E-Paper
WW-2 lessons forgotten by Russia: Zelensky on ‘Hitler had Jewish origin' comment
Ukraine war: The war is in tenth week now and the US has now warned that Moscow is planning to annex the eastern region.
Russia seems to have forgotten the lessons of the second World War, Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelensky said on Monday in his daily address in yet another series of strong remarks amid Moscow’s offensive and Kyiv’s resistance with the war entering the tenth week. "I have no words...No one has heard any denial or any justification from Moscow. All we have from there is silence.... this means that the Russian leadership has forgotten all the lessons of World War two. Or perhaps they have never learned those lessons,” the 44-year-old leader said.
Here are ten points on the Ukraine war:
1. Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov’s comment that German dictator Adolf Hitler “had Jewish blood” has sparked huge outrage. “So when they say ‘How can Nazification exist if we’re Jewish?’ In my opinion, Hitler also had Jewish origins, so it doesn’t mean absolutely anything. For some time we have heard from the Jewish people that the biggest antisemites were Jewish,” he was quoted as saying in reports.
2. The comments triggered sharp reactions from Zelensky, who is also a Jew. Israel, a Jewish majority nation, too sought an apology.
3. U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said he condemned Lavrov’s comments in the strongest possible way. “You’re fooling no one. The crimes of Russia are as plain as day for the world to see,” he was quoted as saying by news agency AP. He is the highest-ranking Jewish elected official in the U.S
4. The US has warned that Russia is preparing formally to annex embattled regions in the eastern part of the war-hit country. The focus of the war has now shifted to the cultural hub of Odessa- near the Black Sea - and rebel-held regions in the east after Moscow failed to capture Kyiv.
5. United Kingdom prime minister Boris Johnson on Tuesday is set to deliver an address to the parliament that will compare the eastern European country’s struggle to that of Britain’s during World War II, according to reports. The fight against the Russian invasion is Ukraine’s “finest hour”, he is set to tell the parliament.
6. Following a major shift on Monday by Germany, the European Union is set to toughen sanctions against Moscow over oil sales.
7. “Spoke with my German counterpart @ABaerbock and thanked her for the decision to back an oil embargo on Russia. Germany plays a crucial role in preparing this move. I also stressed that granting Ukraine EU candidate status serves the best interest of Ukraine, Germany, and Europe,” Ukraine foreign minster Dmytro Kuleba tweeted.
8. US president Joe Biden, who is pushing for a $33 billion package for the war-torn nation, would love to visit, the White House has said, but he has no plans for now.
9. One of the latest flashpoints between the two nations is civilian evacuation from Mariupol’s Azovstal steel plant. Russian shelling has been interrupting the movement of civilians, Ukraine has claimed.
10. The number of people displaced during the war has surged to 5.5 million, according to the UN.
(With inputs from Reuters, AP, AFP)
