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on September 2, 2025
Putin used the rally to peddle falsehoods about why the war started and to shill a narrative of Russia's battlefield success, speaking of 'how our guys are fighting during this operation, shoulder to shoulder, helping each other'
TAIPEI, April 8 (Reuters) - A senior U.S.
lawmaker pledged on Saturday to help provide training for Taiwan's armed force and to speed up the delivery of weapons, as China began three days of military exercises around the island Beijing claims as its territory.
<img style="max-width:450px;float:left;padding:10px 10px 10px 0px;border:0px;" alt="" />Both players held serve throughout the third set until the tiebreaker, when Ruud went up 3-0 by breaking Halys twice. Ruud won one of the next two points on his serve to go up 4-1.
Halys held serve to pull within 4-2, but Ruud broke his serve again and served out the match.
"Vladlen has proven that today the front line passes everywhere: in the zone of military action, in the rear, and in cities, hearts and minds," said Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova on the Telegram messaging app, noting he had died "in the centre of peaceful St Petersburg at terrorists' hands".
The 40-year-old Tatarsky, whose real name was Maxim Fomin, was accorded military honours including a gun salute and an army band at the funeral at Moscow's Troyekurovskoye cemetery due to his past participation in military operations in eastern Ukraine alongside Moscow-backed separatists battling Kyiv's forces.
China describes Taiwan as the most sensitive and important issue in its relations with the United States, and the topic is a constant source of friction between Beijing and Washington. (Reporting by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Robert Birsel)
HANOI, April 8 (Reuters) - U.S.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken will visit Vietnam next week, Senator Jeff Merkley told a news conference in Hanoi on Saturday, as part of Washington's efforts to move diplomatic relations with Hanoi on to a higher level this year.
In Sunday's final, Carballes Baena -- who has one ATP tourney win, the Ecuador Open in February 2018 -- will take on Alexandre Muller.
The Frenchman defeated Pavel Kotov of Russia 7-6 (3), 7-5. Muller has yet to win on the ATP Tour.
Speaking at a lunch in Taipei hosted by Tsai for his bipartisan delegation, Michael McCaul, chairman of the U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee, said they were there in strong support of Taiwan and that it was important democracies stood together.
The despot took to the stage dressed in a £10,000 Loro Piana jacket - despite his country's economy crumbling under the weight of Western sanctions - to address a crowd waving Russian national flags and banners marked with the letter 'Z', which has become a potent symbol of the invasion.
Prigozhin is also known for his sharp criticism of Russia's top brass over their performance in Ukraine. The Wagner group has been spearheading efforts in recent months to capture the city of Bakhmut in Ukraine's eastern Donetsk region.
MOSCOW, April 8 (Reuters) - Hundreds of mourners, including the leader of Russia's Wagner private militia group, attended the funeral on Saturday of pro-war blogger Vladlen Tatarsky, who was killed on April 2 in a cafe bomb blast that Moscow has blamed on Ukraine.
In the wake of the invasion, the Kremlin has cracked down harder on dissent and the flow of information, arresting thousands of antiwar protesters, banning sites such as Facebook and Twitter, and handing out tough prison sentences for what it says is false reporting on the war, esl classroom activities kids which Moscow refers to as a 'special military operation.'
In his speech, Putin quoted the Bible's book of John, praising his troops in Ukraine. 'The words from the sacred scripture come to my mind: "There is no greater love than if someone laid down his life for his friends,"' he said.
While a defence pact between Taiwan and the United States ended in 1979 when Washington severed formal diplomatic ties in favour of Beijing, a close military relationship endures and the United States is Taiwan's main foreign source of arms.
The United States and has long offered some degree of training on weapon systems, as well as detailed advice on ways to strengthen its military to guard against an invasion by China's People's Liberation Army.
The event was heavily anti-Western and filled with Soviet nostalgia, as Russian authorities ramped up patriotism in response to being hit by massive international sanctions for Putin's Ukraine campaign, which has stalled thanks to fierce resistance.
Meanwhile, a+ homework whoever set up a live stream of the event on YouTube did not turn the comment section off, meaning thousands of negative comments towards the event - written in Russian - flooded the page, as did blue and yellow heart emojis - the colours of Ukraine's flag.
Putin, who called the rally to mark the anniversary of the last time he attacked Ukraine to annex the Crimea region, spoke of sharing a 'common destiny' with Crimeans, of 'de-Nazifying' the region in 2014, and of the 'bravery' of soldiers currently fighting in Ukraine.