Europe

KIEV, May 15 (NNN-UNIAN) – At least 21 people were injured, in a drone attack on the outskirts of Khmelnytskyi city, in western Ukraine, local media reported yesterday, citing authorities.

The Khmelnytskyi regional military administration, confirmed that a combat drone, fired by the Russian forces, hit a critical infrastructure facility outside the settlements, causing explosions.

KYIV, May 15 (Reuters) - Ukraine's state security agency has served businessman Dmytro Firtash and top managers of companies he controls with "notices of suspicion" of embezzlement, the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) said in a statement on Monday.

A representative for Firtash, who is currently in Vienna, did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

May 14 (Reuters) - The head of Russia's Wagner private army dismissed a U.S. newspaper report on Monday that he had offered to betray Russian positions, and the Kremlin called it a "hoax".

The Washington Post, citing a U.S. intelligence leak, said Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin had offered Ukrainian intelligence in January to reveal the location of Russian regular forces in return for Ukraine pulling back troops in Bakhmut.

May 14 (Reuters) - Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, who has not been seen in public since Tuesday, did not appear on Sunday at a ceremony in the capital, Minsk, triggering speculation that the veteran leader is seriously ill.

The BelTA state news agency reported that Prime Minister Roman Golovchenko read a message from Lukashenko during an annual ceremony at which young people swear allegiance to the ex-Soviet state's flag.

May 15 (Reuters) - Ukraine's military on Monday hailed recent advances around Bakhmut as its first successful counterattack in the battle against Russian forces fighting for control of the eastern city.

But Kyiv also said the situation in Bakhmut was difficult. It cautioned that Moscow had not changed its goal of capturing the city and was sending assault troops to Bakhmut's outskirts.

11 May 2023; AA: Germany's retail sector is set to shrink with 9,000 shops and small businesses expected to close in 2023, according to the Handlesverband Deutschland, the national retail association of Germany.

According to figures from 2021, the country's retail sector is Germany’s third-largest – accounting for 17% of its gross domestic product.

OSWIECIM, Poland (AP) — In a modern conservation laboratory on the grounds of the former Auschwitz camp, a man wearing blue rubber gloves uses a scalpel to scrape away rust from the eyelets of small brown shoes worn by children before they were murdered in gas chambers.

Colleagues at the other end of a long work table rub away dust and grime, using soft cloths and careful circular motions on the leather of the fragile objects. The shoes are then scanned and photographed in a neighboring room and catalogued in a database.

GENEVA (AP) — The 175 member countries of the U.N. migration agency were casting ballots on Monday to choose its leader for the next five years — an unusual contest between its European director-general and his American deputy who’s looking to oust him from the job.

International Organization for Migration director-general Antonio Vitorino of Portugal was looking at a possibly tough contest against his Biden administration-backed deputy, Amy Pope.

PARIS (AP) — France pledged additional military aid for Ukraine on Sunday, including light tanks, armored vehicles, training for soldiers and other assistance as the Ukrainians gear up for a counteroffensive against Russian forces, following surprise talks in Paris between the Ukrainian and French presidents.

MOSCOW, May 14. /TASS/: The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)’s actions may lead to escalation in the Arctic Region, Russian Foreign Ministry ambassador-at-large Nikolay Korchunov has told TASS in an interview.

"We see no signs of improvement with regard to military security in the Arctic. NATO expansion continues in the region, the scope of the alliance’s military exercises there is on the rise, and its non-Arctic member states actively participate in them. Their military potential in high latitudes continues to grow," he said.