MOSCOW, 19 February 2022, (TON): Russia’s Vladimir Putin has decided to invade Ukraine within days, US President Joe Biden said after separatists backed by Moscow told civilians to leave breakaway regions on buses, a move the West fears is part of a pretext for an attack.

In one of the worst post-Cold War crises, Russia wants to stop Kyiv joining NATO and accuses the West of hysteria, saying it has no plans to invade, while the US and allies are adamant the military build-up continues.

Warning sirens blared in the breakaway regions of Donetsk and Luhansk on Friday after rebel leaders there announced the evacuation of hundreds of thousands of people to Russia.

Biden told reporters at the White House “we have reason to believe the Russian forces are planning to and intend to attack Ukraine in the coming week, in the coming days,”

He added that Kyiv would be a target.

“As of this moment, I am convinced that he has made the decision.”

OTTAWA, 19 February 2022, (TON): Police arrested scores of demonstrators and towed away vehicles Friday in Canada’s besieged capital, and a stream of trucks started leaving under the pressure, raising authorities’ hopes for an end to the three-week protest against the country’s pandemic restrictions.

Authorities said “by evening, at least 100 people had been arrested, mostly on mischief charges, and nearly two dozen vehicles had been towed, including all of those blocking one of the city’s major streets.

Interim Ottawa Police Chief Steve Bell said “one officer had a minor injury, but no protesters were hurt.”

He said “police continue to push forward to take control of our streets.”

He added that we will work day and night until this is completed.”

Those arrested included four protest leaders. One received bail while the others remained jailed.

The crackdown on the self-styled Freedom Convoy began in the morning, when hundreds of police, some in riot gear and some carrying automatic weapons, descended into the protest zone and began leading demonstrators away in handcuffs through the snowy streets as holdout truckers blared their horns.

PRISTINA, 19 February 2022, (TON): Kosovo’s Prime Minister Albin Kurti condemned the continuing series of Houthi attacks on civilian targets in Saudi Arabia, and more recently the UAE, agreeing that such assaults reveal the Houthis to be a terrorist group.

He said “we were appalled by these images and all these attacks. Absolute violence against civilians, which has nothing to do with respect for human dignity, for human rights, for society and community, is something that we can never tolerate and it is our task to always condemn (them).”

Asked whether he agrees that as a result of this deliberate targeting of civilian targets the Iran-backed Houthi militia should be designated as a terrorist group, Kurti said “yes, I think that all these attacks on civilians are terrorist actions.”

Kurti spoke to Arab News during an exclusive interview at his office in Pristina to mark the 14th Independence Day of Kosovo.

RIYADH, 19 February 2022, (TON): Saudi Arabia signed a memorandum of understanding with Oman to build full partnership and integrative relations between the two countries on food and water security strategic objectives.

The deal was signed by Saudi Minister of Environment, Water and Agriculture Abdulrahman Al-Fadhli and Omani Minister of Agricultural Wealth, Fisheries and Water Resources Saud bin Hamoud Al-Habsi.

It aims to strengthen cooperation between the two countries in the field of integrated water management systems and related mechanisms of legislation.

The fields of cooperation include discussing climate change and its impact on water resources, avoiding its negative effects, supporting ground and surface water management, and exchanging knowledge, expertise, information and studies related to food and water security.

RIYADH, 19 February 2022, (TON): The Coalition to Restore Legitimacy in Yemen said it had launched 18 operations targeting the Iran-backed Houthi militia in the Yemeni provinces of Marib and Hajjah in the past 24 hours.

Saudi state TV reported “the coalition said casualties were inflicted on several Houthi militants and 13 military vehicles had been destroyed.”

Meanwhile, the coalition said it destroyed an explosive-laden boat belonging to the Houthi militia in the southern Red Sea from the port of Hodeidah.

The coalition said “the Houthis’ use of the port for military purposes threatens freedom of navigation and global trade.”

MOSCOW, 19 February 2022, (TON): Russian President Vladimir Putin told Ukraine on Friday to sit down for negotiations with Moscow-backed separatists in Ukraine's east, citing rising tensions in the region and calling for the implementation of the Minsk peace process.

At a news conference in Moscow, Putin also said Russia was ready to follow a negotiation track with NATO on its security demands, but that the US-led military alliance and Washington were not yet in a mood to engage on Moscow's key concerns.

The remarks came as Moscow is facing off against the West over European and Ukrainian security, tensions worsened by large Russian drills in Belarus.

Meanwhile, Russian President also welcomed his close ally Belarusian strongman Alexander Lukashenko to the Kremlin on Friday, announcing the leaders would discuss military cooperation and oversee upcoming war games.

Putin told Lukashenko ahead of talks "we will of course talk about the situation in the region, assess how military cooperation is going, including the ongoing military drills.”

BRUSSELS, 19 February 2022, (TON): A senior European Union official said on Friday that a U.S.-Iranian deal to revive Iran’s 2015 nuclear agreement was close but success depended on the political will of those involved.

The EU official said “I expect an agreement in the coming week, the coming two weeks or so.”

The official said “I think we have now on the table text that are very, very close to what is going to be the final agreement.”

Reuters reported on Feb. 17 details of a possible deal negotiated by envoys from Iran, Russia, China, Britain, France, Germany, the European Union and United States.

The official said “most of the issues are already agreed. But as a principle in this kind of negotiations, nothing is agreed until everything is agreed. So we still have…some questions, some of them rather political and difficult to agree.”

The official said “a deal was necessary as Iran’s sensitive uranium enrichment programme was moving ahead quickly. Iran has always denied it is seeking nuclear weapons.”

WASHINGTON, 19 February 2022, (TON): The US Senate passed a stop-gap funding bill, after threats by some Republicans earlier in the week risked a damaging government shutdown.

The bill, which passed by 65 votes to 27, will extend federal spending at current levels until March 11.

Had the bill not passed by Friday at midnight, the federal government would have entered a costly shutdown, with hundreds of thousands of government employees furloughed and all non-essential offices closed.

The House of Representatives passed the bill, the third such stop-gap spending text in less than five months, on February 8. It now goes to President Joe Biden to sign it into law.

Nineteen Republican senators joined Democrats in voting for the bill, putting it above the threshold of a filibuster.

Despite some threats from Republicans to hold up the process, a shutdown was highly unlikely.

KABUL, 19 February 2022, (TON): The Foreign Ministry said “the delegation of the Islamic Emirate led by the acting minister of Foriegn Affairs arrived in Kabul after a five-day visit to the Gulf state of Qatar.

Muttaqi met with the envoys of the European Union and 16 European nations.

The European Union’s Ambassador to Kabul said the Islamic Emirate delegation pledged to respect the current Afghan constitution. The Islamic Emirate delegation held talks with envoys of the Gulf states and European Union as well as with Islamic Scholars.

A spokesman for the Foreign Ministry “the meeting focused on the humanitarian situation in Afghanistan, higher education, capacity development, humanitarian aid, and providing scholarships to Afghan students, according to Abdul Qahar Balkhi.”

Ambassador von Brandt said in a series of tweets “delegation lead by (df) Foreign Minister Muttaqi committed to opening school and university education for male and female studentsrespecting current constitution and laws and only adapting constitution in a consultative process with all strata of society.”

KABUL, 19 February 2022, (TON): China’s permanent representative to the United Nations, Zhang Jun said that Afghanistan’s overseas assets should be returned quickly and in full to the Afghan people.

The envoy made the remarks at a Security Council meeting on cooperation between the UN and the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO).

This comes after US president Joe Biden allocated $3.5 billion out of the $7 billion reserves of Afghanistan to compensate the victims of 9/11.

Zhang Jun said that the top priority for the International Community must be making efforts to prevent a humanitarian crisis in the war-ravaged country.