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RABAT, Morocco (AP) — The European Commission vowed Friday to step up its work with Morocco to fight human smugglers who are using “new, extremely violent methods” — a move that comes two weeks after 23 people died at the border between Morocco and the Spanish enclave of Melilla.

EU Commissioner for Home Affairs Ylva Johansson and Spanish Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska met with Morocco’s Interior Minister Abdelouafi Laftit in Rabat to discuss the events of June 24, when hundreds of sub-Saharan migrants and asylum-seekers attempted to storm through a border post and scale a border fence into Melilla. In addition to the deaths, some 200 Moroccan and Spanish law enforcement officers and more than 70 civilians were injured.

“We have discussed how we can further cooperate on fighting the smugglers, preventing such violent and dangerous situation as we saw two weeks ago,” Johansson said in a video message after the meeting.

There were no further details on what exactly the new, violent methods being used by smugglers were but the European Commission said it would enhance police cooperation with Morocco, including with joint investigations.

Mustafa Baitas, a spokesman for the Moroccan government, said Thursday the events at the Nador-Mellila border were “planned and orchestrated” in a way that was not typical of other attempts to storm the border into Spain.

At the time, Moroccan authorities said the migrants had died as a result of a stampede. But several human rights organizations have called for an independent investigation into the deaths and condemned authorities on both sides of the border for excessive use of force. Morocco’s Human Rights Association says 27 migrants died, four more than Morrocan authorities have reported. Many of the victims were believed to be Sudanese, it tweeted.

“The Commissioner and the two ministers welcomed the fact-finding commission set up by the Moroccan National Human Rights Council,” the EU Commission statement said. Spanish prosecutors also announced last week they had launched an investigation into June 24.

Videos showing countless Black men lying on the ground that day, some motionless and bleeding as Moroccan officers stood over them, sparked public outrage and condemnation from the United Nations chief. Other images showed groups of men climbing a fence while hurling rocks at Moroccan anti-riot police and then collapsing on the ground.

“We profoundly lament the death of those migrants,” Grande-Marlaska said Friday while calling the events “a violent assault on our borders.”

Both Grande-Marlaska and Johansson praised Morocco for its work, which according to the European Commission has prevented 26,000 irregular departures and dismantled around 100 criminal trafficking networks.

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Follow AP’s coverage of migration issues at https://apnews.com/hub/migration

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By Max Hunder and Simon Lewis

KYIV/BAKHMUT, Ukraine (Reuters) – Vladimir Putin on Thursday accused the West of decades of aggression towards Moscow and warned that if it wanted to attempt to beat Russia on the battlefield it was welcome to try, but this would bring tragedy for Ukraine.

His remarks came as Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov prepared for a closed-door foreign minister’s meeting at a G20 gathering in Indonesia on Friday which will be the first time Putin’s top diplomat comes face-to-face with the most vocal opponents of the invasion of Ukraine in February.

In Ukraine, the regional governor of the northeastern city of Kharkiv said late on Thursday that three people had been killed and another five wounded after Russian forces shelled the city.

Russian forces also shelled other potential conquests in eastern Ukraine ahead of an expected new offensive.

“We have heard many times that the West wants to fight us to the last Ukrainian. This is a tragedy for the Ukrainian people, but it seems that everything is heading towards this,” Putin said in televised remarks to parliamentary leaders. [L8N2YO5MU]

The West had failed in its attempt to contain Russia, and its sanctions on Moscow had caused difficulties but “not on the scale intended,” Putin added. Russia did not reject peace talks, but the further the conflict went, the harder it would be to reach agreement, he said.

Earlier, Kyiv lost one of its main international supporters after British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said he would step down. Ukraine said it expected Britain’s support to continue and thanked Johnson for defending Ukraine’s interests, while Moscow did not conceal its delight at the political demise of a leader whom it has long criticised for arming Kyiv so energetically.

In a phone call, Johnson told Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy “You’re a hero, everybody loves you,” a spokesman for Johnson said.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba described the British Prime Minister as a “true friend of Ukraine” for being among the first world leaders to unequivocally condemn the invasion and also “to help Ukraine defend itself and ultimately win this war in the future.”

Johnson’s resignation comes at a time of domestic turmoil in some other European countries that support Kyiv and doubts about their staying power for what has become a protracted conflict.

The day began with Ukraine’s defiant flag-raising ceremony on its recaptured Snake Island in the Black Sea, located about 140 km (90 miles) south of the Ukrainian port of Odesa.

Moscow was quick to respond, with its warplanes striking the strategic island shortly afterwards and destroying part of the Ukrainian detachment there, it said.

Russia abandoned the island at the end of June in what it said was a gesture of goodwill – a victory for Ukraine that Kyiv hoped could loosen Moscow’s blockade of Ukrainian ports.

Andriy Yermak, the Ukrainian president’s chief of staff, suggested the raising of the blue and yellow national flag there was a moment that would be repeated across Ukraine.

KRAMATORSK

Russian forces in eastern Ukraine meanwhile kept up pressure on Ukrainian troops trying to hold the line along the northern borders of the Donetsk region, in preparation for an anticipated wider offensive against it.

After taking the city of Lysychansk on Sunday and effectively cementing their total control of Ukraine’s Luhansk region, Moscow has made clear it is planning to capture parts of the neighbouring Donetsk region which it has not yet seized. Kyiv still controls some large cities.

The mayor of the Donetsk city of Kramatorsk said Russian forces had fired missiles at the city centre in an air strike on Thursday and that at least one person was killed and six wounded.

Pavlo Kyrylenko, governor of the Donetsk region, said the missile had damaged six buildings including a hotel and an apartment bloc in the large industrial hub. [L8N2YO3NZ]

Reuters could not independently verify those assertions.

In Kramatorsk, mechanic-turned-soldier Artchk helped shore up defences against imminent Russian attack while, nearby, farmer Vasyl Avramenko lamented the loss of crops supplanted by mines.

“Of course we’re already prepared. We’re ready,” Artchk, identifying himself by his nom-de-guerre, told Reuters.

“It’s their (Russians’) fantasy to occupy these cities, but they don’t expect the level of resistance. It’s not just the Ukrainian government, it’s the people who refuse to accept them.”

Russia denies targeting civilians in what it calls a “special military operation” to demilitarise Ukraine, root out dangerous nationalists and protect Russian speakers.

Ukraine and its allies say Russia launched an imperial-style land grab with February’s invasion, starting the biggest conflict in Europe since World War Two which has killed thousands, displaced millions and flattened cities.

(Reporting by Reuters bureaux; Writing by Andrew Osborn and Alexandra Hudson; Editing by Angus MacSwan and Hugh Lawson)

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By Max Hunder and Simon Lewis

KYIV/KRAMATORSK, Ukraine (Reuters) -Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday accused the West of decades of aggression towards Moscow and warned that if it wanted to attempt to beat Russia on the battlefield it was welcome to try, but this would bring tragedy for Ukraine.

His remarks came as Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov prepared for a closed-door foreign ministers’ meeting at a G20 gathering in Indonesia on Friday – the first time Putin’s top diplomat will come face-to-face with the most vocal opponents of the invasion of Ukraine since it began in February.

Russian shells fell in eastern Ukraine ahead of an expected new offensive, while three were killed in the northeastern city of Kharkiv, authorities said.

“We have heard many times that the West wants to fight us to the last Ukrainian. This is a tragedy for the Ukrainian people, but it seems that everything is heading towards this,” Putin said in televised remarks to parliamentary leaders.

The West had failed in its attempt to contain Russia, and its sanctions on Moscow had caused difficulties but “not on the scale intended,” Putin added. Russia did not reject peace talks, but the further the conflict went, the harder it would be to reach agreement, he said.

Ukraine’s chief negotiator, Mykhailo Podolyak, dismissed Putin’s comments.

“There is no ‘collective West’ plan,” he said, blaming only the Russian army “which entered sovereign Ukraine, shelling cities and killing civilians”.

Earlier, Kyiv lost one of its main international supporters after British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said he would step down. Moscow did not conceal its delight at the political demise of a leader whom it has long criticised for arming Kyiv so energetically.

In a phone call, Johnson told Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy “You’re a hero, everybody loves you,” a spokesman for Johnson said.

“Britain’s support for Ukraine will not change whatever happens in the corridors of power in London. Boris and all our friends in the United Kingdom have assured us of that,” Zelenskiy said in his nightly video address.

Johnson’s resignation comes at a time of domestic turmoil in some other European countries that support Kyiv and doubts about their staying power for what has become a protracted conflict.

From the United States, support for Ukraine came from two senators – one Republican, one Democrat – who visited Kyiv on Thursday to discuss a bill they are seeking to pass that would designate Russia as a “state sponsor of terrorism”.

The day began with Ukraine’s defiant raising of its blue-and-yellow flag on its recaptured Snake Island in the Black Sea, located about 140 km (90 miles) south of the Ukrainian port of Odesa.

Moscow was quick to respond, with its warplanes striking the strategic island shortly afterwards and destroying part of the Ukrainian detachment there, it said.

Russia abandoned the island at the end of June in what it said was a gesture of goodwill – a victory for Ukraine that Kyiv hoped could loosen Moscow’s blockade of Ukrainian ports.

“Let every Russian captain, aboard a ship or a plane, see the Ukrainian flag on Snake Island and let him know that our country will not be broken,” said Zelenskiy.

KHARKIV AND KRAMATORSK

The regional governor of the northeastern city of Kharkiv said late on Thursday that three people had been killed and another five wounded after Russian forces shelled the city.

In the aftermath, bodies lying on the ground near a park bench were covered in sheets by emergency services. Two women who had gone out to feed cats in the area had been killed, said local resident Yurii Chernomorets.

A man fell to his knees weeping as the bloodied corpse of his wife was placed in a body bag. He kissed her hand.

“Dad, she is dead, please get up,” said a man who identified himself as their son.

In eastern Ukraine, Russian forces kept up pressure on Ukrainian troops trying to hold the line along the northern borders of the Donetsk region.

After effectively cementing their total control of the neighbouring Luhansk region, Moscow has made clear it is planning to capture the parts of Donetsk it has not yet seized. Kyiv still controls some large cities.

The mayor of the Donetsk city of Kramatorsk said Russian forces had fired missiles at the city centre in an air strike on Thursday and that at least one person was killed and six wounded.

Pavlo Kyrylenko, governor of the Donetsk region, said the missile had damaged six buildings including a hotel and an apartment bloc in the large industrial hub.

Reuters could not independently verify those assertions.

In Kramatorsk, mechanic-turned-soldier Artchk helped shore up defences against imminent Russian attack while, nearby, farmer Vasyl Avramenko lamented the loss of crops supplanted by mines.

“Of course we’re already prepared. We’re ready,” Artchk, identifying himself by his nom-de-guerre, told Reuters.

“It’s their (Russians’) fantasy to occupy these cities, but they don’t expect the level of resistance. It’s not just the Ukrainian government, it’s the people who refuse to accept them.”

Russia denies targeting civilians in what it calls a “special military operation” to demilitarise Ukraine, root out dangerous nationalists and protect Russian speakers.

Ukraine and its allies say Russia launched an imperial-style land grab with February’s invasion, starting the biggest conflict in Europe since World War Two which has killed thousands, displaced millions and flattened cities.

(Reporting by Reuters bureaux; Writing by Andrew Osborn, Alexandra Hudson and Rosalba O’Brien; Editing by Angus MacSwan, Hugh Lawson and Deepa Babington)

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By Andrew Mills

DOHA (Reuters) – Qatar’s World Cup stadium stands are set to be alcohol-free, with beer sales outside arenas only allowed before and after some matches, a source with knowledge of plans for the soccer tournament said.

This year’s World Cup is the first to be held in a Muslim country with strict controls on alcohol, presenting unique challenges for organisers of an event often associated with beer drinking fans and sponsored by global brewing brands.

“At stadiums, the plans are still being finalised, but the current discussion is to allow fans to have beer upon arrival and when leaving stadium, but beer won’t be served during the match or inside the stadium bowl,” the source told Reuters.

A document dated June 2 and seen by Reuters gives the first insight into how organisers plan to handle the demands of an estimated 1.2 million soccer fans, many of whom are used to drinking beer without limits on match days.

Soccer’s relationship with booze has long been a tricky one and in the lead up to the 2014 World Cup, Brazil lifted a ban on alcohol at stadiums, after pressure from governing body FIFA.

There has been a question mark over alcohol at this year’s tournament since the Gulf Arab state won hosting rights in 2010. While not a “dry” state like neighbouring Saudi Arabia, consuming alcohol in public places is illegal in Qatar.

However, fans at November’s World Cup will also be able to buy beer during restricted times in certain parts of the main FIFA fan zone in the Al Bidda park in Doha, the Qatari capital.

“Unlike previous World Cup fan zones, beer won’t be served all day long, but at restricted times,” the source added.

Alcohol will also be available for 15,000 to 20,000 fans on a disused corner of the Doha Golf Club, some kilometres away from stadiums and the main fan zone, the document shows.

In addition, a sandy plot surrounded by a 3 metre wall and located between the delivery entrance of a hotel and a district cooling plant will be transformed into a 10,000 capacity venue promising Techno music and alcohol, the document shows.

A spokesperson for the organisers, Qatar’s Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy, said that together with FIFA they will announce plans on the availability of alcohol at the 28-day tournament “in due course”.

“Alcohol is already available in designated areas in Qatar, such as hotels and bars, and this will not change in 2022. With the aim of catering to visiting fans in 2022, alcohol will be available in additional designated areas during the tournament,” the spokesperson said.

‘FAMILY FRIENDLY’

Although FIFA’s website advertises free flowing “beers, Champagne, sommelier-selected wines, and premium spirits” in stadium VIP hospitality suites, alcohol was not sold in stadiums in December during a test event for the World Cup.

Visitors are prohibited from carrying alcohol into Qatar, even from airport duty free, and they cannot shop at the country’s only liquor store, on the outskirts of Doha, where foreign residents with permits can buy for home consumption.

Alcohol can be bought by visitors to Qatar at a handful of licensed hotels and clubs, where a pint of beer can cost $18.

The price of beer inside the fan zones and close to the stadium has not yet been agreed, the source said.

Earlier this year, another source close to the discussions told Reuters that alcohol prices will be capped in the fan zones, pointing out that at the FIFA Club World Cup in 2019 a pint of beer cost around five pounds ($6.55).

Although the document anticipates “strong demand for international beverages”, it says the main party zone adjacent to FIFA’s fan festival will be alcohol-free, offering up to 70,000 fans a six kilometre “family friendly” street carnival.

Rules about alcohol sales in soccer stadiums vary around the world. In England, alcohol is sold at stadium concourses, but fans cannot drink it in sight of the pitch while in France none is permitted on stadium grounds.

(Reporting by Andrew Mills; Editing by Alexander Smith)

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OUAGADOUGOU (Reuters) – Burkina Faso’s ex-president Blaise Compaore returned from exile on Thursday, almost eight years after he was toppled in an uprising, to take part in a meeting with interim president Paul-Henri Damiba and other former leaders.

Compaore, 71, has returned to the West African country despite being convicted in absentia in April to life in prison for complicity in his predecessor Thomas Sankara’s murder.

Lawyers for Sankara’s family have demanded that Compaore be arrested on arrival, although Burkinabe media have speculated in recent days that he could be granted a pardon.

Ivory Coast, where he took refuge in 2014, has repeatedly refused to extradite him and said it had agreed to his return with Burkinabe authorities.

Compaore’s plane landed in the capital Ouagadougou on Thursday afternoon, after which a helicopter took off toward the presidential palace, a Reuters reporter at the airport said.

Burkina Faso’s leader Damiba, who took power in a January coup, has invited Compaore and other ex-presidents to take part in a reconciliation summit on Friday amid rising insecurity linked to an Islamist insurgency in the north.

Compaore, who ruled Burkina Faso for 27 years, fled to Ivory Coast during a 2014 uprising sparked by his efforts to change the constitution to allow himself to remain in power.

He was handed a life sentence in April for his role in the 1987 murder of Marxist revolutionary Sankara.

(Reporting by Thiam Ndiaga; Writing by Sofia Christensen; Editing by Nellie Peyton and Angus MacSwan)

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JERUSALEM (AP) — The United Arab Emirates has sentenced an Israeli woman convicted on drug charges to life in prison, her lawyer said Thursday.

The court had initially sentenced her to death but cancelled it last week. Israel says it has closely followed the case in the UAE, which normalized relations with Israel in 2020 in the first of the so-called Abraham Accords brokered by the Trump administration.

Fida Kiwan, a 43-year-old resident of the Israeli city of Haifa, was arrested in March 2021. Authorities say they found marijuana, cocaine and MDMA pills in the apartment where she was staying, and she was convicted on charges of intending to sell drugs. She denied the allegations.

Mordechai Tzivin, an Israeli lawyer representing her, said she was sentenced to life in prison. He said the law enforcement system in the UAE is “very accurate” and that there is a precedent for amnesty in cases in which heavy sentences are issued.

There was no immediate comment from Israel or the UAE.

Israel’s Foreign Ministry had welcomed the decision to cancel the death penalty last week, saying it was “pleased that the efforts on the legal channels as well as other channels led to the cancellation of the death sentence.”

Israeli tourists have flocked to Dubai since normalization, eager to see its futuristic skyscrapers, world-famous malls and other attractions. Israel’s top leaders have met with their counterparts in the Gulf state, and business people have struck major deals, even before the recent signing of a free trade agreement, Israel’s first with an Arab country.

The UAE has some of the world’s most restrictive drug laws. Trafficking typically carries a life sentence and possession a shorter jail sentence.

While UAE law allows for the death penalty in certain cases, capital punishment is rarely carried out. The last known executions were in 2011 and 2014, against two men convicted of murder.

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By Harold Isaac and Brian Ellsworth

PORT-AU-PRINCE (Reuters) -Haiti on Thursday commemorates the one-year anniversary of the murder of President Jovenel Moise, whose killing created a power vacuum and allowed the country’s gangs to expand their territory and even take over the headquarters of the nation’s courts.

Haitian police have arrested more than 40 people, but have yet to charge anyone in the murder, in which a group of gunmen that included former Colombian soldiers stormed Moise’s home in a pre-dawn raid.

Last month a gang known as “5 segonn,” or “5 seconds,” took control of the Port-au-Prince Palace of Justice, the seat of the Haitian court system, dashing any remaining hope for progress in the investigation into Moise’s murder.

“One year later, the investigation has not advanced,” said Samuel Madistin, a lawyer who heads Haitian human rights group Clear Eyes Foundation. “There are people that have been arrested for a year who have never seen a judge.”

The office of Prime Minister Ariel Henry, who has been at the helm of government since last year, on Wednesday said July 7 would be a holiday to commemorate Moise.

Henry spoke on Thursday at a ceremony at Haiti’s national pantheon in Port-au-Prince, where a portrait of Moise was placed amid an arrangement of flowers.

“One year later, we are still in mourning,” Henry said in a speech. “We are still struggling to understand this bloody and barbaric episode in our history.”

Henry has faced accusations that he was involved in the plot, including by Moise’s widow Martine, who was wounded during the attack and was not present at Thursday’s ceremony.

“The Moise family will not participate in commemorative events supported by the Haitian state, whose Head of Government is the subject of grave accusations about the assassination of the President of the Republic,” reads a July 1 statement issued by Martine Moise’s communications office.

Henry denies involvement in the murder and insists his government is committed to bringing the killers to justice.

Haiti has for years struggled with gang violence, but kidnappings have spiked across the country since last year – targeting everyone from high-ranking government officials to every-day citizens.

Turf battles in April and May between the Chen Mechan and 400 Mawozo gangs – the latter of which last year abducted 19 American and Canadian missionaries – killed 150 people and forced some 10,000 from their homes, rights activists said at the time.

That has fueled a wave of migration by Haitians seeking to reach the United States, either via the land border with Mexico or by sea in rickety, overcrowded vessels.

Henry says the government plans to hold elections, but has not provided a timeline for a potential vote.

U.S. prosecutors have charged three people with being involved in the conspiracy to kill Moise, but Haiti’s probe remains stalled.

The case has now been assigned to a fifth judge, after the previous four quit amid complaints of intimidation and threats to their personal security.

In a reflection of the broader collapse of Haiti’s justice system, authorities have been unable to wrest control of the Palace of Justice back from the gangs who took it over in a shootout with police in June.

A gang leader known as Izo in a voice note circulated on WhatsApp said his group took over the Palace of Justice because he had been upset that authorities were not freeing jailed gang members despite his having made payments for their release.

State Prosecutor Jacques Lafontant told local media last month that the recording would be transcribed and used as evidence against Izo.

Haitian National Police spokesperson Gary Desrosiers in a June 28 press conference said the police were developing a plan to take back the building, but needed to obtain additional materials and equipment.

Lawyers who work in the building say it remains in control of the gang.

(Reporting by Harold Isaac in Port-au-Price and Brian Ellsworth in Miami; Editing by Leslie Adler and David Gregorio)

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By Casey Hall

SHANGHAI (Reuters) – American Heather Kaye and her family, including cat Mochi, are part of a wave of residents departing Shanghai, leaving behind their homes and memories, driven out by two years of strict COVID-19 curbs, including a crushing two-month lockdown.

Heather and husband George arrived in Shanghai from New York in 2006 for a one-year adventure, but 16 years later their two-bedroom apartment in Shanghai’s historic former French Concession is the only home their children have ever known.

So while repatriating to the United States is technically a homecoming for Heather and George, leaving Shanghai means leaving home for daughters Charlotte, 14, and Matilda, 12.

Heather spent the month of June readying for a return to the United States. Her husband left weeks earlier with their family dog to help prepare for their new life in Washington D.C.

“I haven’t had the luxury to really grieve a lot of what I’m leaving behind because I need to get two kids and a cat out of here … so it’s been really focused on that logistics,” she told Reuters from her flat which had just been emptied out by movers.

The Kaye family are part of an exodus of both foreigners and locals from Shanghai as China’s most cosmopolitan city tries to find its footing and return to normal life after a strict city lockdown aimed at stamping out the infectious Omicron variant.

While some opted to leave in the midst of the lockdown, stunned by difficulties in obtaining food and fears of being separated from family members should they be infected with COVID, others like the Kayes opted to wait it out. They purchased their new house in Washington D.C. online during lockdown.

For many departing foreign residents, the lockdown was the last straw, after two years of strict COVID curbs that made it immensely difficult to fly in and out of China.

The country, whose zero-COVID approach towards the virus has increasingly made it out of step with the rest of the world, has slashed the quarantine time for inbound travellers from 14 days in a central facility to seven days, its biggest change to border restrictions put in place in early 2020.

According to the European Chamber, the number of foreigners in China has halved since the pandemic began. It predicts that number could halve again this summer, with few international workers coming in to replenish the numbers leaving.

“Talking to people who were scheduled to move (to Shanghai) in the summer, they are not, they’re going to Singapore, they’re going to Bangkok,” Kaye said. “Being based here, so many people can’t really do their jobs anymore, because they do require so much travel and so that’s made it prohibitive for so many.”

With ageing parents in the United States, travel restrictions were also a big part of Kaye and her husband’s decision to leave, she said, describing how they had already made up their minds before the lockdown.

EXODUS

Kaye moved to Shanghai to work for a fashion label and became enthralled by the fast charging energy of a China on the rise. She later started her own business, now known as eco-swimsuit brand Loop.

Her husband left behind his career as a banker in the United States and quickly immersed himself in Chinese culture and learnt to speak Mandarin. He eventually started his own sustainable bamboo toy business.

They further cemented their ties to the city by purchasing their apartment, considered an unusual move for foreigners in Shanghai both then and now.

“Anything you can imagine, you can build it here. Anything you want to be, you can make it happen here,” said Kaye.

Since Shanghai eased its lockdown curbs on June 1, Kaye has busied herself with packing but also made sure she found time to reminisce over her time in the city with bike rides to the Bund and a last plate of dumplings from a favourite local haunt.

The safe streets of Shanghai will be particularly missed, she said, recounting how she would walk her dog late at night and felt able to let her children take the subway by themselves when they were as young as 10 years old.

The Kaye family’s last few years in Shanghai have been tinged by China’s growing isolation due to COVID border curbs and a worsening relationship between Washington and Beijing, but Kaye said it has not marred their experience.

“I think people are around the world basically the same. We all want to be safe, and be able to go about our work and do creative things and get a good education for our kids, and have a home and shelter and community,” she said. “I think on the government level is where things get so misunderstood.”

Three days after Kaye and her daughters landed in the United States all three tested positive for COVID, but they have no regrets about their move.

(Reporting by Casey Hall; Editing by Brenda Goh and Michael Perry)

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By Lucy Craymer

WELLINGTON (Reuters) – New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said on Thursday regional architecture such as the Pacific Islands Forum was critical in resolving regional problems and local security issues should be resolved locally.

Leaders of the Pacific Islands Forum countries gather in Fiji next week for an annual meeting at a time of growing concern in some countries about China’s influence, highlighted this year by a security pact with the Solomon Islands.

“New Zealand is committed to the Pacific Islands Forum as the vehicle for addressing regional challenges,” Ardern said in a speech to the Lowy Institute think tank in Australia.

“We have a strong commitment to supporting broader ambitions for our regions security,” she said. “Importantly we see local security challenges being resolved locally, with Pacific Islands Forum Members’ security being addressed first and foremost by the Forum family.”

China’s growing sway in the Pacific and the potential for militarisation in the region’s small island nations has fanned concern, particularly in Australia and New Zealand as well as their partner, the United States.

China, following on from its pact with the Solomon Islands, has been pushing for a regional co-operation deal with almost a dozen Pacific nations on policing, security and data communications.

Ardern said that though Pacific co-operation should be shaped by various agreements in place and regional groupings, that did not mean that others would not have an interest in engaging with the region.

“It would be wrong to characterise this engagement, including that of China, as new. It would also be wrong to position the Pacific in such a way that they have to ‘pick sides’,” she said.

Ardern added that Pacific countries were democratic nations with their own sovereign right to determine their foreign policy engagements.

“But priorities should be set by the Pacific,” she said.

(Reporting by Lucy Craymer; Editing by Robert Birsel)

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By Pavel Polityuk and Simon Lewis

KYIV/KRAMATORSK (Reuters) – Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said attempts by the West to punish a nuclear power such as Russia for the war in Ukraine risked endangering humanity, as the near five-month conflict leaves cities in ruins and thousands homeless.

Russia’s Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine has triggered the most serious crisis in relations between Russia and the West since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis, when many people feared the world was on the brink of nuclear war.

U.S. President Joe Biden says Russian President Vladimir Putin is a war criminal and has led the West in arming Ukraine and imposing crippling sanctions on Russia.

“The idea of punishing a country that has one of the largestnuclear potentials is absurd. And potentially poses a threat tothe existence of humanity,” Medvedev, now deputy chairman of the Russian Security Council, said on Telegram on Wednesday.

Russia and the United States control about 90% of theworld’s nuclear warheads, with around 4,000 warheads each intheir military stockpiles, according to the Federation ofAmerican Scientists.

Medvedev cast the United States as an empire which hadspilled blood across the world, citing the killing of NativeAmericans, U.S. nuclear attacks on Japan and a host of warsranging from Vietnam to Afghanistan.

Attempts to use courts or tribunals to investigate Russia’sactions in Ukraine would, Medvedev said, be futile and riskglobal devastation. Ukraine and its Western allies say Russian forces have engaged in war crimes.

Putin launched his invasion, calling it a “special military operation”, to demilitarise Ukraine, root out what he said were dangerous nationalists and protect Russian speakers in that country.

Ukraine and its allies say Russia launched an imperial-style land grab, sparking the biggest conflict in Europe since World War Two.

After failing to seize the capital Kyiv early, Russia is now waging a war of attrition for Ukraine’s Donbas region, parts of which are controlled by Russian separatist proxies.

On Sunday, Putin claimed his biggest victory when Ukrainian forces withdrew from Luhansk province. Russian forces then launched an offensive to take neighbouring Donetsk province. Donetsk and Luhansk comprise the Donbas.

Russia says it wants to wrest control of the eastern and heavily industrial region on behalf of Moscow-backed separatists in two self-proclaimed people’s republics.

HEAVY SHELLING

On Wednesday, the Ukrainian military said it had so far staved off any major Russian advance into the north of Donetsk, but pressure is intensifying with heavy shelling on the city of Sloviansk and nearby populated areas.

It said Russian forces were bombarding several Ukrainian towns with heavy weaponry to enable ground forces to advance southward into the region and close in on Sloviansk.

“The enemy is trying to improve its tactical position…(They) advanced … before being repulsed by our soldiers and retreating with losses,” the Ukrainian military said in its evening note.

Other Russian forces, it said, aimed to seize two towns en route to the city of Kramatorsk, south of Sloviansk, and were also trying to take control of the main highway linking Luhansk and Donetsk provinces.

“We are holding back the enemy on the (Luhansk/Donetsk) border,” Luhansk Governor Serhiy Gaidai told Ukrainian TV. Later, he said Luhansk was still not entirely occupied by Russian forces and that Russia had sustained “colossal losses.”

“They will continue to try to advance on Sloviansk and Bakhmut. There is no doubt about that,” he said.

Sloviansk Mayor Vadym Lyakh told a video briefing the city had been shelled for the last two weeks.

“The situation is tense,” he said, adding that 17 residents had been killed there since Feb. 24.

Russia’s defence ministry says it does not target civilians and on Wednesday said it was using high-precision weapons to take out military threats.

Ukraine has repeatedly pleaded with the West to send more weapons to repel the invasion that has killed thousands, displaced millions, and flattened cities.

“At last, Western artillery has started to work powerfully, the weapons we are getting from our partners. And their accuracy is exactly what is needed,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said In his nightly video message.

‘NO SAFE AREAS’

In the Donetsk city of Kramatorsk, which Russian forces are expected to try to capture in coming weeks, Ukrainian soldiers and a handful of civilians ran errands in green-painted cars and vans on Wednesday. Much of the population has left.

“It’s almost deserted. It’s spooky,” said Oleksandr, a 64-year-old retired metal worker. He was unlikely to follow official advice to evacuate, he said, despite an increase in missile strikes.

“I’m not looking for death but if I encounter it it’s better to be at home,” he said.

Outside the Donbas, Ukraine’s second largest city Kharkiv was being subjected to “constant” longer-range Russian shelling, Mayor Ihor Terekhov said on Ukrainian TV.

“Russia is trying to demoralise Kharkiv but it won’t get anywhere,” he said. Ukrainian defenders pushed Russian armoured forces well back from Kharkiv early in the war, and Terekhov said around 1 million residents remained there.

South of Kharkiv, the governor of Dnipropetrovsk said the region had been battered by missiles and shelling, while on the southern coast the port of Mykolaiv was also being heavily shelled, Oleksandr Senkevych, its mayor, told a briefing.

“There are no safe areas in Mykolaiv,” he said. “I am telling the people… that they need to leave.”

Reuters was unable to immediately verify battlefield reports.

(Reporting by Reuters bureaux; Writing by Michael Perry; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan)

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