[LIVE] War in Ukraine: Russia calls on NATO to stop arming Ukraine
Ukrainian soldiers in the Donetsk region, April 28, 2022. © SERHII NUZHNENKO/REUTERS
Text by: RFI Follow
6 mins
On the 66th day of the Russian invasion of Ukraine on April 30, Sweden announced the strengthening of its military infrastructure on the island of Gotland.
While the Pentagon mentioned not having considered such cruelty from the Russian army and Vladimir Putin before the war.
Advertisement
Read more
► Moscow blocked the RFI website, which broadcasts information in fifteen languages including Russian. An alternative URL allows access to the site
in French
and
Russian
.
RFI in Russian is also available on Telegram:
https://t.me/RFI_Ru
via a VPN and in Russia in French via satellite on Hotbird.
► RFI's Russian editorial site broadcasts Ukrainian public radio (in the Ukrainian language)
from the homepage
.
The main points:
► The Swedish government said on Friday that it had set aside $163 million to strengthen its military infrastructure on the island of Gotland, in a context of heightened tensions with neighboring Russia.
► The United Kingdom will soon send
a team of experts to help Ukrainian and international
investigators in their investigations into the atrocities committed since the Russian invasion, announced Friday the Minister of Foreign Affairs visiting the Netherlands.
► Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Friday that there is a big
risk that peace talks with Moscow will end
.
“
People (Ukrainians) want to kill them.
When this kind of attitude exists, it is difficult to talk about things
,” he told Polish journalists.
► According to the UNHCR, as of April 28,
5,429,739 Ukrainians have left their country
since the beginning of the Russian invasion, ie 56,885 more than the figure the day before.
Women and children represent 90% of these refugees, men aged 18 to 60, likely to be mobilized, not having the right to leave.
Times are given in Universal Time (UT)
6:12 a.m .: The Biden administration wants to attract Russian scientists to the United States, according to Bloomberg
The Biden administration would like to deprive Vladimir Putin of some of his best innovators by removing certain visa requirements for highly educated Russians who wish to come to the United States.
One proposal, which the White House included in its latest supplemental request to Congress, is to drop the rule that Russian professionals applying for an employment-based visa must have a current employer.
It would apply to Russian citizens who have earned a master's or doctoral degree in science, technology, engineering, or mathematics in the United States or abroad.
A spokesperson for the National Security Council confirmed that the effort was aimed at weakening Putin's high-tech resources in the short term and undermining Russia's innovation base in the long term, as well as benefiting the economy and national security of the United States.
05:46: Towards a court to judge the Russian leaders?
The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) called on Friday for the creation of an “
ad hoc
international criminal tribunal ”.
Its purpose is to try the perpetrators of the crime of aggression against Ukraine, including senior Russian leaders.
To promote this initiative, Ukrainian MP Oleksiy Goncharenko traveled to France.
He was invited by Denis Strelkov, a journalist with the Russian editorial staff of RFI.
It was a very important session and that's why I came out of Ukraine for the first time in the last two months, because there have been some postponements of resolutions of the situation in Ukraine.
And the second resolution that was seen yesterday was very important for us to say to urgently build the ad hoc criminal tribunal against the military and political leaders of Russia, to make it possible to arrest and interrogate Putin.
Oleksiy Goncharenko on setting up a criminal court to try Russian leaders
Denis Strelkov
05:02: The psychological consequences of war on civilians in Odessa
Tension continues to mount around the major port city of Odessa after the bombing of an apartment building a week ago claimed the lives of at least eight civilians and that of the main bridge connecting the region to Romania .
On the occasion of the long May Day weekend in Russia, local authorities fear provocations and have placed the city under curfew for the day on Monday.
Julia, a resident of Odessa, confided in our special correspondents
Oriane Verdier
and
Aabla Jounaïdi
on the psychological difficulty of living through a war that takes place over the long term.
I think my body and mind are trying to get used to it all.
But my brain resists, because it's not normal.
Things just shouldn't be like this.
Julia, resident of Odessa
Oriane Verdier Aabla Jounaïdi
4:48 am: The Australian Olympic Committee announces support for Ukrainian athletes wishing to settle in Australia
The Australian Olympic Committee (AOC) will support Ukrainian athletes seeking to relocate to Australia on humanitarian grounds amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine, outgoing AOC President John Coates said on Saturday.
"
Today I announced that the COA executive has determined that the COA will support humanitarian visa applications for Ukrainian athletes
," said John Coates, who is also vice-president of the International Olympic Committee ( IOC).
4:36 a.m .: Russia calls on NATO to stop arming Ukraine
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov urged NATO and the United States to stop delivering weapons to Kiev if they "
are really interested in solving the Ukrainian crisis
" in an interview published by the agency .
official
New China
.
He also claimed that the Russian offensive in Ukraine is proceeding "
according to plans
".
4:25 a.m .: The Pentagon discusses the brutality and cruelty of the Russian invasion of Ukraine
Pentagon spokesman John Kirby on Friday accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of depravity and brutality during his two-month invasion of Ukraine.
"It's the coldest, most depraved brutality," Kirby told reporters.
I don't think we fully appreciated the degree to which he would visit this kind of violence and cruelty and, as I said, depravity, on innocent people, on non-combatants, on civilians, with such utter disregard for the lives he took.
4:00 a.m .: Ukrainian authorities believe they can cope with fuel shortages
Ukraine will soon come to fuel shortages, even though Russian forces have damaged a number of oil depots, President Volodymyr Zelensky argued Friday evening.
This week, Russia struck Ukraine's main fuel producer, the Kremenchuk Oil Refinery, as well as several other major deposits.
"
Queues and rising prices at gas stations are seen in many parts of our country
," Volodymyr Zelensky said in an overnight video address.
“
The occupants are deliberately destroying the fuel production, supply and storage infrastructure.
"
Russia has also blocked our ports, so there are no immediate solutions to fill the gap
," he added.
“
But government officials promise that within a week, maximum two, a fuel supply system for Ukraine will be in place to avoid shortages.
»
In a statement, Economy Minister Yulia Svyrydenko said the shortages would be eliminated within a week as Ukrainian operators had won contracts with European suppliers.
© RFI
Newsletter
Receive all the international news directly in your mailbox
I subscribe
Follow all the international news by downloading the RFI application
google-play-badge_FR
Ukraine
Day to day war in Ukraine
Russia
Volodymyr Zelensky
Vladimir Poutine
Defense