Volodymyr Zelenskyy asked Pope Francis during talks in the Vatican for help securing the release of Ukrainians held in Russia.. Ukraine's president, who is on a whirlwind tour of European capitals to discuss his proposed “victory plan” for war with Russia, said he has also extended an invitation to the Vatican to attend a conference on prisoners of war to be held in Canada. Later this month. “I look forward to the support of the Holy See in supporting the repatriation of Ukrainian prisoners of war in Russia,” Zelensky said on social media, adding that this would be the main topic of his meeting with the pope on Friday. The Vatican statement did not provide details about the pope's meeting with Zelensky, but said a subsequent meeting between the Ukrainian leader and the Vatican's chief diplomat “specifically discussed the situation of the war and ways to bring it about.” It included a heated discussion.” end”.
President Zelenskiy spoke in Berlin during a visit to seek sustained military support and expressed hope that the war with Russia would end next year.. The Ukrainian leader met with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and thanked Germany for its support, saying: “It is very important for us that this aid is not reduced next year.” He said he would present Scholz with a plan to win the war and expressed hope that the conflict would end “by next year, 2025 at the latest.” Scholz pledged that Germany and its European Union partners would send more defense equipment this year and 4 billion euros (about 440 billion yen) worth of German aid in 2025. “We will not slacken our support.”
A Russian court has ordered CNN journalist Nick Peyton Walsh arrested in absentia for reporting from the occupied Ukrainian territory of Russia's Kursk region.. Moscow has opened several criminal proceedings against Western journalists who produced reports from the Kursk region after the surprise invasion of Kiev in August, charging them with illegal border crossings. The Leninsky court in the city of Kursk ordered Peyton Walsh's arrest and demanded his extradition to Russia. The British journalist has previously reported for Moscow's Channel 4 News and the Guardian newspaper.
Russia announced on Friday that its forces had captured the front-line villages of Zheranne Durge and Ostrivske in eastern Ukraine., It is the latest in a series of territorial gains for Moscow. According to the Ukrainian military, Ostrivske is on the east bank of the Krahov reservoir, in an area where Russia is concentrating its offensive operations. Russia's Defense Ministry announced last week that it had captured Zeran Druzh, but it was not immediately clear why it repeated the claim.
Ukraine says it is investigating the death of a Ukrainian journalist in Russian custody The first-hand accounts provided a glimpse into life under Russian occupation in the early days of the invasion of Moscow. Viktoria Roshchina, 27, went missing in August 2023 after going on a reporting trip to occupied eastern Ukraine, and Russia admitted in April that she was being held. Ukraine's human rights ombudsman Dmytro Rubinets confirmed her death on Thursday in what he denounced as illegal detention. Ukrainian military intelligence spokesman Andriy Yusov told public broadcaster Suspirin that Roshchina was on the list of prisoners to be exchanged and that “everything necessary has been done” for the exchange. Ukraine's Prosecutor General's Office announced that it has updated its war crimes investigation into her disappearance to include murder.
A woman who worked at a Russian tank factory was found guilty of treason and sentenced to 12 and a half years in a penal colony. for selling military information to Ukraine.. A video released by the Sverdlovsk district court in the Urals region showed the judge sentencing Victoria Mukhametova, who showed no emotion, on Friday. Her husband, Daniil Mukhametov, is also being tried separately on similar charges. According to Russian media, the couple both worked for Uralbagonzavod, a major tank production company.
Russia has sentenced two men near Moscow to 16 years in prison each for allegedly setting fire to a railway on the orders of Ukrainian security services.. Two “young men” who gave only their surnames Zavarnov and Gorodyuk in the Kaluga region south of Moscow were found guilty of “terrorism” and found guilty by a military court of arson of operating equipment, Rianovosti news agency reported. It was reported that he had been sentenced. beside the railroad tracks.
Finnish officials say police suspect a Russian suspect of committing war crimes in Ukraine in 2014 and expect to indict him by the end of this month.. Vojislav Toden, commander of Russia's far-right neo-Nazi militia Luszczyk Group, was arrested at Helsinki airport in July 2023. Finland's National Investigation Agency announced on Friday that it had completed investigations into several crimes and suspects dating back to 2014. He is charged with several war crimes, including “aggravated war crimes.”
