April 26 2022 - 12:30
Russia's "victory" in Mariupol turns city's dreams to rubble
In the years prior to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the port city of Mariupol was undergoing a makeover.
More than $600 million was spent on new roads, a children's hospital and parks to modernise the mainly Russian-speaking city as part of a campaign to show the benefits of life in West-leaning Ukraine following Russia's annexation of Crimea in 2014.
"We lived well, happily," said Maria Danylova, 24, who moved into a new apartment in the city last August after she married.
Like most of her family she works for steel giant Metinvest, which has invested over $2 billion into its two huge Mariupol plants since 2014.
"It was a free developing city, which provided everything we wanted," she said, recalling weekend strolls with her parents on the restored seafront.
Now after two months of bombardment, the city is in ruins and makeshift graves line its streets.Street after street is a landscape of bombed-out apartment blocks, blackened by smoke.
Destroyed military vehicles lie in the rubble. Thousands of people are believed to have died.
Mariupol is a strategic prize for Russia, reinforcing its access to the annexed Crimea peninsula via territory held by pro-Russian separatists.
But the intensity of the siege has damaged nearly half of the industrial city beyond repair, according to the local authorities.
The fighting also stopped work at the city's vast steel works, one of which remains the last redoubt for encircled Ukrainian troops.
"Everything that was invested (into Mariupol) has been destroyed," Infrastructure Minister Oleksander Kubrakov told Reuters.
Reuters
UKRAINE WRAP | Two killed by Russian shelling in Ukraine's Donetsk region - governor
April 26 2022 - 12:37
Two killed by Russian shelling in Ukraine's Donetsk region - governor
Two people were killed and six wounded in Russian shelling of Ukraine's eastern region of Donetsk on Tuesday, the regional governor said.
Governor Pavlo Kyrylenko wrote on the Telegram messaging app that one person had been killed in the town of Nyu-York, and another in Travneve.
Russian shooting was continuing along the entire front line, he said.
Reuters
April 26 2022 - 12:30
Russia's "victory" in Mariupol turns city's dreams to rubble
In the years prior to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the port city of Mariupol was undergoing a makeover.
More than $600 million was spent on new roads, a children's hospital and parks to modernise the mainly Russian-speaking city as part of a campaign to show the benefits of life in West-leaning Ukraine following Russia's annexation of Crimea in 2014.
"We lived well, happily," said Maria Danylova, 24, who moved into a new apartment in the city last August after she married.
Like most of her family she works for steel giant Metinvest, which has invested over $2 billion into its two huge Mariupol plants since 2014.
"It was a free developing city, which provided everything we wanted," she said, recalling weekend strolls with her parents on the restored seafront.
Now after two months of bombardment, the city is in ruins and makeshift graves line its streets.Street after street is a landscape of bombed-out apartment blocks, blackened by smoke.
Destroyed military vehicles lie in the rubble. Thousands of people are believed to have died.
Mariupol is a strategic prize for Russia, reinforcing its access to the annexed Crimea peninsula via territory held by pro-Russian separatists.
But the intensity of the siege has damaged nearly half of the industrial city beyond repair, according to the local authorities.
The fighting also stopped work at the city's vast steel works, one of which remains the last redoubt for encircled Ukrainian troops.
"Everything that was invested (into Mariupol) has been destroyed," Infrastructure Minister Oleksander Kubrakov told Reuters.
Reuters
April 26 2022 - 12:10
U.N. chief tells Russia that Ukraine ceasefire is needed as soon as possible
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said in Moscow on Tuesday that conditions for a ceasefire in Ukraine should be created as soon as possible.
"We are extremely interested in finding ways in order to create the conditions for effective dialogue, create the conditions for a ceasefire as soon as possible, create the conditions for a peaceful solution", Guterres said at a meeting with Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.
He was later due to meet President Vladimir Putin.
Reuters
April 26 2022 - 12:02
Three killed in Russian kindergarten shooting - Ifax cites source
An armed man opened fire at a kindergarten in Russia's Ulyanovsk region on Tuesday, killing three people, the Interfax news agency reported, citing a source.
The shooter later committed suicide, according to the source.
Reuters
April 26 2022 - 11:50
U.N. expecting 8.3 mln refugees from Ukraine this year
The U.N. refugee agency (UNHCR) is expecting some 8.3 million people to flee Ukraine this year, revising up its previous projection, a spokesperson said on Tuesday.
More than 12.7 million people have fled their homes in the past two months, including 7.7 million people displaced internally and more than 5 million who have fled over borders, UNHCR spokesperson Shabia Mantoo told a U.N. news briefing.
UNHCR had previously planned for some 4 million refugees in the immediate aftermath of Russia's invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24 but this was surpassed last month.
"The scale of the crisis, definitely the rapidity of people fleeing, we have not seen in recent times," Mantoo told the briefing. Syria remains the biggest current refugee crisis in the world, with 6.8 million people having fled, she added.
Reuters
April 26 2022 - 11:46
Russia's Putin, Turkey's Erdogan discussed Ukraine in phone call -Kremlin
Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Turkish counterpart Tayyip Erdogan discussed Ukraine in a phone call, the Kremlin said on Tuesday, without giving further details.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters that a more detailed report on the call would follow later.
Reuters
April 26 2022 - 10:49
Russia warns Japan against expanding naval drills with U.S.- RIA
Russia warned Tokyo it will take retaliatory measures should Japan expand the scope of its joint naval exercises with the United States, RIA news agency cited Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Igor Morgulov as saying on Tuesday.
The drills near the Russian border are fuelling tensions in the region and posing a threat to Russia's security, Morgulov was quoted as saying.
Reuters
April 26 2022 - 08:01
Russia and India in talks to restart coking coal supplies
Russian and Indian officials met last week in an effort to resolve an impasse over the shipping of coking coal to Indian steelmakers, which has dried up since March over payment methods, a trade source and an Indian government source said.
Russia usually supplies about 30% of European Union, Japanese and South Korean coking coal needs, while India had planned to double its Russian imports to around 9 million tonnes this year.
Imports make up around 85% of India's overall coking coal needs, which total 50-55 million tonnes a year, and New Delhi last year signed a deal to import from Russia.
April 26 2022 - 07:00
US pledges more aid, Ukraine embassy reopening
Wrapping up the first official US visit to Ukraine since Russia invaded, Washington's top diplomat and its defense chief promised more military aid as battles raged in the east.
April 26 2022 - 06:30
Ukraine fires at Russian village, Russian official says
Several buildings were damaged in the Golovchino village in Russia's Belgorod province which came under fire from Ukraine on Tuesday morning, regional governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said on messaging app Telegram without citing evidence.
Hours earlier, Gladkov said at least two people had been hurt in an attack on another village, Zhuravlyovka.
He did not specify whether the two attacks were cases of artillery or mortar shelling or missile strikes.Reuters was unable to verify the reports.
Reuters
April 26 2022 - 06:00
Coal day in hell: Russia’s war is boosting world’s addiction to dirty fuel
In Germany and Italy, coal-fired power plants that were once decommissioned are now being considered for a second life. In SA, more coal-laden ships are embarking on what is typically a quiet route around the Cape of Good Hope towards Europe. Coal burning in the US is in the midst of its biggest revival in a decade, while China is reopening shuttered mines and planning new ones.
The world’s addiction to coal, a fuel many thought would soon be on the way out, is now stronger than ever.