PARIS — The office of French President Emmanuel Macron says his three-way call with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Russian President Vladimir Putin was “very frank and also difficult.”
French officials said the Russian leader gave no indication during the call Saturday lasting more than an hour that he intends to stop the fighting in Ukraine.
European leaders are working on what they describe as a punishing new set of “massive” economic sanctions against Moscow in the hope of getting Putin to change his mind.
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WASHINGTON — U.S. President Joe Biden is authorizing the State Department to provide additional aid to Ukraine of up to $200 million.
The funds would cover weapons as well as military services, education and training as Ukrainians seek to repel a Russian invasion.
The aid is part of broader U.S. support in the form of aid and sanctions. When Russia invaded Ukraine in late February, Secretary of State Antony Blinken noted that $1 billion in aid had been provided to Ukraine.
The ongoing warfare has led to additional support with Congress this week approving $13.6 billion in additional aid, a sum that includes $6.5 billion for the costs of sending troops and weapons to Eastern Europe and $6.8 billion for refugees and economic aid.
Biden plans to sign the spending bill with the additional aid when he receives it next week.
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TIVAT, Montenegro — Roman Abramovich’s superyacht Solaris has been spotted in the small Adriatic Sea state of Montenegro.
The 55-year-old Abramovich is among several wealthy Russians sanctioned by Britain over their close links to the Kremlin following Russia’s attack on Ukraine.
The 533-foot Solaris was seen on Saturday outside the Porto Montenegro marina in the coastal town of Tivat. Montenegrin Vijesti daily reported it has arrived from Barcelona.
There was no immediate comment from the Montenegrin authorities on the arrival of the $600-million vessel. The NATO country has joined Western sanctions imposed on Russia for its invasion of Ukraine.
Russian oligarchs in the past days have sought to move their superyachts to safe locations to avoid confiscation because of the sanctions. Authorities in Italy, France and other countries have impounded several luxury vessels.
Russian metals and petroleum magnate Roman Abramovich is believed to have bought or built at least seven of the world’s largest yachts, some of which he has since sold off to other oligarchs.
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KYIV, Ukraine — Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says about 1,300 Ukrainian soldiers have been killed in fighting since the start of the Russian invasion.
Speaking at a news conference Saturday, Zelenskyy said it would take Russia to carpet-bomb the Ukrainian capital and kill its residents to take the city.
He added that “if that is their goal, let them come."
Zelenskyy said that “if they carry out carpet bombings and wipe off the historic memory of the entire region, the history of Kyivan Rus, the history of Europe, they could enter Kyiv.”
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VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis is renewing calls for an end to the war in Ukraine, emphasizing the impact on children.
In a tweet on Saturday he wrote: “Never war! Think first about the children, about those who are deprived of the hope for a dignified life: dead or wounded children, orphans, children who play with the remnants of war."
Francis added: “In the name of God, stop!”
Ukrainian officials and the U.N. human rights office say dozens of children have been killed since the start of the war.
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WARSAW, Poland — The Ukrainian ambassador to Poland says he is grateful to Poland for its support as his county is under an invasion from Russia.
Ambassador Andrii Deshchytsia expressed his thanks Saturday at an anti-Russia rally in Warsaw organized by a right-wing newspaper, Gazeta Polska, where Poles waved Ukrainian and Polish flags and chanted anti-Russian slogans.
He thanked both the Polish government and Polish society. Poland has accepted more refugees than any other country since the war began on Feb. 24.
Deshchytsia said he was “really very, very grateful to the Polish people for such strong support of Ukraine.”
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TAIPEI, Taiwan — Taiwan's president says Russia’s war on Ukraine shows the island would need “the unity of all the citizens” to defend itself if it were attacked.
Training for military veterans in Taiwan was doubled in length to two weeks this year amid increased efforts by China’s ruling Communist Party to intimidate the self-ruled island democracy, which Beijing claims as part of its territory.
President Tsai Ing-wen said Saturday that “the recent situation in Ukraine once again proved that to protect the country, not only the assistance from the international society is necessary, but also the unity of all the citizens.
Tsai said that “educational mobilization is an implementation of the spirit of all-out defense with the principle of local mobilization and local engagement of the enemy."
Taiwan and the mainland split in 1949 following a civil war. They have no official relations but multibillion-dollar ties of trade and investment.
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GENEVA — The U.N. human rights office says at least 579 civilians have been killed in Ukraine since the start of the war, and more than 1,000 have been injured.
The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights said Saturday that 42 of those killed were children, while 54 were injured.
The Geneva-based office had documented 564 civilian deaths and 982 injured a day earlier.
It said most recorded civilian casualties were caused by the use of explosive weapons with a “wide impact area,” such as shelling from heavy artillery and missile strikes.
U.N. officials said they believe the actual number of casualties is considerably higher than so far recorded because the receipt of information has been delayed and many reports still need to be corroborated.
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KYIV, Ukraine — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is calling on Russian forces to heed the calls of residents in the occupied city of Melitopol who protested to demand their mayor be freed.
Zelenskyy, who spoke earlier Saturday with the leaders of Germany and France, said the detention of Mariupol Mayor Ivan Fedorov was an attempt "to bring the city to its knees.”
He said that Ukraine expects “the leaders of the world to show how they can influence the liberation (of) a man who personifies Ukrainians who do not give up.”
Zelenskyy also encouraged Ukrainians to keep fighting, saying it was “impossible to say how many days we will still need to free our land, but it is possible to say that we will do it.”
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BANGKOK — Officials say thousands of Russian tourists are stranded in Thailand’s beach resorts because of the war in Ukraine.
Many unable to pay their bills or return home because of sanctions and canceled flights.
Yuthasak Supasorn, governor of the Tourism Authority of Thailand, told The Associated Press that about 6,500 Russian tourists stuck in Phuket, Surat Thani, Krabi and Pattaya.
Yuthasak said some 1,000 Ukrainians are also stuck in the four provinces that are popular seaside resort destinations.
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BERLIN — German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and French President Emmanuel Macron have spoken with Russian President Vladimir Putin urging him to agree an “immediate cease-fire in Ukraine.”
Scholz’s office said the 75-minute call Saturday was part of “ongoing international efforts to end the war in Ukraine.”
It said the leaders of Germany and France called on Putin to begin the process of finding a diplomatic solution to the conflict.
Further details of the call were not released.
Separately, Scholz spoke earlier Saturday with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to get his assessment of the current situation.
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BANJA LUKA, Bosnia — A few dozen Bosnian Serb nationalists demonstrated Saturday in the northwestern Bosnian town of Banja Luka in support of Russian president Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.
Participants waved Russian flags and described Russia’s decision to invade its much smaller neighbour as a legitimate “battle to liberate (Ukraine’s) subjugated people.”
“Russia is not at war with Ukraine, it is at war with the dark Euro-Atlantic forces that want to dominate the world and destroy it,” said Zdravko Mocevic, one of over 100 people, mostly men, who joined the rally.
The gathering was organized by Bosnian Serb members of the Night Wolves, a Russian motorcycle club that staunchly supports President Vladimir Putin and, by extension, also his Balkan protegee, Bosnian Serb secessionist leader Milorad Dodik who was recently slapped with U.S. sanctions for alleged corruption.
Political power in multi-ethnic Bosnia is shared between Bosniak, Croat and Serb ethnic communities. Dodik currently serves as the Serb member of the country’s tripartite presidency. Despite Dodik’s vocal opposition, Bosnia joined a historic vote earlier this month in the U.N. General Assembly denouncing Russia for invading Ukraine.
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BERLIN — Germany's economy minister says his country wants to virtually end the import of Russian coal and oil by the end of the year.
Robert Habeck told weekly Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung that Germany aims to end its use of Russian coal in the fall.
In the interview, extracts of which were published Saturday, he said that Germany could also become “almost independent of oil from Russia by the end of the year.”
Germany currently gets about half of its coal and oil from Russia.
Habeck said weaning his country off Russian natural gas would be more difficult but the government is working “under heavy pressure” to do so.
The German government last month halted the pipeline Nord Stream 2 project intended to bring additional natural gas from Russia to Germany.
The newspaper quoted Habeck cautioning against an immediate embargo on all energy imports from Russia, saying it could cost hundreds of thousands of jobs and make heating and electricity unaffordable for many.
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LVIV, Ukraine — The U.N.'s crisis coordinator for Ukraine says the global body is seeking agreement with both sides in the conflict to establish corridors for delivering much-needed aid.
Amin Awad told The Associated Press on Saturday that progress is being made on the corridors and accompanying cease-fires but expressed frustration over resistance to quickly implement them.
He says the most pressing humanitarian needs are in Mariupol, a besieged city on the eastern edge of Ukraine near the Russian border that would be one of the most difficult for aid convoys to reach. Several attempts to establish evacuation routes from Mariupol have failed.
Awad says overall as many as many as 12 million Ukrainians may need aid.
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KYIV, Ukraine — Ukraine’s military says Russian forces have captured the eastern outskirts of the besieged city of Mariupol.
In a Facebook update Saturday, the military said the capture of Mariupol and Severodonetsk in the east were a priority for Russian forces. Mariupol has been under siege for over a week, with no electricity, gas or water.
Repeated efforts to evacuate people from the city of 430,000 have fallen apart as humanitarian convoys come under shelling.
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KYIV, Ukraine — A Ukrainian official says that another Russian general has been killed in fighting.
Anton Gerashchenko, an adviser to Ukraine’s Interior Ministry, said Saturday that Russian Maj. Gen. Andrei Kolesnikov was killed in action during the fighting over Mariupol. He would be the third Russian general to die in the war, according to Ukrainian officials.
Kolesnikov’s death wasn’t confirmed by the Russian military, which has kept a tight lid on information about its losses.
Previously, unofficial Russian sources confirmed the death of one Russian general.
The death of Maj. Gen. Andrei Sukhovetsky, the commanding general of the Russian 7th Airborne Division, was confirmed by his colleague and the officers’ association in southern Russia. The death of another general, Maj. Gen. Vitaly Gerasimov, wasn’t confirmed by any Russian sources.
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LONDON — The Premier League is banning Roman Abramovich from running Chelsea after the club owner was sanctioned by the British government over Russia’s war on Ukraine.
The league board’s decision Saturday to disqualify the Russian oligarch from being a director ends his 19 years in control of the west London club but does not directly affect the players.
The team is able to continue operating under the terms of a license issued by the British government when it froze Abramovich’s assets on Thursday while imposing sanctions against.
“The board’s decision does not impact on the club’s ability to train and play its fixtures, as set out under the terms of a licence issued by the government which expires on 31 May 2022,” the league said.
The Russian oligarch has owned Chelsea since 2003.
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KYIV, Ukraine — The Russia-backed head of the separatist region in eastern Ukraine says he expects thousands of fighters from the Middle East to come to fight the Ukrainian forces.
Denis Pushilin, the head of the separatist government in the Donetsk region, said in remarks broadcast on Russian state television Saturday that “many thousands” of volunteers from the Middle East could shortly join the rebels and fight “shoulder-to-shoulder” against the Ukrainian army.
Pushilin’s remarks follow Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu’s comment on Friday that Russian authorities have received requests from over 16,000 people from the Middle East who are eager to join the Russian military action in Ukraine. He added that many of those people have previously fought together with Russia against the Islamic State group.
Russia has waged a military action in Syria since September 2015, helping President Bashar Assad’s government to reclaim control over most of the country in a devastating civil war. Shoigu’s statement followed Ukraine’s call on volunteers from foreign countries to come to help fight the Russian troops.
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KYIV, Ukraine — The Ukrainian chief prosecutor’s office says at least 79 children have been killed and nearly 100 have been wounded since the start of the Russian invasion.
Prosecutor General’s Office said in Saturday’s statement that most of the victims were in the Kyiv, Kharkiv, Donetsk, Sumy, Kherson and Zhytomyr regions. It noted that the numbers aren’t final because active fighting is continuing.
The prosecutor's office also said that more than 280 educational institutions have been hit and nine of them have been completely destroyed, depriving large numbers of students of access to education.
AP
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