Today, Ukraine asks for F-16s. President Biden insults President Xi. Rescue crews continue their search for the Titanic sub. Police raid the Paris 2024 Olympic headquarters.
And new polling shows the British Labour Party is still on for a victory at the next general election. From TLDR News, this is your daily briefing for Wednesday the 21st of June 2023. We're now a few weeks into the much anticipated Ukrainian counteroffensive. With the war in Ukraine slowing following the turbulent first few weeks and months, Kiev knew that pushing back against Russia needed to happen at some point.
Some believed that when Zelensky finally did order this counteroffensive, territory would be taken back at a relatively swift rate. This morning, Zelensky shot these assumptions down, claiming that some people believe that this is a Hollywood movie and expect results now. It's not. What's at stake is people's lives.
In explaining some of the reasons why the counteroffensive has been a bit slower than expected, Zelensky pointed out that 200,000 square kilometres have been mined by the Russian forces. Despite the slow progress, Ukraine has managed so far to reclaim eight villages in the southern region of Zaporizhia and in the eastern region of Donetsk. In an interview with the BBC, the Ukrainian president went on to, yet again, call for more US-made F-16 fighter jets. Writing about this request, CNN pointed out that one of the biggest obstacles in the counteroffensive is the success of Russian airpower.
They added that Russia still maintains air superiority, which makes ground-based advances hard. American defence manufacturer Lockheed Martin has already made clear that they're ready to help Ukrainian pilots fly and maintain these F-16 fighter jets if NATO agrees to President Zelensky's request. There's more on the way, but be sure to subscribe and ring the bell to make the daily briefing part of your daily routine, or to search for us on your podcast app to listen along. Only a day after US Secretary of State Antony Blinken met President Xi in Beijing, US President Joe Biden publicly referred to Xi as a dictator at a campaign event in California.
Specifically, the US President made the comment when discussing the spy balloon saga from last year. About this, Biden said, the reason why Xi Jinping got very upset in terms of when I shot that balloon down with two boxcars full of spy equipment in it, it was that he didn't know it was there. That's a great embarrassment for dictators when they don't know what's happened. China's foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said that Biden's remarks were extremely absurd and irresponsible, and that it's an open political provocation.
This spat comes at a particularly inopportune time, as Mr Blinken's visit was the first by a US Secretary of State in almost five years and was supposed to restart high-level communications between the two countries. Following the meeting, Xi said that some progress had been made, while Blinken said that there were still major differences between the two countries. So that's what's been happening in the US today. Let's move and discuss what's been happening in relation to the Titanic sub.
As most news outlets are reporting today, the submersible that has taken passengers to view the wreckage of the Titanic has still not been found. Each hour that passes in which it remains missing increases concern for those on board, as the sub likely has enough oxygen to last only until tomorrow. The US Coast Guard is still looking for the sub, with the Canadian Coast Guard and the US Navy expected to aid the search later today. So far, the Coast Guard has conducted a surface search, with C-130 Hercules aircraft being used to try and detect the sub from the air.
Frank Owen, a former director of the Australian Submarine Escape and Rescue Project, told the BBC that the sub might be able to alert rescuers if it can reach the surface. He claimed that there will be radio transmitters, strobe lights and radar reflectors on board that will help those searching for the vessel to find it. This morning, the US Coast Guard confirmed that it had extended its search into deeper waters, and that sonars had been deployed to try and find it. In some positive news, they claimed to have heard banging sounds from the area.
French officials have raided the Paris 2024 headquarters, conducting searches in relation to two separate corruption investigations. As well as taking place at the Paris 2024 Olympic Committee, also referred to as COJO, raids were also conducted at Solideo, the public office that's in charge of Olympic-related construction sites. The police are investigating allegations that there's been misappropriations of public funds, as well as favoritism being the main factor behind the awarding of contracts by both COJO and Solideo. The first investigation was opened in 2017, the year Paris won the bid, and is looking into contracts signed by several powerful decision makers linked to the games, according to the prosecutor, which includes members of the bidding committee and COJO.
The second investigation was opened in 2022, and is linked to the allegations of conflicts of interest and favoritism. The French sports ministry declined to comment, and the IOC said that the organisers are cooperating fully with the authorities in this matter. The scandal is particularly damaging for the Paris organisers. Next year's games, running between the 16th of July and the 11th of August 2024, with the Paralympics in September, are the first to have an anti-corruption policy, following multiple scandals in previous events.
This includes an official from the 2020 Tokyo games being arrested on multiple bribery charges. It's been reported this morning that the British Labour Party has taken the biggest lead over the Tories in the so-called blue wall since March. The blue wall is a collection of 42 parliamentary constituencies in the south of England which have traditionally voted for the Conservative Party but were opposed to Brexit. Given the direction of the Conservative Party in recent years, it's believed that these seats are valuable to both the Labour Party and the Liberal Democrats.
According to Redfield and Wilson polling from the survey conducted between the June 17th and 18th, the Labour Party leads by about 7% on average in these seats. This comes from the fact that Labour are on 38% and the Tories are on 31%. In more general polling, Labour leader Keir Starmer has been successful in maintaining a Labour lead over the Tories, with it still looking likely that Labour will win a majority at the next general election. Following a chaotic few years for the Tory party, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak will have a difficult task getting his polling numbers back up before the next election.
Estonia has become the first Baltic country to legalise same-sex marriage, potentially heralding a shift in the wider region. A recent poll found that 53% of the population was in favour of the legislation, and the measure was approved by 55 votes in the 101-seat parliament and would go into effect in 2024. However, 38% of Estonians consider homosexuality wrong, and the ethnic Russian minority, a quarter of the population, is only 40% supportive. Still, the bill's passage is regarded as a big step forward for the region as a whole, with Latvia and Lithuania still debating same-sex marriage legislation in their parliaments.
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