Europe

May 9 (Reuters) - The head of Russia's Wagner mercenary force fighting in eastern Ukraine said on Tuesday he had been told he and his men would be regarded as traitors if they abandoned their positions in the city of Bakhmut.

But Yevgeny Prigozhin said for the second time in a matter of days that his forces would leave Bakhmut if they did not receive the ammunition they needed to press the battle.

BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — Thousands marched in silence on Monday in Serbia in a major outpouring of grief and anger against the populist government and how it reacted after two mass shootings last week that left 17 people dead and 21 wounded, many of them children.

BRUSSELS (AP) — For the first time, Ukraine and the European Union are marking Europe Day, that celebration of “peace and unity,” together. Don’t let anyone be fooled too much, though.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, the head of the EU’s executive branch, made a special trip to Kyiv on Tuesday to deliver the warm words of common destiny face to face with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

“Ukraine has been fighting for the ideals of Europe that we celebrate today to create lasting unity and peace,” von der Leyen said.

VATICAN CITY (AP) — The Vatican’s main charitable organization, Caritas Internationalis, is hoping to open a new chapter this week after Pope Francis fired top managers over bullying complaints. But the recently ousted head is fighting back, claiming the Vatican engaged in a “brutal power grab” fueled by a “colonialist” attitude.

LONDON (AP) — An anti-monarchy group says it plans to take legal action against London’s Metropolitan Police after several of its members were arrested as they prepared to protest the coronation of King Charles III.

Civil liberties groups are accusing the police, and Britain’s Conservative government, of stifling the right to protest with new powers to clamp down on peaceful but disruptive demonstrations.

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday told his country’s traditional Victory Day parade on Moscow’s Red Square that the West’s “untamed ambitions, arrogance and impunity” are driving “a real war” against Russia, while the Kremlin’s forces fired another cruise missile barrage at Ukraine.

“Today civilization is once again at a decisive turning point,” Putin said at the annual commemorations celebrating the defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II. “A real war has been unleashed against our Motherland.”

08 May 2023; AA: A former chief of Russian space agency Roscosmos has voiced doubt over the authenticity of the 1969 Apollo 11 Moon landing.

“About 10 years ago, when I worked in the government, I sent an official request to Roscosmos to provide me with documentary evidence of the Americans' stay on the moon,” Dmitry Rogozin said in a statement on Telegram on Sunday.

08 May 2023; AA: The European Union on Monday canceled its Europe Day diplomatic reception in Israel amid rising tensions between the bloc and Benjamin Netanyahu's government over West Bank policies.

“This year we have decided to cancel the usual diplomatic reception” for Europe Day on May 9, Peter Stano, lead spokesperson of the EU diplomatic service, said in a statement.

BRUSSELS, May 8. /TASS/: NATO has raised the readiness of its air policing units in the Black Sea region after a Russian fighter jet escorted a Polish warplane over the Black Sea last Friday, Reuters reported on Monday.

"NATO air policing detachments were put on higher readiness in response to the dangerous behavior of a Russian military plane in the vicinity of a Polish Frontex aircraft over the Black Sea near Romania," said the report that cited a NATO official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

BERLIN, May 8. /TASS/: A Berlin court has granted a motion of the local police and banned the demonstration of the Russian flag and symbols on May 9, the Berlin police said on Monday.

"The administrative court has ruled that our complaint was substantiated. The use of Russian and Soviet flags and the St. George’s ribbon at the aforementioned monuments is still banned," the police said on Twitter.