Tag: Ukraine

As Ukraine sowing season starts, fuel shortages threaten food supply

by Selim SAHEB ETTABA Agence France-Presse Bahaté, Ukraine (AFP) – In an endless field in southwest Ukraine, farmers began to plant sunflower seeds at the start of the sowing season, but a fuel shortage threatens production in the war-torn country, whose land feeds millions around the world. The world’s top producer of sunflower oil and a major exporter of wheat is a breadbasket of the world under threat from the Russian invasion. This means the […]

DFA: 13 more Filipino seafarers evacuated from Ukraine now back in PHL

(Eagle News) — Thirteen more seafarers who were evacuated from Ukraine have arrived in the Philippines, the Department of Foreign Affairs said. According to the DFA,  the seafarers who were part of the MV Ithaca Prospect crew arrived on March 26 at Clark International Airport. “The evacuation of the seafarers was a big challenge because of the need for them to disembark the ship through small boats that would bring them safely to shore,” Philippine […]

Ukraine says 5,000 dead in ‘catastrophic’ Mariupol siege

  by Danny KEMP Agence France Presse KYIV, Ukraine (AFP) — Ukraine said Monday that at least 5,000 people have died in the “catastrophic” humanitarian crisis gripping pulverized Mariupol, as fighting raged around Kyiv including in a strategic suburb where defenders claim to have driven out Russian invaders. Multiple cities in Ukraine remained under crushing Russian bombardment on the eve of new face-to-face peace negotiations Tuesday in Turkey, as Kyiv — and its allies in […]

Russian invasion of Ukraine a ‘repeat’ of Syrian war: Amnesty

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa (AFP) – Russia’s assault on Ukraine is similar to its actions in the Syrian war, Amnesty International said Tuesday, raising concerns of “war crimes” as the civilian toll grows a month after Moscow’s invasion. “What is happening in Ukraine is a repetition of what we have seen in Syria,” Agnes Callamard, secretary general of the global rights watchdog, told AFP. She was speaking in Johannesburg at the launch of the group’s annual […]

Abramovich, Ukraine negotiators suffer suspected poisoning: report

WASHINGTON, D.C., United States (AFP) – Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich and Ukrainian negotiators were targets of a suspected poison attack, potentially by Moscow hardliners seeking to sabotage peace talks, the Wall Street Journal reported Monday. The billionaire businessman, recently slapped with sanctions by Western nations seeking to pressure Russian President Vladimir Putin over his invasion of Ukraine, has reportedly been shuttling between Kyiv, Moscow and other negotiation sites. A source familiar with the matter confirmed […]

Ukraine says Kyiv suburb of Irpin ‘liberated’

KYIV, Ukraine (AFP) – Ukrainian forces have “liberated” the Kyiv suburb of Irpin, Interior Minister Denys Monastyrsky said late Monday in televised remarks. “In fact, this is now happening in parallel: the armed forces are advancing, the police are advancing, and immediately a sweep is going on completely through the streets… Therefore, the city has now been liberated, but it is still dangerous to be there, ” Monastyrsky said. The town’s mayor, Oleksandr Markushin, had […]

Biden ‘gaffe’ on Putin scrambles US message on Ukraine

by Brian KNOWLTON Agence France Presse WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — President Joe Biden’s apparent call for Vladimir Putin’s exit reverberated instantly around the world, sparking an administration rush to course-correct — and risks scrambling US efforts to rally a united front on the Ukraine conflict. Biden’s comment that the Russian president “cannot remain in power” — delivered in Warsaw at the close of three days of marathon diplomacy — was termed “a horrendous gaffe” […]

Russia, Ukraine set for face-to-face peace talks

by Danny KEMP Agence France-Presse KYIV, Ukraine (AFP) – Russian and Ukrainian negotiators will resume face-to-face peace talks as soon as Monday, probing whether a near-stalemate in fighting has forced Moscow to temper its demands. President Volodymyr Zelensky hailed the new negotiations, saying he hoped they would bring peace “without delay”, and lamented a month-long Russian invasion that has already killed thousands and devastated numerous Ukrainian cities. The new talks are set to start in […]

Misinformation has become ‘WWIII’, says Ukraine official

DOHA, Qatar (AFP) – The Ukraine conflict has unleashed a “Third World War” over misinformation, an official from the beleaguered country said Saturday, while experts warned of the difficulty in convincing Russians what their army is doing. Russia’s war on Ukraine has also forced a profound change in the way big tech companies are handling information, experts told the Doha Forum at which Deputy Foreign Minister Emine Dzhaparova put Ukraine’s case. Russia has put huge […]

New Ukraine-Russia talks set, France’s Macron warns against ‘escalation’

  by Danny KEMP Agence France Presse KYIV, Ukraine (AFP) — Russian and Ukrainian negotiators are to sit down for a fresh round of talks this week in an attempt to end the war in Ukraine that the UN estimates has killed at least 1,100 civilians and sent more than 3.8 million fleeing to other countries. Kyiv said the negotiations would start Monday in Turkey, while Russia’s lead negotiator said they would begin on Tuesday […]

Russia signals less ambitious goals in Ukraine war, shifts focus on eastern Ukraine

  by Danny Kemp with Brendan Smialowski in Rzeszów Agence France Presse KYIV, Ukraine (AFP) — Russia signaled Friday it may dial back its war aims to focus on eastern Ukraine after failing to break the nation’s resistance in a month of fighting and attacks on civilians, including up to 300 feared killed in the bombing of a theatre. The possible shift came as President Joe Biden visited elite US troops serving with NATO just […]

Seven Russian generals killed in Ukraine named: Western official

  LONDON, United Kingdom (AFP) — Western officials on Friday named seven Russian generals they said had so far been killed, and another who had been sacked, during the war in Ukraine. The latest to die, Lieutenant General Yakov Rezanstev, was a commander of Russia’s 49th Combined Arms Army in its southern military district, an official disclosed. Meanwhile, Russian Army Commander General Vlaislav Yershov, of the 6th Combined Arms Army, was identified as the general […]