Russia denounces West over drone strike on Moscow
A day after the first military strike to hit civilian areas in Moscow, Kremlin officials jumped on the refusal of Ukraine’s allies to condemn the attack as proof that Russia’s real war was with the West.
None of Ukraine’s allies went so far as to endorse the drone attack, but Britain’s foreign secretary said that Kyiv had “the right to project force beyond its borders.” The U.S. response also stopped short of criticizing the drone strike, which Ukrainian officials have said they were not “directly involved” in.
Dmitri Medvedev, the deputy head of Russia’s national security council and a former president, said Britain “de facto is leading an undeclared war against Russia” by providing Ukraine with military support. He argued that now any British official “can be considered as a legitimate military target.”
Context: Russia has repeatedly hit civilian areas of Ukraine during the war, though it has denied targeting nonmilitary sites. In recent weeks it has turned up the barrage of missiles and attack drones aimed at Kyiv, the capital. Thousands of Ukrainian civilians, including children, have been killed in Russian airstrikes and artillery bombardments, U.N. officials say.
In other news from the war:
Battery subsidies lure investors to the U.S.
The Biden administration is devoting hundreds of billions of dollars to fighting climate change, raising anxieties among European leaders that Washington’s approach will hurt U.S. allies by luring away many of the new investments in electric car and battery factories not already destined for China, South Korea and other Asian countries.
Competition between Europe and the U.S. has grown intense and, to some officials, counterproductive, as each tries to acquire the building blocks of electric vehicle manufacturing to avoid becoming dependent on China. The U.S. has offered significant incentives to companies in that sector, putting pressure on Europe to follow suit.
Biden officials have argued that U.S. and European policies are complementary. They have noted that the government and private money going into electric cars and batteries would reduce prices for car buyers and put more emission-free vehicles on the road.
Example: European leaders are offering one of Europe’s few homegrown battery companies, Northvolt, hundreds of millions of euros to build factories in Europe. The company has considered postponing building a factory near Hamburg, Germany, to invest in the U.S. instead.
U.S. House passes debt ceiling bill
In a 314-to-117 vote, House lawmakers overwhelmingly agreed last night to suspend the $31.4 trillion borrowing limit until January 2025, heading off an economically devastating default.
After a revolt by far-right Republicans threatened to scuttle consideration of the bill, which would cut federal spending by $1.5 trillion over a decade, a bipartisan coalition lined up to support the compromise negotiated by President Biden and…
2023-05-31 23:34:58
Link from www.nytimes.com
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