Europe

ROME, April 27 (Reuters) - Italy's Prime Minister Mario Draghi on Wednesday told Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy that Rome fully supports his country and is ready to contribute to finding a lasting solution to the crisis, Draghi's office said in a statement.

The phone conversation between the two leaders focused on the latest developments in the situation on the ground in Ukraine and assistance to the country in the face of Russia's invasion, the statement added.

April 27 (Reuters) - Russian government hackers carried out multiple cyber operations against Ukraine that appeared to support Moscow's military attacks and online propaganda campaigns, Microsoft (MSFT.O) said in a report on Wednesday.

The reported intrusions - some of which have not been previously disclosed - suggest that hacking has played a bigger role in the conflict than what has been publicly known.

WARSAW/SOFIA/KYIV, April 27 (Reuters) - Russia halted gas supplies to Bulgaria and Poland on Wednesday for rejecting its demand for payment in roubles, taking direct aim at European economies in a move that also exposed divisions in the EU on how to respond to Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.

The decision, denounced by European leaders as "blackmail", comes as Russia's own economy wilts under sweeping international sanctions and as Western countries ramp up arms shipments to help Ukraine fend off a new Russian assault in the east.

KIEV, April 27 (Xinhua) -- Ukraine is seeking to receive 5 billion U.S. dollars from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) per month, Ukraine's media outlet Hromadske reported on Wednesday, citing the country's Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal.

"We are talking about 5 billion dollars a month -- the need for this amount has been confirmed by both the IMF and the World Bank. These are the funds that the budget of Ukraine needs in order to fulfill all our social and humanitarian obligations," Shmyhal said.

PARIS (AP) — Soon after his victory was announced, French President Emmanuel Macron took the stage to the sound of the European Union’s anthem, the “Ode to Joy.” The symbolism was strong: The 44-year-old centrist’s election to a second term bolsters his standing as a senior player in Europe.

Macron is now expected to push for strengthening the 27-nation bloc and throw all his weight behind efforts to put an end to the war in Ukraine.

LONDON (AP) — A British court ruled Wednesday that the Conservative government acted illegally when it discharged hospital patients into nursing homes without testing them for COVID-19 or isolating them — a policy that led to thousands of deaths early in the pandemic.

Two High Court judges said the policy in March and April 2020 was unlawful because it failed to take into account the infection risk that non-symptomatic carriers of the virus posed to older or vulnerable people.

POKROVSK, Ukraine (AP) — Russia cut off natural gas to NATO members Poland and Bulgaria on Wednesday and threatened to do the same to other countries, dramatically escalating its standoff with the West over the war in Ukraine. European leaders decried the move as “blackmail.”

A day after the U.S. and other Western allies vowed to speed more and heavier weapons to Ukraine, the Kremlin used its most most essential export as leverage against two of Kyiv’s staunch backers. Gas prices in Europe shot up on the news.

26 April 2022; MEMO: Hundreds of refugees from Afghanistan who sought sanctuary in Germany have been evicted following the arrival of a large number of Ukrainians fleeing the on-going conflict in their country.

According to a report by Foreign Policy last week, many Afghans have received eviction notices from German authorities, with some given just 24 hours' notice.

MOSCOW, April 26. /TASS/: Europe will see a deep economic and political crisis coming and Europeans are already being affected by inflation growth and declining living standards, Secretary of the Russian Security Council Nikolay Patrushev said in an interview with the Rossiyskaya Gazeta newspaper.

"Europe will a face a deep economic and political crisis for its countries. Growing inflation and the fall of living standards already affect budgets and moods of Europeans," Patrushev said.

MOSCOW, April 26. /TASS/: Russia’s COVID-19 case tally rose by 7,107 over the past day to 18,151,895, the anti-coronavirus crisis center reported on Tuesday.

In absolute terms, the growth rate was the lowest since September 24, 2020. In relative terms, the growth rate reached 0.04%.