‘It’s a serious issue’: White House responds to claims South Africa passed weapons to Russia
White House National Security Council spokesman Admiral John Kirby has described reports that a Russian cargo ship transported weapons from a port in South Africa to Russia in December as a “serious issue”.
Speaking to Sky News, he said: “We have consistently and strongly urged countries not to provide any support for Russia’s war.
“We don’t believe that anybody should be making it easier for Mr Putin to kill innocent Ukrainian people, period.
“We’ve had multiple conversations at multiple levels, with multiple countries about those concerns, but obviously I’m not going to get into the diplomatic conversations themselves.
“It’s a serious issue.”
Supplying weapons
America’s ambassador to South Africa said on Thursday that he was confident a Russian ship, the Lady R, had picked up weapons in the country last year, which would represent a breach of Pretoria’s declared neutrality in the war.
John Kirby said no nation should be ‘looking for ways to make it easier for Mr Putin’. Pic: AP
“We are confident that weapons were loaded on to that vessel, and I would bet my life on the accuracy of that assertion,” Ambassador Rueben Brigety told journalists in South Africa.
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa responded, saying his government would open an inquiry.
“The matter is being looked into and in time, we’ll be able to speak about [it],” the president said.
Phone call
The development comes as both President Ramaphosa and President Putin spoke by phone in a call, which the Kremlin claimed was initiated by the South African side.
In a brief summary of the call, released by the Kremlin, the two “expressed their intentions to further intensify mutually beneficial ties in various fields”.
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According to the Kremlin, Mr Putin told Mr Ramaphosa that Moscow had never refused the “diplomatic track” to resolving the conflict in Ukraine.
Kremlin officials said that President Putin supported President Ramaphosa’s peace proposal, which involves African leaders in an initiative to bring about peace.
Summit in August
Russia and South Africa are both members of the BRICS group of nations including Brazil, India and China.
The next BRICS summit is to be held in Durban, South Africa, on 15 August. It is not clear if President Putin will defy sanctions on his travel to attend the summit.
Read more:
South Africa accused of providing arms to Russia
The West’s relationship with ever-wealthy developing countries
Both Russia and China have placed a significant focus on Africa in recent years. China especially has a significant economic footprint in counties across the African continent.
Joe Biden has not yet visited Africa as US president and his administration has been accused of neglecting the continent.
The consequence, geopolitically, has been a pivot for many African nations towards both Beijing and Moscow.
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During the Putin-Ramaphosa phone call, the Russian president repeated an offer to deliver Russian grain and fertilisers free of charge to African countries.
At the White House, Admiral Kirby would not be drawn further on the issue of the Lady R cargo ship, but added: “No other nation should be looking for ways to make it easier for Mr Putin to kill the Ukrainian people, they [Russia] are the aggressor.
“They need to leave. They shouldn’t be there in the first place.
“And nobody should be looking for any way to make it easier for him to conduct this war and leave it at that.”
World
Israel kills 22 people including nine children in ‘horrific massacre’ in Gaza, Palestinian officials say
Israel killed 22 people – including nine children – in strikes on Gaza City today, Palestinian officials have said.
Gaza civil defence spokesman Mahmoud Bassal described the killings as a “horrific massacre”.
Video purportedly from the scene of the attack on the Souq Firas area of the city showed the bodies of children being pulled from rubble.
“We were sleeping in God’s care, there was nothing – they did not inform us, or not even give us a sign – it was a surprise,” said Sami Hajjaj.
“There are children and women, around 200 people maybe, six to seven families – this square is full of families.”
Men carry the bodies of Palestinian children killed in a strike on a building where people were sheltering in Gaza City. Pic: Reuters
The Israeli military claimed the strike targeted Hamas militants and that its forces tried to reduce harm to civilians in the area.
A total of 51 people have been killed across Gaza today, according to hospital medics in the Hamas-run territory.
Israeli forces pushed towards the heart of Gaza City on Wednesday, placing at risk the lives of Palestinians who had stayed put in hopes that growing pressure on Israel for a ceasefire would mean they would not lose their homes.
“We moved to the western area near the beach, but many families didn’t have the time, tanks took them by surprise,” said Thaer, a 35-year-old father of one from Tel Al-Hawa.
Meanwhile, the Palestinian Red Crescent Society said the oxygen station at Al-Quds Hospital in Gaza had stopped operating “due to Israeli occupation forces firing at it”.
“Operations are currently being conducted using pre-filled oxygen cylinders, which are sufficient for only three days,” the group said.
“Occupation forces are currently stationed at the southern gate of the society’s Al-Quds Hospital in the Tal al-Hawa neighbourhood of Gaza City, preventing anyone from entering or leaving the hospital.”
The world’s leading authority on hunger crises said last month that Israel’s blockade and ongoing offensive had pushed Gaza City into famine.
Palestinians inspect the site of deadly overnight Israeli strikes on a building where displaced people were taking shelter. Pic: Reuters
More than 300,000 people have fled the city in recent weeks as Israel has ordered the population to move south, but UN agencies and aid groups say an estimated 700,000 remain.
More than 65,000 Palestinians have been killed since October 2023, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, more than half of them women and children.
Its figure does not differentiate between civilians and fighters.
The current wave of violence began on 7 October, 2023, when Hamas-led militants carried out an attack inside Israel that killed 1,200 people, most of them civilians, and saw around 250 people taken hostage.
Hundreds of thousands of people have been fleeing northern Gaza. Pic: Reuters
Pic: Reuters
Israel claims its operation in Gaza is aimed at pressuring Hamas to surrender and return the remaining 48 hostages. Israel believes around 20 of the captives are still alive.
Critics say Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is not interested in peace negotiations and wants to continue the war with a view to displacing Gaza’s population and expand Israeli settlements.
He has repeatedly rejected the possibility of a Palestinian state.
Addressing the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday, UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres said: “In Gaza, the horrors are approaching a third monstrous year.
“They are the result of decisions that defy basic humanity,” he continued, citing “a scale of death and destruction beyond any other conflict” in his years as secretary-general.
“Nothing can justify the collective punishment of the Palestinian people and the systematic destruction of Gaza,” he added.
The world’s leading association of genocide scholars, the International Association of Genocide Scholars (IAGS), declared in August that Israel was committing genocide in Gaza.
Several other leading rights organisations, including two Israeli groups, have also said Israel is committing genocide.
Israel has repeatedly denied its actions in Gaza amount to genocide and claims they are justified as a means of self-defence.
A Spanish military jet with a defence minister on board suffered a GPS “disturbance” while on the way to Lithuania, according to Spanish officials.
The military aircraft was flying near Russia’s Kaliningrad enclave on Wednesday morning when the incident is reported to have happened.
Margarita Robles was the minister on the flight, according to Spanish officials.
A commander onboard the Spanish plane said such incidents are common when flying near Kaliningrad, both for civil and military aircraft – and military satellites could also be used to navigate.
A Spanish defence ministry spokesperson said: “There has been an attempt to disrupt the GPS signal, but as our aircraft has an encrypted system, it was not affected.
“It must be common on this route and also with commercial flights. It is not because it is our aircraft.”
Read more: Who is messing with GPS signals – and why?
Ms Robles was due to have a bilateral meeting with her Lithuanian counterpart Dovile Sakaliene during a visit to the Siauliai airbase on Wednesday, according to the Spanish government’s agenda.
The plane was also carrying relatives of Spanish airmen forming part of the new NATO air defence mission on Europe’s eastern flank.
It was launched earlier this month after Poland shot down drones that had violated its airspace.
The Spanish contingent last week intercepted eight Russian aircraft operating over the Baltic Sea, Spain’s defence ministry added in a statement.
Ms Robles, 68, has been Spain’s defence minister since 2018.
In June, she said Spain was “absolutely committed” to NATO and the European Union.
Read more from Sky News:
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Farage criticised for failing to ‘stand up to idol’ Trump
Ursula von der Leyen speaks in Lithuania on 1 September. Pic: AP
Then in August, the minister said Spain would work to “invigorate” the European fighter jet project, known as FCAS.
It came after Spain revealed it was no longer considering the option of buying US-made F-35 fighter jets and would refocus its defence spending on buying European-made equipment.
At the end of August, a plane carrying European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen suffered GPS jamming as a result of suspected Russian interference, an EU spokesperson told Sky News.
Estonia and neighbouring Finland have also previously blamed Russia for jamming GPS navigation devices in the region’s airspace.
Russia has denied interfering with communication and satellite networks.
World
Israel kills 22 people including 9 children in ‘horrific massacre’ in Gaza, Palestinian officials say
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