To stay or risk the 'Road of Death' - Ukrainian civilians trapped in frontline city6 minutes agoJessica Parker,in KyivandPaul Brown,BBC VerifyTelegramPeople in Oleshky say fresh food supplies are rare and they have to rely on volunteers and aid groups"The road is mined.
5 minutes agoFan WangAFP via Getty ImagesLi Shangfu served as the defence minister from March to October 2023Two former Chinese defence ministers have been handed suspended death sentences on corruption charges, according to state media.A military court on Thursday sentenced Wei Fenghe and Li Shangfu to death with a two-year reprieve. This means their death sentences will be commuted to life imprisonment after two years, without the possibility of sentence reduction or parole, Xinhua reports. Both men were found guilty of bribery, and all of their personal assets were confiscated.The announcement follows the recent ousting of several top military figures in the country amid a sweeping anti corruption crackdown. Wei served as defence minister from 2018 to 2023 and was replaced by Li in March 2023.Li's tenure as defence minister was much shorter. He was dismissed in October 2023, two months after he suddenly disappeared from public life, sparking speculation of his removal.Reuters news agency quoted past reports in Xinhua which said that Li had been suspected of receiving "huge sums of money" in bribes as well as bribing others, adding that an investigation found he "did not fulfil political responsibilities" and "sought personal benefits for himself and others".Meanwhile, an investigation launched into Wei in 2023 is reported to have similarly found that he had accepted "a huge amount of money and valuables" in bribes and "helped others gain improper benefits in personnel arrangements".In February, Chinese President Xi Jinping made a rare public reference to the military crackdown that also recently saw the removal of the country's top military general, Zhang Youxia. Xi said at the time that the army had "undergone revolutionary tempering in the fight against corruption".Since coming to power, President Xi has launched waves of anti-corruption drives, which critics say have also been used as a tool to purge political rivals.
To stay or risk the 'Road of Death' - Ukrainian civilians trapped in frontline city6 minutes agoJessica Parker,in KyivandPaul Brown,BBC VerifyTelegramPeople in Oleshky say fresh food supplies are rare and they have to rely on volunteers and aid groups"The road is mined. So, we're stuck here," says Ludmilla, over the phone from the rooftop of a fire-damaged house in southern Ukraine. "People are trying their best to survive."Her frontline home city of Oleshky has, according to multiple accounts, been largely cut off from fresh supplies of food or medicine for months.Ludmilla describes being trapped there, and watching it decaying before her eyes.Ukraine's commissioner for human rights has warned of a "humanitarian crisis."Some recent deliveries do seem to have gone through, organised by volunteers or aid groups. Photos seen by the BBC show a crowd of people, many of them elderly, apparently fetching fresh supplies in a city square.A relief even if prices were high, says Ludmilla, as people have had to forage for food in the abandoned homes of neighbours. Ludmilla is not her real name. Her name and the names of other residents who have spoken to the BBC have been changed to protect their identities.Pasta and tinned goods, she tells us, have become a key staple for the roughly 2,000 remaining population.Any attempt to leave Oleshky, say locals, is to gamble with your life along what's been dubbed "The Road of Death" - due to reports of heavy mining.Oleshky is imprisoned by both geography and war; cut off by a river and wrecked bridges to the north – and dangerous or impassable roads inland.All the while it is caught in the crossfire of opposing armies.The city lies on the left or east bank of the Dnipro river and has been under Russian occupation since the Kremlin launched its full-scale invasion.Ukrainian troops are dug in on the other side of the river, just outside Kherson - the big city they recaptured in November 2022, driving the Russians back across the river.Residents, volunteers and officials report that, as last winter set in, snowfall made the danger points harder to see amid intensified mining.The snow is gone but the mines, people fear, are still there.Despite the dangers, there have been some successful, recent evacuations along the 'Road of Death', south-west along the route of the Dnipro river."Leaving Oleshky, everyone prayed to God that we wouldn't hit a mine," says Volodymyr, who's in his 50s.Terrorised by drones and traumatised by seeing his neighbour's body carted away after she was hit by shelling, he says his family finally took the decision to leave."None of us could endure it any longer."Volodymyr recounts being driven out in an ambulance in an evacuation arranged by volunteers. Even that was horrifying."The entire highway from Oleshky to Hola Prystan' is littered with burnt-out cars. Some of them burned with people still inside."Satellite footage of what is dubbed "the road of death"Satellite imagery from November shows at least eight damaged vehicles on a 1km stretch of the road heading out of Oleshky towards Kardashynka, which is on the way to Hola Prystan'.There is also what seems to be a large scorch mark on the road between Kardashynka and Hola Prystan' which first appeared sometime in late January.Verified footage from the same period shows a badly damaged vehicle which appears to have veered off the road; possibly corresponding to claims that vehicles, such as ambulances, have been blown up or strayed onto mines.Similar scenes are replicated along the E97 road to the east of the city, although satellite imagery suggests the damage there dates back much further.Small trench networks are visible at intersections on approaches to the city, indicating the area is militarized, but these have also been in place for many months.The BBC has been in contact with seven people who tell us they are either still in Oleshky or recently evacuated.The accounts we have gathered are through phone calls or messaging
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