FORT IRUIN, Calif. __ U.S. Army trainers use the lessons learned from the Russian war against Ukraine as they prepare soldiers for future battles against a major adversary.
Role-players in an exercise this month at a training center in the Mojave Desert in California speak Russian, and enemy forces are using a steady stream of social media to make false accusations against a US brigade preparing for an attack.
In the coming weeks, the planned training scenario for the next brigade will focus on how to fight an enemy who wants to destroy a city with rocket fire to conquer it.
___
KEY DEVELOPMENT OF THE RUSSIA-UKRAINE WAR:
– Mother, grandmother cry over the body of a 15-year-old in Kharkov
– An elderly mother feels “lost”, looking for her son’s body in the Ukrainian city of Bucha
– The war in Ukraine is far from over, as Russia resumes strikes in Kyiv
– “We pray for you”: Ukrainian Jews celebrate Easter if they can
– The port of Ukraine Mariupol survives despite all chances
Follow all AP stories about Russia’s war against Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine.
___
OTHER DEVELOPMENTS:
Riyadh – Russian President Vladimir Putin talks with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on Saturday, their second call since the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The Saudi press agency said the two discussed bilateral relations and “ways to improve them in all areas.”
The Saudi report on the appeal says the heir to the throne has reaffirmed his support for efforts that would lead to a political solution to the crisis in Ukraine. The kingdom recently announced $ 10 million in humanitarian aid for Ukrainian refugees.
The Kremlin statement added that the two also discussed the ongoing conflict in Yemen, where the Saudi-led coalition has been at war for years, and their joint work on an oil production agreement known as OPEC +. The oil pact closely monitors production from major producers, supporting oil prices.
Ukraine has called on nations around the world to reduce their dependence on Russian oil imports, which it says are financing Russia’s war against Ukraine.
___
Kyiv, Ukraine – Russian forces fired on an oil refinery in the Ukrainian city of Lisichansk on Saturday and a large fire broke out, a regional governor said.
Luhansk regional governor Sergei Haidai said this was not the first time the refinery had been targeted, accusing the Russians of trying to “exhaust” local emergency services. He stressed that at the time of the attack there was no fuel in the refinery and “the remnants of oil sludge” were burning.
The Presidential Office of Ukraine said on Saturday that missile strikes and shelling had been carried out in eight regions in the past 24 hours: Donetsk, Luhansk and Kharkiv in the east, Dnipropetrovsk, Poltava and Kirovohrad in central Ukraine, and Nikolaev and Kherson in the south. The strikes underscored that the entire country remains under threat despite Russia’s bid to launch a new offensive in the east.
In Kharkov, nine civilians were killed and more than 50 were injured on Friday, while two were killed and three were injured in the wider region, according to the report.
The southern Nikolaev region was broken up on Friday and Saturday. According to the presidential office, five people were killed and 15 were injured in the airstrikes on Friday. The head of the regional legislature, Hana Zamazeeva, said on Saturday that 39 people had been injured in the past 24 hours.
Zamazeeva said the targets include several apartment blocks “where there are no military sites”.
The besieged Ukrainian port city of Mariupol is still holding out, but the situation there is critical.
____
Kyiv, Ukraine – Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Minister Irina Vereshchuk said in a televised statement Saturday that 700 Ukrainian soldiers and more than 1,000 civilians – more than half of women – are currently being held captive by Russians.
Vereshchuk said Kyiv intends to exchange captured soldiers, as Ukraine holds about the same number of Russian troops, but wants to release civilians “without any conditions.”
____
ROME – Italy has banned all Russian ships from its ports since Sunday, as part of expanded EU sanctions announced earlier this month. Ships already in Italian ports must leave “immediately after the end of their business”, according to a statement sent to port authorities across the country.
____
BERLIN – Peace activists took part in Germany’s traditional Easter march on Saturday, calling for an end to the war in Ukraine, but also in at least some cases opposed helping Ukraine defend itself with weapons.
An event in Berlin gathered 400 people and one in Hanover 500, dpa reported, citing police. Marches took place in cities, including Munich, Cologne, Leipzig, Stuttgart and Duisburg. Banners included “Cessation of the War in Ukraine” and “Whoever sends weapons, reaps war”.
The country’s vice chancellor, Greens politician Robert Habeck, warned protesters not to send the wrong message, saying “peace will only come when Putin stops his aggressive war.” He said in an interview with the Funke media group that it was “clear who is the aggressor and who is defending himself in an emergency and who we need to support, also with weapons.”
Ukrainian authorities say Germany has sent anti-tank and anti-aircraft weapons, as well as night vision equipment, bulletproof vests and machine guns.
Locally organized peace marches date back to the Cold War and focus on issues such as disarmament and the elimination of nuclear weapons.
____
Kyiv, Ukraine – Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko has said one person was killed and several others injured in airstrikes Saturday in the capital’s Darnytskyi district after Russian forces resumed scattered attacks on the capital in western Ukraine.
“Our air defense forces are doing everything possible to protect us, but the enemy is insidious and ruthless,” Klitschko told the Telegram news agency.
The attacks, which the Russian Defense Ministry said were aimed at an armored vehicle plant in the Ukrainian capital, are an explosive reminder to Ukrainians and their Western supporters that the entire country remains under threat, even though Russian forces are heading east, where there are fears of a new offensive.
Klitschko called on Ukrainians not to return to Kyiv in televised speeches on Saturday, warning that strikes on the capital are likely to continue and its suburbs are equipped with explosives. “We do not rule out further strikes on the capital,” Klitschko said. “We can’t ban, we can only recommend. If you have the opportunity to stay a little longer in cities where it is safer, do it. ”
The mayor of Kyiv added that because of the mines, residents of Kyiv are prohibited from visiting parks and forests in the northeastern regions, which border liberated territories previously occupied by Russians.
____
MOSCOW – Russia has banned the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and a dozen other senior British officials from entering the country in response to British sanctions imposed on Russia over its military operation in Ukraine.
Russia’s foreign ministry on Saturday announced a move aimed at Boris Johnson, a number of British ministers and former Prime Minister Theresa May.
A statement from the ministry cited “unprecedented hostility by the British government, expressed in particular in the imposition of sanctions against senior officials” in Russia.
“The Russophobic way of acting of the British authorities, whose main goal is to provoke a negative attitude towards our country, the restriction of bilateral relations in almost all areas are detrimental to the welfare and interests of the people of Great Britain. “Any attack with sanctions will inevitably have the opposite effect on their initiators and will receive decisive resistance,” the statement said.
On Friday night, the ministry announced the expulsion of 18 European Union diplomats from Moscow in retaliation for the bloc declaring 19 diplomats from Russia’s mission to the EU and the European Atomic Energy Community persona non grata.
The European Union has said the expulsions were baseless and that the EU diplomats they target are working under the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations.
___
Kyiv, Ukraine – Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said in an online publication that Kyiv was hit early Saturday in the Darnytskyi district in the eastern part of the capital, saying there were “explosions”.
He said rescuers and paramedics were on the scene and that details of the victims would be released later.
Klitschko called on residents to be careful about air raid sirens and warned fugitives from the capital not to return for their safety.
Thick smoke rising from the site in eastern Kyiv could be seen from parts of the city center near the Dnieper River.
___
WASHINGTON – Ukraine is sending senior officials to Washington for the spring meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank next week, where the discussion will focus on the Russian invasion and its impact on the world economy.
The meeting was attended by Ukrainian Prime Minister Denis Shmihal, Finance Minister Sergei Marchenko and Central Bank Governor Kirilo Shevchenko, according to a World Bank official, who wished to remain anonymous as the visit was not officially announced.
___
Kyiv, Ukraine – Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Friday that existing sanctions against Russia were “painful” but not yet enough to stop the Russian military.
Zelensky called on the “democratic world” to ban Russian oil. While US lawmakers and US President Joe Biden have introduced such a ban, Europe is relying more on Russian energy supplies and the US is working to prevent India from increasing its use of Russian energy.
“In general, the democratic world must accept that Russia’s money for energy resources is in fact money for the destruction of democracy,” Zelensky said in his evening video address to his nation.
He also said: “As soon as …
Add Comment