Russia launched offensive in eastern Ukraine, says President Zelensky
Russia launched a major offensive in eastern Ukraine on Monday, President Volodymyr Zelensky said, with Moscow opening a new phase of its invasion after failing to take the capital Kiev. In recent weeks, the Russian military campaign has shifted its focus to the eastern Donbass region, which has been partially controlled by pro-Russian separatist forces since 2014. "We can now say that Russian troops have begun the battle for Donbass, for which they have been preparing for a long time. A very large part of the entire Russian army is now dedicated to this offensive," the Ukrainian president said in a speech broadcast on Telegram.
"No matter how many Russian soldiers are brought here, we will fight. We will defend ourselves," he proclaimed, after warning the day before that "they literally want to finish and destroy the Donbass." For Andriy Yermak, President Zelensky's chief of staff, "the second phase of the war has begun." "Trust the armed forces of Ukraine," he said on Telegram.
After violence in Jerusalem, rocket fire towards Israel and strikes on Gaza
The Israeli military conducted early Tuesday the first airstrikes in months on the Gaza Strip, in retaliation for rocket fire from the Palestinian enclave, illustrating that local tensions show no sign of abating after a weekend of violence at holy sites in Jerusalem. On Monday night, alarm sirens sounded in southern Israel for the first rocket fire from the Gaza Strip into Israel since early January as a projectile crashed into the sea off the metropolis of Tel Aviv. "A rocket was fired from the Gaza Strip into Israeli territory and was intercepted by the Dome defense system.e by the Iron Dome defense system," said the Israeli army in a statement.
Then, early Tuesday, the Israeli air force said it bombed a weapons site of Hamas, the armed Islamist movement ruling the Gaza Strip, in retaliation for the rocket fired from that territory.
IN BRIEF
Deliveroo will soon be fixed on its fate: the criminal court of Paris must say on Tuesday if the platform has employed as freelancers delivery drivers who should, according to the prosecution, have been employees.
Oxfam urges the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to "abandon its demands for austerity as the cost of living crisis increases hunger and poverty in the world," according to a statement from the NGO released Tuesday.
Colin Kaepernick, who has not played in the NFL since late 2016 and his famous knee to the ground to protest police violence against blacks, reaffirmed his desire to continue his career, even if it means accepting a role as a backup quarterback.
The famous Californian rapper Kendrick Lamar announced on Monday the release of a new album on May 13, five years after the last one, "DAMN", which won the first Pulitzer Prize for a hip-hop musician. The title of the new album is: "Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers".