Blasts rock Moldova, Putin could be eyeing next target for invasion
RUSSIA,UKRAINE, ISRAEL: Russia stoked fears that Moldova may be next in Russian President Vladimir Putin’s firing line after blasts rocked part of the tiny nation, Daily Mail reported.
When asked about the risks of war spilling into Ukraine’s neighbour after explosions rattled its Transnistria region, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said, “Moldova should worry about their own future. Because they’re being pulled into NATO.”
Transnistria is a breakaway region in the east of Moldova where ethnic Ukrainians and Russians outnumber Moldovans. Meanwhile, the UN human rights office (OHCHR) said today that the death toll of civilians killed in Ukraine since the start of the Russian invasion on February 24 had exceeded 3,000 people. The toll of 3,153 killed so far represents an increase of 254 from Friday. OHCHR said that the real toll was likely to be considerably higher, citing access difficulties and ongoing corroboration efforts.
Most of the victims were killed by explosive weapons with a wide impact area, such as missile strikes and air strikes, the rights office said, without attributing responsibility. Meanwhile, Israel lashed out at Russia over “unforgivable” comments by its foreign minister about Nazism and antisemitism — including claims that Adolf Hitler was Jewish. Israel, which summoned the Russian ambassador in response, said the remarks blamed Jews for their own murder in the Holocaust. Asked in an interview with an Italian news channel about Russian claims that it invaded Ukraine to “denazify” the country, Sergey Lavrov said that Ukraine could still have Nazi elements even if some figures, including the country’s president, were Jewish. In some of the harshest remarks since the start of the war in Ukraine, Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid called Lavrov’s statement “unforgivable and scandalous and a horrible historical error.”
-IANS, INDIA TODAY,
THE MALAY MAIL