kraine (AP) — A day after Russian President Vladimir Putin declared victory in seizing an eastern Ukraine province essential to his wartime aims, the mayor of a city in the path of Moscow’s offensive warned residents Tuesday to evacuate ahead of an expected assault.
Catholic Archdiocese of Benin City don fault Police rescue report of one kidnapped Italian priest for Edo State southern Nigeria.
Edo State Police Command issue statement say na dem help rescue di Reverend Father from di kidnappers.
But Archdiocese of Benin City explanation of how Fr. Luigi Brenna regain freedom from im kidnappers contradict wetin police tok.
Following a legal battle, Mrs Paul is now in line for a half share of the house when it is sold in three years' time, with her four children and step-children sharing the rest.
Only one of Mr Paul's children, James Paul, from his first marriage, had objected to Mrs Paul's claim, complaining that he had been left strapped for cash following the Covid pandemic and had been living in his car - arguing he could not wait three years for the property to be sold.
But his argument was rejected by the court, which said it was 'surprising' that Mr Paul's will cut out his wife, since they had enjoyed a 'happy marriage' until he died.
Tori be say Kidnappers bin gbab di priest on Sunday 3 July 2022 howeva im escape hand.
Police for Edo State claim say na dem rescue di Italian priest but di Catholic Archdiocese say no be so e happun.
How di kidnap take happen?
According to Chancellor, Catholic Archdiocese of Benin City, Very Rev. Fr. Michael Oyanoafoh e happun wen Fr. Luigi Brenna bin dey watch football game.
Boys for di village bin dey play around 5pm for Usen, in front of di Somascan community playing ground.
Michael Oyanoafoh come explain say di kidnap happun on Sunday 3 July, 2022
Suddenly, e say some men storm di venue begin shoot, wey make di boys wey bin dey play di football run away,
"But dem capture Fr. Luigi Brenna, beat am, use machete hit im head and bodi, den drag am away.
After about half kilometres of intense trekking and di dragging, dem give am more beating, di clergyman add.
E say dem beat am because di priest bin dey resist to follow di abductors, so e come fait at dat point.
Di Chancellor say dem carry am go anoda hospital to continue treatment and im dey respond well to di treatment.
WIA DIS FOTO COME FROM,CATHOLIC ARCHDIOCESE OF BENIN CITY
How Police say di rescue happen?
Edo State Police Command say wen operatives attached to Iguobazuwa Division receive hint say suspected kidnappers kidnap di 64 year-old priest dem immediately swing into action.
One tok-tok pesin ASP Jennifer U. Iwegbu say e happun for Ogunwenyu through Usen community for Ovia South West local goment area of Edo State.
Iwegbu say di operatives follow di suspected kidnappers to dia camp.
"Di suspects as dem sight di operatives open fire on dem but di superior fire power of di police operatives neutralise three of di kidnappers."
"Di rest escape into di forest with various degrees of gun shot injuries and abandon dia victim."
Police say dem immediately rush di victim to Igbinedion Teaching Hospital, Okada for medical attention.
"Meanwhile intensive bush combing dey go on with dj aim of arresting di suspected kidnappers weh dey on di run." She tok.
An official from Russia's powerful FSB security services took over the government of the Moscow-occupied Kherson region in southern Ukraine, Kremlin-installed authorities have said.
"Ukraine is forever in the past for the Kherson region. Russia is here forever," the Moscow-installed authorities said on Telegram.
Sergei Yeliseyev, until now the deputy head of government in the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad, "became head of the government in the Kherson region", said Vladimir Saldo, who heads the Russian occupational administration. His government takes office today, he added.
A graduate of the FSB Academy, 51-year-old Mr Yeliseyev served in the security services in unspecified functions, according to the Kaliningrad region website.
Kherson city, which lies close to Moscow-annexed Crimea, was the first major city to fall to Russian forces since the Kremlin sent troops to Ukraine in February.
The warning from the mayor of Sloviansk underscored fears that Russian forces were positioned to advance farther into Ukraine’s Donbas region, a mostly Russian-speaking industrial area where the country’s most experienced soldiers are concentrated.
Sloviansk, which had a population of about 107,000 before Russian invaded Ukraine more than four months ago, appeared to be the next target. The city has taken rocket and artillery fire during the war, and the bombardment has picked up since Moscow took the last major city in neighboring Luhansk province, Mayor Vadim Lyakh said.
“It’s important to evacuate as many people as possible,” he said, adding that shelling damaged 40 houses on Monday.
The Ukrainian military withdrew its troops Sunday from the city of Lysychansk to keep them from being surrounded. Russia’s defense minister and Putin said the city’s subsequent capture put Moscow in control of all of Luhansk, one of two provinces that make up the Donbas.
The office of Ukraine’s president said the Ukrainian military was still defending a small part of Luhansk and trying to buy time to establish fortified positions in nearby areas.
The question now is whether Russia can muster enough strength to complete its seizure of the Donbas by taking Donetsk province, too. Putin acknowledged Monday that Russian troops who fought in Luhansk need to “take some rest and beef up their combat capability.”
Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said Tuesday that the war in Ukraine would continue until all of the goals set Putin are achieved. However, Shoigu said “the main priorities” for Moscow at the moment were “preserving the lives and health” of the troops, as well as “excluding the threat to the security of civilians.”
When Putin ordered the invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, his stated goals were defending the people of the Donbas against Kyiv’s alleged aggression, and the “demilitarization” and “denazifaction” of Ukraine.
Pro-Russia separatists have fought Ukrainian forces and controlled much of the Donbas for eight years. Before the invasion, Putin recognized the independence of a pair of self-proclaimed separatist republics in the region. He also sought to portray the tactics of Ukrainian forces and the government as akin to Nazi Germany’s, claims for which no evidence has emerged.
The General Staff of the Ukrainian military said Russian forces also shelled several Donetsk towns and villages around Sloviansk in the past day but were repelled as they tried to advance toward a town about 20 kilometers (12 miles) to the city’s north. South of the city, Russian forces were trying to push toward two more towns and shelling areas near Kramatorsk.
Meanwhile, Moscow-installed officials in Ukraine’s southern Kherson region on Tuesday announced the formation of a new regional government there, with a former Russian official at the helm.
Sergei Yeliseyev, the head of the new Moscow-backed government in Kherson, is a former deputy prime minister of Russia’s western exclave of Kaliningrad and also used to work at Russia’s Federal Security Service, or the FSB, according to media reports.
It wasn’t immediately clear what would become of the “military-civic administration” the Kremlin installed earlier. The administration’s head, Vladimir Saldo said in a Telegram statement that the new government was “not a temporary, not a military, not some kind of interim administration, but a proper governing body.”
“The fact that not just Kherson residents, but Russian officials, too, are part of this government speaks clearly about the direction the Kherson region is headed in the future,” he said. “This direction is to Russia.”
There was no immediate comment from Ukrainian officials.
In other developments:
— The 30 NATO allies signed off on the accession protocols for Sweden and Finland, sending the membership bids of the two nations to the alliance capitals for legislative approvals. The move further increases Russia’s strategic isolation in the wake of its invasion of neighboring Ukraine in February and military struggles there since. Alliance Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg hailed the signing as a “truly a historic moment for Finland, for Sweden and for NATO.”