Ukraine
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Biden proposes $33 bn package for Ukraine, targets Russian oligarchs
US President Joe Biden has proposed a huge $33 billion package for arming and supporting Ukraine, saying that "caving" in to Russia is not an option for the West as the war stretches into a third month.
Speaking in the White House, Mr Biden also outlined proposed new laws to allow using luxury assets stripped from Russian oligarchs under unprecedented sanctions to compensate Ukraine for the destruction wreaked by the invading Russians.
He acknowledged the dramatic costs of US backing for Ukraine, but said there was no real choice in the struggle with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
"The cost of this fight is not cheap. But caving to aggression is going to be more costly if we allow it to happen," he said. -
Stop 'idle' nuclear threats - Biden
US President Joe Biden blasts Moscow for "idle comments" on the possible use of nuclear weapons in the Ukraine conflict, saying such talk showed Russia's "desperation".
His comments come a day after Russian President Vladimir Putin warned that if Western forces intervene in Ukraine, they will face a "lightning-fast" military response, saying "We have all the tools for this."
Mr Biden says the United States is "not attacking Russia" despite Moscow's "disturbing rhetoric".
The US President also says his country will not let Russia use "gas blackmail" to pressure European allies and to undermine sanctions placed on Moscow for its invasion of Ukraine.
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Russia strikes on Kyiv aimed at humiliating UN: Zelensky
Russian strikes that hit a residential neighbourhood in Kyiv as the UN's secretary general was visiting were an attempt "to humiliate" the global body, President Volodymyr Zelensky said.
"Today, immediately after the end of our talks in Kyiv, Russian missiles flew into the city. Five rockets. And this says a lot... about the Russian leadership's efforts to humiliate the UN and everything that the organisation represents," Mr Zelensky said, adding that it required "a correspondingly powerful reaction". -
UN is the most useless organization ever . I wish it would just dissolve
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Russia wants to capture fighters in Mariupol steel works, local governor says
Russia is preventing wounded Ukrainian fighters from being evacuated from a vast steel works in the southern city of Mariupol because it wants to capture them, the local governor said this evening.
Pavlo Kyrylenko, governor of the eastern region of Donetsk, said Russia was also blocking efforts to arrange humanitarian corridors elsewhere in Donetsk but that Russian forces were being held back across his region.
Hundreds of fighters and some civilians are holed up in the Azovstal steel works, their last redoubt in Mariupol. Russian forces have been pummelling the factory after laying siege to Mariupol for weeks, but President Vladimir Putin has said the plant need not be stormed.
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Day 65:
UK deploys 8,000 troops to Europe to deter 'Russian aggression'
The UK government said it was deploying about 8,000 troops for exercises across eastern Europe in a show of strength after Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
The months-long drills in countries stretching from Finland to North Macedonia also involve allies including France and the United States, defence officials said in a statement.Britain is deploying 72 Challenger 2 tanks and 120 armoured fighting vehicles along with artillery guns, helicopters and drones for the exercises, some of which are already under way.
"The security of Europe has never been more important," Defence Secretary Ben Wallace said, calling it "one of the largest shared deployments since the Cold War". -
Russia says struck Kyiv rocket plant with missiles
Russia's defence ministry said that its forces had destroyed the production facilities of a space-rocket plant in the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv with high precision long-range missiles.
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UK sends war crimes experts to Ukraine - Foreign Office
Britain said it was sending experts to help Ukraine with gathering evidence and prosecuting war crimes, with a team due to arrive in Poland in early May.
"Russia has brought barbarity to Ukraine and committed vile atrocities, including against women. British expertise will help uncover the truth and hold (Russian President Vladimir) Putin's regime to account for its actions," Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said. -
As war rages in Ukraine, more than a thousand miles away in Bosnia observers are warning that Russia is fanning the embers of separatism which could spell trouble for the deeply divided Balkan country.
Since the end of the war that claimed around 100,000 lives between 1992 and 1995, Bosnia has been split between a Muslim-Croat federation and a Serb entity - known as Republika Srpska.
There are growing fears the arrangement that has kept the peace in Bosnia for decades may be at risk.Bosnia's Serb leader Milorad Dodik - who has made no secret about his admiration and close ties with Russian President Vladimir Putin - has been increasingly vocal about his secessionist aims, a move widely believed to have the backing of the Kremlin.
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The latest sounding of the alarm over the situation came from US Democratic Senator Chris Murphy, who warned of a "very worrying time for Bosnia" during a recent tour of the Balkans.
"As Putin gets backed into a corner, he is going to look for other places to try to score victories. And one of them may be Bosnia," he told CNN.
For decades, Russia has fostered vital relationships in the Balkans to maintain leverage in Europe, especially in countries with large Orthodox populations like Serbia, Montenegro, and Bosnia.
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Poland has revealed it has sent 200 tanks to Ukraine, a much higher number than originally thought.
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Russian submarine strikes Ukraine with cruise missiles - defence ministry
Russia used a diesel submarine in the Black Sea to strike Ukrainian military targets with Kalibr cruise missiles, the first time Moscow has announced the use of its submarine fleet to hit its former Soviet neighbour.
The Russian defence ministry released a video showing a volley of Kalibr missiles emerging from the sea and soaring off into the horizon - to what the ministry said were Ukrainian military targets.
This is the first time Russia's military has reported using submarine strikes against Ukrainian targets, Interfax news agency reported.
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Poland ready to guard Slovakian airspace
Poland is ready to guard Slovakia's airspace when its MiG-29 jets are grounded, defence ministers of the two NATO member countries said today, opening the way for a possible delivery of the Soviet-made planes to Ukraine.
Slovakia, which operates 12 MiG-29 planes, said earlier this month that it would consider providing the jets to help Ukraine defend itself against invading Russian forces if alternative protection of its own air space could be arranged.
"I got a confirmation that Poland is ready to take care of Slovakia's air space from the moment Slovakia decides to ground the Mig-29 jets," Slovak Defence Minister Jaroslav Nad told a joint news conference with his Polish counterpart.
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Germany has berated Russia for carrying out an air strike on Kyiv during a visit by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, calling it "inhumane".
"We strongly condemn the Russian missile attack on Kyiv while... Guterres was in talks yesterday," government spokesman Wolfgang Buechner said, accusing Russia of having "no respect whatsoever for international law".
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Russia expected to declare war
Russia is expected to declare war on Ukraine on May 9th, a day of celebration in Russia of the nazi surrender, in an escalation of the ‘special military operation’.
Russia implents Roubles
Russia has implemented its rouble currency in captured areas of Ukraine according to Al Jazera reports.
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Israel demands apology after Lavrov’s Hitler comments
Israel denounced Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov today for suggesting that the Nazi leader Adolf Hitler had Jewish origins, saying his comments were anti-Semitic and dangerous.
Israeli Foreign Ministry Yair Lapid said the Russian ambassador would be summoned for "a tough talk" over the assertion, which Mr Lavrov made yesterday in an interview with Italian television."It is an unforgivable, scandalous statement, a terrible historical mistake, and we expect an apology," Mr Lapid told the YNet news website.
During an interview with Italy's Rete 4 channel, Mr Lavrov was asked how Russia could say it needed to "denazify" Ukraine, when the country's president, Volodymyr Zelensky, was Jewish. -
"When they say 'What sort of nazification is this if we are Jews', well I think that Hitler also had Jewish origins, so it means nothing," Mr Lavrov said, speaking through an Italian interpreter.
"For a long time now we've been hearing the wise Jewish people say that the biggest anti-Semites are the Jews themselves," he added.
Israel has expressed repeated support for Ukraine. But wary of straining relations with Russia, a power-broker in neighbouring Syria, it initially avoided direct criticism of Moscow and has not enforced formal sanctions on Russian oligarchs.
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Russia says it bombed US and European weapons near Odesa
Russia has struck a military airfield near Ukraine's southwestern city of Odesa with missiles, destroying drones, missiles and ammunition supplied to Ukraine by the United States and its European allies, the defence ministry said.
"High-precision Onyx missiles struck a logistics centre at a military airfield in the Odesa region through which foreign weapons were being delivered," the defence ministry said."Hangars containing unmanned Bayraktar TB2 drones, as well as missiles and ammunition from the US and European countries, were destroyed," it said.
Russian missiles and artillery also struck various military targets across Ukraine, including command centres, arsenals, and a S-300 anti-aircraft missile system. -
Russian Propaganda
Former UK ambassador to Belarus John Everard said that Russia does not have a weapon that could wipe out Britain and Ireland, which was shown in a mock-up on Russian TV over the weekend.
Speaking on RTÉ's Today with Claire Byrne, he said: "The Russians do not have this weapon. I'll say that again they do not have this weapon."I think that everyone can sleep quite calmly in their beds tonight. Not afraid that they're going to wake up dripping wet with radioactive seawater."
Mr Everard criticised Russian propaganda saying "it's part of a pattern of really nasty Russian threats against most of the civilised world and not just the UK and Ireland.
"I think this shows a deep, deep Russian frustration with the humiliation that they're suffering in Ukraine...and by a country much, much smaller than it is and frankly being made look completely ridiculous." -
Putin signs decree on new retaliatory sanctions against West
Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a decree on retaliatory economic sanctions in response to the "unfriendly actions of certain foreign states and international organisations", the Kremlin said.
According to the decree, Russia will forbid the export of products and raw materials to people and entities that it has sanctioned.
The decree also prohibits transactions with foreign individuals and companies hit by Russia's retaliatory sanctions and permits Russian counterparties not to fulfill obligations towards them. -
Russia begining to destroy Mariupol steelworks
Russian troops have started shelling and bombing the Azovstal steel plant in Ukraine's southern port city of Mariupol, according to Moscow's RIA news agency.
The agency quoted the Russian Defence Ministry as saying the attack happened after "Ukrainian soldiers used a ceasefire to take move into firing positions" there.
"A ceasefire was declared, civilians had to be evacuated from Azovstal territory. Azov and Ukrainian servicemen, who are stationed on the plant, took advantage of it."They came out of the basement, they took up firing positions on the territory and in the factory buildings," RIA cited the ministry as saying.
"Now units of the Russian army and the Donetsk People's Republic, using artillery and aviation, are beginning to destroy these firing positions," the ministry said. -
UN says 101 people evacuated from Mariupol steel plant
A UN humanitarian official said today that it had successfully evacuated some 101 people from the Azovstal steel plant, saying that most of the evacuees were in Zaporizhzhia, where they are receiving humanitarian assistance.
"Thanks to the operation, 101 women, men, children, and older persons could finally leave the bunkers below the Azovstal steelworks and see the daylight after two months," Osnat Lubrani, UN humanitarian coordinator for Ukraine, said in a statement sent to journalists.
The International Committee of the Red Cross, which was also involved in the safe passage operation, released a parallel statement saying some 100 people from the Mariupol plant area had reached Zaporizhzhia today. Among them were some wounded, it added.
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Putin demands end to Ukraine arms deliveries
- Russian President Vladimir Putin tells French counterpart Emmanuel Macron the West must stop supplying weapons to Ukraine and accused Kyiv of not taking talks to end the conflict seriously, the Kremlin says.
Accusing Ukrainian forces of committing war crimes, Mr Putin tells Macron "the West could help stop these atrocities by putting relevant pressure on the Kyiv authorities, as well as halting the supply of weapons to Ukraine."
Johnson salutes Ukraine, promises fresh aid
- British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has announced another $376 million in UK military aid for Ukraine and hailed the country's resistance to Russia as its "finest hour."
In a video link address to the Ukrainian parliament, the first by a foreign leader since Russia invaded on 24 February, Mr Johnson said the Ukrainians were fighting "with the energy and courage of lions."
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Slovakia to repair damaged Ukrainian military equipment
A Slovak company will repair damaged Ukrainian military equipment following a request from Kyiv, the defence ministry said today.
The state-run Konstrukta-Defence firm has "concluded a contract with the Ukrainian side on repairing and modernising Ukrainian military technology," defence ministry spokeswoman Martina Koval Kakascikova said.The first lot will consist of dozens of BRDM-2 armoured reconnaissance vehicles.
Slovak Prime Minister Eduard Heger and Defence Minister Jaroslav Nad earlier declared their willingness to help Ukraine with damaged weaponry."We were asked by Ukraine whether our companies would be able to repair damaged Ukrainian equipment. That is, the damaged equipment would come to Slovakia, we would repair it and the equipment would return to Ukraine, " Mr Nad said in early April.
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Based in Lieskovec in eastern Slovakia, Konstrukta-Defence repairs vehicles and military technology of all categories used by Slovak armed forces, according to the company´s website.
The company also produces self-propelled gun howitzers. -
Belarus launches 'surprise' military manoeuvres
Belarus, a Moscow ally that shares a border with Ukraine, launched "surprise" military manoeuvres, to test the reactive capacity of its army, its defence ministry said.
Belarus military units were testing their capacity to "go on the alert, move to predetermined zones and undertake combat training," the ministry said in a statement."The aim is to evaluate the readiness and ability of troops to react rapidly to a possible crisis," it continued, describing the manoeuvres as a "surprise" exercise.
It published photos of columns of vehicles, including tanks, moving along roads. -
Ukraine does not exclude possibility Belarus could join Russian war effort
Kyiv does not rule out the possibility that Moscow could at some point use the armed forces of Russian ally Belarus in the war against Ukraine, as pokesperson for the Ukrainian State Border Service said.
Speaking after the Belarusian armed forces began large-scale drills, spokesperson Andriy Demchenko said: "We do not rule out that the Russian Federation could at some point use the territory of Belarus, the Armed Forces of the Republic of Belarus, against Ukraine. Therefore, we are ready."
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EU proposes Russian oil ban over war in Ukraine
European Union countries will stop importing Russian oil and refined products, the head of the bloc's executive European Commission said in proposing a sixth round of sanctions against Moscow.
"We will phase out Russian supply of crude oil within six months and refined products by the end of the year," Ursula von der Leyen told the European Parliament."This will be a complete import ban on all Russian oil, seaborne and pipeline, crude and refined.
"It will not be easy. Some member states are strongly dependent on Russian oil. But we simply have to work on it," Ms von der Leyen said of the proposal, which requires approval from all 27 EU countires to take effect. -
EU to ban three Russian state-owned broadcasters - von der Leyen
The European Union will ban three Russian state-owned broadcasters as part of a sixth sanctions package.
"They will not be allowed to distribute their content anymore in the European Union, in whatever shape or form, be it on cable, via satellite, on the internet or via smartphone apps," European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen told MEPs.She called the TV channels "mouthpieces that amplify (Russian President Vladimir) Putin's lies and propaganda aggressively".
"We should not give them a stage anymore to spread these lies," she added. -
EU to sanction Russian lenders Credit Bank of Moscow, Russian Agricultural Bank - source
The European Commission has proposed to sanction Russian lenders Credit Bank of Moscow and the Russian Agricultural Bank, an EU source told Reuters.
Earlier, EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said that Sberbank would also be sanctioned. EU governments need to back the proposal before it is adopted.
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