Europe

Kyiv, Apr 18 (AP) Braced for an all-out Russian assault in the east, Ukraine vowed to "fight absolutely to the end in strategically vital Mariupol, where the ruined port city's last known pocket of resistance was holed up in a sprawling steel plant laced with tunnels.

With missiles and rockets also battering other parts of the country, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy accused Russian soldiers of carrying out torture and kidnappings in areas they control.

18 April 2022; MEMO: Russia's Foreign Ministry summoned on Sunday Israeli Ambassador in Moscow, Alexander Ben Zvi, to rebuke him over Foreign Minister Yair Lapid's remarks on Russia, Haaretz reported.

The meeting is scheduled for today, Monday,and according to the Israeli media, would be a normal diplomatic reprimand over criticism of Russia's war in Ukraine.

MOSCOW, April 17. /TASS/: Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin signed a decree to boost the export quotas for fertilizers until May 31, the cabinet said on its website on Sunday.

"Current export quotas for Russian fertilizer producers have been temporarily increased by almost 700,000 tons," the cabinet said in a statement. "Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin has signed an order to that effect."

"The decision will be in force through May 31, 2022," the statement said.

MOSCOW, April 17. /TASS/: Russian State Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin on Sunday said Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky wants to buy time by expressing readiness for talks while also seeking help from NATO.

Volodin was reacting to Zelensky’s statement that Ukraine is ready to discuss abandoning its bid to join NATO and the status of Crimea with Russia, but not until Moscow halts hostilities and withdraws its troops.

MOSCOW, April 17. /TASS/: Russian Defense Ministry Spokesman Major General Igor Konashenkov on Sunday said Russian special forces freed hostages that were held in a Turkish mosque in Mariupol.

"A special operation to free hostages, who were held in Turkish mosque by Ukrainian Nazis, was conducted on April 16 during offensive actions to liberate Mariupol and at the request of Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan," the spokesman said.

MOSCOW, April 17. /TASS/: Russia is concerned about the involvement of NATO’s non-Arctic states in the alliance’s military activity in northern areas and notes risks of unintentional clashes with the alliance’ forces in the Arctic, Russian Foreign Ministry’s Ambassador-at-Large Nikolay Korchunov told TASS.

MOSCOW, April 17. /TASS/: Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said he’s sure Russia will endure the current confrontation with the West.

"We can," he said on Rossiya-1 television on Sunday, when asked by the host if Russia, unlike the USSR, can survive the standoff with the West.

Earlier, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that in modern conditions, a single country won’t be able to maintain its dominance. According to the president, the unipolar world, which took shape after the collapse of the Soviet Union, is falling into pieces at the moment.

Reuters, April 17 (Reuters) - Five people were killed in shelling of the city centre of Kharkiv on Sunday, and 13 were injured, the Ukrainian Suspilne public broadcaster reported citing local health authorities.

"Rescuers are operating in the sites (affected by shelling)," the report said.

April 17 (Reuters) - Ukraine has asked G7 nations for $50 billion in financial support and is also considering issuing 0% coupon bonds to help it cover a war-linked budget deficit over the next six months, the president's economic adviser Oleh Ustenko said on Sunday.

Speaking on national television, Ustenko said these options were being actively discussed.

LONDON (AP) — Senior British royals including Prince William and his wife Kate have attended an Easter Sunday church service at Windsor Castle.

Queen Elizabeth II, who has been experiencing mobility problems, did not attend the service at St. George’s Chapel on the castle grounds, a fixture in the royals’ calendar.

William and Kate, also known as the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, were accompanied by two of their three children: Prince George, 8, and 6-year-old Princess Charlotte.