Europe

BUCHAREST, Romania, March 11 (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin shows no sign of being willing to engage in diplomacy, U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris said on Friday during a visit to Romania in the third week of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Harris expressed U.S. support for Romania's efforts to help refugees from Ukraine and restated America's commitment to protecting fellow NATO members during a tour of the alliance's eastern flank countries. She said any attack on or targeting of civilians in Ukraine is a war crime.

GENEVA, March 11 (Reuters) - The U.N. human rights office said on Friday it had received "credible reports" of several cases of Russian forces using cluster munitions in populated areas in Ukraine, adding that indiscriminate use of such weapons might amount to war crimes.

LONDON, March 11 (Xinhua) -- A security review warned on Friday that London is facing a rising threat of extreme right-wing terrorism, but is "significantly better prepared" for a terrorist attack than it was five years ago.

The review, commissioned by London Mayor Sadiq Khan, said there have been significant improvements in communication and coordination between the British capital's emergency services and partner agencies to ensure the city is better prepared to respond to an attack.

BERLIN, March 11 (Xinhua) -- Germany stands united against terrorism and propaganda that encourages violence, Federal Minister of Justice Marco Buschmann said on Friday, on the occasion of the National Remembrance Day for the Victims of Terrorist Violence, which the country marked for the first time.

"Today, we remember the victims of terrorist violence, the victims worldwide, the victims in Europe, the victims in Germany," Buschmann said in a statement.

10 March 2022; MEMO: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has been refused permission to address members of the Israeli parliament, the Knesset, Walla news website has reported. Zelenskyy asked to speak to MKs via Zoom to present Ukraine's position on the Russian invasion.

GENEVA — The International Organization for Migration says 2.5 million people have fled Ukraine since Russia invaded more than two weeks ago.

IOM spokesman Paul Dillon said in a text message that the figures, taken from national governments, were up to date through Friday morning.

He said that more than 1.5 million refugees have gone to neighboring Poland and that some 116,000 of the refugees are “third-country nationals,” not Ukrainians.

BRUSSELS (AP) — The Russian airstrike on a children’s and maternity hospital in the Ukrainian port city of Mariupol is the latest in a series of attacks that have gutted apartment blocks and killed people in their homes or simply going about their business.

Allegations of war crimes, impossible yet to prove, are mounting and an investigation is underway at the International Criminal Court. Russia’s willingness to use overwhelming force — aerial bombardment and artillery in civilian areas — is already drawing comparisons with its attacks in Chechnya and Syria.

LVIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russia widened its military offensive in Ukraine on Friday, striking near airports in the west of the country for the first time as troops kept up pressure on the capital, Kyiv, and the U.S. and its allies prepared to revoke Russia’s favored trading status in a new punishment for the invasion.

Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said Russia used high-precision long-range weapons Friday to put military airfields in Lutsk and Ivano-Frankivsk “out of action.” He did not provide details.

VERSAILLES, France (AP) — European Union leaders meeting in France Thursday ruled out fulfilling Ukraine’s demand for a fast-track integration with the bloc, as they discussed ways to help the eastern country that’s been invaded by neighboring Russia.

EU nations have been fully united in backing Ukraine’s resistance, adopting unprecedented economic sanctions against Russia, but leaders are divided on how fast Brussels could move to accept Ukraine as a member, and how swiftly the 27-nation bloc could sever energy ties with Moscow.

MARIUPOL, Ukraine (AP) — Russian forces kept up their bombardment of the port city of Mariupol on Thursday, while satellite photos showed that a massive convoy that had been mired outside the Ukrainian capital split up and fanned out into towns and forests near Kyiv, with artillery pieces moved into firing positions.