Istanbul, Apr 3 (AP) Turkey has offered to help evacuate civilians from the besieged Ukrainian port city of Mariupol by ship.

The Turkish defence minister said Saturday that “we can provide ship support for the evacuation of civilians and injured Turkish and other countries' citizens in Mariupol from the sea”.

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State-run Anadolu Agency reported that Hulusi Akar said Turkey was coordinating possible evacuations with the authorities of the Russian Federation and Ukraine.

Mariupol, on the Sea of Azov, has seen some of the worst suffering of the war. The International Committee for the Red Cross is attempting to remove some of the 100,000 people are believed to remain in the city.

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Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said Friday that some 30 Turkish nationals were still in the city.

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Valletta (Malta): Pope Francis says he is studying a possible visit to Kyiv and he blasted Russian President Vladimir Putin for launching a “savage” war, as he arrived in Malta and delivered his most pointed and personalized denunciation yet of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Francis didn't cite Putin by name, but the reference was clear when he said that “some potentate” had unleashed the threat of nuclear war on the world in an “infantile and destructive aggression” under the guise of “anachronist claims of nationalistic interests”.

Speaking to Maltese authorities Saturday, Francis said: “We had thought that invasions of other countries, savage street fighting and atomic threats were grim memories of a distant past.”

Francis has to date avoided referring to Russia or Putin by name. But Saturday's personalisation of the powerful figure responsible marked a new level of outrage for the pope.

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The Hague: The Dutch government has launched a campaign urging people to turn down their central warming and take showers to save energy amid spiraling energy costs and reduce the country's dependence on Russian imports.

The government took the lead, announcing Saturday that it will turn down the temperature in 200 of its office blocks from 21 to 19 degrees Celsius (70-66 degrees Fahrenheit) in the winter and use less air conditioning in the summer.

Minister for Climate and Energy Rob Jetten says that saving energy “is good for your wallet, for the climate and it helps us to become less dependent on gas from Russia.”

The government also is setting aside 4 billion euros ($4.4 billion) to help fund moves by home owners, social housing corporations and municipalities to improve insulation of houses in coming years. (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)