Russian terror threat emerges in Moscow as Putin warns of full-scale war in Europe

Ukraine‘s former army chief has been appointed the nation’s new ambassador to the UK, a month after he was sacked as head of the armed forces by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Zelenskyy introduced that he has accepted the appointment of Valerii Zaluzhnyi to one in every of Ukraine’s most vital diplomatic positions.

Britain is a key supporter of Ukraine in its warfare with Russia.

In Beijing and Kyiv, the divide between China and Europe over the warfare in Ukraine was on show this week.

As a Chinese language envoy crisscrossed Europe for talks on ending the warfare, his boss, International Minister Wang Yi, trumpeted a pointy rise in China-Russia commerce — which the West sees as offering an financial lifeline to Moscow that undermines the sanctions it has imposed to attempt to strain Russia to withdraw from Ukraine.

“Russian pure gasoline has entered 1000’s of households in China, and Chinese language vehicles are driving within the streets of Russia, which totally demonstrates the sturdy resilience and broad prospects of mutually useful cooperation,” Wang stated at an annual information convention on Thursday.

Hours later, Chinese language envoy Li Hui was given a rundown of the horrors of the warfare by Ukrainian officers in Kyiv. It wasn’t clear how Li reacted. China launched a terse assertion on Friday saying solely that Li arrived by practice at midday, held candid and pleasant talks, and departed by practice the identical night.

The warfare has created a deep division between the West and China that threatens Beijing’s relations with Europe, a serious buying and selling associate, and additional strained ties with america.

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Turkey is able to host a summit between Ukraine and Russia to finish the warfare, President Tayyip Erdogan stated on Friday after talks together with his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky in Istanbul.

In a gathering lasting about an hour, Erdogan and Zelensky mentioned developments within the Ukraine-Russia warfare, delivery safety within the Black Sea together with the defunct grain deal, and defence trade cooperation, in accordance with the 2 sides.

NATO member Turkey helps Ukraine‘s territorial integrity, but additionally maintains cordial relations with Russia, and commonly speaks with either side within the battle, notably as a sponsor of the Black Sea deal that lifted a de facto Russian blockade of Ukrainian grain exports.

“We mentioned developments in regards to the warfare intimately in the present day, I said our observations with all my sincerity,” Erdogan stated at a press convention alongside Zelensky, whose journey comes earlier than an anticipated go to by Russian President Vladimir Putin following elections in Russia on March 15-17.

“We’re giving our utmost contribution for the warfare to finish on the premise of negotiations. We’re able to host a peace summit that Russia will attend too,” he stated, including he had reiterated Ankara’s assist for Ukraine‘s sovereignty.

Turkey had hosted peace talks between Russia and Ukraine in 2022, however has since complained that no diplomatic step has been taken to advance these discussions. It has repeatedly provided to host additional talks, saying a summit of leaders was wanted.

Zelenski stated Russia wouldn’t be invited to the primary peace summit attributable to be held in Switzerland within the coming months, however {that a} Russian consultant may very well be invited to the subsequent assembly after a roadmap for peace had been agreed upon with Ukrainian allies.

“We don’t see any representatives of Russia at this summit. We don’t see how one can invite individuals who block, destroy, and kill every part. We wish to get a consequence – a simply peace,” he stated.

Final week, Turkish International Minister Hakan Fidan stated after assembly Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov that it was time for Ukraine and Russia to start out ceasefire talks, however added that this should not imply the popularity of Russia’s occupation.

America on Friday imposed sanctions on two entities it accused of advancing Russia’s “malign actions” within the Central African Republic (CAR) and enabling the Wagner mercenary group, the U.S. Treasury Division stated in an announcement.

The entities, a CAR-based timber firm and a Russia-based firm, sought to learn financially “from illicit pure useful resource extraction and supplied materials and monetary assist to the Wagner Group and different organizations” tied to Wagner’s former proprietor Yevgeniy Prigozhin, who died in a 2023 aircraft explosion in Russia, the Treasury stated.

The motion targets CAR-based Bois Rouge SARLU for its ties to Wagner and St. Petersburg-based Dealer Skilled for its assist of Bois Rouge, it stated in an announcement.

“Russia has sought to leverage these Wagner-affiliated corporations in its efforts each to safe extra income from overseas and to advance its pursuits in Africa, usually on the expense of the host nations, their establishments, and their residents, Treasury’s Underneath Secretary for Terrorism and Monetary Intelligence Brian Nelson stated within the assertion.

America stays centered on disrupting the networks that allow Russia’s illicit and destabilizing actions in Africa.”

The Central African Republic, a former French colony, has change into one in every of Russia’s closest African allies in recent times, enjoying host to one of many Wagner Group mercenary military’s largest international operations.

Wagner has additionally battled in Libya, Syria, Mali and different nations, and has fought among the bloodiest clashes of the warfare in Ukraine. It was based in 2014 after Russia annexed Ukraine‘s Crimea peninsula and began supporting pro-Russia separatists in Ukraine‘s jap Donbas area.

America has beforehand imposed sanctions on Wagner and has repeatedly warned of what it says are Wagner’s destabilizing actions and human rights abuses as Washington has ramped up sanctions towards the personal military following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine final yea

Russian drones killed three folks in Ukraine‘s south and north on Friday, whereas a missile strike a day earlier killed two and wounded dozens extra, native authorities stated.

The missile strike on Thursday broken a hospital, an emergency medical care centre, and a water utility within the northern metropolis of Sumy, bordering Russia, the regional army administration stated on Friday.

Two folks had been killed and 26 wounded, of whom six remained in hospitals, it added.

On Friday afternoon, a civilian automotive was hit by a kamikaze drone in Kharkiv area, killing a person and a girl, the regional governor stated on the Telegram messenger app.

One other drone hit a village within the southern Kherson area, its governor added. A girl was killed.

All three areas continuously come below Russian drone and missile assaults.

Moscow has denied intentionally focusing on civilians, although many have been killed in frequent air strikes throughout Ukraine in the middle of the two-year-old warfare.

Ukraine’s international minister Dmytro Kuleba has warned that the nation wants unrestricted and well timed arms provides to combat Russia’s invading forces.

“The technique of dripping assist for Ukraine drop by drop doesn’t work anymore,” he advised a press convention within the capital of Lithuania.

“What’s required is an unrestricted and well timed provide of all varieties of weapons and ammunition to make sure that Ukraine defeats Russia and the warfare in Europe doesn’t spill over,” he stated.

The U.S. embassy in Russia warned that “extremists” had imminent plans for an assault in Moscow, hours after Russian safety companies stated they’d foiled a deliberate capturing at a synagogue by a cell from the Afghan arm of Islamic State.

The embassy, which has repeatedly urged all U.S. residents to go away Russia instantly, gave no additional particulars in regards to the nature of the menace, however stated folks ought to keep away from concert events and crowds and pay attention to their environment.

“The Embassy is monitoring studies that extremists have imminent plans to focus on giant gatherings in Moscow, to incorporate concert events, and U.S. residents ought to be suggested to keep away from giant gatherings over the subsequent 48 hours,” the embassy stated on its web site.

It issued its warning a number of hours after Russia’s Federal Safety Service (FSB), the primary successor to the Soviet-era KGB, stated it had foiled an assault on a synagogue in Moscow by a cell of the militant Sunni Muslim group Islamic State.

It was unclear if the 2 statements had been linked.

U.S. allies together with Britain, Canada, South Korea and Latvia repeated the U.S. warning and advised their residents to not journey to Russia.

Most Western nations advise towards all journey to Russia and say their residents ought to go away. The U.S. has the best stage of warning for Russia – pink “4 – Don’t journey” – the identical stage as Afghanistan, Syria, Yemen and South Sudan and Iran.

The warfare in Ukraine has triggered the deepest disaster in Russia’s relations with the West because the 1962 Cuban Missile Disaster.