World News | Live Updates | Mariupol Discussed with Leaders, Says Zelenskyy
Get latest articles and stories on World at LatestLY. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he discussed the fate of the besieged port city of Mariupol in a meeting Friday with the country's military leaders and the heads of its intelligence agencies.
Kyiv (Ukraine), Apr 16 (AP) Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he discussed the fate of the besieged port city of Mariupol in a meeting Friday with the country's military leaders and the heads of its intelligence agencies.
“The details cannot be made public now, but we are doing everything we can to save our people,” Zelenskyy said in his nightly video address to the nation.
Elsewhere in southern Ukraine, he said Russian troops who occupy areas around Kherson and Zaporizhzhia were terrorizing civilians and looking for anyone who had served in the army or the government.
“The occupiers think this will make it easier for them to control this territory. But they are very wrong. They are fooling themselves,” Zelenskyy said.
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He added: “The occupiers' problem is not that they are not accepted by some activists, veterans or journalists. Russia's problem is that it is not accepted — and never will be accepted -– by the entire Ukrainian people. Russia has lost Ukraine forever.”
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OTHER DEVELOPMENTS:
ATLANTA — CIA Director William Burns says no one “can take lightly” the threat that Russia could use tactical or low-yield nuclear weapons but he has seen no “practical evidence” suggesting it is imminent.
Speaking to an audience Thursday at the Georgia Institute of Technology, Burns said that “potential desperation” from Russian leaders to portray a victory in Ukraine increases the risk to the use of nuclear weapons.
“None of us can take lightly the threat posed by a potential resort to tactical nuclear weapons or low yield nuclear weapons,” Burns said. “We don't.”
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ROME — The war in Ukraine loomed over the traditional Good Friday procession at the Colosseum in Rome because the Vatican's choice of a Russian woman as one of the cross-bearers angered Ukrainians.
Participants in the solemn torchlit procession in the ancient arena Friday night took turns carrying a plain, tall and slim cross as part of the commemoration of Jesus' suffering and death by crucifixion.
Ukraine's ambassador to the Vatican and the archbishop of Kyiv earlier this week denounced the Vatican's plan to have a Ukrainian woman and a Russian woman carry the cross together during the procession. They objected to projecting what they saw as the idea of reconciliation while Ukraine is ravaged by war unleashed by Russia.
The Vatican didn't respond to the protests. Pope Francis has denounced the Feb. 24 invasion and attacks on Ukraine as a “sacrilege,? but has refrained from naming Russia as the aggressor.
Other faithful applauded the decision to pair the two women. They work together in a palliative care section of a Rome hospital and are friends.
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BELGRADE, Serbia — Hundreds of protesters have joined a right-wing gathering in support of Russia, carrying pictures of Vladimir Putin and T-shirts with the letter Z' that has become a symbol of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
The rally Friday in central Belgrade was organized to protest Serbia's vote last week in the United Nations in support of Russia's expulsion from the U.N. Human Rights Council.
Serbia remains the only country in Europe that has not imposed sanctions on Russia, but right-wing groups are angry that Belgrade voted against Moscow in the U.N.
Local media say that masked protesters lit flares and smoke bombs outside the offices of the Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic during the protest and placed a Russian flag on the presidency building.
Several similar protests have been held in Serbia since the start of the Russian invasion on Ukraine. Many Serbians remain loyal to Russia, convinced that Moscow was provoked by the West to launch the invasion.
Anti-western sentiments in Serbia stem from a 1999 NATO air war that forced Belgrade to give up control of the Kosovo province. Belgrade has enjoyed Russian support in trying to retain a claim on the territory, which declared Western-backed independence in 2008.
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The governor of the Kharkiv region says seven people, including a seven-month-old child, were killed in shelling of a residential neighborhood in the city.
Oleh Sinehubov said Friday in a Telegram post that 34 other people were wounded.
Kharkiv, Ukraine's second-largest city, has been heavily hit by shelling and rocket attacks during the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The city's position about 40 kilometers (25 miles) south of Russia and 160 kilometers (100 miles) north of the separatist eastern regions of Ukraine gives it significant strategic importance.
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A senior U.S. defense official says the U.S. believes the Russian guided-missile cruiser that sank Thursday in the northern Black Sea had been struck by at least one Ukrainian anti-ship missile, as claimed by the Kyiv government.
Pentagon officials had previously said they could not confirm the Ukrainian claim, but they also did not refute it. The senior U.S. defense official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss an intelligence assessment, said the Moskva was hit by at least one, and probably two, Neptune missiles on Wednesday, creating the large fire aboard.
The official offered no further details beyond saying the U.S. believes the Russians suffered some number of casualties aboard the ship. (AP)
(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)