Президент США Джо Байден і канцлер Німеччини Олаф Шольц не визнаватимуть порушення суверенітету України, а кроки, які йому суперечать, вважатимуть нелегітимними. Про це йдеться у повідомленні пресслужби канцлера Німеччини за підсумкам телефонної розмови Байдена і Шольца.
«Канцлер і президент США наголосили, що не визнають жодних кроків, які суперечать територіальному суверенітету та цілісності України, і вважатимуть їх нелегітимними», – повідомляє пресслужба Шольца.
Вони погодилися, що Україна має продовжувати отримувати значну й постійну підтримку задля самооборони.
Як повідомляє Білий дім, Байден і Щольц переглянули свої поточні зусилля з надання допомоги уряду України.
Президент США привітав надання Німеччиною допомоги у сфері безпеки та недавню обіцянку додаткової гуманітарної допомоги.
В повідомленні Білого дому не згадується, що Байден і Шольц обговорювали питання суверенітету України.
Українська влада припускає, що 9 травня президент Росії Володимир Путін може заявити про анексію Донецької та Луганської, Херсонської областей, а також частини Запорізької.
Секретар Ради національної безпеки й оборони України Олексій Данілов із посиланням на дані військової розвідки заявляв, що в Росії 9 травня можуть оголосити загальну мобілізацію, в Кремлі цю інформацію назвали
«маячнею».
Раніше також повідомлялося про намір російських військ провести референдум на тимчасово окупованих українських територіях, зокрема в Херсонській області.
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U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said Thursday that a third evacuation operation is underway to assist civilians in Ukraine’s southern city of Mariupol and the Azovstal steel plant.
“We must continue to do all we can to get people out of these hellscapes,” he told the U.N. Security Council, refusing to go into details about the sensitive mission.
The U.N. chief met Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow on April 26 and then traveled to Kyiv to see Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on April 28.
During his meeting in Moscow, the Russian president agreed to allow some evacuations from the besieged southern city of Mariupol and the mammoth steel plant where hundreds of civilians have been sheltering throughout the 10-week war.
This week, 101 civilians from inside Azovstal and around 400 others from nearby areas were safely evacuated by a joint U.N.-International Committee of the Red Cross team.
“I hope that continued coordination with Moscow and Kyiv will lead to more humanitarian pauses to allow civilians safe passage from the fighting and aid to reach those in critical need,” Guterres told council members.
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Антоніу Ґутерріш відмовився повідомити подробиці нової операції, «щоб уникнути підриву можливого успіху»
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Буш, за повідомленням, висловив підтримку Україні в боротьбі з російською агресією
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Russian President Vladimir Putin reportedly apologized to Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett for antisemitic comments made earlier this week by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.
Lavrov reportedly said “the biggest antisemites are the Jews themselves” and that Hitler had Jewish blood, among other long-discredited antisemitic tropes while speaking to an Italian television journalist.
“The prime minister accepted President Putin’s apology for Lavrov’s remarks and thanked him for clarifying his attitude towards the Jewish people and the memory of the Holocaust,” Bennett’s office said.
A readout of the call from the Kremlin did not mention the apology, but said, “The President of Russia recalled that of the 6 million Jews tortured in ghettos and concentration camps, killed by the Nazis during punitive operations, 40% were citizens of the USSR, and asked to convey wishes of health and well-being to the veterans living in Israel. Naftali Bennett, in turn, noted the decisive contribution of the Red Army to the victory over Nazism.”
Lavrov made the comments in an Italian television interview on Sunday as he sought to justify Russia’s war. Asked about Russian claims that it invaded Ukraine to “denazify” the country, Lavrov said that Ukraine could still have Nazi elements even if some figures, including the country’s president, were Jewish.
“So when they say ‘How can Nazification exist if we’re Jewish?’ In my opinion, Hitler also had Jewish origins, so it doesn’t mean absolutely anything. For some time we have heard from the Jewish people that the biggest antisemites were Jewish,” he said, speaking to the station in Russian, dubbed over by an Italian translation.
Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid issued a statement saying Israel would demand an apology from the Russian government for Lavrov’s comments.
Putin and Bennett also reportedly discussed the upcoming May 9 celebrations in Israel and Russia commemorating the defeat of Nazi Germany, the war in Ukraine and bilateral issues.
Some information is from The Associated Press.
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Про можливість такого кроку Лондон повідомив минулого місяця
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«Будь-які висловлювання на адресу фігуранта теоретично можуть вплинути на прийняття рішення компетентним судом Іспанії»
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Billionaire Elon Musk has strengthened the equity stake of his offer to buy Twitter with commitments of more than $7 billion from a range of investors, including Silicon Valley heavy hitters like Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison.
Other investors include Sequoia Capital Fund, which pledged $800 million, and VyCapital, which pledged $700 million, according to a Thursday filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. But Ellison, who is also a and Tesla board member, is making the biggest contribution, pegged at $1 billion.
Saudi Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Bin Abdulaziz Alsaud has pledged 35 million in Twitter shares in support of Musk, according to the filing.
Musk in earlier regulatory filings revealed that he has sold roughly $8.5 billion worth of shares in Tesla to help fund the purchase. Musk later tweeted that he doesn’t plan any further sales of the company’s shares, meaning he would need outside commitments to help fund the $44 billion deal.
Because of the new funding listed in the SEC filing Thursday, Musk will cut the $12.5 billion in margin loans he was leaning on in half, to $6.25 billion. The transaction is also now being funded by $27.25 billion in cash and equities, up from $21 billion.
The Thursday filing also said that Musk is in ongoing talks with other parties including former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, who is the second largest individual stakeholder in the company after Musk.
“This was a smart financial and strategic move by Musk that will be well received across the board and also shows the Twitter deal is now on a glide path to get done by the end of this year,” wrote analyst Dan Ives who follows Twitter for Wedbush.
Shares of Twitter Inc. have remained below the per-share offering bid by Musk of $54.20 because there are still doubts on Wall Street about whether the deal will go through.
Shares of the San Francisco social media platform rose 2% before the opening bell, to $50.10.
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Queen Elizabeth II will miss the traditional royal garden party season, where she would normally meet with hundreds of people on the grounds of her residences in London and Edinburgh, palace officials said Thursday.
The 96-year-old monarch will be represented instead by other members of her family, Buckingham Palace said in a statement.
Before the pandemic, the queen invited over 30,000 people each year to the gardens of Buckingham Palace or the Palace of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh. The guests, who have all served their community in different ways, have the opportunity to speak with the queen and other royal family members at the parties.
The parties were set to return for the first time in three years starting next week.
The monarch has missed several major events this year and has been carrying out online engagements instead. She spent a night in the hospital in October and only conducted light duties for several months on her doctors’ orders.
In March the queen attended a service honoring the life of her late husband, Prince Philip.
She marked her Platinum Jubilee — 70 years on the throne — in February. Large-scale festivities to celebrate that milestone, including concerts and pageants, will take place later this month and in June.
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After the regime’s crackdown on protesters in Belarus following the 2020 presidential elections, some 200,000-300,000 people fled Belarus ending up as refugees in Poland, Lithuania, Ukraine, and a number of other EU countries. Now they’re helping Ukrainian refugees and Belarusians who are being forced to move, yet again. Maxim Moskalkov reports. Dana Preobrazhenskaya contributed to this story.
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Джолі каже: боротьба за припинення війни – це «щоденні перегони у спробі обмежити кількість убитих, поранених, переміщених та травмованих
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Світло, тепло та гаряче водопостачання в Енергодарі переведені на ЗАЕС, повідомила влада
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For full coverage of the crisis in Ukraine, visit Flashpoint Ukraine.
The latest developments in the conflict between Russia and Ukraine. All times EDT:
4:30 a.m.: Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said on Thursday he condemned in the strongest terms Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, saying it amounted to war crimes, Reuters reported.
Kishida was speaking in London following an extended visit to Southeast Asia. Japan had hoped to hold talks on Russia’s invasion and consolidate responses in Southeast Asia, where only one nation, Singapore, has joined sanctions against Russia, officials say.
3:35 a.m.: VOA’s Eastern Europe bureau chief Myroslava Gongadze tweets that donors are gathering in Warsaw to generate support for Ukraine.
3:30 a.m.: Reuters reported that two villages in Russia’s Belgorod region bordering Ukraine have been shelled by Ukraine, Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said on Thursday, adding that there were no civilian casualties.
“There is shelling from the Ukrainian side on Zhuravlyovka and Nekhoteevka,” he said.
3:10 a.m.: VOA’s Eastern Europe bureau chief Myroslava Gongadze tweets that the evacuation of civilians from the Azovstal steel plant makes no mention of the Ukrainian soldiers who have been defending the civilians at the plant.
2:27 a.m.: While many civilians have been evacuated from a steel mill in Mariupol, hundreds of Ukrainian soldiers remain in the sprawling complex. The Associated Press reports that at least two wives of the fighters are pleading with the international community to evacuate their loved ones.
1:16 a.m.: Britain’s defense ministry said Thursday that with forces in Belarus conducting regular military exercises, Russia is likely to “inflate the threat posed to Ukraine” by Belarus in order to keep more Ukrainian forces in the northern part of the country and not deploying to eastern Ukraine.
1:10 a.m.: Reuters reported that five civilians have been killed by shelling from Russian forces in Ukraine’s Luhansk region in the past 24 hours, governor Serhiy Gaidai said on Thursday. Gaidai said the shelling focused on Sievierodonetsk and Popasna, Hirske and Lysychansk.
1:00 a.m.: Russia pledged to observe a cease-fire Thursday in the Ukrainian city of Mariupol, where its forces have controlled all but a steel plant complex where Ukrainian troops are holed up along with civilians the United Nations is working to evacuate. Russia said its daytime cease-fire would continue again Friday and Saturday to facilitate more evacuations from the Azovstal site.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, in an early morning address Thursday, said a long cease-fire was needed to evacuate the remaining civilians in Mariupol. “It will take time simply to lift people out of those basements, out of those underground shelters. In the present conditions, we cannot use heavy equipment to clear the rubble away. It all has to be done by hand,” he said.
In Washington, State Department spokesperson Ned Price expressed skepticism about Russia’s commitment to a cease-fire. “What we have consistently seen, and we’ve seen this even in recent days, is the tendency on the part of the Russian Federation to embrace a so‑called humanitarian pause to cloak itself in the guise of an actor that has humanitarian concerns only to quickly and promptly resume shelling and violence, including against civilians who are trapped in besieged areas, including in Mariupol.”
12:46 p.m.: The Washington Post posts a video documenting one family’s escape from Mariupol.
12:29 a.m.: CNN quotes a Ukrainian commander who said Russian forces who broke into the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol are waging “bloody battles” inside the complex.
12:01 a.m.: The Holocaust is at the center of a growing diplomatic row between Moscow and Jerusalem. This week, Russia accused Israel of supporting what Moscow describes as the “neo-Nazi regime” in Ukraine. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov angered Israelis when he said that even Jews like Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy can be antisemitic, and that Hitler had Jewish blood. Meanwhile, an estimated 500 Ukrainian Holocaust survivors have had to flee their homes once again for the second time in their lives. Linda Gradstein reports from the Israeli town of Petach Tikva.
Some information in this report came from The Associated Press, Reuters and Agence France-Presse.
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27 квітня ДБР вже проводила обшуки на понад 20-ти об’єктах на Львівщині, які належать родичам нардепів
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24 квітня Ентоні Блінкен був з візитом в Україні, куди вирушив разом із міністром оборони Ллойдом Остіном
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Повідомляється, що за підтримки авіації, російські військові поновили наступ з метою взяття під контроль території заводу «Азовсталь»
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У рамках маріупольського гуманітарного коридору вчора вдалося евакуювати 344 людини
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European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen unveiled new punitive actions against Russia on Wednesday, even as Russia pounded Ukraine, targeting rail stations and other supply lines in attempts to stop the West from “stuffing Ukraine with weapons.”
The Russian strikes, with air- and sea-launched missiles, hit five railway stations and fuel and ammunition depots, Russia and Ukraine reported.
“This is an effort to try to disrupt the Ukrainians’ ability to replenish and reinforce,” Pentagon press secretary John Kirby said in a briefing Wednesday.
But the Pentagon said that specifically around Lviv, the strikes had “no appreciable impact,” said a senior U.S. defense official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the assessment.
The sanctions von der Leyen announced would cut off European purchases of Russian crude oil within six months and end imports of refined energy products by the end of 2022.
EU members must unanimously approve the package for it to take effect.
“Let’s be clear, it will not be easy because some member states are strongly dependent on Russian oil, but we simply have to do it,” von der Leyen told the European Parliament.
She said the phased approach would allow EU members to find alternatives to Russian imports, blunt negative effects on the global energy markets, and help maximize pressure on Russia while minimizing collateral economic damage.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has pushed for more extensive European actions to cut off imports of Russian energy, saying earlier this week that a new EU package “should include clear steps to block Russia’s revenues from energy resources.”
The proposed EU sanctions also include removing Russia’s biggest bank, Sberbank, from the international SWIFT transaction and messaging system, and listing high-ranking military officers “who committed war crimes in Bucha and those responsible for the inhuman siege of Mariupol.”
“This sends another important signal to all perpetrators of the Kremlin: We know who you are. We will hold you accountable. You are not getting away with this,” von der Leyen said.
She added that Russian President Vladimir Putin “must pay a high price for his brutal aggression.”
“Putin wanted to wipe out Ukraine from the map, and he will clearly not succeed,” she said. “On the contrary. Ukraine has risen in bravery and in unity, and it is his own country, Russia, that Putin is sinking.”
In Washington, U.S. President Joe Biden said he would be speaking with other leaders from the Group of Seven advanced economies this week about potential new sanctions against Russia.
“We’re always open to additional sanctions,” Biden told reporters.
Fighting in the east, south
In Mariupol, fighting intensified around the Azovstal steel mill. The city’s mayor, Vadym Boychenko, said the Russians were hitting the plant with everything from heavy artillery to “bombs that pierce concrete 3 to 5 meters thick.”
The Ukrainian fighters defending the plant said Russian troops had entered its grounds, which Russia denied.
A senior U.S. defense official said that Russian military progress in eastern Ukraine’s Donbas region was “stalled … very slow and uneven.”
Russia has been launching about 40 to 50 missile strikes a day but is “still wary” of flying inside Ukraine. Russian forces have been meeting stiff resistance from Ukrainian forces as they attempt to advance toward Kramatorsk and Severodonetsk in eastern Ukraine, the official said.
Air raid sirens went off Wednesday night across Ukraine, with attacks reported near Kyiv, in Cherkasy and Dnipro in central Ukraine, and in Zaporizhzhia in the southeast.
President Zelenskyy, in an early morning address Thursday, said a long cease-fire was needed to evacuate the remaining civilians in Mariupol.
“It will take time simply to lift people out of those basements, out of those underground shelters. In the present conditions, we cannot use heavy equipment to clear the rubble away. It all has to be done by hand,” he said.
Russia said it would pause military activity during the day for the next three days.
The United Nations said Wednesday that the more than 300 civilians evacuated from Mariupol, Manhush, Berdiansk, Tokmak and Vasylivka were receiving humanitarian assistance in Zaporizhzhia.
“While this second evacuation of civilians from areas in Mariupol and beyond is significant, much more must be done to make sure all civilians caught up in fighting can leave, in the direction they wish,” said Osnat Lubrani, the U.N.’s humanitarian coordinator for Ukraine.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss discussed support for Ukraine in a telephone call.
State Department spokesperson Ned Price said the diplomats talked about “additional security and humanitarian assistance to Ukraine and continued transatlantic unity,” as well as “economic consequences for those who continue to provide financial or material support that aids the Kremlin’s war against Ukraine.”
Some information came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Press and Reuters.
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India and France on Wednesday called for “an immediate cessation of hostilities” in Ukraine, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi again stopping short of condemning Russia’s invasion of its neighbor.
India, which imports much of its military hardware from Russia, has long walked a diplomatic tightrope between the West and Moscow, notably refusing to denounce the latter or vote against it at the United Nations over its actions in Ukraine.
“France and India expressed their deep concern over the humanitarian crisis and the ongoing conflict in Ukraine,” Modi and French President Emmanuel Macron said in a joint statement after they met in Paris for talks and a working dinner.
“Both countries unequivocally condemned the fact that civilians have been killed in Ukraine and called for an immediate cessation of hostilities in order for the two sides to come together to promote dialogue and diplomacy, and to put an immediate end to the suffering of the people.”
However, only France condemned “Russian forces’ illegal and unjustified aggression against Ukraine.”
The two countries said they would “respond in a coordinated and multilateral way” to the risk the conflict would intensify a global food crisis. Ukraine and Russia are among the world’s main wheat producers.
Ahead of the meeting, Macron’s office had said he would “emphasize the consequences of the war for the international order well beyond the European Union, including in Asia” to Modi.
France wants to “help the Indians diversify their supply” away from Russian arms and energy, officials added.
The aim, they said, “is not to leave the Indians with no way out, but to offer solutions.”
Modi, who is on a European tour, told reporters after meeting with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in Berlin on Monday that “there won’t be any winners in this war and everyone will lose.”
The Elysee said Macron has an “extremely warm relationship” with Modi, who has visited France three times since 2017, while the French leader went to India in 2018.
Modi invited Macron to visit India again to deepen cooperation on defense technology and the transition to clean energy.
The two men embraced and posed for photographs when Modi arrived in the courtyard of the Elysee Palace, where he was also greeted by Macron’s wife, Brigitte.
Going into the meeting, officials described France’s relationship with India as “trusting,” and the joint statement reaffirmed the two countries’ desire to strengthen the “strategic Franco-Indian partnership, particularly in the Indo-Pacific.”
Securing France’s place in the region is especially important after Britain, the United States and Australia last year sealed their AUKUS security pact, dumping a lucrative French contract to supply Canberra’s next generation of submarines along the way.
India has bought dozens of French Rafale fighter jets and six submarines and cooperates with Paris on civil nuclear projects. French state-owned energy giant EDF wants to build six next-generation EPR reactors in Jaitapur on India’s west coast.
The Elysee said it was pushing hard to get that deal signed, fitting in with Macron’s vow ahead of his reelection last month to renew France’s nuclear industry and replace its fleet of ageing power plants.
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Президент Росії Володимир Путін не міг уявити, що світ так швидко і впевнено згуртується навколо України, заявив міністр оборони Сполучених Штатів Ллойд Остін.
«Ми надали Україні допомогу в сфері безпеки з рекордною швидкістю, і весь світ бачить різницю на полі бою. Путін ніколи не міг уявити, що світ так швидко і впевнено згуртується навколо України», – написав він у твіттері.
У Німеччині на американській авіабазі «Рамштайн» 26 квітня відбулося засідання міжнародної Консультативної групи з питань оборони України, яку скликав міністр оборони США Ллойд Остін. Участь у заході взяли керівники оборонних відомств понад 40 країн світу.
Ллойд Остін заявив, що від початку повномасштабного вторгнення РФ США, їхні союзники та партнери зобов’язалися надати Україні обладнання на понад 5 млрд дол.
Палата представників Сполучених Штатів 28 квітня підтримала проєкт закону про лендліз. 7 квітня Сенат США одноголосно схвалив законопроєкт, який дозволяє президенту Джо Байдену використати програму лендлізу для спрощення відправки військової допомоги Україні та країнам Східної Європи.
Востаннє програма діяла під час Другої світової війни, коли американська військова допомога вирушала супротивникам нацистської Німеччини, насамперед Великій Британії та СРСР.
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«Під загрозою – життя людей, які залишаються там. Для нас важливий кожен і кожна. Просимо вашого сприяння у їх порятунку»
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Ввечері 4 травня російські війська завдали ракетних ударів по Дніпру, Черкасах, Миколаєву, Кропивницькому та Київській області.
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Обмеження стосуватиметься фізичних та юридичних осіб
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