LVIV, Ukraine – The detention of fugitive Ukrainian oligarch Viktor Medvedchuk, a former leader of the pro-Russian opposition party and a close aide to Russian leader Vladimir Putin, has been met with enthusiasm in Kyiv and irritation in Moscow.
Analysts say Medvedchuk will become a valuable pawn in talks between Russia and Ukraine to end the devastating war the Kremlin has unleashed against its former Soviet neighbor.
Medvedchuk was detained on Tuesday in a special operation conducted by Ukraine’s State Security Service or SBU. Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky has offered Russia to win Medvedchuk’s freedom by exchanging him for Ukrainians now held captive by the Russians.
The 67-year-old oligarch escaped from house arrest a few days before the fighting broke out on February 24 in Ukraine. He faces between 15 years in prison and life in prison on charges of treason and aiding a terrorist organization to mediate the purchase of coal for the separatist Russian-backed Donetsk Republic in eastern Ukraine.
Medvedchuk has close ties to Putin, who is believed to be the godfather of his youngest daughter. His detention sparked a heated conversation between officials in Moscow and Kyiv.
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KEY DEVELOPMENT OF THE RUSSIA-UKRAINE WAR:
– Biden approves $ 800 million for artillery, helicopters for Ukraine
– The detention in Ukraine of an oligarch close to Putin angered Moscow
– The French Le Pen warns not to send weapons to Ukraine
– Polish and Baltic presidents visit Ukraine in support
– Russia has not yet delayed the Western arms express in Ukraine
– Forced into a basement in Ukraine, residents began to die
– Go for more coverage
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OTHER DEVELOPMENTS:
Kyiv, Ukraine – The presidents of Poland, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia visited Ukraine on Wednesday and emphasized their support for the country in struggle.
The presidents of the four NATO countries saw severely damaged buildings on Russia’s doorstep and demanded responsibility for what they called war crimes committed by Russian forces. The visit was a strong show of solidarity on the part of NATO’s eastern flank leaders, three of whom, like Ukraine, were once part of the Soviet Union.
They traveled by train to the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, to meet with Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky and visited Borodyanka, one of the cities near Kyiv, where evidence of atrocities was found after Russian troops withdrew to focus on the east. On the side.
“The fight for Europe’s future is happening here,” said Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda, calling for tougher sanctions, including against Russia’s oil and gas supplies and all banks in the country.
Appearing with Zelenski in a richly decorated room in Kyiv’s historic Mariinsky Palace, European leaders – Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda, Estonian President Alar Karis, Poland’s Andrzej Duda and Latvia’s Egils Levits – reaffirmed their commitment to political support for Ukraine and transfer of military aid.
Duda described what was happening not as war, but as “terrorism”, saying that responsibility should extend not only to soldiers who committed atrocities, but also to those who gave orders.
“We know this story,” Duda said. “We know what Russian occupation means. We know what Russian terrorism means.
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Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has called for growing calls to declare Russia’s actions in Ukraine genocide, saying it was “absolutely right” to use the term in light of widespread allegations of war crimes and other human rights abuses.
Trudeau made the remarks during a news conference Wednesday, a day after US President Joe Biden told reporters that Russia’s behavior in Ukraine seemed to him to be genocide.
Although both North American leaders noted that lawyers would determine whether Russia’s actions met international standards for genocide, they were united in welcoming the use of the term.
“It is only right that more and more people are saying and using the word ‘genocide’ in relation to what Russia is doing,” Trudeau said.
The prime minister went on to list a series of war crimes and human rights abuses allegedly committed by Russian forces led by President Vladimir Putin, including deliberate attacks on civilians and the use of sexual violence. Trudeau said they were attacking “Ukrainian identity and culture.”
Canada has sent police investigators to help the International Criminal Court gather evidence to bring Putin and other Russian leaders to justice.
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WASHINGTON – President Joe Biden on Wednesday approved $ 800 million in new military aid to Ukraine, including artillery and helicopters, to bolster its defenses against a heightened Russian offensive in the east.
Biden announced the aid after talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to coordinate the delivery of aid, which he said included artillery systems, artillery shells and armored personnel carriers, as well as helicopters.
“This new aid package will include many of the high-efficiency weapons systems we have already provided and new capabilities in line with the wider attack we expect Russia to launch in eastern Ukraine,” Biden said in a statement.
Biden said the United States would continue to work with its allies to share additional weapons and resources as the conflict continued.
“The continued supply of weapons that the United States and its allies and partners have provided to Ukraine has been crucial in sustaining its fight against the Russian invasion,” Biden said. “This helped ensure that Putin failed in his original military goals of conquering and controlling Ukraine. We can’t rest now. “
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UNITED NATIONS – UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres says there is currently no chance of a humanitarian ceasefire in Ukraine, as the United Nations has sought.
But he told reporters on Wednesday that the UN had made a number of proposals to Russia on the possibility of a local ceasefire, humanitarian corridors and the evacuation of civilians, “and we are waiting for an answer.”
Guterres sent the head of the UN humanitarian service, Martin Griffiths, to Moscow and Kyiv as his special envoy to seek a humanitarian ceasefire, but said “a global ceasefire in Ukraine does not seem possible at the moment.”
He said the UN’s proposals to Russia were aimed at minimizing the “dramatic impact” of Russia’s war against Ukraine on the civilian population and included the creation of a “mechanism” involving Russia, Ukraine, the United Nations and possibly other humanitarian organizations local ceasefire. , humanitarian access and evacuations to avoid accidents and incidents.
As for Russian President Vladimir Putin’s report on Tuesday that talks with Ukraine are at a dead end, Guterres said, “I will remind you that we are in the Easter period and the Easter period is around the resurrection.”
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Kyiv, Ukraine – A Ukrainian official has denied Russia’s allegations that more than 1,000 Ukrainian soldiers have surrendered in the besieged southeastern port of Mariupol. The spokesman for the Russian Ministry of Defense, Major General. Igor Konashenkov said on Wednesday that 1,026 servicemen from Ukraine’s 36th Marine Brigade had surrendered to a metal factory in the city.
But Vadim Denisenko, an adviser to Ukraine’s interior minister, denied the allegations in a comment to Current Time television, saying they had not heard anything like it and the battle for the seaport continued.
“According to official data from the Ministry of Defense of (Ukraine) and the General Staff, we have not heard anything like that,” Denisenko said. “Besides, I will say … that the battle for the seaport continues today.”
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PARIS – French presidential candidate Marine Le Pen warned on Wednesday not to send more weapons to Ukraine and called for NATO-Russia rapprochement after Moscow’s war in Ukraine ended.
Le Pen, an outspoken nationalist with long ties to Russia and a supporter of Vladimir Putin in the past, also confirmed that if he ousted President Emmanuel Macron in the French run-off on April 24, she would withdraw France from NATO military command and gain French support for the whole of the European Union.
Macron, a pro-European centrist, is facing a tougher-than-expected struggle to stay in power, in part because the economic impact of the war is hitting poor households hardest. France’s European partners are worried that a possible presidency of Le Pen could undermine the unity of the West, as the United States and Europe seek to support Ukraine and end Russia’s disastrous war against its neighbor.
Asked about military aid to Ukraine, Le Pen said he would continue to support defense and intelligence.
“(But) I’m more reserved about direct arms supplies. Why? Because … the line between aid and becoming a conquering country is thin, “the far-right leader said, citing concerns about” an escalation of this conflict that could lead to a military commitment by a number of countries. “
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WASHINGTON – Finance Minister Janet Yellen called on China to use its “special relationship with Russia” to persuade Russia to end the war in Ukraine.
Speaking to the Atlantic Council, a non-partisan think tank, on Wednesday, Yellen said Beijing “cannot expect the global community to honor its calls for the principles of sovereignty and territorial integrity in the future if it does not respect those principles now.”
Yellen’s speech comes a week before the spring meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank in Washington. Her direct appeal to China underscores the growing frustration with the United States and its allies in a country that has only deepened ties with Russia since invading Ukraine.
… The world’s attitude towards China and its readiness to embrace …
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