'Most of the city is evacuating': Gridlock on Alberta highway after evacuation order in Fort McMurray
Four Fort McMurray neighbourhoods were ordered to evacuate on Tuesday as a wildfire gets closer to the city.
Russia on Friday strongly reaffirmed its demand that NATO doesn't expand eastward despite the rejection of that by the military alliance amid a Russian troop buildup near Ukraine.
Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov warned that Moscow wouldn't wait indefinitely for the Western response, saying he expects the U.S. and NATO to provide a written answer next week.
Lavrov described Moscow's demands for binding guarantees that NATO will not embrace Ukraine or any other ex-Soviet nations, or station its forces and weapons there as essential for the progress of diplomatic efforts to defuse soaring tensions over Ukraine.
He argued that the deployment of NATO forces and weapons near Russia's borders poses a security challenge that must be addressed immediately.
"We have run out of patience," Lavrov said at a news conference. "The West has been driven by hubris and has exacerbated tensions in violation of its obligations and common sense."
Amid the tensions, Ukraine sustained a massive cyberattack Friday, which hit websites of multiple government agencies.
This week's negotiations in Geneva and a related NATO-Russia meeting in Brussels were held amid a significant Russian troop buildup near Ukraine that the West fears might be a prelude to an invasion.
Russia, which annexed Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula in 2014, has denied having plans to attack its neighbor but warned the West that NATO's expansion to Ukraine and other ex-Soviet nations is a "red line" that mustn't be crossed.
Washington and its allies firmly rejected Moscow's demand for security guarantees precluding NATO's expansion, but Russia and the West agreed to leave the door open to possible further talks on arms control and confidence-building measures intended to reduce the potential for hostilities.
Lavrov said that those issues are secondary in respect to Moscow's main demand for the non-expansion of NATO and the non-deployment of its weapons near the Russian territory, emphasizing that the Russian proposals represent a "package, not a menu."
"They must understand that the key to everything is the guarantee that NATO will not expand eastward," he said.
Russia's top diplomat warned that "if our proposals are rejected ... we will make a decision on how to ensure our security in a reliable way," citing President Vladimir Putin's warning that Moscow will take unspecified "military-technical measures" if the West stonewalls its demands.
Lavrov's deputy, Sergei Ryabkov, who led the Russian delegation at the talks in Geneva, said Thursday that he would "neither confirm nor exclude" the possibility of Russia sending military assets to Cuba and Venezuela if the U.S. and its allies don't curtail their military activities on Russia's doorstep.
U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan dismissed the statements about a possible Russian deployment to Cuba and Venezuela as "bluster in the public commentary."
The negotiations took place as an estimated 100,000 Russian troops with tanks and other heavy weapons are massed near Ukraine's eastern border. The U.S. and its allies urged Russia to deescalate by pulling troops back to their permanent bases, but Moscow has rebuffed the demand, saying it's free to deploy forces on its territory wherever it deems necessary.
The Russian Defence Ministry said Friday that troops stationed in eastern Siberia and the far east region have been scrambled for movement across the country as part of snap drills to check their "readiness to perform their tasks after redeployment to a large distance."
The ministry noted that "a special attention will be given to the assessment of the country's transport infrastructure to ensure the movement of troops," adding that the troops will conduct drills involving firing live ammunition after the redeployment.
Russia seized the Crimean Peninsula after the ouster of Ukraine's Moscow-friendly leader and in 2014 also threw its weight behind a separatist insurgency in eastern Ukraine. More than 14,000 people have been killed in nearly eight years of fighting between the Russia-backed rebels and Ukrainian forces in the country's industrial heartland called Donbas.
Ukraine's military intelligence said Friday that separatist forces have launched drills involving firing live ammunition that are overseen by Russian military officers.
Ukraine and the West have accused Russia of deploying its troops to Donbas to back separatists -- accusations that Moscow has denied.
------
Yuras Karmanau in Kyiv, Ukraine, contributed to this report
Four Fort McMurray neighbourhoods were ordered to evacuate on Tuesday as a wildfire gets closer to the city.
Less than a week after two public sculptures featuring a livestream between Dublin, Ireland, and New York City debuted, 'inappropriate behaviour' in real-time interactions between people in the two cities has prompted a temporary shutdown.
Canadian LifeLabs customers who filed an application for a class-action settlement began receiving their payments this week, though at a much lower amount than initially expected.
Saskatchewan RCMP have revealed that a historic sexual assault investigation has led to the discovery of alleged crimes against children dating back to 2005.
Nearly 1,000 wildfires have burned across Canada so far this year. Here's an overview of the situation in Canada.
An American accused of sexually assaulting a Pennsylvania college student in 2013 and later sending her a Facebook message that said, 'So I raped you,' has been detained in France after a three-year search.
The annual list of Canada's top restaurants in the country was just released and here are the places that made the 2024 cut.
Captain John Tavares scored 15 seconds into overtime and saved his teammates some embarrassment as Canada held on for a 6-5 win over Austria on Tuesday at the world hockey championship.
The doctor who led Toronto through the COVID-19 pandemic as the city’s top public health official is stepping down.
A team is ready to help an entangled North Atlantic right whale in the Gulf of St. Lawrence.
A $200 reward is being offered by a North Vancouver family for the safe return of their beloved chicken, Snowflake.
Two daughters and a mother were reunited online 40 years later thanks to a DNA kit and a Zoom connection despite living on three separate continents and speaking different languages.
Mother's Day can be a difficult occasion for those who have lost or are estranged from their mom.
YES Theatre Young Company opened its acclaimed kids’ show, One Small Step, at Sudbury Theatre Centre on Saturday.
An Ottawa pizzeria is being recognized as one of the top 20 deep-dish pizzas in the world.
A family of fifth generation farmers from Ituna, Sask. are trying to find answers after discovering several strange objects lying on their land.
A Listowel, Ont. man, drafted by the Hamilton Tigercats last week, is also getting looks from the NFL, despite only playing 27 games of football in his life.
The threat of zebra mussels has prompted the federal government to temporarily ban watercraft from a Manitoba lake popular with tourists.