Biden announces a ban on Russia's oil and gas imports, and Zelensky calls for designating it a "terrorist state"

On Tuesday, the US President announced a ban on oil and gas imports from Russia, as part of measures aimed at imposing restrictions on the Russian economy. For his part, the Ukrainian president admitted that his country "has begun to obtain support from (NATO)," noting that the support provided "is still insufficient."

US President Joe Biden announced, on Tuesday, a ban on oil and gas imports from Russia, to complement the measures aimed at imposing restrictions on the Russian economy.

"We will ban all imports of oil, gas and energy, and this means that Russian oil will no longer reach US ports," Biden said in a video speech.

He added that the United States "produces from oil what not all European countries produce," calling for "transition to reliance on clean energy."

On the other hand, Biden indicated that the sanctions imposed on Russian gas will affect the American citizen at home due to the high prices.

"The sanctions are aimed at harming Russian President Vladimir Putin, and we will continue to support Ukraine and pressure Russia with sanctions," he added.

Zelensky calls for designating Russia a "terrorist state"

For his part, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky admitted that his country "has begun to receive support from the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)," noting that the support provided to it "is still insufficient."

This came in a recorded speech before the British House of Commons, in which he also called for the continuation of imposing sanctions against Moscow and designating Russia as a "terrorist state."

He said: "On the ninth day, we began to get NATO support, but not to the extent that we wanted, and on the eleventh day, cities and hospitals were bombarded with Russian missiles and rockets."

He added that the people of Ukraine will continue to resist. "We will not acquiesce, we will not surrender, and we will fight to the last man on land, sea and air," he added.

And he added, "Increase pressure and sanctions on Russia, designating it a terrorist state, and maintaining the security of our skies."

Zelensky had repeatedly asked NATO countries to impose a no-fly zone over his country, but they feared that the confrontation would turn into a direct conflict between Moscow and the members of the alliance.

Zelensky stated that the Russian army's losses "exceeded 10,000 dead, including a Russian general."

At the dawn of last February 24, Russia launched a military operation in Ukraine, which was followed by angry international reactions and the imposition of "tough" economic and financial sanctions on Moscow.

On the northern Moroccan coast, about a thousand migrants fail to enter the Spanish enclave of Melilla

The authorities of the city of Melilla, affiliated to the Spanish administration, said that "about a thousand migrants failed to climb the barrier separating it from Morocco", after the Moroccan border guards repelled the attempt.

Melilla authorities reported that a thousand migrants tried on Tuesday morning to enter the Spanish enclave on the northern coast of Morocco, days after the largest attempt of its kind.

Melilla police said, in a statement, that "the intrusion prevention force of the Civil Guard spotted, at around six in the morning, a large group of about a thousand migrants approaching the (Melilla) fence in a coordinated and organized manner, before they split into several groups."

At about eight in the morning, a group of about 400 people managed to reach the fence, "but Moroccan security forces stopped them, according to the statement. None of these people eventually managed to cross the fence to Melilla."

Last Wednesday, Melilla witnessed the largest attempt to enter it ever, according to the authorities, when about 2,500 people tried to enter, while Thursday and Friday witnessed two other attempts, which included 1,200 and 1,000 people, respectively.

A total of 871 migrants managed to enter Melilla on Wednesday and Thursday, compared to 1,092 in all of 2021.

Melilla and Ceuta, located about 400 km to the west, are the only land borders of the European Union on the African continent, and are constantly experiencing attempts by migrants to enter in order to reach Europe.

Last May, the migration crisis in Ceuta witnessed the sudden entry of more than 10,000 people, the vast majority of them Moroccans, via the sea or the border barrier, after easing restrictions on the Moroccan side.

This took place in the context of a diplomatic dispute between Madrid and Rabat, after Spain received the leader of the Sahrawi separatists in the "Polisario Front", Ibrahim Ghali, for treatment after being infected with the Corona virus.

While the tension has subsided since then, it has not ended. Since being summoned for consultations in May, Morocco's ambassador to Spain has not yet returned to Madrid.

"Brother kills brother" Ukrainian priests want to separate from the Church of Russia

Priests in Ukraine demanded a separation from the Russian Orthodox Church, following the military attacks launched by Russian forces on the country, which resulted in the displacement of more than two million displaced people in harsh conditions.

Russia's attacks on Ukraine have prompted some of the country's priests to demand separation from the Russian Orthodox Church, to which their dioceses have belonged for centuries.

Like much of their social and cultural fabric, Ukraine and Russia have intertwined their religious beliefs for hundreds of years.

But the attacks of President Vladimir Putin, which killed hundreds and forced more than two million people to flee the country, changed that as well.

In this regard, Iov Olshansky, a priest in the new Orthodox monastery of the Resurrection in the western city of Lviv, says: “The Russian president is Cain (Cain) today,” referring to the killing of Cain (Cain), the eldest son of Adam and Eve, his brother Abel, according to the Bible.

"The only way for our church is independence," he adds.

United ukrainian church

The Russian Orthodox Church has been dominant in Ukraine for nearly 300 years, including in the Soviet era when religion was officially banned and believers practiced their rituals in secret.

After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the Orthodox community in Ukraine split into three branches: one in which the clergy pledged allegiance to the Moscow Patriarchate, another subordinate to the newly founded Patriarchate of Kyiv and a smaller independent Ukrainian Orthodox Church.

But that changed after Russia seized and annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014, then backed separatists who had formed two separate unrecognized regions in eastern Ukraine, in a conflict that has killed nearly 13,000 people.

Four years after the annexation of Crimea, the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople, based in Istanbul, recognized Kyiv's religious independence, allowing for the establishment of a united Ukrainian church.

The Russian Church lost many of its members to the new united Ukrainian Church, but it remained the second largest denomination in the country. An opinion poll conducted in 2021 indicated that 58% of Orthodox believers consider themselves to be members of the new united Church, compared to 25% who are still affiliated with the Moscow Patriarchate.