Europe

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russia is targeting all of Europe with its invasion of Ukraine, and stopping Moscow’s aggression is essential for the security of all democracies, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said as Russian forces prepared for battle in the east of his country.

Addressing the “free people of a brave country,” Zelenskyy said in a late night video message to Ukrainians that Russia’s war aim “was not intended to be limited to Ukraine alone” and the “entire European project is a target.”

Paris, Apr 9 (AP) From the market stall outside Paris that she's run for 40 years, Yvette Robert can see first-hand how soaring prices are weighing on France's presidential election and turning the first round of voting on Sunday into a nail-biter for incumbent President Emmanuel Macron.

Shoppers, increasingly worried about how to make ends meet, are buying ever-smaller quantities of Robert's neatly stacked fruits and vegetables, she says.

MOSCOW, April 9. /TASS/: Russia’s air defense forces have brought down three Ukrainian drones, including a Bayraktar, Russian Defense Ministry Spokesman Igor Konashenkov said on Saturday.

"The Russian air defense has shot down three Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles. Of those, two were shot down outside Mariupol and Kalininskoe, and another one, Bayraktar TB2, near Sakhnovschina, Kharkov region," he said.

MOSCOW, April 8. /TASS/: The decision of the European Union to cancel import of Russian coal will after its member-states in the first instance, Russian Energy Minister Nikolay Shulginov said, cited by the official Telegram channel of the Ministry.

MOSCOW, April 8. /TASS/: The current unprecedented sanctions against Russia will cause further collapse of all international institutions, Deputy Chairman of the Russian Security Council Dmitry Medvedev said.

LONDON, April 9 (Reuters) - British finance minister Rishi Sunak considered whether he should resign this week after a storm of criticism over his wealthy wife's tax status, the Sunday Times newspaper reported.

"He was considering whether he could withstand his family taking this any more," the newspaper quoted an unidentified source as saying.

A source familiar with the situation told Reuters that Sunak did not consider resigning.

MILAN, April 9 (Reuters) - Former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said on Saturday he was deeply disappointed and saddened by the behaviour of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The tycoon, who for years enjoyed a close friendship with the Russian leader, said Putin had to take full responsibility in the eyes of the world over the invasion of Ukraine.

"I got to know him 20 years ago and he had always seemed to me a man of democracy and peace... what a pity," Berlusconi said, addressing a convention of his conservative Forza Italia party in Rome.

BRUSSELS, April 8 (Xinhua) -- European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and the European Union's (EU) foreign policy chief Josep Borrell visited Ukraine on Friday, promising a speedier process for the country to join the EU.

"Ukraine takes another important step towards EU membership," von der Leyen said on Twitter. She said the EU will accelerate this process "as much as we can, while ensuring that all conditions are respected."

VLADIVOSTOK, April 9 (Xinhua) -- Russia plans to launch its Luna-25 moon probe from the Vostochny Cosmodrome in the Far Eastern region of Amur on August 22, Russia's RIA Novosti news agency reported Friday.

This would be Russia's first mission to the Moon in 46 years, said Alexander Mitkin, Deputy General Designer for Electrical Systems at NPO Lavochkin, a spacecraft building factory where Luna-25 was made.

The last lunar mission, Luna-24, was undertaken by the former Soviet Union in August 1976, which proved presence of water in samples brought back from the Moon.

LONDON (AP) — U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer on Saturday joined the stream of European leaders showing their support for Ukraine by traveling to the nation’s capital for face-to-face meetings with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.