{"id":115850,"date":"2024-11-20T13:56:47","date_gmt":"2024-11-20T13:56:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/russia-ukraine-war-live-us-italy-spain-and-greece-close-kyiv-embassies-ukraine-claims-russia-spreading-fake-information-about-attack-the-guardian\/"},"modified":"2024-11-20T13:56:47","modified_gmt":"2024-11-20T13:56:47","slug":"russia-ukraine-war-live-us-italy-spain-and-greece-close-kyiv-embassies-ukraine-claims-russia-spreading-fake-information-about-attack-the-guardian","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/russia-ukraine-war-live-us-italy-spain-and-greece-close-kyiv-embassies-ukraine-claims-russia-spreading-fake-information-about-attack-the-guardian\/","title":{"rendered":"Russia-Ukraine war live: US, Italy, Spain and Greece close Kyiv embassies; Ukraine claims Russia spreading fake information about attack – The Guardian"},"content":{"rendered":"

US defence secretary confirms decision to allow weapons, which are banned in scores of countries
The US defence secretary, Lloyd Austin<\/strong>, has confirmed that the Biden administration will allow Ukraine<\/a> to use American-supplied antipersonnel land mines<\/strong> to help fight off Russian forces.<\/p>\n

Speaking to reporters on Wednesday during a trip to Laos, Associated Press reported that the shift in policy follows changing tactics by the Russians<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Austin said Russian ground troops are leading the movement on the battlefield, rather than forces more protected in armoured carriers, so Ukraine has \u201ca need for things that can help slow down that effort on the part of the Russians.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe land mines that we would look to provide them would be land mines that are not persistent, you know, we can control when they would self-activate, self-detonate<\/strong> and that makes it, you know, far more, safer eventually than the things that they are creating on their own,\u201d Austin said.
The US\u2019s move to allow Ukraine<\/a> to use American supplied anti-personnel land mines<\/strong> comes despite the weapons being banned by scores of countries, including the UK.<\/p>\n

Downing Street would not be drawn on the US and Ukrainian positions on the use of the weapons but added in \u201cterms of the UK\u2019s position and the support that it provides, it\u2019s in line with the Ottawa Convention\u201d which bans land mines.
The US defence secretary, Lloyd Austin<\/strong>, has confirmed that the Biden administration will allow Ukraine<\/a> to use American-supplied antipersonnel land mines<\/strong> to help fight off Russian forces.<\/p>\n

Speaking to reporters on Wednesday during a trip to Laos, Associated Press reported that the shift in policy follows changing tactics by the Russians<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Austin said Russian ground troops are leading the movement on the battlefield, rather than forces more protected in armoured carriers, so Ukraine has \u201ca need for things that can help slow down that effort on the part of the Russians.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe land mines that we would look to provide them would be land mines that are not persistent, you know, we can control when they would self-activate, self-detonate<\/strong> and that makes it, you know, far more, safer eventually than the things that they are creating on their own,\u201d Austin said.
Ukraine\u2019s main directorate of intelligence has accused Russia of spreading misinformation that there would be a large-scale attack today in what it described as \u201ca massive information-psychological attack\u201d<\/strong>
Reuters quotes the agency statement saying \u201cA message is being spread via messengers and social networks \u2026 about the threat of a \u2018particularly massive\u2019 missile and bomb strike on Ukrainian cities today. This message is a fake, it contains grammatical errors typical of Russian information and psychological operations.\u201d
Earlier Italy, Spain and Greece followed the US in closing their Kyiv embassies over attack fears. The US embassy said it had received \u201cspecific information\u201d of a potential significant air attack and would be closed.
The UK embassy in Kyiv remained open, while Germany\u2019s embassy remained open in a limited capacity.
The air alert in Kyiv<\/strong> has ended.
Ukraine\u2019s president Volodymyr Zelenskyy<\/strong> has posted to social media to say that this morning he has spoken to Poland\u2019s prime minister Donald Tusk<\/strong> on the phone.
Air alerts have been declared in Kyiv<\/strong> and a number of other regions.
This happens quite regularly during the day, however due to the closure of embassies by the US, Italy, Spain and Greece in anticipation of an attack on Kyiv, there is a heightened sense of alertness.
Andriy Kovalenko<\/strong>, from Ukraine\u2019s national security and defence council has told news agency Ukrinform that Russia was \u201ctrying to sow panicky moods\u201d among Ukrainians.
Dan Sabbagh is in Kyiv for the Guardian<\/em>
The UK embassy remains open in Kyiv. In a statement, it said:
<\/path><\/svg>The UK Embassy in Kyiv remains open. However, the safety of our staff and British nationals in Ukraine is paramount and we keep our embassy posture and travel advice under constant review.
Suspilne, Ukraine’s state broadcaster, reports that Italy<\/strong>, Spain<\/strong> and Greece<\/strong> have all also closed their embassies in Kyiv today.
The US embassy earlier said it had received \u201cspecific information\u201d of a potential significant air attack and would be closed.
Suspilne reports that the intelligence indicates a combined drone and missile attack on the capital, and is not thought to be related to Russia\u2019s change in its nuclear doctrine yesterday.
Russia\u2019s ministry of defence claims it has destroyed two Ukrainian drones over the Belgorod<\/strong> region.
Russia\u2019s defence ministry has claimed that Ukraine<\/a> lost 400 service personnel on the Kursk<\/strong> front in the last 24 hours. The ministry gave a detailed list of western-supplied Ukrainian equipment it had destroyed. The claims have not been independently verified.<\/p>\n

source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

US defence secretary confirms decision to allow weapons, which are banned in scores of countriesThe US defence secretary, Lloyd Austin, has confirmed that the Biden administration will allow Ukraine to use American-supplied antipersonnel land mines to help fight off Russian forces. Speaking to reporters on Wednesday during a trip to Laos, Associated Press reported that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":115851,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-115850","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-us","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115850","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=115850"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115850\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/115851"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=115850"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=115850"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=115850"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}