Europe

MOSCOW, May 4. /TASS/: Russian combat aircraft and helicopters practiced flying in parade formations in a rehearsal of the upcoming Victory Day Parade over Moscow’s Red Square, a TASS correspondent reported from the scene.

MOSCOW, May 4. /TASS/: Gazprom supplied 791 mln cubic meters of natural gas to Russian consumers on May 2. This is the record-breaking volume for this date due to the abnormally low temperature, official spokesman of the Russian gas holding Sergey Kupriyanov said.

"On May 2, the company delivered the record-high gas volume for this date to Russian consumers. The cause is the abnormally low air temperature in the operational envelope of the Russian United Gas Supply System for early May (plus 9 degrees [Centigrade])," Kupriyanov said.

PARIS, May 3 (Reuters) - French President Emmanuel Macron told Russian President Vladimir Putin in a phone call on Tuesday that he is willing to work with international organisations to help lift the Russian embargo on Ukrainian food exports via the Black Sea, Macron's office said.

The Elysee office also said Macron had reiterated that a ceasefire was needed in Ukraine and that he had told Putin that he was deeply concerned about the situation in Donbas and Mariupol.

May 4 (Reuters) - The armed forces of Belarus began sudden large-scale drills on Wednesday to test their combat readiness, the defence ministry of Ukraine's neighbour said.

Belarus is a close ally of Russia, which invaded Ukraine in late February immediately after holding joint drills with Minsk which had allowed it to move more forces closer to the Ukrainian border. Russia calls its actions in Ukraine a "special military operation".

LISBON, May 4 (Reuters) - Investigators have found new evidence potentially incriminating the key suspect in the disappearance of British toddler Madeleine McCann 15 years ago, said Hans Christian Wolters, the German prosecutor who has been investigating the case since 2020.

In an interview with Portuguese TV channel CMTV on Tuesday, Wolters said detectives believed they had found "some facts, some new evidence", adding: "We are sure that he (Brueckner) is the murderer of Madeleine McCann."

May 4 (Reuters) - Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu said on Wednesday the Russian military would consider NATO transport carrying weapons in Ukraine as targets to be destroyed, RIA news agency quoted him as saying.

Shoigu also said that the Ukrainian fighters holed up in the sprawling Azovstal plant in Mariupol were kept under secure blockade after President Vladimir Putin ordered that they be hermetically sealed off.

BERLIN, May 4 (Reuters) - Chancellor Olaf Scholz urged Ukraine on Wednesday to help unblock an embarrassing diplomatic impasse, after the German president was stopped from visiting Kyiv amid disquiet over his past support of rapprochement with Russia.

Ukraine's ambassador to Germany has called Scholz an "offended liver sausage" for refusing to visit the country before President Frank-Walter Steinmeier is welcomed there.

KYIV, May 4 (Reuters) - Kyiv will be ready if Belarus's armed forces join Russia's war effort in Ukraine, a spokesperson for the Ukrainian State Border Service said on Wednesday.

Belarus, a close ally of Russia, said its military had begun large-scale drills on Wednesday to test their combat readiness and that they posed no threat to its neighbours. 

LONDON, May 4 (Reuters) - The Kremlin on Wednesday dismissed speculation that President Vladimir Putin planned to declare war against Ukraine and declare a national mobilisation on May 9 when Russia commemorates the Soviet Union's victory in World War Two.

MOSCOW, May 4 (Xinhua) -- The Russian Foreign Ministry announced on Wednesday that 63 Japanese citizens, including top officials like Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, have been "permanently" barred from entering Russia.

"The administration of Kishida has launched an unprecedented anti-Russian campaign, allowing unacceptable rhetoric against the Russian Federation, including slander and direct threats," the ministry said in a statement.