By The Related Press
RZESZOW, Poland — President Joe Biden has given a pep discuss to U.S. troops stationed in Poland close to the border with Ukraine.
Biden stated he wished to go to Friday to thank members of the U.S. Military’s 82nd Airborne Division for his or her service. He added that it’s “not hyperbole” when he says they’re the “best preventing pressure on this planet.”
The president informed the fatigue-clad women and men that they’re an “superb group” and he reminisced about his late son, Beau, who served within the Delaware Military Nationwide Guard.
Biden visited some troops at lunch at their non permanent headquarters in Rzeszow and chowed down on a slice of pepperoni and jalapeno pepper pizza. He additionally visited others who had been getting haircuts on the barbershop.
Poland is the second cease on Biden’s four-day journey to Europe. He spent Thursday in Brussels assembly with world leaders on the response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Biden is scheduled Saturday to fulfill individually with Poland’s president and Ukrainian refugees earlier than he heads again to Washington.
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KEY DEVELOPMENTS IN THE RUSSIA-UKRAINE WAR:
— Ukraine says 300 useless in airstrike on theater in Mariupol; starvation stalking besieged areas
— President Biden visits Poland, a posh ally on Ukraine’s doorstep
— Some outstanding Russians stop jobs, refuse to help the struggle on Ukraine
— EU, US announce partnership to undercut Russian vitality
— Go to https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine for extra protection
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OTHER DEVELOPMENTS:
COPENHAGEN, Denmark — 4 Nordic vitality corporations say they’re prepared to assist the three Baltic nations within the occasion Russia curbs or utterly cuts electrical energy exports to its smaller neighbors.
Denmark’s Energinet, Statnett of Norway, Sweden’s Svenska kraftnat and Fingrid Oyj of Finland stated in a press release they’ve “secured routines and recognized eventual ambiguities in a situation the place the Baltics are disconnected from the Russian grid.”
“In such a situation, frequency help from the Nordic system will likely be wanted. The Baltic (Transmission System Operators) have restricted the import from Russia so as to not danger a critical scenario within the occasion of a sudden disconnection from the Russian system,” the assertion launched by Fingrid Oyj stated.
Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania are nonetheless reliant on their Russian neighbor for a lot of their electrical energy wants.
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NEW YORK — The deputy head of Russia’s navy basic workers says that 1,351 Russian troopers have died in Ukraine.
Col.-Gen. Sergei Rudskoi additionally stated Friday that 3,825 have been wounded.
NATO estimated on Wednesday that 7,000 to fifteen,000 Russian troopers have been killed in 4 weeks of struggle in Ukraine.
The Russian determine didn’t seem to incorporate the Moscow-backed separatists preventing in jap Ukraine, and it was not clear whether or not the toll encompassed Russian forces not a part of the Protection Ministry, such because the Nationwide 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 drawback with the Polish presidential aircraft taking him from Warsaw.
Jakub Kumoch, a prime adviser to Duda, stated Friday that the Polish presidential aircraft needed to make an emergency touchdown in Warsaw.
The aircraft landed safely and Duda was ready for a alternative aircraft.
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MEDYKA, Poland — Refugees from the struggle in Ukraine are amongst those that will likely be watching the go to of U.S. President Joe Biden to Poland, which started on Friday afternoon with a cease within the jap Polish metropolis of Rzeszow.
Some hope the go to would possibly convey concrete steps to assist their homeland as it’s underneath assault.
Lyra Syniavska, 42, from Lviv, stated that Ukrainians anticipate extra assist than what they’ve acquired to this point.
“We’re getting a whole lot of assist now, actually rather a lot. However our persons are nonetheless struggling, particularly those that lives within the jap half (of Ukraine),” she stated.
Alina Sylkina, 26, from the jap Luhansk area, says she needs NATO would shut the airspace over Ukraine — although the alliance has stated it received’t take that step.
Throughout his go to to Rzeszow, Biden will likely be briefed on the humanitarian response to the refugees streaming out of Ukraine. He may even meet U.S. service members. Biden is due in Warsaw on Saturday.
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VILNIUS, Lithuania — An exhibition of images of civilian victims and shelling in Kyiv and Mariupol has been put up on the Vilnius railway station in order that vacationers on trains crossing Lithuania for the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad will see the photographs.
The Lithuanian railway stated Friday that the 24 images had been chosen by the Lithuanian Press Photographers Membership. A textual content on the images says in Russian that President Vladimir “Putin is killing harmless folks in Ukraine right this moment. Are you OK with that?”
Lithuanian Railways CEO Egidijus Lazauskas stated that the exhibition is a symbolic present of help.
Transit trains run day by day from Moscow to Kaliningrad, which is sandwiched between Lithuania and Poland.
At residence, Russia has tightly managed information of what it describes as a “particular navy operation” in Ukraine.
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COPENHAGEN, Denmark — Finland’s nationwide railway firm says it’ll droop companies between Helsinki and the Russian metropolis of St. Petersburg from this weekend, closing one of many final public transport routes for Russians who need to attain the European Union.
Citing the sanctions imposed on Russia, the top of passenger site visitors with state-owned VR, Topi Simola, stated that “individuals who wished to depart from Russia have had ample time to go away.”
Solely the morning prepare from Helsinki to St Petersburg will likely be operated on Sunday whereas the afternoon prepare will likely be cancelled. Each companies from St Petersburg will likely be operated. After that, trains will likely be suspended till additional discover.
VR stated clients can cancel their tickets without charge.
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GENEVA — The U.N. human rights workplace says its strict methodology in counting casualties in Ukraine’s battle has yielded “only a few” confirmed casualties in Mariupol, largely due to difficulties getting entry in and knowledge out of the besieged port metropolis.
Matilda Bogner, who heads the rights workplace’s Ukraine department, famous that council leaders in Mariupol have estimated greater than 2,000 civilian deaths within the metropolis following Russia’s navy invasion on Feb. 24.
General, the rights workplace has counted a minimum of 1,035 civilians killed in Ukraine and 1,650 injured however Bogner stated it doesn’t have a “the total image of places which have seen intense preventing, particularly Mariupol and Volnovakha.” The workplace has acknowledged that its tally is more likely to underestimate the precise toll.
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MOSCOW — Russian Overseas Minister Sergey Lavrov says Russia is dealing with complete struggle declared by the West.
Lavrov stated at a gathering on Friday that “an actual hybrid struggle, complete struggle was declared on us.” He stated the aim was “to destroy, break, annihilate, strangle the Russian economic system, and Russia on the entire.”
Throughout the first month of what Russia describes as a “particular navy operation” in Ukraine, the West imposed robust measures focusing on Russia’s economic system and monetary system in addition to President Vladimir Putin and Russian oligarchs.
Regardless of that, Lavrov stated Russia was not remoted.
“We have now many associates, allies, companions on this planet, an enormous variety of associations during which Russia is working with international locations of all continents, and we’ll proceed to take action,” Lavrov stated. He added that the overwhelming majority of states received’t be a part of the Western sanctions coverage towards Russia.
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KYIV, Ukraine — Mariupol’s metropolis authorities says the Kremlin’s essential political celebration has opened a political workplace in a shopping center on the outskirts of the besieged metropolis.
In accordance with the publish on the town’s Telegram channel, the United Russia workplace is distributing promotional supplies in addition to cell phone playing cards for an operator that features within the close by Russia-backed separatist areas.
Mariupol’s communication hyperlinks have been all however severed for the reason that siege started in early March. Mobile phone, tv and radio towers have been focused in Russian airstrikes and artillery barrages.
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COPENHAGEN, Denmark — NATO Secretary-Basic Jens Stoltenberg says that any use of chemical or nuclear weapons “will completely change the character of the struggle in Ukraine. It will likely be completely unacceptable.”
Stoltenberg spoke throughout a go to to the long-planned Chilly Response drill in his native Norway and referred to as Russia’s struggle in Ukraine “a watershed second.” He additionally regretted that Moscow had declined to look at the drill, saying that NATO “at all times invite different international locations to look at.”
The drill happening in southeastern, central and northern Norway consists of round 30,000 troops from 27 international locations. Non-NATO members Finland and Sweden are additionally taking part. The train began March 14 and ends April 1.
The primary Chilly Response train was held in 2006. It’s carried out each two years.
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KYIV, Ukraine — The federal government of the Ukrainian metropolis of Mariupol says 300 folks died in a Russian airstrike on March 16 on a theater getting used as a bomb shelter.
The publish Friday on the town authorities Telegram channel cited eyewitnesses for the toll of “about 300.” It was not instantly clear whether or not emergency staff had completed excavating the positioning or how the eyewitnesses arrived on the horrific demise toll.
When the theater was struck, an infinite inscription studying “CHILDREN” was posted outdoors in Russian, meant to be seen from the skies above.
Quickly after the airstrike, Ludmyla Denisova, the Ukrainian Parliament’s human rights commissioner, stated greater than 1,300 folks had been sheltering within the constructing.
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BRUSSELS — The USA and the European Union have introduced a brand new partnership to scale back Europe’s reliance on Russian vitality. Prime officers characterised the step as the beginning of a years-long initiative to additional isolate Moscow after its invasion of Ukraine.
U.S. President Joe Biden asserted Friday that Russian President Vladimir Putin makes use of vitality to “coerce and manipulate his neighbors” and makes use of the earnings from its sale to “drive his struggle machine.”
Biden stated the partnership he introduced collectively with a prime European Union official will flip that dynamic on its head by decreasing Europe’s dependence on Russian vitality sources, in addition to the continent’s demand for gasoline general.
Beneath the plan, the U.S. and different nations will improve liquified pure gasoline exports to Europe by 15 billion cubic meters this yr. Even bigger shipments could be delivered sooner or later.
On the identical time, they’ll attempt to maintain their local weather objectives on monitor by powering gasoline infrastructure with clear vitality and decreasing methane leaks that may worsen world warming.
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ANKARA, Turkey — Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan says Ukraine and Russia seem like making progress on 4 points being negotiated for an finish of the preventing however variations stay on two different key points.
Talking to reporters on his return from a NATO summit late Thursday, Erdogan stated Kyiv has expressed readiness to surrender on its want to be a part of NATO, is able to settle for Russian as an official language, and can even settle for “sure concessions” regarding disarmament and “collective safety.”
However Erdogan stated Ukraine “just isn’t so snug“ concerning Russian calls for on Crimea, which Moscow annexed in 2014, and the jap Donbas area, the place it has acknowledged separatist entities as unbiased. His feedback had been reported by Hurriyet newspaper and different Turkish media on Friday.
NATO member Turkey has been making an attempt to stability its relations with each Ukraine and Russia, positioning itself as a mediator between the 2. It has hosted a gathering between the 2 international locations’ overseas ministers earlier this month.
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BERLIN — Germany’s economic system minister says his nation has solid contracts with new suppliers that can enable it to considerably scale back its reliance on Russian coal, gasoline and oil within the coming weeks.
Robert Habeck informed reporters in Berlin on Friday that Russian oil will account for about 25% of Germany’s imports within the coming weeks, from presently about 35%. Habeck stated imports of Russian coal will likely be halved from about 50% of Germany’s complete to 25% within the coming weeks.
He stated Germany additionally expects to have the ability to change into nearly solely unbiased of Russian gasoline by mid-2024. To do that the federal government has secured the usage of three “floating” terminals able to regasifying LNG introduced in by ship and is working exhausting to construct everlasting LNG terminals for long-term imports.
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JERUSALEM — A Ukrainian who fled the nation along with her daughter has completed first amongst girls on this yr’s Jerusalem marathon.
Valentyna Veretska, 31, competed in Friday’s race after fleeing along with her 11-year-old daughter shortly after Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24. Her husband stayed behind.
Organizers say Veretska completed the 26.2-mile (42.2-kilometer) race in two hours, 45 minutes and 54 seconds. Ageze Guadie, 33, from Israel, completed first within the males’s class with a time of two:37:17.
Veretska, 31, is ranked 444th worldwide amongst feminine marathon runners and most lately completed first within the October 2021 Tirana Marathon, in response to World Athletics. Forward of the Jerusalem race, she informed reporters that she would “run for peace.”
She and her daughter fled from the southern metropolis of Mykolaiv with solely their journey paperwork, making their method to neighboring Poland. She was invited to participate within the Jerusalem marathon earlier this month.
Marathon organizers say round 40 Ukrainian immigrants and refugees competed amongst hundreds of runners.
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BUDAPEST, Hungary — Hungary’s prime minister on Friday rejected an emotional enchantment from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to produce Ukraine with weapons and help sanctions on Russia’s vitality sector.
Prime Minister Viktor Orban stated in a video posted to social media that Zelenskyy’s requests had been “towards Hungary’s pursuits,” and that sanctions on Russian vitality “would imply that the Hungarian economic system would decelerate after which cease inside moments.”
The rejection got here after Zelenskyy on Thursday addressed a gathering of European Union leaders in Brussels the place he particularly addressed Orban, who’s broadly thought-about Russian President Vladimir Putin’s closest ally within the EU.
“Hear, Viktor, have you learnt what is occurring in Mariupol?” Zelenskyy stated. “I need to be open as soon as and for all — it is best to resolve for your self, who you might be for.”
Hungary, alone amongst EU international locations bordering Ukraine, has declined to produce its neighbor with weapons and refused to permit weapons shipments to cross its border into Ukraine.
On Friday, Orban stated that 85% of Hungary’s gasoline and greater than 60% of its oil comes from Russia, and that blocking Russian vitality exports would pressure Hungarians to “pay the worth of the struggle.”
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KHARKIV, Ukraine — About half the inhabitants of the jap metropolis of Kharkiv has left, and meals and different necessities are dwindling for many who keep behind. A line fashioned Thursday at an house block as neighbors waited for assist from the Pink Cross.
“Amongst those that stayed, there are individuals who can stroll on their very own, however many who can’t stroll, the aged,” stated Hanna Spitsyna, who distributed the meals to the sound of explosions behind her.
Kharkiv has been underneath siege by Russian forces for the reason that begin of the invasion, with relentless shelling that has compelled folks to sleep in metro stations and in basements.
Ukraine’s authorities stated shelling on a bunch of individuals awaiting assist elsewhere within the metropolis killed six folks on Thursday. It was not instantly doable to confirm the allegation.
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DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Satellite tv for pc images from Planet Labs PBC analyzed by The Related Press present thick black smoke rising Thursday over the port within the Ukrainian metropolis of Berdyansk, with a big ship on fireplace.
The timing of the images correspond with what the Ukrainian navy described as a profitable assault that noticed a Russian touchdown craft ferrying armored autos to the town sink off the port.
The picture additionally corresponds to on-line movies purportedly exhibiting the assault on the port within the metropolis held by Russia on the Sea of Azov.
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LVIV, Ukraine – Russian forces fired two missiles late Thursday at a Ukrainian navy unit on the outskirts of Dnipro, the fourth-largest metropolis within the nation, regional emergency companies stated.
The strikes destroyed buildings and set off two fires, it stated, whereas the variety of these killed and wounded was nonetheless being established.
Dnipro is west of the areas alongside the Russian border which were managed by Russian-backed separatists since 2014.
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LVIV, Ukraine — With the struggle headed into its second month, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy spoke of hope and dedication in his nighttime video tackle to the nation late Thursday.
“It’s already evening. However we’re working,” he stated in a quiet voice. “The nation should transfer towards peace, transfer ahead. With day by day of our protection, we’re getting nearer to the peace that we want a lot. We’re getting nearer to victory. … We will’t cease even for a minute. For each minute determines our destiny, our future, whether or not we’ll stay.”
He reported on his conversations that day with leaders of NATO and European Union international locations gathered in Brussels, and their guarantees of much more sanctions on Russia.
“We have to search for peace,” he stated. “Russia additionally must search for peace.”
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LVIV, Ukraine — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy thanked EU leaders for working collectively to help Ukraine and impose sanctions on Russia, together with Germany’s choice to dam Russia from delivering pure gasoline to Europe by the brand new Nord Stream 2 pipeline.
However he lamented that these steps weren’t taken earlier, saying there was an opportunity Russia would have thought twice about invading.
He then appealed to the EU leaders, who had gathered Thursday in Brussels, to maneuver shortly on Ukraine’s utility to hitch the bloc. “Right here I ask you, don’t delay. Please,” Zelenskyy stated by video from Kyiv. “For us it is a likelihood.”
He then listed the 27 member international locations, noting these he stated had been “for us.” He appealed to Germany and notably to Hungary to not block Ukraine’s bid.
“Hear, Viktor, have you learnt what is occurring in Mariupol?” Zelenskyy stated, addressing Hungarian President Viktor Orban. “I need to be open as soon as and for all — it is best to resolve for your self, who you might be for.”
Orban is broadly thought-about to be Russian President Vladimir Putin’s closest ally amongst EU leaders.
Zelenskyy stated Ukraine is definite that “within the decisive second, Germany additionally will likely be with us.”
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BRUSSELS — President Vladimir Putin’s risk to have “unfriendly” international locations pay for Russian pure gasoline exports solely in rubles to any extent further has received the not-so-friendly therapy from European Union nations.
A number of EU leaders have come out saying it could be a gross violation of their contracts. From German Chancellor Olaf Scholz to Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi, they stated they’d not meet such calls for.
The Russian risk is potent for the reason that EU imports 90% of the pure gasoline used to generate electrical energy, warmth houses and provide trade, with Russia supplying nearly 40% of EU gasoline.
Economists say such a transfer appears designed to attempt to help the ruble, which has collapsed towards different currencies since Russia invaded Ukraine and Western international locations responded with far-reaching sanctions towards Moscow.
Making such calls for although, would essentially change contracts and render them null and void, a number of European leaders stated throughout the first day of their EU summit.