Europe

MOSCOW, May 20. /TASS/: Russia’s COVID-19 case tally rose by 5,089 over the past day to 18,283,706, the anti-coronavirus crisis center reported on Friday.

In relative terms, the growth rate reached 0.03%.

As many as 2,081 people were hospitalized with COVID-19 in Russia over the past day, down 1.7% from a day earlier. The number of hospitalized patients decreased in 38 regions, while in 40 regions the figure increased. The situation remained unchanged in seven regions. A day earlier, 2,117 people were rushed to hospitals.

MOSCOW, May 20. /TASS/: The US researched Ebola and smallpox viruses in Ukraine, says Irina Yarovaya, Co-Chair of the Parliamentary Commission on Investigation of US Biological Laboratories in Ukraine.

"Today, we presented an analysis of which pathogens the US was particularly interested in in Ukraine," she told reporters Friday. "Aside from the pathogens that are territorially bound to Ukraine, [the laboratories] researched viruses and pathogens that are endemically very far from Ukraine, such as Ebola and smallpox."

MOSCOW, May 20. /TASS/: During a recent panel, Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu revealed how many military units will be formed in the Western Military District in response to NATO's buildup near Russia's borders.

"Twelve military units and subunits will be formed in the Western Military District by the end of the year," Shoigu said, noting that tensions continue to mount in the area of responsibility of the Western Military District, which is also due to the possible admission of Finland and Sweden to NATO.

MOSCOW, May 20. /TASS/: Russian and Belarusian Presidents, Vladimir Putin and Alexander Lukashenko, will hold talks in Russia’s Sochi on Monday, Putin’s press secretary Dmitry Peskov said on Friday.

"Putin’s meeting with Lukashenko in Sochi is scheduled for Monday," he said, adding that it will be a bilateral contact the two presidents agreed during the jubilee summit of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), a post-Soviet Russia-led security bloc, in Moscow on May 16.

May 20 (Reuters) - Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu said on Friday that moves by Finland and Sweden to join NATO were part of an increase in military threats near Russia's western borders, and it was taking "adequate countermeasures".

In a speech, Shoigu also said the United States had stepped up strategic bomber flights in recent years, sent warships to the Baltic Sea and intensified training exercises in the region with its NATO partners.

May 19 (Reuters) - Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Thursday said Russian forces had "completely destroyed" the industrial Donbas region and accused Moscow of carrying out senseless bombardments as it intensified its offensive.

Zelenskiy also accused Russian forces of attempting to kill as many Ukrainians and do as much damage as possible, repeating his charge that Russia was carrying out a genocide.

KYIV, May 20 (Reuters) - A 21-year-old Russian soldier told a court on Friday he had not wanted to kill an unarmed civilian and that he sincerely repented, as he delivered his final words at the first war crimes trial arising from Russia's Feb. 24 invasion.

Vadim Shishimarin, a tank commander, has pleaded guilty to killing Oleksandr Shelipov, a 62-year-old civilian, in the northeast Ukrainian village of Chupakhivka on Feb. 28.

"I sincerely repent. I was nervous at the time, I did not want to kill... that's how it happened," Shishimarin said.

MOSCOW, May 19 (Xinhua) -- Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces Valery Gerasimov and U.S. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley held a phone call on Thursday to discuss issues of mutual interest, including the situation in Ukraine.

The conversation was initiated by the American side, the Russian Defense Ministry said in a brief statement, without providing details.

COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — A suspect was arrested in Norway after at least three people were stabbed with a sharp object, leaving one critically injured Friday, police said.

Police at first said the attack in the village of Nore as random, but later clarified that there was “a family relationship” between the assailant and at least one of the victims.

“This is a family from Syria, and the perpetrator and one of the injured are married,” police inspector Odd Skei Kostveit said in a statement.

LONDON (AP) — U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is facing criticism from the leader of Northern Ireland’s biggest unionist party after saying Congress won’t approve a trade deal with the U.K. if Britain scraps the agreement governing post-Brexit trade on the Irish island.

The trans-Atlantic sparring follows British Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s government announcing its intention to introduce legislation that would allow it to unilaterally suspend the so-called Northern Ireland Protocol, an international agreement between Britain and the European Union.