OTTOVA – Ukraine’s nominee for ambassador to Canada says Russia must be held accountable for its forces committing sexual crimes, including against children.
Yulia Kovaliv told the Canadian committee of the House of Commons on Monday that Russia uses sexual violence as a weapon of war and said that rape and sexual violence should be investigated as war crimes.
She said Russia had also abducted Ukrainian children and taken them to Russian-occupied territories, and now Russia itself. Ukraine is working with partners to find the children and bring them back.
“A few days ago, Russians killed a young mother and stuck her living child to her body and planted a mine between them,” the ambassador said. She said the mine was blown up.
The whole of Russian society, not just President Vladimir Putin and his proxies, must take responsibility for the war against Ukraine, because more than 70 percent of Russians support the invasion, Kovaliv said.
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KEY DEVELOPMENT OF THE RUSSIA-UKRAINE WAR:
– Evacuation of civilians from the Ukrainian steel industry begins
– Israel is angry at Lavrov’s remarks about Hitler and Nazism
– Push to arm Ukraine strains US arms stocks
– Pelosi, on a surprise trip to Kyiv, vows unwavering support from the United States
– Jill Biden will meet with Ukrainian refugees in Romania, Slovakia
Follow all AP stories about Russia’s war against Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
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OTHER DEVELOPMENTS:
WASHINGTON – House Speaker Nancy Pelosi arrived in the Capitol on Monday after leading a surprise delegation trip to Ukraine, promising the US Congress has “more work” to help the country fight the Russian invasion.
Pelosi is the highest-ranking elected US official to land in Kyiv since the start of the war, and she called the congressional delegation’s meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky “informative and inspiring.”
The trip with Democratic lawmakers comes as Congress prepares a $ 33 billion package of military and humanitarian aid, but now some lawmakers are also discussing a Marshall Plan-type effort to possibly help rebuild Ukraine as the United States helps Europe after the Second World War.
Pelosi returned to the Capitol in Washington to sign and send to President Joe Biden legislation passed by Congress last week that will update a World War II-era military land lease law and streamline the process of sending aid to Ukraine. . Biden is expected to sign it as a law.
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GENEVA – The Union of European Football Associations has eliminated Russian football teams from the European Women’s Championship, the next Men’s Champions League and from qualifying for the 2023 Women’s World Cup.
The latest round of sporting sanctions on Monday during Russia’s war against Ukraine followed UEFA and FIFA, which removed Russia’s national and club teams in February from international competitions, including the Men’s World Cup playoffs.
The latest expulsions are likely to be appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, just as the Russian Football Union has challenged previous rulings.
UEFA has said that Portugal will take Russia’s place at Euro 2022 for women, hosted by England in July. The place of the winner in the Russian Premier League Zenit St. Petersburg in the next group stage of the Champions League will go to the champion of Scotland, according to the updated list of UEFA with distributed participants.
Meanwhile, Finland and Sweden will ban from their national ice hockey teams all players who will appear in the Continental Hockey League of Russia next season. Both ice hockey federations announced their decisions on Monday, two days after the end of the Russian league season.
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WASHINGTON – The highest-ranking Jewish official in the United States has condemned Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov’s anti-Semitic comments about the invasion of Ukraine as “disgusting.”
U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said Monday that Russia is not misleading anyone by trying to justify its brutal invasion of Ukraine with a “confused conspiracy theory” against the Jewish people. Sumer, a New York Democrat, was the first leader of the Jewish majority in the United States Senate.
“I have only one word to say: disgusting,” Sumer said in the Senate.
Lavrov was asked in an interview over the weekend on an Italian news channel about Russia’s allegations that it invaded Ukraine to “disinfect” the country – a seemingly confusing position because Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky is Jewish.
Lavrov wrongly suggested that the Jews themselves were “the greatest anti-Semites.” Sumer said he condemned Lavrov’s comments in the strongest possible way.
“You are not misleading anyone,” Sumer said. “Russia’s crimes are as clear as day for the world to see.
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LONDON – British Prime Minister Boris Johnson should address the Ukrainian parliament, saying that the fight against the Russian invasion is “the best time” for Ukraine.
Johnson’s office says the UK leader will announce a new 300m-pound ($ 375m) package of military aid to Ukraine as he speaks to the legislature via video link on Tuesday. Britain has already sent equipment to Ukraine, including missiles and missile launchers. The new package includes e-war equipment, anti-battery radar system, GPS jamming equipment and thousands of night-vision devices.
In preliminary excerpts from a speech issued by the Prime Minister’s Office, Johnson delivered a 1940 speech to World War II leader Winston Churchill as the United Kingdom fought the attack on Nazi Germany. Johnson will say that “the British people have shown such unity and determination that we remember our time of greatest danger as our best hour.” This is the best hour in Ukraine, an epic chapter of your national history that will be remembered and told for generations to come. ”
Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky addressed the British Parliament on March 8 and also likened his country’s struggle to Britain’s fight against the Nazis. Johnson visited Kyiv on April 9.
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WASHINGTON – A senior US official has said the United States believes Russia plans to annex large parts of eastern Ukraine this month and recognize the southern city of Kherson as an independent republic.
Michael Carpenter, the US ambassador to the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, said Monday that the alleged actions were “straight from the Kremlin’s book” and would not be recognized by the United States or its partners and allies.
Carpenter said the United States and others had information that Russia was planning “fake referendums” in the so-called Donetsk and Luhansk “people’s republics” that would attach the entities to Russia. He also said there were signs that Russia would hold an independence vote in the city of Kherson.
“We believe the Kremlin could try to hold fictitious referendums to try to add accessories to democratic or electoral legitimacy, and that’s straight from the Kremlin’s book,” he said, adding that the information suggested the vote could come. still in the middle -Maybe. “Such fake referendums, fictitious votes will not be considered legitimate, nor will attempts to annex additional Ukrainian territory,” he said.
Carpenter did not provide details on the information that led to the assessment, although there have been public reports that Russia is seeking greater control over areas it already controls and occupies in eastern and southern Ukraine. He cited evidence that local mayors and lawmakers there had been abducted, that the Internet and mobile phones had been cut off, and that Russian school programs would soon be imposed.
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ROME – Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi said that the statements of the Russian Foreign Minister on Italian television about Nazism and anti-Semitism were “aberrant” and “indecent”.
Draghi told a news conference Monday that Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov’s statements that Adolf Hitler was Jewish was “indecent.”
He also noted that Lavrov comes from a country “where there is no freedom of expression. This country allows the free expression of opinions, even when they are clearly false and incorrect. My assessment is that what Minister Lavrov said is incorrect.
Draghi also criticized the television format, noting that Lavrov was allowed to speak freely without contradicting him. “You talked about an interview,” Draghi said. “It really was a rally.”
“The question is whether it should be accepted to invite a person to ask to be interviewed without controversy for a period of time, not for a minute or two, without any controversy. This is not great professionally. That raises strange questions, “Draghi said.
Lavrov was interviewed Sunday night for a program on the private network Mediaset owned by former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, a longtime friend of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Berlusconi criticized Putin for invading a rally about six weeks after the invasion began.
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WASHINGTON – The CIA says Russians dissatisfied with Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine may be trying to contact US intelligence – and wants them to go into the dark web.
The agency on Monday launched a new impetus to promote its presence on the Internet, accessible only through specialized tools that provide more anonymity. The CIA has a dark web site that has the same features as its regular homepage, but is only accessible through the Tor web browser, which has encryption features that are not available in most regular browsers.
Instructions in English and Russian on how to access the dark web site appeared Monday on CIA social media channels. The agency hopes that Russians living abroad can share instructions with contacts in the country.
While many Russians seem to support what the Kremlin officially calls a “special military operation,” longtime Russian observers believe Putin’s management of the war could repel some influential people who disagree. Even with huge opportunities to capture communications and …
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