Vincent McAviney: UK Correspondent on Ukraine, UK riots

A state of emergency has been declared in the Kursk region of Russia, as a rare cross-border attack by Ukrainian troops continued on Wednesday. 

Taylor Swift has been forced to cancel three concerts in Vienne, Austria, after a bomb and knife attack plot by a teenager who had pledged allegiance to ISIS. 

More marches across the United Kingdom has led to more arrests for disturbances, with tough sentences handed out. 

UK and Europe correspondent Vincent McAviney joins Ryan Bridge on Early Edition to discuss all this and more. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Our UK europe correspondent is Vincent Mekavinni. He's with US
live this morning. A state of emergency has been declared
in the Kursk region in Russia. Vincent, Yes, that's right.

Speaker 2 (00:10):
This is a surprise attack that the Ukrainians have mounted.
We think about a thousand or so Ukrainian troops, supported
by tanks and armored vehicles, crossed the border from Ukraine
into Russia on Tuesday, and some three thousand people have
been evacuated due to ongoing military altercations that have killed

(00:33):
at least for people. According to this Russian region's governor,
this has come as a surprise to the Kreminine. It
is highly embarrassing to Vladimir Pusin. Of course, two and
a half years ago he told his country that this
would be a limited, small operation in Ukraine, it would
be over quickly, and we're still here fighting and now
his own country is being invaded in a surprise attack

(00:54):
from Ukrainian troops. So quite a display of gumption and
ambition from the Ukraine. Uses.

Speaker 1 (01:01):
Certainly, is Taylor swith these concerts that have been canceled,
sounds like these suspicted attackers were very serious.

Speaker 2 (01:09):
Yes, that's right. A nineteen year old who was arrested
on Wednesday apparently was planning to kill a large crowd
of people in a suicide attack at one of the
three concerts taking place in Vienna this weekend. Taylor Swift
was meant to be playing to one hundred and ninety
five thousand people over the three days. Those concerts have
all been canceled. Local media is reporting that the suspect

(01:31):
had stolen chemicals from his formal workplace, that he was
in the process of building a bomb, had materials to
that effect, that he was going to potentially use this device,
but also drive a car into crowds and potentially go
on a stabbing spree as well, so it would have
been horrific. It's very similar to the Ariana Grande attack
that took place here in the UK back in twenty seventeen,

(01:53):
where someone detonated a bomb at that concert venue as
young young woman and their parents were leaving, and would
have been a pretty horrific event. But so far, Taylor
Swift keeping the rest of the era's tok going. She'll
be back in the UK next week being Wembley. She's
got a record eight nights are sold out at Wembley
this summer, so she's coming back to do the rest

(02:15):
of those.

Speaker 1 (02:16):
Yeah, pretty frightening there and you can see why the
authorities have moved to close the concerts down. Thank you
so much for your time, Vincent. Vincent mcavannie are UK
and Europe correspondent.

Speaker 2 (02:25):
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