Europe

WARSAW, April 3 (Reuters) - Poland would welcome a 50% increase in the number of U.S. troops in Europe, the leader of the country's ruling party said in comments published on Sunday, as Warsaw calls for tougher action against Moscow over the conflict in Ukraine.

The invasion of Ukraine, which Russian President Vladimir Putin called a "special military operation" to demilitarise its neighbour, has fueled security fears in states on NATO's eastern flank.

ODESA, Ukraine, April 3 (Reuters) - Russian attacks have destroyed an oil refinery in the central Poltava region and struck "critical infrastructure", most likely oil facilities, near the port city of Odesa, local officials said on Sunday.

Russian forces have attacked Odesa, the main base for Ukraine's navy, alongside other Ukrainian Black Sea ports such as Mariupol and Mykolaiv. If taken, it would give Russia a land corridor from Crimea to Transniestria, a Russian-speaking breakaway province of Moldova that hosts Russian troops.

VALLETTA, April 3 (Reuters) - Pope Francis, struggling with leg pain, on Sunday said countries should always help those trying to survive "amidst the waves of the sea" as he wrapped up a trip to one of the Mediterranean countries at the heart of Europe's migration debate.

At the start of the last day of his trip, Francis visited the grotto in the town of Rabat, where according to tradition, St. Paul lived for two months when he was among 75 people shipwrecked on their way to Rome in the year 60 AD. The Bible says they received unusual kindness.

April 3 (Reuters) - Ukraine's foreign ministercalled on the G7 on Sunday to impose "devastating" new sanctions on Moscow and accused Russia of carrying out a deliberate "massacre" in the town of Bucha outside Kyiv.

Ukraine said on Saturday its forces had retaken all areas around Kyiv and the mayor in Bucha, a liberated town 37 km (23 miles) northwest of the capital, said that 300 residents had been killed by the Russian army. 

LVIV, Ukraine, April 3 (Reuters) - A leading rights group said on Sunday it had documented what it described as "apparent war crimes" committed by Russian military forces against civilians in Ukraine.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) issued a statement saying it had found "several cases of Russian military forces committing laws-of-war violations" in Russian-controlled regions such as Chernihiv, Kharkiv, and Kyiv.

KIEV, April 2 (Xinhua) -- The draft agreements that were discussed during the meeting in Istanbul this week are now ready for discussion by the presidents of Ukraine and Russia, head of the Ukrainian delegation David Arakhamia said Saturday.

The draft has been "developed enough to conduct direct consultations between the two leaders of the countries," Arakhamia was quoted by Interfax-Ukraine news agency as saying.

BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — Voters in Serbia cast ballots Sunday in a triple election likely to keep in power a populist government in the Balkan country that has refused to impose sanctions on Russia over the war in Ukraine.

Some 6.5 million voters are choosing the president, a new parliament and local authorities in the capital, Belgrade, and over a dozen other towns and municipalities.

BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — Polls opened across Hungary early Sunday as voters in the Central European country faced a choice: take a chance on a diverse, Western-looking coalition of opposition parties, or grant nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orban a renewed mandate with a fourth consecutive term in office.

The contest is expected to be the closest since Orban took power in 2010, thanks to Hungary’s six main opposition parties putting aside ideological differences to form a united front against his right-wing Fidesz party.

(AP) --- First came the warnings, in messages among friends and families and on social media, to stock up on vital drugs in Russia before supplies were affected by crippling Western sanctions over the invasion of Ukraine.

Then, some drugs indeed became harder to find at pharmacies in Moscow and other cities.

“Not a single pharmacy in the city has it now,” a resident of Kazan told The Associated Press in late March about a blood thinner her father needs.

Belgrade, Apr 3 (AP) Voters in Serbia cast ballots Sunday in a triple election likely to keep in power a populist government in the Balkan country that has refused to impose sanctions on Russia over the war in Ukraine.

Some 6.5 million voters are choosing the president, a new parliament and local authorities in the capital, Belgrade, and over a dozen other towns and municipalities.