►Moscow says Ukraine is “regrouping” forces

Russia said on Thursday (June 22) that Ukrainian forces had scaled back operations in southern and eastern Ukraine and were “regrouping” after losses sustained during their counteroffensive.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has been repeating for a week that Ukraine’s counter-offensive has failed, nevertheless noted that Ukraine has “offensive potential”. Finally, Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu insisted on the heavy Ukrainian casualties without mentioning those his forces may have suffered.

►The counter-offensive “will take time”, according to the Ukrainian Prime Minister

Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmygal warned on Thursday that the army’s counter-offensive against Russian forces “will take time”.

“The counter-offensive consists of many military operations, some offensive, some defensive,” he explained, adding: “Unfortunately, while we were preparing for this counter-offensive, the Russians were also preparing. There are so many minefields that it greatly slows down the advance of troops.

However, Denys Chmygal remains “optimistic about the liberation of our Russian-held territories”.

► Zelenskyy accuses Moscow of preparing “everything” for “a terrorist attack” on the occupied nuclear power plant

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Thursday (June 22) accused Russia of planning a “terrorist attack” that resulted in a radioactive leak at the Russian-held Zaporizhia power plant in southern Ukraine.

“Our intelligence has received information that Russia is considering the scenario of a terrorist attack on the Zaporizhia power plant, an attack with the release of radiation. They have prepared everything for this,” he said in the Telegram.

► Project “attack” on Zaporijjia: The Kremlin denounces a “lie” Zelenskyy

The Kremlin on Thursday called Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s claims that he made preparations for a radioactive leak at the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant a “lie”.

“It’s a new lie. “We just had contact with the International Atomic Energy Agency,” whose director Rafael Grossi visited the Zaporizhia power plant last week, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

► A bridge between annexed Crimea and Ukraine was damaged by a Ukrainian attack

A bridge connecting annexed Crimea and a region in southern Ukraine partially held by Russian forces was damaged by a Ukrainian attack, local Russian authorities said on Thursday (June 22).

“During the night there was a strike on the Tchongar bridge. There are no casualties,” said Crimea’s Russian governor Sergei Aksionov, adding that the damage was being estimated. This bridge connects Crimea, annexed by Moscow in 2014, with an area of ​​Ukraine’s Kherson region occupied by Russian forces.

► Scholz calls on NATO at the Vilnius summit to strengthen Ukraine’s defense capabilities

Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Thursday urged NATO leaders, who will meet in Vilnius in July, to focus on stepping up military aid to Ukraine.

“The Ukrainian government has itself declared that NATO membership is out of the question as long as Russia is waging its war against Ukraine,” Olaf Scholz told the Bundestag. “Therefore, I suggest that in Vilnius we focus on what is now the top priority, namely strengthening Ukraine’s combat capability. »

► The US National Security Advisor in Copenhagen for a meeting on Ukraine

White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan will attend a Ukraine-hosted meeting in Denmark this weekend, bringing together several countries, including some that have remained neutral after the Russian invasion, an official said Wednesday. Western official.

The Copenhagen meeting, which has not yet been announced, aims to discuss ways to achieve a “just and lasting peace,” said this source, confirming information from the Financial Times.

——

17:23

The UK is sending a plane and an expert to search for the titan

The British government has announced the dispatch of a special equipment RAF military aircraft carrying on board a submarine officer, Lieutenant Richard Kantharia, who has “considerable knowledge of submarine warfare and diving operations” to help in the search after the submarine Titan attend its five missing occupants near the wreck of the Titanic. The decision was made at the request of the US Coast Guard. The search continues, even if the hope of finding the missing alive is now linked to a miracle.

4:53 p.m

Underwater drone reaches the sea bottom

In the last half hour, it has been confirmed that two deep-sea ROVs, i.e. remotely operated vehicles, have arrived at the site and one has reached the seabed. This was announced by the US Coast Guard on social media.

1:14 p.m

The 96 hours of oxygen for passengers has expired

The 96 hours of oxygen missing from the Titan submarine since Sunday has expired, but experts warn that this is an inaccurate estimate and that if passengers had taken some precautions to consume less (e.g. stay calm and not eat), this would still be a few hours of autonomy. Submarine search and rescue expert Frank Owen notably stated that the oxygen estimate was based only on a “nominal consumption rate”. And yet, technical reports aside, hopes of finding the Bathyscaphe’s five passengers alive seem to have evaporated.

1:13 p.m

The experts: If the submarine is found, another 4 hours are necessary

The chances of finding alive the five passengers on the Titan, the Oceangate submarine that has disappeared en route to the Titanic wreck since Sunday, are diminishing. The search operations were initially unsuccessful, the experts explain, even if it were found soon, it would take at least four hours to bring the submarine back to the surface and open the hatch from the outside. In a briefing by the Science Media Center followed by the BBC, Alistair Greig, professor of marine engineering at University College London, and Rob Larter, marine geophysicist at the British Antarctic Survey, asked how long it might take the sub to reach the surface once Once found, they replied, “We don’t know how long it would take, but in a normal operating scenario, we expect it to take about two hours to go down and another two hours (to come back up). Larter added, “The longer time goes by, the less chance there is of success.”

12:03

A French robot capable of diving to 6,000 depths has arrived

The French ship Atalante with a deep-diving robot has reached the search area of ​​the Titan submarine lost in the North Atlantic: Sky News writes it, citing the Marine Traffic website. The robot is able to dive to extreme depths of up to 6,000 meters. According to Marine Traffic, the Atalante has slowed down to six knots and is about 20 to 30 km away from the “Madra ship” Polar Prince. Dubbed the Victor 6000, the robot has remote-controlled arms that can be used to cut cables or perform other maneuvers to free a stranded ship. While the craft could not raise the Titan to the surface on its own, it could help dock it with a surfaced ship.

09:25

The oxygen ends today, June 22, at 12 noon

Oxygen supplies on Titan were due to end at 12pm (Italian time) today, but there are variables that could give the Titan crew a few more hours of autonomy. Search operations intensified after sounds were picked up from the seabed on Tuesday and again yesterday. We’re not yet sure about the causes and origins of the noise – which could be coming from inside the submarine – but the research area has since been expanded to cover an area of ​​about 10,000 square miles – or 26,000 square kilometers – at depths it goes up to at 2.5 miles, about 4,000 feet.

On board OceanGate Expeditions the British Hamish Harding, Shahzada Dawood and his son Suleman Dawood, Pakistani, the CEO and founder of OceanGate Stockton Rush, the French Paul-Henri Nargeolet. Until yesterday, the US Coast Guard could count on the help of five surface vessels that participated in the search operations, their number is expected to increase to ten today, as Captain Jamie Frederick announced yesterday.

“What I can tell you,” he explained, “is that we are searching in the area where the noise was detected and we will continue to do so, and if we can get other remote control vehicles tomorrow morning, they will.” intention to do so.” B. Continue searching in the area where the sounds were detected and see if they are still detected.”

07:45

A Canadian Royal Air Force patrol aircraft used to hunt down nuclear submarines was also deployed

A Canadian Royal Air Force Lockheed P-3 Orion (CP-140 Aurora version) has been added to the dozens of research vehicles, a four-engine turboprop designed for hunting submarines, including nuclear submarines, and was used for patrols at sea. It can fly for 12 hours at a range of over 3,000km, dropping sonic buoys and survival kits.

Together with their colleagues in Mexico and Guatemala and the Central American Education and Culture Coordination (CECC/SICA), they presented the ODS4 Academy – EDUCA Mesoamerica initiative for the educational integration of all people throughout life.

In a statement, the San José-based facility says the training process will last five months and will be broken down into six modules.

In addition, technical teams from the individual participating countries are the target group, for example Belize, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama and the Dominican Republic.

Participation in this initiative is recognized with a certificate issued by CECC-SICA, the Central American Parliament, Unesco and the SES Foundation (Argentina).

According to the document, this academy aims to strengthen capacities and create learning networks on strategic issues of the right to education. A regional approach explores solutions to educational exclusion and promotes cooperation between countries.

The SDG4 Academy will focus on six thematic axes such as: Inclusive, Equitable, Safe and Healthy Schools, Learning and Skills for Life, Work and Sustainable Development, Management Teams, Teachers, Teaching and Teaching, Learning and Digital Transformations, artificial intelligence and education funding.

Through weekly virtual meetings, expert lectures and reading materials, participants acquire knowledge and tools to improve educational integration strategies in their respective countries.

By the end of the academy, participants are expected to have improved technical skills and have built learning networks and communities. In addition, the aim is to raise awareness of the importance of educational integration and to promote cooperation in the education sector and with other important interest groups.

The SDG4 Academy represents an opportunity to rethink education systems and achieve the goals set in the 2030 Agenda.

Through an approach based on social justice, justice and cooperation, it aims to ensure quality education for all people and thus contribute to sustainable development and peace in the Mesoamerican region.

mem/alb

Status: 06/22/2023 2:25 pm

Orcas continue to attack boats off the southern coast of Spain. Hundreds of such incidents have been recorded over the past three years. Scientists are faced with an enigma.

When the killer whales suddenly emerge from the water, everyone grabs their cameras. That’s why there are many videos floating around the Internet documenting the attacks. Like what the Chron posted: It shows orcas swimming around a sailboat and the boat then rocks.

Later, the ship took on water and had to be towed away by the Coast Guard. A nightmare for sailors. That’s what happened to Friedrich Sommer too. “We were attacked around 2.30pm by a group of three or four orcas,” he told AFP. “We saw them approaching the boat – and 30 seconds later the rudder was damaged. They attacked the rudder directly, hit it full force.”

“This is not normal behavior”

It is now being repaired in the port of the coastal town of Barbate. Others were less fortunate: their boat sank completely. Such incidents occur repeatedly between the Spanish and Moroccan coasts. At least no one has been hurt so far.

Jose Luis García is responsible for the ocean program of the environmental protection organization WWF in Spain. He says: “This is not normal behavior in the killer whale population in the Strait of Gibraltar.” It’s about the behavior of individual families. Killer whales are family animals, group animals. “They are very intelligent and transmit knowledge through sounds, so maybe that has something to do with it. We still don’t know the reasons for the behavior, so it’s difficult to plan measures to make them stop behaving.”

Playful behavior or enemy attack?

The animals seem to be a family of 39 members. Some researchers suspect that it is the mother who incites the other animals to attack. Although “attack” is probably the wrong word – after all, they don’t attack food, but boats. Researchers therefore prefer to speak of “interaction” neutrally.

Whale researcher Renaud de Stephanis explains: “We are working with different hypotheses: from a playful behavior to an enemy attack. We are examining the data and now we need to exchange ideas – with other researchers from European and world organizations. We cannot give a definitive answer yet, but we are getting closer to it.”

Satellite-based app displays orcas

It’s possible that the mother whale had bad experiences with fishing boats – and therefore targeted them. But perhaps the animals are simply interested in showing others what they can do – pure bragging rights.

After all, orcas are not dangerous to humans. They prefer tuna. And yet, sailors must avoid animals. A new satellite-enabled app is now helping them with that. This shows where the orcas are likely to be at the moment. So that there are as few unpleasant encounters as possible.

Credit, EPA

caption,

The Argentine submarine ARA San Juan disappeared in 2017 and was only found more than a year later

1 hour ago

The search for the submarine that disappeared in the Atlantic earlier this week with five people on board entered its fifth day on Thursday (June 22nd) and met with great public interest worldwide.

The submarine, dubbed by experts as a submersible, was reported missing on Sunday (18) after setting out to visit the Titanic ruins.

Rescue workers are in a race against time as oxygen supplies are expected to only last until Thursday morning.

Recall below two other cases in which the search for missing submarines in the ocean caused quite a stir and made headlines around the world.

San Juan, 2017

On November 15, 2017, the Argentine submarine ARA San Juan sank off the coast of the country with 44 crew members. It was only found after more than a year of searching at a depth of 900 meters.

The ship lost contact with the mainland while en route from Ushuaia in the far south of the country, where it had been conducting military exercises, to the resort of Mar del Plata, 300 kilometers from the capital Buenos Aires.

Credit, EPA

caption,

The ARA San Juan was en route with 44 crew members when it lost communications and disappeared from radar.

The captain sent eight communications to his superiors, reporting a failure in the submarine’s batteries hours before it disappeared from radar.

According to the reports, water had entered the submarine’s ventilation system. This happened when the submarine was near the surface using an underwater “snorkel” for air intake and there was a strong swell in the sea.

The captain’s last message said that this problem had caused “a short circuit and the outbreak of fire” in the sector where the batteries were located.

From then on, an intensive search operation for the submarine began, in which several countries took part.

The Brazilian Navy and Brazilian Air Force (FAB) even sent three boats and two planes to help with the search, but poor local weather made the operation difficult due to waves that reached up to 6 meters high.

Two weeks after the disappearance, the Argentine Navy announced that there was no hope of finding any of the crew members alive and the search was temporarily halted.

In September 2018, the Argentine government ordered the US company Ocean Infinity to continue the searches.

On November 16, the remains of the submarine were found at a depth of 800 meters and 600 meters from the town of Comodoro Rivadavia in Argentine Patagonia, in a place near where the last contact of the submarine was recorded became.

Credit, Portal

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Relatives of the disappeared criticized the search for the submarine

The submarine search mission was accompanied by complaints from members of the crew who questioned the government both about the disappearance itself and in connection with the searches.

Three and a half years after the accident, the war council punished the leadership of the Argentine Navy with prison sentences ranging from 20 to 45 days.

The highest penalty met the then commander of the submarine force, Captain Claudio Villamide, who was dismissed. But experts and family members considered the penalties too mild.

An investigation into espionage against family members of the submarine crew was launched against thenPresident Mauricio Macri, but was dropped in July 2022 as no criminal offenses were found.

Kursk, 2000

Another wellknown case is that of the Kursk (K141), a nuclear submarine that sank in the Barents Sea in 2000 with a crew of 118.

The accident is considered one of the greatest underwater tragedies in history. The Kursk was then considered the pride of the Russian Navy, a 24missile war machine that was believed to be indestructible until its sinking.

But two explosions caused by rocket fire during a military exercise on August 12 disproved this myth.

According to experts, a leak of hydrogen peroxide in one of the projectiles caused a fire, which subsequently set off the two explosions.

The Kursk was at a depth of 108 meters in the early morning hours of August 13.

Photo credit: Getty Images

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The Kursk was one of the first submarines built after the fall of the Soviet Union.

It was initially believed that everyone on board had died in the blast, but letters left by some sailors revealed that 23 people survived the blast after locking themselves in a compartment of the submarine.

However, rescue teams did not find the ship in time and their bodies were located by Norwegian divers on August 21.

The submarine was not fully raised until October 2001, more than a year after the tragedy.

Photo credit: Getty Images

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Families of sailors during the ceremony in Moscow

The case drew much criticism from the Russian government, which took days to convey the seriousness of the accident to the public.

In addition, later investigations revealed that Russia had turned down early offers from other countries to help rescue the submarine’s crew, citing the ship’s potential for leaking military secrets.

The official investigation also found that the accident revealed “blatant indiscipline, substandard, outdated and poorly maintained equipment” and “negligence, incompetence and poor management” on the part of those in charge of the submarine.

No one is currently in prison for the deaths of the 118 seafarers.