ope Francis appealed for peace Wednesday as the suffering continued in war-torn Ukraine, where the Russian military urged Ukrainian forces to surrender in the east. “Let our remembrance, affection, prayers, and help always go out to these people who are suffering so much and who are carrying out a true martyrdom,” Francis told pilgrims in the Vatican’s St. Peter’s Square.
Europeans struggling to pay their utilities were hoping for some relief Thursday after the European Union signed a deal with Israel and Egypt to boost natural gas exports to Europe to replace imports from Russia.
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.
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.
French President Emmanuel Macron faced a setback Monday, with official results showing he may lose his outright majority in Parliament following a left-wing challenge in Sunday’s elections.
A leading international think-tank has warned it expects the world’s nuclear weapons arsenal to grow for the first time in decades, the Guardian reports. The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (Sipri) gave its warning just as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has increased the risk that an atomic bomb may soon be used.
Residents in a strategic city of eastern Ukraine faced additional dangers Sunday after the Russian military caused a massive fire at a chemical plant and a British fighter died there, officials said.
Britain says it is “deeply concerned” after two British men and a Moroccan who were captured while fighting for Ukraine were sentenced to death by a Moscow-backed court in eastern Ukraine.
Russian rescue services began a search operation for possible destruction or casualties after a magnitude 8.4 earthquake hit the Lake Baikal area near Russia’s Irkutsk city officials said.
Developing countries like Somalia are facing famine as Russia’s blockade of Ukrainian ports prevents the distribution of grain, Sky News has reported. Ukraine exported sufficient grain to feed 400 million around the world last year, but this supply has been largely stopped since the ongoing Russian invasion.
Ukraine’s strategic Kherson region, which the Russian military captured, will soon reunify with Russia, the local pro-Moscow authorities say.
The air forces of Russia and Syria conducted a joint drill over the war-torn country Tuesday, the first since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine began more than three months ago, Syria’s Defense Ministry said.
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.
President Vladimir Putin warned the West that Russia would strike new targets if the United States started supplying Ukraine with longer-range missiles, the TASS news agency reported on Sunday.
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.
The secretary-general of the NATO military alliance has warned Western nations to prepare for a long war in Ukraine, adding to global concerns about worldwide food shortages linked to the conflict. Jens Stoltenberg spoke as the Russian invasion of the country entered its 100th day.