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US diplomats’ return to Ukraine, military aid among issues Blinken, Austin discussed with Zelenskyy
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U.S. diplomats will return to Ukraine this week and the U.S. will announce extra navy assist to Ukraine after a high-profile assembly between Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Secretary of Protection Lloyd Austin, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and others in Kyiv on Sunday, in keeping with Fox Information’ Jennifer Griffin, who traveled with the U.S. delegation.
The assembly with Blinken, Austin, and Zelenskyy additionally included Ukrainian Overseas Minister Dmytro Kuleba, Protection Minister Oleksii Reznikov, Ambassador Oksana Makarova, Basic Valerii Zaluzhny, head of Presidential administration Andrii Yermak, and presidential aide Andrii Sybiyha.
RUSSIA INVADES UKRAINE: LIVE UPDATES
Secretary Austin introduced Laura Cooper, deputy assistant secretary of Protection, and Lt. Gen. Randy George, his senior navy aide. Tom Sullivan, deputy chief of employees for coverage at State and the brother of Jake Sullivan, accompanied Blinken.
President Biden will announce at 7 a.m. Japanese Monday that he’s nominating a brand new ambassador to Ukraine: Bridget Brink. Brink, the present U.S. Ambassador to Slovakia, has many years of expertise within the area, having beforehand served as deputy chief of mission in Tiblisi, Georgia, and Tashkent, Uzbekistan.
A senior U.S. Protection and State Division official instructed Fox Information that the diplomats addressed the next points.
Blinken will announce that U.S. Embassy officers will return to Ukraine this week, beginning with day journeys to Lviv and graduating to in a single day, with the aim of returning to Kyiv as quickly as attainable. Blinken mentioned this plan with Zelenskyy Sunday, sending a powerful message of solidary with the embattled nation.
ZELENSKYY CONDEMNS RUSSIA’S REJECTION OF EASTER TRUCE, SAYS IT SHOWS HOW PUTIN TREATS CHRISTIANITY
Blinken may even announce $713 million in international navy financing for Ukraine and 15 different U.S. allies, with $322 million to Ukraine, enabling the nation to purchase off-the-shelf weapons and ammunition from different international locations that will have older non-standard (typically Soviet made) weapons and ammunition that Ukrainians know use.
After the Zelenskyy assembly, Austin will announce that the 6-day coaching of the primary tranche of fifty Ukrainian artillerymen is wrapping up and the following set of troopers start coaching after that. The coaching is going down exterior Ukraine in one other European host nation that needs to stay nameless. U.S. navy officers are coaching Ukrainians on use 155 mm Howitzers, coaching troopers who will in flip practice different troopers. Austin may even announce that the primary 18 Howitzers are actually in Ukraine, with one other 7 at present being prepped for transit and one other 72 to be despatched in one other package deal quickly.
Twenty-plus protection ministers and chiefs of protection will meet with Austin and U.S. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Workers Mark Milley in Ramstein, Germany, on Tuesday, April 26, about improve assist to Ukraine. The Ukrainian protection minister, Reznikov, will attend that assembly, as will NATO Secretary Basic Jens Stoltenberg.
“For all of the Russian claims that they’ve management of Mariupol, they aren’t appearing like a military that has management of Mariupol,” a senior U.S. Protection official instructed Fox Information.
Reporters who had been touring with Blinken and Austin, together with Fox Information’ personal Jennifer Griffin, needed to wait in Poland on the Ukrainian border as a result of safety considerations, however they spoke to U.S. commanders on the bottom there concerning the state of affairs.
Lt. Gen. John Kolasheski, the commander of V Corps, instructed Fox Information that fifth Corps is working with NATO companions to arrange battle teams in all of the NATO japanese entrance nations from Estonia to Bulgaria.
“Not simply right here in Poland, I feel lots of the international locations are involved about Russia’s subsequent steps, and are more than happy to have the U.S. navy right here working facet by facet serving to them develop their capabilities and capability,” Kolasheski mentioned. “Collectively us and them, our lethality, and so I feel they’re recognizing that Russia is at present and might be a menace sooner or later.”
Maj. Gen. Chris LaNeve, commander of the 82nd Airborne who’s commanding 4,700 troopers in Poland connected to the Polish 18th Mechanized Brigade, instructed Fox Information that each Polish navy household is internet hosting a Ukrainian household.
“It is really an honor to be paired with them,” LaNeve mentioned. “I am going to inform you, I feel some day after we can all look again and look again on what the Polish Military and the Polish individuals have carried out, nearly each navy member that I speak to within the Polish Military, on this space, has a Ukrainian household residing with them.”
“They’ve opened up their arms to individuals they by no means met earlier than, they’re residing with them, sharing bread, they’re very dedicated to serving to,” the final added. “And for me, it has been awe-inspiring to see and be a part of.”
World
Barack Obama to Campaign for Kamala Harris Leading up to Election, Washington Post Reports
World
Israeli military kills 250 Hezbollah terrorists since start of limited ground operation in Lebanon
The Israel Defense Forces announced Friday that 250 Hezbollah terrorists, including nearly two dozen commanders, have been killed since the beginning of its limited ground operation in southern Lebanon.
“Approximately 250 terrorists have been eliminated by land and air, and more than 2,000 military targets have been attacked, including terrorist elements and facilities, military buildings, weapons depots, missile platforms, and the like,” IDF Arabic spokesperson Avichay Adraee wrote on X.
“As part of this operation, the forces were able to eliminate terrorists who were entrenched in buildings and positions adjacent to the separation fence and prevent Hezbollah terrorists from approaching the fence, with the aim of removing the threat to the residents of the north of [Israel],” Adraee continued.
“During the operation, the forces also found warehouses of combat equipment, missile launchers that were ready to be launched, and Hezbollah explosive devices that the terrorists had left behind,” he added.
8 ISRAELI SOLDIERS KILLED IN LEBANON AS NETANYAHU SAYS IDF ENGAGED IN ‘TOUGH WAR’ WITH HEZBOLLAH
Among the Hezbollah terrorists that have been killed are five battalion commanders, 10 company commanders and six platoon commanders, according to the IDF.
The announcement comes as the IDF said Friday that two of its soldiers have died “during combat in northern Israel.”
ISRAELI MILITARY SAYS REGULAR INFANTRY, ARMORED UNITS JOINING LIMITED GROUND OPERATION IN SOUTHERN LEBANON
On Wednesday, the IDF said eight troops were killed during fighting in southern Lebanon.
“I would like to send my deepest condolences to the families of our heroes who fell today in Lebanon,” Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a video message. “May God avenge their death. May their memory be of blessing.”
“We are in the middle of a tough war against Iran’s axis of evil, which seeks to destroy us. This will not happen — because we will stand together, and with God’s help — we will win together,” Netanyahu added. “We will return our hostages in the south, we will return our residents in the north, we will guarantee the eternity of Israel.”
Fox News’ Yael Rotem-Kuriel contributed to this report.
World
EU-Morocco trade deals in Western Sahara ruled invalid, Rabat claims ‘bias’
Morocco slams ECJ ruling that said the people of Western Sahara were not consulted before the 2019 deals were signed.
The European Union’s top court has confirmed an earlier ruling cancelling trade deals that allow Morocco to export fish and farm products to the EU from the disputed Western Sahara region, a move Morocco slammed as “blatant political bias”.
The European Court of Justice (ECJ) on Friday ruled that the European Commission breached the right of people in Western Sahara to self-determination by concluding trade deals with Morocco.
The Commission said it would examine the ECJ judgement in detail, while Morocco condemned it.
The ruling contained legal errors and “suspicious factual mistakes”, Morocco’s foreign ministry said in a statement, urging the European Council, the Commission and member states to uphold their commitments and preserve the assets of the partnership with Morocco.
Western Sahara, a tract of desert the size of Britain, has been the scene of Africa’s longest-running territorial dispute since colonial power Spain left in 1975 and Morocco annexed the territory.
The Algerian-backed Polisario Front, which seeks an independent state in Western Sahara, hailed the verdict as an “historic victory” for the area’s Sahrawi people.
Friday’s decision is the final ruling after several appeals by the Commission, the EU’s executive arm. The bloc signed fishing and agriculture agreements with Morocco in 2019 that also covered products from the Western Sahara.
“The consent of the people of Western Sahara to the implementation … is a condition for the validity of the decisions by which the [EU] Council approved those agreements on behalf of the European Union,” the court said.
It said a consultation process that took place had not involved “the people of Western Sahara but the inhabitants who are currently present in that territory, irrespective of whether or not they belong to the people of Western Sahara”.
The court also ruled that melons and tomatoes produced in Western Sahara must now have their origin labelled as such.
“Labelling must indicate Western Sahara alone as the country of origin of those goods, to the exclusion of any reference to Morocco, so as to avoid misleading consumers,” it said.
‘Historic victory’
EU chief Ursula von der Leyen said the European Commission was analysing the ruling and reiterated that the bloc highly valued its “long-standing, wide-ranging and deep” strategic partnership with Morocco.
“The EU firmly intends to preserve and continue strengthening close relations with Morocco,” she said in a joint statement with EU foreign affairs boss Josep Borrell.
Welcoming the ECJ ruling, Oubi Bouchraya, the Polisario’s representative to the United Nations in Switzerland, said, “It is a historic victory for the Sahrawi people that confirms the wrongdoings of the EU and Morocco and confirms the permanent sovereignty of the Sahrawi people over their natural resources,” the Reuters news agency reported.
“It is the most eloquent response to the last unilateral position of France and others,” Bouchraya added.
Western powers, including the United States in 2020, and most recently France, have backed Morocco’s sovereignty over the territory, angering Algeria.
Thousands of Sahrawi refugees have been stuck in limbo, living in desert camps in Tindouf, Algeria.
The UN brokered a ceasefire in 1991 ending a war between Morocco and the Polisario, but failed to organise a referendum due to disagreements about who should vote.
In its recent resolutions, the UN Security Council has urged the parties to seek a mutually acceptable political solution to the conflict.
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