KHARKIV, Ukraine – Russia’s bombing of cities around Ukraine on Saturday involved an explosion in Kharkiv that destroyed a public kitchen.
Associated Press reporters at the scene saw the immediate aftermath of the apparent missile attack. Kharkov Mayor Igor Terekhov said three people were killed and 34 were injured in rocket attacks on Saturday in the city alone.
The kitchen was created by the World Central Kitchen, which is run by the famous chef Jose Andres, to create feeding systems in disaster and war zones. Andres tweeted that the NGO’s employees were shaken but safe.
The organization says it has already reached 30 cities across the country, providing nearly 300,000 meals a day. Andres said the attack in Kharkiv showed that “feeding in the midst of a senseless war is an act of courage, resilience and resistance” and that his group’s chefs will continue to cook for Ukraine.
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KEY DEVELOPMENT OF THE RUSSIA-UKRAINE WAR:
– Mother, grandmother cry over 15-year-old, killed in the shelling of Kharkov
– Russia resumes strikes on the capital of Ukraine and other cities
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Kyiv, Ukraine – Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Saturday he spoke with the leaders of Britain and Sweden about how best to help those defending Mariupol and the tens of thousands of civilians trapped in the besieged city.
The fate of Mariupol can be decided either through battle or diplomacy, he said.
“Or our partners give Ukraine all the necessary heavy weapons, planes and without exaggeration immediately so that we can reduce the occupiers’ pressure on Mariupol and break the blockade,” he said in his evening video address to the nation. “Or we do it through negotiations in which the role of our partners must be decisive.
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NEW YORK – A Russian general whose troops besieged the Ukrainian port of Mariupol was buried Saturday in St. Petersburg after dying in battle, the governor said.
Major General Vladimir Frolov was the deputy commander of the 8th Army, which the Russian media described as part of the forces that have been attacking Mariupol for weeks.
Governor Alexander Beglov issued a statement saying Frolov “died a heroic death in battle” without saying where or when he was killed. Photos on Russian news sites show his grave in the St. Petersburg cemetery, strewn with red and white flowers.
Ukraine claims that several Russian generals and dozens of other high-ranking officers were killed during the war.
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WASHINGTON – The Austrian chancellor said after a meeting with Vladimir Putin in Moscow last week that the Russian president is “in his own military logic” when it comes to Ukraine.
Carl Nehammer told NBC in an interview that he believes Putin believes he is winning the war. Nehamer was the first European leader to meet with Putin in Moscow since Russia launched its invasion on February 24th. He said that “we need to look him in the eye and we must confront him with what we see in Ukraine.”
Before arriving in Moscow last Monday, Nehamer visited Bucha, Ukraine, a city outside Kyiv, where evidence of killings and torture has emerged since the withdrawal of Russian forces.
Nehamer told Meet the Press that he was confronted with Putin by what he saw in Bucha, and “this is not a friendly conversation.”
He said Putin had said he would “cooperate in an international investigation, on the one hand, and on the other hand, he told me he did not trust the Western world. So that will be the problem now in the future.”
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OTHER DEVELOPMENTS:
VATICAN CITY – Pope Francis called for “gestures of peace in these days marked by the horrors of war” in a sermon on Saturday’s Easter vigil at St. Peter’s Basilica, attended by the mayor of the occupied Ukrainian city of Melitopol and three Ukrainian parliamentarians.
The pope noted that while “many writers have recalled the beauty of starlit nights, the nights of war are torn by streams of light that portend death.”
Francis did not directly mention the Russian invasion of Ukraine, but called for an Easter truce to bring peace through negotiations. The call came in vain on Saturday as Russia resumed missile and rocket attacks on Kyiv, western Ukraine and beyond, recalling that the entire country remains under threat.
At the end of his sermon, Francis addressed the mayor of Melitopol, Ivan Fedorov, and Ukrainian lawmakers Maria Mezentseva, Olena Khomenko and Rusem Umerov, who sat in the front row.
“In this darkness of war, in this cruelty, we all pray for you and with you tonight. We pray for all suffering. We can only give you our company, our prayer, “Francis said, then emotionally added that” the greatest thing you can get: Christ is risen, “the last three words in Ukrainian.
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THE HAGUE, The Netherlands – The Invictus Games for wounded and sick employees and veterans began with a standing ovation and tribute from Prince Harry to members of the Ukrainian team who left their war-torn nation to compete.
With Harry and his wife Megan in the front row for Saturday’s opening ceremony, the contestants applauded for nearly a minute as the Ukrainian team waved the nation’s blue-and-yellow flag after Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte greeted them. The event was postponed by two years due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Harry founded the Invictus Games to help rehabilitate wounded or sick servicemen and veterans by challenging them to compete in Paralympic-like sporting events.
Welcoming all the competitors, Harry pointed out the 19-member Ukrainian team and their supporters.
“Your courage in choosing to come and being here tonight cannot be overstated,” he said the day after meeting with Ukrainians at a reception.
“You know, we’re standing with you. The world is united with you. And yet you deserve more. And my hope is that these events, this event, create an opportunity … for how we as a global community can better show ourselves for you, “Harry added.
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FORT IRUIN, CA —- US Army trainers are learning 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.
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Riyadh – Russian President Vladimir Putin talks with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on Saturday, their second call since the beginning of 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.
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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 remains 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.
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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.”
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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 …
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