Ukraine: Macron, Merkel and Zelensky ask Russia to withdraw troops from the border
Biden calls Putin: "Ease tensions" over Ukraine
Pope Francis returns to look out over St. Peter's Square.
Appeal for Ukraine
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April 22, 2021 The Russian army is conducting a massive exercise in the Crimea involving more than 60 navy ships, over 10,000 soldiers and approximately 1,200 military vehicles. The exercise comes amid growing ceasefire violations in eastern Ukraine and the rise of Russian troops at the border that has raised concerns in the US and Europe.
Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu flew by helicopter over the Opuk shooting range in Crimea to personally supervise the military blitz drill.
The exercises are aimed at verifying the level of reaction of the air and naval forces of the southern military district, while the tensions between Moscow and the West do not diminish due to the massing of Russian troops on the border with the Eastern Ukraine.
"The practice of organizing coups and planning political assassinations of senior officials goes beyond and goes beyond all borders," said Russian President Putin, drawing parallels between the alleged coup attempt in Belarus and the plots against the Venezuelan president. Nicolas Maduro and the popular protests that led to the ouster of former Ukrainian President-friend of Russia, Viktor Yanukovych, in 2014. Russia responded to Yanukovych's ouster by annexing the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea and supporting a separatist uprising in eastern Ukraine . Since then, fighting in eastern Ukraine has killed more than 14,000 people and devastated the country's industrial heartland.