Some believe Putin miscalculated by declaring war on his westerly neighbour and that he underestimated the unpopularity of such a move back home, with one aide to jailed opposition leader Mr Navalny predicting it will be his downfall.
Meanwhile, it also emerged Saturday that corpses of Russian soldiers killed in Ukraine are being moved from Belarus back to Russia by train and planes in the dead of night to avoid attracting attention.
VATICAN CITY, April 9 (Reuters) – Pope Francis appeared to ask Russians to seek the truth about their country’s invasion of Ukraine in his Easter message to the world on Sunday and appealed for dialogue between Israelis and Palestinians following recent violence.
In his interview, Lukashenko – who allowed Russia to use his country as a staging post for the Ukraine invasion on February 24 – boasted that he and Putin were ‘friends’ as he bemoaned the break-up of the Soviet Union in 1991.
He had initially vowed to stay put in Kyiv despite the constant blaring of air raid sirens and attacks on residential buildings, but decided to leave after hearing reports of Russian soldiers ‘raping’ Ukrainian women.
Lvova-Belova said earlier this week that her commission acted on humanitarian grounds to protect the interests of children in an area where military action was taking place and had not moved anyone against their will or that of their parents or legal guardians, whose consent was always sought unless they were missing.
Moscow has not concealed a programme under which it has taken thousands of Ukrainian children from occupied areas, but presents this it as a humanitarian campaign to protect orphans and children abandoned in the conflict zone.
Daniel Kebede (centre) has been outspoken on his political stances – including a statement after threats from Russian president Vladimir Putin against Ukraine where he criticised Nato involvement in the conflict
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson had suggested the growingly desperate leader – who has yet to make any significant inroads in Ukraine – is being ‘irrational’, while Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte described him as ‘totally paranoid’.
As he has done every Easter, Francis called for peace in the Middle East, his appeal made more urgent by recent violence in Jerusalem and cross-border exchanges of fire involving Israel, Lebanon and Syria.
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Between the Mass and his reading of the message, Francis, appearing in fine form, was driven in a popemobile around the square and down the main boulevard leading to the River Tiber so more people could see him.
Since Russia invaded Ukraine in February last year, Francis has at least twice a week referred to Ukraine and its people as being “martyred” and has used words such as aggression and atrocities to describe Russia’s actions.
Kateryna Rashevska, a lawyer from a Ukrainian NGO called Regional Centre for Human Rights, told the briefing they were collecting evidence to build a case that Russian officials deliberately prevented return of the Ukrainian children.
In his message Francis also mentioned instability in Lebanon, expressed the hope that the “martyred Rohingya people” of Myanmar “may encounter justice”, and called for more aid for the victims of earthquakes in February that killed nearly 56,000 people in Turkey and Syria.
Meanwhile, an aide to jailed Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny today suggested Putin had massively miscalculated, predicting the ‘unpopular’ war and its economic consequences would lead to the ‘demise’ of his regime within five years.
UKRAINE/BELARUS BORDER, April 8 (Reuters) – More than 30 children were reunited with their families in Ukraine this weekend after a long operation to bring them back home from Russia or Russian-occupied Crimea, where they had been taken from areas occupied by Russian forces during the war.
But the traditional pomp and sacred singing then gave way to modern realities. Francis later went up to the central balcony of St.
Peter’s Basilica to deliver his twice-yearly “Urbi et Orbi” (to the city and the world) message and blessing, addressing a crowd the Vatican estimated at about 100,000.
A carpet of 38,000 flowers donated by the Netherlands bedecked the square for the most important and joyous date in the Church’s liturgical calendar – commemorating the day Christians believe Jesus rose from the dead.