International
Ukraine continues to hit targets within Russia, which maintains the initiative at the front
Ukraine continues to hit targets within the Russian Federation and managed to damage several fuel tanks in the Rostov region last night with a drone attack, but the Russian forces maintain the initiative on the battlefield and continue to gain ground on the eastern front.
According to the Russian authorities, the attack has caused a fire in the aforementioned infrastructures in the southern Russian city of Azov.
Anonymous sources from the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) have claimed the attack in statements to several Ukrainian media. According to these sources, the attacked infrastructures belong to two different oil product companies. One of them has up to 22 fuel tanks.
According to Russian Telegram channels, Azov’s neighbors heard explosions near the port and the train station, where oil facilities are located. Those same Telegram channels have published a video of a large column of fire and smoke rising towards the sky of the city of Azov.
In recent months, Kiev has attacked numerous refineries and other oil infrastructures within the Russian Federation with its own-made drones, in an attempt to decimate the Russian war economy and deprive the Russian Army fighting in Ukraine of some of the fuel it needs.
The United States has publicly expressed its disagreement with these attacks for fear of Russian reprisals and that they will destabilize the international oil market.
Meanwhile, the Ukrainian General Staff has reported that the axis of the Pokrovsk front, in the eastern region of Donetsk, remains the hottest area in the entire contact zone due to constant Russian attacks.
In the middle of the day, “the Russian occupants” had tried to “15 times improve their positions” in the direction of the city of Pokrovsk, which is still in the hands of Ukraine.
According to the influential Ukrainian Telegram channel DeepState, which reports daily on the course of the war, Russian forces advanced in the last few hours along with the towns of Umanske, Arjangelske and Sokol, all of them in the Donetsk region.
In their report on Tuesday’s war, British military intelligence talks about the “probable” conquest by Russian troops of the town of Novooleksandrivka, 20 kilometers north of the occupied Avdivka (Donetsk).
“The area has experienced intense fighting throughout 2024 and Russia has gradually advanced since the capture of Avdivka in February 2024,” the British report reads.
According to London’s military intelligence, the capture of Novooleksandrivka brings Russia closer to a vital road for the supply of Ukrainian forces in the east.
The Russian authorities have been reporting in recent days and weeks of the improvement of positions and the seizure of several villages by their troops.
Ukraine lost the initiative at the front in September last year after having exhausted its counter-offensive with modest advances that in some cases have been reversed by Russia.
After almost half a year with hardly any supplies from the United States, Kiev began to receive new military aid from Washington financed with the expected package of more than 60 billion dollars approved by Congress in April, the ratification of which was delayed for more than six months due to the resistance of a part of the Republican Party.
Despite the arrival of new weapons and quantities of ammunition for artillery vital to correct the dramatic disadvantage that Ukraine suffered in this chapter for months, Kiev has not been able for the moment to stop enemy advances or recover the initiative.
For his part, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, expressed his concern about the deterioration of the situation in Ukraine after two and a half years of conflict and particularly denounced the situation in Kharkov, where the recent Russian land offensive “has destroyed entire communities.”
Kharkov, the second largest city in Ukraine, is located in the east of the country, close to the Russian-occupied regions of Donetsk and Lugansk, in the Donbas.
International
Kristi Noem credits Trump for mass migrant deportations by mexican president
U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem claimed that Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum has deported “more than half a million” migrants due to pressure from former President Donald Trump.
During a cabinet meeting highlighting the “achievements” of Trump’s administration in its first 100 days, Noem asserted that under the Republican leader’s influence, “Mexico has finally come to the table” to negotiate on migration and fentanyl trafficking.
“The president of Mexico told me she has returned just over half a million people before they reached our border,” Noem stated, criticizing media reports that suggest the Biden administration deported more migrants than Trump’s.
“I wish those deportations were counted,” Noem added, “because those people never made it to our border—she sent them back because you made her.” She went on to thank Trump: “They never made it here because they got the message—because you were so aggressive.”
Noem has made controversial claims about Sheinbaum in the past, prompting the Mexican leader to refute them.
On April 1, Sheinbaum responded to one such statement by declaring, “The president answers to only one authority, and that is the people of Mexico,” after Noem said on Fox News that she gave Sheinbaum “a list of things Trump would like to see” and that Mexico’s actions would determine whether Trump granted tariff relief.
International
Vatican releases special “Sede Vacante” stamps ahead of papal transition
he Vatican’s post offices and select collector shops began selling special edition stamps this week to mark the period between the death of Pope Francis and the election of his successor.
Known as “Sede Vacante” stamps, they feature an image used on official Vatican documents during the interregnum between popes — two crossed keys without the papal tiara. These stamps went on sale Monday and will remain valid for postal use only until the new pontiff appears at the window overlooking St. Peter’s Square.
Until then, they can be used to send letters, postcards, and parcels. “Once the new pope is elected, the stamps lose their postal validity, but their collectible value rises,” said Francesco Santarossa, who runs a collectors’ shop across from St. Peter’s Square.
The Vatican has issued the stamps in four denominations: €1.25, €1.30, €2.45, and €3.20. Each is inscribed with “Città del Vaticano” and “Sede Vacante MMXXV” — Latin for “Vacant See 2025.”
International
Conclave to choose pope Francis’ successor could begin in early may
The conclave, which in the coming weeks must choose the successor to Pope Francis, will strictly follow a precise protocol refined over centuries.
The 135 cardinal electors, all under the age of 80, will cast their votes four times a day — except on the first day — until one candidate secures a two-thirds majority. The result will be announced to the world through the burning of the ballots with a chemical that produces the eagerly awaited white smoke, accompanied by the traditional cry of “Habemus Papam.”
The start date for the conclave could be announced today, as the cardinals are set to hold their fifth meeting since the pope’s passing. Luxembourg Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich suggested it could begin on May 5 or 6, following the traditional nine days of mourning. According to German Cardinal Reinhard Marx, the conclave could last only “a few days.”
Although the late Argentine pontiff appointed the majority of the cardinal electors, this does not necessarily ensure the selection of a like-minded successor. Francis’ leadership style differed significantly from that of his predecessor, Benedict XVI, a German theologian who was less fond of large public gatherings. It also marked a contrast with the popular Polish pope, John Paul II.
The Argentine Jesuit’s reformist papacy drew strong criticism from more conservative sectors of the Church, who are hoping for a doctrinally focused shift. His tenure was marked by efforts to combat clerical sexual abuse, elevate the role of women and laypeople, and advocate for the poor and migrants, among other causes.
Kristi Noem credits Trump for mass migrant deportations by mexican president
Vatican releases special “Sede Vacante” stamps ahead of papal transition
Conclave to choose pope Francis’ successor could begin in early may
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