DEVELOPING 120 active fires burning across Canada, 30 are 'out of control'
The 2024 wildfire season has begun, and it's shaping up to follow last year's unprecedented destruction in kind, with thousands of square kilometres already consumed.
Russia's foreign minister on Thursday accused the West of becoming directly involved in the conflict in Ukraine by supplying it with weapons and training its soldiers.
Sergey Lavrov also said that Russia's strikes on Ukrainian energy facilities and other key infrastructure that have left millions without power, heating and water were intended to weaken Ukraine's military potential and derail the shipments of Western weapons.
"You shouldn't say that the U.S. and NATO aren't taking part in this war, you are directly participating in it," Lavrov said in a video call with reporters. "And not just by providing weapons but also by training personnel. You are training their military on your territory, on the territories of Britain, Germany, Italy and other countries."
He said that the barrage of Russian missile strikes was intended to "knock out energy facilities that allow you to keep pumping deadly weapons into Ukraine in order to kill the Russians."
"The infrastructure that is targeted by those attacks is used to ensure the combat potential of the Ukrainian armed forces and the nationalist battalions," Lavrov said.
Ukraine and the West have accused Russia of targeting key civilian infrastructure in order to reduce morale and force Ukraine into peace talks on Moscow's conditions.
Lavrov insisted that Moscow remains open for talks on ending the conflict. "We never asked for talks but always said that we are ready to listen to those who are interested in a negotiated settlement," Lavrov said.
The Kremlin has urged Ukraine to acknowledge Crimea, which Moscow annexed from Ukraine in 2014, as part of Russia and recognize other land gains that Russia has made since sending its troops into Ukraine on Feb. 24. It also has continued to push for guarantees that Ukraine wouldn't join NATO, along with vaguely formulated "demilitarization" and "denazification" goals.
Asked if a meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and U.S. President Joe Biden is possible, Lavrov responded that "we don't shun contacts" but added that "we haven't yet heard any serious ideas yet."
Lavrov said that U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has raised the issue of U.S. citizens imprisoned in Russia in a phone call, but noted that Putin and Biden agreed to set up a separate channel of communication between special services to discuss the issue when they met in Geneva in June 2021.
"It's working and I hope that some results will be achieved," he added.
The Biden administration has been trying for months to negotiate the release of WNBA star Brittney Griner and another American jailed in Russia, Michigan corporate security executive Paul Whelan, including through a possible prisoner swap with Moscow.
Commenting on Russia's decision to postpone a round of nuclear arms control talks with the United States that was scheduled for this week, Lavrov argued that "it's impossible to discuss strategic stability nowadays while ignoring everything that is happening in Ukraine."
"The goal has been announced to defeat Russia on the battlefield or even destroy Russia," he said. "How can the goal of defeating Russia not bear significance for strategic stability, considering that they want to destroy a key strategic stability actor?"
During the online news conference that lasted for 2 1/2 hours, Lavrov ranted against the U.S. and its NATO allies, accusing them of trampling on international law while trying to isolate and destroy Russia.
He claimed that the U.S. has tried to discourage other countries, including India, from maintaining close ties with Russia, but those attempts have failed.
The 2024 wildfire season has begun, and it's shaping up to follow last year's unprecedented destruction in kind, with thousands of square kilometres already consumed.
Veteran TSN broadcaster Darren 'Dutch' Dutchyshen, one of Canada’s best-known sports journalists, has died. He was 57. His family says 'he passed as he was surrounded by his closest loved ones.'
A British Columbia Supreme Court judge has sentenced the mother and stepfather of a six-year-old boy who died from blunt-force trauma in 2018 to 15 years in prison.
The Speaker of the Saskatchewan Legislature Randy Weekes has severed ties with the Sask. Party after accusing some members of harassment and intimidation tactics, including a situation he claimed saw the Government House Leader bring a hunting rifle to the legislative building.
Kevin Spacey is pushing back on the 'rush to judgment' against him and is being backed by some big names as he seeks to reclaim his acting career.
A ‘lifetime of abuse’ led Dallas Ly to snap and repeatedly stab his mother inside their Leslieville apartment in 2022 but he never intended to kill her, his defence lawyers argued during his murder trial in Toronto on Thursday.
A father has been charged with second-degree murder in the stabbing death of his 34-year-old daughter in southern Quebec.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau assailed New Brunswick's premier and other conservative leaders on Thursday, calling out the provincial government's position on abortion, LGBTQ youth and climate change.
Canada's new $10-a-day child care program is expanding, but there's growing evidence that demand for the program is rising even faster, leaving many parents on the outside looking in.
A Starbucks fan — whose name is Winter — is visiting Canada on a purposeful journey that began with a random idea at one of the coffee chain's stores in Texas.
Members of Piapot First Nation, students from the University of Winnipeg and various other professionals are learning new techniques that will hopefully be used for ground searches of potential unmarked grave sites in the future.
ALS patient Mathew Brown said he’s hopeful for future ALS patients after news this week of research at Western University of a potential cure for ALS.
When Adam Kirschner wrote 'Slap Shot,' he never imagined the song would be embraced by his favourite team.
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.