![]() ![]() President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, meanwhile, initially appeared to confirm the loss of Bakhmut, but his press service later said his remarks had been misinterpreted, and that he was in fact responding to a question about whether Russia controlled the city. Ukrainian commanders quickly pushed back on the Russian declarations, with the commander of the country’s ground forces asserting that the city was still contested. For all of RFE/RL's coverage of the war in Ukraine, click here. RFE/RL's Live Briefinggives you all of the latest developments on Russia's full-scale invasion, Kyiv's counteroffensives, Western military aid, global reaction, and the plight of civilians. The Atlantic Council also said federal agents had taken blood samples from Herbst, but lab results did not find anything toxic. ambassador in Ukraine and Uzbekistan, fell ill in April 2021 and experienced symptoms "that could have been consistent with poisoning, including elevated levels of toxins in his blood."ĭoctors treated Herbst "effectively at the time but could not definitively conclude there was poisoning involved,” the organization said. Separately, the Washington-based think tank Atlantic Council confirmed that one of its senior staffers, former Ambassador John Herbst, had experienced symptoms that it said were consistent with poisoning two years ago. In a Facebook post, Arno, who said she traveled to Prague after Berlin, described her problems as "sharp pain" and "numbness.” She has since recovered.Īgentsvo said the FBI had taken blood samples from Arno and was investigating her illness. The other person who reportedly fell ill was Natalia Arno, a U.S.-based activist who heads an organization called the Free Russia Foundation. The European Union and Britain later targeted six top Russian officials and a state scientific research center for the poisoning. That hospital was known for, among other things, its involvement in investigating the nerve-agent poisoning of opposition activist Aleksei Navalny in 2020. No further details were released.Įarlier this week, the Russian news outlet Agentstvo reported that one of the people who fell ill was a Russian journalist who was treated at Berlin’s Charite hospital. He now lives outside of Russia and funds a number of initiatives opposed to the government of Russian President Vladimir Putin.Ī “case has been opened” and “the investigation is ongoing,” Berlin police said in a statement on May 21. The conference was organized by Mikhail Khodorkovsky, a former Russian oligarch who was imprisoned in Russia for years. Russia continues to station more than 1,000 troops in Transdniester, a sliver of land between Moldova proper and Ukraine, ostensibly for peacekeeping operations and guarding of a huge Soviet-era munitions depot.Ītlantic Council Confirms Herbst Fell Ill Amid Possible Russian-Linked Poisonings Sandu’s government has also accused Russia of trying to destabilize the country. Sandu’s push for closer EU ties has unnerved Moscow, which maintains open support for some Moldovan political figures. She replaced Igor Dodon, a Moscow-backed Socialist president whose term had been marred by economic doldrums and corruption scandals. Sandu, a former World Bank official educated in the United States, came to power in November 2020 on a pro-reform ticket One of Europe's poorest countries, Moldova received hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian refugees in the aftermath of the invasion and became increasingly concerned about a possible spillover of the war. Moldova was invited together with Ukraine to open accession negotiations with the EU in June last year, just months after Russia invaded Ukraine. The grouping is meant to improve cooperation between the EU and nonmembers, including aspiring countries in the Western Balkans and the Caucasus region. The summit will be the first such meeting of the 44-member grouping, which was the brainchild of French President Emmanuel Macron. ![]() The rally, which featured an appearance by the president of the European Parliament, Roberta Metsola, came days before a meeting of the European Political Community summit on June 1, where Sandu wants to secure promises that Moldova will start membership negotiations with the European Union soon. Police estimated turnout at around 75,000 people. The May 21 event, pushed by President Maia Sandu, drew criticism from some opposition parties and even some pro-European lawmakers, who said it was an improper use of government resources. CHISINAU - Tens of thousands of people rallied in the Moldovan capital in support of closer ties to the European Union, as Moldova's pro-European government continues struggles with political crosscurrents from Russia. ![]()
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