World

UKRAINE — A few kilometres from the front line in eastern Ukraine, Nadija, an army lieutenant, told AFP she felt "empty" after watching the clash between President Volodymyr Zelensky and US President Donald Trump.

Nadija said she wondered what Ukraine had done to deserve getting harangued by Trump and Vice President JD Vance, who accused Zelensky of being "disrespectful" and not "thankful" enough for US support.

"We did everything we had to," said the round-cheeked 21-year-old soldier in the Donetsk region.

"I could have lived a calm life but instead of that I am fighting," she said.

The fighting is raging in Ukraine, particularly around the town of Pokrovsk -- an important logistics hub.

The Ukrainian army is outgunned and outmanned and struggling to hold back Russia's steady advance.

Nadija said the unprecedented argument in the White House would likely boost support for Zelensky and the army in Ukraine.

"I think that more people will pay attention to the need to serve in the armed forces," she said, explaining that the army needed "young recruits".

 'Proud' of Zelensky 

With the risk of a cut in US military assistance, Nadija said she hoped for backing from Europe, adding that countries bordering Russia would "wake up".

"If the support weakens, (Russian President Vladimir) Putin will have achieved his aims and Europe will be next" to be attacked, she said.

Near the snow-covered front line, Oleksandr, a 41-year-old sergeant, held a cup of coffee to stay warm.

An imposing figure with blue eyes, he said he was "proud" of his president and "not surprised" by Trump's words, adding that the US leader "likes dictators".

"I think there won't be any more aid to put pressure on us to capitulate to Russia as soon as possible."

Oleksandr said he also hoped for support for Europe, pointing out that Russia had "reliable" partners such as North Korea which sent soldiers to fight Ukraine.

"They [European countries] will help us but not all of them," he said.

'Betrayed' by Trump 

Two other soldiers, who go by the the nicknames Smile and Rybachok, were also having coffee between missions.

Smile said he felt "betrayed" and "abandoned".

"They way Trump behaved is unacceptable," he said, adding that the situation at the front was "serious".

He said he too wanted to believe Europe would come to the rescue -- "otherwise, what else can we do?".

"Of course Europe will help us", said Rybachok, 38, who is staying optimistic despite having lost an eye in combat and having several scars on his face.

Ivan, who was away from the front for a break to try and forget the horror, said Zelensky had replied "as he should have" to Trump.

Asked if he was afraid of what would come next, he replied: "I no longer know what fear is."

VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis, who has been in hospital for two weeks with double pneumonia, is in a "stable" condition, the Vatican said on Saturday while again declining to offer a prognosis.

The 88-year-old had suffered a breathing "crisis" on Friday, but Saturday's evening bulletin said this was not repeated, adding: "The clinical conditions of the Holy Father have remained stable."

The pope was hospitalised on February 14 for breathing difficulties but his condition deteriorated into pneumonia in both lungs, sparking widespread alarm.

He suffered a breathing attack at the weekend, but since then appeared to have been getting slightly better, with the Vatican releasing more optimistic medical updates.

A Vatican source went so far Friday as to say Francis's condition was not currently critical following incremental improvements in his condition.

But the Vatican has not yet modified the pope's prognosis of "reserved", -- which means doctors will not predict changes in his health.

Medical experts have warned that Francis's age and the chronic respiratory disease from which he suffers mean a sustained recovery could take time. 

And Friday's bulletin from the Vatican stressed once again that his "prognosis remains reserved".

This hospital stay is Francis's longest since he was elected pope in 2013.

TOKYO — Japan was battling its largest wildfire in more than three decades on Saturday, one of several blazes that have killed one person and forced the evacuation of more than a thousand.

Flames are estimated to have spread over about 1,200 hectares in the forest of Ofunato in the northern region of Iwate since fire broke out on Wednesday, according to the Fire and Disaster Management Agency.

"We're still examining the size of the affected area, but it is the biggest since the 1992 wildfire" in Kushiro, Hokkaido, an agency spokesman told AFP.

That fire burned 1,030 hectares, the previous record.

Around 1,700 fire fighters were being mobilised from across the country, the agency said.

Aerial footage from public broadcaster NHK showed white smoke billowing up and covering an entire mountain.

Local police found the body of one person who had been burned on Thursday.

Over 1,000 nearby residents have been evacuated and more than 80 buildings had been damaged as of Friday, according to the Ofunato municipality.

The cause of the blaze remained unknown.

Two other fires were also burning Saturday, one in Yamanashi and another elsewhere in Iwate.

There were about 1,300 wildfires across Japan in 2023, concentrated in the February to April period when the air dries out and winds pick up.

The number of wildfires has declined since the peak in the 1970s, according to government data.

Ofunato has seen only 2.5 millimetres of rainfall this month, on course to fall far below the previous record low for February of 4.4 millimetres in 1967.

And last year was Japan's hottest since records began, mirroring other nations as ever-rising greenhouse gas emissions fuel climate change.

WASHINGTON — Volodymyr Zelensky said Friday that his relations with the United States can still be repaired, after President Donald Trump shouted at him in an angry White House meltdown accusing the Ukrainian leader of refusing to make peace with Russia.

"Of course," Zelensky said when asked in a Fox News interview if the relationship with Trump could be salvaged.

US-Ukrainian ties are about "more than two presidents," he said, adding that Ukraine badly needs Washington's help in the fight against Russia's far bigger and better-armed military.

"It will be difficult without your support," Zelensky said on Fox, Trump’s favourite news channel.

Zelensky's olive branch came hours after the extraordinary Oval Office scene where the years-long US policy of massive support for Ukraine's fight against the Russian invasion collapsed in a shouting match.

The row saw European leaders scramble to voice support for Ukraine after Zelensky was made to leave the White House early and without signing a minerals-sharing deal seen as vital to an eventual US-brokered truce.

During the clash, played out in front of US and international media, Trump and Vice President JD Vance shouted at Zelensky, accusing him of not being "thankful" and refusing to accept their proposed truce terms.

"You don't have the cards right now," Trump said. "You're either going to make a deal or we’re out, or if we're out, you'll fight it out and I don't think it's going to be pretty."

Zelensky departed shortly after, with Trump posting on social media that "he can come back when he is ready for peace."

"They were asked to leave the room. Then they had to be asked to leave the building," Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who had been in the Oval Office for the row, told Fox News of the Ukrainians.

The president told journalists later Friday that Zelensky was "overplaying his hand" and should agree to end fighting "immediately."

Zelensky, however, refused to apologize, telling Fox News, "I'm not sure that we did something bad." He did, however, say he wished the exchange had not taken place in front of reporters.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio later on CNN called for Zelensky to "apologise for wasting our time."

'Not alone'

US allies in Europe,  already worried that Trump will force Ukraine to effectively hand victory to Russian President Vladimir Putin, rushed to back Zelensky.

"You are not alone," Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, fresh off his own visit to the White House, said he had spoken to both Trump and Zelensky by phone following the clash and vowed "unwavering support" for Kyiv.

Far-right Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni called for a summit "without delay" between the United States, Europe and allies on Ukraine.

Trump and Vance are "doing Putin's dirty work," top US Senate Democrat Chuck Schumer posted.

But Russia was delighted.

Former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev called Zelensky an "insolent pig" who had received "a proper slap down in the Oval Office."

Trump's Republican Party echoed the Russians in blaming Zelensky.

Ukraine appeared united behind Zelensky, with its army chief vowing to stand with him while the foreign minister praised his "bravery."

"He did what he must," 26-year-old Valentyn Burianov told AFP in Kyiv, echoing others in the streets of the Ukrainian capital.

VATICAN CITY - Pope Francis, in hospital with pneumonia, suffered a breathing "crisis" on Friday which caused him to vomit, but he was given air and responded well, the Vatican said.

The 88-year-old, who has spent the past two weeks at Rome's Gemelli hospital, "presented an isolated crisis of bronchospasm which... led to an episode of vomiting with inhalation and a sudden worsening of the respiratory picture", it said in a statement.

"The Holy Father promptly underwent bronchoaspiration and began non-invasive mechanical ventilation, with a good response on gas exchange," it said.

Francis "remained alert and oriented at all times, cooperating with the therapeutic manoeuvres," it added.
The pope was hospitalised on February 14 for breathing difficulties but his condition deteriorated into pneumonia in both lungs, sparking widespread alarm.

He suffered a breathing attack at the weekend, but since then appeared to have been getting slightly better, with the Vatican releasing more optimistic medical updates.

A Vatican source went so far Friday as to say Francis's condition was not currently critical following incremental improvements in his condition.

But the Vatican has not yet modified the pope's prognosis of "reserved", which means doctors will not predict changes in his health.

Medical experts have warned that Francis's age and the chronic respiratory disease from which he suffers mean a sustained recovery could take time.

And Friday's bulletin from the Vatican stressed once again that his "prognosis remains reserved".

This hospital stay is Francis's longest since he was elected pope in 2013.

WASHINGTON - US President Donald Trump said Friday after his angry Oval Office argument with Volodymr Zelensky that the Ukrainian leader is uninterested in peace so long as he has US support in the war with Russia.

"I have determined that President Zelensky is not ready for Peace if America is involved, because he feels our involvement gives him a big advantage in negotiations," Trump wrote on Truth Social.

Trump added: "He disrespected the United States of America in its cherished Oval Office. He can come back when he is ready for Peace."

Trump and Zelensky openly argued in the White House on Friday as they clashed on the need for compromising with what the Ukrainian president called Russia's "killer" leader.

Trump berated Zelensky as they sat in the Oval Office, telling him to be more "thankful" and saying, "You're in no position to dictate what we're going to feel."

And he told the Ukrainian president that he either "make a deal" with Russia "or we're out."

US Vice President JD Vance, sitting nearby, also attacked Zelensky, calling him "disrespectful."

Zelensky appeared to try to speak but was cut off.

The extraordinary outburst came after Trump said Ukraine will have to make "compromises" in a truce with Russia, which launched a full-scale invasion of its neighbor three years ago.

"You can't do any deals without compromises. So certainly he's going to have to make some compromises, but hopefully they won't be as big as some people think," Trump said.

But showing Trump pictures of war atrocities and referring to President Vladimir Putin, Zelensky said there should be "no compromises with a killer on our territory."

"Crazy Russians," he said, deported Ukrainian children and committed war crimes during their three-year invasion of his country.

Trump lashed out at Zelensky, who he said was "not acting at all thankful" and not "nice."

"You're gambling with the lives of millions of people," Trump said. "You're gambling with World War Three, and what you're doing is very disrespectful to the country -- this country."

The dramatic public breakdown in the long-tense relationship between Zelensky and Trump came after their meeting -- in front of a large group of journalists -- appeared to get off to a friendlier start.

Zelensky had said, "I think President Trump is on our side."

He said that he would be speaking to the US president about the "crucial" need for a so-called US security "backstop" to any European deployments of peacekeepers monitoring an eventual truce.

"This is crucial, this is what we want to speak about, this is very important," he said.

Trump has alarmed Kyiv and European allies with his abrupt U-turn in US policy, ending what had been full-throated support for Ukraine's attempt to defeat the Russian invasion and casting himself as a mediator between Putin and Zelensky.

Trump said in the Oval Office that he had "spoken on numerous occasions" to Putin -- more than has been publicly reported beyond the lengthy call between the two leaders earlier this February.

Trump had told Zelensky that a truce is "fairly close."

He also said that a deal he was set to sign with Zelensky allowing US exploitation of Ukraine's natural resources would be "very fair."

The resources deal is intended to give the United States access to rare-earth and other critical minerals as part of an overall plan to help Ukraine recover after a truce.

Zelensky told Trump that he should visit his embattled nation. "You have to come and to look."

KINSHASA — International courts have failed to stop three decades of atrocities in conflict-torn eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, showing a special tribunal is needed, the International Criminal Court (ICC) chief prosecutor said Wednesday.

The eastern DRC, scene of decades of relentless conflict, has been plunged into fresh turmoil as fighters from the M23 group backed by Rwanda seize swathes of territory in the provinces of North and South Kivu.

In an interview with AFP during a visit to Kinshasa, ICC prosecutor Karim Khan admitted the international justice system's failure to stem the gruesome atrocities that have accompanied decades of conflict in the region, and said he was "extremely concerned by the escalation of violence".

The ICC, which has convicted three people of atrocities in eastern DRC and is currently investigating further crimes in the region, is "focusing on the awful accounts that are coming from the east", he said.

He gave his backing to a proposal from the government in Kinshasa to create a special tribunal for the DRC, which is set to be discussed in April at an international conference in the capital.

Such a body is "absolutely" needed, he said.

'Several different conflicts'

Despite the ICC's efforts to address the situation in the DRC, "cycles of violence have continued", Khan told AFP.

"We can't just scratch the surface. It requires a more holistic approach. I think it requires a better-resourced, credible mandate dealing with genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity.

"What we're looking at is not just accountability in specific cases -- that's the basic responsibility -- but one is trying to have a wider effect, a more profound effect that stops these cycles of violence that have bedevilled this extraordinary, diverse and rich land," he added.

"That requires more justice and more consistently applied justice in all parts of the country."

Khan underlined the complexity of coming to grips with the decades of violence that have racked the sprawling country.

"There's not only one armed group. There's many. It's not only one part of the country. There's several different conflicts going on and I think we need to address it holistically," he said.

 'International institutions under siege'

The format of a special tribunal would be defined in April, but it "will be on the soil of the DRC" and "be DRC-owned", Khan said, mentioning the possibility of a "hybrid" court including international and local judges, as has been tried in Colombia and the Central African Republic.

"We are going to do our best to make sure that justice is not something we say before the television cameras. It's something that is felt by the people that are in terror," he said.

His comments came at a time when the ICC and other international institutions face a crisis of confidence and sharp criticism, notably from the United States, which sanctioned Khan this month over investigations targeting US personnel and alleged Israeli war crimes in Gaza.

"We are in the middle of a storm in which different international institutions are under siege," Khan said.

"Unless we can prove that they mean something to people in the DRC and in other parts of the world, there is going to be an erosion because we are under attack. By we, I mean the rules-based system," he added.

"What we're trying to do... is to show that the flag of justice that has been planted, that has been promised since Nuremberg, is not going to be taken or will not be allowed to fall lightly. We're going to try our best to stand up for justice."