WORLD BRIEFING: September 28, 2023
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has apologized on behalf of Canada's Parliament after a veteran of Adolf Hitler's Nazi forces was included in an event last week honouring Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. "This was a mistake that has deeply embarrassed Parliament and Canada. All of us who were in this House on Friday regret deeply having stood and clapped even though we did so unaware of the context," Trudeau said in a brief statement to reporters. "It was a horrendous violation of the memory of the millions of people who died in the Holocaust," he said, adding the celebration of ex-soldier Yaroslav Hunka was "deeply, deeply painful" to Jewish people, Poles, Roma, the LGBT community and other racialized people in particular — some of the groups that were targeted by the Nazi regime in the Second World War. Trudeau also said that "Canada is deeply sorry" for involving Zelenskyy, who was pictured applauding Hunka — an image that has been exploited by Russian propagandists - CBC
Taiwan unveiled its first domestically developed submarine on Thursday, a major step in a project aimed at strengthening the island's defence and deterrence against the Chinese navy, though it won't enter service for another two years. Taiwan, which China claims as its own territory, has made the indigenous submarine programme a key part of an ambitious project to modernise its armed forces as Beijing stages almost daily military exercises to assert its sovereignty - Reuters
NATO Secretary General Stoltenberg arrived in Kyiv on an unannounced visit and met with President Zelensky, Reuters reports
Russia carried out a big wave of air strikes on three Ukrainian regions early on Thursday in which Ukrainian officials said some attack drones had hit their targets but did not say what was damaged. Ukrainian air defences shot down 34 of 44 incoming "Shahed" drones, the air force said. The strikes targeted the regions of Mykolaiv and Odesa in the south and Kirovohrad in central Ukraine, the military said. As a result of Russian shelling, a power plant in the southern region was damaged, Ukrenergo reported. A total of 404 settlements remain without electricity due to hostilities and other reasons
Israel’s Supreme Court is hearing a challenge to a law that makes it harder to remove a sitting prime minister. Critics say the law is designed to protect Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is on trial for alleged corruption - AP
NATO intends to increase its production of ammunition for Ukraine and the member countries of the Alliance which have supplied a significant portion of their weapons to Kyiv, Julianne Smith, the US Ambassador to NATO, has said. As Voice of America reports, Smith, during the virtual Winning the War, Winning the Peace forum organised by the Center for European Policy Analysis (CEPA), reported that some weapons and ammunition are in short supply because of the hostilities, as the NATO allies have provided Ukraine with everything they could.