Author: Steven Sahiounie

Ukraine must take into account the fact that its borders have changed drastically since the beginning of its conflict with Russia, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has said, commenting on the prospects for peace talks. Earlier this week, Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky suggested in an interview with CBS News that a return to 1991 borders was no longer a precondition for negotiations with Russia. However, he still insisted that Kiev must regain the territory it lost to Moscow in 2022. That year, four former Ukrainian territories – Donetsk, Lugansk, Kherson and Zaporozhye regions overwhelmingly voted to join Russia in a public…

he UK’s main opposition party has suffered a sharp fall in membership over its policies on Gaza and green investment, The Guardian reported. Figures from the Labour Party’s National Executive Committee show that more than 23,000 people have canceled their membership over the last two months. It follows controversies over the party leadership’s refusal to call for a ceasefire in Gaza, and a decision to abandon a commitment to spend $35 billion on a green investment plan. Despite the membership losses, however, Labour still holds a commanding lead in UK opinion polling, suggesting it will take government at the next election,…

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has again assured of his country’s assistance to Ukraine, saying that it is necessary due to Germany’s security interests. “We all aspire to a more peaceful world,” he said in his Easter video address to the nation. Scholz noted that peace cannot exist without justice and therefore, Germany will “support Ukraine in its fight for a just world for as long as necessary.” “We are also doing this for our sake, for our security,” he insisted. Germany is the second-largest arms supplier to Ukraine after the US. Berlin has so far allocated some €28 bln in military…

This evening, a 23-year-old youth was injured by gunfire in a terror attack carried out by Israeli colonists on the town of Makhmas, located northeast of occupied Jerusalem. Eyewitnesses told WAFA correspondent that at least 30 colonists stormed the town of Makhmas from the eastern side during the iftar time, smashing the windows of several vehicles and firing live ammunition at civilians. The assailants also assaulted young men who resisted them during their rampage into the town, resulting in one youth being shot with live ammunition and three others sustaining injuries and bruises from the assault. The Palestinian Red Crescent…

Ukraine’s path to peace and security could lie in establishing a buffer zone next to the Russian border, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has said. With the conflict between Moscow and Kiev in its third year, the Western flow of military and financial aid to Ukraine is dwindling, while its army is losing ground. Orban suggested that now is the time for a ceasefire, Hungarian magazine Mandiner wrote on Friday, quoting the prime minister’s interview with former Austrian Chancellor Wolfgang Schussel in Budapest. There is no remaining “reasonable dispute between Russia and the West,” Orban added. “People in Europe are not happy…

Russian border guards were deployed to the border between Armenia and Azerbaijan at the personal request of Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, Russian Ambassador to Armenia Sergey Kopyrkin recounted in an interview with Armenia’s 24News media outlet. Referring to the Russian border guards who were deployed to the Armenia-Azerbaijan border at Russia’s expense, the Russian diplomat said that the idea behind the move was to assist in stabilizing the situation there in 2020. Armenia “never moved to legitimize the deployment of Russian border troops,” Kopyrkin lamented. Source: TASS

In the displacement camps nestled within the heart of Rafah, in the farthest south of the Gaza Strip, displaced families find themselves locked in a relentless battle against an unforgiving foe: a crippling scarcity of water amids the Israeli aggression. In long queues snaking through one of these camps, hundreds of displaced individuals patiently await their turn, clutching empty containers, hoping to fill them with the precious resource they so desperately need. Among them stands Saad Al-Tarabeen, aged 45, accompanied by his family of nine, enduring the agonizing wait for water that has eluded them for the past two days,…

The United Nations Truce Supervision Organization (UNTSO) says “the targeting of peacekeepers is unacceptable” after four observers on a foot patrol along the Blue Line demarcating the border between Israel and Lebanon were wounded when a shell exploded near their location. UNTSO did not identify the source of the shelling but Lebanon’s official National News Agency (NNA) blamed Israel. The UN peacekeeping mission said the injured personnel were taken to a hospital for treatment and an investigation was launched into the origin of the explosion. NNA said the peacekeepers, travelling with a Lebanese translator, were from Norway, Chile and Australia.…

The investigators identified 134 people that died in the Crocus City Hall attack, the Investigative Committee press office told TASS. “The investigators work with the victims, questioning them about the circumstances of this crime. Currently, the investigation has been able to identify 134 people that died in the terror attack. Genetic tests are being carried for other, not yet identified bodies,” the committee said. “The investigators, forensics specialists and experts work around the clock. Investigation operations are being carried out at the crime scene, as well as with the suspects,” the committee said. Source: TASS

On Saturday, the Rapid Support Forces attempted to infiltrate and control Ad Doueim but were confronted by the Sudanese Armed Forces. The Sudanese Army confronted and repelled an attack carried out by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) against army sites in al-A’waj. The RSF were supposed to head to the city of Ad Doueim in the White Nile region for another military operation before they were stopped in al-A’waj. The Sudanese Armed Forces were able to repel the attack using artillery and heavy weaponry and cooperation with the Sudanese airforce. Local news had reported at an earlier time that the RSF targeted…