Russia releases 10 Ukrainian civilian prisoners: Zelensky

Russia releases 10 Ukrainian civilian prisoners: Zelensky
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Friday 10 civilians, including a politician and two priests, taken prisoner in Russia and Belarus had been freed in a deal mediated by the Vatican. (AFP)
Short Url
Updated 28 June 2024
Follow

Russia releases 10 Ukrainian civilian prisoners: Zelensky

Russia releases 10 Ukrainian civilian prisoners: Zelensky
  • “We managed to return 10 more of our people from Russian captivity,” Zelensky said
  • Some of those released have been in prison since 2017

KYIV: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Friday 10 civilians, including a politician and two priests, taken prisoner in Russia and Belarus had been freed in a deal mediated by the Vatican.
Russia and Ukraine have exchanged hundreds of prisoners throughout their two-year conflict, typically in one-for-one swaps, but the release of civilian prisoners is rarer.
“We managed to return 10 more of our people from Russian captivity,” Zelensky said in a post on Telegram. It was not immediately clear if the release was part of an exchange deal involving Russian prisoners held in Ukraine.
Some of those released have been in prison since 2017, he said, arrested in Russian-controlled parts of eastern Ukraine that at the time were run by Moscow-backed separatists.
Russia has since annexed four Ukrainian regions — Donetsk, Kherson, Lugansk and Zaporizhzhia — alongside the Crimea peninsula which it seized in 2014.
The list of those freed included Nariman Dzhelal, a senior Crimean Tatar politician and two priests from the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church.
Five of them were originally arrested in Belarus, Russia’s close ally, including on charges of aiding Kyiv’s army by providing information on Russian military movements.
Russia invaded Ukraine through Belarus at the start of the war and although Minsk has not joined Russia’s offensive, the two countries’ militaries are closely linked.
“They have all been released and are now back home in Ukraine,” Zelensky said.
“I would also like to note the Vatican’s efforts to bring these people home,” he added, without elaborating.


Trump cutoff of humanitarian parole for immigrants from Ukraine, 6 other countries challenged

Trump cutoff of humanitarian parole for immigrants from Ukraine, 6 other countries challenged
Updated 2 sec ago
Follow

Trump cutoff of humanitarian parole for immigrants from Ukraine, 6 other countries challenged

Trump cutoff of humanitarian parole for immigrants from Ukraine, 6 other countries challenged
President Donald Trump has been ending legal pathways for immigrants to come to the US
The plaintiffs include eight immigrants who entered the US legally before the Trump administration ended what it called the “broad abuse” of humanitarian parole

MIAMI: A group of American citizens and immigrants is suing the Trump administration for ending a long-standing legal tool presidents have used to allow people from countries where there’s war or political instability to enter and temporarily live in the US
The lawsuit filed late Friday night seeks to reinstate humanitarian parole programs that allowed in 875,000 migrants from Ukraine, Afghanistan, Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela who have legal US resident as sponsors.
President Donald Trump has been ending legal pathways for immigrants to come to the US and implementing campaign promises to deport millions of people who are in the US illegally.
The plaintiffs include eight immigrants who entered the US legally before the Trump administration ended what it called the “broad abuse” of humanitarian parole. They can legally stay in the US until their parole expires, but the administration stopped processing their applications for asylum, visas and other requests that might allow them to remain longer.
None are identified by their real names because they fear deportation. Among them are Maksym and Maria Doe, a Ukrainian couple; Alejandro Doe, who fled Nicaragua following the abduction and torture of his father; and Omar Doe, who worked for more than 18 years with the US military in his home country of Afghanistan.
“They didn’t do anything illegal. They followed the rules,” Kyle Varner, a 40-year-old doctor and real estate investor from Spokane, Washington, who sponsored 79 Venezuelans and is part of the lawsuit, told The Associated Press. “They have done nothing but work as hard as they can. ... This is just such a grave injustice.”
Almost all of the immigrants sponsored by Varner have lived in his house for some time. He paid their plane tickets. He helped them learn English and get driver’s licenses and jobs. He had 32 applications that were awaiting approval when the Trump administration ended the program in January.
Other plaintiffs include two more US citizens who have sponsored immigrants, Sandra McAnany and Wilhen Pierre Victor, and the Haitian Bridge Alliance, a California-based organization that assists immigrants with legal advice.
“The Trump administration is trying to attack parole from all angles,” said Esther Sung, an attorney from the Justice Action Center, which filed the lawsuit with Human Rights First in federal court in Massachusetts and provided the AP a copy in advance. “The main goal, above all, is to defend humanitarian parole. These have been very, very successful processes.”
The US Departments of Justice and Homeland Security did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Parole authority began in 1952 and has been used by Republican and Democratic presidents to admit people unable to use standard immigration routes because of time pressure or because their home country’s government lacks diplomatic relations with the US
Under parole, immigrants arrived “for urgent humanitarian reasons or significant public benefit.” They are allowed to work while they seek another legal way to stay in the country.
Trump ordered an end to “categorical parole programs” the day he returned to office.
Joe Biden used parole authority more than any other American president, including for people who arrived using the government’s CBP One app. But the lawsuit covers only certain parole programs.
McAnany, a 57-year-old widow from Wisconsin who designs and teaches procurement and soft skills courses, sponsored 17 people from Venezuela and Nicaragua. She still has four pending applications for approval.
McAnany helped them adjust to their new country and find homes and schools. All now work more than 40 hours a week, pay taxes and pay for their health care, she said.
“I care so much about each of the people that I sponsor,” said McAnany. “I can’t just walk away and give up.”

Serbians chant ‘we deserve better’ as latest anti-corruption protest adds to pressure on Vucic

Serbians chant ‘we deserve better’ as latest anti-corruption protest adds to pressure on Vucic
Updated 32 min 37 sec ago
Follow

Serbians chant ‘we deserve better’ as latest anti-corruption protest adds to pressure on Vucic

Serbians chant ‘we deserve better’ as latest anti-corruption protest adds to pressure on Vucic
  • The almost daily protests regularly draw tens of thousands of people and have rattled President Aleksandar Vucic’s firm grip on power
  • Vucic has described the protests as a Western-orchestrated attempt to oust him from power

SERBIA: Tens of thousands of people joined protesting students in Serbia for a rally on Saturday against alleged injustice and corruption, many proclaiming “We deserve better.”
University students in the Balkan country that has been ruled firmly by a populist government for over a decade have been holding nationwide protests since the fatal train station canopy collapse in November that killed 15 people and which critics blame on government corruption.
The almost daily protests regularly draw tens of thousands of people and have rattled President Aleksandar Vucic’s firm grip on power. Vucic has described the protests as a Western-orchestrated attempt to oust him from power.
“We want the (state) institutions that work in the interest of all of us and not to our damage,” the students said in a statement. “We want a system that values knowledge and work, and not obedience and silence.”
Protesters from across the country gathered in Nis, some 200 kilometers (120 miles) south of Belgrade, for Saturday’s festival-style rally that was expected to last for 18 hours.
Students said the event, during which a decree would be symbolically passed, was “a wakeup call to move from apathy to action, from silence to a noisy struggle for a better future ... our pledge never to give up!”
With their determination, energy and creativity, the students have garnered widespread support among the citizens who largely have been disillusioned with mainstream politicians and have lost hope of changes.
Serbia is formally on the path toward European Union membership, but Vucic and his right-wing Serbian Progressive Party have been accused of stifling democratic freedoms and fueling rampant corruption since coming to power.
Residents in Nis staged a noisy welcome for the students on Friday evening as they marched into the city after walking for several days in groups from various directions.
‘This is the place to be today’
These student marches have become a rallying force in Serbia’s rural areas, which are traditionally pro-government. Everywhere students showed up people greeted them with food and refreshments, while many cried and kissed them.
“This is the place to be today. There is no place on earth where I belong more than here,” said pensioner Marjan Zivanovic, who came from Belgrade. “Here is love, here is joy, here is everything. Here is the future.”
Previously similar rallies were held in Novi Sad and in the central city of Kragujevac.
The Nis rally marks four months since the concrete canopy at the central train station in the northern city of Novi Sad collapsed on Nov. 1.
The station building had been renovated twice in recent years as part of a wider infrastructure work with Chinese state companies. Many in Serbia believe the work on the building was sloppy and disregarded construction safety rules because of widespread corruption.


Pope has coffee, rests after setback in recovery

Pope has coffee, rests after setback in recovery
Updated 01 March 2025
Follow

Pope has coffee, rests after setback in recovery

Pope has coffee, rests after setback in recovery
  • Doctors said it would take a day or two to evaluate how and if the Friday afternoon episode impacted Francis’ overall clinical condition
  • His prognosis remained guarded, meaning he wasn’t out of danger

ROME: Pope Francis had coffee and was reading newspapers Saturday after an alarming setback in his two-week recovery from double pneumonia.
Doctors had to put him on noninvasive mechanical ventilation following a coughing fit in which he inhaled vomit that needed to then be extracted.
Doctors said it would take a day or two to evaluate how and if the Friday afternoon episode impacted Francis’ overall clinical condition. His prognosis remained guarded, meaning he wasn’t out of danger.
In its morning update Saturday, the Vatican said the 88-year-old pope didn’t have any further respiratory crises overnight: “The night has passed quietly, the pope is resting.” He had coffee in the morning for breakfast, suggesting that he was not dependent on a ventilation mask to breathe and was still eating on his own.
In the late Friday update, the Vatican said Francis suffered an “isolated crisis of bronchial spasm,” a coughing fit in which Francis inhaled vomit, that resulted in a “sudden worsening of the respiratory picture.” Doctors aspirated the vomit and placed Francis on noninvasive mechanical ventilation.
The pope remained conscious and alert at all times and cooperated with the maneuvers to help him recover. He responded well, with a good level of oxygen exchange and was continuing to wear a mask to receive supplemental oxygen, the Vatican said.
The episode, which occurred in the early afternoon, marked a setback in what had been two successive days of increasingly upbeat reports from doctors treating Francis at Rome’s Gemelli hospital since Feb. 14. The pope, who had part of one lung removed as a young man, has lung disease and was admitted after a bout of bronchitis worsened and turned into pneumonia in both lungs.
Doctors say the episode is alarming
The Vatican said the episode was different from the prolonged respiratory crisis on Feb. 22, that was said to have caused Francis discomfort.
Dr. John Coleman, a pulmonary critical care doctor at Northwestern Medicine in Chicago, said the isolated episode Friday as relayed by the Vatican was nevertheless alarming and underscored Francis’ fragility and that his condition “can turn very quickly.”
“I think this is extremely concerning, given the fact that the pope has been in the hospital now for over two weeks, and now he’s continuing to have these respiratory events and now had this aspiration event that is requiring even higher levels of support,” he told The Associated Press.
“So given his age and his fragile state and his previous lung resection, this is very concerning,” added Coleman, who is not involved in Francis’ care.
Dr. William Feldman, a pulmonary specialist at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, said it was a good sign that the pope remained alert and oriented during the episode, but concurred that it marked “a worrying turn.”
“Often we will use noninvasive ventilation as a way of trying to stave off an intubation, or the use of invasive mechanical ventilation,” Feldman said.
Types of noninvasive ventilation include a BiPAP machine, which helps people breathe by pushing air into their lungs. Doctors will often try such a machine for a while to see if the patient’s blood gas levels improve so they can eventually go back to using oxygen alone. Friday’s statement said Francis showed a “good response” to the gas exchange using the ventilation.
Doctors did not resume referring to Francis being in “critical condition,” which has been absent from their statements for three days now. But they say he isn’t out of danger, given the complexity of his case.
Prayers continued to pour in
Francis’ hospitalization has come as the Vatican is marking its Holy Year that is drawing pilgrims to Rome from all over. They are walking through the Holy Door at St. Peter’s Basilica and also making pilgrimages to the hilltop Umbrian town of Assisi, to pray at the home of Francis’ namesake, St. Francis.
“Every day we’re praying for the pope,” said the Rev. Jacinto Bento, a priest visiting Assisi on Saturday with a group of 30 Jubilee pilgrims from the Azores Islands. “We’re very sad for his situation.”
Veronica Abraham, a catechist and Argentine native, came to Assisi on Saturday with her two children and other kids from her parish on Lake Garda and said the group had prayed for the pope at every church they’d visited.
“I’m sure that he’s hearing our prayers, that he feels our closeness,” she said.
Serena Barbon, visiting Assisi from Treviso on Saturday with her husband and three children, said she hoped that if Francis doesn’t make it, the next pope will be just like him.
“He’s been very charismatic and we pray for him and that any new pope might also be someone who puts the poor in the center. Because we’re all a bit the poor,” she said.


Russia says Zelensky trip to US was ‘complete failure’

Russia says Zelensky trip to US was ‘complete failure’
Updated 01 March 2025
Follow

Russia says Zelensky trip to US was ‘complete failure’

Russia says Zelensky trip to US was ‘complete failure’
  • “The visit of the head of the neo-Nazi regime, V. Zelensky, to Washington on February 28 is a complete political and diplomatic failure of the Kyiv regime,” Zakharova said
  • Moscow often accuses Ukraine of harboring “neo-Nazism“

MOSCOW: Russia said Saturday that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s trip to the United States had been a “failure,” after US President Donald Trump berated him in a stunning televised confrontation.
Zelensky planned to sign a minerals’ deal with the United States during the visit, but it ended in disaster when Trump and Vice President JD Vance accused the Ukrainian leader of being “disrespectful” and admonished him in front of US and international media.
Kyiv had hoped the agreement would pave the way for security guarantees from Washington, as it fights the full-scale offensive Russia launched in 2022.
“The visit of the head of the neo-Nazi regime, V. Zelensky, to Washington on February 28 is a complete political and diplomatic failure of the Kyiv regime,” Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said in a statement.
Moscow often accuses Ukraine of harboring “neo-Nazism” and used that as a pretext to start its Ukraine offensive, an accusation that Western leaders and Kyiv call false and absurd.
“With his outrageously boorish behavior during his stay in Washington, Zelensky confirmed that he is the most dangerous threat to the world community as an irresponsible warmonger,” Zakharova said.
Accusing Zelensky of being “obsessed” with continuing the fighting, Zakharova added that Russia’s military goals in Ukraine were “unchanging.”
Moscow has been gaining ground on the battlefield for over a year, pressing their advantage against Ukraine’s overstretched and outgunned army.


Turkiye to repeat offer to host Ukraine-Russia peace talks at London summit, source says

Turkiye to repeat offer to host Ukraine-Russia peace talks at London summit, source says
Updated 01 March 2025
Follow

Turkiye to repeat offer to host Ukraine-Russia peace talks at London summit, source says

Turkiye to repeat offer to host Ukraine-Russia peace talks at London summit, source says
  • Ankara has welcomed the US initiative to end the war
  • On Sunday, Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan will brief European leaders on Turkiye’s efforts to find a “fair and lasting peace” to the war

ANKARA: Turkiye’s foreign minister will reiterate at Sunday’s meeting of European leaders in London an offer from Ankara to host peace talks between Ukraine and Russia, a Turkish diplomatic source said on Saturday.
NATO-member Turkiye hosted initial talks between the sides months after Russia’s 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine, helping secure a deal for the safe passage of grain exports in the Black Sea. It has said any future peace talks must include both countries.
While repeatedly calling for a ceasefire since 2024, Ankara has welcomed the US initiative to end the war, which was derailed by a public argument between the presidents of Ukraine and the United States in Washington on Friday.
On Sunday, Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan will brief European leaders on Turkiye’s efforts to find a “fair and lasting peace” to the war, the source said, adding he will also affirm Ankara’s commitment to Ukraine’s territorial integrity and sovereignty.
Fidan is expected to “underline that Turkiye, which hosted direct negotiations between Russia and Ukraine in March 2022, is ready to take up this role in the coming period,” and emphasize that all parties must jointly focus on lasting regional security and stability, as well as economic prosperity, in negotiations, the person added.
A Black Sea littoral state like Ukraine and Russia, Turkiye has maintained good ties with both since the start of the war. It has provided Kyiv with military support, while refusing to participate in Western sanctions against Moscow.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky visited Turkiye last month, on the same day US and Russian representatives met for talks — without Kyiv’s participation — in Riyadh aimed at ending the war.
On Monday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov also held talks in Ankara. On Saturday, Fidan and Lavrov discussed the latest developments around the Ukraine-Russia war in a phone call, the source said, marking the third contact between them in the past two weeks.
On Thursday, delegations from the United States and Russia met in Istanbul for talks aimed at addressing bilateral issues regarding the operations of their respective embassies.
Zelensky said last week that he saw Turkiye as an important security guarantor for Ukraine.