Russia is opposed to meaningful security guarantees for Ukraine
Vitaliy Shevchenko
BBC Monitoring's Russia editor
As European nations scramble for ideas on how to bolster Ukraine's security, one idea - suggested by the UK and Sweden, for example - is the deployment of foreign troops to guarantee that a possible peace deal holds.
But - as we reported earlier - this idea was rejected by Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov.
Speaking after talks in Riyadh, he said: "The deployment of troops from the same Nato countries, but under a different flag - EU or their national flags - changes nothing. Of course, this is unacceptable for us."
In practical terms, this translates into Russian opposition to any meaningful security guarantees for Ukraine against any possible future attacks.
British motorcycling couple detained in Iran charged with espionage
Craig and Lindsay Foreman accused of entering country ‘under guise of tourists’
Tue 18 Feb 2025 13.46 GMT
British motorcycling couple detained in Iran charged with espionage
Craig and Lindsay Foreman accused of entering country ‘under guise of tourists’
A British couple detained in Iran have been charged with espionage after travelling to the country as part of a round-the-world motorbike trip.
The Iranian judiciary’s Mizan news agency said Craig and Lindsay Foreman, who are in their early 50s, had been charged after allegedly gathering information in different locations in the country.
The couple had crossed into Iran from Armenia on 30 December for a five-day visit, according to social media posts, and were reportedly arrested in January. The last post on their Facebook page, from Isfahan, in Iran, on 3 January, included selfies with the caption: “What a wonderful place.”
Middle East: UN says Israel violating Lebanon ceasefire deal
The UN has said that Israel is in violation of an agreement to remove its troops from Lebanon. Israel said it maintaining a presence in "key positions" in the country.
What you need to know
- Israel is maintaining troops in five key positions following a deadline for its total withdrawal from Lebanon
- The UN has said that the decision to keep troops in Lebanon is in "violation" of a ceasefire deal and a UN resolution
- Egypt is working on a counter-proposal to US President Donald Trump's suggestion that his country take over Gaza
Here are the latest updates from the wider conflict in the Middle East on Tuesday, February 18:
On the ground with Ukraine’s volunteer drone hunters
In a small town south-east of Kyiv, a team of civilians sit in the back of a pickup truck with machine guns pointed at the sky hoping to shoot down Iranian-made drones that target the Ukrainian capital on a near-daily basis. The drone hunters’ local knowledge and military-style training have made them a force to be reckoned with.
Located on the banks of the Dnipro river, about 90 kilometres south east of Kyiv, the small town of Pereiaslav is situated squarely in the flight path for Russia’s near-nightly drone and missile attacks that target the Ukrainian capital.
Residents now recognise the sounds of drones flying overhead. “Last night at 10pm I heard a Shahed drone fly over my house, about ten metres above the ground,” says Vyacheslav Saulko, the mayor of Pereiaslav.
“Straight away I called the commander of the mobile aerial defence unit. He told me he'd spotted it and that his team was looking for possible places to shoot it down. If it's hit above the houses, it can do a lot of damage.”
Chinese navy helicopter flies within 10 feet of Philippine patrol plane over disputed shoal
A Chinese navy helicopter flew within 10 feet (3 meters) of a Philippine patrol plane on Tuesday in a disputed area of the South China Sea, prompting the Filipino pilot to warn by radio: “You are flying too close, you are very dangerous."
The Chinese helicopter was attempting to force a Cessna Caravan turboprop plane belonging to the Philippine Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources out of what China claims is its airspace over the hotly disputed Scarborough Shoal off the northwestern Philippines.
An Associated Press journalist and other invited foreign media on the plane witnessed the tense 30-minute standoff as the Philippine plane pressed on with its low-altitude patrol around Scarborough with the Chinese navy helicopter hovering close above it or flying to its left in cloudy weather.
UN human rights chief accuses M23 rebels of ‘summary executions’ in DRC
Volker Turk says his office has ‘confirmed’ cases of rebels killing and recruiting children in eastern DRC.
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk on Tuesday accused Rwanda-backed rebels, who seized a second major city in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, of killing children and attacking hospitals and warehouses storing humanitarian aid.
Turk said in a statement on Tuesday that his office “confirmed cases of summary execution of children by M23 after they entered the city of Bukavu last week. We are also aware that children were in possession of weapons”.
He did not refer to specific events, but UN agencies have previously accused both Congolese government forces and the rebels of recruiting children.
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