On Sunday there will be a virtual summit of G7 leaders with the participation of the Ukrainian president
The leaders of the great powers of the G7 will hold a virtual meeting on Sunday dedicated largely to the war in Ukraine in which its president, Volodimir Zelenski, will participate, a spokeswoman for German Chancellor Olaf Scholz announced today.
In this regard, spokeswoman Christiane Hoffmann specified that the meeting will address “particularly the situation in Ukraine” and that “the Ukrainian president will participate and detail the current situation in his country.”
The spokeswoman for the German chancellor, the country that chairs the G7 this year, recalled that the current war in Ukraine makes “the cohesion of the G7 more important than ever,” according to the AFP agency.
Orbán says oil sanctions on Russia are an ‘atomic bomb’ for Hungary
The Prime Minister of Hungary, Viktor Orbán, said this Friday that he cannot support the latest proposal for sanctions from the European Commission (EC) because giving up Russian oil in such a short period of time would mean an “atomic bomb” for the economy of the Central European country. .
“The proposal that is on the table creates a problem and does not pose a solution to that problem. This is unacceptable from the Hungarian point of view,” Orbán explained in his Friday talk on Kossuth public radio.
Germany sends more weapons to Ukraine
The German government confirmed this Friday that it will supply Ukraine with seven “Panzerhaubitze 2000” type self-propelled howitzers, in addition to the five that the Netherlands has already committed to the same objective.
The Defense Ministry announced on its Twitter account that the decision, which Germany was “studying” this week, has finally been adopted by Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht.
“Training for the use of howitzers in Germany has been prepared and starts next week,” the ministry added.
Lavrov says that there are no sanctions that can with the will of the Russian people
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said today that there are no sanctions capable of breaking the will of the Russian people and authorities.
“No punishment, no sanctions will be able to break the will of the people and the Government of Russia, which aim to defend the historical truth and the legitimate interests of the Russian Federation,” Lavrov said at a ceremony to remember the fallen Russian diplomats in the Second World War.
He added that it is about preventing the creation of “direct threats to the security, culture and history” of Russia along Russia’s borders, as has been done for many years.
Pope says ‘meaningless’ war in Ukraine ‘threatens the whole world’
Pope Francis assured today that all wars are “cruel and senseless”, but that the one that has been raging for more than two months in Ukraine as a result of the Russian invasion “has a larger dimension and threatens the entire world”.
“Even before the pandemic ended, the whole world was faced with a new and tragic challenge: the war in Ukraine. After the end of the Second World War there has never been a shortage of regional wars, to the point that I have often spoken of a third world war in pieces,” the pontiff told participants in the plenary session of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity.
Zelensky spoke with Bush, who called him “the Churchill of our time”
Ukrainian President Volodimir Zelensky held a videoconference conversation with former US President George W. Bush (2001-2009), who called him “the Winston Churchill of our time” for his response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
“I had the honor this morning of spending a few minutes talking with President Zelensky, the Winston Churchill of our time,” said the 43rd American president in a message on his Instagram account, referring to the former British prime minister (1940-1945, 1951 -1955) who led the destinies of the United Kingdom during World War II.
“I thanked him for his leadership, his example and his commitment to freedom,” he added.
US denies helping Ukraine attack Russian warship Moskva
The United States Department of Defense denied having shared with the Ukrainian government the data on the location of the Russian military ship Moskva in the Black Sea, which sank in mid-April after a fire and the detonation of ammunition.
“The Ukrainians have their own intelligence capability to track and target Russian ships,” Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said, the Russian news agency Sputnik reported.
Earlier, the CNN television channel had revealed that the Americans gave the Ukrainian military information on the location of the ship.
Ukrainian government confirms that 500 civilians were evacuated from Mariupol in recent days
A total of “almost 500 civilians” were able to be evacuated in recent days from the city of Mariupol, besieged and bombed by Russian troops, Ukrainian authorities reported today, without specifying whether they were referring to people who were in the Azovstal industrial plant. , the only focus of resistance in the southern city.
“We have managed to evacuate almost 500 civilians,” the head of the presidential administration, Andri Yermak, said on Telegram. “Ukraine would continue to do everything possible to save all civilians and military” who are in the Azovstal steelworks, he added.
The UN-sponsored evacuations began last weekend and will continue this Friday, Deputy Prime Minister Irina Vereshchuk told AFP.
Ukraine denounces attacks on Azovstal, where a new rescue of civilians is underway
Russian troops have intensified attacks on the Azovstal steelworks in the beleaguered city of Mariupol in recent hours, where a new evacuation of civilians is underway, according to Ukrainian sources.
The last part of the High Command of the Ukrainian Army indicates that “the Russian invaders continue to block the Ukrainian defense units inside the Azovstal plant”, the last stronghold of the Ukrainian resistance in that strategic port city.
Hundreds of civilians entrenched since the beginning of the invasion on February 24, including children, are still resisting in that facility, although some have already been able to leave thanks to an evacuation operation sponsored by the UN and the Red Cross.