsk region in southeastern Siberia.
Five more planes have been destroyed at the Murmansk base, according to Oko Hora, a group of Ukrainian analysts.
The Spiderweb targeted three more airfields, two in western regions and one near Russia’s Pacific coast, according to a photo that the SBU posted showing its leader, Vasyl Malyuk, looking at a map of the strikes.
But so far, no damage to the airfields or the planes on them has been reported.
Russia is likely to respond to The Spiderweb with more massive drone and missile attacks on civilian sites.
“I’m afraid they’ll use Oreshnik again,” Fesenko said, referring to Russia’s most advanced ballistic missile, which can speed up to 12,300 kilometres per hour (7,610 miles per hour), or 10 times the speed of sound, and was used in November to strike a plant in eastern Ukraine.
