Europe

HELSINKI (AP) — Swedish police said Monday they consider the violent riots that have shaken several cities and towns in the Nordic country extremely serious crimes against society and suspect some protesters are linked to criminal gangs that intentionally target police.

Sweden, a nation of 10 million, has seen unrest, scuffles, arson and violence since Thursday that has left some police officers and protesters injured. It was triggered by Danish far-right politician Rasmus Paludan’s meetings and planned Quran burnings across the country.

SARAJEVO, Bosnia (AP) — Regardless of how the Russian war in Ukraine ends, getting justice for human rights abuses suffered during the conflict will inevitably be a long and painful process for those who survive to tell of the atrocities they witnessed.

That’s the message from survivors of Bosnia’s 1992-95 internecine war, who have dedicated the ensuing years to the re-telling and re-living of their trauma in hope of bringing those responsible to justice and setting the historical record straight.

LVIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russian missiles hit the western Ukrainian city of Lviv on Monday, killing at least seven people, Ukrainian officials said, as Moscow’s troops stepped up strikes on infrastructure in preparation for an all-out assault on the east.

Plumes of thick, black smoke rose over the city after a series of explosions shattered windows and started fires. Lviv and the rest of western Ukraine have seen only sporadic strikes during almost two months of war and have become a relative safe haven for people from parts of the country where fighting has been more intense.

Kyiv, Apr 18 (AP) Braced for an all-out Russian assault in the east, Ukraine vowed to "fight absolutely to the end in strategically vital Mariupol, where the ruined port city's last known pocket of resistance was holed up in a sprawling steel plant laced with tunnels.

With missiles and rockets also battering other parts of the country, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy accused Russian soldiers of carrying out torture and kidnappings in areas they control.

18 April 2022; MEMO: Russia's Foreign Ministry summoned on Sunday Israeli Ambassador in Moscow, Alexander Ben Zvi, to rebuke him over Foreign Minister Yair Lapid's remarks on Russia, Haaretz reported.

The meeting is scheduled for today, Monday,and according to the Israeli media, would be a normal diplomatic reprimand over criticism of Russia's war in Ukraine.

MOSCOW, April 17. /TASS/: Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin signed a decree to boost the export quotas for fertilizers until May 31, the cabinet said on its website on Sunday.

"Current export quotas for Russian fertilizer producers have been temporarily increased by almost 700,000 tons," the cabinet said in a statement. "Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin has signed an order to that effect."

"The decision will be in force through May 31, 2022," the statement said.

MOSCOW, April 17. /TASS/: Russian State Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin on Sunday said Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky wants to buy time by expressing readiness for talks while also seeking help from NATO.

Volodin was reacting to Zelensky’s statement that Ukraine is ready to discuss abandoning its bid to join NATO and the status of Crimea with Russia, but not until Moscow halts hostilities and withdraws its troops.

MOSCOW, April 17. /TASS/: Russian Defense Ministry Spokesman Major General Igor Konashenkov on Sunday said Russian special forces freed hostages that were held in a Turkish mosque in Mariupol.

"A special operation to free hostages, who were held in Turkish mosque by Ukrainian Nazis, was conducted on April 16 during offensive actions to liberate Mariupol and at the request of Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan," the spokesman said.

MOSCOW, April 17. /TASS/: Russia is concerned about the involvement of NATO’s non-Arctic states in the alliance’s military activity in northern areas and notes risks of unintentional clashes with the alliance’ forces in the Arctic, Russian Foreign Ministry’s Ambassador-at-Large Nikolay Korchunov told TASS.

MOSCOW, April 17. /TASS/: Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said he’s sure Russia will endure the current confrontation with the West.

"We can," he said on Rossiya-1 television on Sunday, when asked by the host if Russia, unlike the USSR, can survive the standoff with the West.

Earlier, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that in modern conditions, a single country won’t be able to maintain its dominance. According to the president, the unipolar world, which took shape after the collapse of the Soviet Union, is falling into pieces at the moment.