Reuters World News Summary

The move is unlikely to wreck indirect talks between Iran and the United States to revive the 2015 Iran nuclear deal but it will make it harder to implement any resulting agreement to return to the limits on Iran's stock of enriched uranium. Biden calls Putin a war criminal as Russia says mission 'going to plan' U.S. President Joe Biden calling Russian leader Vladimir Putin a war criminal on Wednesday is "unforgivable", the Kremlin said as it insisted the war in Ukraine was "going to plan" amid talk of compromise at peace talks.

Following is a summary of current world news briefs.

European leaders' risky Kyiv mission took even close family by surprise

When headlines flashed on Tuesday morning that the leaders of Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovenia were on a train to Kyiv for talks with the Ukrainian president, it was news to some members of their immediate families. The trip to a city under siege, where Ukraine's military is fighting invading Russian forces just a few kilometres from the periphery, was hastily arranged and known only to a few people.

UN agency urges advanced countries to offer protection to all refugees in need

The United Nations refugee agency has welcomed the response by advanced countries to the Ukrainian refugee crisis and urged them to act in a similar way towards refugees from other war zones, regardless of nationality, race or religion. The number of people fleeing Ukraine since Russia invaded on Feb. 24 has climbed to more than 3 million in what has become Europe's fastest growing refugee crisis since World War Two.

U.S. weighs dropping Iran's IRGC from terrorism list -source

The United States is considering removing Iran's Revolutionary Guards from its foreign terrorist organization blacklist in return for Iranian assurances about reining in the elite force, a source familiar with the matter said on Wednesday. The source said Washington had not decided what might be an acceptable commitment from Tehran in exchange for such a step, which would reverse former U.S. President Donald Trump's 2019 blacklisting of the group and draw sharp Republican criticism.

Japan assesses damage morning after powerful quake

Households remained without power and companies worked to assess the damage the morning after a powerful quake with a magnitude of 7.3 hit the northeast coast of Japan on Wednesday. Some 36,400 households in areas hard-hit by the tremor and serviced by Tohoku Electric Company were still without power on Thursday morning. The company said it expected most of the power to return on Thursday, but could not rule out delays to a return to normality in other areas.

Deepfake footage purports to show Ukrainian president capitulating

A poorly edited video purporting to show Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy publicly capitulating to Russian demands drew widespread ridicule on Wednesday, but experts said it could be a harbinger of more sophisticated deceptions to come. The video appeared to show an ashen-faced Zelenskiy speaking from the presidential lectern and urging his countrymen to down their weapons in the face of Russian invaders.

Putin warns Russia against pro-Western 'traitors' and scum

President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday delivered a stark warning to Russian "traitors" who he said the West wanted to use as a "fifth column" to destroy the country. The Kremlin leader assailed Russians who he said were more mentally in tune with the West than Russia, and said the Russian people would quickly be able to tell the difference between traitors and patriots.

U.N. Security Council to vote Friday on Russia move on Ukraine

The U.N. Security Council is due to vote on Friday on a Russian-drafted call for aid access and civilian protection in Ukraine, but diplomats say the measure is set to fail because it does not push for an end to the fighting or withdrawal of Russian troops. The draft resolution, seen by Reuters, also does not address accountability or acknowledge Russia's invasion of its neighbor.

Iran defies Western powers with work on near weapons-grade uranium

Iran has defied Western powers by converting some of its uranium enriched to near weapons-grade into a form less easily recovered, diluted and shipped out of the country, a report by the U.N. nuclear watchdog on Wednesday showed. The move is unlikely to wreck indirect talks between Iran and the United States to revive the 2015 Iran nuclear deal but it will make it harder to implement any resulting agreement to return to the limits on Iran's stock of enriched uranium.

Biden calls Putin a war criminal as Russia says mission 'going to plan'

U.S. President Joe Biden calling Russian leader Vladimir Putin a war criminal on Wednesday is "unforgivable", the Kremlin said as it insisted the war in Ukraine was "going to plan" amid talk of compromise at peace talks. Moscow has yet to capture any of Ukraine's biggest cities following its invasion that began on Feb. 24, the largest assault on a European state since World War Two, raising fears of wider conflict in the West unthought-of for decades.

Two British-Iranians fly out of Iran, ending prison ordeal

British-Iranian aid worker Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe and dual national Anoosheh Ashoori flew out of Iran on Wednesday, ending a long ordeal during which they became a bargaining chip in Iran's talks with the West over Tehran's nuclear programme. Omani state television said the pair had arrived in the capital Muscat following their release in Tehran.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)