- Biden administration is sending $1 billion more in weapons, ammo to Israel, congressional aides say The Associated Press
- Exclusive | Biden Moves Forward on $1 Billion in New Arms for Israel The Wall Street Journal
- Not even the US government knows the US government line on Rafah Al Jazeera English
- Trump’s ‘hush money’ NYC trial live updates: Ex-prez takes shot at Jewish Democrats – calling out Alan Dershowitz by name – in fiery post-court remarks: ‘Ought to have your brain examined’ New York Post
- Biden Administration Advances $1 Billion Arms Sale to Israel The New York Times
Tag Archives: ammo
UK claps back at Putin over nuclear escalation following depleted uranium ammo pledge: ‘not nuclear munitions’ – Fox News
- UK claps back at Putin over nuclear escalation following depleted uranium ammo pledge: ‘not nuclear munitions’ Fox News
- Putin warns UK over depleted uranium weapons – BBC News BBC News
- Putin says Russia will “respond accordingly” if Ukraine gets depleted uranium shells from U.K., claiming they have “nuclear component” CBS News
- Putin says Russia will react ‘accordingly’ if West sends ammunition with depleted uranium Fox News
- U.S. Army sets up garrison on NATO’s east flank; Will counter Putin’s ‘aggression’ from Poland Hindustan Times
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Three dead, 16 hurt in ammo blast in Russian region near Ukraine
Jan 15 (Reuters) – An ammunition explosion caused by “careless” handling of a grenade in Russia’s Belgorod region on the border with Ukraine killed three soldiers and injured 16, Russian news agencies reported on Sunday.
The blast occurred in a cultural centre repurposed for Russia’s armed forces to store ammunition, state news agencies reported, citing local emergency services for the toll.
Another eight service personnel were still reported missing as of Sunday evening, the Interfax news agency reported.
“As a result of the unintentional detonation of a hand grenade by a sergeant in a dormitory … a fire broke out. Sixteen servicemen, including the culprit, have been taken to hospital. Three more died,” local emergency services said in a statement cited by news agencies.
The TASS news agency said local officials said “careless handling” of the grenade caused it to explode.
The 112 and Baza Telegram channels, linked to Russia’s law enforcement agencies, said the dead and injured were conscripts called up to fight in Ukraine under a mobilization drive.
Reports did not say when the incident took place.
The Belgorod region borders the northeast of Ukraine, where the city of Kharkiv has been targeted by multiple Russian missile attacks since the invasion of Ukraine last February.
In October a gunman opened fire at one of the several military bases in the Belgorod region, killing 11 soldiers.
Fuel and ammunition stores there have also been rocked by explosions in what Moscow said were Ukrainian attacks. Kyiv, without claiming responsibility, has described them as “karma” for Russia’s invasion.
Reporting by Jake Cordell
Editing by Mark Heinrich, Andrew Cawthorne and Philippa Fletcher
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
Burning through ammo, Russia using 40-year-old rounds, U.S. official says
WASHINGTON, Dec 12 (Reuters) – Russia is turning to decades-old ammunition with high failure rates as it burns through its stockpiles to carry out its nearly 10-month-old invasion of Ukraine, a senior U.S. military official said on Monday.
“They have drawn from (Russia’s) aging ammunition stockpile, which does indicate that they are willing to use that older ammunition, some of which was originally produced more than 40 years ago,” the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
The United States accuses Russia of turning to Iran and North Korea for more firepower as it exhausts its regular supplies of ammunition.
The senior U.S. military official assessed that Russia would burn through its fully-serviceable stocks of ammunition by early 2023 if it did not resort to foreign suppliers and older stocks.
“We assess that at the rate of fire that Russia has been using its artillery and rocket ammunition in terms of what we would call fully serviceable artillery and rocket ammunition. They could probably do that until early 2023,” the official said.
Using the older stocks carried risks, the official said.
“In other words, you load the ammunition and you cross your fingers and hope it’s going to fire or when it lands that it’s going to explode,” the official said.
Iran has transferred drones to Russia for use in Ukraine, U.S. and Ukrainian officials say. Moscow is also attempting to obtain hundreds of ballistic missiles from Iran and offering Tehran an unprecedented level of military and technical support in return, Britain’s envoy the United Nations said on Friday.
Barbara Woodward also said Britain was “almost certain that Russia is seeking to source weaponry from North Korea (and) other heavily sanctioned states, as their own stocks palpably dwindle.”
Iran last month acknowledged it had supplied Moscow with drones, but said they were sent before the war in Ukraine. Russia has denied its forces used Iranian drones to attack Ukraine and has denied North Korea was supplying it weapons.
Reporting by Phil Stewart and Idrees Ali; Editing by David Gregorio
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
School gunman had AR-15-style weapon, 600 rounds of ammo
ST. LOUIS (AP) — A 19-year-old who killed a teacher and a 15-year-old girl at a St. Louis high school was armed with an AR-15-style rifle and what appeared to be more than 600 rounds of ammunition, a police official said Tuesday.
Orlando Harris also left behind a handwritten note offering his explanation for the shooting Monday at Central Visual and Performing Arts High School, St. Louis Police Commissioner Michael Sack told reporters. Tenth-grader Alexzandria Bell and 61-year-old physical education teacher Jean Kuczka died and seven students were wounded before police killed Harris in an exchange of gunfire.
Sack read Harris’ note in which the young man lamented that he had no friends, no family, no girlfriend and a life of isolation. Harris called it the “perfect storm for a mass shooter.”
Sack said Harris had ammunition strapped to his chest and in a bag, and that additional magazines were found dumped in stairwells.
“This could have been much worse,” Sack said.
The attack forced students to barricade doors and huddle in classroom corners, jump from windows and run out of the building to seek safety. One girl said she was eye-to-eye with the shooter before his gun apparently jammed and she was able to run out. Several people inside the school said they heard Harris warn, “You are all going to die!”
Harris graduated from the school last year. Sack, speaking at a news conference, urged people to come forward when someone who appears to suffer from mental illness or distress begins “speaking about purchasing firearms or causing harm to others.”
Alexzandria was a bright, charismatic girl with a sassy personality who was working hard to improve her dancing and her grades, said Central’s principal, Kacy Seals-Shahid. She was a member of the school’s junior varsity dance team, her father said.
“Alexzandria was my everything,” her father, Andre Bell, told KSDK-TV. “She was joyful, wonderful and just a great person.”
“She was the girl I loved to see and loved to hear from. No matter how I felt, I could always talk to her and it was alright. That was my baby,” he said.
The morning of the shooting, Alexzandria’s mom brought her daughter’s glasses to the school when she noticed the teenager had left them home. Her mom got to the school before Alexzandria arrived by school bus.
“When Alex got off her bus, I asked her, `Aren’t you going to need these because you can’t see without those?” Seals-Shahid said. “The family was super supportive of Alexzandria.”
Abby Kuczka said her mother was killed when the gunman burst into her classroom and she moved between him and her students.
“My mom loved kids,” Abbey Kuczka told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. “She loved her students. I know her students looked at her like she was their mom.”
The seven injured students are all 15 or 16 years old. Sack said four suffered gunshot or graze wounds, two had bruises and one had a broken ankle — apparently from jumping out of the three-story building. All were listed in stable condition.
The school in south St. Louis was locked, with seven security guards at the doors, St. Louis Schools Superintendent Kelvin Adams said. A security guard initially became alarmed when he saw Harris trying to get in one of the doors. He had a gun and “there was no mystery about what was going to happen. He had it out and entered in an aggressive, violent manner,” Sack said.
That guard alerted school officials and made sure police were contacted.
Harris managed to get inside anyway. Sack declined to say how, saying he didn’t want to “make it easy” for anyone else who wants to break into a school.
Police offered this timeline: A 911 call came in at 9:11 a.m. alerting police of an active shooter. Officers — some off-duty wearing street clothes — arrived at 9:15 a.m.
Police located Harris at 9:23 a.m. on the third floor, where he had barricaded himself inside a classroom. Police said in a news release that when Harris shot at officers, they shot back and broke through the door.
At 9:25 a.m., when Harris pointed his rifle at police, they fired several shots. He was secured by police at 9:32 a.m.
Police said Alexzandria was found in a hallway and died at the scene. Kuczka was found in a classroom and died at a hospital.
Central Visual and Performing Arts shares a building with another magnet school, Collegiate School of Medicine and Bioscience. Central has 383 students, Collegiate 336.
It was the 40th school shooting this year resulting in injuries or death, according to a tally by Education Week — the most in any year since it began tracking shootings in 2018. The deadly attacks include the killings of 19 children and two teachers at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, in May.
Matt Davis, president of the St. Louis Board of Education, said police and school officials acted quickly to Monday’s shooting.
“And yet, we are still left with tragedy,” Davis said.
For now, the survivors are dealing with the trauma.
The gunman pointed his weapon at Raymond Parks, a dance teacher at the school, but did not shoot him, Parks said. The kids in his class escaped outside and Parks stopped traffic and get someone to call the police. They came quickly.
“You couldn’t have asked for better,” Parks said of the police response.
Ashley Rench said she was teaching advanced algebra to sophomores when she heard a loud bang. Then the school intercom announced, “Miles Davis is in the building.”
“That’s our code for intruder,” Rench said.
The gunman tried the door of the classroom but did not force his way in, she said. When police officers started banging, she wasn’t sure at first if it really was law enforcement until she was able to glance out and see officers.
“Let’s go!” she told the kids.
___
Salter reported from O’Fallon, Missouri. Associated Press writers Margaret Stafford and Heather Hollingsworth in Kansas City, Missouri, contributed to this report.
___
This story has been corrected to show that Alexzandria Bell was 15, not 16 as police had previously stated. Police also corrected the spelling of her first name.
Ukraine Trolls Russia on Gift of ‘Thousands of Tons’ of Ammo, Keeps Gaining
The Ukrainian Defense Ministry is mocking the Russian military, saying Ukraine has seized massive troves of munitions that it promises to use against the invading armed forces.
In a sarcastic Twitter post, the ministry said Friday that it had “received thousands of tons of ammunition as a gift” from Russia’s forces over the past week. The ministry’s post follows reports of Ukraine’s success in reclaiming occupied land in the country’s south and northeast. But the “gift” of seized ammunition will be returned to Russia, the ministry added.
“Please note that we do not accept gifts from murderers, torturers, looters, or rapists,” the ministry said in its post. “In the coming days, we will return everything, right down to the last shell.”
JUAN BARRETO/Getty Images
Ukrainian forces have retaken control of most of the northeastern Kharkiv province, including the nearby transportation hub of Izyum, while also advancing around the southern city of Kherson.
The Institute for the Study of War (ISW), a U.S.-based think tank that’s been tracking the counterattack’s progress, said this week that Ukrainian forces have reclaimed about 3,475 square miles (nearly three times the size of Rhode Island) across the country since August 29.
Ukrainian forces took control of Kupyansk, a city in the Kharkiv province on Friday, as they met Russian resistance while pressing forward east of the Oskil River, according to the ISW. In Russia’s bordering Belgorod administrative district, Ukrainian forces continued shelling, reportedly striking a power substation, the ISW said.
The U.K. Ministry of Defense said in its intelligence update this week that Russian forces left behind “high-value equipment” necessary for its “artillery-centric style of warfare.” The abandoned equipment included at least one ZOOPARK counter-battery radar and at least one IV14 artillery command and control vehicle, according to the ministry.
“Such abandonment highlights the disorganised retreat of some Russian units and likely localised breakdowns in command and control,” the U.K. department said.
Air Force Brigadier General Pat Ryder, a spokesman for the Pentagon, called Ukraine’s territorial gains “significant” on Friday during a press briefing.
“What we assess is that the Ukrainians are consolidating their gains after taking back significant territory, and that the Russians are attempting to shore up their defensive lines after having been pushed back,” Ryder said, referring to Ukraine’s gains in the north.
In the country’s south, Ukrainian forces are taking what Ryder characterized as a “deliberate, calculated forward movement as the Russians continue to try to hold that line.”
Ukrainian forces on Friday struck Russia’s administrative headquarters in Kherson, likely using U.S.-provided High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems, or “HIMARS,” according to the ISW.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said Friday he remained committed to the war effort and focused on the Kremlin’s key goal of “the liberation of the entire territory of Donbas” in eastern Ukraine.
Newsweek has reached out to the Russian Ministry of Defense for comment.
Russian Village 9 Miles From Ukraine Sees Ammo Explosions Twice in a Week
A Russian village located about 9 miles from the Ukrainian border has seen two separate instances of ammunition exploding or catching fire nearby in one week, according to local authorities.
Vyacheslav Gladkov, the governor of the Belgorod region in western Russia, wrote on Telegram Tuesday that there was a “spontaneous combustion” of ammunition in the area of a village called Timonovo, according to an English translation. On August 18, Gladkov also announced on Telegram that an ammunition depot near Timonovo had caught fire.
Social media videos were circulating on August 18 that some users, including Ukrainian government official Anton Gerashchenko, said showed a fire and explosions at a Russian ammo depot in Belgorod, but Newsweek was not able to independently verify at the time if the videos showed the same fire that was confirmed by Gladkov.
In Belgorod, whose administrative center is a city with the same name, several mysterious explosions and fires have been reported in the region since the start of the Russia-Ukraine War. Russia blamed Ukraine for one of those instances—when a string of blasts hit dozens of residential buildings in the city of Belgorod in early July—but Ukraine denied involvement.
Vasily Maximov/AFP via Getty Images
On Tuesday, Gladkov pointed away from a potential Ukrainian attack as the cause of the ammunition combustion, saying instead that the blasts were caused by hot weather.
“There were no casualties, but in order to ensure the safety of residents, the head of the Valuysky district organized the transportation and accommodation of residents in the Krasnaya Polyana sanatorium,” he wrote in the Telegram post. “Some of the villagers left on their own to live with relatives in other settlements. I keep the situation under personal control, operational services are working on the spot.”
When Gladkov confirmed the initial fire near Timonovo last week, he said that there were no casualties and authorities were investigating the cause of the blaze. He also wrote in the post that residents of the villages of Timonovo and Soloti, which Reuters reported are located about nine miles from Ukraine, were evacuated to a “safe distance.”
It was not immediately clear if the same ammunition site near Timonovo was the center of both incidents. Newsweek reached out to Russia’s defense ministry for further information and comment.
On August 20, two days after the depot fire, Gladkov wrote on Telegram that specialists were inspecting the territory of Timonovo and three other nearby villages to make sure they were safe for residents.
“After returning, you should be vigilant and careful, do not leave children unattended and be attentive to all suspicious objects!” he wrote.
Gladkov announced two days later that there would be a “yellow” level terrorist threat until September 7 in the Belgorod region. A ban on the launch of firecrackers and fireworks was also extended until that date, he said.
Roddy Ricch busted with firearm, large-capacity ammo mag: NYPD
Grammy-winning rapper Roddy Ricch was busted with a gun – and an extended magazine – at a security checkpoint before he was set to perform at the Governor’s Ball at Citi Field on Saturday night, cops say.
The 23-year-old rapper, whose real name is Rodrick Moore, was in 2020 black Cadillac Escalade with two other men stopped at a security checkpoint around 6:20 p.m. – just hours before the event was set to begin – when an employee with a private security firm hired for the Queens concert spotted the Canik 9mm under a seat, according to police.
Authorities also found an extended magazine that contained nine rounds of ammunition, a police spokesman said.
“The reason we do this checkpoints is for expressly this purpose. We don’t want people introducing guns in this venue,” an NYPD official told The Post on Sunday.
Moore of Los Angeles was charged with criminal possession of a weapon, possession of a large capacity ammunition feeding device and possession of an unlawful feeding device, cops said.
Carlos Collins, 57, of NJ and Michael Figueroa, 46, Brooklyn, are also facing gun charges, cops said.
Moore — who won a Grammy for Best Rap Performance in 2020 and has been nominated for a top music award 10 times — had been set to perform Saturday at the popular event.
US small arms and ammo set to arrive in Ukraine as Pentagon details troops to train country’s military
President Joe Biden approved the package on September 1 as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky visited the White House. The assistance included lethal elements, such as Javelin anti-tank missiles, as well as nonlethal elements, Kirby said.
The security package is designed to bolster Ukraine’s self-defense capability, especially in light of the buildup of Russian forces near the country’s borders. The US has watched the movements with growing concern, and US officials have been in touch with their NATO and European counterparts to coordinate a response should Russian President Vladimir Putin decide to invade Ukraine.
This year, the US has delivered approximately $450 million in security assistance to Ukraine, Kirby said, including the elements arriving this week. Since 2014, when Russia invaded and occupied the Crimean peninsula, the US has provided more than $2.5 billion in aid to Ukraine.
The US military also helps to train Ukrainian forces.
In November, about 150 members of the Florida National Guard’s Task Force Gator deployed to Ukraine as part of the Joint Multinational Training Group-Ukraine, replacing the Washington National Guard. The training group, established in 2015, was designed to improve Ukraine’s defensive capabilities.
In addition to Task Force Gator, Special Operations Command Europe has a “large role” in training and advising Ukrainian special forces through exercises, communication and coordination “at every echelon,” the Pentagon said in a statement Tuesday.
The Pentagon did not disclose how many special forces were in Ukraine because of operational security concerns.
“Training with our Ukrainian partners cultivates trust, fortifies readiness, and develops relationships, which in turn promotes peace and stability throughout Europe,” Pentagon spokesman Lt. Col. Anton Semelroth said in the statement.
The Pentagon would not go into detail about timelines for training, operations or deployments, nor would it say if any schedules have changed in light of the buildup of Russian forces near Ukraine.
Marines from Europe and the region operate throughout the continent for training and exercises, the Pentagon said, and thousands of Marines from II Marine Expeditionary Force will take part next year in the biannual Cold Response exercise in Norway.
US Army Europe and Africa trains in Poland, Lithuania, Romania, Germany, the Netherlands and Greece, while the 4th Security Force Assistance Brigade has rotational teams in Georgia, Latvia, North Macedonia, Poland and Romania.
The Florida National Guard’s 164th Air Defense Artillery Brigade is in Ansbach, Germany.
Rep. Thomas Massie posts family gun photo for Christmas, asks Santa for ammo days after school shooting in Michigan
“Merry Christmas!, ps. Santa, please bring ammo,” read the Saturday tweet by the Republican representative from Kentucky, which showed everyone in the photo holding various types of guns.
The reaction of parents who have lost children in school shootings was swift.
“@RepThomasMassie, since we are sharing family photos, here are mine,” tweeted Fred Guttenberg, whose daughter Jaime was one of 17 people who died in the 2018 shooting at a high school in Parkland, Florida. “One is the last photo that I ever took of Jaime, the other is where she is buried because of the Parkland school shooting.”
Manuel Oliver, whose son Joaquin also died in the Parkland shooting, told CNN’s Jim Acosta Saturday Massie’s tweet is “the worst taste ever.”
“This is also something that should teach us who should we elect and not,” Oliver said. “It’s a very nasty post.”
CNN has reached out to Massie and a spokesperson for the representative for comment but has not yet received a response.
On Tuesday, four students were killed in a shooting at Oxford High School in Michigan, and seven people were wounded. A 15-year-old boy is accused of the shooting and faces murder, terrorism and other charges, and his parents face four counts of involuntary manslaughter in connection with the shooting.
The attack was the deadliest US school shooting since eight students and two teachers were slain in May 2018 at Texas’ Santa Fe High School, according to a CNN tally. There have been 48 shootings this year on K-12 campuses, 32 of them since August 1.