The latest round of sports sanctions on Monday during Russia’s war in Ukraine followed the suspension of UEFA and FIFA by Russian national and team teams in February from playing in international competitions, including the Men’s World Cup play-offs. The latest expulsions are likely to be appealed to the Sports Arbitration Court, as the Russian Football Association has challenged previous rulings. UEFA announced that Portugal will take Russia’s place in Euro 2022 women, which will be hosted by England in July. The place of the winner of the Russian Premier League Zenit St. Petersburg in the next phase of the Champions League groups will go to the Scottish champion, according to the updated list of UEFA participations. Meanwhile, Finland and Sweden will exclude from their national ice hockey teams all players who will appear in the Russian Continental Hockey League next season. Both ice hockey federations announced their decisions on Monday, two days after the end of the Russian championship season.

KEY DEVELOPMENTS IN THE RUSSIA-UKRAINE WAR: – The evacuation of civilians from the Ukrainian steel plant begins – Israel was outraged by Lavrov’s remarks about Hitler and Nazism – Ukraine’s push for armaments strains US arms stock – Pelosi, on surprise trip to Kyiv, promises unwavering US support – Jill Biden to meet Ukrainian refugees in Romania, Slovakia Follow all the AP stories about the Russian war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

OTHER DEVELOPMENTS: WASHINGTON – A high-ranking Jewish elected official in the United States has condemned as “humiliating” Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov’s anti-Semitic remarks about the invasion of Ukraine. The leader of the majority in the US Senate, Chuck Sumer, said on Monday that Russia was not making fun of anyone trying to justify its brutal invasion of Ukraine with an “outraged conspiracy theory” against the Jewish people. Schumer, a New York Democrat, is the first leader of the majority of Jews in the US Senate. The story goes on “I have only one word for it: Disgusting,” Sumer told the Senate. Lavrov was asked in an interview over the weekend on an Italian news channel about Russian allegations that he invaded Ukraine to “de-nationalize” the country – a seemingly confused position since Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is Jewish. Lavrov falsely claimed that the Jews themselves were “the greatest anti-Semites.” Sumer said he condemned Lavrov’s comments in the strongest terms. “You are not fooling anyone,” Sumer said. “Russia’s crimes are as clear as day for the world to see.”

LONDON – British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is due to address the Ukrainian parliament on Monday, sending a message that the fight against the Russian invasion is Ukraine’s “best time”. Johnson’s office says the UK leader will announce a new 300 300m ($ 375m) military aid package to Ukraine when he speaks to the legislature via video link on Tuesday. Britain has already sent equipment to Ukraine, including missiles and rocket launchers. The new package includes electronic warfare equipment, anti-battery radar system, GPS interception equipment and thousands of night vision devices. In advance excerpts from the speech released by the Prime Minister’s Office, Johnson refers to a 1940 speech by World War II leader Winston Churchill as the United Kingdom fought off Nazi Germany. Johnson will say that “the British people have shown such unity and determination that we remember the time of greatest danger as our best time. “This is the most beautiful hour in Ukraine, an epic chapter in your national history that you will remember and tell for future generations.” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky addressed the British Parliament on March 8 and also likened his country’s struggle to Britain’s struggle against the Nazis. Johnson visited Kyiv on April 9.

WASHINGTON – A senior US official says the United States believed Russia planned to annex large parts of eastern Ukraine this month and recognize the southern city of Kherson as an independent republic. Michael Carpenter, the US ambassador to the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, said on Monday that the suspects were “directly from the Kremlin’s book” and would not be recognized by the United States or its partners and allies. . Carpenter said the United States and others have information that Russia is planning “fake referendums” in the so-called “People’s Republics” of Donetsk and Luhansk that would annex the entities to Russia. He also said there were indications that Russia would hold an independence vote in the city of Kherson. “We believe that the Kremlin may try to hold false referendums to try to add a cover for democratic or electoral legitimacy, and this is straight from the Kremlin’s book,” he said, adding that information suggests that the vote could means. -May. “Such fraudulent referendums, rigged votes will not be considered legal, nor any attempt to annex additional Ukrainian territory,” he said. Carpenter did not elaborate on the information that led to the assessment, although there have been public reports that Russia is moving to exercise greater control over areas it already controls and holds in eastern and southern Ukraine. He noted that local mayors and lawmakers had been abducted, that internet and mobile services had been shut down, and that Russian school curricula would soon be in place.

ROME – Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi has said that the Russian Foreign Minister’s statements on Italian television about Nazism and anti-Semitism were “deviant” and “obscene”. Draghi told a news conference on Monday that Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov’s statements that Adolf Hitler was a Jew “are indeed obscene”. He also noted that Lavrov comes from a country “where there is no freedom of expression. This country allows the free expression of views, even when they are clearly false and deviant. “My judgment is that what Lavrov said is deviant.” Draghi also criticized the television format, noting that Lavrov had the opportunity to speak freely without contradicting himself. “You talked about an interview,” Draghi said. “It really was a rally.” “The question is whether it should be accepted to invite a person to ask for an interview without contradictions for a period of time, not for one or two minutes, without any contradictions. This is not great professionally. “It raises strange questions,” Draghi said. Lavrov was interviewed Sunday afternoon on a private Mediaset show by former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, a longtime friend of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Berlusconi criticized Putin for invading a rally about six weeks after the invasion began.

WASHINGTON – The CIA says Russians unhappy with Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine may be trying to contact US intelligence – and wants them in the dark. The agency on Monday launched a new impetus to promote its presence on a part of the Internet accessible only through specialized tools that provide greater anonymity. The CIA has a darknet website that has the same features as its regular homepage, but is only accessible through the Tor web browser, which has encryption features not available in most regular browsers. Instructions in English and Russian on how to access the darknet website appeared on CIA social media channels on Monday. The agency hopes that Russians living abroad can share the instructions with contacts inside the country. While many Russians seem to support what the Kremlin officially calls a “special military operation,” longtime Russian observers believe Putin’s management of the war could repel some powerful dissidents. Even with huge communications and satellite imagery capabilities, it remains crucial for Western intelligence services to recruit human resources who can provide information on the Kremlin and the situation in Russia. “Our global mission requires individuals to be able to communicate with us securely from anywhere,” the agency said in a statement.

LVIV, Ukraine – Authorities say a Russian missile strike hit the port of Odessa on the Black Sea on Monday night. Maksym Marchenko, the governor of the Odessa region in southwestern Ukraine, wrote in the Telegram message application that the attack killed and injured people, but did not specify how many. He added that an infrastructure site was hit, without specifying what it was. The secretary of the National Security Council of Ukraine, Oleksiy Danilov, also said that the attack in Odessa removed the roof of a church belonging to the Ukrainian Orthodox faction faithful to the Moscow Patriarchate.

BOSTON – Twenty-four hours after the Internet service was disconnected in the Ukrainian Black Sea port of Kherson, which was occupied by Russian troops in early March, it has returned but is now under Kremlin control, network analysts say. “Someone must have activated a line from Crimea to Kherson,” said Doug Madori, Kentik Inc.’s director of Internet analytics. He described the development as “incredibly similar” to what happened after Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014. The London-based Netblocks, as well as Madory, reported that traffic in the Kherson area had been rerouted since Sunday afternoon through Russian state-owned Rostelecom after a one-day hiatus. On Sunday, Ukrainian officials said the internet and mobile communications had been cut off in much of the Kherson region and part of the Zaporizhia region, blaming Russia. They attributed the break to a break in fiber optic trunk cables and a power outage. The Ukrainian State Special Communications Service said the Kremlin had falsely claimed that the Ukrainian government had ordered …