Tag: Ukraine

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International travel tips from a reporter covering the war in Ukraine | World News

International travel tips from a reporter covering the war in Ukraine | World News

At Bloomberg Pursuits, we appreciate to journey. And we usually want to make confident we’re undertaking it right. So we’re speaking to globe-trotters in all of our luxury fields — food items, wine, sporting activities, vehicles, genuine estate — to study about their significant-finish hacks, tips, and off-the-wall encounters. These are the Distinguished Journey Hackers.

Trey Yingst, 29, joined Fox Information as a Jerusalem-centered international correspondent five a long time in the past, and since then he’s attained accolades for reporting almost everywhere from the Hamas-managed Gaza Strip to the front traces of Kyiv. He was a precocious talent even in college or university, when he established News2Share, an on the internet media outlet, prior to landing his task at Fox.

He logged a lot more than 70,000 miles on the highway past 12 months, traveling by plane, educate and vehicle. “This past calendar year, I’ve logged a good deal extra miles on the ground, simply because I’ve been in Ukraine for half the calendar year,” he says. “It’s a huge place, and most of the time we fly to Warsaw, then cross the border into Ukraine for the seven-hour generate to Kyiv.” The eastern front is a additional 7 to 12 hours. When he flies, Yingst depends on United, since it products and services many important US hubs from Tel Aviv, where he now life.

These are his vacation strategies.

Why you must use for a next passport.

I have two U.S. passports. I need to have them due to the fact I am primarily based in Tel Aviv. In get to function in Israel, I have to have a perform visa. But I normally journey to sites like Lebanon, Afghanistan or Iraq, nations that do not have friendly relations with Israel or think about it an enemy state. So I use what’s referred to as a clean passport. It is what my second a single serves as. To get 1, you have to fill out a special application, the DS-82.

A second also makes it possible for you to use a person passport to procedure paperwork, like finding a visa for a nation though you’re traveling on the other a single. It also presents you overall flexibility. I had to ship my passport right away to our bureau in London the moment, due to the fact I required an Afghanistan visa though Kabul was slipping. There is no embassy there. When I notify people I have two passports, in many cases they say, “Wow, I wish I could get a next a single.” I generally explain to them, “You can. You just have to implement.” It’s not a mystery.

I grew up traveling really a bit, and I went to some intriguing places as a boy or girl. My grandmother went to Easter Island. My relatives assumed the best way to teach us was to journey. I have a twin sister, and as children we would do these workbooks that ended up sent in the mail about different nations around the world: Highlights Leading Magic formula Adventures. They would have coloring, details, trivia. I usually cherished the Egypt a person, so when I turned 16, we went there. It’s my favorite region now, because I like the pyramids, and in large section because of people journey publications.

Make an advertisement hoc alarm in any lodge place with quickly obtainable goods.

If I’m keeping somewhere and I’m concerned about the floor security, I spot a drinking water bottle from the place following to the doorway and balance a small merchandise on it—a digital camera battery, for instance, or a Tv set remote. That way, if a person opens the doorway even though I’m sleeping, I’ll listen to the battery acquiring knocked off the bottle.

I started accomplishing that when I was in Gaza. I was involved that another person would appear into my area even if I had locked the door. It’s not just relevant in war zones, possibly. Anyone touring any where in the entire world is aware of that inns can be notoriously unsafe. Even if you have a “Do Not Disturb” indication on the door, it doesn’t cease a employees member from moving into. This is a makeshift alarm that enables me to sleep greater.

Packing this tiny product is like obtaining a second pair of hands.

I applied to do rock climbing very a little bit in faculty. When I first bought into journalism, I set off all over the world on my own, to find out about the craft. I took a carabiner with me, which my dad suggested. And I’ve usually taken one at any time due to the fact: Clip it to your belt buckle, your backpack, and it’s definitely like an more established of hands.

In May well 2021, there ended up protests in Jerusalem in between Israeli protection forces and Palestinians. Israel and Gaza went to war for about 11 times. We rushed to the scene when there was breaking news, and I was making an attempt to grab my camera, but I also experienced my gasoline mask, so I clipped it to my carabiner. Throughout the clashes, the protection forces fired tear gas and I necessary the mask. It’s also a way of attaching your backpack to your rolling baggage.

Technological innovation is fantastic, but normally hold an analog backup, way too.

Compose your vital quantities down. Don’t just maintain them in your mobile phone. Place them on a slip of paper, and put that in your passport, so that if you eliminate your cellphone, you have the crisis amount to get in touch with: a U.S. Embassy, for case in point.

Select the correct resort and you could possibly get into a time equipment.

My most loved resort is the Sheraton Grand Doha. It has an early 1980s search — I like to be in areas that transportation you back in time. If you go to the Willard Intercontinental in Washington, it has a related come to feel when you wander into the foyer. It will take you to a unique period. To me, that’s a great addition to a journey.

Keep in mind that there is far more to history than just reveals in museums.

I wished to be just like Indiana Jones, so I would dig holes in my backyard. When you go somewhere like Egypt, remember that so a lot of it is nevertheless to be uncovered — they obtain new items all the time. So if you’re fascinated in heritage, go see lively archaeological digs. I imagine which is truly interesting. You can inquire at your lodge or the area museum about digs that are underway.

Why even nonsmokers may possibly want to pack some cigarettes.

I’ve identified that when I’m traveling, cigarettes are something that can bridge gaps in conversation. People really like American cigarettes, especially Marlboro Reds. A carton or a number of packs of cigarettes in your bag can serve as an icebreaker, whether you are at a checkpoint or whether you are just traveling in a region and you never know any one, and you want to strike up a conversation and you see another person using tobacco. It is primarily accurate in the Middle East, in which much more men and women even now smoke, and in Ukraine, for case in point — men and women particularly were being inquiring soldiers about American cigarettes.

And each time I occur throughout a spot that sells American flag patches or pins, I obtain them. If I’m in a location where by persons are not hostile with People, I’ll give someone one of them. If you can carry one thing small from your lifestyle, it’s an icebreaker.

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G7 diplomats to grapple with Ukraine, China, N. Korea crises

G7 diplomats to grapple with Ukraine, China, N. Korea crises

TOKYO (AP) — Russian threats to nuke Ukraine. China’s belligerent armed service moves all around rival Taiwan. North Korea’s unparalleled operate of missile screening.

The major diplomats from some of the world’s most effective democracies will have a lot to talk about when they assemble in the very hot spring resort town of Karuizawa on Sunday for the so-named Group of Seven international ministers’ conference.

Some believe that that with the weakening of the United Nations, amid Russian and Chinese intransigence on the Security Council, world community forums like the G7 are even more important. But there’s also sizeable doubt that diplomats from primarily Western democracies can uncover strategies to impact, allow by yourself stop, authoritarian nations that are a lot more and a lot more ready to use violence, or its danger, to pursue their passions.

Apart from the international hotspots, international ministers from Japan, the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Canada, Italy and the European Union are predicted to talk about approaches to strengthen human legal rights and democracy, and also troubles crucial to poorer nations that might feel underrepresented by the emphasis on rich nations with steady governments.

The agenda will be dominated, nevertheless, by anxieties above Russia, China and North Korea, and an consciousness of the unmistakable interconnectedness of these and other overseas policy headaches.

This year’s G7 conferences are the most critical in the gathering’s history, provided the pressing have to have to conclusion Russia’s war in Ukraine and to cease a potential invasion of Taiwan by China, according to Yuichi Hosoya, an worldwide politics professor at Keio College in Japan.

With the stakes so significant, here is a seem at what diplomats will experience in talks that end Tuesday:

___

THE WAR IN UKRAINE

A wide concentration on nuclear concerns was often heading to be important at this year’s G7 talks, which culminate with the key leaders’ summit future month in Hiroshima, the focus on of the initially nuclear bomb utilised in war.

The situation is a lot more urgent amid fears that Russian President Vladimir Putin, as he will become determined about failures in Ukraine, may well use a tactical nuclear weapon to win the war.

China is viewed as a person of the several nations that could possibly impact Russia’s moves in Ukraine, and the overseas coverage alignment involving the world’s two major autocracies will be a important aim in Karuizawa.

Chinese leader Xi Jinping, who appears increasingly emboldened to go after his authoritarian impulses, not too long ago traveled to Moscow and dedicated to deepen bilateral relations. That has “cast a shadow more than hopes that Beijing would tension Putin to attract down (his) conflict,” according to Stephen Nagy, an Asia specialist at Global Christian College in Tokyo.

All through his stop by to Beijing this thirty day period, French President Emmanuel Macron appealed to Xi to “bring Russia to its senses,” but received only a tepid response and further phone calls for a political resolution.

Japan may use the G7 to announce a strengthen to its currently significant assistance of Ukraine, said Jeffrey Hall, a lecturer at Kanda University of International Experiments.

“Japan’s management sees cooperation on security problems associated to Ukraine as a feasible avenue in the direction of larger stability cooperation in the Pacific,” Corridor reported.

___

CHINA’S Increase

China’s progressively bold attempts to intimidate self-governing Taiwan had been on whole show when Beijing not too long ago sent planes and ships to conduct a simulated encirclement of the island, which China statements as its territory. China’s wide armed forces expansion, including a quick jump in its nuclear warheads, a tougher line on its declare to the South China Sea and recent statements from Xi portray a situation of impending confrontation have galvanized fears among G7 nations.

Beijing and Pyongyang are especially fearful about Japanese military enlargement, which they see as an attempt to “weaken equally capitals’ efforts to rewrite the regional safety architecture in their favor,” Nagy said.

Underneath Japanese Key Minister Fumio Kishida, Tokyo has manufactured a significant split from its self-protection-only post-World War II ideas, looking to acquire preemptive strike abilities and cruise missiles to counter expanding threats from North Korea, China and Russia.

Whilst the G7 examines strategies to handle China’s increase, Beijing is bolstering relations with nations from Pakistan to Argentina eager for trade and expenditure. This will massively develop China’s worldwide footprint and obstacle North American and European tries to backlink investment decision to very good governance and respect for human legal rights.

Kishida’s conclusion to invite Indian Primary Minister Narendra Modi to the leaders’ summit up coming thirty day period “signals Japan’s desire to bolster security cooperation with one of China’s rivals. When Japan calls for a ‘Free and Open Indo-Pacific,’ it is contacting for nations to stand versus the way China and Russia conduct themselves internationally,” Corridor said. ___

NORTH KOREAN THREATS

This year’s G7 talks are important in revitalizing diplomacy aimed at pressuring a hostile North Korea to return to disarmament negotiations, specially with a dysfunctional U.N. Protection Council that’s divided involving long-lasting customers, in accordance to Park Won Gon, a professor at Seoul’s Ewha Womans College.

Considering that very last yr North Korea has check-fired all-around 100 missiles, which include intercontinental ballistic missiles that confirmed the opportunity of achieving the U.S. mainland and a range of other shorter-selection weapons that threaten South Korea and Japan.

Chief Kim Jong Un may well be seeking to use the world wide distraction of Russia’s war on Ukraine to grow a nuclear arsenal he sees as the strongest assurance of his family’s dynastic rule.

Beijing and Moscow final calendar year blocked a U.S.-led travel to tighten Stability Council sanctions on North Korea around its significant missile assessments.

It is not likely that the Protection Council will tighten sanctions even if North Korea conducts what would be its initial nuclear take a look at since 2017. But a significant punitive response could be created by a network of unilateral sanctions imposed by the United States, its allies and “like-minded” European partners collected at the G7, a tact similar to the way Washington pressures Moscow above its aggression in Ukraine, Park mentioned.

“The significance of the G7 has been tremendously strengthened as it’s noticeable that the purpose and purpose of the U.N. Stability Council is currently being unraveled by Russia and China and there is a need to have to find a little something new to switch it,” Park said.

___

AP writers Kim Tong-hyung in Seoul and Mari Yamaguchi in Tokyo contributed to this tale.

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Live updates: Russia’s war in Ukraine

Live updates: Russia’s war in Ukraine
Smoke billows during shelling on the outskirts of Chasiv Yar on April 7.
Smoke billows during shelling on the outskirts of Chasiv Yar on April 7. (Oleksandr Klymenko/Reuters)

The blasts in the japanese Ukrainian city of Chasiv Yar echo concerning properties each and every minute or two, a CNN crew reports.

Artillery, grad rockets and mortar fire were being all audible in the town at distinctive details Saturday — most of it considered to be outgoing from Ukrainian positions, but also some incoming from Russian forces.

The CNN crew, which very last visited Chasiv Yar eight days ago, mentioned the amount of indirect fire appeared to have greater from the former go to. It would seem to point out Ukrainian forces are doing the job challenging to retain open their essential offer route into close by Bakhmut, irrespective of mounting Russian strain.

Russian forces keep on “to conduct offensive actions (in their endeavor) to take whole control of the metropolis of Bakhmut,” the Common Personnel of the Ukrainian Armed Forces claimed in its most recent condition update Saturday.

Unofficial reviews suggest Russia’s troops have maintained their gradual advance via the centre of the extensive-embattled town, found just east of Chasiv Yar. The lengthy battle for Bakhmut has observed Moscow’s fighters start off to enter western parts of the town, according to the studies, with the railway station as a feasible subsequent important focus on.

Daily life beneath constant fire: Again in Chasiv Yar, Ivan, a university university student majoring in psychology, appeared unfazed by the frequent seem of fireplace.

The incoming?” he shrugged. “So what. I’m alive. I have meals. At times we have operating h2o.”

Ivan and his mother Ira are among the the handful of civilians still left in the town. 

“As extended as I can, I will keep below,” he claimed, right before going back again to sawing the trunk of a little tree. The logs will make a fireplace exactly where his mother can cook dinner.

Ira, a lady in her fifties with shorter hair and a gold pendant of the Virgin Mary all over her neck, concentrated on the day’s chores — not the risk.

“We wake up every single early morning, light a hearth and start out making ready foodstuff,” she told CNN. “Every day Ivan fetches h2o and collects firewood.”

She’s previously arranging ahead for Orthodox Easter, subsequent weekend. No church companies have been performed in a whilst, but she and Ivan will notice Easter with the handful of persons left in their getting old apartment intricate.

Irrespective of every thing, we will bake some pies, we will color eggs. We will have a holiday break,” Ira explained. “We are optimists.”

When most people have remaining, the city is significantly from empty, teeming with troopers, tanks, armored personnel carriers and army vehicles, which have left a thick layer of drying mud on the town’s streets.

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Russia-Ukraine war live: Bakhmut counteroffensive starts soon, says Ukrainian ground forces commander | Ukraine

Russia-Ukraine war live: Bakhmut counteroffensive starts soon, says Ukrainian ground forces commander | Ukraine

Counteroffensive starts soon, says Ukrainian ground forces commander

Ukraine’s top ground forces commander, Col Gen Oleksandr Syrskyi, said his forces would soon begin a counter offensive after withstanding Russia’s brutal winter campaign.

He said Russia’s Wagner mercenaries, who have been at the frontline of Moscow’s assault on eastern and southern Ukraine, “are losing considerable strength and are running out of steam”.

“Very soon, we will take advantage of this opportunity, as we did in the past near Kyiv, Kharkiv, Balakliia and Kupiansk,” he said, listing Ukrainian counteroffensives last year that recaptured swathes of land.

Oleksandr Syrskyi, Ukraine’s top ground forces commander.
Oleksandr Syrskyi, Ukraine’s top ground forces commander. Photograph: Donetsk Regional Military-Civil Administration/Reuters

Key events

Summary of the day so far …

  • Ukraine’s top ground forces commander, Gen Oleksandr Syrskyi, said his forces would soon begin a counter offensive after withstanding Russia’s brutal winter campaign.

  • The overnight death toll in Kostyantynivka has risen to five. Three women and two men were killed in an attack which hit one of Ukraine’s “invicibility points”, humanitarian support centres where resident can charge their phones on generators and access other services.

  • Emergency services reported that rubble is being dismantled after a night shelling on Bilopillya in the Sumy region, during which it is claimed Russian planes dropped several aerial bombs on the city. One of them hit the police building, and a local school was also damaged. A policeman and a school guard were killed, nine more people were injured.

  • In Kryvyi Rih, Dnipropetrovsk oblast, it is reported that overnight there were five hits by “Shahed” drones, and that air defence forces managed to shoot down one.

  • Russia’s defence ministry said on Friday that the use of depleted uranium shells in Ukraine would harm Ukrainian troops, the wider population and negatively affect the country’s agriculture sector.

  • A Russian security officer who fled the country and entered Kazakhstan because he objected to the invasion of Ukraine has been sentenced to six-and-a-half years in high-security prison.

  • Estonia’s foreign ministry said on Friday it had decided to expel one Russian diplomat working at Moscow’s embassy in Tallinn.

That is it from me, Martin Belam, for now. I will be back later. Léonie Chao-Fong will be here shortly to take you through the next few hours of our live coverage.

Russia’s defence ministry said on Friday that the use of depleted uranium shells in Ukraine would harm Ukrainian troops, the wider population and negatively affect the country’s agriculture sector, Reuters reports, citing the Interfax news agency.

Andriy Yermak, head of the office of the Ukrainian presidency, has shared on Twitter a video which shows the aftermath of the attack in Bilopillya.

Білопілля. Сумщина. Після нічного обстрілу російськими авіабомбами триває розбір завалів. pic.twitter.com/muBPOkOFa3

— Andriy Yermak (@AndriyYermak) March 24, 2023

More details are being reported of the overnight attack on Bilopillya, with Suspilne posting a video and writing:

Rubble is being dismantled after a night [of] shelling, during which Russian planes dropped several aerial bombs on the city. One of them hit the police building, and a local school was also damaged. A policeman and a school guard were killed, nine more people were injured.

Suspilne, Ukraine’s state broadcaster, reports that according to emergency services in Kherson, “pyrotechnicians neutralised 31 explosive objects in the de-occupied settlements of Kherson region”.

Reuters has a quick snap saying that Estonia’s foreign ministry said on Friday it had decided to expel one Russian diplomat working at Moscow’s embassy in Tallinn.

Death toll in Kostyantynivka rises to five

Agence France-Presse reports, citing local emergency services, that the overnight death toll in Kostyantynivka had risen to five.

In addition to the three women known to have died earlier, AFP states that two additional men were killed in a strike that hit what it described as a “humanitarian support centre”.

Suspilne, Ukraine’s state broadcaster, earlier said an “invincibility point” had been struck. Many such points have been set up around Ukraine which provide generators for charging mobile phones and other services.

A Russian security officer who fled the country because he objected to the invasion of Ukraine has been sentenced to six-and-a-half years in high-security prison, Reuters reports, citing Tayga Info, a news website based in Novosibirsk.

Federal protective service Maj Mikhail Zhilin, 36, fled to Kazakhstan last year when Russia announced a conscription campaign, illegally crossing the border through woods while his wife and children drove through a checkpoint.

Zhilin sought refugee status in the former Soviet republic but his request was denied and authorities stopped him from leaving for Armenia.

Kazakhstan handed him over to Russia late last year, leading to the rare conviction of an officer for desertion.

Suspilne, Ukraine’s state broadcaster, offers this news summary of overnight developments to subscribers of its official Telegram channel:

At night, Russian troops shelled a “point of invincibility” in Kostyantynivka, Donetsk region. Three resettled women from other settlements of the region died under the rubble, and two more people were injured.

Sumy district came under massive fire at night: the Russian Federation used about 10 fighter jets, artillery and “Shahed” drones. Two people were killed in the city of Bilopillya, nine others were injured.

In Kryvyi Rih, Dnipropetrovsk oblast, there were five hits by “Shahed” drones. Air defence forces managed to shoot down one.

The claims have not been independently verified.

The UK Ministry of Defence has issued its daily intelligence briefing on Ukraine, in which it suggests Russia has been training troops in Belarus for both practical and political reasons. It writes:

As of mid-March 2023, Russia had likely redeployed at least 1,000 troops who had been training at the Obuz-Lesnovsky training ground in south-western Belarus.

Although no new rotation of troops has been noted, Russia has highly likely left the tented camp in place, suggesting it is considering continuing the training programme.

The fact that Russia has resorted to training its personnel under the much less experienced Belarusian army highlights how Russia’s “special military operation” has severely dislocated the Russian military’s training system – instructors have largely been deployed in Ukraine.

Russia likely also views Belarus’s continued indirect support to the operation as important political messaging.

Suspilne, Ukraine’s state broadcaster, reports that about 300 households were left without electricity overnight in Velyka Pysarivka in the Sumy region after Russian shelling damaged power lines. Citing the regional energy company, it reports that “emergency crews are working to restore electricity supply, and some consumers have already been reconnected”.

This morning we have a piece telling the story of Olha, who fled Kherson a year ago this week and has faced many challenges in relocating to the UK, including enrolling her children in school:

Last February, I was preparing to shoot a short film about Kherson’s streets. A rehearsal was scheduled – but it never took place.

That was the day they bombed airports simultaneously across the country. Public transport stopped running from our city. The frontline ran straight to our city and a week later we found ourselves under occupation. One morning changed our lives, and that of every Ukrainian family, for ever.

We are refugees now, even our cat, Venera. When we arrived in Britain, we never expected such kind support. When people find out we are from Ukraine, they often say: “I’m sorry,” or “Ukraine will win.” Some of them tell how they felt when Russia first invaded and how they bought humanitarian aid, such as food and diapers.

I have found a safe space in London, at a project for women and refugees. There we reveal our experience, do drama exercises and put on shows. For me it’s a kind of healing and I am happy to be a part of that community.

My children have had to abruptly switch to learning in a foreign language. For the first six months at school, my daughter did not understand anything at all. Struck by the difference in the curriculum, the gap only increased.

Read more here: ‘We are refugees now, even our cat’: a Kherson mother’s UK diary

Former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev has posted to Telegram video clips of himself being interviewed by journalists and social media users. Yesterday he threatened to attack any state that allowed the current president, Vladimir Putin, to be arrested. Today, Tass is carrying quotes from him about the stability of the Russian economy despite western sanctions. It quotes him saying:

If something similar [to the current anti-Russian sanctions of the west] happened in the Soviet period, it would be very difficult for us, it would not be clear at all how it would cope.

But now we have created our own modern, competitive agricultural sector. I am very proud of it. Therefore, we can feed ourselves. We are now feeding others. Now we are not turning to anyone, they are turning to us.

And civil industry lives. Some things are faster, some things are slower, but on the whole everything is going on quite normally.

Medvedev made the point that the official inflation figure in Russia is lower than in some European countries, saying: “Feel the difference. They ignited this campaign, they began to fight us, and now inflation is 15-20{515baef3fee8ea94d67a98a2b336e0215adf67d225b0e21a4f5c9b13e8fbd502} in some countries. Well, that’s what they need.”

Credit Suisse AG and UBS group AG are under scrutiny in a US Department of Justice probe into whether financial professionals helped Russian oligarchs evade sanctions, Bloomberg News reported on Thursday.

The DOJ also sent subpoenas to employees of some major US banks, the Bloomberg report said, adding that the Swiss banks were included in a wave of subpoenas sent before Credit Suisse’s takeover by UBS.

The DOJ inquiries are to identify which bank employees dealt with sanctioned clients and how those clients were vetted over past years, Bloomberg reported.

The bankers may then be further investigated to determine if they broke any laws, the report added.

Here is some analysis of what is happening in Bakhmut, via Reuters:

A slowdown by Russia in Bakhmut could mean it is diverting its troops and resources to other areas. Britain said on Thursday that Russian troops had made gains farther north this month, partially regaining control over the approaches to the town of Kreminna. Intense battles were also under way farther south.

The Ukrainian military analyst Oleh Zhdanov agreed with that assessment. He said on YouTube that Russia’s attacks on Bakhmut were decreasing, and it was shifting its efforts south to the town of Avdiivka.

Russia’s forces have become more active in areas to the north in the Kharkiv and Luhansk regions as well as central Zaporizhzhia and southern Kherson regions, he said.

Any shift in momentum in Bakhmut, if confirmed, would be remarkable given the city’s symbolic importance as the focus of Russia’s offensive, and the scale of the losses on both sides there in Europe’s bloodiest infantry battle since the second world war.

On the ground in Ukraine, frontlines have largely been frozen since November. Ukraine had looked likely to pull out of Bakhmut weeks ago but decided to fight on.

Russian forces may have to advance as far as Kyiv or Lviv in Ukraine, Russia’s former president Dmitry Medvedev said in an interview to Russian news agencies.

“Nothing can be ruled out here. If you need to get to Kyiv, then you need to go to Kyiv, if to Lviv, then you need to go to Lviv in order to destroy this infection,” RIA Novosti quoted Medvedev as saying on Friday.

There was no immediate response from Moscow to suggestions its forces in Bakhmut were losing momentum, but Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin issued statements in recent days, warning of a Ukrainian counterassault.

On Monday, Prigozhin published a letter to the Russian defence minister, Sergei Shoigu, saying Ukraine aimed to cut off Wagner’s forces from Russia’s regular troops.

Reuters journalists near the frontline north of Bakhmut saw signs consistent with the suggestion that the Russian offensive in the area could be waning. At a Ukrainian-held village west of Soledar, on Bakhmut’s northern outskirts, the intensity of the Russian bombardment noticeably lessened from two days earlier.

“It was really hot here a week ago, but in the last three days it has been more quiet,” said a Ukrainian soldier who used the call sign Kamin (Stone).

“We can see this in the enemy’s airstrikes. If before there were five-six air raids in a day, today we had only one helicopter attack,” said the soldier.

Counteroffensive starts soon, says Ukrainian ground forces commander

Ukraine’s top ground forces commander, Col Gen Oleksandr Syrskyi, said his forces would soon begin a counter offensive after withstanding Russia’s brutal winter campaign.

He said Russia’s Wagner mercenaries, who have been at the frontline of Moscow’s assault on eastern and southern Ukraine, “are losing considerable strength and are running out of steam”.

“Very soon, we will take advantage of this opportunity, as we did in the past near Kyiv, Kharkiv, Balakliia and Kupiansk,” he said, listing Ukrainian counteroffensives last year that recaptured swathes of land.

Oleksandr Syrskyi, Ukraine’s top ground forces commander.
Oleksandr Syrskyi, Ukraine’s top ground forces commander. Photograph: Donetsk Regional Military-Civil Administration/Reuters

Opening summary

Welcome to the Guardian’s live coverage of the war in Ukraine with me, Helen Sullivan.

Our top story this morning: Ukrainian troops, on the defensive for four months, will soon launch a counterassault, Ukraine’s top ground forces commander has said, as Russia’s winter offensive weakens without capturing the eastern city of Bakhmut.

We’ll have more on this shortly. In the meantime here are the key recent developments:

  • Volodymyr Zelenskiy has renewed his call for more long-range weapons from western allies on Thursday. Speaking to an EU summit via video link, the Ukrainian president recounted the “devastating” scenes he had witnessed close to the frontlines, where fighting has been fiercest. The EU leaders endorsed a plan – agreed by foreign ministers on Monday – to send a million artillery shells to Ukraine over the next year.

  • Zelenskiy visited the southern region of Kherson, where he toured infrastructure and promised to rebuild following Russia’s invasion. Ukraine’s military said Russian forces had left the Kherson town of Nova Kakhovka but a Russian-installed official there denied it.

  • The EU leaders held talks on Thursday with the UN secretary general, António Guterres, focused on global food security and sanctions imposed on Russia. Guterres’ participation came after the renewal of a deal brokered by the UN and Turkey on the safe export of Ukrainian grain via the Black Sea – seen as crucial to overcoming a global food crisis.

  • The EU Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, said the EU would work to find 16,200 Ukrainian children deported to Russia. Calling it a reminder of “the darkest times in our history”, she said only 300 had been returned so far.

  • Dmitry Medvedev, the deputy secretary of Russia’s security council, said Moscow’s relations with the west had hit an all-time low. Asked whether the threat of a nuclear conflict had eased, he said: “No, it hasn’t decreased, it has grown. Every day when they provide Ukraine with foreign weapons brings the nuclear apocalypse closer.” Medvedev said any attempt to arrest Vladimir Putin a would amount to a declaration of war against Russia.

  • Hungary would not arrest Putin if he entered the country, said prime minister Viktor Orbán’s chief of staff said.

  • Finland’s president, Sauli Niinistö, signed legislation to make his country part of the Nato. Last year, Finland applied to join in response to Russia’s war in Ukraine. Legislation incorporating Nato’s founding treaties was passed in parliament in Helsinki on 1 March.

  • The UN nuclear agency’s chief has said the situation at Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia power plant “remains perilous” after a Russian missile strike disconnected it from the grid. Europe’s largest nuclear power plant needs a reliable electricity supply to operate pumps that circulate water to cool reactors and pools holding nuclear fuel.

  • Ukraine’s state emergency service said on Thursday that it had ended rescue attempts in Rzhyshchiv, Kyiv region, where nine people died in a Russian drone attack in the early hours of Wednesday morning.

  • Suspilne, Ukraine’s state broadcaster, reported that on Wednesday shelling in the Donetsk region killed two people and injured four others, while one person was killed and two were wounded in Kherson.

  • British military intelligence said Russia had partially regained control over the approaches to the eastern Ukrainian town of Kreminna after its troops were pushed back earlier this year.

  • Spain’s prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, has said he will discuss a peace plan for Ukraine with the Chinese president, Xi Jinping, during an official visit to China next week.

  • The governor of Florida, Ron DeSantis, has reversed his position on Ukraine after facing widespread criticism for calling the Russian invasion a “territorial dispute”. The likely contender for the Republican presidential nomination said his remark had been “mischaracterised”.

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Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida heading to Ukraine for talks with Volodymyr Zelenskyy

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida heading to Ukraine for talks with Volodymyr Zelenskyy

5 things to know for March 17: Ukraine, Classified docs, Taxes, Pandemic, France

5 things to know for March 17: Ukraine, Classified docs, Taxes, Pandemic, France



CNN
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The environment will search a little bit greener these days as many individuals wear the shade to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day. In the US and other countries, the holiday break is mostly believed of as a celebration of Irish pleasure – but, interestingly, St. Patrick was not truly Irish.

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Chinese leader Xi Jinping will check out Moscow subsequent 7 days for the initial time considering the fact that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Beijing and the Kremlin confirmed right now. The journey will mark a new milestone in the countries’ rising partnership, as Western officers proceed to categorical worries that China may perhaps be considering offering Russia with lethal military services guidance. According to a Chinese International Ministry spokesperson, the check out is to “urge peace and encourage talks.” But China’s work to current alone as a neutral peace broker on Ukraine has been satisfied with skepticism in Western capitals because of to Beijing’s rising partnership with Moscow. China has both of those supplied diplomatic assistance for Moscow and refused to condemn Russia’s attack on Ukraine – as an alternative blaming NATO for provoking the conflict.

Dozens of team associates at Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home have been subpoenaed to testify on the previous president’s handling of classified files. The specific counsel in the categorized files probe has sought testimony from a variety of persons shut to Trump – from his personal attorneys who represent him in the subject to staffers who operate on the grounds of his Florida estate, like a housekeeper and cafe servers, resources explained. This comes as the Justice Department has spent substantially of the earlier yr investigating the likely mishandling of countrywide protection data and doable obstruction. FBI brokers recovered extra than 100 categorised documents in the course of a lookup of Mar-a-Lago previous summertime. Because then, Trump’s lawful staff has turned more than extra categorised content.

Compared with the past two tax-filing seasons, this year seems to be heading comparatively effortlessly, tax preparers say. “After a few decades of pandemic-relevant updates, mid-tax period IRS steering, previous-moment tax regulation adjustments and a lot more, the ‘quiet’ is a welcome modify to several,” the Countrywide Association of Tax Preparers claimed in a statement. Extra returns are remaining processed and far more refunds are remaining issued than at the identical issue past 12 months, new statistics from the IRS suggest. Having said that, the ordinary refund this calendar year, as predicted, is scaled-down – down 11{515baef3fee8ea94d67a98a2b336e0215adf67d225b0e21a4f5c9b13e8fbd502} to $3,028 because pandemic-aid measures that boosted refunds have expired. If you haven’t submitted your taxes, you nonetheless have about a month: This year’s official thanks date for returns is Tuesday, April 18.

Advisers to the Food and drug administration voted 16-1 on Thursday for complete acceptance of Paxlovid, stating that the drug’s gains outweigh any risks for therapy of mild to average Covid-19 in superior-risk grown ups. A lot more than 8 million people in the US have obtained Paxlovid since it grew to become accessible below crisis use authorization in 2021. Right before Paxlovid is thoroughly approved, the Fda – which usually follows the suggestions of its advisory committee – ought to conduct its have assessment. That is expected to wrap up in May well. Independently, questions stay about how the pandemic may well have influenced maternal mortality in the US. Specialists say the US’ maternal mortality disaster was compounded by Covid-19, which led to a “dramatic” boost in fatalities.

Protests are escalating in France currently just after the government lately introduced it would pressure a increased retirement age from 62 to 64. French President Emmanuel Macron will bring about specific constitutional powers to enact the proposed pension reform monthly bill, Primary Minister Elisabeth Borne declared Thursday in the Countrywide Assembly, which experienced not nonetheless voted on the proposal. Labor leaders in France identified as for new demonstrations pursuing Borne’s announcement, with various thousand protesters converging at Paris’ Area de la Concorde and in a number of other metropolitan areas Thursday night. Large protests have been held regularly throughout France due to the fact mid-January, with tens of millions turning out to voice their opposition to the government’s program.

Cute woman with ‘snarly smile’ wins over the world-wide-web

This toddler obtained a lesson on “how to smile” immediately after her lovable grimace grew to become the focus of her family pictures. Watch the video clip in this article.

Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour begins this weekend

The pop star’s 1st tour in five many years kicks off Saturday in Glendale, Arizona. In progress of the tour, Swift also unveiled 4 unreleased tracks.

Former President Barack Obama shares his March Madness brackets

Obama, a devoted basketball lover, posted his predictions for this year’s men’s and women’s NCAA tournaments. 

The world’s best locations of 2023, according to TIME

Looking for some travel inspo? Think about introducing some of these beautiful destinations to your bucket checklist. 

Dunkin’ is retiring a admirer-favored drink

Say goodbye to the Dunkaccino, for now. The coffee chain has quietly pulled the well known drink from its menus, ending a far more than two-10 years operate.

Which fruit holds the leading place on the Soiled Dozen listing of nonorganic make with the most pesticides?

A. Peaches

B. Strawberries 

C. Apples

D. Grapes

Take CNN’s weekly information quiz in this article to see if you’re suitable!

1 million+

Which is how lots of plastic water bottles are sold every single minute all-around the world, in accordance to a new report. The rapidly-developing bottle marketplace, having said that, is making a gargantuan total of plastic waste – most of which is not recycled and ends up in landfills.

“The government, together with our worldwide partners, is anxious about the way in which this info may be made use of.”

– An announcement from the United Kingdom, banning TikTok from formal authorities units on Thursday. The shift follows comparable limitations imposed by the US and other countries around how the social media platform could entry users’ personalized info. TikTok expressed disappointment at the determination, saying in a assertion that the modern bans “have been based mostly on basic misconceptions and pushed by wider geopolitics.”

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A virtual holiday vacation to Dublin

In honor of St, Patrick’s Working day, look at this limited movie to practical experience the attractiveness of Dublin, Ireland. (Simply click in this article to watch)