Angelina Jolie ended her visit to Ukraine evacuated urgently for fear of a bombing
Actress and UN ambassador Angelina Jolie’s visit to Ukraine came to a hasty end when she had to leave the city she was traveling in the face of a bombing threat.
Jolie was in Lviv in order to support the residents there and listen to harsh testimonies about the experiences of recent months, but the sirens warning of an air raid began to sound and she quickly left the area.
The EU denounces that Russia targeted journalists in Ukraine
The European Union (EU) denounced today that the Russian forces are targeting journalists during their invasion of Ukraine, as well as those responsible for civil society, and praised their informative work in the war but also from Russia or Belarus.
“On the occasion of World Press Freedom Day, brave journalists, cameramen, reporters, photographers and bloggers are risking their lives to keep us informed about Russia’s unprovoked and unjustified military aggression against Ukraine,” the EU High Representative said. Foreign Affairs, Josep Borrell, in a statement on behalf of the Twenty-seven.
According to him, the Russian Army is “arresting, kidnapping and targeting journalists and civil society actors to prevent the world from learning the truth.”
Ukraine accuses Russia of antisemitism and trying to justify massacres
The Government of Ukraine affirmed this Monday that the words of the Russian Foreign Minister, Sergei Lavrov, according to which the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelensky, and Adolf Hitler share “Hebrew origins” are a reflection of Russian anti-Semitism and an attempt to justify the assassination mass of Ukrainians.
Lavrov “could not hide the deep-rooted anti-Semitism of the Russian elites,” Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba wrote on Twitter, quoted by the Unian agency.
“His aberrational comments are insulting to President Zelensky, Ukraine, Israel and the Jewish people. In a broader sense, his words show that modern Russia is full of hatred towards other peoples,” he added.
Zelensky wants Ukrainian soldiers to be evacuated too
Volodimir Zelensky lamented that the evacuation of the civilian population from some of the cities besieged by Russia, carried out with the help of the UN, does not include “soldiers or the wounded.” This was stated in an interview with the Greek public television ERT and the daily Kathimeriní in kyiv.
The Ukrainian president said that the most pressing is the evacuation of the Azovstal steelworks, where many civilians still remain.
“People are afraid to go out because they are killed. Now we are talking about opening that corridor, but currently everything depends on the Russian side,” added the president, stressing that despite the UN being involved, the process is very difficult. because “we do not trust the Russian Federation”.
One of the most palpable examples that Russia cannot be trusted, Zelenskiy said, has been the multiple missile attack launched against kyiv during the visit of the UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, who went to the capital of Ukraine after going to Moscow to talk about possibilities of evacuating civilians.
The United States will reopen its embassy in Ukraine at the end of May
The United States plans to reopen its embassy in kyiv at the end of May, the charge d’affaires of that diplomatic delegation in the Ukrainian capital, Christina Queen, reported on Monday, according to the Ukrinform portal.
It is also expected that by then the new US ambassador, Bridget Brink, until now in Slovakia and appointed to the new post in kyiv by US President Joe Biden, will take office on April 25.
The announcement of the reopening of the embassy was made today, following the visit to Ukraine by the Speaker of the US House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, last weekend.
Pelosi, whose trip to that country had not been announced, met in kyiv with President Volodymyr Zelensky. His was the highest-ranking US political visit to Ukraine since the start of the Russian invasion.
Ukraine to evacuate more civilians from besieged city of Mariupol
Ukrainian authorities plan to evacuate more civilians from the city of Mariupol on Monday, after dozens were brought to safety after spending weeks trapped under heavy Russian fire at a steel complex in the strategic port in southeastern Ukraine.
A hundred people were evacuated over the weekend from the huge Azovstal plant, the last pocket of Ukrainian resistance in this part of the Donbas region, which is almost entirely under Russian control.
Two UN armored SUVs and other international NGO vehicles, as well as journalists, were waiting for them on the outskirts of Zaporizhia, a city located about 200 km to the northwest and still under Ukrainian control, where there is a refugee reception center, according to what was found. the AFP agency.
Berlin sees “Russian propaganda” in Lavrov’s phrase about Hitler’s “Jewish origin”
The German government today attributed to “Russian propaganda” the phrase of the Russian Foreign Minister, Sergei Lavrov, stating that like the Ukrainian president, Volodímir Zelenski, Adolf Hilter “also had Jewish origins.”
Lavrov’s statement is “absurd,” said the spokesman for Olaf Scholz’s government, Steffen Hebestreit, amid the harsh reactions that comment has precipitated, especially from Israel.
“I think it is an action of Russian propaganda, in this case through Foreign Minister Lavrov, which does not deserve further comment,” said that government source, asked about the issue in a routine appearance before the media.
Denmark and South Korea reopen their embassies in kyiv
Denmark and South Korea today reopened their embassies in kyiv, from where they had withdrawn in early March due to the Russian invasion of the country, which today entered its 68th day.
Denmark made the announcement a surprise visit by its foreign minister, as a sign of support for Ukraine against the Russian invasion.
“It is a very strong symbol of Danish support for Ukraine and the Ukrainian people to reopen the Danish embassy today,” Danish diplomat Jeppe Kofod, whose trip was not previously announced, said in a statement, the news agency reported. Russian Sputnik. The Danish prime minister, Mette Frederiksen, visited kyiv on April 21 together with the head of the Spanish government, Pedro Sánchez.
In turn, the South Korean embassy resumed its work starting Monday in kyiv, the Foreign Ministry of the Asian country reported.
“The embassy is preparing to resume its activities on May 2 and plans to carry out diplomatic work to protect its citizens in kyiv, in even closer cooperation with the Ukrainian government,” the statement said.
The US first lady will travel to Romania and Slovakia to meet with Ukrainian refugees
US First Lady Jill Biden is scheduled to visit Romania and Slovakia this week to meet refugees from Ukraine, while former President Donald Trump said the “weakness” and “incompetence” of his successor Joe Biden made possible the military invasion of Russia.
“Jill Biden will travel to Romania and Slovakia this week to support displaced Ukrainian families,” CNN reported, citing a White House statement.
The station highlighted that President Biden’s wife will travel to Romania next Thursday and two days later, on Saturday, to Slovakia.
Hungary maintains its veto for the EU to ban the purchase of Russian oil and gas
The Hungarian government today insisted that it maintains its opposition to the European Union (EU) imposing an embargo on Russian oil and gas imports as punishment for its invasion of Ukraine.
“Hungary has not withdrawn its veto. In fact, Hungary’s position on sanctions on Russian oil and gas remains the same: we do not support them,” said Zoltán Kóvacs, Secretary of State for International Communications, on Twitter.
Kovacs thus denied a report from the German station ZDF indicating that countries such as Austria, Hungary and Slovakia were willing to withdraw their refusal to sanction purchases of Russian oil.
Two explosions reported in a Russian province bordering Ukraine
The governor of the Russian province of Belgorod, Viacheslav Gladkov, reported today “two powerful explosions” that did not cause personal or material damage in that region bordering Ukraine.
“Half an hour ago I was woken up by two powerful explosions, which did not cause personal or material losses, according to the operational center. Images of flares in the sky appeared on social networks,” the governor wrote in his Telegram account.
On April 25, Gladkov denounced attacks launched against the towns of Nejoteevka and Zhuravlyovka, located near the border with Ukraine.
Russia confirms evacuation of civilians from Azovstal site in Mariupol
A first group of about 100 civilians was evacuated from the Azovstal steel complex, a besieged redoubt in the Ukrainian port of Mariupol (south), President Volodimir Zelensky announced on Saturday, while Russia spoke of 80.
“The evacuation of civilians from Azovstal has begun. The first group of about 100 people is already on its way to an area controlled by Ukraine. Tomorrow we will meet them in Zaporizhia,” he said on his Twitter account, referring to a city about 200 kilometers away. To the northeast.
Ukraine announces that it sank two Russian patrol boats near Snake Island
Ukraine announced on Monday that its drones sank two Russian patrol boats near Snake Island in the Black Sea in the early hours of the 68th day of the Russian invasion.
“Two Russian Raptor ships were destroyed today at dawn near the Snake Island,” the Ukrainian Defense Ministry said in a statement distributed on social media.
The ministry also released black-and-white aerial footage showing an explosion at a small military vessel.
Israel protests against Russia after its chancellor affirmed that Hitler “had Jewish blood”
The Government of Israel today summoned the Russian ambassador to protest recent statements by the foreign minister of that country, Sergei Lavrov, who affirmed yesterday that Adolf Hitler “had Jewish blood”, drawing a parallel with the president of Ukraine, Volodimir Zelensky.
In an interview granted yesterday to the Italian television channel Rete4, in which he also assured that the purpose of the invasion of Ukraine is not to demand Zelensky’s surrender and that the military incursion has no date, Lavrov stated that “Adolf Hitler also had Jewish blood”, which “means nothing”. “The wise Jewish people say that the biggest anti-Semites are usually Jews,” he said.
Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid charged hard against his Russian counterpart. “Lavrov’s words are inexcusable and outrageous, as well as a terrible historical error. The Jews did not murder themselves during the Holocaust. The lowest level of racism against Jews is to accuse Jews of anti-Semitism,” Lapid stressed in your account on the social network Twitter.
“Saying that Hitler was a Jew is like saying that the Jews murdered each other. The Nazis persecuted the Jews. Only the Nazis were Nazis and only the Nazis applied a policy of systematic annihilation of the Jewish people,” he insisted.
The Vatican reiterates its availability to mediate to end the war in Ukraine
In recent hours, the Vatican reiterated its willingness to mediate in the war in Ukraine, by launching a proposal for a new “Helsinki Conference”, in reference to the series of meetings between 1973 and 1975 that brought together the Vatican, European countries, the then the Soviet Union, the United States and Canada to agree on territorial inviolability, limits on the use of military force and respect for the sovereignty of the signatories.
Meanwhile, Pope Francis is considering sending his Foreign Minister, Monsignor Paul Richard Gallagher, to kyiv.