Europe

BERLIN, May 1. /TASS/: Part of German diplomatic missions’ employees left Russia on Monday, the German Foreign Ministry reported without specifying their number.

Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on the Zvezda TV channel in late April that more than 20 German diplomats would be expelled from Russia as a tit-for-tat measure in response to the expulsion of Russian diplomats from Germany.

MOSCOW, May 1. /TASS/: Russian President Vladimir Putin will hold a meeting with members of the government in a videoconference format on Tuesday, the press service of the Kremlin reported on Monday.

"The issues of development of the tourism sector will be the main subject. Reports will be delivered by Deputy Prime Minister D.N. Chernyshenko, Economic Development Minister M.G. Reshetnikov, Transport Minister V.G. Savelyev, Minister of Natural Resources and Environment A.A. Kozlov," the report said.

MELITOPOL, May 1. /TASS/: Three brigades of the Ukrainian armed forces, whose redeployment to the Zaporozhye area completed on April 30, will not be able to shift to active combat actions due to loss of ammunition and fuel stores in Pavlograd as a result of Russia’s attack, chairman of the We Are Together with Russia movement Vladimir Rogov told TASS on Monday.

"Redeployment has been completed, with all three brigades at the Orekhov section of the contact line. Part of them have arrived at the settlement of Shcherbaki," he said.

PARIS, May 1 (Reuters) - French police clashed with hundreds of black-clad anarchists in Paris and other cities during union-led protests against President Emmanuel Macron's increase in the retirement age, as workers staged Labour Day rallies across Europe.

Demonstrators pelted Paris police with Molotov cocktails and fireworks, torched building materials and smashed up bus stops. Protesters marching peacefully booed the police as they responded with tear gas and baton charges.

May 1 (Reuters) - Russia unleashed a fresh volley of missiles on Ukraine overnight, causing huge blazes in a city in the east, damaging dozens of homes and wounding at least 34 people.

The attack on Pavlohrad, a city and railway hub, came during the second wave of nationwide missile strikes in three days, with Moscow apparently reviving its winter tactic of long-range strikes ahead of a planned Ukrainian counteroffensive.

KYIV, May 1 (Reuters) - Ukrainian counterattacks have ousted Russian forces from some positions in the besieged eastern city of Bakhmut, but the situation remains "difficult", a top Ukrainian general said in comments published on Monday.

During the past few months the battle for Bakhmut has become the fulcrum of a conflict that has seen little shift in front lines since late last year, leaving both sides looking for a breakthrough.

"The situation is quite difficult," said Col. Gen. Oleksandr Syrskyi, the commander of ground forces, in a statement on Telegram.

BERLIN (AP) — Public transit companies in Germany say more than 3 million people have already snapped up a new ticket being launched Monday that allows them to use all local and regional trains, buses and metros across the country for 49 euros ($53.90) a month.

The new Germany Ticket is intended to encourage people to ditch their cars in favor of more environmentally friendly forms of transportation. It follows on from an experimental 9-euro ‘all you can ride’ ticket that proved to be success last year, but which officials said wasn’t financially viable.

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russia launched its second large salvo of missiles at Ukraine in recent days early Monday, damaging buildings and wounding at least 34 people in the eastern city of Pavlohrad but failing to hit Kyiv, officials said.

Air raid sirens began blaring across the capital at about 3:45 a.m., followed by the sounds of explosions as missiles were intercepted by Ukrainian defense systems.

30 Apr 2023; MEMO: Russia on Sunday promised a harsh response to the seizure of its embassy school in Warsaw, Poland by local authorities.

Warsaw will get a response and work in this regard has begun, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told Russian TV channel Rossiya-1.

Zakharova said the school is moving to a new building, and the process that could take several days.

30 Apr 2023; AA: Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday approved a law introducing the punishment of stripping away citizenship for certain crimes, including posing a national security threat and sabotage.

Under the law, which will come into force in 180 days, only naturalized Russians can have their citizenship stripped, not Russians by birth.