NEW YORK -- The latest updates on Russia's invasion of Ukraine:
LVIV, Ukraine -- Air raid sirens sounded Saturday afternoon in the western city of Lviv, and governor of the region Maxym Kozytsky reported "three powerful explosions near Lviv" without giving details of what was hit. Footage shot by The Associated Press showed thick plumes of smoke rising above the city.
Lviv, a city of over 700,000 roughly 70 kilometres east of Ukraine's border with Poland, has been largely spared from major Russian attacks in recent weeks. Two weeks ago, the Russian forces fired missiles on a military training center near Lviv, which at the time was the most westward target, and killed 35 people.
Since the beginning of the invasion, Lviv has become a safe harbor for some 200,000 displaced Ukrainians.
The explosions Saturday came as U.S. President Joe Biden was wrapping up a visit to neighboring NATO ally Poland in which he told Poland's president that " your freedom is ours."
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WARSAW -- U.S. President Joe Biden on Saturday spent time with Ukrainian refugees in Poland as he wrapped up his four-day visit to Europe, marvelling at the spirit of their resolve in the aftermath of Russia's invasion of their homeland.
The president listened intently to young Ukrainian children tell them about their parents. He picked up a young Ukrainian girl in a pink coat, smiling broadly and telling her she reminded him of his own granddaughters.
He also held hands and gave hugs to their parents, as he heard their stories during a visit to a stadium in Warsaw where Ukrainian refugees go to obtain a Polish identification number that gives them access to social services such as health care and schools.
Some of the women and children told Biden that they fled for Poland without their husbands and fathers, men of fighting age that were required to remain behind to assist in the fight against Russian forces.
"What I am always surprised by is the depth and strength of the human spirit," Biden told reporters after his conversations. "Each one of those children said something to the effect of `Say a prayer for my dad or grandfather or my brother."'
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WARSAW, Poland -- Poland's President Andrzej Duda welcomed U.S. President Joe Biden's assurances while visiting the Polish capital on Saturday that NATO would guarantee his country's security.
He said the assurances were all the more important as Russia is carrying out brutal assaults in Ukraine, just across Poland's eastern border.
"I think that for us Poles, in the situation we have today, in our part of Europe, in the era of Russian aggression against Ukraine, this is a very important element," Duda said.
Duda, speaking after meeting Biden, said that he also urged the United States to speed up its planned delivery of weapons to Poland.
Duda noted that under contracts already concluded with the U.S., Poland is set to receive Patriot missile sets, artillery rocket launchers, F-35 fighter jets and 250 Abrams tanks.
"I asked the U.S. president, Joe Biden, to accelerate, as much as possible, those purchasing programs that are already being implemented in order to strengthen our security," the Polish leader said.
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PRAGUE -- Several thousand Russians living in the Czech Republic in Prague and thousands more people in London have rallied to protest the Russian military aggression against Ukraine.
The organizers from Prague's Russian anti-war committee said the rally is an opportunity for the Russian nationals to say loud and clear "No to the war," "No to Putin," "We are with Ukraine," and "We are with the Czech Republic and the whole world against the Russian aggression."
The participants were marching through the Czech capital Saturday, waving white and blue flags, a common feature for the anti-war protests by the Russians. They replaced the Russian national flag with the tricolour of the red, blue and white horizontal fields with another one where the red field, which symbolizes blood, was replaced by one more white one.
The protesters also displayed banners that read "Stop Putin," "Save the World" and "Putin is not Russia," calling Russia's President Vladimir Putin a "Killer."
Besides their condemnation of the war, the Russians also said they want to make it clear they are part of the local society and not secret supporters of Putin.
In central London, a march organized by Mayor Sadiq Khan included thousands of people who will march from Hyde Park to Trafalagar Square, which has been decorated in the blue and yellow colors of Ukraine's flag.
Khan also pledged 1.1 million pounds (US$1.45 million) to support refugees, migrants and asylum seekers in London. Some 3.8 million people have fled Ukraine since the invasion began.
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OTHER DEVELOPMENTS:
WARSAW, Poland -- U.S. President Joe Biden has told Poland's President Andrzej Duda that "your freedom is ours," echoing of one of Poland's unofficial mottos. He assured Duda that the U.S. and other NATO allies would come to their aid if Russia should attack.
The two gathered Saturday on Biden's final day in Europe to speak about their shared effort to end the war in neighboring Ukraine.
Biden called the "collective defense" agreement of the Western military alliance a "sacred commitment," and said that the unity of NATO was of the utmost importance. He also acknowledged that Poland was bearing the brunt of the humanitarian crisis, with more than 2 million of the 3.5 million people fleeing Ukraine entering the country. He said the other NATO allies must do more. The U.S. has pledged to accept up to 100,000 refugees.
Duda said that the relations between the two nations are flourishing, despite the difficult times.
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BUCHAREST, Romania -- NATO's deputy secretary-general says that Russian President Vladimir Putin's month-old "barbaric war" against Ukraine is one he cannot win.
Mircea Geoana said in an interview with The Associated Press that NATO would be "forced to take appropriate measures" in the event of a chemical or nuclear attack, which follows a string of ominous comments from Moscow officials who refuse to rule out their use. He declined to say what those measures would be.
"NATO is a defensive alliance, but also it's a nuclear alliance," he said. "If they will be using chemical weapons or other kinds of higher-end systems against Ukraine, this will be changing fundamentally the nature of the war that Mr. Putin has waged against Ukraine."
"I can guarantee that NATO is ready to respond proportionately," he added.
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HELSINKI -- Finland's president says his country would likely be targeted by Russian cyber warfare and could face border violations if it decides to apply for membership in NATO.
Several polls in recent weeks have shown a majority of Finns now supporting NATO membership, up from 25% at most before the Russian invasion of Ukraine. President Sauli Niinisto said in an interview Saturday with public broadcaster YLE that the biggest benefit would be "gaining a preventive effect."
But he pointed to a risk of disruptive behavior by Russia during an accession process, which would take at least months.
He said an application would lead to tensions at Finland's 1,340-kilometer (830-mile) border with Russia, including the possibility of "robust" border and territorial violations -- not just by Russian aircraft, as Finland has experienced in the past.
Niinisto said: "We don't even know all the possiblities for hybid influencing that someone may invent. The entire world of information technology is vulnerable. Even some important society functions can be disrupted."
Moscow has said it would consider European Union members Finland and neighboring Sweden joining NATO a hostile move that would have serious military and political repercussions.
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MEDYKA, Poland -- Refugees arriving in Poland from Ukraine are pleading for more help to end the war as U.S. President Joe Biden wraps up his four-day visit to Europe.
The U.S. has been sending money and supplies to aid the refugee effort. This week, Biden announced $1 billion in additional aid and said the U.S. would accept up to 100,000 refugees.
Elena Taciy, a 50-year-old from Berdyansk, said that the U.S. support is "right and needed." She said Saturday she wanted Biden "to come to Ukraine in person and see the situation with his own eyes."
Maria Shevchenka, a 43-year-old from Mykolaiv, said that "we are waiting for them (the Americans) to help us end this crisis, so that finally we can return back to our country and our homes."
Biden, who was in Warsaw on Saturday, dropped in on a meeting between U.S. and Ukrainian foreign policy and defense leaders.
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LVIV, Ukraine -- The governor of the Kyiv region says that Russian forces have entered the city of Slavutych and seized a hospital there.
Slavutych is located north of Kyiv and west of Chernihiv, outside the exclusion zone that was established around the Chornobyl nuclear power plant after the 1986 disaster. It is home to workers at the Chornobyl site.
Governor Oleksandr Pavlyuk said Saturday that the Russians also kidnapped the city's mayor, but some media reported later in the day that the mayor was released swiftly. Neither claim could be verified independently.
The governor said that residents of Slavutych took to the streets with Ukrainian flags to protest the Russian invasion.
"The Russians opened fire into the air. They threw flash-bang grenades into the crowd. But the residents did not disperse, on the contrary, more of them showed up," Pavlyuk said.
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LVIV, Ukraine -- Authorities in the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, have announced a new 35-hour curfew in the city.
Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said the curfew will run from 8 p.m. local time on Saturday to 7 a.m. on Monday, with local residents allowed to leave their homes only to get to a bomb shelter.
Klitschko said that shops, pharmacies, gas stations and public transport will not be operating during the curfew.
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ISTANBUL -- Turkey's defence ministry says a "mine-like" object has been "neutralized" at the northern entrance to the Bosporus Strait.
The sighting on Saturday of a possible naval mine followed warnings that mines laid at the entrances to Ukrainian ports could break free in bad weather and cross the Black Sea.
Broadcaster NTV showed images of an object bobbing in the waves off Istanbul's Sariyer district, on the Bosporus' European coast. A Coast Guard vessel was stationed nearby.
A Defence Ministry statement said divers were dispatched to deal with the object. According to Demiroren News Agency, it was noticed by fishermen.
On March 18, Turkey advised ships to keep a "sharp lookout" and report any possible mines that had drifted from Ukrainian ports.
Last year some 38,500 ships passed through the Bosporus, which links the Black Sea and the Mediterranean. Soon after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Ankara closed the strait to military vessels.
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LONDON -- Britain's Defence Ministry says Russia continues to besiege a number of major Ukrainian cities including Kharkiv, Chernihiv and Mariupol.
A daily update says Russian forces are proving reluctant to engage in large scale urban infantry operations, rather preferring to rely on the indiscriminate use of air and artillery bombardments in an attempt to demoralize defending forces.
The assessment says it is likely Russia will continue to use its heavy firepower on urban areas as it looks to limit its own already considerable losses, at the cost of further civilian casualties.
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DOHA, Qatar -- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has made a surprise video appearance at Qatar's Doha Forum.
Zelensky in his video address Saturday criticized Russia's ongoing war on his nation. He called on the United Nations and world powers to come to his aid. He compared Russia's destruction of the port city of Mariupol to the Syrian and Russian destruction wrought on the city of Aleppo in the Syrian war.
"They are destroying our ports," Zelensky said. "The absence of exports from Ukraine will deal a blow to countries worldwide."
He added: "The future of Europe rests with your efforts." He called on countries to increase their exports of energy -- something particularly important as Qatar is a world leader in the export of natural gas.
He criticized Russia for what he described as threatening the world with its nuclear weapons.
"Russia is deliberating bragging they can destroy with nuclear weapons, not only a certain country but the entire planet," Zelensky said.
He also noted Muslims in Ukraine would have to fight during the upcoming holy fasting month of Ramadan.
"We have to ensure this sacred month of Ramadan is not overshadowed by the misery of people in Ukraine," he said.
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ISTANBUL -- Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan spoke to Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky by telephone, discussing the situation in Ukraine and negotiations between Moscow and Kyiv, Erdogan's office said late Friday.
Erdogan told his counterpart that he had raised Turkey's support for Ukrainian territorial integrity at a recent NATO summit, where he had relayed the diplomatic efforts made by Turkey in one-one-one meetings with other leaders, according to a statement from the Turkish presidency.
Ankara, which has close ties with both Russia and Ukraine, has positioned itself as a neutral party, seeking to facilitate negotiations between the warring sides.
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Russian forces in Ukraine appear to have shifted their focus from a ground offensive aimed at Kyiv to instead prioritizing what Moscow calls the liberation of the contested Donbas region, suggesting a new phase of the war.
It appears too early to know whether this means President Vladimir Putin has scaled back his ambitions in Ukraine, but Russian military moves this week indicate a recognition of the surprisingly stout Ukrainian resistance. Russian-backed separatists have controlled part of the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine since 2014.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Friday again appealed to Russia to negotiate an end to the war, but he said Ukraine would not agree to give up any of its territory for the sake of peace.
Putin's forces are under great strain in many parts of the country, and the United States and other countries are accelerating their transfer of arms and supplies to Ukraine. In recent days, U.S. officials have said they see evidence of Ukrainian defenders going on the offensive in a limited way in some areas.
Putting a positive face on it all, the deputy chief of the Russian general staff said his forces had largely achieved the "main objectives" of the first phase of what Moscow calls a "special military operation" in Ukraine.
KEY DEVELOPMENTS IN THE RUSSIA-UKRAINE WAR:
-- The Associated Press has independently documented at least 34 assaults on Ukrainian medical facilities by Russian forces
-- U.S. President Joe Biden visits American troops in Poland, a complex ally at Ukraine's doorstep
-- Russian President Vladimir Putin faces stark choices in Ukraine invasion as armed forces stall
-- Ukraine says 300 dead in airstrike on theater in Mariupol; hunger stalking besieged areas
-- Some prominent Russians quit jobs, refuse to support the war on Ukraine
-- EU, US announce partnership to undercut Russian energy
-- A vast apparatus is being built to gather and preserve evidence of potential violations of international laws of war for possible prosecutions
Go to https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine for more coverage
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OTHER DEVELOPMENTS:
LVIV, Ukraine -- Even as the conflict rages, a vast apparatus is being built to gather and preserve evidence of potential war crimes.
Less than a month after Putin's order to drop the first bombs on his neighbor, the United States declared that Russian forces were violating international laws of war that were written after World War II. But it remains far from clear who will be held accountable and how.
Possible war crimes that have been reported in Ukraine include destroying homes, firing on civilians as they evacuate through safe corridors, targeting hospitals, using indiscriminate weapons like cluster bombs in civilian areas, attacking nuclear power plants and intentionally blocking access to humanitarian aid or food and water.
But intention matters. Destroying a hospital alone is not evidence of a war crime. Prosecutors would have to show that the attack was intentional or at least reckless.
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LVIV, Ukraine -- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's chief of staff is calling on the West to create a new lend-lease program for Ukraine, referring to the World War II effort that sent U.S. supplies to the Soviet Union to help it fight Nazi Germany.
"We need a full lend lease," Andriy Yermak said in an address late Friday. "Today Ukraine is the holy grail of Europe, and without exaggeration Ukraine is reviving those principles that gave life to current Western civilization."
He said what Ukraine needs most is real-time intelligence and heavy weapons.
Yermak also repeated the Ukrainian president's calls for help in closing the skies over Ukraine to stop Russian bombing and missile attacks. The West has refused to impose a no-fly zone for fear of widening the war.
He said options include supplying Ukraine with air defense systems or fighter jets, or creating an "air police force to protect civilian infrastructure."
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LVIV, Ukraine -- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has again appealed to Russia to negotiate an end to the war, but says Ukraine would not agree to give up any of its territory for the sake of peace.
In his nightly video address to the nation Friday, Zelenskyy appeared to be responding to Col. Gen Sergei Rudskoi, deputy chief of the Russian general staff, who said Russian forces would now focus on "the main goal, the liberation of Donbas."
Russian-backed separatists have controlled part of the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine since 2014, and Russian forces have been battling to seize more of the region from Ukraine, including the besieged city of Mariupol.
Rudskoi's statement also was a suggestion that Russia may be backing away from trying to take Kyiv and other major cities where its offensive has stalled. Zelenskyy noted that Russian forces have lost thousands of troops but still haven't been able to take Kyiv or Kharkiv, the second-largest city.
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The Associated Press has independently documented at least 34 assaults on Ukrainian medical facilities by Russian forces.
AP journalists in Ukraine have seen firsthand the deadly results of Russian strikes on civilian targets, including the final moments of children whose bodies were shredded by shrapnel and dozens of corpses heaped into mass graves.
AP journalists outside Ukraine have confirmed the details of other attacks by interviewing survivors and independently verifying war zone videos and photos posted online.
The accounting is part of the War Crimes Watch Ukraine project, a broader effort by AP and PBS "Frontline" to track evidence of potential war crimes for the duration of the conflict.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights confirms at least 1,035 civilians, including 90 children, have died and another 1,650 civilians have been wounded since the war started a month ago.
Those numbers are certainly an undercount since scores of bodies now lie under the rubble of demolished buildings or were hurriedly buried in mass graves, or the deaths occurred in areas now under Russian control.
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BRUSSELS -- French President Emmanuel Macron called "unacceptable" the publication on Twitter of "propaganda" caricatures by the Russian Embassy in Paris.
Russia's ambassador to France was summoned Friday to the French Foreign Ministry over the issue. The two posts have since been removed.
"It was a fault. It has been corrected. I hope it won't happen again," Macron said in a news conference in Brussels.
One of the caricatures showed a character called "Europe" lying on a table while others representing the United States and the European Union were injecting the body with syringes marked "Russophobia," "Neo-Nazism" and "Sanctions." The other showed kneeling Europeans licking the buttocks of a man representing the U.S.
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WASHINGTON -- A senior U.S. defence official says Russia's military advance on Ukraine's capital of Kyiv appears to have halted as it turns its focus to fighting elsewhere in the country.
The official, speaking on the condition of anonymity to describe an internal U.S. military assessment of the war, said Friday that Russia appears to be concentrating more on fighting for control of Ukraine's eastern Donbas region rather than its ground offensive aimed at capturing Kyiv, at least for now.
The Kremlin seemed to confirm the shift Friday. Col.-Gen Sergei Rudskoi, deputy chief of the Russian general staff, said that the main objective of the first stage of the operation -- reducing Ukraine's fighting capacity -- has "generally been accomplished," allowing Russian forces to focus on "the main goal, liberation of Donbas."
The Donbas is the largely Russian-speaking eastern industrial heartland of Ukraine where Russian-backed separatists have been fighting Ukrainian forces since 2014.
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WARSAW, Poland -- Polish President Andrzej Duda says he regrets not being able to welcome U.S. President Joe Biden on his arrival to Poland because his plane malfunctioned and had to make an emergency landing.
Duda was flying to Rzeszow airport, in southeastern Poland, on Friday to greet Biden but about ten minutes into the flight, the flight crew said there was a problem and the plane had to return to Warsaw.
Duda and the delegation took another plane, but arrived in Rzeszow well after Biden had landed and there was no welcoming ceremony. Duda said he didn't question the pilot's decision. A special commission for air incidents will look into the plane's malfunction.
In 2010, Poland's then-president, Lech Kaczynski and a delegation of 95 were killed in a plane crash in Russia, as the pilots tried landing in poor visibility at a rudimentary airport.
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STOCKHOLM -- Spotify is halting its services in Russia in light of the country's strict new censorship law, which it says puts its employees and possibly even listeners at risk.
The Swedish music streaming company's move comes after other companies pulled out of Russia due to its censorship law. The statute imposes prison sentences of up to 15 years for those spreading information that goes against the Russian government's narrative on the war.
Netflix and TikTok suspended most of their services in the country earlier this month. U.S. credit card companies Visa, Mastercard and American Express all said over the weekend they would cut service in Russia.
South Korea's Samsung Electronics said it would halt product shipments to the country, joining other big tech companies such as Apple, Microsoft, Intel and Dell.
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A senior U.S. defence official says Russia's military advance on Ukraine's capital of Kyiv appears to have halted as it turns its focus to fighting elsewhere in the country.
The official, speaking on the condition of anonymity to describe an internal U.S. military assessment of the war, said Friday that Russia appears to be concentrating more on fighting for control of Ukraine's eastern Donbas region rather than its ground offensive aimed at capturing Kyiv, at least for now.
The Kremlin seemed to confirm the shift Friday. Col.-Gen Sergei Rudskoi, deputy chief of the Russian general staff, said that the main objective of the first stage of the operation -- reducing Ukraine's fighting capacity -- has "generally been accomplished," allowing Russian forces to focus on "the main goal, liberation of Donbas."
The Donbas is the largely Russian-speaking eastern industrial heartland of Ukraine where Russian-backed separatists have been fighting Ukrainian forces since 2014.
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WARSAW, Poland -- Polish President Andrzej Duda says he regrets not being able to welcome U.S. President Joe Biden on his arrival to Poland because his plane malfunctioned and had to make an emergency landing.
Duda was flying to Rzeszow airport, in southeastern Poland, on Friday to greet Biden but about ten minutes into the flight, the flight crew said there was a problem and the plane had to return to Warsaw.
Duda and the delegation took another plane, but arrived in Rzeszow well after Biden had landed and there was no welcoming ceremony. Duda said he didn't question the pilot's decision. A special commission for air incidents will look into the plane's malfunction.
In 2010, Poland's then-president, Lech Kaczynski and a delegation of 95 were killed in a plane crash in Russia, as the pilots tried landing in poor visibility at a rudimentary airport.
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STOCKHOLM -- Spotify is halting its services in Russia in light of the country's strict new censorship law, which it says puts its employees and possibly even listeners at risk.
The Swedish music streaming company's move comes on the heels of other companies pulling out of Russia due to its censorship law. The statute imposes prison sentences of up to 15 years for those spreading information that goes against the Russian government's narrative on the war.
Netflix and TikTok suspended most of their services in the country earlier this month. U.S. credit card companies Visa, Mastercard and American Express all said over the weekend they would cut service in Russia.
South Korea's Samsung Electronics, a leading supplier of both smartphones and computer chips, said it would halt product shipments to the country, joining other big tech companies such as Apple, Microsoft, Intel and Dell.
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ROME -- Pope Francis has presided over a special prayer for Ukraine that harked back to a century-old apocalyptic prophecy about peace and Russia.
Francis invited bishops, priests and ordinary faithful around the world to join him in the consecration prayer on Friday.
An estimated 3,500 people, including cardinals, ambassadors and pilgrims, attended the service at St. Peter's Basilica and the text of the prayer was translated into three dozen languages.
The ritual is of deep spiritual importance to many Catholics and a source of fascination to others.
It deals with some of the more controversial aspects of the Catholic faith: purported visions of the Madonna, prophecies of hell, Soviet communism and the death of a pope.
The service was Francis' latest effort to rally prayers for an end to the war. The pope has yet to publicly condemn Russia by name, though his denunciations have grown increasingly outraged.
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FRANKFURT, Germany -- More than 130 refugees from Ukraine have arrived at a German airport, the first of 2,500 due to arrive via Moldova.
More than 376,000 people fleeing the war in Ukraine have arrived in Moldova, according to the UN refugee agency.
But the influx has been a challenge for the small, former Soviet republic, which is wedged between Ukraine and Romania.
Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock has said Germany is working with allies to airlift refugees to countries farther away from the war.
She planned to welcome the new arrivals on Friday along with Interior Minister Nancy Faeser, who said in a statement that Germany "can be a hub for fair distribution in Europe" of refugees. More than 3.7 million people have fled Ukraine since the Russian invasion started a month ago.
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LONDON -- Author J.K. Rowling is pushing back after Russian President Vladimir Putin dragged her into a rant against Western efforts to "cancel" Russian culture.
"Critiques of Western cancel culture are possibly not best made by those currently slaughtering civilians for the crime of resistance, or who jail and poison their critics," the Harry Potter author said Friday in a tweet linked to an article about jailed Putin critic Alexei Navalny.
Putin earlier compared recent Western criticism of Russia with efforts to "cancel" Rowling over her views on transgender issues. Rowling has been criticized after saying she supported transgender rights but did not believe in "erasing" the concept of biological sex.
"The notorious cancel culture has become a cancellation of culture. Tchaikovsky, Shostakovich, Rachmaninov are excluded from concert posters, and Russian writers and their books are also banned," Putin said during a videoconference with cultural figures.
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ROME -- Pope Francis has presided over a special prayer for Ukraine that harked back to a century-old apocalyptic prophecy about peace and Russia.
Francis invited bishops, priests and ordinary faithful around the world to join him in the consecration prayer on Friday.
An estimated 3,500 people, including cardinals, ambassadors and pilgrims, attended the service at St. Peter's Basilica and the text of the prayer was translated into three dozen languages.
The ritual is of deep spiritual importance to many Catholics and a source of fascination to others.
It deals with some of the more controversial aspects of the Catholic faith: purported visions of the Madonna, prophecies of hell, Soviet communism and the death of a pope.
The service was Francis' latest effort to rally prayers for an end to the war. The pope has yet to publicly condemn Russia by name, though his denunciations have grown increasingly outraged.
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RZESZOW, Poland -- U.S. President Joe Biden has given a pep talk to U.S. troops stationed in Poland near the border with Ukraine.
Biden said he wanted to visit Friday to thank members of the U.S. Army's 82nd Airborne Division for their service. He added that it's "not hyperbole" when he says they are the "finest fighting force in the world."
The president told the fatigue-clad men and women that they are an "amazing group" and he reminisced about his late son, Beau, who served in the Delaware Army National Guard.
Biden visited some troops at lunch at their temporary headquarters in Rzeszow and chowed down on a slice of pepperoni and jalapeno pepper pizza. He also visited others who were getting haircuts at the barbershop.
Poland is the second stop on Biden's four-day trip to Europe. He spent Thursday in Brussels meeting with world leaders on the response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
Biden is scheduled Saturday to meet separately with Poland's president and Ukrainian refugees before he heads back to Washington.
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COPENHAGEN, Denmark -- Four Nordic energy companies say they are ready to help the three Baltic nations in the event Russia curbs or completely cuts electricity exports to its smaller neighbours.
Denmark's Energinet, Statnett of Norway, Sweden's Svenska kraftnat and Fingrid Oyj of Finland said in a statement they've "secured routines and identified eventual ambiguities in a scenario where the Baltics are disconnected from the Russian grid."
"In such a scenario, frequency support from the Nordic system will be needed. The Baltic (Transmission System Operators) have restricted the import from Russia in order not to risk a serious situation in the event of a sudden disconnection from the Russian system," the statement released by Fingrid Oyj said.
Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania are still reliant on their Russian neighbour for much of their electricity needs.
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NEW YORK -- The deputy head of Russia's military general staff says that 1,351 Russian soldiers have died in Ukraine.
Col.-Gen. Sergei Rudskoi also said Friday that 3,825 have been wounded.
NATO estimated on Wednesday that 7,000 to 15,000 Russian soldiers have been killed in four weeks of war in Ukraine.
The Russian figure did not appear to include the Moscow-backed separatists fighting in eastern Ukraine, and it was not clear whether the toll encompassed Russian forces not part of the Defense Ministry, such as the National Guard.
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WARSAW, Poland -- Polish President Andrzej Duda was unable to welcome U.S. President Joe Biden on his arrival in Rzeszow due a technical problem with the Polish presidential plane taking him from Warsaw.
Jakub Kumoch, a top adviser to Duda, said Friday that the Polish presidential plane had to make an emergency landing in Warsaw.
The plane landed safely and Duda was waiting for a replacement plane.
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MEDYKA, Poland -- Refugees from the war in Ukraine are among those who will be watching the visit of U.S. President Joe Biden to Poland, which began on Friday afternoon with a stop in the eastern Polish city of Rzeszow.
Some hope the visit might bring concrete steps to help their homeland as it is under attack.
Lyra Syniavska, 42, from Lviv, said that Ukrainians expect more help than what they have received so far.
"We are getting a lot of help now, really a lot. But our people are still suffering, especially those who lives in the eastern part (of Ukraine)," she said.
Alina Sylkina, 26, from the eastern Luhansk region, says she wishes NATO would close the airspace over Ukraine -- though the alliance has said it won't take that step.
During his visit to Rzeszow, Biden will be briefed on the humanitarian response to the refugees streaming out of Ukraine. He will also meet U.S. service members. Biden is due in Warsaw on Saturday.
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VILNIUS, Lithuania -- An exhibition of photos of civilian victims and shelling in Kyiv and Mariupol has been put up at the Vilnius railway station so that travelers on trains transiting Lithuania for the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad will see the images.
The Lithuanian railway said Friday that the 24 photographs were selected by the Lithuanian Press Photographers Club. A text on the photos says in Russian that President Vladimir "Putin is killing innocent people in Ukraine today. Are you OK with that?"
Lithuanian Railways CEO Egidijus Lazauskas said that the exhibition is a symbolic show of support.
Transit trains run daily from Moscow to Kaliningrad, which is sandwiched between Lithuania and Poland.
At home, Russia has tightly controlled news of what it describes as a "special military operation" in Ukraine.
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COPENHAGEN, Denmark -- Finland's national railway company says it will suspend services between Helsinki and the Russian city of St. Petersburg from this weekend, closing one of the last public transport routes for Russians who want to reach the European Union.
Citing the sanctions imposed on Russia, the head of passenger traffice with state-owned VR, Topi Simola, said that "people who wanted to depart from Russia have had adequate time to leave."
Only the morning train from Helsinki to St Petersburg will be operated on Sunday while the afternoon train will be cancelled. Both services from St Petersburg will be operated. After that, trains will be suspended until further notice.
VR said customers can cancel their tickets at no cost.
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GENEVA -- The UN human rights office says its strict methodology in counting casualties in Ukraine's conflict has yielded "very few" confirmed casualties in Mariupol, largely because of difficulties getting access in and information out of the besieged port city.
Matilda Bogner, who heads the rights office's Ukraine branch, noted that council leaders in Mariupol have estimated more than 2,000 civilian deaths in the city following Russia's military invasion on Feb. 24.
Overall, the rights office has counted at least 1,035 civilians killed in Ukraine and 1,650 injured but Bogner said it doesn't have a "the full picture of locations that have seen intense fighting, in particular Mariupol and Volnovakha." The office has acknowledged that its tally is likely to underestimate the actual toll.
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MOSCOW -- Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov says Russia is facing total war declared by the West.
Lavrov said at a meeting on Friday that "a real hybrid war, total war was declared on us." He said the goal was "to destroy, break, annihilate, strangle the Russian economy, and Russia on the whole."
During the first month of what Russia describes as a "special military operation" in Ukraine, the West imposed tough measures targeting Russia's economy and financial system as well as President Vladimir Putin and Russian oligarchs.
Despite that, Lavrov said Russia was not isolated.
"We have many friends, allies, partners in the world, a huge number of associations in which Russia is working with countries of all continents, and we will continue to do so," Lavrov said. He added that the vast majority of states won't join the Western sanctions policy against Russia.
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KYIV, Ukraine -- Mariupol's city government says the Kremlin's main political party has opened a political office in a shopping mall on the outskirts of the besieged city.
According to the post on the city's Telegram channel, the United Russia office is distributing promotional materials as well as mobile phone cards for an operator that functions in the nearby Russia-backed separatist regions.
Mariupol's communication links have been all but severed since the siege began in early March. Cell phone, television and radio towers have been targeted in Russian airstrikes and artillery barrages.
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COPENHAGEN, Denmark -- NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg says that any use of chemical or nuclear weapons "will totally change the nature of the war in Ukraine. It will be absolutely unacceptable."
Stoltenberg spoke during a visit to the long-planned Cold Response drill in his native Norway and called Russia's war in Ukraine "a watershed moment." He also regretted that Moscow had declined to observe the drill, saying that NATO "always invite other countries to observe."
The drill taking place in southeastern, central and northern Norway includes around 30,000 troops from 27 countries. Non-NATO members Finland and Sweden are also participating. The exercise started March 14 and ends April 1.
The first Cold Response exercise was held in 2006. It is conducted every two years.
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KYIV, Ukraine -- The government of the Ukrainian city of Mariupol says 300 people died in a Russian airstrike on March 16 on a theater being used as a bomb shelter.
The post Friday on the city government Telegram channel cited eyewitnesses for the toll of "about 300." It was not immediately clear whether emergency workers had finished excavating the site or how the eyewitnesses arrived at the horrific death toll.
When the theater was struck, an enormous inscription reading "CHILDREN" was posted outside in Russian, intended to be visible from the skies above.
Soon after the airstrike, Ludmyla Denisova, the Ukrainian Parliament's human rights commissioner, said more than 1,300 people had been sheltering in the building.
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BRUSSELS -- The United States and the European Union have announced a new partnership to reduce Europe's reliance on Russian energy. Top officials characterized the step as the start of a years-long initiative to further isolate Moscow after its invasion of Ukraine.
U.S. President Joe Biden asserted Friday that Russian President Vladimir Putin uses energy to "coerce and manipulate his neighbours" and uses the profits from its sale to "drive his war machine."
Biden said the partnership he announced jointly with a top European Union official will turn that dynamic on its head by reducing Europe's dependence on Russian energy sources, as well as the continent's demand for gas overall.
Under the plan, the U.S. and other nations will increase liquified natural gas exports to Europe by 15 billion cubic meters this year. Even larger shipments would be delivered in the future.
At the same time, they will try to keep their climate goals on track by powering gas infrastructure with clean energy and reducing methane leaks that can worsen global warming.
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ANKARA, Turkey -- Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan says Ukraine and Russia appear to be making progress on four issues being negotiated for an end of the fighting but differences remain on two other key issues.
Speaking to reporters on his return from a NATO summit late Thursday, Erdogan said Kyiv has expressed readiness to give up on its wish to join NATO, is ready to accept Russian as an official language, and can also accept "certain concessions" concerning disarmament and "collective security."
But Erdogan said Ukraine "is not so comfortable" regarding Russian demands on Crimea, which Moscow annexed in 2014, and the eastern Donbas region, where it has recognized separatist entities as independent. His comments were reported by Hurriyet newspaper and other Turkish media on Friday.
NATO member Turkey has been trying to balance its relations with both Ukraine and Russia, positioning itself as a mediator between the two. It has hosted a meeting between the two countries' foreign ministers earlier this month.
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BERLIN -- Germany's economy minister says his country has forged contracts with new suppliers that will allow it to significantly reduce its reliance on Russian coal, gas and oil in the coming weeks.
Robert Habeck told reporters in Berlin on Friday that Russian oil will account for about 25% of Germany's imports in the coming weeks, from currently about 35%.
Habeck said imports of Russian coal will be halved from about 50% of Germany's total to 25% in the coming weeks.
He said Germany also expects to be able to become almost entirely independent of Russian gas by mid-2024. To do this the government has secured the use of three "floating" terminals capable of regasifying LNG brought in by ship and is working hard to build permanent LNG terminals for long-term imports.
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JERUSALEM -- A Ukrainian who fled the country with her daughter has finished first among women in this year's Jerusalem marathon.
Valentyna Veretska, 31, competed in Friday's race after fleeing with her 11-year-old daughter shortly after Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24. Her husband stayed behind.
Organizers say Veretska finished the 26.2-mile (42.2-kilometre) race in two hours, 45 minutes and 54 seconds. Ageze Guadie, 33, from Israel, finished first in the men's category with a time of 2:37:17.
Veretska, 31, is ranked 444th worldwide among female marathon runners and most recently finished first in the October 2021 Tirana Marathon, according to World Athletics. Ahead of the Jerusalem race, she told reporters that she would "run for peace."
She and her daughter fled from the southern city of Mykolaiv with only their travel documents, making their way to neighboring Poland. She was invited to take part in the Jerusalem marathon earlier this month.
Marathon organizers say around 40 Ukrainian immigrants and refugees competed among thousands of runners.
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BUDAPEST, Hungary -- Hungary's prime minister on Friday rejected an emotional appeal from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to supply Ukraine with weapons and support sanctions on Russia's energy sector.
Prime Minister Viktor Orban said in a video posted to social media that Zelensky's requests were "against Hungary's interests," and that sanctions on Russian energy "would mean that the Hungarian economy would slow down and then stop within moments."
The rejection came after Zelensky on Thursday addressed a meeting of European Union leaders in Brussels where he specifically addressed Orban, who is widely considered Russian President Vladimir Putin's closest ally in the EU.
"Listen, Viktor, do you know what is happening in Mariupol?" Zelensky said. "I want to be open once and for all -- you should decide for yourself, who you are for."
Hungary, alone among EU countries bordering Ukraine, has declined to supply its neighbor with weapons and refused to allow weapons shipments to cross its border into Ukraine.
On Friday, Orban said that 85% of Hungary's gas and more than 60% of its oil comes from Russia, and that blocking Russian energy exports would force Hungarians to "pay the price of the war."
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KHARKIV, Ukraine — About half the population of the eastern city of Kharkiv has left, and food and other essentials are dwindling for those who stay behind. A line formed Thursday at an apartment block as neighbours waited for aid from the Red Cross.
“Among those who stayed, there are people who can walk on their own, but many who cannot walk, the elderly,†said Hanna Spitsyna, who distributed the food to the sound of explosions behind her.
Kharkiv has been under siege by Russian forces since the start of the invasion, with relentless shelling that has forced people to sleep in metro stations and in basements.
Ukraine’s government said shelling on a group of people awaiting aid elsewhere in the city killed six people on Thursday. It was not immediately possible to verify the allegation.
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DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Satellite photos from Planet Labs PBC analyzed by The Associated Press show thick black smoke rising Thursday over the port in the Ukrainian city of Berdyansk, with a large ship on fire.
The timing of the photos correspond with what the Ukrainian navy described as a successful attack that saw a Russian landing craft ferrying armored vehicles to the city sink off the port.
The image also corresponds to online videos purportedly showing the attack at the port in the city held by Russia on the Sea of Azov.
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LVIV, Ukraine – Russian forces fired two missiles late Thursday at a Ukrainian military unit on the outskirts of Dnipro, the fourth-largest city in the country, regional emergency services said.
The strikes destroyed buildings and set off two fires, it said, while the number of those killed and wounded was still being established.
Dnipro is west of the regions along the Russian border that have been controlled by Russian-backed separatists since 2014.
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LVIV, Ukraine — With the war headed into its second month, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky spoke of hope and determination in his nighttime video address to the nation late Thursday.
“It is already night. But we are working,†he said in a quiet voice. “The country must move toward peace, move forward. With every day of our defence, we are getting closer to the peace that we need so much. We are getting closer to victory. … We can’t stop even for a minute. For every minute determines our fate, our future, whether we will live.â€
He reported on his conversations that day with leaders of NATO and European Union countries gathered in Brussels, and their promises of even more sanctions on Russia.
“We need to look for peace,†he said. “Russia also needs to look for peace.â€
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LVIV, Ukraine — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky thanked EU leaders for working together to support Ukraine and impose sanctions on Russia, including Germany’s decision to block Russia from delivering natural gas to Europe through the new Nord Stream 2 pipeline.
But he lamented that these steps weren’t taken earlier, saying there was a chance Russia would have thought twice about invading.
He then appealed to the EU leaders, who had gathered Thursday in Brussels, to move quickly on Ukraine’s application to join the bloc. “Here I ask you, do not delay. Please,†Zelensky said by video from Kyiv. “For us this is a chance.â€
He then listed the 27 member countries, noting those he said were “for us.†He appealed to Germany and particularly to Hungary not to block Ukraine’s bid.
“Listen, Viktor, do you know what is happening in Mariupol?†Zelensky said, addressing Hungarian President Viktor Orban. “I want to be open once and for all — you should decide for yourself, who you are for.â€
Orban is widely considered to be Russian President Vladimir Putin’s closest ally among EU leaders.
Zelensky said Ukraine is certain that “in the decisive moment, Germany also will be with us.â€
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BRUSSELS — President Vladimir Putin’s threat to have “unfriendly†countries pay for Russian natural gas exports only in rubles from now on has got the not-so-friendly treatment from European Union nations.
Several EU leaders have come out saying it would be a gross violation of their contracts. From German Chancellor Olaf Scholz to Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi, they said they would not meet such demands.
The Russian threat is potent since the EU imports 90% of the natural gas used to generate electricity, heat homes and supply industry, with Russia supplying almost 40% of EU gas.
Economists say such a move seems designed to try to support the ruble, which has collapsed against other currencies since Russia invaded Ukraine and Western countries responded with far-reaching sanctions against Moscow.
Making such demands though, would fundamentally change contracts and render them null and void, several European leaders said during the first day of their EU summit.
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SOFIA, Bulgaria — Thousands of people took to the streets of Bulgaria’s capital, Sofia, on Thursday to protest Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and to show solidarity with Ukrainians.
The rally, organized on social networks, followed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s call on people around the world to protest the month-long war.
Some of the 60,000 refugees from Ukraine joined the demonstration. Waving Ukrainian and European flags, protesters chanted “Stop the war,†“Stop Putin†and “Freedom for democratic Ukraine.â€
The organizers of the event said that it was time for Bulgaria to come out in large numbers in support of a sovereign Ukraine.
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MOSCOW — The Russian military says it will offer safe passage to foreign ships that have been stranded in Ukrainian ports.
Col. Gen. Mikhail Mizintsev said Thursday that Russia is offering to allow foreign vessels to gather in the Black Sea 32 kilometres southeast of the port of Illichivsk and then follow a 129-kilometre-long “humanitarian corridor†to safety. He added that the safe route will be open daily from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. Moscow time (0500 to 1600 GMT) starting Friday.
He said that 67 ships from 15 countries have been stranded in Ukrainian ports. Mizintsev charged that those ships have been unable to leave due to the threat of Ukrainian shelling and the presence of sea mines deployed by the Ukrainian forces.
