The US and Russia have exchanged jailed US basketball star Brittney Griner for notorious arms dealer Viktor Bout, held in an American prison for 12 years.
Vladimir Putin, the president of Russia, laid the groundwork for a protracted conflict in Ukraine by stating that it “may be a lengthy process” and playing down rumors of another round of Russian mobilization.
Vladimir Putin, the president of Russia, laid the groundwork for a protracted conflict in Ukraine by stating that it “may be a lengthy process” and playing down rumors of another round of Russian mobilization.
He also reaffirmed Moscow’s assertion that the conflict in Ukraine is its fault and that it began in 2014 as a result of a “coup” led by Viktor Yanukovych and his pro-Russian government.
Kyiv could experience heat, water, and power outages. According to him, the end of the world could come when it becomes impossible to dwell in homes due to the low temperatures, just like in Hollywood movies.
In the meantime, the two countries reached an agreement to swap Brittney Griner, a prominent player for the WNBA in the United States, for Viktor Bout, a Russian arms dealer. Griner, who had been imprisoned in Russia following her conviction on narcotics charges, was returning home at the time.
The country’s security service published images of the evidence it found after searching historic Orthodox churches in Ukraine, including rubles, Russian passports, and booklets with greetings from the Moscow patriarch.
If these products are harmless or fuel concerns that the church is a hub for pro-Russian propaganda and intelligence gathering, supporters and critics of the church disagree.
Other images released by the SBU agency, some of which were taken as recently as Wednesday, are clear; some show an armed Ukrainian officer standing in front of a church, while others show bulky, camouflaged officers interrogating clergy with long beards and cassocks.
As the savage Russian invasion drags on into its tenth month of a war that has had religious overtones from the beginning, they demonstrate the increased pressure the Ukrainian government is putting on the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, with its centuries-old ties to Moscow.
Following a schism in 2019, there are now two main Orthodox churches in Ukraine, and President Volodymyr Zelenskyy proposed measures on Friday largely aimed at the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. Even though the UOC announced its independence from Moscow in May, the difficulties of Eastern Orthodox Christianity make such a declaration easier to speak than to implement. In addition, a lot of Ukrainians doubt that their country is truly free of Moscow.
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