 "Mariupol Ukraine")
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov says that Russia's military operation in Ukraine continues according to plan although President Vladimir Putin has ordered his forces not to storm the Azovstal steel plant, the last holdout of Ukrainian forces in the port city of Mariupol.
Peskov told reporters on Thursday that there was and still is an opportunity for Ukrainian troops to lay down their arms and come out via established corridors.
He said that the operation continues according to plan" and that Mariupol has been liberated.
Asked whether the order not to storm the steel plant represented a change of plans, he said that "this is a separate facility where the remaining group of Ukrainian nationalists is completely blocked.
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Berlin: Germany's foreign minister says her country and others are keeping up pressure on Russia to allow people out of the Ukrainian city of Mariupol and stop striking potential evacuation routes.
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Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said during a news conference Thursday that trying to ensure humanitarian corridors has been an issue for weeks. She noted that in some cases such corridors have been shot at, and you see that assurances can't be relied on.
Baerbock said that Germany and partners, as well as the International Committee of the Red Cross, are working to make clear that people must be able to leave the city; the Russian bombardment of routes and ways must be stopped so that innocent people can be brought to safety.
But she added that the situation is how it is. It is in (Russian President Vladimir) Putin's hands to stop these bombardments there.
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Vatican City: Pope Francis has renewed his call for a truce in the war in Ukraine, pointing to the April 24 celebration of Easter for the Orthodox Church.
Francis had already called for an Easter truce at the start of the Catholic Church's Holy Week, but the war ground on through Catholic Easter, which was celebrated on April 17.
In a statement Thursday, Francis said he was joining the call by the U.N. secretary-general, Antonio Guterres, and the head of the Greek Catholic Church in Ukraine for an April 24 cease-fire.
The statement said: Knowing that nothing is impossible for God, they invoke the Lord that the people trapped in war zones are evacuated and peace is restored, and ask for those responsible in nations to hear the people's cry for peace.
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Belgrade: Serbia's interior minister says the Balkan country should reconsider its proclaimed goal of joining the European Union because of alleged Western pressure to join international sanctions against Russia over the war in Ukraine.
Aleksandar Vulin was responding Thursday to a question about a draft European Parliament resolution calling on Serbia to introduce sanctions against Russia if it really wants to join the EU.
He told the state RTS broadcaster that the draft ''clearly indicates that the European Union does not want Serbia in its composition and that it's ''high time that Serbia also reconsiders its decision to remain on the path to EU membership.''
Although Serbia has voted in favor of three United Nations resolutions condemning Russian aggression against Ukraine, it has refused to join Western sanctions against Moscow.
Vulin said that we are an old, ancient, historical nation that chooses its friends. Russia is our friend.
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Copenhagen: Denmark's Parliament has decided that Danish students studying in Russia or Belarus will no longer be entitled to state grants from Denmark.
Under Danish law, the country's citizens are entitled to receive financial support throughout their studies wherever they study, a system meant to ensure that people from all social backgrounds can study without having to focus on earning money.
This year, they get 6,397 kroner ($931) per month before tax.
Lawmakers voted Thursday to exclude studies in Russia and Belarus from the grant program until Jan. 1, 2024.
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Copenhagen: Denmark's prime minister says that her country is considering sending more weapons to Ukraine.
Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen spoke as she visited Kyiv Thursday with her Spanish counterpart, Pedro Snchez. They plan to meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy
Frederiksen told Danish broadcaster TV2 that Denmark is considering sending more weapons. That is what is needed.
(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
