Stuck NASA astronauts one step closer to home after SpaceX crew-swap launch

PARIS: French President Emmanuel Macron said Saturday that Europe and the United States had to put pressure on Russia to accept a proposed ceasefire in Ukraine.
Russia “does not give the impression it sincerely wants peace,” Macron said in a statement provided to AFP following a Saturday morning video conference of countries backing Ukraine organized by UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer.
On the contrary, Russian President Vladimir Putin is “escalating the fighting” and “wants to get everything, then negotiate,” he said.
“Russia must respond clearly and the pressure must be clear, in conjunction with the United States, to obtain this ceasefire,” he added.
In a statement released later Saturday, his office said Macron would Canada’s new prime minister Mark Carney on Monday to discuss the war in Ukraine and “other international crises.”
Since returning to the White House in January, US President Donald Trump has stressed his desire to end the three-year old conflict, and has made a spectacular rapprochement with Vladimir Putin.
After a very public falling out between Trump and Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky at the White House last month, Kyiv has worked to restore relations. It has backed Washington’s proposed a 30-day ceasefire, which Russia has not accepted.
“This is a moment of truth because if Russia does not sincerely commit to peace, President Trump will toughen sanctions and retaliation, and so that will completely change the dynamic,” Macron said in a interview Friday with French regional papers that was posted late Saturday.
He said planning was accelerating among countries willing to provide security guarantees for Ukraine following any eventual ceasefire, such as France and Britain.
Military leaders from some 30 countries met in Paris on March 11 to discuss plans for a peacekeeping force in Ukraine, and will meet again Thursday in Britain.
“Several European countries, and indeed non-European ones, have expressed their willingness to join” a possible deployment to Ukraine to secure a future peace agreement with Russia, said Macron.
This would involve “a few thousand troops” per state, deployed at key points, to conduct training programs and “show our long-term support,” he told the regional papers.
Moscow has firmly opposed such a deployment.
But Macron said: “If Ukraine requests allied forces to be on its territory, it is not up to Russia to accept or reject them.
He added: “Under no circumstances can the Ukrainians make territorial concessions without having any security guarantees.”
Macron will travel to Berlin Tuesday for talks with Chancellor Olaf Scholz for talks on Ukraine ahead of an EU summit, Berlin has announced.

ADDIS ABABA: Residents sought to flee mounting tensions in the Tigray region of Ethiopia as a political faction confirmed they had seized control of the town hall in the state capital Mekele.
Ethiopia’s most northerly state, which borders Eritrea, saw a devastating conflict between Tigrayan rebels and the federal government in 2020-22, which claimed up to 600,000 lives, according to some estimates.
The tensions come from an internal power struggle within Tigray between Getachew Reda, head of the state’s regional administration, and Debretsion Gebremichael, head of the dominant local party, the Tigray People’s Liberation Front.
“People are in terror that if armed conflict breaks out, it will be worse than the war they endured,” said Solomon Hagos, a university lecturer in Mekele, who asked for one of his names to be changed for security reasons.
Another resident said people were trying to flee.
“We were trapped in Mekele during the previous war, we do not want that to happen again,” said Mihret, 27, who only gave one name.
“We are trying to leave the region, and we went to the airport, but all the flights are full. We are looking for ways to leave the region; we are afraid,” he added.
Debretsion’s faction seized control of Mekele’s town hall on Thursday to reinstate its chosen mayor and the local radio station.
A spokesman for Debretsion said: “The previous elected mayor was fired by Getachew, which was not legal. So now the previous one has been put back in place.”
Armed supporters of Debretsion also took over the municipality in Adigrat, Tigray’s second-largest town near the Eritrean border, ousting the mayor appointed by Getachew.
“We are afraid of a new siege, of a civil war between Tigrayans,” said Mehari Gebremariam, a civil servant in Adigrat.
The tensions threaten to draw in Eritrea, which has a history of war with Ethiopia, adding another layer of fear among locals.
A war between Ethiopia and Eritrea in 1998-2000 resulted in tens of thousands of deaths.
Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed was lauded for finally reaching a peace agreement with Eritrea when he came to power in 2018 and won the Nobel Peace Prize.
But relations have soured since the end of the Tigray conflict in 2022.
Eritrea claimed in February that Ethiopia was waging an “intense campaign” against it.
A security source told AFP on condition of anonymity that armed Ethiopian convoys were heading toward the region of Afar, which borders Eritrea, in recent days.
“A war between Ethiopia and Eritrea could break out at any moment,” said General Tsadkan Gebretensae, senior strategist for the Tigray forces in Getachew’s administration, in remarks published this week.
The tensions have led to panic in Mekele.
“People are currently rushing to withdraw from banks because they fear the political tensions could lead to a suspension of basic services,” Hagos told AFP, adding that he had stocked up on food for fear of coming inflation.
He said locals could not cope with the idea of another war.
“Our people are exhausted. Our economy is devastated,” he said.