By The Related Press
The president of the European Fee mentioned the questionnaire she handed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy throughout her go to to Kyiv represents an important step ahead.
Ursula von der Leyen mentioned Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union” that Ukraine’s response will allow her to resolve whether or not to suggest the nation as a candidate to hitch the European Union.
The method usually takes years, however she has mentioned Ukraine’s utility may take simply weeks to contemplate. She mentioned Ukrainians “belong to our European household, with none query.”
“Yesterday, someone instructed me: “You recognize, when our troopers are dying, I would like them to know that their youngsters shall be free be and be a part of the European Union,” von der Leyen mentioned. “They're in a rare state of affairs, the place we have now to take uncommon steps.”
“One factor is obvious for me: After this warfare, when Ukraine shall be rebuilt, after we help Ukraine in reconstructing this nation, this shall be accompanied by reforms. So, it's a rare strategy to form the nation and to go down the trail in the direction of the European Union.”
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KEY DEVELOPMENTS IN THE RUSSIA-UKRAINE WAR:
— US: Russia’s new battlefield commander has historical past of brutality
— Ukraine digs in to battle Russia’s looming jap offensive
— Ukraine church buildings show religion, hope and charity amid wreckage
— Evaluation: Conflict, economic system may weaken Putin’s place as chief
— Biden, Modi to talk as India avoids onerous line on Russia
— Zelenskyy, in AP interview, says he seeks peace regardless of atrocities
— Go to https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine for extra protection
OTHER DEVELOPMENTS:
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau mentioned his authorities is offering investigative help to efforts to doc warfare crimes in Ukraine, and he mentioned Russian President Vladimir Putin is accountable.
“It's clear that Putin is systematically focusing on civilians, whether or not it’s hospitals or prepare stations or maternity wards. This is among the the reason why Canada was one of many first international locations to name on the Worldwide Felony Court docket to look into Putin’s warfare crimes,” Trudeau mentioned Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union.”
Canadian investigators, Trudeau mentioned, “are build up the case for individuals to acknowledge that not solely was this a horrible mistake to violate the sovereignty of one other nation and create huge international instability that’s impacting power and meals costs all over the world, however it is usually a collection of warfare crimes that Putin is intentionally committing that he must be held to account for.”
Requested if the crimes quantity to genocide, Trudeau mentioned it stays to be decided.
“The tales of what Russian troopers are doing, not simply the homicide of civilians, however the systematic use of sexual violence and rape, to destabilize and have the best unfavourable impression on Ukrainian individuals as potential is totally unforgivable and unacceptable,” Trudeau mentioned. “And that’s why the worldwide neighborhood goes to and is responding so strongly.”
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It’s nearly Easter in Ukraine, the place religion, hope and charity are on show at a trio of church buildings on the far edges of the capital.
Sunday companies had been held in Bucha whilst our bodies had been being faraway from a mass grave within the churchyard. In Makarov, the trustworthy had been moved to tears on the sight of crosses scattered in damaged glass. And in Borodyanka, a church was untouched close to the place Russian assaults ripped open a high-rise. That’s the place donations are bringing assist to aged individuals who stayed whereas others fled Russian occupation.
Ukrainian authorities mentioned weeks in the past that not less than 59 non secular websites had been broken. On the day when Pope Francis known as for an Easter truce in Ukraine to make means for a negotiated peace, church guests invoked God in recalling their survival.
“Every one that was leaving, from anywhere, Makarov, Bucha, Hostomel or from Andriivka, the neighboring village which was destroyed to the bottom; each, even those that didn't know the Lord’s Prayer, he was chatting with God along with his personal phrases,” mentioned Alona Parkhomenko in Makarov, the place the church exterior was speckled with bullet holes and the priest warned of falling glass.
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WASHINGTON — Russia’s newly appointed battlefield commander in Ukraine made his fame crushing resistance to Syrian President Bashar Assad throughout that nation’s devastating civil warfare.
Russian forces led by Gen. Alexander Dvornikov destroyed complete cities whereas dropping barrel bombs that focused civilians. With Moscow supporting Assad, the warfare in Syria has killed greater than 350,000 individuals.
Lt. Col. Fares al-Bayoush, a Syrian military defector, mentioned Sunday he expects an identical “scorched-earth” technique below the commander in Ukraine. Talking by phone from Turkey, al-Bayoush mentioned he believes the intention of naming Dvornikov as Ukraine warfare commander is to trigger widespread destruction in lots of locations directly.
“He has excellent expertise on this coverage,” al-Bayoush mentioned. “This commander is a warfare felony.”
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KYIV, Ukraine — The mayor of Kyiv and his brother mentioned the go to of British Prime Minister Boris Johnson to their capital exhibits who Ukraine’s actual pals are at this crucial time. However they perceive if safety issues hold U.S. President Joe Biden from visiting for now.
Mayor Vitali Klitschko and his brother Wladimir have been skilled boxers and now outspoken defenders of Ukraine. Interviewed Sunday on ABC Information “This Week with George Stephanopoulos,” they mentioned they count on Russia’s army to return and goal Kyiv once more. And after they do, they mentioned they'll’t defend Ukraine with their fists — they want weapons.
Wladimir Klitschko additionally pleaded for the world to isolate Russia economically, saying “each cent that Russia is getting, they’re utilizing for weapons to kill us.”
Vitali Klitschko mentioned everybody was shocked when the Russians who pushed on Kyiv retreated after killing lots of of civilians throughout their occupation. He known as it genocide to kill ladies, youngsters, previous individuals and youngsters for no motive.
To defend Ukraine now, the mayor mentioned, is to defend democracy and peace in Europe.
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WILMINGTON, Del. — The White Home mentioned President Joe Biden will press Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to take a tough line towards Russia’s Ukraine invasion. Press Secretary Jen Psaki says the leaders plan a digital assembly on Monday.
India’s impartial stance within the warfare has raised issues in Washington and earned reward from Russian Overseas Minister Sergey Lavrov, who lauded India this month for judging “the state of affairs in its entirety, not simply in a one-sided means.”
India abstained when the U.N. Normal Meeting voted Thursday to droop Russia from its seat on the 47-member Human Rights Council over allegations of warfare crimes. India continues to buy Russian power regardless of Western stress to keep away from shopping for Russian oil and gasoline. And the U.S. has thought-about sanctions on India for its latest buy of superior Russian air protection techniques.
Psaki’s assertion says Biden will focus on how Russia’s warfare towards Ukraine is destabilizing the worldwide meals provide and commodity markets, and the necessity to strengthen the worldwide economic system whereas ”upholding a free, open, rules-based worldwide order to bolster safety, democracy, and prosperity.”
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BERLIN — Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer mentioned he'll meet Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow on Monday.
The Austria Press Company reported that Nehammer instructed reporters in Vienna on Sunday that he plans to make the journey. It follows a visit on Saturday to Kyiv, the place he met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
APA reported that Nehammer goals to encourage dialogue between Ukraine and Russia and in addition deal with “warfare crimes” in his assembly with Putin.
Austria is a member of the European Union and has backed the 27-nation bloc’s sanctions towards Russia, although it to date has opposed chopping off deliveries of Russian gasoline. The nation is militarily impartial and isn't a member of NATO.
Nehammer mentioned he was taking the journey on his personal initiative, and that he had consulted with the European Union’s prime officers. He mentioned that he additionally knowledgeable Zelenskyy and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.
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BERLIN — The U.N. nuclear watchdog mentioned Ukraine mentioned the workers on the decommissioned Chernobyl nuclear plant has been rotated for the primary time in three weeks after Russian troops left the realm.
The Vienna-based Worldwide Atomic Power Company has expressed concern concerning the well-being of the employees because the Russian army took management of the positioning of the 1986 nuclear catastrophe initially of the warfare.
The company mentioned Ukraine knowledgeable it on Sunday that it has now rotated the workers, however the state of affairs stays removed from regular. They needed to be transported to and from the positioning by water, with the Pripyat River being the one means for individuals residing within the metropolis of Slavutych to at present attain the plant.
The IAEA mentioned Ukraine has knowledgeable it that analytical laboratories for radiation monitoring on the website had been destroyed, with analytical devices “stolen, damaged or in any other case disabled.” The automated transmission of radiation monitoring knowledge has been disabled.
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KYIV, Ukraine — The governor of the area that features Ukraine’s fourth-largest metropolis, Dnipro, says the airport was hit twice by missile assaults on Sunday. The Ukrainian army command mentioned Russian forces additionally hold shelling Ukraine’s second-largest metropolis, Kharkiv, and have stored up their siege of Mariupol, the important thing southern port metropolis that has been below assault for almost six weeks.
The Russian Protection Ministry says it’s air-launched missiles hit Ukraine’s S-300 air protection missile techniques in two places, whereas sea-launched cruise missiles destroyed a Ukrainian unit’s headquarters within the Dnipro area. Neither aspect’s army claims might be independently verified.
The Pentagon mentioned Russia has a transparent benefit in armored forces for its subsequent section in its warfare on Ukraine. Press secretary John Kirby mentioned Friday that the Russians unfold themselves too skinny to take the capital, however now they’re extra targeted on a smaller area, and nonetheless have the overwhelming majority of their fight energy. A significant effort by Ukrainian defenses and extra Western help shall be wanted to push them again.
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WASHINGTON — A senior U.S. official mentioned Russia has appointed a brand new commander to supervise its warfare on Ukraine.
The official talking on situation of anonymity mentioned Russia has turned to one among its most skilled army officers, Gen. Alexander Dvornikov. U.S. officers say the 60-year-old common has a file of brutality towards civilians in Syria and different theaters of warfare.
The White Home nationwide safety adviser, Jake Sullivan, instructed CNN on Sunday that “this common will simply be one other creator of crimes and brutality towards Ukrainian civilians.” And he mentioned “no appointment of any common can erase the truth that Russia has already confronted a strategic failure in Ukraine.”
The brand new battlefield management comes as Russia gears up for what is predicted to be a big and extra targeted push to develop Russian management within the Donbas after failing to beat the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv. Sullivan reiterated help for the Ukrainian authorities, saying the US is decided to do all it could actually to assist Ukrainians resist this common and the forces he instructions.
— Robert Burns and Hope Yen
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KYIV, Ukraine — Ukraine’s border guard company says that about 2,200 Ukrainian males of combating age have been detained to date whereas attempting to depart the nation in violation of martial legislation.
The company mentioned Sunday that a few of them have used cast paperwork and others tried to bribe border guards to get overseas.
It mentioned some have been discovered useless whereas attempting to cross the Carpathian mountains in hostile climate, with out specifying the quantity.
Below martial legislation, Ukrainian males between 18 and 60 are barred from leaving the nation in order that they are often known as as much as battle.
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WARSAW, Poland — Sirens have sounded in some Polish cities to mark the anniversary of a 2010 airplane crash that killed the nation’s president, regardless of protests that their sound can be unnecessarily traumatic for refugees from the warfare in Ukraine.
The sirens early Sunday had been supposed so as to add to the importance and the plaintive character of observances honoring the late President Lech Kaczynski, the primary girl and 94 different distinguished Poles killed 12 years in the past within the crash of the presidential airplane in Russia. Kaczynski was the dual of Jaroslaw Kaczynski — the chief of the principle governing Regulation and Justice celebration.
Provincial governors ignored calls to not use the sirens out of concern for refugees from neighboring Ukraine, traumatized by air raid alarms. Authorities despatched textual content messages to refugees’ telephones that the sirens would imply no hazard.
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KYIV, Ukraine — The Ukrainian army says Russia has been beefing up its forces and attempting to probe Ukrainian defenses.
The Ukrainian army command mentioned Sunday that the Russian troops have continued makes an attempt to interrupt Ukrainian defenses close to Izyum, southeast of Kharkiv. It reported that Russia was sending reinforcements to Izyum whereas persevering with the shelling of Kharkiv.
The army added that the Russians additionally continued their makes an attempt to take management of Mariupol, the Sea of Azov port that has been besieged by Russian forces for almost 1 ½ months.
After Russia’s try and seize Kyiv and different massive cities in northeastern Ukraine shortly failed, Ukrainian and Western officers count on Moscow to launch a brand new offensive in jap Ukraine, the place Russia-backed separatists have fought Ukrainian forces for eight years.
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KYIV, Ukraine — Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says he targeted on the necessity to observe down perpetrators of warfare crimes in a cellphone name with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.
Zelenskyy mentioned on Twitter that in Sunday’s name “we emphasised that every one perpetrators of warfare crimes have to be recognized and punished.”
Ukraine has accused Russia of atrocities towards civilians in Bucha and different locations close to Kyiv, the place lots of of slaughtered civilians, many with their arms certain and indicators of torture, had been discovered after Russian troops retreated.
Zelenskyy additionally mentioned he and Scholz “mentioned anti-Russian sanctions, protection and monetary help for Ukraine.”
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VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis has opened Holy Week with a name for an Easter truce in Ukraine to make room for a negotiated peace, highlighting the necessity for leaders to “make some sacrifices for the nice of the individuals.”
Celebrating Palm Sunday Mass earlier than crowds in St. Peter’s Sq. for the primary time because the pandemic, Pope Francis known as for “weapons to be laid down to start an Easter truce, to not reload weapons and resume combating, no! A truce to achieve peace via actual negotiations.”
Francis didn't refer on to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, however the reference was clear. He has repeatedly denounced the warfare and the struggling delivered to harmless civilians.
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HELSINKI — Finland says that a cargo of artwork works from Russian museums has been returned to Russia after it was seized below European Union sanctions towards Moscow.
Finland’s customs service mentioned late Saturday that the Overseas Ministry granted a particular allow to return the consignment with a complete insured worth of round 42 million euros ($46 million). It mentioned that vans carrying the artwork works from the Hermitage Museum and the Pavlovsk State Museum in St. Petersburg, amongst others, left Finnish territory on Saturday afternoon.
The cargo was seized on the Vaalimaa border crossing initially of April. The works had been en path to Russia after mortgage to museums in Europe and Japan. Specialists say that artwork works loaned from Russia sometimes journey overland through Finland.
Russia has demanded the return of all works on mortgage to “unfriendly” nations that imposed sanctions following its invasion of Ukraine.
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KYIV, Ukraine — Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk mentioned extra civilians had been anticipated to depart Mariupol Sunday of their private automobiles.
Evacuations had been additionally deliberate from Berdyansk, Tokmak and Enerhodar within the south and Sieverierodonetsk, Lysychansk, Popasna and Rubizhne within the east.
Mariupol, a strategic port metropolis on the Sea of Azov, has been besieged by Russian forces for almost 1 ½ months, lower from meals, water and energy provides and pummeled by relentless bombardment that has killed not less than 5,000, in keeping with native officers.
Ukrainian authorities have urged civilians within the east to evacuate within the face of an imminent Russian offensive. They accused Russia of killing 52 individuals on Friday on the prepare station within the jap metropolis of Kramatorsk as they had been getting ready to evacuate.
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GENEVA — The U.N. refugee company says the quantity of people that have left Ukraine because the starting of the warfare has reached 4.5 million.
An everyday replace Sunday of the U.N. Excessive Commissioner for Refugees’ on-line portal on numbers of refugees fleeing Ukraine since Feb. 24 introduced the overall to some 4.504 million.
About 2.6 million of these fled not less than initially to Poland and greater than 686,000 to Romania. Nonetheless, UNHCR notes that there are only a few border controls inside the European Union and it believes “a lot of individuals” have moved on from the primary nation they arrived in.
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LONDON — Britain’s Ministry of Protection mentioned Russia’s armed forces are in search of to reply to mounting losses by boosting troop numbers with personnel who had been discharged from army service since 2012.
In an intelligence replace on Twitter, the ministry additionally mentioned Sunday that the Russian army’s efforts to “generate extra combating energy” additionally embody attempting to recruit from Trans-Dniester, a breakaway area in Moldova that borders Ukraine.
Russia maintains some 1,500 troops within the area, which isn't internationally acknowledged.
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KYIV, Ukraine — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy instructed The Related Press on Saturday that he's dedicated to in search of peace regardless of Russian assaults on civilians which have shocked the world.
He mentioned nobody needs to barter with individuals who tortured their nation — “as a person, as a father, I perceive this very properly.” However he mentioned “we don’t need to lose alternatives, if we have now them, for a diplomatic resolution.”
Zelenskyy mentioned he’s assured Ukrainians would settle for peace regardless of the horrors they've witnessed within the warfare. However in the meantime, Russian troops are regrouping for an anticipated surge in combating in jap Ukraine, together with the besieged port metropolis of Mariupol that Ukrainian defenders are battling to retain.
So Zelenskyy renewed his plea for international locations to ship extra weapons. He says they need to battle for all times — not “for mud when there may be nothing and no individuals. That’s why it is very important cease this warfare.”
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KYIV, Ukraine — U.Ok. Prime Minister Boris Johnson has met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kyiv, promising a lot help that his nation would possibly by no means be bullied once more.
Johnson’s shock go to included a pledge of 120 armored automobiles and new anti-ship missile techniques, a part of one other 100 million kilos ($130 million) of high-grade army gear. Johnson additionally confirmed an extra $500 million in World Financial institution lending, taking Britain’s whole mortgage assure as much as $1 billion.
Johnson mentioned Ukraine defied the percentages pushing Russian forces “from the gates of Kyiv, attaining the best feat of arms of the twenty first century.″
Britain and its companions “are going to ratchet up the financial stress … not simply freezing belongings in banks and sanctioning oligarchs however shifting away from use of Russian hydrocarbons,” he mentioned.
Johnson additionally described a imaginative and prescient for a future Ukraine so fortified and guarded by the gear, expertise and know-how of Britain and its companions that it could actually by no means be threatened in the identical means once more. Within the meantime, Johnson mentioned, “there's a big quantity to do to make it possible for Ukraine is profitable, that Ukraine wins and that Putin should fail.”