News round-up, Wednesday, November 16, 2022.
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“Joe Biden questioned the possibility that the missile that hit Poland on Tuesday, in a rural region bordering Ukraine, was launched from Russia. “There is preliminary information that contradicts that,” he said in a meeting with reporters after a meeting with G20 leaders in Bali, where they discussed Russia’s shelling of Ukraine and the incident on Polish territory. “I don’t want to say it until we have fully investigated it. But it’s unlikely, because of the trajectory, that it was launched by Russia. We will see.””
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UK inflation hits 11.1%, a four-decade high, on the back of soaring energy prices
After millions of British households were hit hard by rising energy bills and an escalating cost of living, the UK's soaring inflation is even higher than feared and hits the poorest families the hardest.
Le Monde with AFP
Published on November 16, 2022 at 09h25
British inflation has accelerated to the highest level for 41 years, driven by soaring energy, food and transport prices in a worsening cost-of-living crisis, official data showed on Wednesday, November 16.
The Consumer Prices Index hit 11.1% in October, reaching the highest level since 1981, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said in a statement. That compared with 10.1% in September, which matched the level in July and was the highest in 40 years.
Domestic fuel bills rocketed further despite the UK government's energy price freeze as the market faced fresh fallout from key producer Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
The October figure beat market expectations of 10.7% and was higher than the Bank of England's (BoE) forecast peak.
"Rising gas and electricity prices drove headline inflation to its highest level for over 40 years, despite the Energy Price Guarantee," said ONS Chief Economist Grant Fitzner.
Over the last year, gas prices have leapt by 130% and electricity prices by 66%, according to the ONS. Food prices and transport costs also propelled inflation higher.
Runaway inflation comes despite Britain's energy support, which sought to limit annual energy bills at an average of £2,500 per year. Finance minister Jeremy Hunt, speaking on the eve of his key government budget, blamed Russian President Vladimir Putin's war in Ukraine for spiking prices, as well as fallout from the pandemic. "The aftershock of Covid and Putin's invasion of Ukraine is driving up inflation in the UK and around the world," Mr. Hunt said.
"This insidious tax is eating into pay cheques, household budgets and savings, while thwarting any chance of long-term economic growth."
The Ukraine conflict has also sent inflation soaring to the highest level in decades worldwide, sparking economic turmoil and forcing major central banks to ramp up interest rates.
The Bank of England this month sprang its biggest interest rate hike since 1989 to combat sky-high inflation – and warned the UK economy may experience a record-long recession until mid-2024.
The BoE said it was lifting borrowing costs by 0.75 percentage points to three percent – the highest level since the 2008 global financial crisis – to cool UK inflation that it saw peaking at almost 11%.
Mr. Hunt added on Wednesday that "tough" decisions would be needed in Thursday's budget to help the BoE meet its 2.0% inflation target. "We cannot have long-term, sustainable growth with high inflation," he said.
Le Monde with AFP
NATO to Meet After Deadly Blast in Poland
Here’s what we know:
The Kremlin denies involvement in an explosion that killed two people near Poland’s border with Ukraine.
NATO envoys will gather as the explosion in Poland alarms the alliance.
Here is what officials are saying about the explosion in Poland.
China affirms ties with Russia but signals it is becoming more guarded about the war.
The C.I.A. director holds talks in Ukraine for the second time in two months.
NATO envoys will gather as the explosion in Poland alarms the alliance.
A day after a deadly explosion in Poland raised anxieties that Russia’s war in Ukraine could spill into the territory of a NATO member, representatives of the alliance planned to meet on Wednesday morning in Brussels to discuss the blast.
The explosion on Tuesday, in a farming village about four miles from the Ukrainian border, killed two people, according to Poland’s government. The leaders of Ukraine, which is not in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, called the incident an intentional Russian strike on a NATO member. But the Kremlin denied involvement, and no evidence has emerged that the strike was intentional, or that Russia was responsible.
The United States and its allies offered their “full support and assistance” for the Polish investigation into the blast.
While the Polish Foreign Ministry said the missile was Russian-made, the country’s president, Andrzej Duda, told reporters, “It was most likely a Russian-made missile, but this is all still under investigation at the moment.” Both Ukraine and Russia use Soviet-era Russian made missiles.
President Biden said on Wednesday that initial information about the missile’s trajectory suggested that it was “unlikely” that it was fired from Russia. But it was unclear from the president’s remarks whether he meant the missile had probably not been fired from inside Russia’s territorial borders, or had probably not been fired by Russian forces in Ukraine or elsewhere.
President Biden expressed sympathy for the two people who died in an explosion near Poland’s border with Ukraine but suggested that the missile that detonated there had probably not been fired from Russia.CreditCredit...Doug Mills/The New York Times
Mr. Biden spoke to reporters on the Indonesian island of Bali after attending an emergency meeting of leaders from NATO and the Group of 7 nations on the sidelines of a Group of 20 summit. That summit has been dominated by the war in Ukraine and its effects on the global economy, with Mr. Biden and allied leaders repeating on Tuesday their denunciations of Russia’s invasion. Russia’s president, Vladimir V. Putin, skipped the summit.
The explosion in Poland happened on a day when Russia unleashed one of its broadest barrages of aerial strikes against Ukraine since its invasion began in February, firing about 90 missiles at targets across the country, primarily electrical infrastructure.
Russia’s Defense Ministry insisted that it had not fired at targets near the Polish border. But Russian rocket strikes were reported in Ukraine’s Volyn region, which lies across the border from Przewodow, the Polish village where the blast occurred.
The New York Times
Military analysts noted that both the Russian and Ukrainian militaries could be using Russian-made missiles, leaving open a number of possible causes for the explosion. It could have involved a Russian missile that flew off course or was knocked off its trajectory by an intercepting Ukrainian air defense missile, or a missile fired by Ukraine to shoot down an incoming Russian strike.
Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, said that he believed “this has nothing to do with Russia.” He told a news conference in Bali: “Maybe this is a technical mistake, or any other explanation will be found.”
The United Nations’ secretary general, António Guterres, said he was “very concerned” by the explosion. “It is absolutely essential to avoid escalating the war in Ukraine,” he said in a statement.
Since the beginning of the war, the United States and its allies have sought to keep the fighting limited to Ukrainian territory and to avoid direct confrontation with Russia, even as NATO members have supplied a steady stream of weapons to Kyiv.
But if the explosion is determined to have been a deliberate attack, it could have broad consequences. Article 5 of the NATO charter commits its members to mutual defense, stating that an attack on one is an attack on all. That could be taken as requiring a concerted response to the blast in Poland. President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine, eager for more NATO support, said Tuesday that Russia had committed an “attack on collective security,” hinting at Article 5.
Under Article 4 of the charter, any member country can request a formal consultation among all members on an issue of concern. A spokesman for the Polish government had said that it was considering invoking the provision.
Late on Tuesday, the U.S. defense secretary, Lloyd J. Austin III, and the secretary of state, Antony J. Blinken, spoke with their Polish counterparts. Mr. Austin assured Poland’s defense minister “of the ironclad commitment of the United States to defend Poland,” according to a statement provided by the Pentagon.
Farnaz Fassihi, Edward Wong, Eric Schmitt, Chris Buckley and Jim Tankersley contributed reporting.
— Richard Pérez-Peña and Shashank Bengali
Here is what officials are saying about the explosion in Poland.
An explosion in Poland near the border with Ukraine on Tuesday sparked immediate and conflicting explanations from governments grappling with the potential for Russia’s war in Ukraine to spill over into a broader conflict.
Here is a look at what nations involved are saying:
Poland
President Andrzej Duda said the cause of the explosion was “most likely a Russian-made missile” but that it was still under investigation. Mr. Duda said it was “highly likely” that he would invoke Article 4 of the NATO charter, under which members confer when a nation’s territorial integrity or security has been threatened.
Zbigniew Rau, Poland’s foreign minister, summoned Russia’s ambassador to demand “immediate detailed explanations” for the blast, according to a statement from the ministry.
Russia
Russia’s Defense Ministry denied involvement. On Telegram, the ministry wrote that any statements by Polish officials or media outlets about Russian missiles hitting the village were a “deliberate provocation.” Russia launched a widespread missile attack on Ukraine on Tuesday, with roughly 90 missiles aimed primarily at the country’s electrical infrastructure.
“No strikes on targets near the Ukrainian-Polish state border were made,” the ministry said, although Ukrainian reports disputed that account.
Ukraine
The explosion’s proximity to the border — about four miles — has raised the possibility that it was caused by the remains of a missile shot down by Ukraine’s air defense systems, or by a Ukrainian air defense missile. Both Russia and Ukraine are believed to use Russian-made missiles.
Ukraine’s foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, said in a Twitter post that the explosion in Poland was not caused by a Ukrainian air defense missile.
Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, seized on the possibility of Russian involvement and called it evidence of “a very significant escalation.” He alluded to Poland’s membership in NATO by saying Russia had waged an “attack on collective security.”
United States
Speaking on the sidelines of the Group of 20 meeting in Indonesia, President Biden said that “preliminary information” indicated the missile had not been fired from Russia, without addressing whether it could have been launched by Russian troops in Ukraine or from the Black Sea. In response to a reporter’s question, he said, “I don’t want to say that until we completely investigate,” but “the trajectory” of the missile made it unlikely “that it was fired from Russia.”