Ukraine warfare dwell: US ‘feared nuclear attack’ as Pope criticised for ‘white flag’ remark

Two extra troopers of the Georgian Legion, preventing Russian forces, have been killed in Ukraine, in line with the pressure.

A Georgian Legion Facebook put up introduced the deaths of Nodar Nasirov and Giorgi Gogiashvili on Sunday.

It is unknown the place on the entrance line they have been killed.

A spokesman mentioned: “Nodar Nasirov and Giorgi Gogiashvili soldiers of the Georgian Legion, died while performing combat duties on the front line.

“The Georgian Legion expresses its condolences to the families of the deceased. Glory to the heroes!”

Russia has appointed Admiral Alexander Moiseev as appearing commander-in-chief of the Russian navy, the Fontanka information outlet reported on Sunday, citing unidentified sources.

Reuters couldn’t instantly confirm the Fontanka report which mentioned that Moiseev, 61, presently commander of the Northern Fleet, will quickly be appointed as naval commander-in-chief on a everlasting foundation.

Fontanka, a personal information service primarily based in St Petersburg, didn’t point out any motive for the appointment. It mentioned the navy’s press service redirected its request for a remark to the defence ministry which didn’t reply to a request for remark.

Admiral Nikolai Yevmenov, navy commander-in-chief since May 2019, remains to be listed in that position on the defence ministry’s web site.

Ukraine has in recent months stepped up assaults within the Black Sea and on Crimea, which Russia annexed in 2014.

Kyiv has reported a sequence of strikes, together with the sinking of a big touchdown ship by naval drones in mid-February and a patrol ship this week. Russia has not acknowledged any such losses.

Pinchas Goldschmidt, the chief Rabbi of Moscow, witnessed first-hand the rise of Putin, writes Adam Luck. Now that he’s fled the nation after criticising the Ukraine warfare, he has a stark warning for the West – the Russian chief has his sights set on extra than simply Kyiv…

When the chief rabbi of Moscow was summoned by Putin’s FSB brokers to Sadovnicheskaya Street police station in 2003, they’d one purpose: to show him right into a Russian agent.

Rabbi Pinchas Goldschmidt, who had been chief rabbi for the earlier decade, was in a position to withstand the Russian state of their efforts to show him. But when Russia invaded Ukraine two years in the past, his time was up.

Pulkovo airport in Saint Petersburg has resumed operations as Russian Defence Ministry mentioned a Ukrainian drone was shot down within the neighbouring Leningrad area on Sunday.

Alexander Drozdenko, the Leningrad area’s governor, adjoining to Saint Petersburg, mentioned on Telegram that airspace was sealed off because of the drone, which didn’t inflict any injury or casualties.

The airport and Rosaviatsia, the nation’s aviation watchdog, didn’t say why the restrictions had been imposed

Ukrainian and allied officers have criticised Pope Francis for saying Kyiv ought to have the “courage” to barter an finish to the warfare with Russia, an announcement many interpreted as a name on Ukraine to give up.

The overseas minister of Poland, a vocal ally of Kyiv, and Ukraine’s ambassador to the Vatican each used Second World War analogies to sentence the pope’s remarks, whereas a frontrunner of one in all Ukraine’s Christian church buildings mentioned on Sunday that solely the nation’s decided resistance to Russia’s aggression had prevented a mass slaughter of civilians.

In an interview recorded final month with Swiss broadcaster RSI and partially launched on Saturday, Francis used the phrase “the courage of the white flag” as he argued that Ukraine, going through a potential defeat, needs to be open to peace talks brokered by worldwide powers.

“How about, for balance, encouraging (Russian President Vladimir) Putin to have the courage to withdraw his army from Ukraine? Peace would immediately ensue without the need for negotiations,” Polish Foreign Minister Radek Sikorski responded with a put up on X, previously Twitter.

In a separate put up, Mr Sikorski drew parallels between these calling for negotiations whereas “denying (Ukraine) the means to defend itself” and European leaders’ “appeasement” of Adolf Hitler simply earlier than the Second World War.

Andrii Yurash, Ukraine’s ambassador to the Holy See, mentioned it’s “necessary to learn lessons” from that battle. His put up on X appeared to check the pope’s feedback to requires “talking with Hitler” whereas elevating “a white flag to satisfy him”.

A Vatican spokesman later clarified that the pope supported “a stop to hostilities (and) a truce achieved with the courage of negotiations”, reasonably than an outright Ukrainian give up.

Donetsk has suffered destruction and not less than two civilians are believed to have been trapped beneath the rubble after a Russian drone strike.

“After midnight, enemy drones hit Dobropillia, causing destruction in the residential sector. Two civilians are likely under the rubble,” an area police report says on Telegram.

According to the police report, a person was killed, 14 residents have been injured, residential buildings and a church have been broken in Donetsk area because of Russian strikes.

As Russian artillery pummeled Chasiv Yar, a civilian was killed and two condo blocks sustained injury.

According to native authorities, 134 folks, together with 23 kids, have been evacuated from entrance line settlements in Donetsk area over the previous 24 hours.

Vladamir Putin’s key Russian fuel pipeline erupted into an enormous fireball after a sequence of “Ukrainian strikes”.

The main explosion hit the important thing Russian fuel pipeline for the second time in ten months.

According to the Telegram channel Shot, the explosion occurred close to the village of Lykhma, within the Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Okrug (KhMAO).

Footage filmed a number of miles away captured the glow from the inferno that engulfed the Yamburg-Yelets 1 major provide pipe.

The explanation for the explosion is being investigated and comes amid a sequence of sabotage strikes on key Russian power amenities linked to the warfare in Ukraine.

The Independent has not been in a position to independently confirm the footage.

The previous two years have been the toughest and most tumultuous for European Union candidate Moldova in additional than three many years because it faces threats from Russia in a number of spheres of public life, the nation’s overseas minister says.

Since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, its neighbour Moldova has confronted a litany of crises which have at instances raised fears the nation can be in Russia’s crosshairs.

These included errant missiles touchdown on its territory; a extreme power disaster after Moscow dramatically diminished fuel provides; rampant inflation; and protests by pro-Russia events in opposition to the pro-Western authorities. Moldova has additionally taken within the highest variety of Ukrainian refugees per capita of any nation.

“This past two years without exaggeration have been by far the most difficult in the past 30 years,” Mihai Popsoi, appointed overseas minister in late January, advised The Associated Press in an interview.

Moldova gained independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, however Russia continues to see the nation — sandwiched between Ukraine and EU member Romania — as inside its sphere of affect.