WORLD

Russian forces bombarded areas around Kyiv and another city, Ukrainian authorities said Wednesday, just hours after Moscow pledged to scale back military operations in those places to help negotiations along.

The shelling - and intensified Russian attacks on other parts of the country - tempered optimism about any progress in the talks aimed at ending the punishing war.

In announcing plans Tuesday to de-escalate near the capital and the northern city of Chernihiv to "increase mutual trust," Russia's military did not spell out what it planned to do, and the move was met with deep suspicion from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and the West.

Russia will only use nuclear weapons when there is a "threat to the existence of the state", Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said in an interview with PBS Newshour on Monday.

Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24 (Photo: AFP)Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24 

He added, "We have a security concept that very clearly states that only when there is a threat to the existence of the state, we can and will actually use nuclear weapons to eliminate the threat to the existence of our country."

President Joe Biden he wasn’t announcing a US policy change when he said Russian President Vladimir Putin “cannot remain in power,” but was expressing his own anger about the invasion of Ukraine.

“I’m not walking anything back. The fact of the matter is I was expressing the moral outrage I felt,” Biden told reporters Monday at the White House, after he was asked if he regretted a remark that had caused alarm in some allied capitals. 

“I wasn’t then, nor am I now, articulating a policy change,” he added.

The unscripted aside Saturday as he wrapped up a speech in Poland on the Ukraine invasion immediately sparked concern the president had reinforced a Kremlin narrative that US support for Kyiv is actually a pretext for overthrowing the Russian government. 

Sanctioned Russian oligarchs are welcome in Turkey as tourists and investors, according to the country's foreign minister, Mevlut Cavusoglu.

A news agency reported the story first.

The politician said in an interview with an agency at the Doha Forum: "We implement UN-approved sanctions, so if any Russian citizens want to visit Turkey, of course, they can visit Turkey. Now Russians are coming to visit Turkey, that's no problem."

"If you mean that these oligarchs can do any business in Turkey, then of course if it is legal and it is not against international law, I will consider," he added, when pushed on whether sanctioned oligarchs can do business in the country.

The airplane carrying Polish President Andrzej Duda to meet US President Joe Biden in eastern Poland has made an emergency landing after returning to Warsaw, Duda's advisor Jakub Kumoch was cited as saying by state-run news agency PAP on Friday.

The head of Duda's office, Pawel Szrot, told Reuters that the Polish president did not face any danger.