???? Live: Pope says Ukraine war driven not just by ‘Russian empire’

Issued on: 10/03/2023 – 11:53Modified: 10/03/2023 – 11:54

11:29am: Russia says Georgia protests subject to US ‘provocation’

Russia said on Friday it was watching events in Georgia “with great concern” and suggested without providing evidence that the United States was stirring up anti-Russian sentiment there.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov was speaking after Georgia’s parliament, following three nights of protests, dropped a draft bill similar to the “foreign agents” law that Russia has used to crack down on opponents for the past decade.

He reiterated that Moscow had nothing to do with the situation in Georgia but said it was significant that Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili had been in the United States this week.

“It’s not from Georgia that she’s addressing Georgians. She’s addressing them from America. And someone’s visible hand is trying to add an anti-Russian element again here,” he said.

“Yes, this is fraught with provocations, we are watching this very attentively and with great concern.”

The choice of words echoed Peskov’s phrasing from a briefing earlier this week. After China’s foreign minister said an “invisible hand” was prolonging the war in Ukraine, the Kremlin spokesman said the “hand” referred to was obviously that of Washington.

11:25am: Kyiv restores ‘most’ of its power supply, officials say

Ukraine’s capital restored most of its power supply on Friday, officials said, as the country again responded to the latest Russian missile and drone barrage targeting critical infrastructure.

Power and water were restored in Kyiv, said Serhii Popko, the head of the city’s military administration. Popko said that about 30% of consumers in the capital remained without heating and that repair work was ongoing.

The electricity supply was restored to more than nine in 10 consumers in Ukraine’s northeastern Kharkiv region, local officials said, while power was also restored to a third of consumers in Ukraine’s southern Zaporizhzhia region.

9:46am: Macron, Sunak expected to vow more support for Ukraine

France’s President Emmanuel Macron and Britain’s Prime Minister Rishi Sunak are set to meet in Paris on Friday to aim to iron out differences over migration and deepen military ties on Friday.

The two leaders are expected to vow more support for Ukraine, Downing Street said.

Ties between France and Britain, which have often been rocky since Britain voted to leave the European Union in 2016, have been fortified by the countries’ support for Ukraine since Russia’s invasion.

A French presidential adviser said the summit’s priority was for the two NATO allies to reconnect.

8:35am: Putin congratulates Xi on new term, commends ‘strengthening ties’ with Russia

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday congratulated Xi Jinping on his third term as China’s leader, hailing the strengthening ties between the two countries.

“Dear friend, please accept sincere congratulations on the occasion of your re-election,” Putin said in a statement released by the Kremlin.

“Russia highly values your personal contribution toward the strengthening of ties … and strategic cooperation between our nations.”

“I am certain that working together, we will ensure the development of fruitful Russian-Chinese cooperation in all sorts of different areas. We will continue to coordinate joint work on the most important regional and international issues.”

With Russia’s relations with the West reaching Cold War-era lows after Moscow sent troops to Ukraine, the Kremlin has sought to shore up its ties with China.

7:11am: Pope says war in Ukraine driven by ‘several empires’, not only Russia

The war in Ukraine is driven by the interests of several “empires” and not just Russia’s, Pope Francis said in an interview published on Friday.

Francis said the conflict was fuelled by “imperial interests, not just of the Russian empire, but of empires from elsewhere”.

He expressed a readiness to talk to Russian President Vladimir Putin to call for peace.

The pontiff was speaking to Italian Swiss television RSI, in an interview due to be broadcast on Sunday. Extracts were published Friday by Italian dailies La Repubblica, La Stampa and Corriere della Sera.

06:00am: Russia pounds Ukraine with barrage of rare hypersonic missiles

Nine people were killed across Ukraine on Thursday, as Russia unleashed a barrage of high-precision missile and other attacks that triggered a wave of power cuts, including at Europe’s biggest nuclear power plant.

The blackout at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant prompted the UN nuclear agency’s chief to issue a dire warning that next time “luck will run out”, while President Volodymyr Zelensky called on the West to impose sanctions on Russia’s atomic industry.

Russia said the strikes, involving rare hypersonic missiles, were retaliation for a border incursion earlier this month.

(FRANCE 24 with AFP, AP & Reuters)