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Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, the spiritual head of Eastern Orthodox Christians worldwide, called overnight for the opening of humanitarian corridors in Ukraine where he said, “an indescribable human tragedy is unfolding.”

Bartholomew, who has previously called for an end to war in Ukraine, said that he hoped this year’s Easter would be “the impetus to open humanitarian corridors, safe passages to truly safe areas for the thousands of people surrounded in Mariupol.”

“The same applies to all other regions of Ukraine, where an indescribable human tragedy is unfolding… We call once again for an immediate end to the fratricidal war, which, like any war, undermines human dignity,” Bartholomew said after an Easter service in Istanbul, where he is based.

The leader of the Russian Orthodox Church, whose backing for Moscow’s “special military operation” in Ukraine has dismayed many fellow Christians, said on Saturday he hoped it would end quickly but again did not condemn it.

In 2019, Bartholomew, the spiritual head of some 300 million Eastern Orthodox Christians worldwide, granted autocephaly to the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, making it independent, in a historic split strongly opposed by Russia.
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France began voting in a presidential runoff election Sunday in a race between incumbent Emmanuel Macron and far-right politician Marine Le Pen.

Macron is in pole position to win reelection for a second five-year term in the country’s presidential runoff, yet his lead over Le Pen depends on one major uncertainty: voters who could decide to stay home.

A Macron victory in this vote — which could have far-reaching repercussions for Europe’s future direction and Western efforts to stop the war in Ukraine — would make him the first French president in 20 years to win a second term.

All opinion polls in recent days converge toward a win for the 44-year-old pro-European centrist — yet the margin over his 53-year-old nationalist rival varies broadly, from 6 to 15 percentage points, depending on the poll. Polls also forecast a possibly record-high number of people who will either cast a blank vote or not vote at all.

Both candidates are trying to court the 7.7 million votes of a leftist candidate defeated in the first vote. Polling stations opened at 8 a.m. on Sunday and close at 7 p.m. in most places, apart from big cities who have chosen to keep stations open until 8 p.m.

For many who voted for left-wing candidates in the first round April 10, this runoff vote presents a unpalatable choice between a nationalist in Le Pen, and a president who some feel has veered to the right during his first term. The outcome could depend on how left-wing voters make up their minds: between backing Macron or abstaining and leaving him to fend for himself against Le Pen.
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Rescue workers in southern Poland have reached four of the 10 miners who went missing early Saturday after a powerful underground tremor and methane gas discharge hit, mining authorities said. It was the second coal mine accident this week in Poland.

The condition of the four was not immediately released and officials said there was no verbal contact with any of the missing miners. The rescue team could not immediately bring the four to the surface and more teams will be sent to the area, said Edward Paździorko, deputy head of the Jastrzebska Spolka Weglowa company (JSW) that operates the Borynia-Zofiowka mine.

The accident occurred at 3:40 a.m. Saturday some 900 meters underground, forcing dozens of workers to flee the mine and leaving authorities unable to contact 10 miners. It was the second colliery accident in just four days in the coal mining region around the town of Jastrzebie-Zdroj, near the Czech border.

Repeated methane blasts since Wednesday at the nearby Pniowek mine have killed five miners, left seven miners and rescue workers missing and injured dozens of others. The search for those missing at Pniowek was suspended Friday after new explosions late Thursday injured 10 rescue workers, some seriously.

Both mines are operated by JSW.

The company said 52 workers were in the area of the tremor Saturday at the Borynia-Zofiowka mine and 42 of them were able to leave the shaft on their own without injury. A rescue operation involving 12 teams was launched for the missing miners, but authorities said they had to work carefully due to the high levels of methane still in the mine.

Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said on Twitter that this was “devastating news again” from the mining region and said his prayers are with the missing and their relatives.

He said the accidents will be thoroughly investigated and procedures and equipment at the mines will be examined.

Poland relies on its own coal and coal imports for almost 70% of its energy needs, drawing criticism from the European Union and environmental groups who are concerned about CO2 emissions and meeting climate change goals. Most Polish coal mines are in the southern Silesia region.

The Polish government has been scaling down the use of coal and recently announced it would end coal imports from Russia by May, part of Poland’s drive to reduce its dependence on Russian energy in response to Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine. 
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The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe said on Saturday it was working to secure the release of a number of Special Monitoring Mission (SMM) members who had been detained in eastern Ukraine.

“The OSCE is extremely concerned that a number of SMM national mission members have been deprived of their liberty in Donetsk and Luhansk. The OSCE is using all available channels to facilitate the release of its staff,” its media office said in response to a query, giving no more details.

In an address to the 157-member body on Friday, Britain’s deputy ambassador to the Vienna-based OSCE had criticized Russia for refusing to extend the SMM’s mission in Ukraine beyond March.

“And now we have received alarming reports that Russia’s proxies in Donbas are threatening Mission staff, equipment and premises and that Russian forces have taken SMM staff members captive,” Deirdre Brown had said in her address, which was released by the British government.

The OSCE said in March it had evacuated nearly 500 international mission members from Ukraine.

As of April 1, the SMM has moved to an administrative role to ensure the safety and security of mission members and assets throughout Ukraine, including in areas not under government control, the OSCE media office said on Saturday.

The SMM continued to assist remaining national staff in Ukraine in trying to relocate to safer areas.

“Contacts with national mission members continue on a daily basis, including in order to ascertain their whereabouts and assist them, to the extent possible, should they decide to re-locate,” it added.
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Turkey has closed its airspace to Russian civilian and military planes flying to Syria, Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu was quoted as saying Saturday by local media. 

The announcement marks one of the strongest responses to date by Turkey, which has cultivated close ties with Moscow despite being a member of the NATO defense alliance, to Russia’s two-month military assault on Ukraine. 

“We closed the airspace to Russia’s military planes — and even civilian ones — flying to Syria. They had until April, and we asked in March,” Turkish media quoted Cavusoglu as saying. 

Cavusoglu said he conveyed the decision to his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov, who then relayed it to President Vladimir Putin.   

“One or two days later, they said: Putin has issued an order, we will not fly anymore,” Cavusoglu was quoted as telling Turkish reporters aboard his plane to Uruguay.   

Cavusoglu added that the ban would stay in place for three months. 

There was no immediate response to Turkey’s announcement from Russia, which together with Iran has been a crucial supporter of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad during the war-torn country’s civil war. 

Turkey has backed Syrian rebels during the conflict. 

Ankara’s relations with Moscow briefly imploded after Turkey shot down a Russian warplane near the Turkish-Syrian border in 2015. 

But they had been improving until Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which Turkey views as an important trade partner and a diplomatic ally. 

Turkey has been trying to mediate an end to the conflict, hosting meetings between Russian and Ukrainian negotiators in Istanbul, and another between Lavrov and Ukrainian counterpart Dmytro Kuleba in Antalya. 

Ankara is now trying to arrange an Istanbul summit between Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, although Cavusoglu conceded that the prospects of such talks at this point remain dim.  

“If they want a deal, it’s inevitable,” Cavusoglu was quoted as saying. “It might not happen for a long time, but it can happen suddenly.” 
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The World Health Organization warns the health system in eastern Ukraine has all but collapsed, putting the lives of thousands of people trapped in Mariupol and other besieged areas at risk.   

U.N. health officials say it is critical they be granted immediate access to Mariupol and other areas hardest hit by fighting in eastern Ukraine. They say they have received reports that nearly all health facilities and hospitals in areas like the Luhansk region either are damaged or destroyed.  

The WHO is appealing for access to affected areas to assess health needs and to provide critical medical supplies to the sick and injured. Speaking from Lviv in western Ukraine, WHO spokesman Bhanu Bhatnagar said the WHO so far has not been able to enter Mariupol and does not know the health status of the besieged population.

Mariupol has been subjected to relentless bombing and shelling by Russian forces for the past two months. The city has been razed to the ground. Tens of thousands of people reportedly are living in underground bunkers, with limited food, water, and medical supplies.

Bhatnagar said the WHO is moving supplies it thinks are needed in Mariupol closer to the city. But he added it is essential that a safe passage is created quickly.

“We need a cessation of fighting for at least two days in order to move vital supplies in, but also assess the health needs,” he said. “We anticipate the worst. A health system that has collapsed completely and that brings with it all kinds of knock-on effects.  Of course, there are people with conflict-related injuries that need help.”  

Bhatnagar noted there also are people with chronic conditions and other health care needs that do not have access to vital medicine. He said the findings of a new WHO survey of 1,000 households across Ukraine show the devastating impact this war is having on access to health care.

“Two out of five households have at least one member with a chronic illness, like cancer, diabetes, and heart disease,” he said. “Of those, one in three is struggling to access healthcare for those chronic conditions.  Our survey also finds that the war is affecting people’s health-seeking behavior, with less than a third of households saying they sought out health services recently.”  

Bhatnagar added that 39% of people say the security situation inhibits them from seeking care for their illness, while 27% say no health care services are available in their area.

The WHO has confirmed 162 attacks on health care facilities and personnel, with at least 73 people known to have been killed.
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Ukraine will attempt to evacuate people Saturday from the besieged port city of Mariupol.

Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said on Telegram that authorities will try to get women, children and the elderly out of the city where Russian troops have thwarted previous evacuation efforts. It is unlikely that humanitarian corridors for the public will be open Saturday, authorities say. Officials estimate there are as many as 100,000 people remaining in Mariupol.

Meanwhile, France and Germany have previously armed Russia with nearly $300 million worth of military equipment that is “likely being used in Ukraine,” according to an exclusive report, based on European Commission data, in The Telegraph, a British newspaper.

The hardware was sent, the newspaper reports, despite a European Union-wide embargo on arms to Russia that was imposed following the Russian annexation of Crimea in 2014.

Germany has defended the sales, saying the items were “dual-use” equipment and that Russia had said they were needed for civilian, not military use.

The newspaper said the equipment sent to Russia included “bombs, rockets, missiles and guns.” French firms also sent “thermal imaging cameras for more than 1,000 Russian tanks as well as navigation systems for fighter jets and attack helicopters,” The Telegraph reported.

At least 10 EU member states have sent almost $380 million worth of military equipment to Russia, The Telegraph reported, with 78% of that total coming from French and German companies.

Other European countries that sold arms to Russia include Austria, Britain, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic and Italy, according to The Telegraph.

Cristian Terhes, a Romanian member of the European parliament shared with The Telegraph the EU analysis of the probe into what countries have sold military goods to Russia.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Friday seized on remarks by a Russian general as evidence that Moscow would invade other countries if it succeeded in Ukraine. The general had said Russia aimed to capture all of southern and eastern Ukraine and link it to a breakaway province in neighboring Moldova.

“This only confirms what I have already said multiple times: Russia’s invasion of Ukraine was intended only as a beginning,” Zelenskyy said in his evening address Friday.

He said comments earlier Friday by Rustam Minnekayev, deputy commander of Russia’s central military district, show that Russia will not stop with Ukraine.

Russian state news agencies quoted Minnekayev as saying that Moscow wanted to seize Ukraine’s entire eastern Donbas region, provide a land corridor to link with the Crimean Peninsula, and capture the country’s entire south as far west as a Russian-occupied breakaway region of Moldova. That would mean carrying the offensive hundreds of kilometers past the current lines and to the border with Moldova.

Moldova summoned Russia’s ambassador Friday to express “deep concern” over the general’s comments.

U.S. State Department spokesperson Jalina Porter declined to comment on the Russian general’s statement but said Washington firmly supported Moldova’s sovereignty.

Ukraine’s Defense Ministry said the comments by the Russian general showed that Russia’s previous claims that it had no territorial ambitions were not true.

“They stopped hiding it,” Ukraine’s Defense Ministry said on Twitter, adding that Russia has “acknowledged that the goal of the ‘second phase’ of the war is not victory over the mythical Nazis, but simply the occupation of eastern and southern Ukraine. Imperialism as it is.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin previously said Russia had no intention of permanently occupying Ukrainian cities. Russia annexed Crimea in 2014, a move that was widely condemned by the international community.

Russian ship

Russia’s Defense Ministry acknowledged Friday for the first time that the crew of the missile cruiser Moskva suffered casualties when the ship sank last week.

It said one serviceman died and 27 were missing.

Ukraine and the United States said the ship was hit by Ukrainian cruise missiles, while Russia blamed the sinking on a fire.

Immediately following the incident, Russia said the entire crew of the ship had been rescued. Moscow said Friday that 396 crew members had been rescued.

Military meeting

The Pentagon said Friday that U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin will hold a meeting April 26 in Germany with defense officials and military leaders from more than 20 countries to discuss Ukraine’s defense needs.

Pentagon press secretary John Kirby said that about 40 nations were invited to the meeting and responses were still arriving.

He said the talks, which include both NATO and non-NATO countries, will be held Tuesday at Ramstein Air Base.

Zelenskyy said Friday that allies were finally delivering the weapons that Ukraine had sought to defend itself.

Canada announced Friday it had provided heavy artillery to Ukraine, following a pledge by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

Diplomatic efforts

In diplomatic activity Friday, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal in Washington. The State Department said Blinken “reinforced our determination to help Ukraine successfully defend itself against Russia’s brutal and unjustified war of aggression.”

The U.N. announced Friday that Secretary-General Antonio Guterres will meet Putin in Moscow on Tuesday. He’ll also hold meetings and have a working lunch with Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.

Guterres will then travel on Thursday to Ukraine, where he will meet with Zelenskyy and Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba. The U.N. said he would also meet with staff of U.N. agencies to discuss the scaling up of humanitarian assistance to Ukrainians.

The U.N. chief wrote to Putin and Zelenskyy earlier in the week requesting meetings to discuss the next steps toward peace in Ukraine.

Guterres also appealed this week for a four-day humanitarian pause to coincide with Orthodox Easter, which is celebrated this Sunday in Ukraine and Russia. So far, those efforts have failed.

At a Friday press conference in Moscow, Lavrov said talks to end the fighting in Ukraine are at a standstill because Kyiv has not responded to Moscow’s latest set of proposals.

“Another proposal we passed on to Ukrainian negotiators about five days ago, which was drawn up with their comments taken into account; it remains without a response,” Russia’s top diplomat said.

However, Russia’s lead negotiator at the talks with Ukraine, Putin aide Vladimir Medinsky, confirmed that he had engaged in several lengthy conversations with the head of the Ukrainian delegation on Friday, The Associated Press reported.

Alleged war crimes

In Geneva, the U.N. human rights office said Friday there was growing evidence that Russia had committed war crimes in Ukraine.

“Russian armed forces have indiscriminately shelled and bombed populated areas, killing civilians and wrecking hospitals, schools and other civilian infrastructure, actions that may amount to war crimes,” said Michelle Bachelet, the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights.

The U.N. said it appeared that Ukraine had also used weapons with indiscriminate effects.

VOA U.N. Correspondent Margaret Besheer contributed to this report.

Some information for this story came from The Associated Press and Reuters.
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France goes to the polls Sunday for the final round of voting in the presidential election, with Marine Le Pen of the far-right National Rally party just a few points behind incumbent Emmanuel Macron. A Le Pen victory would have big implications for European security following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Putin links

In a fiery televised debate Wednesday, incumbent President Emmanuel Macron sought to highlight links between Marine Le Pen’s far-right party and Russian President Vladimir Putin. Her National Rally party took several loans from Russia in 2014, including a $9.75 million loan from the Kremlin-linked First Czech Russian Bank.  

“For our country, this is bad news, because you depend on the Russian regime and you depend on Putin.,” Macron said. “You don’t speak to other leaders, you speak to your banker when you speak to Russia, that’s the problem… None of us went to seek financing from a Russian bank, and especially not from one that is close to power in Russia.”

Le Pen said it was well known that French banks had refused to lend her money, so she sought financial assistance in Russia. 

NATO changes

What would a Le Pen presidency mean for Europe’s security at a time of conflict? Her approach to Russia is in stark contrast to that of most Western leaders. Speaking at a press event earlier this month, she outlined her policy on the conflict in Ukraine.

“As soon as the Russian-Ukrainian war is over and has been settled by a peace treaty, I will call for the implementation of a strategic rapprochement between NATO and Russia.” Le Pen said.

While she has condemned the invasion of Ukraine, the 53-year-old National Rally leader has been far less critical of Vladimir Putin himself. She has criticized the supply of heavy weapons to Ukraine by NATO members and plans to weaken French links with the alliance. 

“Once elected president, I will leave NATO’s integrated command, but I won’t renounce the application of Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty on collective security.” Le Pen told reporters April 13.

Western unity

A Le Pen victory would severely weaken Western unity against Russia, says French political analyst Renaud Foucart of Lancaster University. 

“She has been among the first if not the only French candidate to recognize Crimea, the annexation of Crimea by Russia. So very, very clearly she will not be in favor of stronger sanctions. She has opposed them, and she has been very, very vocal about opposing sanctions on fossil fuels, on gas, on oil from Russia.,” Foucart told VOA.

However, in recent weeks Le Pen has risen in the polls, despite her past links with a Russian regime accused of war crimes in Ukraine. Gérard Araud, a former French ambassador to the United Nations and now a distinguished fellow with the Atlantic Council, says Le Pen has attempted to transform her image during the campaign.

“She has distanced herself somehow really from Putin. She has condemned the attack against Ukraine. Second point, you know in France — like in the U.S. — elections are decided not on foreign policy issues but on domestic policy issues. And like in the U.S., France is facing a wave of inflation.” 

Le Pen has focused her campaign on the rising cost of living and has characterized Macron as an aloof president more obsessed with Europe than France. Polls shows she has gained votes in poorer areas of France, and among younger generations who feel disillusioned by a lack of jobs and opportunities.

Frexit?

For years, Le Pen campaigned for France to leave the European Union. Now she says so-called “Frexit” is not her policy.

“The British got rid of the Brussels bureaucracy, which they could never bear, to move to an ambitious concept of global Britain,” she said April 13, in reference to Britain’s 2016 vote to leave the EU. 

“This is not our project. We want to reform the E.U. from the inside. The more we free ourselves from the Brussels straitjacket while remaining inside the EU, the more we will open ourselves up to the wider world. It seems to me that’s what the British understood well,” Le Pen said.

Former French Ambassador to the U.N. Gérard Araud says Le Pen’s reform agenda is so radical that it will inevitably fail.

“She is going to change it so dramatically, so radically, that actually either she won’t implement her program or she will leave the European Union.”

“If she is elected, basically it will be quite chaotic. The euro will go down, and there will be an emerging crisis between Paris and Berlin because she wants really to put an end to all Franco-German cooperation. And of course a crisis with Brussels, with lots of uncertainties down the road,” Araud told VOA.

Analyst Renaud Foucart agrees: “Most importantly, she’s not clear about who her allies (in the EU) would be. In order to reach that kind of agreement you would need to find other countries that are like-minded. But even within her own political family… she doesn’t seem to be able to find agreement.”

Global reaction

European leaders have largely avoided commenting on the elections. However, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada, a NATO ally, said Thursday that ‘it would be a good thing for the world’ if Macron was re-elected.

Even if Macron does win a second term, France faces difficult problems in the years ahead, says Gérard Araud.

“Socially, there is something which is very unhealthy. Because Macron has been elected in 2017, and if he is re-elected in 2022, it will be the same – basically by the ‘haves’ against the ‘have-nots’. And so there is this deep rift in the French society,” Araud said.
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Russian authorities have opened a criminal case against a prominent opposition activist and remanded him in pre-trial detention Friday for allegedly spreading “false information” about the country’s armed forces.

A court in Moscow ordered Vladimir Kara-Murza Jr. held in detention until June 12.

Lawyer Vadim Prokhorov told reporters that the false information case against Kara-Murza cited a March 15 speech to the Arizona House of Representatives, in which he denounced the war in Ukraine, as the basis for the latest charges. The activist rejects the accusations.

Russian media reported that similar charges were being drawn up against outspoken tech executive Ilya Krasilshchik, the former publisher of Russia’s top independent news site, Meduza. The moves against the two Kremlin critics are part of a widening crackdown against individuals speaking out against Russia’s war in Ukraine.

Russia adopted a law criminalizing spreading false information about its military shortly after its troops rolled into Ukraine in late February. The offense is punishable by up to 15 years in prison. Human rights advocates so far have counted 32 cases targeting critics of the invasion.

Kara-Murza is a journalist and a former associate of late Russian opposition leader Boris Nemtsov, who was assassinated in 2015, and oligarch-turned-dissident Mikhail Khodorkovsky, who was jailed for years in Russia. Kara-Murza himself was hospitalized with poisoning symptoms twice, in 2015 and 2017.

Arizona Speaker of the House Rusty Bowers denounced the Russian government’s moves against Kara-Murza.

“I am deeply disturbed over news reports regarding the arrest and political persecution of Russian opposition leader Vladimir Kara-Murza,” Bowers said in a statement. “Don’t forget about these freedom fighters, like Vladimir Kara-Murza. We must remember names!”

Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey tweeted: “Kara-Murza’s brave opposition to Putin has inspired us all. Arizona will always stand for freedom. And we will support those like Kara-Murza who take a stand against oppression.”

Krasilshchik, the tech executive who left Russia in early March, told Meduza that he had learnt about the case against him from news reports, which by Friday evening remained unconfirmed. Russian media have linked the charges to an Instagram post, featuring what Krasilshchik said was the photo of charred human remains in the Kyiv suburb of Bucha.

“You can’t recover after seeing the images from Bucha,” the photo caption read. “You feel that the army of this country of ours, it’s capable of anything … and so is the country. That we’re just an order away from mass executions.”

Also Friday, veteran Russian human rights activist Lev Ponomaryov said in an online statement that he was “temporarily” leaving the country.

Ponomaryov, a former State Duma lawmaker who had helped found Russia’s oldest human rights organization in the 1980s, has been a vocal opponent of Russia’s attack on Ukraine, and initiated multiple public petitions against it.

In his statement Friday, he claimed to be “allowing himself to take a vacation” to “look after my health …, but also think through the difficult situation in which we all find ourselves, and plan further (campaigning) activities, which we cannot stop by any means.”

“I doubt my time away will be long,” he added.

In a separate move Friday, the Russian justice ministry added Kara-Murza and several other prominent Kremlin critics to the registry of “foreign agents.” The designation implies additional government scrutiny and carries strong pejorative connotations that can discredit those on the list.

The new additions to the registry included Leonid Volkov, top ally of jailed opposition leader Alexei Navalny, and Alexei Venediktov, former editor-in-chief of Russia’s oldest critical radio station, Ekho Moskvy. The station was taken off the airwaves shortly after Russia invaded Ukraine.  
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France and Germany have armed Russia with nearly $300 million worth of military equipment that is “likely being used in Ukraine,” according to an exclusive report, based on European Commission data, in The Telegraph, a British newspaper.

The hardware was sent, the newspaper reports, despite a European Union-wide embargo on arms to Russia that was imposed following the Russian annexation of Crimea in 2014.

Germany has defended the sales, saying the items were “dual-use” equipment and that Russia had said they were needed for civilian, not military use.

The newspaper said the equipment sent to Russia included “bombs, rockets, missiles and guns.”  French firms also sent “thermal imaging cameras for more than 1,000 Russian tanks as well as navigation systems for fighter jets and attack helicopters,” The Telegraph reported.

At least 10 EU member states have sent almost $380 million worth of military equipment to Russia, The Telegraph reported, with 78% of that total coming from French and German companies.

Other European countries that sold arms to Russia include Austria, Britain, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic and Italy, according to The Telegraph.

Cristian Terhes, a Romanian member of the European parliament shared with The Telegraph the EU analysis of the probe into what countries have sold military goods to Russia.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Friday seized on remarks by a Russian general as evidence that Moscow would invade other countries if it succeeded in Ukraine. The general had said Russia aimed to capture all of southern and eastern Ukraine and link it to a breakaway province in neighboring Moldova.

“This only confirms what I have already said multiple times: Russia’s invasion of Ukraine was intended only as a beginning,” Zelenskyy said in his evening address Friday.

He said comments earlier Friday by Rustam Minnekayev, deputy commander of Russia’s central military district, show that Russia will not stop with Ukraine.

Russian state news agencies quoted Minnekayev as saying that Moscow wanted to seize Ukraine’s entire eastern Donbas region, provide a land corridor to link with the Crimean Peninsula, and capture the country’s entire south as far west as a Russian-occupied breakaway region of Moldova. That would mean carrying the offensive hundreds of miles past the current lines and to the border with Moldova.

Moldova summoned Russia’s ambassador Friday to express “deep concern” over the general’s comments.

U.S. State Department spokesperson Jalina Porter declined to comment on the Russian general’s statement but said Washington firmly supported Moldova’s sovereignty.

Ukraine’s Defense Ministry said the comments by the Russian general showed that Russia’s previous claims that it had no territorial ambitions were not true.

“They stopped hiding it,” Ukraine’s Defense Ministry said on Twitter, adding that Russia has “acknowledged that the goal of the ‘second phase’ of the war is not victory over the mythical Nazis, but simply the occupation of eastern and southern Ukraine. Imperialism as it is.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin previously said Russia had no intention of permanently occupying Ukrainian cities. Russia annexed Crimea in 2014, a move that was widely condemned by the international community.

Russian ship

Russia’s Defense Ministry acknowledged Friday for the first time that the crew of the missile cruiser Moskva suffered casualties when the ship sank last week.

It said one serviceman died and 27 were missing.

Ukraine and the United States said the ship was hit by Ukrainian cruise missiles, while Russia blamed the sinking on a fire.

Immediately following the incident, Russia said the entire crew of the ship had been rescued. Moscow said Friday that 396 crew members had been rescued.

Military meeting

The Pentagon said Friday that U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin will hold a meeting April 26 in Germany with defense officials and military leaders from more than 20 countries to discuss Ukraine’s defense needs.

Pentagon press secretary John Kirby said that about 40 nations were invited to the meeting and responses were still arriving.

He said the talks, which include both NATO and non-NATO countries, will be held Tuesday at Ramstein Air Base.

Zelenskyy said Friday that allies were finally delivering the weapons that Ukraine had sought to defend itself.

Canada announced Friday it had provided heavy artillery to Ukraine, following a pledge by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

Diplomatic efforts

In diplomatic activity Friday, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal in Washington. The State Department said Blinken “reinforced our determination to help Ukraine successfully defend itself against Russia’s brutal and unjustified war of aggression.”

The U.N. announced Friday that Secretary-General Antonio Guterres will meet Putin in Moscow on Tuesday. He’ll also hold meetings and have a working lunch with Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.

Guterres will then travel on Thursday to Ukraine, where he will meet with Zelenskyy and Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba. The U.N. said he would also meet with staff of U.N. agencies to discuss the scaling up of humanitarian assistance to Ukrainians.

The U.N. chief wrote to Putin and Zelenskyy earlier in the week requesting meetings to discuss the next steps toward peace in Ukraine.

Guterres also appealed this week for a four-day humanitarian pause to coincide with Orthodox Easter, which is celebrated in Ukraine and Russia. So far, those efforts have failed.

At a Friday press conference in Moscow, Lavrov said talks to end the fighting in Ukraine are at a standstill because Kyiv has not responded to Moscow’s latest set of proposals.

“Another proposal we passed on to Ukrainian negotiators about five days ago, which was drawn up with their comments taken into account; it remains without a response,” Russia’s top diplomat said.

However, Russia’s lead negotiator at the talks with Ukraine, Putin aide Vladimir Medinsky, confirmed that he had engaged in several lengthy conversations with the head of the Ukrainian delegation on Friday, The Associated Press reported.

Alleged war crimes

In Geneva, the U.N. human rights office said Friday there was growing evidence that Russia had committed war crimes in Ukraine.

“Russian armed forces have indiscriminately shelled and bombed populated areas, killing civilians and wrecking hospitals, schools and other civilian infrastructure, actions that may amount to war crimes,” said Michelle Bachelet, the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights.

The U.N. said it appeared that Ukraine had also used weapons with indiscriminate effects.

VOA U.N. Correspondent Margaret Besheer contributed to this report.

Some information for this story came from The Associated Press and Reuters. 
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Russia’s deputy military commander said Moscow’s goal is to control Donbas and southern Ukraine, which would give Russia access the separatist Moldovan enclave of Transnistria and block Kyiv’s access to the Black Sea. But U.S. officials vow to help Ukraine defend itself, as VOA’s Senior Diplomatic Correspondent Cindy Saine reports.
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France goes to the polls Sunday for the final round of voting in the presidential election — with far-right leader Marine Le Pen just a few points behind incumbent Emmanuel Macron. As Henry Ridgwell reports, a Le Pen victory would have big implications for European security at a critical time, following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Camera: Henry Ridgwell
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Rights activists in Azerbaijan are accusing the government of manufacturing false charges to arrest critics who have been returned to the country after failing to gain asylum in Germany.

Samir Ashurov was detained on April 19 on charges of assault with a knife, just weeks after he was deported from Germany back to his native country.

Ashurov had fled to Germany in 2018 when he was a member of the opposition REAL Movement. After leaving Azerbaijan, Ashurov continued criticizing the Azerbaijani government.

He was readmitted to Azerbaijan on March 29, after the German government refused to grant him asylum.

His lawyer, Elchin Sadiqov, told VOA that Ashurov had left his house earlier this week planning to renew his passport so that he could again leave the country. Instead, he said, Ashurov was attacked in the street and had a knife planted on him.

“He said that a man approached him near a metro station in Baku, shouting and knocking him to the ground. Samir ran away and shouted, ‘Police,’ and that’s when the police officers immediately detained him,” Sadiqov said.

“They then put a knife in the right pocket of his jacket,” Sadiqov said. “He took the knife out and threw it away. Then they put it back in his left pocket. He was then taken to the 24th Police Station of the Nizami District Police Office.”

Ashurov’s lawyer said he was tortured in custody and now was on a hunger strike, protesting his arrest.

“He said that he was beaten at the police station,” said Sadiqov. “When I met him, he had bruises on his chest and groin. He said he had been on a hunger strike since April 19 to protest his arrest.”

Elshad Hajiyev, spokesperson for the Ministry of Internal Affairs, called these allegations completely unfounded.

“Samir Ashurov is charged with a specific crime, and what his lawyer says is a defense. And that’s understandable,” he said.

A targeted campaign

Government critics say authorities are using criminal charges to jail political opponents, in particular those who have spoken out while seeking asylum abroad. They say it’s part of a coordinated campaign by President Ilham Aliyev.

“I met Samir Ashurov last week after his deportation from Germany. He told me that he had been summoned to the prosecutor’s office several times, was being monitored and that preparations were being made for his arrest,” Tofiq Yaqublu, deputy chairman of the opposition Musavat Party and a senior politician of the National Council of Democratic Forces, wrote on Facebook.

Ashurov, who spoke with VOA earlier this month following his return from Germany, said he was also questioned at the airport about why he had left the country.

“I said that I was facing political persecution in Azerbaijan,” he said. “I told them that I had been arrested twice under false pretenses. I told them that I would be one of the victims of the government. Just like four political activists before me — Malik Rzayev, Mutalim Orujov, Punhan Karimli and Jafar Mirzayev were arrested.”

He also predicted that he would be detained in the future. “This regime will arrest me again on false charges,” Ashurov told VOA.

In January, Mirzayev, a member of the Germany-based DAS (Elect a Democratic Azerbaijan) group, was detained on charges of drug trafficking and sentenced to four months of pretrial detention. Mirzayev faces between five and 12 years in prison.

Karimli, a member of the Popular Front Party of Azerbaijan (PFPA); Rzayev and Orujov have also been charged with drug trafficking.

Some see coordinated campaign

Some rights activists argue that the arrests are part of a coordinated effort aimed at migrants who sought asylum in other countries.

“Political activists deported from Germany were being arrested on drug charges. Now they have switched from drugs to knives,” Afgan Mukhtarli, an investigative journalist, human rights defender and former political prisoner currently living in Germany, said in a Facebook post. “We knew Samir would be arrested. Ilham Aliyev takes revenge on migrants. In his speeches, he repeatedly targeted migrants, calling them agents.”

Zafar Ahmadov, co-founder of a human rights NGO known as “Defense Line,” told VOA that the fate of readmitted political activists continues to be a concern.

“The arrest of all five readmitted political activists is not a coincidence,” said Ahmadov, who is also a member of the Democracy for Azerbaijan (AND) movement. “As a rule, we raise the issue of readmitted human rights activists before the EU Delegation and the embassies of EU member states.”

The German Embassy in Azerbaijan on Thursday told VOA it was monitoring Ashurov’s case.

“We are monitoring such incidents. We hold regular talks with the Azerbaijani government on human rights issues,” the embassy officials said.

Pact on repatriation

The European Union and Azerbaijan in 2014 signed an agreement on the repatriation of persons residing without authorization. Since the signing of the agreement, more than 2,000 people have been returned to Azerbaijan, including 420 in 2021.

International human rights organizations, including Freedom House and Human Rights Watch, report that the government of Azerbaijan frequently arrests individuals exercising their fundamental rights on trumped-up charges.

The Azerbaijani government, on the other hand, says people are not persecuted for their political beliefs.

This story originated in VOA’s Azerbaijani Service.
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The French military has accused Russian mercenaries of creating a mass grave and falsely blaming it on the French.

The French Army says it has drone video, seen by news agencies Associated Press and Agence France-Presse, of Russian mercenaries burying bodies near Gossi, Mali, where the French army withdrew from a military base this week.

Video of what appears to be a similar location circulated Thursday on Twitter, showing a blurred image of what are alleged to be bodies buried in the sand. The accompanying Twitter message says the departing French army left that scene behind in Gossi.

Speaking to AFP and AP, the French Army said the mercenaries created the site to circulate images and blame the French army to stoke anti-French sentiment in Mali.

The drone video was reportedly captured Thursday morning, but the French army left Gossi on Tuesday. France recently said it would withdraw its troops from Mali in a operation expected to take four to six months.

A Twitter account named “Dia Diarra” posted a video Thursday, including what appears to be bodies partially buried in the sand, with the caption, “This is what the French left behind when they left the base at Gossi. These are excerpts from a video that was taken after they left! We cannot keep silent about this!”

“Dia Darra” claims to be a Malian veteran and “patriot” and posts mostly pro-Malian military and pro-Russia content. The original profile photo used for the account could also be seen on the Russian social media website VK on an account of a man believed to be located in Colombia.

After that was pointed out by several Twitter users, the profile picture was changed to a photo of Malian President Assimi Goita. The account has been active since January 2022.

Many governments have accused the Malian army of working with mercenaries from the Russian company the Wagner Group which, critics say, has close ties to the Russian government.

Mali’s government denies the allegation, saying it works only with “Russian instructors.”

In March, Human Rights Watch reported that residents of Moura, in central Mali, said that hundreds of civilians were killed by the Malian army while working with “white soldiers,” who spoke a language not familiar to them.

VOA spoke to a man who saw 12 to 15 men killed and witnessed both Malian and white soldiers in the village during the five-day operation.
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French President Emmanuel Macron and far-right challenger Marine Le Pen made final appeals Friday to undecided voters weighing fears of what a Le Pen presidency could bring against their anger at Macron’s record. 

According to the latest surveys for Sunday’s run-off, fear may win the day over loathing: Macron the centrist, pro-European incumbent leads his anti-immigration, eurosceptic challenger by 10-14 points, well outside margins of error. 

But the fact that nearly three in 10 voters say they will not vote or have not made up their minds means a surprise Le Pen win similar to events such as Brexit and the election of Donald Trump as U.S. president cannot entirely be ruled out. 

Wrapping up his campaign in the postcard-pretty medieval village of Figeac in southern France, Macron told voters that Sunday was no less than a plebiscite on the country’s future. 

“April 24 will be a referendum for or against Europe – we want Europe,” he said. “April 24 will be a referendum for or against a secular, united, indivisible France … we are for.” 

Surveys by France’s leading pollsters published Thursday and Friday showed Macron’s score was either stable or slightly rising to reach between 55.5% and 57.5%. 

But they also put turnout at between 72% and 74%, which would be the lowest for a presidential run-off since 1969. 

“There is a risk that all of a sudden a section of the electorate wakes up which we haven’t been able to measure,” Jean-Daniel Levy of Harris Interactive polling told Reuters. 

“But the risk seems limited because this is a two-round system,” he said, contrasting that to the shocks of Brexit and Trump’s victory produced by single-round votes. 

In the central city of Auxerre – which over the years has been an accurate bellwether of presidential outcomes – some voters such as Marc Venner, a retired telecoms worker, were rallying to Macron, albeit without enthusiasm. 

“Our democratic and institutional system is on its last legs. No candidate can tackle the real problems,” Venner said. “We are a de-industrialized country, a country in decline.” 

Ghislaine Madalie, a hairdresser with family roots in Morocco, said she would switch to Macron on Sunday after voting for far-left Jean-Luc Melenchon in the first round. But she said some of her clients would vote Le Pen as an anti-Macron protest. 

“I find that disastrous because she is racist,” said Madalie, 36. “I am anxious, for me and for my children. I don’t understand this harassment (of Muslims), I don’t understand what she has against veiled women.” 

Bottom of the pile 

Le Pen, whose policies include a ban on Muslim headscarves in public, giving French nationals priority on jobs and benefits, and limiting Europe’s rules on cross-border travel, says Macron embodies an elitism that has failed ordinary people. 

That resonates for many on the streets of the former industrial north of France, a region which includes many Le Pen strongholds and where she has chosen to conclude her campaign. 

“The working class like us is always at the bottom of the pile,” long-standing Le Pen voter Marcel Bail, 65, told Reuters at a motorway service station in the town of Roye, where Le Pen had lunch Thursday with truck drivers. 

It was the same message Friday among supporters who turned out to see her in the coastal town of Etaples. 

“I have 1,300 euros a month – after rent, heating and petrol that’s 400 euros,” said gardener Pascal Blondel, 52. “Since Macron got in, we don’t eat lunch. … Everything costs more.” 

Despite one of the world’s most generous welfare systems, massive support for French households during the pandemic and fuel bill caps to offset rising energy prices, the cost of living emerged as the top campaign issue of the election. 

Even if data shows that all but the poorest 5% of households are better off than five years ago, analysts say the fact that purchasing power has stagnated over a decade may have left an entrenched feeling that people cannot get ahead. 

This has combined with Macron’s sometimes high-handed leadership style and a perception among many left-leaning voters that he quickly shifted to economically liberal policies soon after being elected, alienating a whole section of the public. 

“He does not like the French,” Le Pen told Europe 1 radio Friday, accusing him of disdain toward her and voters in Wednesday’s TV debate and saying he lacked the straightforward common sense she had as a mother of three. 

 
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