DONETSK, Ukraine: On the streets of the biggest city in Ukraine’s breakaway eastern regions, some residents expressed joy and gratitude on Tuesday over Russia’s decision to recognize their independence, but others were filled with foreboding for what might come next.
President Vladimir Putin on Monday granted official recognition to the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics and signed friendship treaties with their leaders, a step that paves the way for Russia to send in troops and establish military bases.
The West condemned the move as an illegal act that could mark the prelude to a full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine and began imposing some sanctions.
But for some in Donetsk, where Moscow-backed separatists have battled Ukrainian government forces in a conflict that Kyiv says has cost 15,000 lives since 2014, it was long overdue.
“This is very important for me. I know that the blood I spilled with my comrades and our labors and efforts and the losses of civilians were not in vain all this time,” said Dmitry, a former member of a pro-Russian separatist militia.
He was looking forward to the arrival of Russian troops as part of the agreements signed on Monday.
“This great people of Donbass have suffered so much, they need it now (Russian troops). They’ve had enough blood, enough death,” he said.
A convoy of at least a dozen cars flying large Russian tricolor flags and honking their horns wound its way through the city center. “Russia, hoorah!” shouted one driver.
Other residents of Donetsk were trying to go about their lives as normal, walking with children or shopping at the market, a Reuters witness said. A wedding took place at a hotel.
However, six blasts were later heard in the center of the city. Their origin was not clear. A diplomatic source told Reuters shelling had resumed on the line of contact between the Ukrainian government and separatist forces.
’EVERYONE IS VERY SCARED’
Irina, a woman of about 40, said Russia’s decision was not unexpected but people were unsure how to react.
“I don’t know what will happen now — everyone is at a loss and uncertain,” she said, adding that she hoped the reinforced Russian backing would help bring an end to the conflict.
“If there are (Russian) troops, it means it’s not worth fighting because Russia is a great power, mighty, nuclear.”
A Reuters reporter saw a handful of tanks on the outskirts on Donetsk overnight and two more in other parts of the city. The Kremlin’s spokesman said he was unable to say if Russia had already sent in military forces.
Vyacheslav, a man of about 60, said he hoped the deployment of Russian troops would bring an end to “provocative actions” by Ukraine, adding: “I think the other side will also have a think and decide to move onto peace negotiations.”
But Karina, a woman in her early twenties, burst into tears as she described her feelings.
“To be honest, it’s such a depressing situation right now that I don’t know how good a decision this really is and how much it can lead to peace,” she said.
Referring to the separatist administrations’ decision to evacuate tens of thousands of women and children from Donetsk and Luhansk in recent days, Karina added: “Now everyone is very worried, everyone is being taken away from their fathers, brothers, husbands. In fact, everyone is very scared.”
Hope, fear and uncertainty on Donetsk streets after Putin move
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Hope, fear and uncertainty on Donetsk streets after Putin move
- A convoy of at least a dozen cars flying large Russian tricolor flags and honking their horns wound its way through the city centre
- Other residents of Donetsk were trying to go about their lives as normal, walking with children or shopping at the market
Nepal police clash with pro-monarchy demonstrators
- The Himalayan nation adopted a federal/republican political system in 2008 after monarchy was abolished
KATMANDU: Nepal police fired tear gas and water cannon on Friday to disperse thousands of people gathered in Katmandu demanding the restoration of the monarchy, prompting authorities to impose a curfew in the area.
The Himalayan nation adopted a federal and republican political system in 2008 after parliament abolished the monarchy as part of a peace deal that ended a decade-long civil war responsible for more than 16,000 deaths.
Support for the restoration of the monarchy re-enshrining Hinduism as the state religion has grown in tandem with popular dissatisfaction over political instability, corruption and lackluster economic development.
“The country should have developed significantly. People should have had better job opportunities, peace and security and good governance. We should have been corruption-free,” Mina Subedi, 55, who joined the demonstration, told AFP.
“But things have only deteriorated.”
Protesters gathered near the national parliament chanting that the king and country were “dearer to us than life.”
Police spokesman Dinesh Kumar Acharya told AFP that police fired tear gas and water cannon to clear the demonstrators after they broke into a restricted area and vandalized buildings.
Local authorities announced a curfew in the area after the clash.
Opposition parties marshalled thousands more people at a counter-demonstration elsewhere in the capital to “safeguard the republican system.”
“Nepalis will not return to the past,” said Pushpa Kamal Dahal, a former guerrilla chief who led the decade-long Maoist insurgency before entering politics and has since served as prime minister three times.
“Maybe they have dared to raise their heads because us republic supporters have not been able to deliver as per the wishes and wants of the people.”
Abdicated king Gyanendra Shah, 77, had largely refrained from commenting on Nepal’s fractious politics, but recently made several public appearances with supporters.
Shah was crowned in 2001 after his elder brother king Birendra Bir Bikram Shah and his family were killed in a palace massacre that wiped out most of the royal family.
His coronation took place as the Maoist insurgency was raging in far-flung corners of Nepal.
Shah suspended the constitution and dissolved parliament in 2005, triggering a democratic uprising in which the Maoists sided with Nepal’s political establishment to orchestrate huge street protests.
That eventually precipitated the end of the conflict, with parliament voting in 2008 to abolish Nepal’s 240-year-old Hindu monarchy.
Lithuania says ‘long night ahead’ in US soldiers search
- “Another long night ahead,” Lithuanian Defense Minister Dovile Sakaliene said
- The Lithuanian army said earlier they were “moving forward” on their goal to “turn the swamp into water so divers can jump in“
PABRADE, Lithuania: Lithuania’s defense minister said on Friday that rescuers faced “another long night” in their operation to recover the submerged vehicle of four missing US soldiers.
Authorities from the Baltic state received a report on Tuesday that the soldiers had disappeared during a military drill on a training ground in the eastern city of Pabrade, near the border with Belarus.
Search and rescue teams were at the scene on Friday, using heavy military equipment and excavators to remove silt from the body of water where the vehicle had been located.
“Another long night ahead,” Lithuanian Defense Minister Dovile Sakaliene said on social network X.
The Lithuanian army said earlier they were “moving forward” on their goal to “turn the swamp into water so divers can jump in.”
The US army said on Friday it was sending a specialized US Navy dive crew that was “expected to arrive on site within the next 24 hours.”
Local and foreign troops, along with helicopters from the air force and the state border guard service, have been deployed in the search effort.
Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda said he was “still hoping for a miracle.”
“Although many skeptics would probably say that there is nothing to hope for in these circumstances, I want to believe,” he told reporters.
The M88 Hercules armored recovery vehicle the missing US soldiers had been operating was found several meters deep in a swamp connected to a nearby lake.
“The area around the site is incredibly wet and marshy and doesn’t support the weight of the equipment,” US Army Europe and Africa’s public affairs office said in a statement.
“Draining the area has been slow and difficult due to ground water seepage,” it added.
“This will be a long and difficult recovery operation, but we are absolutely committed to bringing our soldiers home,” said Curtis Taylor, Commanding General of the 1st Armored Division.
The main goal was to remove the mud from the submerged vehicle and identify possible attachment points for extraction, Lithuanian Armed Forces chief General Raimundas Vaiksnoras said.
Lithuania, a NATO and EU member, hosts more than 1,000 American troops stationed on a rotational basis.
Spain’s PM urges Washington to reconsider tariff ‘nonsense’
- “Today, from here, I’d like to make a call again to the US administration to reconsider and open dialogue with the European Commission,” Sanchez told an economic event in Madrid
- Ribera likened Trump’s trade policy to the behavior of a “schoolyard bully“
MADRID: Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez and European Commission Vice President Teresa Ribera on Friday urged the United States to reconsider new tariffs on goods from Europe and open a dialogue with Brussels to stop what Sanchez described as “nonsense.”
President Donald Trump said on Wednesday the United States will charge a 25 percent import tariff on all cars. On Thursday, the Commission said the European Union was preparing a “robust, calibrated” response.
“Today, from here, I’d like to make a call again to the US administration to reconsider and open dialogue with the European Commission and stop this nonsense,” Sanchez told an economic event in Madrid.
Speaking at the same event, Ribera — who served as energy minister under Sanchez and is now the bloc’s antitrust chief — said the EU “misses the relationship of solidarity with the United States and we hope we can return to it,” adding there was always space to talk and find solutions.
She likened Trump’s trade policy to the behavior of a “schoolyard bully.”
“Europe cannot remain silent in the face of such aggression,” she added. “We’re reaching our limit and the next steps will require more Europe, and more unity in terms of security.”
Trump, Carney say they had a productive call, Canadian tariffs still coming
- The phone call was the first contact since Carney won the leadership of Canada’s ruling Liberals on March 9
- Carney has said that Trump’s threat of tariffs is a betrayal of a once close economic and security relationship
WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Mark Carney on Friday had a conversation that both men described as productive, although the Canadian leader said Ottawa would be imposing retaliatory tariffs next week as promised.
The phone call was the first contact since Carney won the leadership of Canada’s ruling Liberals on March 9. Carney has said that Trump’s threat of tariffs is a betrayal of a once close economic and security relationship.
“It was an extremely productive call, we agree on many things, and will be meeting immediately after Canada’s upcoming Election to work on elements of Politics, Business, and all other factors,” Trump wrote on his social media platform Truth Social.
That work “will end up being great for both the United States of America and Canada,” he added. Carney on Thursday vowed to transform Canada’s economy to be less dependent on the United States. Trump’s tariff announcement is expected on April 2. Ottawa has made clear for months that it will impose countermeasures.
“The Prime Minister informed the President that his government will implement retaliatory tariffs to protect Canadian workers and our economy, following the announcement of additional US trade actions on April 2, 2025,” Carney’s office said in a statement.
The United States and its northern neighbor have long been close allies and trading partners. But relations deteriorated after Trump, a Republican who took office in January, upended the relationship with tariff threats and repeated comments about annexing the country.
Trump referred to Carney as the Canadian prime minister rather than as the governor of the 51st US state, the term he often used to describe former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Carney said the two leaders had agreed to begin comprehensive negotiations about a new economic and security relationship immediately after an election on April 28.
Malaysian couple completes Ramadan fasting journey through Asia to perform Umrah
- Farhan Mokhali and Ainaa Fakhira crossed seven countries on the way to Saudi Arabia
- On the last day of Ramadan, they are traveling to Malaysia to celebrate Eid at home
KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian backpackers who traveled through seven countries to reach Saudi Arabia for Umrah have completed their 30-day Ramadan journey, fasting with Muslim communities they visited along the way.
Farhan Mokhali, 28, and Ainaa Fakhira, 27, started their journey from Padang Besar, a town bordering Thailand in the northern part of the Malaysian state of Perlis.
“The inspiration and idea solely came from Ainaa. She is the one who has always dreamed of being a backpacker and traveling around the world since she was a teenager,” Mokhali told Arab News.
“After several years of postponing the dream, in 2025 she decided to pursue it because she didn’t want to wait any longer.”
From Hatyai on the other side of the border, they reached Bangkok and traveled to Vientiane in Laos, from where they crossed to Kunming in China and traveled to Xi’an and further to Khorgos, where they entered Kazakhstan.
There the land journey had to end when they faced problems in obtaining visas to Turkmenistan and Syria.
Within 30 days, they visited seven countries, taking 10 trains, three buses and two aeroplanes.
Self-employed and running a media startup, they kept on working during their travel, which they estimate cost them about $4,300 in total.
While the journey took place during Ramadan, both kept on fasting as they experienced the cultures of various Muslim communities that they met on their way.
“We camped in the snow in negative temperatures and hiked 15 km during snowfall just to experience the Altyn Arashan hot springs while fasting in Kyrgyzstan. We loved every part of this journey since it gave us the chance to spend more quality time together and learn a lot of new things,” Mokhali said.
“We are also thankful to have had the opportunity to experience the beauty of Ramadan in other countries. We experienced different cultures, like iftar with the locals, Taraweeh at different mosques in several countries, and many more Ramadan traditions.”
Last week they reached Madinah, from where they traveled to Makkah to complete their pilgrimage.
It was the best part of their journey because they could experience Umrah together, Mokhali said, as they packed to return home on Saturday, right before the end of the fasting month.
“We are going to celebrate Eid in Malaysia,” he added. “We are going back to Malaysia tomorrow. We haven’t experienced Ramadan in our country this year yet.”
