Russia missiles hit Chernihiv; 14 killed
Ukraine prez signs law
KYIV, Ukraine, April 17, (Agencies): Three Russian missiles slammed into a downtown area of the northern Ukrainian city of Chernihiv on Wednesday, hitting an eight-floor apartment building and killing at least 14 people, authorities said.
At least 61 people, including two children, were wounded in the morning attack, Ukrainian emergency services said. Chernihiv lies about 150 kilometers (90 miles) north of the capital, Kyiv, near the border with Russia and Belarus, and has a population of around 250,000 people.
The latest Russian bombardment came as the war stretched into its third year and approached what could be a critical juncture as a lack of further military support from Ukraine’s Western partners increasingly leaves it at the mercy of the Kremlin’s bigger forces.
Through the winter months, Russia under the government of Vladimir Putin made no dramatic advance along the 1,000-kilometer (620-mile) front line, focusing instead on attritional warfare. However, Ukraine’s shortage of artillery ammunition, troops and armored vehicles has allowed the Russians to gradually push forward, military analysts say.
A crucial element for Ukraine is the holdup in Washington of approval for an aid package that includes roughly $60 billion for Ukraine. House Speaker Mike Johnson said Sunday that he would try to move the package forward this week.
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Ukrainian president signs law: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy signed a controversial law Tuesday, days after it was passed by parliament, potentially helping Kyiv to boost conscription to replenish depleted forces to fend off Russia’s continued aggression.
The mobilization law, published on Ukraine’s Parliamentary website, is expected to take effect in a month and make it easier to identify every draft-eligible man in the country. Many have dodged conscription by avoiding contact with authorities.
The law also provides soldiers with incentives, such as cash bonuses or money toward buying a house or car, which according to analysts Ukraine can’t afford.
Ukraine has been struggling to fend off the Russian advance.
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‘Defense key issue ahead of polls’: Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is at the forefront of European Union citizens’ minds, with defense and security seen as key campaign issues ahead of the June elections, according to a study published Wednesday.
At national level, the EU’s defense and security is mentioned first in nine countries, in contrast with sentiments five years ago when the last EU Parliament elections were held.
“The EU’s defense and security was far from a prominent topic in 2019, before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022,,” the latest edition of the EU Parliament’s Eurobarometer said.
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Ex-UK premier Truss backs Trump: During her 49 days as Britain’s shortest-serving prime minister, Liz Truss sparked mayhem on the financial markets and turmoil within her Conservative Party.
Now she is speaking up, and her message is: It wasn’t me.
In interviews and a new book, Truss robustly defends her economic record, blaming the “deep state,” “technocrats,” “the establishment,” civil servants and the Bank of England for her downfall.
Her ideas include abolishing the United Nations and backing Donald Trump for reelection - a departure from the convention that senior British politicians stay out of US elections.
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Croatia votes in parliamentary election: Croatia is voting Wednesday in a parliamentary election after a campaign that centered on a bitter rivalry between the president and prime minister of the country.
The ballot pits the ruling conservative Croatian Democratic Union, or HDZ, led by Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic, against an alliance of centrist and left-wing parties informally led by populist President Zoran Milanovic and his Social Democratic Party, or SDP.
The election is being held as Croatia, a European Union and NATO member, struggles with the highest inflation rate in the eurozone, a labor shortage, illegal migration and reports of widespread corruption.
At stake in the race for Croatia’s 151-seat parliament isn’t just the Adriatic Sea country’s future domestic policies, but also the EU’s unity as it grapples with the instability from Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
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10 held in large-scale raid in Germany: German authorities conducted a large-scale raid against an international human smuggling gang early Wednesday, police said in a statement.
More than 1,000 police officers searched dozens of homes, stores and offices across western and southern Germany and detained 10 suspects, including two lawyers.
A total of 38 suspected gang members, as well as 147 other people who allegedly paid to be smuggled by it, are being investigated, German news agency dpa reported. The two lawyers, 42 and 46 years old and from the Cologne area, are the main suspects, federal police in nearby Sankt Augustin said. The names of the suspects were not given, in line with German privacy rules.
The suspects are accused of having illegally taken advantage of special German immigration rules reserved for skilled foreign workers to obtain residency permits for around 350 mostly Chinese nationals who don’t meet the needed criteria - in exchange for hundreds of thousands of euros (dollars).
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PACE recommends Kosovo: The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) recommended Kosovo’s Council of Europe (CoE) membership, deciding to monitor its fulfilment of commitments and obligations as during its accession, stated CoE.
Dora Bakoyannis, CoE member from Greece, reported the statutory opinion of Kosovo’s passing by 131 votes in favor, 29 against, and 11 abstentions.
PACE stated that Kosovo’s membership would lead to “”the strengthening of human rights standards by ensuring access to the European Court of Human Rights for all those who are under Kosovo’s jurisdiction.”