Ukraine claims recapture of Kyiv region, as Russians ‘verbally’ cede key demands

Police detain 4 over rioting at Jerusalem’s Damascus Gate during Ramadan celebrations

Police say four Palestinians have been detained during clashes at the Damascus Gate entrance to Jerusalem’s Old City, as Palestinians gather to celebrate Ramadan.

Police say the suspects hurled stones and other items at officers. It adds that rioters also set fire to a garbage bin.

Meanwhile, officers also detained a suspect who allegedly threatened officers on the TikTok video-sharing platform, in a live stream.

“Whoever chooses to disturb the order, riot, and engage in violence of any kind, harms first and foremost the large public of worshipers, merchants, and visitors, the vast majority of whom wished to celebrate Ramadan in peace and security, while maintaining freedom of worship,” police say in a statement.

“We will not allow those inciting and violent margins [of society] to disrupt order. We call on the public to mark the month of Ramadan legally, obey police instructions, and avoid violence and disturbances of any kind,” the statement adds.

Police publish footage of clashes at Jerusalem's Damascus Gate this evening. Four Palestinian suspects detained by officers. pic.twitter.com/1Bw49yT3QY

— Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian (@manniefabian) April 2, 2022

Ukrainian negotiator says Russia ‘verbally’ agreed to key positions, except Crimea

In this photo released by Ukrainian Foreign Ministry Press Service, Russian Presidential aide Vladimir Medinsky, left, and the Head of the Ukrainian Servant of the People faction Davyd Arakhamia pose for media during talks between Russian and Ukrainian delegations in Dolmabahce Palace, Istanbul, on March 29, 2022. (Ukrainian Foreign Ministry Press Service via AP)

KYIV, Ukraine — Ukraine’s top negotiator in peace talks with Russia says that Moscow has “verbally” agreed to key Ukrainian proposals, raising hopes that talks to end fighting are moving forward.

Negotiator David Arakhamia tells Ukrainian television channels that any meeting between Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky and Russian President Vladimir Putin would “with a high probability” take place in Turkey.

“The Russian Federation has given an official answer to all positions, which is that they accept the [Ukrainian] position, except for the issue of Crimea [annexed by Russia in 2014],” Arakhamia says.

He says that while there is “no official confirmation in writing,” the Russian side said so “verbally.”

The comments came as Ukraine said it had retaken control of the whole Kyiv region.

Arakhamia says Moscow had agreed in talks that a referendum on the neutral status of Ukraine “will be the only way out of this situation.”

Asked what would happen if Ukrainians voted against a neutral status for the country, Arakhamia says “we will either return to a state of war, perhaps, or return to new negotiations.”

The Kremlin has insisted that Ukraine adopt a neutral status.

Several detained during unrest at Jerusalem’s Damascus Gate

Several are detained by police officers during minor clashes at the Damascus Gate entrance to Jerusalem’s Old City, as Palestinians gather to celebrate Ramadan.

According to footage posted online, police can be seen detaining a person. Media reports say four Palestinians have been detained so far.

There is no immediate comment from police on the clashes.

متابعة صحفية: " قوات الاحتلال تعتقل شابًا عقب الاعتـ.ــداء عليه في باب العامود بالقدس" pic.twitter.com/TpnCffDkHM

— AlQastal القسطل (@AlQastalps) April 2, 2022

صور توثق اعتقال قوة من المستعربين شاباً من باب العامود بالقدس الآن pic.twitter.com/mojqF5Hzwr

— وكالة شهاب للأنباء (@ShehabAgency) April 2, 2022

Ukraine says 765 Mariupol residents fled besieged city in private vehicles

Ukraine’s deputy prime minister says 765 residents managed to make it out of Mariupol in private vehicles today.

Iryna Vereshchuk says the residents reached Zaporizhzhia, a city 140 miles (226 kilometers) to the northwest.

Meanwhile, the International Committee of the Red Cross said a team with three vehicles and nine staff members plans to get into Mariupol to evacuate residents. The Red Cross says it couldn’t carry out the operation yesterday because it did not receive assurances that the route was safe. City authorities said the Russians blocked access to the city.

By this evening, there was no word if the Red Cross convoy had reached Mariupol, scene of some of the war’s worst attacks. Around 100,000 people are believed to remain in the city on the Sea of Azov, down from a prewar population of 430,000, and facing dire shortages of water, food, fuel, and medicine.

The Mariupol city council said earlier today that 10 empty buses were headed to Berdyansk, a city 52 miles (84 kilometers) west of Mariupol, to pick up people who managed to get there on their own. About 2,000 made it out of Mariupol yesterday, city officials said.

Ukraine claims recapture of ‘whole Kyiv region’

KYIV, Ukraine — Ukraine has regained control of “the whole Kyiv region” after invading Russian forces retreated from some key towns near the Ukrainian capital, deputy defense minister Ganna Maliar says today.

“Irpin, Bucha, Gostomel and the whole Kyiv region were liberated from the invader,” Maliar says on Facebook, referring to towns that have been heavily destroyed by fighting.

Islamic Jihad member killed in raid boasted he planned ‘something very big in Israel’ — TV

A member of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad cell killed during a raid by Israeli security forces overnight had been on the Shin Bet’s radar since firing at troops in the West Bank earlier this week, Israeli television reports.

Saif Abu Libdeh, a 25-year-old resident of Tulkarm, fired over 50 bullets at IDF troops patrolling along the so-called seam line on Tuesday, according to Channel 12 news. No soldiers were hurt.

The network says the Shin Bet has been on Abu Libdeh’s tail since and tracked him during a rally in Jenin yesterday, where he appeared armed with an M-16 rifle.

“Soon you’ll hear about me,” he allegedly said. “I’m going to do something very big in Israel.”

The unsourced report says security officials believe he intended to carry out a killing spree similar to the recent terror attacks in Beersheba, Hadera, and Bnei Brak.

Bennett on overnight raid: Security forces ‘thwarted a ticking time bomb’

Prime Minister Naftali Bennett (C) speaks in a video statement before a meeting with Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar (R), his military secretary Avi Gil and other security officials, on April 2, 2022. (Screen capture/YouTube)

Prime Minister Naftali Bennett holds a meeting with top officials at the Shin Bet security service following several deadly terror attacks in Israel over the past few weeks.

“We are in the midst of a joint effort of all the security forces to stop the wave of recent attacks and restore security to Israeli citizens,” he says in a video statement alongside Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar and his military secretary Avi Gil.

Referring to the overnight raid in which three Palestinian Islamic Jihad operatives were killed, Bennett says security forces “thwarted a ticking time bomb.” He predicts there will be “many more” attempted attacks.

“We are working right now to prevent them,” he says. “Our people act with great bravery, around the clock, in a hostile and violent environment, and I want to send a speedy recovery to the wounded in the operation.”

The premier says he spoke with the elite officer seriously hurt in the operation. He also notes the increased deployments of security forces, saying the goal is to allow citizens to go about their normal lives.

“Terror is not new. Once it’s Hamas, once it’s Islamic Jihad, this time there is some involvement of Daesh,” he says, using an Arabic acronym for Islamic State. Two of the recent attacks involved Arab Israelis with IS links. “We will get through this difficult period,” he says.

Over 200 detained at anti-invasion protests across Russia, monitor group says

Russian Police officers detain a woman during a protest against Russia's invasion of Ukraine, in central Moscow, on April 2, 2022. (AFP)

A Russian group that monitors political arrests says 208 people were detained in demonstrations held today across the country protesting Russia’s military operation in Ukraine.

The OVD-Info group says demonstrations took place in 17 Russian cities, from Siberia to the more densely populated west. More than 70 people were detained in Moscow and a similar number in St. Petersburg, the organization says.

Video released by another group that monitors protests, Avtozak, shows some detainees being led to police prisoner transports as they smiled and carried flowers. Others were shown to be more harshly forced into the transports, bent over with their arms pinioned behind them.

Russian President Vladimir Putin’s government has cracked down heavily on dissent, even before Russia invaded Ukraine in February.

2 suspected Islamic State supporters said arrested in north

Security forces have arrested two suspects in the Wadi Ara region of northern Israel on suspicion of supporting Islamic State, Channel 12 news reports.

Mayor says almost 300 people buried in ‘mass grave’ in recaptured town outside Kyiv

BUCHA, Ukraine — Almost 300 people have been buried in a mass grave in Bucha, a commuter town outside Ukraine’s capital Kyiv, its mayor tells AFP, after the Ukrainian army retook control of the key town from Russia.

“In Bucha, we have already buried 280 people in mass graves,” mayor Anatoly Fedoruk tells AFP by phone. He says the heavily destroyed town’s streets are littered with corpses.

Gantz says Israel mulling easing restrictions for Palestinians during Ramadan ‘depending on security situation’

Defense Minister Benny Gantz issues a message to the Palestinians as Ramadan begins, saying Israel is examining what steps it can take to ease restrictions amid the holy Muslim month, “depending on the security situation.”

“At the beginning of the month of Ramadan, I would like to wish a Ramadan Kareem to all Palestinians in Judea and Samaria and the Gaza Strip,” Gantz says in a video message on Facebook.

“Unfortunately, we are in a difficult period of terror attacks on the citizens of Israel, a reality we can not accept, and we are working against it with force and determination,” he says.

“We are currently examining what steps we can take towards Ramadan, to allow you to celebrate the holiday in the best possible way, while first and foremost maintaining security,” Gantz says.

Gantz says Israel has been holding talks with the Palestinian Authority in order to implement moves “aimed at improving the quality of life and the economy” in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

“We want [these moves], I’m sure most Palestinians are interested in them too,” he says.

Bennett to meet with Shin Bet chief, senior officials at security agency

Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar (L), Prime Minister Naftali Bennett (R) October 13, 2021 (Haim Zach/GPO)

Prime Minister Naftali Bennett will hold a meeting shortly with Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar and the heads of the security agency’s various divisions, the Prime Minister’s Office says.

The meeting follows an overnight raid in which security forces killed three members of a Palestinian Islamic Jihad cell allegedly en route to commit an attack in Israel, and following several recent terror attacks in which 11 Israelis were killed.

IDF releases footage from arrest of alleged member of Islamic Jihad cell

IDF soldiers are seen operating in the West Bank, in an image published by the military on April 2, 2022. (Israel Defense Forces)

The army publishes a video of troops operating earlier today in the Palestinian town of Shuweika, near the West Bank city of Tulkarem.

During the operation, soldiers arrested a suspected member of a Palestinian Islamic Jihad cell allegedly en route to commit an attack in Israel.

The video shows troops surrounding the suspect’s home before he attempts to flee. The military says an M-16 rifle and ammunition were seized during the raid.

IDF publishes a video of troops operating in Shuweika near the West Bank city of Tulkarem earlier today, during the arrest of an alleged member of the PIJ cell en route to an attack in Israel pic.twitter.com/8bLsgjWbfu

— Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian (@manniefabian) April 2, 2022

Gantz meets with security chiefs following overnight raid on Islamic Jihad cell

Defense Minister Benny Gantz Gantz says he held a security assessment today with IDF Chief of Staff Aviv Kohavi, Shin Bet head Ronen Bar and other top security officials after troops killed three Palestinian Islamic Jihad members in a gunfight overnight as they were allegedly headed to carry out a terror attack in Israel.

Gantz praises the soldiers involved in the raid, including the elite senior officer who was seriously wounded.

“We are continuing to work around the clock… to protect Israeli citizens,” he says.

Ukraine accuses Russian forces of firing at protesters in city of Enerhodar

KYIV, Ukraine — A Ukrainian official accuses Russian forces of opening fire on peaceful demonstrators, injuring four with “severe burns,” in the southern city of Enerhodar occupied by Moscow’s forces.

Russian troops took control of Enerhodar, the site of Europe’s largest nuclear power plant, in early March.

“Today in Enerhodar, city residents gathered again for a rally in support of Ukraine, singing the anthem,” Ukraine’s human rights ombudsman Lyudmyla Denisova says on Telegram.

“The occupiers used light and noise grenades and opened mortar fire on the residents, four people were injured and severely burned,” she says.

Videos circulating on social media show people fleeing from a square in Enerhodar amid explosions and clouds of white smoke.

Denisova says some of the protesters were “forcibly put in paddy wagons and taken away in an unknown direction.”

She accuses Russian forces of “terrorizing the local population.”

Ukraine has previously accused the Russian army of firing on peaceful protesters in Kherson, the first major city to fall to the Russian army since Moscow invaded in late February.

Denisova says there is no information on Enerhodar’s “abducted” mayor, Ivan Samoiydyuk, “who did not agree to cooperate with the occupiers.”

Fighting around the Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant in Enerhodar last month led to international outrage, with memories of Ukraine’s Chernobyl disaster still fresh.”

Russian space chief warns sanctions over Ukraine could imperil space station

In this frame grab from video provided by Roscosmos, Russian cosmonauts Sergey Korsakov, Oleg Artemyev and Denis Matveyev are seen during a welcome ceremony after arriving at the International Space Station, Friday, March 18, 2022, the first new faces in space since the start of Russia’s war in Ukraine. The crew emerged from the Soyuz capsule wearing yellow flight suits with blue stripes, the colors of the Ukrainian flag. (Roscosmos via AP)

MOSCOW — The head of Russia’s space program says today that the future of the International Space Station hangs in the balance after the United States, the European Union and Canadian space agencies missed a deadline to meet Russian demands for lifting sanctions on Russian enterprises and hardware.

Dmitry Rogozin, the head of Roscosmos, tells reporters that the state agency is preparing a report on the prospects of international cooperation at the station, to be presented to federal authorities “after Roscosmos has completed its analysis.”

Rogozin implies on Russian state TV that the Western sanctions, some of which predate Russia’s current military operations in Ukraine, could disrupt the operation of Russian spacecraft servicing the ISS with cargo flights. Russia also sends manned missions to the space station.

He stresses that the Western partners need the space station and “cannot manage without Russia, because no one but us can deliver fuel to the station.”

Rogozin adds that “only the engines of our cargo craft are able to correct the ISS’s orbit, keeping it safe from space debris.”

Rogozin also writes on his Telegram channel that he received responses from his Western counterparts vowing to promote “further cooperation on the ISS and its operations.”

He reiterates his view that “the restoration of normal relations between partners in the ISS and other joint (space) projects is possible only with the complete and unconditional lifting” of sanctions, which he referred to as illegal.

At least 20 bodies in civilian clothes seen on one street in town near Kyiv

BUCHA, Ukraine — The bodies of at least 20 men in civilian clothes were found lying in a single street today after Ukrainian forces retook the town of Bucha near Kyiv from Russian troops, AFP journalists say.

One of the bodies of the men had his hands tied, and the corpses were strewn over several hundred meters (yards) of the residential road in the suburban town northwest of the capital, the journalists say.

The cause of death isn’t immediately clear.

Man killed in light plane crash in central Israel

Firefighters at the scene of a light plane crash in the Emek Hefer region of central Israel on April 2, 2022. (Fire and Rescue Services)

A man is killed after the light plane he was piloting crashes in a field in the Emek Hefer region of central Israel.

The Magen David Adom ambulance service says the man, believed to be 70-years-old, was found unconscious with head wounds by paramedics, who pronounced him dead at the scene.

Police chief: Islamic Jihad cell was headed to carry out shooting attack in Israel

Israel Police Commissioner Kobi Shabtai speaks during a ceremony in Nazareth on November 9, 2021. (Michael Giladi/Flash90)

Police Commissioner Kobi Shabtai says members of Palestinian Islamic Jihad who were killed by troops this morning planned to cross into Israel from the West Bank and carry out a shooting attack, similar to the one earlier this week in Bnei Brak in which five people were killed.

“I just visited the Yamam fighters, who at pre-dawn eliminated a cell of terrorists that was en route to commit an attack inside Israeli territory,” Shabtai tells reporters at the Rambam Medical Center in Haifa, where several officers hurt in the incident are hospitalized.

“This is a chance to give a good word to the Shin Bet security agency for exceptional work in thwarting terror attacks in recent days, with the Israel Defense Forces and Israel Police,” he says.