Europe

Feb 23 (Reuters) - EU leaders will meet for a special summit in Brussels on Thursday to discuss the bloc's further response to Moscow after Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered troops into breakaway regions of eastern Ukraine.

"It is important that we continue to be united and determined and jointly define our collective approach and actions," the head of the EU Council grouping the bloc's member states, Charles Michel, said in a statement on Wednesday.

MOSCOW, Feb. 22 (Xinhua) -- The Russian Federation Council, or the upper house of parliament, on Tuesday approved Russian President Vladimir Putin's request for the use of military abroad.

"Senators unanimously supported the adoption of the relevant Resolution," said a statement published on the website of the Federation Council.

LONDON, Feb. 23 (Xinhua) -- Billions of dollars have been lost to fraud and error in Britain's support schemes in coping with the COVID-19 pandemic, an official report revealed Wednesday.

The Public Accounts Committee of the House of Commons, the lower house of British Parliament, said the total losses from fraud and error across all COVID-19 state-backed business schemes are expected to be at least 15 billion pounds (20.4 billion U.S. dollars).

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Greek authorities said Wednesday that a coast guard vessel fired warning shots at a Turkish fishing boat during a confrontation in Greek waters near the eastern Aegean Sea island of Chios.

The shipping ministry said the Turkish vessel refused to leave Greek waters and had attempted to ram a Greek patrol boat before the shots were fired.

No one was injured in the incident that occurred amid renewed tension between Greece and Turkey over a long-standing dispute over sea boundaries.

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — Lawyers for Gambia on Wednesday urged the United Nations’ top court to throw out Myanmar’s legal bid to end a case accusing the Southeast Asian nation of genocide against the country’s Rohingya minority.

“This court must reject Myanmar’s meritless preliminary objections and proceed to adjudicate the merits of this dispute,” Gambia’s Attorney General and Justice Minister Dawda Jallow told judges at the International Court of Justice.

LONDON (AP) — Britain promised to hit Russia with “powerful” sanctions over its military confrontation with Ukraine. But the slim sheaf of measures announced by Prime Minister Boris Johnson has disappointed allies and critics alike.

The U.K. has slapped asset freezes and travel bans on three wealthy Russians and sanctioned five Russian banks in response to President Vladimir Putin’s decision to recognize two breakaway regions of eastern Ukraine and to authorize sending in what he called “peacekeeping” troops.

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — One by one, embassies and international offices in Kyiv closed. Flight after flight was canceled when insurance companies balked at covering planes arriving in Ukraine. Hundreds of millions of dollars in investment dried up within weeks.

With Russian troops encircling much of the country, Ukrainian businesses large and small no longer plan for the future — they can barely foresee what will happen week to week.

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russia began evacuating its embassy in Kyiv, and Ukraine urged its citizens to leave Russia on Wednesday as the region braced for further confrontation after President Vladimir Putin received authorization to use military force outside his country and the West responded with sanctions.

MOSCOW, February 22. /TASS/: The Federation Council at a special session on Tuesday unanimously ratified the agreements on friendship, cooperation, and mutual assistance with the Donetsk and Lugansk people’s republics, which were submitted by Russian President Vladimir Putin, who on Monday stated they should be recognized as independent.

The senators met the results of the vote with applause.

MOSCOW, February 22. /TASS/: Russia’s COVID-19 case tally rose by 135,172, over the past day to 15,657,928, the anti-coronavirus crisis center reported on Tuesday.

In absolute terms, the growth rate was the lowest since February 1. In relative terms, it reached 0.87%.

As many as 17,294 patients with COVID-19 were hospitalized in Russia in the past day, up 95.7% from a day earlier. Meanwhile, in 76 regions the number of those hospitalized has increased, while in 9 regions the number has decreased, according to the crisis center.