Ukraine warns citizens of possible full mobilization
Kiev is overhauling its conscription system to boost troop numbers following a series of setbacks in its conflict with Moscow, with harsh reforms set to come into force next week.
“Globally speaking, starting on May 18, when the mobilization law comes into force, first of all, the approach to this war will change,” Lazutkin told Espresso TV on Saturday.
“This situation, when some people are fighting at the front lines, while others are living their quiet lives, is obviously coming to an end.”
Life in Kiev is “strikingly different” from the situation in the east of the country, which is “abnormal”.
“It would be normal if our enemy was weak. But with such an enemy, the whole country and the whole of society need to mobilize,” Lazutkin added.
Ukraine has been desperate to replace nearly half a million casualties – by Moscow’s estimates – since the outbreak of hostilities in February 2022. Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu said last week that Ukraine has lost more than 111,000 soldiers in 2024 alone.
Last month, President Volodymyr Zelensky enacted amendments to conscription rules, lowering the draft age to 25, automating draft notices and greatly expanding the powers of enlistment officers, while introducing assorted restrictions for draft dodgers.
The foreign ministry has suspended consular services for military-eligible Ukrainians abroad. Under the legislation, fines for violations of military registration rules will increase to $520, with Ukrainian authorities threatening to block bank accounts and impose restrictions on the property of those trying to avoid military service.
In response to the changes, there has been a surge in Ukrainian men seeking to flee the country. Border Service spokesman Andrey Demchenko recently stated that around 120-150 people are caught trying to illegally leave Ukraine every day, while some end up dying in such attempts.
10,000 bodies trapped under rubble in Gaza Strip: Report
“For months, we’ve been working with simple equipment, which drains us (of) our time and effort,” spokesperson Mahmoud Bassal said.
The group noted Israel has destroyed 70 to 80 percent of Civil Defense’s capabilities.
“We demand that the United Nations and humanitarian groups immediately intervene to allow the entry of necessary rescue equipment so we can continue our work, retrieve the missing from under the rubble and provide the required fuel to operate the civil defense vehicles,” Bassal added.
Israel has pounded the Gaza Strip following Palestinian resistance group Hamas’ cross-border attack on Oct. 7, 2023, which killed about 1,200 people.
Nearly 34,950 Palestinians, most of them women and children, have since been killed, and nearly 78,600 others injured, according to Palestinian health authorities.
Seven months into the conflict, vast swathes of Gaza lay in ruins amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water and medicine.
Israel is accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice. An interim ruling in January said it is “plausible” that Tel Aviv is committing genocide in Gaza, ordering it to stop such acts and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians in Gaza.
South Africa on Friday asked the ICJ to order Israel to withdraw from Rafah as part of additional emergency measures over the war.
Israelis take to streets demanding captive swap deal, Netanyahu resignation; several detained
Thousands of Israelis protested in Tel Aviv’s Kaplan Square, demanding that the government negotiate a swap deal as soon as possible and hold early elections, Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth reported.
About 2,000 protesters gathered in front of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s residence in Caesarea to hold a memorial service for the victims of the Oct. 7 attack, the daily said.
The son of one of the victims of the Oct. 7 events blamed Netanyahu for his father’s death at a news conference held during the protest in Caesarea, it added.
Hundreds also demonstrated in Haifa, Rehovot, and Ness Ziona (central), demanding an immediate agreement to release hostages held in Gaza.
Protesters carried banners accusing Netanyahu of neglecting the hostages and demanding his immediate resignation and early elections, the paper reported.
In Tel Aviv, police arrested several demonstrators in the Ayalon area on charges of rioting, after they attempted to block the northern section of Ayalon Street, including the wife of the son of one of the hostages in the Gaza Strip, Israeli Channel 12 reported.
It said police used wastewater to disperse demonstrators who tried to close Ayalon Street.
Israeli army radio added police arrested several demonstrators in the Ayalon area, including at least three from families of hostages.
Channel 13 reported that clashes erupted between police and demonstrators in central Tel Aviv.
In front of Netanyahu’s residence in Jerusalem, hundreds demonstrated to pressure the prime minister into negotiating a hostage swap deal, according to army radio.
Meanwhile, hundreds of people protested on Saturday near the northern Israeli city of Safed, citing the “unstable security situation” caused by Hezbollah attacks.
The Israeli Broadcasting Authority reported on X that hundreds of Israelis demonstrated at the “Hamei’ad” junction near Safed, holding banners accusing the government of “abandoning them”.
Protesters held signs saying, “We have been left alone.”
The demonstrators accused the government of “neglecting the security situation in the north of the country, which is witnessing confrontations with Hezbollah, and exchanges of shelling and targeting.”
Israel has pounded the Gaza Strip following Palestinian resistance group Hamas’ cross-border attack on Oct. 7, 2023, which killed about 1,200 people.
Nearly 34,950 Palestinians, most of them women and children, have since been killed, and nearly 78,600 others injured, according to Palestinian health authorities.
Seven months into the conflict, vast swathes of Gaza lay in ruins amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water and medicine.
Israel is accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice. An interim ruling in January said it is “plausible” that Tel Aviv is committing genocide in Gaza, ordering it to stop such acts and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians in Gaza.
South Africa on Friday asked the ICJ to order Israel to withdraw from Rafah as part of additional emergency measures over the war.
Hamas says a captive died of wounds sustained in Israeli raid
The group’s announcement on Saturday came just hours after the Palestinian group released an 11-second video showing Popplewell with a bruised eye.
In the video republished on social media and cited by Israeli news outlets, a man is seen wearing a white T-shirt and he introduces himself as 51-year-old Nadav Popplewell from the Nirim kibbutz in southern Israel.
Superimposed text in Arabic and Hebrew reads: “Time is running out. Your government is lying”.
Popplewell was taken captive in Nirim during the Hamas-led attack on October 7, according to Israel’s Ynet news site. His mother was also taken as a captive but later released during the exchange of captives and prisoners by Hamas and Israel last year. Popplewell’s brother was killed in the attack, Ynet reported.
The video posted on Saturday on the Telegram channel of Hamas’s armed wing is the third time in less than a month the group has released footage of captives held in Gaza.
On April 27, Hamas released a video showing two captives alive – Keith Siegel and Omri Miran. Three days earlier it also broadcast another video showing captive Hersh Goldberg-Polin alive.
The videos come amid growing domestic pressure on the Israeli government to secure the release of the remaining captives.
On Saturday, the Hostages and Missing Families Forum in Israel released a statement calling on the Israeli government to strike a deal with Hamas in order to secure the release of captives.
“Every sign of life received from the hostages held by Hamas is another cry of distress to the Israeli government and its leaders,” the families’ group said in its statement.
“We don’t have a moment to spare! You must strive to implement a deal that will bring them all back today.”
Relatives of the captives also accused Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of not caring about those being held in Gaza and called on Netanyahu to resign.
“If we continue down this path, we will lose not only the hostages but the country itself,” Naama Weinberg, a cousin of one of the captives said at a press conference in Tel Aviv on Saturday afternoon.
“There is no victory and can be no victory without the return of the hostages.”
Despite the immense pressure, Netanyahu and his government have so far failed to strike a deal with Hamas.
Some 1,200 people were killed on October 7 when Hamas and allied fighters attacked southern Israel, and 250 captives were also taken to the Gaza Strip. Israeli officials say 128 of them are still being held in the Palestinian territory, including 36 who are dead.
Israel’s seven-month military campaign in Gaza has so far killed at least 34,971 people and wounded 78,641 others.
Israel orders Palestinians to evacuate more areas in Gaza Strip
Army spokesman Avichay Adraee in a statement issued “a call to all residents and displaced people in the Jabalia area and the neighborhoods of Al-Salam, Al-Nour, Tal Al-Zaatar, Beit Lahia Project, Jabalia Camp, Ezbet Mlin, Al-Rawda, Al-Nuzha, Al-Jarn, Al-Nahda, and Al-Zuhour” in the northern Gaza Strip demanding that they “go immediately to the shelters west of Gaza City”.
The army also demanded the evacuation of some neighborhoods in eastern Rafah, a southern Gaza city where it has expanded operations.
It called “on some neighborhoods in eastern Rafah … specifically in the Rafah and Shaboura camps, and the neighborhoods of Al-Adari, Al-Jeneina, and Khirbat Al-Adas in blocks 6-9, 17, 25-27, 31” to “head to the expanded humanitarian area in Al-Mawasi”.
The military had earlier ordered 100,000 displaced Palestinian residents in Rafah to evacuate to Al-Mawasi ahead of launching an invasion.
Several countries had warned Israel against carrying out a military operation in Rafah, which houses at least 1.4 million displaced Palestinians.
Israel has pounded the Gaza Strip in retaliation for an Oct. 7, 2023 cross-border attack by Hamas which killed around 1,200 people.
Nearly 34,950 Palestinians, most of them women and children, have since been killed, and nearly 78,600 others injured, according to Palestinian health authorities.
Seven months into the conflict, vast swathes of Gaza lay in ruins amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water and medicine.
Israel is accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice. An interim ruling in January said it is “plausible” that Tel Aviv is committing genocide in Gaza, ordering it to stop such acts and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians in Gaza.
South Africa on Friday asked the ICJ to order Israel to withdraw from Rafah as part of additional emergency measures over the war.
Powerful earthquake hits northwestern Iranian city
Following the quake, people of Ardabil, in northwestern Iran, rushed out of the buildings. There is no word yet on possible casualties or material damage due to the earthquake.
The quake also rattled the border between the Republic of Azerbaijan and the Caspian Sea.
Reports say the tremor happened at a depth 26 kilometers. Nearly all of the Iranian territory, especially its northwestern regions, is criss-crossed by fault-lines, making it a quake-prone country.
Iran has seen many deadly quakes throughout history.
Iran’s interior minister calls Friday runoff vote “epic”, critics outcry
Ahmad Vahidi said the turnout in the second rounds of elections has always been lower than the first round but this time around it was higher compared to the previous vote’s runoff.
Vahidi also called the turnout “epic”, adding that the enemies of Iran tried to cause security problems during the vote but they failed in doing so.
However, Vahidi’s remarks were criticized. Mohammad Javad Azari Jahromi, Iran’s minister of communications under former president Hassan Rouahni, said in a post on X that by the word “epic”, Vahidi probably meant the 92% of the would-be voters who declined to turn out for the elections.
The former president’s advisor Hessamedin Ashna also reacted to Vahidi’s comments. In his post on X, Ashna said, “If we call this turnout “epic”, we have deprived ourselves and the ruling establishment of understanding the necessity of knowing the weaknesses under the current circumstances”.
The second round of the parliamentary elections was held on Friday in 22 constituency nationwide. 90 candidates contested for the remaining 45 seats, including 16 ones in Tehran.
UN says hundreds killed by flash floods in Afghanistan
The World Food Program said it was distributing fortified biscuits to the survivors of one of the many floods that hit Afghanistan over the last few weeks, mostly the northern province of Baghlan, which bore the brunt of the deluges Friday.
In neighboring Takhar province, state-owned media outlets reported the floods killed at least 20 people.
Zabihullah Mujahid, the chief spokesman for the Taliban government, posted on the social media platform X that “hundreds … have succumbed to these calamitous floods, while a substantial number have sustained injuries”.
Mujahid identified the provinces of Badakhshan, Baghlan, Ghor and Herat as the worst hit. He added that “the extensive devastation” has resulted in “significant financial losses”.
He stated the government had ordered all available resources mobilized to rescue people, transport the injured and recover the dead.
The Taliban Defense Ministry announced in a statement Saturday that the country’s air force has already begun evacuating people in Baghlan and has rescued a large number of people stuck in flooded areas and transported 100 injured people to military hospitals in the region.
Richard Bennett, U.N. special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Afghanistan, wrote on X that the floods are a stark reminder of Afghanistan’s vulnerability to the climate crisis and both immediate aid and long-term planning by the Taliban and international actors are needed.
Videos and photos posted on social media showed dozens of people gathered Saturday behind the hospital in Baghlan looking for their loved ones.
More bodies recovered from Gaza mass graves
According to the ministry, this brings the total number of bodies recovered from mass graves throughout Gaza since October to 520.
The ministry added that some bodies were discovered with bullet wounds in their heads and chests, indicating that they had been executed at point-blank range.
A new mass grave at the hospital was uncovered earlier this week, the seventh to be discovered in Gaza since 7 October.
The ministry of health in Gaza also said 28 people were killed as a result of Israeli military operations in the most recent 24 hours. it added that 69 people had been injured in the same period.
Altogether, since October 7, 34,971 people have been killed in Gaza and 78,641 injured, according to the ministry.
