WARSAW: Some residents of the devastated Ukrainian city of Mariupol who managed to escape are saying they were given no choice but to travel to Russia in what the Kyiv government regards as “deportations.”
After spending weeks in a Mariupol basement and following the death of her father, who was killed in a rocket attack, Tetiana decided to leave her city to try to save her nine-year-old daughter.
With no mobile network or any possibility of communicating, she took advantage of a lull in the shelling to go to an assembly point arranged by pro-Russian authorities to find out about ways out.
There, she was told going to Russia was the only option.
“We were in shock. We did not want to go to Russia,” the 38-year-old accountant said on the phone from Riga in Latvia where she has since sought refuge with her family.
“How can you go to a country that wants to kill you?“
For several weeks, Ukrainian authorities have been accusing Moscow of “illegally transferring” more than a million Ukrainians to Russia or to the parts of Ukraine currently controlled by Russian forces.
A Russian defense ministry official, Mikhail Mizintsev, confirmed the one million number but said the transfers of civilians was only being done to “evacuate” them away from “dangerous areas.”
Some civilians have indeed been forced to go toward Russia because travel to Ukrainian-held areas was blocked by fighting.
Speaking to AFP after crossing from Russia into Estonia, Yelyzaveta, originally from Izyum, a city in the east currently held by Russian forces, said this was the case for her.
“It was impossible to go toward Ukraine,” Tetiana, who asked not to be identified, told AFP.
Like Tetiana, two other families from Mariupol — where the Ukrainian government says 20,000 people were killed, said they too were forced to go to Russia.
Svitlana, an employee in a large industrial concern, also hid in a basement with her husband and parents in-law in Mariupol until some Russian soldiers ordered them to a part of the city fully in Russian hands.
“When an armed man tells you that, you can’t really say no,” said the 46-year-old, who has since been able to travel to Lviv in western Ukraine.
Her family was initially taken to Novoazovsk, a small town near Mariupol that is in the hands of Russia-backed separatists.
There they stayed for four days in a school.
They were then transferred to Starobesheve, where they were put up in a crowded community center where people slept on the floor.
“The worst was the smell of dirty feet, dirty bodies. It stayed on our things even after we washed them many times,” Svitlana said.
Three days later, the family was interrogated in a building occupied by separatist police.
They had to answer written questions about whether they had relatives in the Ukrainian army, their fingerprints were taken and they had to hand over their phones for checks.
In a separate room, the men had to undress to show they did not have any Ukrainian patriotic tattoos or combat wounds — a sign that they might be in the military.
“My husband had to take off everything except his underwear and his socks,” Svitlana said.
“We also deleted all photos and social media from our phones,” she said, fearing possible repercussions because of her “pro-Ukrainian position.”
Ivan Druz, 23, who left Mariupol with his half-brother in April, suffered the same treatment in Starobesheve.
He was then hoping to go to territory controlled by Ukraine but after a lot of moving around within Russian-occupied areas, Druz, who is now in Riga, was told it was not possible.
“At first they tire you out and then they tell you that you can only leave in one direction,” he said.
After arriving at the Russian border, he had to undress and answer questions about chats with his aunt in Ukrainian.
“They asked me why she was writing to me in Ukrainian” and “wanted to check that I was not a Nazi,” he said.
Once in Russia, the families of Tetiana and Druz were sent to Taganrog, around 100 kilometers (62 miles) from Mariupol.
Just after arriving, they were told by officials that they had to travel by train to Vladimir — around 1,000 kilometers further north.
From there, Ivan and his half-brother had to leave again, this time to the city of Murom, 130 kilometers to the southeast, where they were put up in a hostel for refugees.
Thanks to Russian friends, the families of Ivan, Tetyana and Svitlana eventually traveled to Moscow and took buses for Latvia or Estonia where Ukrainian refugees are being welcomed.
“Once in Latvia, we finally felt free,” Tetyana said.
‘No choice’: The Ukrainians forced to flee to Russia
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‘No choice’: The Ukrainians forced to flee to Russia
- Ukrainian authorities have been accusing Moscow of "illegally transferring" more than a million Ukrainians to Russia
- A Russian defence ministry official said the transfers of civilians was only being done to "evacuate" them away from "dangerous areas"
Hindu-Muslim divisions sway voting in Indian district scarred by deadly riots
- Villages are largely self-segregated by religion in and around Muzaffarnagar in the most populous Uttar Pradesh state
- Violent clashes broke out in 2013 after two Hindus stabbed Muslim youth to death, accusing him of harassing their sister
MUZAFFARNAGAR: Hindu-Muslim enmity made way for peace in an Indian district that saw deadly riots a decade ago but religious divisions still influence residents who voted on Friday in general elections in which Hindu nationalism is a key theme.
Villages are largely self-segregated by religion in and around Muzaffarnagar district, in the most populous northern state of Uttar Pradesh, but people say there is no longer tension between the majority Hindu and minority Muslim communities.
Violent clashes broke out here in 2013 after two Hindus stabbed a Muslim youth to death, accusing him of sexually harassing their sister. They were later beaten to death by a Muslim mob, which sparked riots that killed about 65 people, mostly Muslims, and displaced thousands.
Violence has not returned to the district known as the country's sugarcane-belt, but political divisions remain as Hindus typically vote for Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Muslims for the opposition.
Modi's government has "controlled Muslims", said Ramesh Chand, a Hindu biscuit baker in Kairana city near Muzaffarnagar.
Critics accuse the nationalist BJP of targeting India's 200 million minority Muslims to please their hardline Hindu base - charges they deny.
Modi is widely expected to win a third term on the back of strong growth, welfare and his personal popularity despite some concern about unemployment, price rises and rural distress.
Chand said Modi had improved security in the region. "We can live in peace, whether or not we have jobs ... We can sleep with our doors open."
There were opposing views too.
In Jaula village, sugarcane farmer Mohammed Irfan, 50, said Modi's "high-handedness against Muslims" as well as unemployment and inflation were major reasons for him voting for the opposition Samajwadi Party.
Uttar Pradesh elects 80 lawmakers to the 543-member lower house of parliament, the most among all states, and a strong showing here is critical to the nationwide outcome.
Support for Modi was visible in Kutba Kutbi village, the epicentre of the 2013 riots.
Although there is "brotherhood" between the two communities now, nearly all Muslim families left the village after the riots, said Vinay Kumar Baliyan, 43, a farmer who said he supports Modi for promoting economic growth and raising India's stature globally.
But Irfan said Muslims are expected to vote in larger numbers this time as Eid celebrations this month brought many migrant workers and students home.
After Pakistan alert, WHO likely to issue wider warning on contaminated J&J cough syrup
- The UN health body said it puts out global medical product alerts to ‘encourage diligence’ by authorities
- The WHO this week sent out alert on five batches of contaminated cough syrup ingredients found in Pakistan
LONDON: The World Health Organization is likely to issue a wider warning about contaminated Johnson and Johnson-made children’s cough syrup found in Nigeria last week, it said in an email.
Nigeria’s regulator recalled a batch of Benylin paediatric syrup last Wednesday, having found a high level of diethylene glycol in the product during routine testing.
The contaminant, alongside another closely related toxin, ethylene glycol, has been linked to the deaths of more than 300 children in Cameroon, Gambia, Indonesia and Uzbekistan since 2022, though there is no evidence that these incidents are linked with the latest recalls.
The UN health body said it puts out global medical product alerts to “encourage diligence” by national authorities and was likely to do so in this instance, “subject to confirmation of certain details from parties.”
The recalled batch of Benylin syrup was made by J&J in South Africa in May 2021, although Kenvue now owns the brand after a spin-off from J&J last year.
J&J has referred requests for comment to Kenvue. In an emailed statement on Friday, Kenvue said it had carried out tests on the batch recalled by Nigeria and had not detected either diethylene or ethylene glycol.
“We continue to work closely with health authorities and the WHO and are engaging with NAFDAC to understand their test results, including verifying the authenticity of the sampled product, the testing methodology used, and results reported by the agency,” the statement added.
Since Nigeria’s recall, five other African countries have also pulled the product from shelves — Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, Zimbabwe and South Africa, where the drug was made.
South Africa’s regulator has also recalled another batch of the syrup, which is used to treat coughs, hay fever and other allergic reactions in children.
Diethylene glycol is toxic to humans when consumed and can result in acute kidney failure, although there have been no reports of harm in the latest incident.
RAW MATERIALS
In the 2022 cases, the contamination in the syrups came from the raw materials used by manufacturers in India and Indonesia.
The WHO said it was collaborating with both the manufacturer and regulatory authority in South Africa to investigate the Benylin paediatric syrup, and had information on the source of the ingredients used. Kenvue has previously said it tested its ingredients before manufacture.
The agency said the possibility that the syrup was counterfeit was also “under consideration as part of investigations.”
Earlier this week the WHO sent out a separate alert on five batches of contaminated cough syrup ingredients found in Pakistan that appeared to have been falsely labelled as Dow Chemical products.
It was the first alert the WHO has sent on excipients — elements of a medicine other than the active pharmaceutical ingredient — rather than finished products, the agency confirmed on Friday.
The batches of propylene glycol were contaminated with ethylene glycol.
“It was critical for WHO to also alert manufacturers that may have been procuring this material to exercise more caution,” a WHO spokesperson said by email.
Propylene glycol is not an ingredient in Benylin paediatric syrup, a Kenvue spokesperson said on Friday.
Polish flag carrier LOT cancels Friday flights to Tel Aviv and Beirut, PAP reports
- Decisions about future flights would be made on an ongoing basis
WARSAW: Polish national airline LOT canceled flights on Friday to Tel Aviv and Beirut due to the unstable situation in the region, a spokesperson was quoted as saying by state news agency PAP.
“Today’s flight 151/152 to Israel from Warsaw and to Beirut 143/144 have been canceled,” Krzysztof Moczulski told PAP. He said decisions about future flights would be made on an ongoing basis.
French police arrest man who threatened to blow himself up at Iran’s Paris consulate
- Police verifying man’s identity and trying to determine whether he had weapons
PARIS: A man who had threatened to blow himself up at Iran’s consulate in Paris was arrested by police, a police source said.
French police earlier cordoned off the Iranian consulate, Reuters reporters saw, and did not immediately confirm finding any weapons.
A police source told Reuters the man was seen at about 11 am (0900 GMT) entering the consulate, carrying what appeared to be a grenade and explosive vest.
A Paris police official told The Associated Press that officers were verifying the man’s identity and trying to determine whether he had weapons.
Police earlier said they were at the scene and asked the public to avoid the area but provided no further details.
Service was interrupted on a nearby metro line for security reasons, the RATP metro company said.
A police cordon remained in place on Friday afternoon, but traffic was resuming in the area.
A person at the Iranian embassy who responded to a call from Reuters declined to provide any information on the situation.
It was unclear whether the incident had any link to the escalating tensions between Iran and Israel.
Earlier on Friday, explosions echoed over the Iranian city of Isfahan in what sources described as an Israeli attack, but Tehran played down the incident and indicated it had no plans for retaliation — a response that appeared gauged toward averting region-wide war.
The incident also comes as Paris is gearing up to host the summer Olympics.
* With Reuters and AP
Blinken says US ‘not involved in any offensive operation’
- ‘All I can say is for our part and for all the members of the G7 our focus is on de-escalation’
CAPRI, Italy: US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Friday refused to comment on reports of an attack by Israel on Iran, beyond saying Washington was “not involved in any offensive operation.”
Speaking to journalists after a meeting with G7 counterparts in Italy, he declined to answer repeated questions about explosions in Iran, and reports that Israel had carried out retaliatory strikes.
“I’m not going to speak to these reported events... All I can say is for our part and for all the members of the G7 our focus is on de-escalation,” Blinken told a press conference on the island of Capri.
“The US has not been involved in any offensive operation,” he said.
Speaking to reporters earlier, G7 host Antonio Tajani, the foreign minister of Italy, said Washington had been informed in advance of the strikes, without giving details.
“The United States were informed at the last moment,” he said, adding that “it was just information” passed on — without saying who by.
The reports dominated the G7 Friday, with Tajani forced to change the agenda, but little public information emerged.
In its final statement, the Group of Seven ministers said: “In light of reports of strikes on April 19th, we urge all parties to work to prevent further escalation. The G7 will continue to work to this end.”
Israel had warned it would hit back after Iran fired hundreds of missiles and drones at Israel almost a week ago, in retaliation for a deadly strike — which Tehran blamed on its foe — that levelled Iran’s consular annex at its embassy in Syria.
