Ukraine has introduced a temporary visa-free policy for foreigners wishing to join their forces fighting Russian military intervention.
The policy, made official today, doesn’t apply to Russian nationals, who are referred to as “citizens of the aggressor state” in a directive signed by Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Earlier in the week, President Zelensky announced the formation of a new division, the international legion of Ukrainian territorial defense, which will be staffed by foreigners who, alongside Ukrainians, will be fighting to repel Russian invaders.
According to the government, thousands of applications have already been received.
Meanwhile, a Russian shelling has hit the center of Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, Ukrainian officials reported Tuesday.
Oleh Sinehubov, the head of the Kharkiv regional administration, said the administration building in the center of Kharkiv came under Russian shelling Tuesday along with residential buildings.
Sinehubov didn’t give any specific numbers of casualties from the latest shelling.
The shelling took place as a 40-mile convoy of Russian tanks and other vehicles threatened Kyiv on Tuesday and both sides looked to resume talks in the coming days aimed at stopping the fighting.
The Russian energy giant Gazprom says it has cut off all gas deliveries to both Bulgaria and Poland after both countries refused to start paying for the supplies in roubles.
Earlier, both Polish and Bulgarian energy providers said they had received official notices from the Russian gas supplier that deliveries were due to be cut.
Gazprom’s announcement comes after some confusion earlier this morning, when data showed gas supplies into Poland through Belarus temporarily reduced to zero before resuming.
According to recent reports, the latest version of the Omicron variant, known as BA.2, is officially the most dominant strain of COVID-19 in the U.S.
The new Omicron variant accounts for more than 50% of all new cases—it’s also been described by health experts as “highly contagious.”
BA.2, the new Omicron variant that led to a surge of new COVID-19 cases in Europe, has now overtaken the U.S. as the most dominant version of the virus throughout the country. This latest data estimate is from a recent report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, whose director Dr. Rochelle Walensky, predicted that BA.2 would quickly become dominate in the U.S
The first case of the BA.2 was initially identified in the U.S. back in December. Meanwhile, scientists have been closely watching BA.2—which is now the third of the genetically distinct varieties of the Omicron variant of COVID-19.
The rapid growth of BA.2 is due partially to its eight gene mutations that spike protein on the virus’s surface, something that is not found in the previous strain, BA.1.
Although BA.2 is more transmissible than BA.1, as of now there are no signs that it causes more severe illness and it’s shown that vaccines continue to protect against the worst outcomes.
Many U.S. health officials said that they expect cases to rise and are firmly blaming U.S. residents for not doing enough to prevent another potential surge of COVID-19.
We Will Love You To Join Our Over 190k Members Instagram Family With Just One Click @gharticles