In an Easter message highlighting hope, Pope Francis on Sunday invoked prayers for both the Ukrainian and Russian people, praised nations which welcome refugees and called on Israelis and Palestinians wracked by the latest surge in deadly violence to forge a “climate of trust.”

Francis, along with dozens of prelates and tens of thousands of faithful, celebrated Easter Mass in a flower-adorned St. Peter’s Square, affirming the Christian belief that Jesus rose from the dead days after his crucifixion.

The 86-year-old pontiff topped the celebration with a traditional speech about troubled places in the world. Encouraging “trust among individuals, peoples and nations,” Francis said Easter’s joy “illumines the darkness and gloom in which, all too often, our world finds itself enveloped.”

The pope’s Easter message is known by its Latin name, “Urbi et Orbi,” which means “to the city and the world.”

Since Russia invaded neighboring Ukraine in February 2022, Francis has repeatedly called for the fighting to end and sought prayers for the “martyred” Ukrainian people.

Ukrainian diplomats have complained that he hasn’t come down hard enough in his statements on Russia and particularly Russian President Vladimir Putin as the Vatican tries to avoid alienating Moscow.

“Help the beloved Ukrainian people on their journey towards peace, and shed the light of Easter upon the people of Russia,” Francis implored God in his Easter speech, which he delivered while sitting in a chair on the central balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica facing the square. “Comfort the wounded and all those who have lost loved ones because of the war, and grant that prisoners may return safe and sound to their families.”

He urged the international community to work to end the war in Ukraine and “all conflict and bloodshed in the world, beginning with Syria, which still awaits peace.”

Francis also prayed for those who lost loved ones in an earthquake that struck Syria and Turkey two months ago, claiming tens of thousands of lives.

With a renewal in deadly violence affecting both Israelis and Palestinians in recent days, Francis called for a “resumption of dialogue, in a climate of trust and reciprocal respect, between Israelis and Palestinians, so that peace may reign in the Holy City and in the entire region,” a reference to Jerusalem.

But Francis also noted progress on some fronts.

“Let us rejoice at the concrete signs of hope that reach us from so many countries, beginning with those that offer assistance and welcome to all fleeing war and poverty,” he said, without naming any particular nations.

How to care for asylum-seekers, migrants and refugees, and whether to allow them entrance, is a raging political and social debate in much of Europe, as well in the United States and elsewhere.

Francis also prayed that national leaders “ensure that no man or woman may encounter discrimination” and that there would be “full respect for human rights and democracy.”

With migrants risking their lives in smugglers’ unseaworthy boats in hopes of reaching Europe, the pope said that Tunisia’s people, particularly the young, struggle with social and economic hardship.

In the last two weeks, dozens have died or were left missing after attempting to cross the Mediterranean Sea from Tunisia.

The pope included Lebanon and two African countries he visited this year – South Sudan and Congo – among the nations in need of ending divisions and building reconciliation.

Speaking about Haiti, he appealed to “political actors and the international community to seek a definitive solution to the many problems that afflict that sorely tried people.”

The bloody conflicts cited by Francis contrasted with a riot of bright colors lent by orange-red tulips, yellow sprays of forsythia and daffodils, hyacinths and other colorful seasonal flowers that decorated St. Peter’s Square. The blooms were trucked in trucks from the Netherlands.

By the end of the pope’s appearance, some 100,00 people had flocked to the square in time for the pontiff’s speech, according to the Vatican’s crowd count.

A canopy on the edge of steps on the square sheltered the pontiff, who was back in the public eye for the Mass 12 hours after a 2.25-hour long Easter vigil ceremony in St. Peter’s Basilica the night before.

Francis was hospitalized March 29-April 1 for treatment of bronchitis. Still recovering, he skipped the traditional Good Friday procession at Rome’s Colosseum due to unseasonably cold nighttime temperatures.

Near the end of the more than two-hour-long Easter Sunday appearance, Francis seemed to run out of steam. His voice grew hoarse and he interrupted his speech at one point to cough.

He nonetheless made several laps through the square in the popemobile after the Mass, waving and smiling at cheering well-wishers.
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Pope Francis opened a celebration of Mass on Easter Sunday joined by dozens of prelates and tens of thousands of pilgrims and tourists in St. Peter’s Square, where spring flowers made the vast space bright. made bright by spring flowers.

Orange-red tulips, yellow sprays of forsythia and daffodils, and other colorful seasonal blooms were transported in trucks from the Netherlands on Saturday and set up in planters to decorate the Vatican square, which quickly filled up Sunday with Rome residents and Holy Week visitors to the city.

Some 45,000 people had gathered by the start of the mid-morning Mass, according to Vatican security services.

At the beginning of the Easter ceremony inspired by the core Christian belief that Jesus rose from the dead after his crucifixion, Francis sprinkled holy water and sounded somewhat tired as he recited ritual words in Latin.

A canopy on the edge of steps on the square sheltered the pontiff, who was back in the public eye 12 hours after a 2.25-hour long Easter vigil ceremony in St. Peter’s Basilica the night before.

Still recovering from bronchitis, Francis, 86, skipped the traditional Good Friday procession at Rome’s Colosseum due to unseasonably cold nighttime temperatures.

Sunday was breezy, but the temperature quickly rose a day after rain and strong wind gusts lashed Rome.

At the end of the Mass, Francis was set to deliver a speech that pontiffs give on Christmas and Easter. Known by its Latin name, “Urbi et Orbi,” which means to the city and to the world, the message is a frequently an occasion to decry wars and injustices around the globe, including religious persecution.

Francis has generally rebounded following a three-day stay last week at a Rome hospital where he was administered antibiotics intravenously for bronchitis. He was discharged on April 1. Except for forgoing the Colosseum Way of the Cross torch-lit procession, he has stuck to a heavy schedule of Holy Week public appearances.
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The British Defense Ministry said Sunday that having Russian Interior Minister Vladimir Kolokoltsev deliver the main report at the recent full session of Russia’s Security Council was an attempt to normalize the situation in the illegally annexed areas of Ukraine.

“In reality,” the ministry said in the intelligence update posted on Twitter, “much of the area remains an active combat zone, subject to partisan attacks, and with extremely limited access to basic services for many citizens.”

Russia’s Security Council met last week for the first time since October 2022.

Following the return of 31 children to Ukraine, the head of the Presidential Office of Ukraine, Andriy Yermak, emphasized in a phone call Saturday with Amal Clooney, a prominent human rights lawyer, the importance of returning all the deported children to Ukraine.

Yermak and Clooney, co-founder of the Clooney Foundation for Justice, discussed protecting the rights of Ukrainian children and holding Russia accountable for crimes committed against them, according to the official website of the president of Ukraine.

Clooney, who specializes in international criminal law and human rights issues, has addressed the U.N. Security Council calling for justice as evidence of the crimes and atrocities allegedly committed by the Russian military began emerging weeks after the February 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

On behalf of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Yermak thanked Clooney.

“People in Ukraine know about your support and appreciate it a lot. Many people heard your speech and everything you said about the war and Ukrainians. This is extremely important indeed,” Yermak said, according to the president’s website.

Clooney reiterated her support for Ukraine and Ukrainians, adding that she and her foundation colleagues remain committed to their work to promote accountability and deliver justice for victims of international crimes committed by Russia in Ukraine.

Kyiv says thousands taken

Kyiv estimates nearly 19,500 children have been taken to Russia in what Ukraine condemns as illegal deportations since Moscow invaded in February of last year. Moscow claims the children were transported away for their own safety.

Earlier Saturday, the head of a humanitarian group said 31 children were reunited with their families in Ukraine after what he described as was one of the group’s most difficult operations to return children from Russia, where they had been taken during the war.

So far, the Save Ukraine humanitarian organization says it has undertaken five missions to return Ukrainian children to their families. The group has helped with the transportation and planning needed to help parents bring their children back.

Mykola Kuleba, the head of Save Ukraine and Ukraine’s former commissioner for children’s rights, told reporters no one in Russia was trying to find the children’s parents.

Missile downed over Crimea

A missile fired from Ukrainian-held territory was shot down over the Black Sea town of Feodosia in Russian-controlled Crimea, the Moscow-installed head of Crimea’s administration said Saturday.

“A missile launched from Ukraine was shot down over Feodosia,” Sergei Aksyonov said on Telegram, without providing any detail on the kind of projectile in question.

Feodosia, located in the southeastern part of Crimea, is almost 300 kilometers from the nearest Ukrainian-held area. Kyiv did not comment Saturday, and it is not publicly known to possess missiles with that range. U.S.-supplied HIMARS rockets used by Ukraine have a range of 80 kilometers.

Reuters said it could not immediately verify the reports and that it was unclear how Ukraine could have attempted such a strike.

Kramatorsk memorial

Ukrainians placed flowers at a small memorial Saturday to the 61 people killed a year ago when a Russian missile struck the transportation hub as about 4,000 people gathered there to board evacuation trains. Experts said the Tochka-U missile was armed with cluster munitions. More than 160 people were injured.

“What is there to say? My close friend and her daughter and their dog died. What more can be said?” 67-year-old Tetiana Syshchenko told Agence France-Presse, tearing up.

She said she narrowly avoided being killed in the blast.

Residents arrived a few at a time to approach the small plaque topped with flowers and children’s toys at the station.

Russia denied responsibility for the attack.

Tatiana Vorozhko of VOA’s Ukraine Service contributed to this report. Some material in this report came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.
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Millions of Christians around the world are celebrating Easter Sunday, the most holy day on the Christian calendar, commemorating Jesus Christ’s resurrection from the dead.

At the Vatican, Pope Francis is set to deliver his twice-annual blessing, known by its Latin name “Urbi et Orbi” — “to the city and the world” — from St. Peter’s Basilica.

During the blessing, which will begin at noon on the basilica’s outdoor central balcony, the Roman Catholic leader will address Christians around the world.

Last year, the pope made a plea for an end to the “senseless” war in Ukraine, a conflict that at the time had been less than 2 months old. He also called for peace in other parts of the world plagued by armed conflict, including Syria and Iraq.

The pope, who is recovering from bronchitis, followed his doctor’s advice and skipped the traditional Good Friday nighttime procession at the Colosseum, which usually lasts more than two hours.

Traditions return after pandemic

In some parts of the world, Easter Week traditions are returning after a three-year hiatus because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Thousands of residents in eastern Indonesia held Mass in the Flores Island town of Larantuka for Good Friday and later attended a night parade to mourn the death of Jesus.

In the Philippines, Good Friday traditions also returned after a three-year absence. An estimated 15,000 people in villages north of Manila watched pilgrims flog themselves in displays of religious devotion.

Christians commemorate Good Friday as the day Jesus died on the cross.

Faithful travel to holy sites

In Jerusalem, Christian faithful have been making pilgrimages to holy sites, including the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, the site where they believe Jesus was crucified and rose from the dead.

On Palm Sunday — a week before Easter — thousands of worshipers carrying palm fronds and olive branches marched from the top of the Mount of Olives to Jerusalem’s historic Old City, commemorating Jesus’s entry into the city.

Jerusalem is home to Christian, Jewish and Muslim holy sites. This year, Easter coincides with the Muslim holy month of Ramadan and the Jewish festival of Passover.

In Washington, the White House is planning its annual Easter egg roll. About 30,000 people, most of them children, are expected to participate on Monday in the festivities, which date back to 1878.

At the event, first lady Jill Biden will teach children about farming, healthy eating and exercise, according to the White House.

Christians worldwide celebrate Easter by going to church and gathering with family and friends.

The day marks the end of Holy Week, the church’s most solemn week, which begins with Palm Sunday, commemorating Jesus’s entry into Jerusalem, and includes Holy Thursday, his last supper with disciples; Good Friday, his crucifixion; and Easter Sunday, his resurrection.

Some information in this report came from the Associated Press, Reuters and Agence France-Presse.
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Pope Francis led the world’s Roman Catholics into Easter at a Saturday night vigil Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica, decrying the “icy winds of war” and other injustices.

The 86-year-old Francis skipped an outdoor event on Friday night because of unseasonably cold temperatures in Rome. His doctors ordered prudence after he was hospitalized last week for bronchitis.

Francis appeared to be well during the Easter Vigil service, during which he baptized eight adult converts to Catholicism.

After Francis started the service in the rear of the church with the traditional lighting of a large paschal candle, he was taken in a wheelchair to the front to preside at the Mass.

Easter is the most important day in the Christian liturgical calendar because it commemorates the day the Bible says Jesus rose from the dead.

In his homily, read before about 8,000 people in Christendom’s largest church, Francis spoke of the bitterness, dismay and disillusionment many feel today.

“We may feel helpless and discouraged before the power of evil, the conflicts that tear relationships apart, the attitudes of calculation and indifference that seem to prevail in society, the cancer of corruption, the spread of injustice, the icy winds of war,” he said.

Francis has called for an end to all wars, and since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, he has repeatedly referred to Ukraine and its people as being “martyred.”

Reading his homily in a strong, confident voice, Francis said that even when people felt the wellspring of hope had dried up, it was important not to be frozen in a sense of defeat but to seek an “interior resurrection” with God’s help.

Francis concludes Holy Week celebrations on Sunday by presiding at an Easter Mass in St. Peter’s Square and then delivering his twice-annual “Urbi et Orbi” (to the city and the world) blessing and message from the central external balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica.
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Joe Blewitt is just about the busiest man in Ballina. His phone rings constantly with calls from locals and the world’s media as he prepares to welcome a relative — U.S. President Joe Biden. 

Biden is scheduled to travel to Ireland next week, with a stop in Ballina, the town from which one of his great-great grandfathers left for the United States in 1850. Blewitt, a distant cousin who first met Biden when he came to town as vice president in 2016, said the U.S. leader pledged to return once he’d won the presidency. 

“He said, ‘I’m going to come back into Ballina.’ And sure to God he’s going to come back into Ballina,” Blewitt said. “His Irish roots are really deep in his heart.” 

The 43-year-old plumber was among Biden relations invited to the White House for St. Patrick’s Day last month. He says it was a “surreal” experience that included a half-hour private meeting with the president. 

“He’s a people person. He loves meeting the Irish people,” said Blewitt, who shares Biden’s high forehead — he says people joke that he looks like the president “from the mouth up.” 

“The Irish people love him back.” 

Buildings are getting a new coat of paint and American flags are being hung from shopfronts in Ballina, a bustling agricultural town of about 10,000 at the mouth of the River Moy in western Ireland that proclaims itself the nation’s “salmon capital.” 

There’s already a mural of a beaming Biden, erected in 2020 in the center of town. Many people from Ballina and the surrounding County Mayo moved to Pennsylvania in the 19th century. Ballina is twinned with Scranton, Biden’s hometown. 

“I wouldn’t think there’s a family in Ballina that doesn’t have someone, some connection with the States,” said Anthony Heffernan, owner of Heffernan’s Fine Foods, where Biden had lunch with his local relatives during his 2016 visit. 

“It was a fantastic day for Ballina,” Heffernan recalled. 

“He was very keen to talk about the town — how it was, and how it is now. He was really connected with the area.” 

The White House says Biden will visit Belfast, Northern Ireland, on Tuesday and Wednesday to mark 25 years since the Good Friday peace accord, before heading south to the Republic of Ireland, where he will address the Dublin parliament. In Ballina, he’s due to deliver a speech Friday in front of the 19th-century cathedral, which local lore says was built partly using bricks supplied by his great-great-great grandfather, Edward Blewitt, a brickmaker and civil engineer. 

The Irish Family History Center says Biden “is among the most ‘Irish’ of all U.S. Presidents” — 10 of his 16 great-great grandparents were from the Emerald Isle. All of them left for the U.S. during the Great Famine of the mid-19th century, which killed an estimated 1 million people. 

Biden also plans to visit the Cooley Peninsula in County Louth, about 150 miles (240 kilometers) from Ballina on Ireland’s east coast. His great-grandfather, James Finnegan, left the mountainous, wind-battered peninsula as a child in 1850, one of more than a million Irish people who emigrated during the famine years. 

“There’s a great sense of euphoria around the place. Everyone is asking ‘What’s happening, when’s he coming, where’s he going?'” said Andrea McKevitt, a local politician and distant Biden relative. 

White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters that the president would use his Irish trip to highlight “how his family history is part of that larger shared history” between the U.S. and Ireland. 

The trip is also a reminder of the central role of Irish Americans in U.S. political life. Ireland has warmly welcomed American presidents since John F. Kennedy became the first to visit in 1963. Barack Obama got a jubilant reception in 2011 when he visited the tiny hamlet of Moneygall, home to one of his great-great-great grandfathers. 

“My name is Barack Obama, of the Moneygall Obamas, and I’ve come home to find the apostrophe we lost somewhere along the way,” he joked to a crowd in Dublin. 

More than 30 million Americans — almost one in 10 — claim some Irish ancestry. Richard Johnson, senior lecturer in U.S. politics at Queen Mary University of London, said Irish Americans no longer form the solidly Democrat voting bloc of decades gone by, but it’s still “good politics domestically for Americans to emphasize their Irish roots.” 

“One of the reasons Irish identity resonates so much with Americans is that U.S. identity is based in part on the notion that the United States broke free from the British Empire and set its own course,” he said. “There is a kind of echo of that story that can be found in the Irish experience. It makes it feel like the Irish have shared a common experience of breaking out of British rule that I think is attractive to Americans.” 

Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar said Biden “has always been a friend of Ireland,” and the visit would be “an opportunity to welcome a great Irish-American president home.” 

In Ballina, Blewitt said the town is getting ready to give Biden a rousing welcome. 

“The streets will be packed,” he said. “It’ll be like another St. Patrick’s Day.”
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A British Iranian man who has been on a hunger strike outside the British Foreign Ministry building in London for 44 days says he is ready to continue his protest for 100 days.

Vahid Beheshti told Forbes that he is preparing to more than double the length of his strike, despite not knowing “how long my physical body can cooperate with me.”

Beheshti is on a hunger strike to pressure the British government to add the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps to the country’s list of terrorist organizations.

He met with British Security Minister Tom Tugendhat on March 27 but told Forbes he has yet to hear anything from Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.

Beheshti, who began his strike in February, has lost more than 13 kilograms (29 pounds).

The Guardian newspaper reported that Beheshti, 44, had been a friend of the journalist and activist Ruhollah Zam, who was abducted by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps in Iraq. Zam was executed while imprisoned in Iran in 2020.
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Thousands of farmers protested across Romania on Friday over the impact of Ukrainian grain imports on prices, blocking traffic and border checkpoints with tractors and trucks and urging the European Commission to intervene. 

Anger is rising among farmers in Central and Eastern Europe over a flood of cheap Ukrainian grain imports, exempt from customs fees until June 2024, which have hurt prices and sales of local producers. 

Ukraine, one of the world’s largest grain exporters, had its Black Sea ports blocked following Russia’s February 2022 invasion and found alternative shipping routes through European Union states Poland and Romania, helped by “solidarity lanes” supported by the EU. 

But millions of tons of grain — cheaper than those produced in the EU — ended up in neighboring countries, propelled by logistical bottlenecks and lesser distances. 

Polish Agriculture Minister Henryk Kowalczyk resigned from his post this week. Polish and Bulgarian farmers have also held protests. 

In the capital Bucharest, about 200 farmers protested Friday outside the European Commission’s local headquarters, carrying banners which read: “We respected EU rules, but EU ignored us,” “You can no longer pass through here” and “Stability for Romanian farmers.” 

Across the country, thousands of farmers used tractors, trucks and other machinery to block roads and borders. 

“We are talking about unfair competition in the European community,” said Nicu Vasile, the head of the league of Romanian associations of farm producers (LAPAR). 

“I know our Ukrainian colleagues also need to sell, but it is unfair competition.” 

Vasile said production costs of wheat have risen 70% on the year to 6,000 lei ($1,326) per hectare. 

The commission has estimated farmers from Poland, Romania, Hungary, Bulgaria and Slovakia have lost 417 million euros ($455 million) overall from the inflows of cheaper Ukrainian grains. It decided to hand out compensation worth 56.3 million euros to Polish, Bulgarian and Romanian farmers, with more to come. 

“It’s a concrete measure, but the sums are small, it is true,” Romanian Farm Minister Petre Daea said Friday. The ministry will double the amount given to Romania. 

On Wednesday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he expected decisions to be announced in coming days and weeks to alleviate anger among Polish farmers. Six prime ministers in the region have asked the commission to intervene. 
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Clashes erupted in Paris next to a Left Bank brasserie favored by French President Emmanuel Macron as protesters torched garbage cans and smashed two banks during the 11th day of nationwide demonstrations against pension reform. 

The bistro La Rotonde, whose awning was set alight as protesters threw bottles and paint at police, is known in France for hosting a much-criticized celebratory dinner for Macron when he led the first round of the 2017 presidential election. 

Protests against the flagship reform of Macron’s second term, which lifts the retirement age by two years to 64, began in mid-January and have coalesced widespread anger against the president. 

Labor unions on Thursday evening called for another day of nationwide protests on April 13. 

“Strike, blockade, Macron walk away!” protesters chanted in the western city of Rennes, where police fired tear gas at protesters who threw projectiles at them and set bins on fire. 

The street protests have become increasingly violent since the government pushed the pension legislation through parliament without a final vote because of a lack of support among lawmakers. 

But police estimates indicate the number of people taking part may be falling. 

On Thursday, black-clad anarchists smashed the windows of two banks and engaged riot police in cat-and-mouse skirmishes along the route of the street protest. 

One police officer briefly lost consciousness after being struck on the helmet by a rock.  

A total of 77 police force members were injured, and 31 people were arrested as of early evening in Paris, police said. 

Polls show a wide majority of voters oppose the pension legislation. But a source close to Macron said that was not what mattered. 

“If the role of a president of the republic is to make decisions according to public opinion, there is no need to have elections,” the source said. “Being president is to assume choices that may be unpopular at a given time.” 

‘Withdraw the reform’ 

Union leaders and protesters said the only way out of the crisis was for the legislation to be scrapped, an option that the government has repeatedly rejected.  

“There is no other solution than withdrawing the reform,” the new leader of the hard-line CGT union, Sophie Binet, said at the start of the Paris rally. 

The number of people striking in schools and disrupting train traffic was down on Thursday from a week earlier. On the streets, the CGT said about 400,000 people joined the protest in Paris, down from 450,000 the week before. The Interior Ministry said 57,000 people attended in Paris, down sharply from the 93,000 reported a week earlier. 

Nationwide, 570,000 people marched against the reform on Thursday, down from 740,000 a week earlier. 

The numbers could bring some hope to officials who say they believe the rallies may be losing steam.  

Laurent Berger, leader of the moderate CFDT union, told France 5 television that the figures were hefty for an 11th day of protests. 

“The real issue is that there is widespread resentment and social anger,” Berger said, adding he condemned the violence. 

A crucial date on the issue looms on April 14, when the Constitutional Council delivers its verdict on the pension bill. Constitutional experts say the council is unlikely to strike the legislation down, which may help weaken protests. 

“Mobilization will continue, one way or another. … It’s a long-distance race,” the CGT’s Binet said. 

At the Paris rally, nurse Soraya Bouadouia said, “I will be here until the withdrawal of the pension reform, which is a completely unacceptable reform.” 

With Macron on an official trip to Beijing, one protester held a banner that read: “Macron resign. You will hear us all the way to China.”
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New developments:

Kremlin says decision to station tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus was prompted by NATO expansion toward Russia
Swedish prosecutor investigating Nord Stream pipeline blasts in September tells Reuters “the clear main scenario” is that a state sponsored group was responsible
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy visits Poland, updating leaders there on the war in Ukraine and meeting with Ukrainian refugees who fled after Russia’s full-scale invasion.

 

French President Emmanuel Macron encouraged Chinese President Xi Jinping to use China’s relationship with Russia to help bring an end to Russia’s war in Ukraine.

Macron told Xi as they met Thursday in Beijing that Russia’s aggression in Ukraine has harmed international stability.

“I know I can count on you to bring back Russia to reason and everyone back to the negotiating table,” Macron said.

China has proposed a multi-part peace plan for Ukraine that includes a call for upholding the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all countries, but it does not call on Russia to withdraw its forces from Ukraine.

Ukrainian officials have said they will only engage in peace talks if Russia withdraws all its military, while Russia has insisted that Ukraine recognize areas that Russia has claimed to annex.

Zelenskyy in Poland

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy visited neighboring Poland Wednesday, giving leaders there an update on the war in Ukraine and meeting with Ukrainian refugees who fled after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Zelenskyy said the situation for Ukrainian forces in the eastern city of Bakhmut remains difficult and that “corresponding decisions” would have to be taken if Kyiv’s troops were at risk of being surrounded by Russian forces.

Zelenskyy discussed the state of the war with Polish President Andrzej Duda and Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, as well as international support and cooperation for Ukraine. Zelenskyy thanked Poland for what he characterized as its historic assistance to the Kyiv government.

Duda said Russia has committed war crimes in Ukraine that must be punished.

“Today we are trying to get for Ukraine … additional guarantees, security guarantees, which will strengthen Ukraine’s military potential,” the Polish president noted.

Poland has been a key ally for Ukraine. The U.N. refugee agency says there are 1.5 million Ukrainian refugees who have registered for temporary protection status in Poland.

Poland also has served as a main hub for other Ukrainian partners to send in military and humanitarian aid.

Some material in this report came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.
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China feels it has the “right to redefine the global world order,” Chinese dissident artist Ai Weiwei told AFP on Wednesday ahead of the opening in London of his first design-focused exhibition. 

The show at the Design Museum features hundreds of thousands of objects collected by the Chinese artist since the 1990s, from Stone Age tools to Lego bricks, and draws on his love of artifacts and traditional craftsmanship. 

The son of a poet revered by former communist leaders, Ai, 65, is perhaps China’s best-known modern artist and helped design the famous “Bird’s Nest” stadium for Beijing’s 2008 Olympics. 

But he fell out of favor after criticizing the Chinese government, was imprisoned for 81 days in 2011 and eventually left for Germany four years later. 

Among the artifacts in the new exhibition are thousands of fragments from Ai’s porcelain sculptures, which were destroyed when the bulldozers moved in to dismantle his studio in Beijing in 2018. 

In launching the show, Ai said he believed China was “not moving into a more civilized society, but [had] rather become quite brutal on anybody who has different ideas.” 

“Tension between China and the West is very natural,” added the artist, who has lived in Europe since 2015. 

“China feel they have their own power and right to redefine the global world order,” he said. “They think China can become an important factor in changing the game rules, basically designed by the West world.” 

And he said that even though Europe had been relatively peaceful for 70 years, there were many problems, including much less concern for “humanity” and threats to “freedom of speech.” 

The objects to go on display include 1,600 Stone Age tools, 10,000 Song Dynasty cannon balls retrieved from a moat, and donated Lego bricks that the artist began working with in 2014 to produce portraits of political prisoners. 

The exhibition will also feature large-scale works installed outside the exhibition gallery. 

They include a piece titled “Colored House” featuring the painted timber frame of a house that was once the home of a prosperous family during the early Qing Dynasty (1644–1912). 

Exhibition curator Justin McGuirk said the things Ai had been collecting over the years represented “a body of evidence about different histories, different cultural moments in China’s history [that]  maybe have been forgotten or not thought about enough.”  

“Ai Weiwei always makes something out of destruction and plays on the idea of construction,” he added.
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Russian President Vladimir Putin charged Wednesday that Western intelligence agencies have helped Ukraine carry out acts of sabotage, as he urged his officials to mount a stronger response. 

Putin spoke during a call with members of his Security Council that focused on efforts to shore up control of the four Ukrainian provinces that Russia claimed as part of its territory in September — a move that was rejected by most of the world as an illegal annexation. 

“There are reasons to believe that the capabilities of third countries, Western special services, have been involved in preparation of acts of sabotage and terror attacks,” Putin said, without elaboration and without providing any evidence. 

He noted that the four provinces have faced Ukrainian shelling and acts of sabotage aimed at scaring the local population, adding that the authorities must act “harshly and effectively to ensure control over the situation.” 

Several Moscow-appointed officials in the newly incorporated provinces have been killed and wounded in a slew of bombings and other attacks. 

Putin urged officials to strengthen efforts to fully integrate the four regions into Russia and protect local residents from Ukrainian attacks. 

“They must see and feel that all our great country stands behind them and we will do everything to protect them,” Putin said in televised remarks at the meeting. 

When Putin sent troops into Ukraine on February 24, 2022, he charged that Russia’s “special military operation” was intended to “demilitarize” Ukraine, block its potential accession to NATO and protect the country’s Russian speakers – the rhetoric Ukraine and its allies have described as a cover for an unprovoked act of aggression. 

After failing to capture Kyiv in the initial weeks of the fighting, Russia has focused its military efforts on gaining control of Ukraine’s industrial heartland of the Donbas that includes the Donetsk and Luhansk provinces. 

The Russian military captured the province of Kherson and part of the province of Zaporizhzhia in the south early during the conflict but withdrew from the city of Kherson and nearby areas on the western bank of the Dnieper River in November under the brunt of the Ukrainian counteroffensive. 

Speaking during a separate Kremlin meeting where he received credentials from foreign ambassadors, including the newly appointed U.S. Ambassador Lynne M. Tracy, Putin charged that Washington’s support for mass protests in Kyiv that ousted Ukraine’s Moscow-friendly president in 2014 lay at the root of the current conflict. 

“The relations between Russia and the United States, which directly impact global stability and security, are in a deep crisis,” he said. “It’s rooted in principally different approaches to shaping the modern world order.”
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