The Vatican’s warning about sending weapons to Ukraine
The Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, affirmed today that Ukraine has the right to defend itself, but that limiting itself to sending weapons by other countries “is a weak response” to try to end the war, which began long ago. more than two months after the invasion of Russia.
“I do not go into the background of the decisions that the different countries have made to send weapons to Ukraine”, which as a nation has the right to defend itself from the invasion it has suffered,” said Parolin when asked about it during the presentation of the book of the Pope Francis “Against War”, which compiles some of his writings.
But he added: “Limiting arms is a weak response. Yes, arms are a weak response, not a strong response!” “A strong response is a response that undertakes – trying to involve everyone – initiatives according to the scheme of peace, that is, initiatives to stop the fighting, to reach a negotiated solution, to think about the possible future of coexistence in our Old Continent”.
Parolin invited, therefore, “to strengthen participation in international organizations and also rediscover a greater capacity for European initiative” because it is “Christian Europe, which is in fact affected by this terrible war.”
The Security Council will discuss the attack on kyiv during Guterres’ visit
The UN Security Council plans to discuss next week the missile attack recorded in kyiv this Thursday, while the organization’s secretary general, António Guterres, visited the city, according to the body’s current president.
“During the secretary-general’s visit to kyiv yesterday there were missile attacks on the city and this is a matter of great concern,” said British Ambassador Barbara Woodward, who chairs the Security Council for April.
Woodward advanced that the highest decision-making body of the United Nations will discuss the issue during a meeting on Ukraine next week, already under the presidency of the United States.
The diplomat explained that her delegation has been in contact with the UN Secretary General and that both Guterres and his team are fine, but there are reports of civilian casualties.
The Pentagon asks Americans not to go to fight in Ukraine after the death of a citizen
The Pentagon warned on Friday that Americans who want to go to Ukraine desist from doing so, after the death of one of its citizens who traveled to Eastern Europe to fight Russian forces was reported.
Willy Joseph Cancel, 22, who was apparently killed on Monday, had arrived in Ukraine in mid-March, his mother, Rebecca Cabrera, told CNN.
“We continue to urge Americans not to travel to Ukraine,” Pentagon spokesman John Kirby told CNN, calling the news “heartbreaking” and offering his support to the family of the deceased.
“This is a continuous war zone, (…) it is not a place where Americans should go,” he reiterated.
The Netherlands reopens its embassy in kyiv in a “diplomatic signal” to Ukraine
The Dutch government announced that it will reopen the Dutch embassy in kyiv today, with a “small team” and in a gesture that it considered “a diplomatic signal” for Ukraine, while it confirmed that some thirty Dutch gendarmes will come in May to investigate the war crimes in that country.
Speaking to the press, the Dutch Foreign Minister, Wopke Hoekstra, assured that the reopening of the embassy in the Ukrainian capital is “important” for both countries: due to the “close relationship” of cooperation with kyiv and because the Netherlands provides military and humanitarian aid to Ukraine, he noted.
“It’s never without risk, but taking everything into consideration we think this is sensible and acceptable. It’s a small team and security has been looked at very carefully,” added Hoekstra, who spoke of a “very important diplomatic signal” to Ukraine when explaining the reasons for the reopening of the embassy in kyiv.
Finland’s decision on NATO will affect Sweden’s, minister says
Sweden’s Foreign Minister, Ann Linde, assured this Friday in Helsinki that the decision made by Finland on its possible entry into NATO “will greatly affect” the one adopted by her country on its own accession to the alliance.
Both nations, the only Nordic non-aligned militarily, are considering applying to join NATO as a result of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, although in Finland the process is more advanced.
According to various local media, the Finnish government intends to make public its decision to apply for NATO membership in mid-May, despite repeated threats from the Kremlin to prevent it.
In Sweden, meanwhile, the political parties are still deliberating possible accession in Parliament and will present a report on the new security policy on May 13, just a month after Finland did the same.
A journalist, the fatal victim of the latest Russian attack on kyiv
The fatal victim whose body was found this Friday among the rubble of the residential building that was attacked yesterday with missiles by the Russian Army in kyiv is a Ukrainian journalist who worked for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, from the United States, reported the Information Institute Media (IMI) on its website.
This is Vira Hyrych, as confirmed to IMI by the chief editor of the Ukrainian service of Radio Liberty, Inna Kuznetsova.
“Vira’s body was found on April 29 while clearing debris from a house in the Shevchenkivskyi district (kyiv). During the shelling, the rocket hit the journalist’s apartment,” Kuznetsova added.
The 25-story building was partially destroyed as a result of Russian shelling, the Ukrainian Emergency Services said.
The Russian economy will contract between 8% and 10% this year due to sanctions
The Russian economy will contract between 8% and 10% this year due to Western sanctions imposed on Russia for its military campaign in Ukraine, marking the worst drop in Russian GDP since 1994, when it contracted 12.7%.
“The external environment of the Russian economy remains challenging and significantly limits economic activity,” said the Russian monetary entity after an ordinary meeting of the board of directors, which it published for the first time since the start of the armed conflict on February 24. macroeconomic forecasts.
According to their projections, Russian GDP will shrink by between 8% and 10% in 2022. The decline will be driven mainly by factors on the supply side.” The institution led by Elvira Nabiúlina maintains that in 2023, the Russian economy it will grow again “gradually in the midst of a structural transformation”.
Russia does not invite any foreign leaders to the Victory Day parade
Russia will not invite any world leaders this year to the Victory Day military parade over Nazi Germany, which takes place on May 9 in Moscow’s Red Square, the Kremlin confirmed on Friday.
“We have not invited any world leader to Victory Day. This year is not a round anniversary,” said the spokesman for the Russian Presidency, Dmitri Peskov, at his daily press conference.
Red Square last night hosted a parade rehearsal on the occasion of the 77th anniversary of the Soviet victory over Hitlerite troops, which this year will coincide with the “special military operation” in Ukraine.
More than 10,000 soldiers participated in the rehearsal, which took place on the cobblestones in front of the Kremlin, to which must be added 131 military teams as part of the motorized column.
The Russian Central Bank cuts its main interest rate from 17% to 14%
The Russian Central Bank on Friday cut its main interest rate from 17% to 14%, estimating that “the risks to prices and financial stability have stopped increasing.”
The Central Bank, which had drastically raised its rate to 20% after the first Western sanctions against Russia for the invasion of Ukraine at the end of February, had already cut the interest rate for the first time to 17% on April 8.
Inflation in the eurozone does not subside and remains at a record level
The inflation rate in the euro area remained at a record high in April, at 7.5% year-on-year, according to the European statistics agency Eurostat, in a scenario in which the situation in Ukraine keeps the prices of Energy.
March inflation had already been estimated by Eurostat at 7.5%, although it was later revised slightly to 7.4%. This is the highest level of the consumer price index in the eurozone since 1997, the year in which the historical series began.
At least one dead in the Russian attack on kyiv on Thursday during the visit of the UN chief
At least one person was killed in the Russian attack on kyiv, the Ukrainian capital, on Thursday during the visit of UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, the city’s mayor, Vitali Klitschko, reported on Telegram on Friday.
Rescuers “found a body” while collecting rubble at the affected site, near the city center, it added. Four people were injured and are in hospital, he said in another message, adding that in total more than 100 Kievans have been killed since the start of the Russian invasion two months ago.
Ukraine says it plans ‘operation’ to evacuate civilians from Azovstal this Friday
The Ukrainian presidency announced that an “operation” to evacuate civilians trapped in the Azovstal steel mill besieged by Russian forces in Mariupol, in southeastern Ukraine, is “scheduled” for this Friday.
“An operation to evacuate civilians from the factory is planned today,” the presidency said in a statement on Friday.
Hundreds of Ukrainian soldiers and civilians, including dozens of children, are blocked according to kyiv in this huge steel plant in Azovstal, along with the last fighters resisting the Russian forces in the strategic port.
Putin and Zelensky were invited to the G20 summit
Indonesian President Joko Widodo reported this Friday that he had invited his Ukrainian counterpart Volodimir Zelensky to the G20 summit in November in Indonesia, in which Vladimir Putin confirmed his participation.
“I invited President Zelensky to participate in the G20 summit,” the Indonesian president declared, suggesting a compromise had been found after pressure from Westerners to exclude Russia from the group in the wake of the Ukraine invasion.
But Jakarta justified that his position forced him to be “impartial”. The American president, Joe Biden, then suggested a participation of Ukraine to have a balance.
Russia confirms attack on kyiv with “high-precision” weapons that destroyed a military factory
Russia confirmed an attack on kyiv yesterday with “high-precision” weapons in the midst of a visit by UN Secretary General António Guterres, which destroyed the facilities of a factory for air-to-air guided missiles, anti-tank missiles and aircraft devices.
“Russian forces destroyed the workshops of the Artem space company in the Ukrainian capital with high-precision long-range weapons,” the Russian Defense Ministry said today.
At least one person died during the bombing, the capital’s mayor, Vitali Klitschko, reported on Telegram on Friday.
Yesterday’s attack is the first since mid-April in kyiv and came as the UN chief was visiting Bucha and other Ukrainian towns on the outskirts of the city.
Mortars attack a border post in the Russian province of Kursk
A border checkpoint in the Russian province of Kursk, bordering Ukraine, was attacked today with mortars, declared the governor of the region, Roman Starovoit.
“The morning in the Rilsk border district was not calm. Around 8 o’clock (2 o’clock in Argentina), a mortar attack was launched against the checkpoint in the town of Krupets,” Starovoit published on its Telegram channel. .
The governor pointed out that the border guards managed to repel the attack.