North Korea's Kim sends condolences to Putin over plane crash
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Time of India
2 hours ago
- Time of India
Pope receives high-ranking Russian Orthodox cleric
Pope Leo XIV, left, shakes hands with Anthony Sevryuk, Metropolitan of Volokolamsk and Chairman of the Department of External Relations of the Russian Orthodox Church, during their meeting at the Vatican. (Pic credit: AP) VATICAN CITY: Pope Leo XIV held a first meeting on Saturday with a senior Russian Orthodox cleric at the Vatican since becoming the head of the Catholic church earlier this year, the Holy See said without giving further details. Leo -- who has called on the Kremlin to make a "gesture" towards peace in Ukraine -- received Metropolitan Anthony of Volokolamsk, the head of external relations at the Russian Orthodox Church. Relations between the Vatican and Moscow has been frosty for centuries. The head of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Kirill, has sanctified Moscow's Ukraine invasion, which he has described as a "holy war." But Moscow had a dialogue with the late Pope Francis, widely criticised in Ukraine, with Metropolitan Anthony hold around a dozen meetings with the Argentinian pontiff. The Russian cleric told Italian newspaper La Repubblica days before the meeting that Francis had a "balanced approach" on Ukraine, while he did not know Leo's stance yet. Leo is the first American pope. He took over the church at a time when the United States is pushing for peace in Ukraine, in efforts that have so far yielded few results to stop the three-year war. Leo had received Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky earlier this month and has also spoken to Russia's Vladimir Putin by phone. The Vatican had earlier this year been floated as a possible platform for peace talks, but that idea was refuted by the Kremlin and negotiations have stayed in Istanbul. Anthony reiterated that, for Moscow, the Vatican would not be a "neutral" ground for any peace talks. Metropolitan Anthony was appointed as head of the Moscow church's external relations in 2022 -- the year Russia invaded Ukraine -- and had earlier been a church envoy in Italy.
Time of India
2 hours ago
- Time of India
Russia seizes two villages in central Ukraine; raids kill 6
Russia on Saturday said it had wrested two villages in Ukraine, including one in the central Dnipropetrovsk region, marking a fresh advance into an area largely spared seizures of land since Moscow launched its offensive in 2022. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now Overnight strikes by both sides meanwhile claimed six lives -- four in central Ukraine and two in western Russia, according to officials in both countries. The Russian army said its forces had "liberated the settlement of Maliyevka" in Dnipropetrovsk weeks after it seized the first village in the region -- not one of the Ukrainian territories annexed by Russia. In a separate message on Saturday, Moscow said it had "liberated the settlement of Zeleny Gai" in Donetsk region on the border with Dnipropetrovsk, adding that it was an important stronghold used by Ukraine to protect the area. Further north in Kharkiv, a Russian strike destroyed a large boiler room that will be impossible to repair before winter, while in Sumy, another strike hit a regional administration building, local authorities said. Supported by swarms of drones, Russia gains new settlements almost daily, but they are normally reduced to rubble and emptied of inhabitants after months of fighting. The summer offensive comes despite a call from the US for peace talks.
The Hindu
3 hours ago
- The Hindu
Russia says seized two villages in central Ukraine
Russia on Saturday (July 26, 2025) said it had wrested two villages in Ukraine, including one in the central Dnipropetrovsk region, marking a fresh advance into an area largely spared seizures of land since Moscow's 2022 invasion. Overnight strikes launched by both sides meanwhile claimed six lives – four in central Ukraine and two in western Russia, according to officials in both countries. The Russian army said its forces had 'liberated the settlement of Maliyevka' in Dnipropetrovsk, weeks after it seized the first village in the region – not one of the Ukrainian regions annexed by Russia. In a separate message on Saturday (July 26, 2025), Moscow said it had 'liberated the settlement of Zeleny Gai' in Donetsk region on the border with Dnipropetrovsk, adding that it was an important stronghold used by Ukraine to protect the region. Supported by swarms of drones, Russia gains new settlements almost daily, but they are normally reduced to rubble and emptied of inhabitants after months of fighting. The summer offensive comes despite a call from the United States to cease violence and peace talks in Istanbul, which so far have yielded no breakthroughs. Further Russian advances could harm Ukraine's economy and energy supplies as Dnipropetrovsk and Donetsk, which has been occupied since 2014, are part of Ukraine's mining heartland, particularly for coal that powers the electricity grid. Ukrainian authorities have already been ordering civilians with children to flee a front line that is creeping closer. Deeper Russian advances could mean more attacks on one of Ukraine's largest cities, Dnipro, though Russian troops are around 200 km (120 miles) away. Dnipropetrovsk is not one of the five Ukrainian regions – Donetsk, Kherson, Lugansk, Zaporizhzhia and Crimea – that Moscow has publicly claimed as Russian territory.
