Ukraine’s outgunned troops began withdrawing Friday from Severodonetsk, the embattled eastern city that is a focus of Russia’s war effort, a local leader said. Moscow shelled the city heavily and continuously for four months, regional governor Serhiy Haidai confirmed Friday.
Protecting religious liberty around the world has become more challenging in the last year, advocates said this week ahead of Tuesday’s convening of the second International Religious Freedom Summit in Washington.
Lebanon, Syria and Egypt signed an agreement on Tuesday to transfer 650 million cubic meters of gas per year from Egypt to Lebanon through Syria.
Ukraine’s Ministry of Justice has announced an official ban on the country’s main opposition party and seized all its assets.
The prime minister of the Netherlands has apologized to soldiers who were sent as United Nations peacekeepers to defend the Bosnian enclave of Srebrenica with what he believes was insufficient firepower and manpower to keep the peace. Mark Rutte made the remarks 27 years after thousands of Muslim men and boys were killed in Europe’s worst single atrocity since World War Two, a tragedy condemned by the Vatican.
Ukraine’s war-time President Volodymyr Zelensky has visited his nation’s southern city of Mykolaiv as concerns rise that his forces may suffer from fatigue while they lose territories due to the ongoing Russian invasion.
Iceland is the most peaceful country in the world, followed by New Zealand and Ireland, according to the latest Global Peace Index (GPI).
Israel, Egypt and the European Union signed a memorandum of understanding on Wednesday in Cairo that will see Israel export its natural gas to the bloc for the first time.
The EU and Israel are set to sign a natural gas export deal today that will help to decrease Europe’s reliance on Russia. The bloc is heavily dependent on Russian oil and gas exports, relying on Moscow for about 40 percent of its energy imports in 2021. According to Israel’s Energy Ministry, a deal with the EU will for the first time allow “significant” exports of Israeli gas to Europe.
Chinese authorities are using the country’s massive COVID surveillance infrastructure to prevent a protest against the freezing of bank accounts as part of a broader crackdown, depositors say.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky warned late Monday that the battle for Ukraine’s eastern Donbas would go down as one of the most brutal in European history as Russian forces pushed for victory in the region.
Between massive death and destruction, Ukrainian forces were still holding out in the eastern city of Severodonetsk despite being outnumbered by Russian forces, Ukraine’s president said.
Russia’s United Nations ambassador angrily left a U.N. Security Council meeting as a European Union president blamed Russia’s invasion of Ukraine for worldwide food shortages.
Russia’s foreign minister said late Monday he had invited his Serbian counterpart to Moscow after three eastern European countries blocked his plane from traveling to Serbia.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has urged Russia to “stop burning churches” and end attacks on his nation after a famed Orthodox Church was destroyed while explosions rocked the capital Kyiv, overshadowing Pentecost celebrations. Heavy street battles also raged in a strategic city in Ukraine’s east that Russian forces want to capture as part of an ongoing invasion.
The European Union canceled plans to impose sanctions against Russian Orthodox Church leader Patriarch Kirill after Hungary threatened to veto the bloc’s latest round of measures against Russia for its invasion of Ukraine.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has expressed shock after at least four people were killed and 30 more were injured Friday when a regional passenger train derailed in Bavaria’s alpine southern German state. He said his “sympathy was with families of the victims.”
Moscow warned Wednesday that Washington’s decision to supply advanced rocket systems and munitions to Ukraine could lead to a direct military confrontation between Russia and the United States.
Eurozone inflation hit a record 8.1% in May as energy and food costs surged partially due to the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine.
European Union leaders say they will block most Russian oil imports by the end of 2022 to punish Moscow for invading Ukraine. But the EU embargo will only affect oil that arrives by sea following opposition from Hungary.