Trump and Zelenskyy trade barbs as US-Ukraine relations sour

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Relations between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and U.S. President Donald Trump are deteriorating rapidly. Zelenskyy said Wednesday that Trump was living in a Russian-made “disinformation space,” and Trump called Zelenskyy “a dictator without elections” in comments that were sure to complicate efforts to end the war. Zelenskyy also said he would like Trump’s team “to be more truthful” as he offered his first response to a series of striking claims that Trump made a day earlier, including falsely suggesting that Kyiv was to blame for the war, which enters its fourth year next week.

EU envoys approve more sanctions against Russia

BRUSSELS (AP) — European Union envoys have approved new sanctions against Russia, with the measures set to enter into force next week on the third anniversary of its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The move comes with the Europeans sidelined from U.S.-led talks with Russia to end the war. The sanctions will target dozens more officials and organizations, and impose new trade and bank restrictions. EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen welcomed their adoption on Wednesday by the 27-nation bloc’s ambassadors. She said on social media that “we are committed to keep up the pressure on the Kremlin.” EU foreign ministers are due to endorse the sanctions on Monday.

Pakistan steps up arrests of Afghans without papers

ISLAMABAD (AP) — Pakistani authorities have stepped up arrests of Afghan citizens in Islamabad and the nearby city of Rawalpindi and are forcing them to move elsewhere in Pakistan. The Afghan Embassy in Islamabad said on Wednesday that it’s a push to force the expulsion of all Afghan refugees from the country. Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry promptly dismissed the allegation, saying that the authorities are only trying to facilitate conditions for the swift return of Afghans to their home country. The embassy — which represents the Taliban-run government of Afghanistan — also criticized a March 31 deadline given by Islamabad for the return of the Afghans and “the unilateral nature of Pakistan’s decision.”

Thousands of Palestinian families flee West Bank homes as Israel confronts militants

FAR’A REFUGEE CAMP, West Bank (AP) — Tens of thousands of Palestinians have fled home following recent Israeli military operations across the northern West Bank. They have traveled by car and on foot, through muddy olive groves and snipers’ sight lines, in the occupied territory’s largest displacement since the 1967 Mideast war. After announcing a widespread crackdown against West Bank militants on Jan. 21, Israeli forces descended on the city of Jenin, as they have dozens of times since Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel. Soldiers then pushed deeper and more forcefully into several other nearby towns, scattering families and stirring bitter memories of the 1948 war over Israel’s creation. During that war, 700,000 Palestinians fled or were forced from their homes in what Palestinians call the Nakba, or “catastrophe.”