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Post by Admin on May 21, 2023 18:51:16 GMT
A defiant Volodymyr Zelensky has insisted Bakhmut "is not occupied" by Russia after a Moscow-backed mercenary group had claimed control. Ukraine's president was speaking during a scene-stealing visit to Hiroshima, Japan, for the G7 summit. Wagner founder Yevgeny Prigozhin had earlier claimed victory in Bakhmut. But Ukrainian military sources told the BBC they still had control of a handful of buildings on the outskirts of the city. At a press conference on the final day of the summit, Mr Zelensky refused to provide precise details. But he said the city, where the war's longest and bloodiest battle has raged since August, was "not occupied" by Russia "as of today". "There are no two or three interpretations of those words," he added, after earlier confusion about his remarks on the status of the city. Mr Zelensky compared Bakhmut to Hiroshima, which was hit by an atomic bomb in World War Two, promising a similar "reconstruction" of his country. It was in a video posted on Saturday that Wagner's Mr Prigozhin claimed his fighters - who have led the Russian assault on Bakhmut - were in full control of the city. Ukraine quickly denied it. Earlier on Sunday, Mr Zelensky visited the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida - when the United States dropped the bomb on the city in 1945. Mr Zelensky laid a wreath for those who were killed in the attack. After a meeting with Mr Kishida, he strode into an auditorium at the peace park to speak to reporters. As he entered, one journalist shouted from the back of the room: "Slava Ukraini" (glory to Ukraine). Mr Zelensky nodded to acknowledge her. He drew several parallels between Hiroshima and Ukraine, saying that pictures of the Japanese city in ruins after bombing reminded him of present-day Bakhmut. He vowed there would be a similar "reconstruction and recovery" of Ukraine. "Now Hiroshima has rebuilt their city, and we dream of rebuilding our cities," he said.
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Post by Admin on Aug 18, 2023 21:23:45 GMT
President Biden was at Camp David Friday preparing to host the South Korean president and Japanese prime minister for a significant meeting. The goal is to improve communications between the three countries that have a common interest in countering China. Christina Ruffini reports from Washington.
Biden hosts trilateral meeting with Japan and South Korea at Camp David
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Post by Admin on Aug 19, 2023 0:14:21 GMT
CAMP DAVID, Md. — President Joe Biden on Friday signed historic agreements with the leaders of South Korea and Japan, bridging the fraught history between the two countries with promises of strengthening each nation’s economic and national security interests. In what was a clear message to China, Biden welcomed Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol for the first trilateral meeting between the three countries that wasn’t held on the sidelines of an international gathering. “This is the first summit I’ve hosted at Camp David, and I can think of no more fitting location to symbolize our new era of cooperation,” Biden said at a joint press conference held at the rustic presidential campsite in the Catoctin Mountains, about 60 miles north of Washington. The looming threats of China and North Korea shadowed the summit. Both Japan and South Korea are well within range of Pyongyang’s rocket tests, and both nations also have attempted to curb Beijing’s growing strength in the region. Biden saluted the “bravery” of both Asian leaders by setting aside generations of tensions between their countries, and he vowed that the new formalized alliance would be “unwavering in our unity and unmatched in our resolve.” The multihour summit between the three leaders took place in a retreat filled with wooded paths once walked by each U.S. president since Franklin Roosevelt and by foreign leaders ranging from British Prime Ministers Winston Churchill and Margaret Thatcher to Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev and even Russian leader Vladimir Putin. Administration officials hoped the informality of the presidential retreat — hosting its first world leaders meeting since 2015 — would foster what Biden on Friday called “the next era of partnership” with South Korea and Japan. The two Asian countries have long been at loggerheads with deep hostility stemming from Japan’s colonial rule over Korea from 1910 to 1945.
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Post by Admin on Aug 19, 2023 2:18:44 GMT
Leaders of the United States, Japan and South Korea wrapped up their Friday summit at Camp David, cementing a newly established trilateral partnership with a pledge for a unified trilateral response during a regional crisis. VOA White House Bureau Chief Patsy Widakuswara reports.
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Post by Admin on Oct 14, 2023 21:24:05 GMT
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida's street speech for the Tokushima-Kochi House of Councilors by-election on the 14th was held under strict security.
[Photo] Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and Komeito Party representative Natsuo Yamaguchi giving a speech to support the Tokushima/Kochi constituency by-election for the House of Councilors.
This was in response to an incident in which explosives were thrown at the Prime Minister at a campaign stop in Wakayama City during the 5th House of Representatives by-election in April. There were voices of confusion from the audience as the situation was different from what they had seen before.
The prime minister held a microphone on a street propaganda vehicle at one location each in Tokushima and Kochi prefectures, alongside Komeito representative Natsuo Yamaguchi. Upon entering the venue, the audience had their bags checked through metal detectors, and watched the speech from a distance of several dozen meters from the street propaganda vehicle. Security personnel (SPs) also kept an eye on the rooftops of buildings surrounding the venue.
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