Moscow decided to open another humanitarian corridor in the Ukrainian city of Mariupol to evacuate civilians and foreign nationals at the request of Turkiye’s president, the Russian Defense Ministry said late Saturday.

Moscow will provide full assistance in the evacuation of civilians and foreign citizens in accordance with Recep Tayyip Erdogan's request to Russian President Vladimir Putin, said the ministry.

The statement said on April 3 at 00:00 Moscow time, the humanitarian corridor from Mariupol to Berdyansk was opened and strict compliance with the "regime of silence" on the way of movement was guaranteed. The regime of silence is the name given to the cease-fire for a certain period in certain areas to evacuate civilians.

Foreign citizens can travel from Berdyansk to areas controlled by Ukraine or to Russian-controlled Crimea, it said.

The statement noted that the Ukrainian side of the corridor will also be implemented if the "regime of silence" is strictly observed, and the Kyiv administration requested to confirm in writing that it is ready for evacuation by 3 a.m. Moscow time.

It said Kyiv should transmit a written statement that it would comply with the "regime of silence" to the Russian and Turkish sides, as well as to the International Organization of the Red Cross and the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

The Russian war against Ukraine, which started Feb. 24, has been met with international outrage, with the EU, US, and Britain, among others, implementing tough financial sanctions on Moscow.

At least 1,325 civilians have been killed in Ukraine and 2,017 injured, according to UN estimates, with the true figure feared to be far higher.

More than 4.1 million Ukrainians have also fled to other countries, with millions more internally displaced, according to the UN refugee agency./aa

Poland's prime minister urged Western countries to confiscate Russian assets, branding earlier sanctions that only froze them "ineffective," local media reported on Saturday. 

"We must remain united in our determined actions against Russia. We must confiscate their assets," Mateusz Morawiecki told reporters after visiting a center for Ukrainian refugees near the capital Warsaw along with the president of the European Parliament, Roberta Metsola.

Suggesting that the assets could be used to fund more aid to the refugees, Morawiecki underlined that merely freezing Russian assets would not be enough, according to Polish news agency PAP.

"No, freezing alone will not be effective," Morawiecki said. "It is confiscating those assets that we need (to do) in order to ensure tangible aid for the reconstruction of Ukraine."

The Polish premier also said that more sanctions and more EU funds would be needed to help the refugees.

According to Morawiecki, the sanctions so far imposed on Russia have not produced the desired effect, pointing to the Russian ruble's exchange rate which is returning to pre-war levels, the agency reported.

For her part, Metsola said on Twitter: "In 5 weeks, 4 million Ukrainian families found temporary homes in close countries."

She thanked Poland for "mobilising to welcome more than 2.5 million people in their cities, towns & villages."

"EU will continue showing solidarity with hosting countries. We will remain united," she added, sharing photographs from the visit.

On Friday, Metsola visited the Ukrainian capital Kyiv with a "message of hope and support" as Russia's war on the country continues.

The Russian war against Ukraine, which started on Feb. 24, has been met with international outrage, with the EU, US, and Britain, among others, implementing tough financial sanctions on Moscow.

At least 1,325 civilians have been killed in Ukraine and 2,017 injured, according to UN estimates, with the true figure feared to be far higher.

More than 4.1 million Ukrainians have also fled to other countries, with millions more internally displaced, according to the UN refugee agency./aa

Ukrainian photojournalist and documentary filmmaker Maks Levin, who went missing on March 13 while working on the frontlines near the capital Kyiv, has been found dead, according to Ukraine's presidential aide Andriy Yermak on Saturday. 

"He went missing in the conflict area on March 13 in the Kyiv region. His body was found near the village of Guta Mezhygirska on April 1," Yermak said on Telegram.

Anton Gerashchenko, an adviser and former deputy minister at the Interior Ministry, also confirmed on Telegram that Levin, 40, went missing over two weeks ago when he was reporting in the Vishgorod district, the area of intense fighting.

"He left four minor sons, a wife, and elderly parents," he added.

"Unarmed" Levin was killed with "two shots from small arms" of Russian troops, said the Institute of Mass Information, a Ukrainian independent NGO, referring to the preliminary report by the country's prosecutor's office.

Levin, accompanied by Oleksiy Chernyshov, a serviceman and former photographer, went to Guta Mezhygirska on March 13 "to document the consequences of the Russian aggression," said Ukrainian media outlet LB.ua, for which Levin worked for over 10 years.

"They left the car and went in the direction of Moshchun village. Since then, there was no contact with both men. Later, it became known that intense combat action started in the area where Maks Levin was going to work. The location and fate of Oleksiy Chernyshow are currently unknown," it added.

Levin had also been working with the international media, with most of his documentaries about the war in Ukraine.

The Russian war against Ukraine, which started on Feb. 24, has been met with international outrage, with the EU, US, and Britain, among others, implementing tough financial sanctions on Moscow.

At least 1,276 civilians have been killed in Ukraine and 1,981 injured, according to UN estimates, with the true figure feared to be far higher.

More than 4 million Ukrainians have also fled to other countries, with millions more internally displaced, according to the UN refugee agency./aa

S&P Global Ratings lowered its growth forecast for emerging markets (EMs) due to the economic effects of the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war, the credit rating agency said in its latest report. 

Amid rising energy prices, along with weakening trade and financing conditions, the agency lowered its real GDP growth forecast for EMs overall to 4% for this year and 4.3% in 2023, according to the report it released on Friday. 

The 2022 figure in its previous forecast had been 4.8% and, for next year, it had been 4.4%. 

"The six largest Latin-American economies are set to see growth this year of 1.7%, marking a downward revision from S&P Global Ratings' previous 2% forecast," it noted.

The agency projected consumer price inflation in the median EMs to be 1.2 percentage points higher in 2022, compared with its previous inflation forecast from November.

"And such rising inflationary pressures and financing costs may impede fiscal consolidation, strain governments' credit quality, and erode credit fundamentals," it underlined.

S&P Global Ratings Chief Emerging Markets Economist Satyam Panday said broadening inflationary pressure means "we now expect tighter monetary policy across most EMs despite the conflict weighing on economic activity, especially with the US Federal Reserve indicating a swifter policy tightening stance."

He said the war in Ukraine was the main reason for the downside risks in EMs, adding that concerns over faster Fed tightening and negative investor sentiment due to the war may trigger financial market volatility, leading to weaker exchange rates and significantly higher yields./aa

Turkiye can provide ship support for the evacuation of civilians and those wounded in Mariupol, the country’s defense minister said on Saturday.

“Coordination with Russian and Ukrainian officials in this regard is continuing,” Hulusi Akar told journalists.

Akar said that Turkiye continues its diplomatic efforts to end the war between Russia and Ukraine.

Noting that he talked with his Russian and Ukrainian counterparts on the phone many times and that he also met with Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov in Istanbul, Akar underlined the importance of reaching a cease-fire as soon as possible to prevent further loss of life and ensure peace and stability.

“As Turkiye, we continue to provide humanitarian aid to the people of Ukraine. Turkiye also gives its support regarding the evacuations. We will continue to support the Ukrainian people,” the minister said.

The Russian war against Ukraine, which started on Feb. 24, has been met with international outrage, with the EU, US, and Britain, among others, implementing tough financial sanctions on Moscow.

At least 1,276 civilians have been killed in Ukraine and 1,981 injured, according to UN estimates, with the true figure feared to be far higher.

More than 4 million Ukrainians have also fled to other countries, with millions more internally displaced, according to the UN refugee agency./aa

The international community should issue an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin, U.N. ex-chief prosecutor Carla Del Ponte, head of the war crimes tribunals for Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia, urged Saturday.

“Putin is a war criminal,” Del Ponte told the Swiss newspaper Le Temps in an interview published Saturday.

In interviews given to Swiss media to mark the release of her latest book, the Swiss lawyer who oversaw U.N. investigations in Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia for the International Criminal Court (ICC) said there were clear war crimes being committed in Ukraine.

She said she was particularly shocked by the use of mass graves in Russia's war on Ukraine, which recalls the worst of the wars in the former Yugoslavia.

“I hoped never to see mass graves again,” she told the newspaper Blick. “These dead people have loved ones who don’t even know what’s become of them. That is unacceptable.”

Other war crimes she identified in Ukraine included attacks on civilians, the destruction of civilian buildings and even the demolishing of entire villages.

She said the investigation in Ukraine would be easier than that in Yugoslavia because the country itself had requested an international probe. The current ICC chief prosecutor, Karim Khan, visited Ukraine last month.

If the ICC finds proof of war crimes, she said, “you must go up the chain of command until you reach those who took the decisions.”

She said it would be possible to bring even Putin to account.

“You mustn’t let go, continue to investigation. When the investigation into Slobodan Milosevic began, he was still president of Serbia. Who would have thought then that he would one day be judged? Nobody,” she told Blick.

Del Ponte added that investigations should be carried out into possible war crimes committed by both sides, pointing also to reports about the alleged torture of some Russian prisoners of war by Ukrainian forces./AP

Accident investigators from the United States arrived in China Saturday to help authorities look for clues into what caused last month’s crash of a Boeing 737-800 liner with 132 people aboard.

The seven-member team from the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) will participate in the Civil Aviation Administration of China’s (CAAC) investigation of the March 21 crash of a China Eastern Airlines Boeing 737-800.

As part of that assistance, the plane’s cockpit voice recorder is being downloaded and analyzed at a U.S. lab in Washington, federal officials said Friday.

Investigators hope the recording will explain why the plane went into a nosedive from about 8,800 meters (29,000 feet) over a mountainous region in southeastern China.

Chinese officials have said that air traffic controllers were unable to get a response from the pilots while the plane was descending.

The cockpit voice recorder would pick up voices and other sounds from microphones worn by the pilots and another stationed over their heads.

Searchers also recovered the plane’s flight data recorder, which constantly captures speed, altitude, heading and other information and the performance of key systems on the aircraft, but that recorder was not being evaluated in Washington on Friday.

The NTSB said its investigators will limit contact with people outside the investigation so that they can start their work immediately without going through a quarantine period.

The plane that crashed was not a 737 Max, a newer model that was temporarily grounded worldwide following two deadly crashes in Indonesia and Ethiopia.

The impact caused by the crash in China created a 20-meter- (65-foot-) deep crater, set off a fire in the surrounding forest and smashed the plane into small parts scattered over a wide area, some of them buried underground. More than 49,000 pieces of debris have been recovered, along with some human remains and personal items.

A Chinese aviation safety official said a preliminary investigation report would be completed within 30 days of the crash.

Flight MU5735 with 123 passengers and nine crew members was headed from the southwestern city of Kunming, the capital of Yunnan province, to Guangzhou, a major city and export manufacturing hub near Hong Kong in southeastern China.

The 737-800 has an excellent safety record and the Chinese airline industry has had relatively few mishaps in recent years.

Before last month's accident, the last fatal crash of a Chinese airliner occurred in August 2010, when an Embraer ERJ 190-100 operated by Henan Airlines hit the ground short of the runway in the northeastern city of Yichun and caught fire, killing 44 people. Investigators blamed pilot error./aa

An Islamophobic Dutch group is planning to hold deliberately provocative barbecues near mosques over the next several weeks, coinciding with the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, in which most believers fast from sunrise to sunset.

According to PEGIDA, which stands for "Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamization of West," the barbecues will be held in front of mosques at the sunset fast-breaking time in 12 cities across the country, for which they have applied for permits.

In years past, similar PEGIDA barbecues have featured the roasting of pork, a food prohibited under Islam.

The group argued that these events have not been allowed for two years due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but that now there is no obstacle to what they call the "Ramadan Barbecue Tour."

Starting in 2014, the far-right anti-Islam PEGIDA held its first protest in Dresden, Germany with some 350 people, including 12 organizers.

By early 2015, the number of protesters is said to have reached some 25,000 but later fell.

PEGIDA has inspired xenophobic groups both inside and outside Germany./aa