Europe

LVIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin warned Saturday that Ukrainian statehood is in jeopardy and likened the West’s sanctions on Russia to “declaring war,” while a promised cease-fire in the besieged port city of Mariupol collapsed amid scenes of terror.

CHISINAU, Moldova (AP) — U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Sunday pledged America’s support to the small, Western-leaning former Soviet republic of Moldova that is coping with an influx of refugees from Ukraine and warily watching Russia’s intensifying war with its neighbor.

Blinken met with senior Moldovan officials who are appealing for international assistance in dealing with more than 120,000 refugees from Ukraine that it is now hosting while also seeking security reassurances against potential Russian aggression.

SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina (AP) — News reports from Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities under unrelenting bombardment by the Russian Army have been triggering painful memories among the survivors of the 1990s siege of the Bosnian capital, Sarajevo.

And yet, many have been spending hours on end glued to their TV screens since Russian President Vladimir Putin launched his invasion of Ukraine late last month.

BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — The Russian tanks and missiles besieging Ukraine also are threatening the food supply and livelihoods of people in Europe, Africa and Asia who rely on the vast, fertile farmlands of the Black Sea region — known as the “breadbasket of the world.”

LVIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukrainian authorities prepared Sunday for a second attempt to evacuate civilians from a southern city pounded by a week-long Russian attack as economic pressure on Moscow intensified and diplomats shuttled around Europe to try to end the war.

MOSCOW, March 5. /TASS/: Russia stands for continued strengthening of interaction within the Collective Security Treaty Organization, a post-Soviet security bloc, to counter new challenges and threats, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Saturday at a news conference following talks with his Kyrgyz counterpart Ruslan Kazakbaev.

MOSCOW, March 5. /TASS/: The MC-21 passenger jet is competitive and is on a par with Western counterparts by many parameters, for example, the wide body and convenient seats, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Saturday at the meeting with women from the air staff of Russian air carriers.

The MC-21 is not inferior in terms of performance characteristics to Western airplanes but the airline will not be able to quickly change to it, pilot of Aeroflot Yulia Vasilevskaya noted during the meeting.

MOSCOW, March 5. /TASS/: Up to 14,000 civilians in the Donetsk and Lugansk republics have been killed since 2014, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Saturday.

"What I am going to say may sound harsh. Yet the situation forces me to say aloud what has just occurred to me. As you may have heard, stray dogs these days begin to attack people in various regions. Some get injured. There have even been lethal cases," Putin said.

MOSCOW, March 5. /TASS/: Russia’s COVID-19 case tally rose by 86,769 over the past day to 16,861,793, the anti-coronavirus crisis center reported on Saturday.

In relative terms, the growth rate reached 0.52%.

As many as 9,295 people were hospitalized with COVID-19 in Russia over the past day, down 5.6% from a day earlier. The number of hospitalized patients declined in 51 regions, while in 32 other regions the figure increased. The situation remained unchanged in two regions. A day earlier, 9,849 people were rushed to hospitals.

MOSCOW, March 5. /TASS/: Russian State Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin has said that the myth of the inviolability of private property on which the legal system of the US and EU countries is based has been ruined.

"The myth about the inviolability of private property on which the legal system of the United States and the EU rests upon has been ruined. Properties, bank accounts and pre-paid goods are confiscated on account of nationality," Volodin said on his Telegram channel. "Nothing new. Only beautiful illusions instead of the inviolability of rights and freedoms."