Tag: Russia

Nearly 17,000 Russian, Ukrainian tourists stuck in Dominican Republic

Nearly 15,000 Russian and 2,000 Ukrainian tourists are stuck in the Dominican Republic due to travel restrictions imposed after Moscow’s invasion of its neighbor, the government in Santo Domingo said Wednesday. The Caribbean country said it had reached a deal with hotel chains to “guarantee” the tourists’ accommodation “until such time as a solution is found.” Hotels in the Dominican Republic, a country renowned for its beautiful beaches, welcomed five million guests in 2021. The […]

Built in wake of WWII, Kyiv metro offers shelter from Russian shells

by Dmitry ZAKS The wounded Ukrainian soldier dropped his crutches to the Kyiv metro station floor and picked up his five-year-old son, first wiping tears from his shaking wife’s face. The sweet smell of sweat from the bodies of sheltering Ukrainians permeated the damp, chilly air around them. But Sergiy and Natalia Badylevych were oblivious to the cooking odours and the dozing families spread out on the floor of what has become one of Kyiv’s […]

UN General Assembly demands Russia withdraw from Ukraine

by Philippe RATER The UN General Assembly on Wednesday overwhelmingly adopted a resolution that “demands” Russia “immediately” withdraw from Ukraine, in a powerful rebuke of Moscow’s invasion by a vast majority of the world’s nations. After more than two days of extraordinary debate, which saw the Ukrainian ambassador accuse Russia of genocide, 141 out of 193 United Nations member states voted for the non-binding resolution. “The world is rejecting Russia’s lies,” US President Joe Biden […]

Japan willing to accept Ukrainian refugees: PM

TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — Japan will accept Ukrainian refugees fleeing Russia’s ongoing invasion, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said Wednesday, in a break with the country’s usual reticence to accept humanitarian arrivals. Japan typically accepts just a few dozen refugees a year out of thousands of applicants, and its borders are currently closed to virtually all foreign visitors to prevent Covid-19 infections. But Kishida said the country would now “proceed with a plan to welcome people […]

DHL suspends deliveries to Russia and Belarus

  FRANKFURT, Germany (AFP) — German logistics giant DHL announced Wednesday it was stopping deliveries to Russia and Belarus, joining a growing list of Western businesses to cease operations in the countries after Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine. The “inbound services to Russia and Belarus have been suspended”, DHL said in a statement, adding that it was “not accepting shipments to those countries until further notice”. DHL, one of the world’s largest logistics groups, also closed […]

Nearly 836,000 refugees have fled Ukraine conflict: UN

GENEVA, Switzerland (AFP) — The number of refugees fleeing the conflict in Ukraine has surged to nearly 836,000, United Nations figures showed Wednesday, as fighting intensified on day seven of Russia’s invasion. In all, 835,928 people have fled across the country’s borders, according to the website of UNHCR, the UN refugee agency. That marks a huge jump from the 677,000 announced Tuesday afternoon by the organization’s chief Filippo Grandi. More than half have headed west […]

Four killed, nine hurt in Ukraine’s Kharkiv: emergency services

KHARKIV, Ukraine (AFP) — Four people have been killed and another nine wounded during shelling in the eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv, where Russian forces landed on Wednesday, the emergencies services said. “Four dead, nine injured,” the services said, citing preliminary information. Kharkiv, a largely Russian-speaking city near the Russian border, has a population of around 1.4 million. It has been a target for Russian forces since President Vladimir Putin launched an invasion of Ukraine […]

Europe gas price hits record high on Ukraine conflict

LONDON, United Kingdom (AFP) — European gas prices surged by around 50 percent Wednesday to a record high on supply fears following key producer Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Europe’s reference Dutch TTF gas price hit 194.715 euros per megawatt hour in morning deals. UK gas prices jumped as high as 463.84 pence per therm, close to the record 470.83 pence struck in December. The assault on Ukraine also sent oil prices rocketing Wednesday because Russia […]

Oil tops $113, equities sink on Ukraine war fears

  Crude surged past $113 a barrel Wednesday and equities sank with investors growing increasingly fearful about the Ukraine war’s impact on global energy supplies and the economic recovery. Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of his neighbour has sent world markets into a spiral over the past week, further fraying nerves on trading floors caused by runaway inflation and tighter central bank monetary policies. The crisis has seen numerous countries hammer Moscow with a series […]

Japan protests suspected air incursion by Russia

TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — Tokyo lodged a diplomatic protest with Moscow after scrambling fighter jets on Wednesday as a suspected Russian helicopter entered Japan’s northern airspace at a time of heightened tensions over Ukraine. Japan, which has volatile ties and border disputes with key neighbours China, Russia and South Korea, routinely sends jets to defend its territorial airspace. The country scrambled military jets 49 times in January, 142 times in December and 127 times in […]

Spain to send ‘military hardware’ to ‘Ukraine resistance’

MADRID, Spain (AFP) — Spain will supply “offensive military hardware” to Ukraine following Russia’s invasion of its pro-Western neighbor, Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez told parliament on Wednesday. “I… want to announce to you that Spain will also deliver offensive military hardware to the Ukrainian resistance,” Sanchez said. Until now, Spain had said it would send military support only as part of a wider package unveiled by the European Union on Sunday, in which Brussels agreed […]

Zelensky says Russia wants to ‘erase’ Ukraine

KYIV, Ukraine (AFP) — Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky on Wednesday accused Russia, which has launched an invasion of his country, of seeking to “erase” Ukrainians, their country and their history. In a video address, the Ukrainian leader said a missile strike on a target at the site of a Holocaust massacre shows that “for many people in Russia our Kyiv is completely foreign.” The attack on Tuesday night damaged Kyiv’s main television mast, which was […]