Europe

Heavy fighting continues around Ukraine’s strategic city of Severodonetsk in Donbas, as Russian forces push to bring the eastern region completely under control. In an address on Saturday, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky said battle for the city was “probably one of the most difficult throughout this war.” The battle for …

Russia has warned NATO against military buildup in Poland, saying Moscow will proportionately respond to such a move. The head of a foreign ministry department in charge of Russian relations with Europe said on Saturday that Moscow’s “response, as always, will be proportionate and appropriate.” Oleg Tyapkin said any possible response …

Russia and China have inaugurated a new cross-border bridge in the Far East in a bid to further boost trade and counter rising US-led sanctions as Washington and Beijing traded threats of military conflict over Taiwan. The bridge linking the Russian city of Blagoveshchensk to the Chinese city of Heihe …

The protraction of war in Ukraine, which is now into its fourth month, could erode the West’s interest in helping the country in the face of Moscow’s military operation, officials and analysts say. Top Ukrainian officials, including President Volodymyr Zelensky, have in recent days expressed fears that “war fatigue” could push …

Responding to Moscow’s military operation in Ukraine, Western countries have imposed a slew of anti-Russian sanctions aiming to “isolate” Russia from the global economy. Commenting on the Western sanctions targeting Russia’s economy, President Vladimir Putin stated that it is impossible to isolate such a big country. “For a country like …

Hundreds of residents of Wasit governorate demonstrated in front of Wasit thermal power station in Zubaidiyeh district in protest against the lack of electricity supply in the governorate. “Ahmed Al-Shammari,” one of the demonstrators, told the National Iraqi News Agency (NINA) that we demonstrated in front of the Wasit Thermal …

In a startling disclosure, Russia’s ambassador to Washington says the US authorities had persuaded him to denounce his motherland and condemn the Kremlin’s military operation in Ukraine. Speaking to Russia’s state TV on Wednesday, Anatoly Antonov said the US spy agency was encouraging defections among Russian diplomats and that he …

The Russian government says it has no intention to cut gas supplies to any more European countries as Moscow’s scheme of receiving gas payments in rubles is working as planned. Speaking in his daily conference on Thursday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that everyone who was to be cut …

Ukraine has rejected calls from Russia to de-mine its ports around the Black Sea to resume grain shipments, accusing Moscow of trying to “attack” the port of Odessa, the largest seaport in the crisis-stricken country. Sergiy Bratchuk, a spokesman for Odessa’s regional administration, in a statement on Wednesday, noted that …

The US-led NATO alliance says it does not guarantee Russia that it will not deploy nuclear weapons on the territories of its two prospective new members, Finland and Sweden. According to Press TV, in an interview, NATO’s Deputy Secretary-General Camille Grand said it is up to the individual countries whether …

EU Commissioner for Neighborhood and Enlargement Oliver Varhelyi says negotiations on Turkey’s accession to the European Union have been stalled since Ankara has failed to comply with the bloc’s standards on human rights. “Turkey has continued to move away from the EU, this is why accession negotiations with Turkey remain …

Fierce street fighting rages in Ukraine’s strategic city of Severodonetsk, as Russia is pushing to completely bring the eastern Donbas region under its control. “The situation is changing every hour, but at the same time there’s enough forces and resources to repel attacks,” Severodonetsk mayor Oleksandr Striuk said, pledging that …

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has condemned as an “outrageous action” the decision by three eastern European countries to block his plane, saying the move was “unprecedented” and “unthinkable.” As a result of waves of tough sanctions against Moscow over its “special military operation” in Ukraine that has begun on …

The United States has issued waivers to Spanish and Italian oil companies to receive Venezuelan crude in an attempt to reduce their heavy reliance on Russian energy. Media reports on Sunday said the US State Department issued waivers to Spain’s Repsol SA and Italy’s Eni SpA to begin taking Venezuelan …

Josep Borrell claims the bloc’s armies would “run out of ammo in two weeks” if confronted with a conflict such as in Ukraine

Delegations from Armenia and Azerbaijan met on their international border on Tuesday in a choreographed step toward ending a 30-year dispute over the ethnic Armenian enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh and agreed on two further meetings. The leaders of both countries agreed in Brussels on Sunday to work on a peace plan, …

Russian forces were conducting an all-out assault on Tuesday to encircle Ukrainian troops in twin cities straddling a river in eastern Ukraine, a battle that could determine the success or failure of Moscow’s main campaign in the east. Exactly three months after President Vladimir Putin ordered Russian forces into Ukraine, …

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has called for “maximum” sanctions on Russia in a bid to prevent Moscow from continuing its offensive against his country while appealing for more weapons as the military operation heads to its four-month.

A person has been killed at the Qatar Embassy in Paris and one person has been arrested as part of the investigation, the Paris prosecutor’s office said on Monday, confirming earlier media reports. A source close to the investigation said the person killed in the early hours of Monday was …

Russia’s lead negotiator in peace talks with Ukraine said on Sunday that Moscow is willing to resume negotiations, but Kyiv has to make the first step, state news agency TASS reported. “For our part, we are ready to continue the dialogue. But I will emphasize once again: that the ball …