Italy, United kingdom say they oppose sending Western troops to Ukraine
DONETSK OBLAST, UKRAINE – DECEMBER 16: Troopers of 59th Motorized Brigade of the Ukrainian military prepare for artillery fire towards Russian positions to help frontline troops in the way of Avdiivka, Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine on December 16, 2023. (Image by Ozge Elif Kizil/Anadolu by using Getty Pictures)
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Italy’s Defense Minister Guido Crosetto opposes sending Western troops to Ukraine, he said in an interview with Italian newspaper La Stampa, indicating it would damage likelihood at diplomacy.
“Sending troops to Ukraine would be a phase towards unilateral escalation, which would stand in the way of diplomacy. There is no point wondering about this now, soon after two many years of the war,” Crosetto stated.
He also referred to Poland and France, whose leaders have prompt the possibility of sending Western troops into the war-torn region, declaring these countries spoke for on their own and did not characterize NATO, which has “formally and voluntarily stayed absent from the war.”
On Sunday, U.K. Foreign Minister David Cameron told German each day Sueddeutsche Zeitung in an job interview that he was from sending Western troops to Ukraine even for schooling assignments, indicating that they would come to be Russian targets.
— Natasha Turak
‘Our flag is a yellow and blue one’: Ukraine’s international minister hits back at Pope Francis feedback
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba straight criticized the Vatican and Pope Francis’ “white flag” remarks through X on Sunday, declaring that his region will never ever surrender to Russia.
“Our flag is a yellow and blue one particular. This is the flag by which we dwell, die, and prevail. We shall under no circumstances increase any other flags,” Kuleba wrote. His submit was in response to remarks produced by the Pope in an job interview for the duration of which he stated “the strongest” social gathering in the Ukraine-Russia war is the 1 with “the courage of the white flag.”
“When it comes to the white flag, we know this Vatican’s approach from the first 50 percent of the twentieth century,” Kuleba wrote. “I urge to prevent repeating the issues of the previous and to aid Ukraine and its individuals in their just battle for their life.”
— Natasha Turak
India suggests its citizens were being ‘duped’ to serve in the Russian military
India is searching for the release of its nationals who have been “duped” into serving in the Russian army, a spokesperson for the Indian Ministry of External Affairs stated Friday, in a scarce rift from Moscow.
“Many Indian nationals have been duped to work with the Russian military. We have strongly taken up the make any difference with the Russian government for early discharge of such internationals,” mentioned spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal. “A case of human trafficking has been registered towards many brokers.”
He appealed to Indian nationals to “not be swayed by offers built by brokers for aid positions with the Russian military. This is fraught with risk and threat to lifestyle,” stressing that New Delhi continues to be “fully commited to early release of our nationals serving as guidance workers with the Russian army and the eventual return dwelling.”
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— Ruxandra Iordache
A few men and women killed in Russian shelling in japanese Ukraine Sunday, Kyiv states
Three people had been killed in Russian shelling and a number of wounded in eastern Ukraine, the country’s govt stated Sunday.
A Russian strike on a residential constructing in the jap town of Myrnograd injured a dozen people today, according to area authorities there.
“Three men and women died as a result of present-day shelling in the Donetsk region,” the war-torn region’s governor Vadym Filashkin reported in a write-up on Telegram.
In the western Russian entrance-line location of Kursk, a Russian female was killed by Ukrainian shelling a several miles from the border, authorities there stated.
“As a outcome of a direct strike from a shell, a household making caught fire and a neighborhood lady died. Her spouse experienced considerable burns and is now acquiring skilled medical treatment,” Kursk governor Roman Starovoyt claimed in a Telegram post.
— Natasha Turak
Zelenskyy seems to criticize Pope Francis’ ‘white flag’ get in touch with
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy created a remark that appeared to criticize current comments by Pope Francis about what Ukraine really should do to conclude the war with Russia.
In his nightly address Sunday posted to Telegram, Zelenskyy thanked Ukrainian spiritual leaders for their “prayer and discussion” supporting Ukraine’s armed service, and additional, “This is in truth what ‘a church with the people’ is, as opposed to digital mediation 2,500 km absent.”
About the weekend, section of an interview with the Pope recorded in February was released, in which the spiritual chief advocated for negotiating with Russia. The job interview was recorded by Swiss broadcaster RSI.
“I assume that the strongest one particular is the a single who looks at the condition, thinks about the individuals and has the bravery of the white flag, and negotiates,” Francis stated, when asked about his stance on whether Ukraine should really give up as it has been battling towards Russian troops.
“The term negotiate is a courageous term. When you see that you are defeated, that things are not likely properly, you have to have the bravery to negotiate.”
— Natasha Turak
Ukrainian documentary wins country’s very first Oscar
Ukrainian filmmaker Mstyslav Chernov (C), flanked by (from L) Raney Aronson-Rath, Vasilisa Stepanenko and Evgeniy Maloletka, accepts the award for Best Documentary Function Movie for “20 Times in Mariupol” onstage through the 96th Annual Academy Awards at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, California on March 10, 2024.
Picture by Patrick T. Fallon / AFP
A Ukrainian documentary titled “20 Days in Mariupol” gained the country’s very first-at any time Oscar, and its director Mstyslav Chernov recognized the award at the 96th Academy Awards in Los Angeles on Sunday.
Chernov, a Ukrainian journalist, shot the movie within the besieged port town of Mariupol as it was bombarded by Russian forces soon following Moscow launched its total-scale invasion in February 2022.
“I am honored but I will almost certainly be the very first director on this phase to say that I wish I experienced never built this movie,” Chernov stated through his acceptance speech.
“I want to be ready to exchange this for Russia never ever attacking Ukraine, under no circumstances invading our cities. I desire to be capable to exchange this for Russian not killing 10,000 of my fellow Ukrainians.”
“I are not able to transform history. I simply cannot transform the past. But we all together, you – some of the most talented men and women in the globe – can make guaranteed the historical past file is set straight and the reality will prevail and the men and women of Mariupol and individuals who have missing their lives will never be forgotten,” he explained.
“Because cinema sorts reminiscences and recollections sort history.”
Almost 50 % a million individuals lived in the southeastern Ukrainian metropolis prior to the invasion. It is now underneath comprehensive Russian profession, owning been illegally annexed by Russia in late 2022. Roughly 120,000 persons remained there as of May well 2023, in accordance to the Ukrainian governing administration.
— Natasha Turak
Microsoft suggests attack from Russian intelligence organization is intensifying
Microsoft on Friday mentioned that Russian team Nobelium, which the firm refers to as Midnight Blizzard, has been striving to access its inside methods and supply code repositories.
“In new weeks, we have observed proof that Midnight Blizzard is making use of details to begin with exfiltrated from our corporate email programs to attain, or try to achieve, unauthorized access. This has included access to some of the firm’s resource code repositories and inner systems,” Microsoft claimed in a site article.
Microsoft explained Midnight Blizzard was trying to access techniques, which includes those shared in between Microsoft and its consumers, but that it was reaching out and assisting impacted clients.
“Midnight Blizzard has greater the quantity of some features of the attack, these kinds of as password sprays, by as a great deal as 10-fold in February, when compared to the presently massive quantity we saw in January 2024,” it reported.
Microsoft very first explained in January that it experienced detected a cyberattack from Nobelium, which saw the Russian team hack emails from top rated executives.
— Sophie Kiderlin
