Category Archives: Europe

Putin’s invasion of Ukraine brings shame on Russia, G7 leaders say

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Statement to mark 77th anniversary of end of second world war condemns ‘an attack on feeding the world’

Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine has brought shame on Russia and the sacrifices its people made to defeat Nazi Germany in the second world war, leaders of the G7 group of leading western economies have said in a statement marking the 77th anniversary of the end of the global conflict.

The statement, made on Sunday after a video conference between the G7 leaders and the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, was intended as a rallying call by liberal democracies in advance of Russia’s 9 May Victory Day parade in Moscow.

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Ukraine will prevail as Europe did in 1945, Scholz to say in VE Day speech

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German chancellor will draw parallel with second world war defeat of Nazi dictatorship in TV address

Ukraine will prevail over Russia as freedom prevailed over the Nazi dictatorship in 1945, the German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, will say in a TV address to mark the 77th anniversary of Victory in Europe Day, in which he will accuse Vladimir Putin of falsifying history.

In the speech, which will be aired on German TV at 8.20pm CET (7.20pm BST) on Sunday, Scholz says the “legacy of 8 May” for his country must be to help to ensure that there will never again be genocide or tyranny in Europe.

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‘Surrender is not an option’: Azov battalion commander in plea for help to escape Mariupol

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Two thousand Ukrainian troops thought to be trapped inside steelworks after civilian evacuation

Members of Ukraine’s Azov battalion trapped inside Mariupol’s Azovstal steel plant have said they fear they will be killed if captured by Russian forces, as they pleaded with Ukrainian authorities to help arrange their extraction.

Speaking to the media from inside the besieged steelworks, an Azov commander and lieutenant, looking gaunt and pale, said they had defended the city for the people of Ukraine and the rest of the world and needed a third party to negotiate their exit whether by land or sea.

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Sixty feared dead in Russian airstrike on Ukraine school

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Rescue attempts impossible due to constant shelling in Bilohorivka, says Luhansk governor

Sixty people are feared to have been killed after a village school in eastern Ukraine took a direct hit in a Russian air raid, with rescue attempts said by the regional governor to be impossible due to constant shelling.

Russian attacks in the east and south intensified at the weekend ahead of Monday’s symbolic Victory Day celebrations, with the Black Sea city of Odesa coming under repeated missile strikes and the remaining Ukrainian fighters in the Azovstal steelworks in the besieged port city of Mariupol staging a press conference on Sunday saying they had been “abandoned” by the government as Russian attacks continued

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Russia-Ukraine war latest: 60 feared dead after bombing of Luhansk school; Jill Biden makes unannounced Ukraine visit

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Odesa hit by missiles but Ukraine launches counter-offensive in north; US first lady meets Olena Zelenskiy at a school

As international efforts to pressure the Russian leader continue, G7 leaders, including US President Joe Biden and Ukraine’s Zelenskiy, are set to discuss Western support for Kyiv via videoconference today.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz will host the call and Zelenskiy will “take part and report on the current situation,” government spokeswoman Christiane Hoffmann said.

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UK poised to hand further £1.3bn military package to Ukraine

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Equipment will include anti-battery radar systems, plus GPS jamming and night-vision devices

An extra £1.3bn in military support is to be handed to Ukraine by the UK, in a significant increase in support for the country as it continues to resist Russia’s illegal invasion.

In a package that marks the UK’s highest rate of military spending since the end of the Iraq and Afghanistan campaigns, the funding was revealed before a meeting of G7 leaders to discuss what additional help can be given to Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s forces. Boris Johnson is also due to meet arms companies to ask for an increase in production.

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Odesa hit by missiles as Ukraine claims it has sunk second Russian ship

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Drone attack at Snake Island results in apparent destruction of landing craft as counter-offensive in north gathers pace

The Ukrainian port city of Odesa was hit by renewed Russian missile strikes on Saturday, as military authorities in Kyiv claimed one of their drones had sunk a second Russian ship in the Black Sea.

A counter-offensive against Russia also appeared to be gathering pace in the north, where analysts said that Ukraine’s military may be able to push Russian forces out of artillery range of the country’s second city of Kharkiv in the coming days.

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Anguish for partners of Mariupol’s defenders as Russian assault goes on

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Amid reports of grim conditions inside the Azovstal steelworks, wives try to rally support for an evacuation of remaining Ukrainian troops

• Russia-Ukraine war: latest developments

“Holding up”, wrote Denys Prokopenko, commander of Ukraine’s Azov regiment, in his latest WhatsApp message to his wife Kateryna from the besieged Azovstal steelworks in the Ukrainian port city of Mariupol.

Speaking via Zoom from Krakow, in eastern Poland, alongside three fellow wives and partners of soldiers living under the remorseless Russian shelling and infiltrating raids, Kateryna, 27, says she is doing everything she can think of to ensure the message at 10pm on Friday evening is not one of her husband’s last.

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Tortured to death: the 14 Cypriot men killed by British in 50s uprising

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Book reveals fate of EOKA guerrilla fighters at the hands of the army during the dying days of empire on the Mediterranean island

At least 14 Cypriots were tortured then murdered by UK forces during an armed uprising in the late 1950s, according to newly unearthed evidence that raises fresh questions over another shocking chapter of Britain’s colonial history.

Testimony from British veterans and Cypriot rebel fighters, along with postmortem and morgue records, as well as previously undisclosed material from Cypriot archives, suggest that the victims died after being interrogated by UK officers. The dead, all men aged between 17 and 37, were arrested on suspicion of being part of the National Organisation of Cypriot Fighters, a paramilitary organisation known as EOKA, which orchestrated a guerrilla campaign to overthrow British control in Cyprus.

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All women and children evacuated from Azovstal; Ukraine claims it has destroyed another Russian ship – as it happened

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The UK Ministry of Defence says Russia’s most advanced units have suffered heavy losses; Pentagon defends intelligence sharing with Ukraine as ‘lawful’

Ukrainians are taking DNA tests to identify dead bodies in Bucha, the Guardian’s Emma Graham-Harrison reports.

After weeks of exhumations, a morgue in Bucha holds more than 200 bodies that have not been identified. Some were buried without documents and are waiting to be claimed, but many are too disfigured by their deaths, or their treatment after death, to be identified by sight.

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Macron hails ‘democratic renaissance’ as he is sworn in for second term

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French president promises inclusive education system, accessible health service and stronger military at Elysée Palace ceremony

Emmanuel Macron said that his reelection marked a “fundamental democratic renaissance” as he was sworn in for a second term of office as president of France at a ceremony at the Elysée Palace.

Macron, who defeated his far right rival, Marine Le Pen, in the second round vote two weeks ago, entered on Saturday to the strains of Handel played by the Garde Républicaine’s string quartet and listened as the official results were read.

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Sinn Féin celebrates victory but DUP warns over Northern Ireland protocol

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DUP will refuse to join new administration until UK government addresses post-Brexit trade border deal

Sinn Féin was celebrating a historic victory in the Stormont assembly election on Saturday despite warnings from the Democratic Unionist party that it would block the formation of a new power-sharing executive until the Northern Ireland protocol was changed.

As counting resumed ahead of the allocation of final seats, it was clear that Sinn Féin, with 29% first preference votes, had overtaken the DUP, which won 21.3%. It meant the all-Ireland republican party would be entitled to nominate its deputy leader, Michelle O’Neill, as the Northern Ireland’s first nationalist first minister.

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Ukraine: US announces $150m military aid package as dozens evacuated from Mariupol

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The latest security assistance brings the total US military aid to $3.8bn as UN secuirty council’s first statement on crisis omits words ‘war’ and ‘invasion’

US president Joe Biden has announced another package of military assistance for Ukraine as dozens of civilians were evacuated from Mariupol’s besieged steelworks, the last pocket of resistance against Russian troops in the pulverized port city.

Worth $150m, the latest US security assistance for the “brave people of Ukraine” would include artillery munitions and radars, Biden said. A senior US official said it included counter-artillery radars used for detecting the source of enemy fire, and electronic jamming equipment.

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Russia summons UK ambassador over new sanctions on media outlets

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Russian foreign ministry says it will continue to react ‘harshly and decisively’ to all sanctions imposed by London

The British ambassador to Moscow, Deborah Bronnert, has been summoned to the Russian foreign ministry to be warned over new UK sanctions imposed on Russian media outlets, in a move seen as likely to presage reprisals on British press operations in Russia.

In a statement late on Friday, the ministry said Russia would continue react “harshly and decisively” to all sanctions imposed by London.

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What happened in the Russia-Ukraine war this week? Catch up with the must-read news and analysis

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Evacuees share horror of months in Avozstal steelworks bunker; why Putin’s shift to the east could lengthen the war; and tattoos of Ukraine resistance

Every week we wrap up the must-reads from our coverage of the Ukraine war, from news and features to analysis, visual guides and opinion.

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Evacuation operations continue from Mariupol with 40 civilians rescued on Friday – as it happened

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This blog has now closed. You can find our latest coverage of the Russia-Ukraine war in our new live blog

Russia’s defence ministry said that its missiles destroyed a large ammunition depot in the eastern Ukrainian city of Kramatorsk.

Reuters reports it also said its air defences shot down two Ukrainian warplanes, an Su-25 and a MiG-29, in the eastern Luhansk region.

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Ukraine’s wheat harvest may fall by 35%, raising fears of global shortage

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Satellite imagery ‘illustrates spectre of rising food prices and hunger’ due to invasion of world’s sixth-largest wheat exporter

Wheat production in Ukraine is likely to be at least a third lower than in normal years, according to analysis of satellite images of the country.

Ukraine is one of the world’s biggest exporters of wheat, but the war is taking a toll on the country’s agriculture and food supplies, sparking fears of shortages or higher prices around the world.

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Ukraine’s entry is favourite to win Eurovision song contest

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Kalush Orchestra say they ‘represent every Ukrainian’ and song Stefania has become an anthem in the country

War-torn Ukraine is the favourite to win next week’s Eurovision song contest, which is being hosted by Italy for the first time in more than 30 years.

Kalush Orchestra, a band that blends traditional folk and hip-hop, is competing in the event with the song Stefania, which has become an anthem at home.

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‘We had to do this’: Berlin museum to drop ‘Russian’ from name

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Museum on site where Nazis agreed to surrender in 1945 will be renamed Museum Berlin-Karlshorst

A Berlin museum dedicated to German-Russian relations on the site where the Nazis agreed to unconditionally surrender in 1945 is to drop the word “Russian” from its name before anniversary events to mark the end of the second world war in Europe.

With tensions already high in the lead-up to the 77th anniversary on 8 and 9 May of Nazi Germany signing the surrender agreement, the German-Russian museum’s director, Jörg Morré, said he would be renaming it Museum Berlin-Karlshorst.

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