Europe

UK regulator revokes RT’s broadcasting licence

  by Joe JACKSON Agence France Presse LONDON, United Kingdom (AFP) — UK broadcasting regulator Ofcom on Friday revoked the licence of Russia’s state-funded television channel RT, in the latest international repercussion for Moscow after its invasion of Ukraine. The move follows a similar ban imposed by the European Union and RT’s operations in the United States shutting down earlier this month, as Western nations seek to punish and isolate Russia for its actions. The […]

‘Stop this war’: Arnold Schwarzenegger to Putin

LOS ANGELES, United States (AFP) — “Terminator” star Arnold Schwarzenegger appealed to Vladimir Putin on Thursday to end the “senseless” war in Ukraine and praised Russians protesting the conflict as his “new heroes.” “Ukraine did not start this war,” the former California governor said in an emotional message to the people of Russia and Russian troops posted to his Twitter account and other platforms. “I’m speaking to you today because there are things going on […]

Russia strikes near Lviv airport as bombardment expands across Ukraine

  by Joe Stenson with Danny Kemp and Dmytro Gorshkov in Kyiv Agence France Presse LVIV, Ukraine (AFP) — Russian missiles struck near Lviv’s airport in the far west of Ukraine early Friday, as Moscow expanded a countrywide aerial bombardment campaign that has intensified allegations of war crimes and deliberate targeting of civilians. Lviv Mayor Andriy Sadovyi said Russian forces had destroyed an aircraft repair plant — which sits near the Polish border. Ambulance and […]

Zelensky urges US help against Russia — and gets $1 bn more weaponry

  by Sebastian Smith and Frankie Taggart Agence France Presse Ukraine’s leader Volodymyr Zelensky made a desperate appeal for help against Russia to the US Congress on Wednesday, and within hours of the speech, President Joe Biden responded by promising $1 billion in new weapons to fight “war criminal” Vladimir Putin’s invading army. The Ukrainian president’s video address from embattled Kyiv, bolstered by a montage of horrific TV footage of Ukrainian civilians under Russian assault, […]

British-Iranians reunited with family in UK after Tehran release

by Charles ONIANS Agence France-Presse LONDON, United Kingdom (AFP) – Two British-Iranians imprisoned for years in Iran were reunited with their families in the early hours of Thursday, tears of joy and long hugs marking the culmination of years of campaigning and earlier false hopes. Their release on Wednesday came as the British government confirmed it had paid a longstanding debt over a cancelled defence contract, and as major powers inch closer to renewing the […]

Ukrainian theatre sheltering ‘more than 1,000’ civilians bombed

KYIV, Ukraine (AFP) – Ukraine claimed Thursday that Russia had destroyed a theatre harbouring more than a thousand people in the besieged southern port city of Mariupol, with the toll as yet unknown. Officials posted images that appeared to show the once gleaming whitewashed three-storey theatre hollowed out and ablaze, with bricks and scaffolding piled high. “The invaders destroyed the Drama Theatre. A place where more than a thousand people found refuge. We will never […]

IEA cuts oil demand outlook, fears Russia supply ‘shock’

PARIS, France (AFP) – The International Energy Agency cut its world oil demand forecast for 2022 on Wednesday, warning that sanctions against Russia over its invasion of Ukraine could spark a global supply “shock”. “Faced with what could turn into the biggest supply crisis in decades, global energy markets are at a crossroads,” the IEA said in a monthly report. “While it is still too early to know how events will unfold, the crisis may […]

Polish, Czech, Slovenian PMs meet Zelensky in Kyiv

First visit of foreign leaders in Ukraine after Russia attack KYIV, Ukraine (AFP) — The Polish, Czech and Slovenian prime ministers met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Kyiv on Tuesday in the first visit by foreign leaders to Ukraine’s besieged capital since Russia’s invasion. The prime ministers, who arrived by train, sat round a table with their Ukrainian counterpart Denis Shmyhal amd and the Ukrainian president, who detailed the situation to them. “They are shelling […]

Train station targeted in Ukraine refugee hub near Mariupol

DNIPRO, Ukraine (AFP) – Russian forces on Wednesday targeted the southern Ukraine city of Zaporizhzhia, where thousands of refugees are taking shelter after escaping the besieged port city of Mariupol, regional officials said. “Civilian objects have been bombed for the first time in Zaporizhzhia,” the regional governor Alexander Starukh wrote on the Telegram social media platform. “The rockets landed in the area of the Zaporozhye-2 railway station,” he added, specifying that there were no casualties. […]

British PM to meet Saudi, UAE leaders as war roils oil prices

ABU DHABI, United Emirates (AFP) – British Prime Minister Boris Johnson was to lobby Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates to pump more oil to calm turbulent markets as he meets the Gulf states’ leadership on Wednesday. Johnson arrived in Abu Dhabi for talks with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed and was due to fly to Riyadh later as the West seeks to end its dependency on Russian oil following the invasion of Ukraine. […]

European leaders in defiant Kyiv trip as Russia presses in

by Danny KEMP, with Emmanuel DUPARCQ Agence France-Presse KYIV, Ukraine (AFP) – A trio of eastern European leaders met Ukraine’s president in his besieged capital Tuesday, in a defiant act of solidarity as Russian forces pressed in and air strikes claimed yet more lives in the city under curfew. As talks ground on between Moscow and Kyiv in a bid to halt the devastation, the White House upped the ante by announcing President Joe Biden […]

Russia calls for UN Council vote on Ukraine-linked ‘humanitarian’ resolution

UNITED NATIONS, United States (AFP) – Moscow’s envoys to the United Nations on Tuesday called for a Security Council vote on a resolution it has drafted about the “deteriorating humanitarian situation” in Ukraine, where Russian troops have launched an all-out assault. Russia’s ambassador to the UN, Vassily Nebenzia, said he regretted that France and Mexico opted not to present a draft resolution on humanitarian aid to the Council, and that Moscow would put forth its […]