President Volodymyr Zelensky said that Ukrainian troops have not been encircled by Russian forces in Kursk region, accusing Russian leader Vladimir Putin of “lying” about the situation on the ground.

Ukraine launched its shock incursion into Kursk in August, swiftly capturing territory in what was the first ground invasion of Russia by a foreign power since World War II. The campaign aimed to divert Moscow’s resources from the front lines in the east, and to capture land that could potentially be swapped for Russian-occupied Ukrainian territory.

Although Kyiv is now on the back foot in Kursk, Zelensky and military analysts have questioned Putin’s claims – echoed by US President Donald Trump – that Russian forces have surrounded Ukraine’s soldiers.

Putin claimed on Thursday that Russian forces had “isolated” Ukraine’s troops in Kursk and that it was “impossible” for them to escape even in small groups of two or three soldiers.

“There will only be two options: surrender or die,” Putin said.

A day later, Trump appeared to amplify Putin’s claims after what he called a “very good and productive” discussion with the Russian president.

“At this very moment, thousands of Ukrainian troops are completely surrounded by the Russian military, and in a very bad and vulnerable position,” Trump said in a post on TruthSocial on Friday, claiming he had asked Putin to spare their lives to avert “a horrible massacre, one not seen since World War II.”

Although the US president did not refer specifically to Kursk, Putin later told Russia’s security council that he had “noted” Trump’s appeal to save Ukrainian lives in the region.

But Ukrainian officials and independent analysts have disputed Putin and Trump’s claims.

The Institute for the Study of War, a US-based conflict monitor, said Friday that it has “observed no geolocated evidence to indicate that Russian forces have encircled a significant number of Ukrainian forces” in Kursk or anywhere else along the frontline in Ukraine.

Ukraine’s military said that Russia was lying to shape perception of events on the ground.

“Reports of the alleged ‘encirclement’ of Ukrainian units by the enemy in the Kursk region are false and fabricated by the Russians for political manipulation and to exert pressure on Ukraine and its partners,” the military said.

“There is no threat of encirclement of our units,” it said, adding that its units in Kursk have “successfully regrouped” after Russia’s offensives and “withdrawn to more advantageous defensive positions.”

In an update Saturday, Zelensky said he had been briefed by Ukraine’s commander in chief, Oleksandr Syrskyi, and also stressed that Ukraine’s troops have not been encircled.

“The units are carrying out their tasks exactly as required” and are continuing to repel Russian and North Korean troops, Zelensky said.

Although Russian military bloggers have said that Ukraine is losing territory in Kursk, some also disputed the reports that Moscow has “encircled” Kyiv’s forces.

The ISW suggested that Putin was making dubious claims about Ukrainian troops in Kursk region in order to “distract” from his prevarication over the US-backed ceasefire proposal.

Kyiv agreed to the proposal during talks with US officials in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday, while Putin gave a more ambiguous response, first saying “we agree with the proposal” before claiming the deal “wasn’t complete.”

“Putin is attempting to present himself as a reasonable and merciful leader whom President Trump can engage with and to generate a new narrative to distract from” Russia’s refusal to agree to the ceasefire proposal, the ISW wrote.

Few dispute, however, that Ukraine is retreating in Kursk. This week, Moscow said that Russian forces had recaptured Sudzha, the largest town once occupied by Ukraine, further weakening Kyiv’s primary bargaining chip in potential negotiations with Russia.

Pope Francis has approved a new three-year reform process for the Catholic Church, sending a strong signal he plans to continue in the post despite spending more than a month in hospital battling pneumonia.

The Vatican announced on Saturday that the 88-year-old pope had signed off on the reform plans from Rome’s Gemelli hospital on earlier in the wee. Francis has been hospitalized since 14 February, his longest since his election as pope.

Reforms on the table include how to give greater roles to women in the Catholic Church, including ordaining them as deacons, and the greater inclusion of laity in governance and decision making.

The reforms have been examined through a structure called the Synod of Bishops, which has been the primary vehicle through which the pope has implemented his pastoral agenda during his papacy. In recent years he’s sought to involve Catholics from across the globe in the renewal process.

In October 2023 and 2024 two Vatican assemblies – which for the first time included female voting members – each met for almost a month of discussions and deliberation with a final document agreed by the pope.

That document left open the question of ordaining women deacons, who carry out all the functions of a priest bar celebrating Mass and hearing confessions. It also insisted that women be given all the opportunities that church law provides to act as leaders.

Francis’ latest decision extends the process by another three years and will culminate in an “ecclesial assembly” in the Vatican in October 2028. Unlike a synod of bishops assembly in the Vatican – which occurred in October 2023 and 2024 – this will be a unique gathering of bishops, clergy, monks, friars, nuns and lay men and women.

By that stage Francis would be 91, so his move could mean that a conclave takes place while this reform initiative is ongoing. In that scenario, whoever is chosen as the next pope would be tasked with continuing the reform process Francis has started.

Meanwhile, the pope’s decision is also a response to those bishops and other senior leaders who have been quietly resisting the Argentine pontiff’s reform plans.

Cardinal Mario Grech, who leads the Holy See’s synod office, said the latest plans, which will include churches at the local level, “offer dioceses that have invested less in the synodal path an opportunity to recover the steps not yet taken and to form their own synodal teams.”

Since his hospitalization, the pope has signalled he’s still governing the Catholic Church, signing documents from the Gemelli hospital, meeting two of his most senior aides and appointing bishops.

Nevertheless, Francis’ extended period hospital has been a time of high anxiety for the Vatican. At 30 days, it is longest hospitalization, although is still behind John Paul II’s 55 days at the Gemelli.

Mark Carney has never been a politician.

Yet now he’s sworn in as Canada’s new Prime Minister on Friday, he will face two of the most complex political challenges of any rookie world leader in years.

First, he must win a general election that he’s expected to call almost immediately to try to capitalize on his Liberal Party’s revival after months in predecessor Justin Trudeau-inflicted doldrums.

If he wins, his prize will be a dubious one — dealing with US President Donald Trump. Just ask Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who was mauled in the Oval Office bear-pit, just how much fun that can be.

Carney’s elevation is a classic confluence of a man and a moment.

But for Trump’s election victory and unprecedented threats to make Canada the 51st state, Carney would probably still be a private citizen and the Liberals would be heading for oblivion. But Trudeau’s resignation and a wave of patriotism swept up by Trump’s attacks left Conservative Party leader Pierre Poilievre, who was cruising towards the prime minister’s office himself, flailing.

Carney looks like a banker because he is one. He ran the central Banks of Canada and England, and he’s billing himself as a pro who can manage the worst crisis in Canada-US relations for at least 40 years. He’s an old school antidote to Poilievre, a talented young ideologue whose alliterative soundbites are a good fit for the social media age. But the Conservative leader has one glaring liability — he’s a little too Trumpy — a factor that suddenly threatens to down his rising star. Populism was his route to power. Until it suddenly wasn’t.

A backlash against backlash politics

Poilievre’s problems and Carney’s arrival hint at a nascent trend 50 days into the new US administration. Trump’s return was widely seen as a harbinger of a second populist wave that would oust establishment figures all over the west. But a backlash against “America First” mayhem has lifted leaders seeking to operate in the political middle — that once looked like fallow political ground.

In Britain, Prime Minister Keir Starmer found fresh definition in the transatlantic tumult whipped up by Trump after a moribund start to his term that belied his landslide election win last year. His moving embrace of Zelensky after his disastrous visit to Washington was a show of independence from Trump and spoke for millions of Europeans. Starmer’s leadership holds out the possibility of a new era of UK-EU relations following the bitterness of Brexit. Beleaguered French President Emmanuel Macron — whose government keeps collapsing – is reborn as a Gaullist visionary, vowing to rebuild Europe’s military strength. And the rise of Germany’s likely next chancellor Friedrich Merz put the country on a stunning course out of America’s 80-year post-war tutelage moments after his general election victory last month.

As leaders respond, far-right movements have been stalling. The anti-immigrant AfD did better than ever in Germany — but strong support from the Trump administration might have alienated some voters. The pro-Trump Reform party in the UK has been forced to distance itself from some Trump policies and the wild rhetoric of Elon Musk. French right-winger Marine Le Pen must be wondering whether antipathy to Trump could frustrate her National Rally’s hopes for a long-awaited breakthrough in the next French presidential election in 2027.

So what can Carney learn from all this?

Macron and Starmer have evolved the classic how-to-deal-with Trump playbook. To self-demeaning flattery, they’ve added personal steel. By correcting the president’s falsehoods while in the Oval Office. Zelensky came a cropper when trying the same thing — but his stock soared back home at a time when Trump seems to be trying to oust him. And with the help of European leaders, he called Russia’s bluff by agreeing to Trump’s Ukraine ceasefire plan.

But Carney has bigger problems. After all, Trump is not openly attacking British or French sovereignty. The new PM can’t afford to ignore Canadians’ fury. A cynic might argue that if he calls a snap election, it suits him for cross border tensions to last until voters go the polls.

Carney must also recognize reality. If a full-bore trade war rages between the US and Canada, there will be only one winner. Or more accurately, given the damage wrought by tariffs — one biggest loser – since both nations will be hurt by an estrangement in one of the world’s most lucrative trading relationships. To find a way out, Carney must ensure his campaign trail rhetoric doesn’t close off an eventual settlement with Trump.

The answers do not lie in Britain or France. They might be found in a speech by 91-year-old Jean Chrétien, the former Canadian PM who stole the show at the Liberal convention in Ottawa last weekend.

The old master waxed lyrical about his own confrontations with the US in a stirring defense of Canadian identify and patriotism. He peered into a camera and upbraided Trump: “I can say this from one old guy to another old guy: ‘Stop this nonsense. Canada will never join the United States.’”

But amid fierce anti-Americanism, Chrétien also kept alive the prospect of an eventual, and necessary rapprochement. “We have worked with and collaborated with the United States in the past, and I’m telling you, we will do so in the future.”

The shopfronts are decked out in white, blue and red, with Chinese and Russian flags hanging side by side from the ceiling. Waist-high Russian dolls greet customers at the entrance. Inside, shelves are stocked with an array of Russian goods – from chocolates and cookies to honey and vodka.

In China, pop-up stores specializing in Russian-made products have become an increasingly common sight. Their proliferation has left some residents puzzled, with many on Chinese social media questioning why these stores seem to have sprung up overnight.

Thousands of such stores have opened across the country in recent years, tapping into the Chinese public’s affinity for Russia and deepening trade ties between Beijing and Moscow since Vladimir Putin’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine began in 2022.

China has become a critical economic lifeline for sanctions-hit Russia, with bilateral trade reaching record highs year after year. While cheap Russian oil, gas, and coal dominate China’s imports, Russian food products – such as ice cream, sweet biscuits and milk powder – have also risen sharply in popularity.

Chinese businesses have rushed to capitalize on the booming demand.

More than 2,500 new companies involved in the trade of Russian goods have been registered since 2022, according to China’s business records, with nearly half registered in the past year alone. Around 80% of the new firms that rushed to cash in on the craze remained in operation as of this month, business registration records show.

Most of these companies are based in Heilongjiang, the northeastern province bordering Russia, though in the past two years they’ve spread in other provinces.

More than aquatic and agricultural products, which make up the bulk of China’s food imports from Russia, it is Russian-branded chocolates, biscuits and milk powder that have captured the attention of Chinese consumers, appealing directly to the “Made in Russia” brand promoted by Moscow.

The stores’ explosive growth – dubbed “crazy” by a Chinese state media report – has also sparked scrutiny over the authenticity of their products. Investigations by media outlets and influencers alike have revealed that some Russian branded items were actually made in China, prompting authorities to crack down on misleading labeling and advertising.

‘Better fit’

At a Russian goods store in downtown Beijing in February, a shop assistant arranged rows of neatly packaged candies, biscuits, and milk powder – some of the store’s most popular items.

“The best seller is Russian honey – it’s a big hit. And this chocolate is pure. They’re all very good,” she said, gesturing toward a wide selection of chocolates.

In the background, a loudspeaker played a looping message, welcoming customers to the “Russian Goods Pavilion” and hailing Russian products for their “healthiness, natural ingredients, and high quality.”

“This is not only a platform for selling Russian products but also a window showcasing Russian culture and charm,” it declared.

Liang Jinghao, a tourist from the northern Shanxi province, said he had seen many similar Russian goods stores back home. “Russia is a very good country, with a vast land area and rich resources, and its people are also very friendly,” he said.

Su, 20, has opened three Russian goods stores in Pingliang, a small city in the northwestern province of Gansu, since September last year.

“China and Russia have maintained pretty good relations in recent years, and personally, I have a fairly positive view of Russia as a country,” she said.

Su’s stores also sell products from Sri Lanka and Australia, but they were far less popular, she said. “I think Russian products are a better fit for the local taste,” she said.

Official support

As Putin wages his grinding war on Ukraine, China and Russia have grown closer than ever, accelerating a trend driven by their shared animosity toward the US and common goal of pushing back at a Washington-led global order.

Russia and its autocratic leader also enjoy wide popularity among the Chinese public.

In a poll released last year by the Center for International Security and Strategy at Beijing’s Tsinghua University, 66% of respondents expressed “very favorable” or “somewhat favorable” views toward Russia. By contrast, about 76% expressed “unfavorable views” toward the United States.

The made-in-Russia craze can be traced back to early 2022, according to Chinese state media.

Just days after Russian tanks rolled into Ukraine, the “Russian State Pavilion” – an e-commerce store endorsed by the Russian embassy in China – went viral on Chinese social media. Shoppers rushed to snap up everything from candies to tea sachets, spending nearly 6 million yuan ($826,000) on Russian goods within three days, according to Chinese media reports at the time.

In a short video posted on the online store, a Russian business representative toasted “the friendship of old Chinese friends under this complicated and constantly changing international situation.”

By April 2023, more than 300 Moscow-based companies had joined Chinese e-commerce platforms, including Taobao and JD, according to Russian state news agency Sputnik, citing the Moscow Export Center.

The following year, the first “Made in Russia Festival and Fair” debuted in Shenyang and Dalian, the two biggest cities in Liaoning province in northeast China. The event was organised by the Russian Export Centre – a state-owned development institute – with support from Moscow and the provincial government.

More than 150 Russian companies participated in the week-long event, selling $2.3 million of Russian goods to Chinese consumers online and offline, Sputnik reported, citing the Russian Export Center. Three more such fairs have since been held, including in the southwestern metropolis of Chengdu.

The Russian Export Center has authorized eight official retail stores in China under the “Russian State Pavilion” brand. However, these outlets are vastly outnumbered by thousands of unofficial stores capitalizing on the surging demand for Russian products.

Scrutiny and backlash

As their popularity grows, the unofficial stores have also come under greater scrutiny from Chinese consumers and media, especially over the quality and authenticity of the goods sold there.

Late last year, Chinese shoppers took to social media to complain that some products labeled as Russian for sale at the stores were in fact made in China and other countries, including Malaysia.

A report by state-affiliated Jiemian News found a significant portion of food products sold at Russian goods stores – such as bread, sausage and milk powder – were produced in factories in northeastern China.

On Douyin, China’s version of TikTok, Russian influencers based in China rushed to expose what they called “fake Russian goods.”

“I’ve never seen these candies in Russia. The packaging is all fake,” a Russian Douyin user said.

“There’s absolutely nothing like this in Russia,” said another, holding a sausage at a store in Shanghai, while a shopkeeper could be heard in the background asking her to stop filming.

The Russian embassy in China also weighed in, warning Chinese customers against “counterfeits” disguised as Russian goods. “These products often do not meet quality requirements and are different from similar products produced in Russia, but Russian words are used on the packaging to imitate the Russian origin,” it said in a statement.

Following the outcry, market regulators in Shanghai launched two rounds of inspections on 47 Russian goods stores in the city. Seven of them were accused of falsely advertising themselves as “state pavilions,” misleading customers into believing they have official backing; others created “highly misleading impressions” about the origins of their products, the regulators said in a statement in January.

Some stores were ordered to close, while others were fined and required to label domestically produced goods more clearly. Other cities soon followed suit with similar inspections.

Despite the controversy, the popularity of Russian goods is driving more stores to open in China, including official ones.

The Russian Export Center said in February it plans to set up as many as 300 Russian goods stores with Chinese partners across the country before the end of the year.

At this year’s “Made in Russia Festival and Fair” in Shenyang, Veronika Nikishina, director general of the Russian Export Center, offered a tip for distinguishing authentic Russian products from counterfeits.

Genuine goods carry a dove-shaped “Made in Russia” label on their packaging, with Russia clearly marked as the country of origin, she explained.

“We sincerely hope that all Chinese consumers can purchase authentic, high-quality Russian-made products,” Nikishina said.

A Peruvian fisherman has been found alive in the Pacific Ocean after spending 95 days lost at sea, Peru’s state news agency Andina reported Saturday.

Máximo Napa Castro, 61, set off on his fishing boat on December 7 from Marcona, a coastal town in the south of the country, but bad weather caused him to stray from his course and lose direction, according to Andina.

He was found on March 11 by an Ecuadorian fishing boat in waters off the coast of northern Peru, heavily dehydrated and in critical condition, the agency said.

After his rescue, Napa Castro told local media in a tearful interview that he managed to survive by drinking rainwater he collected on the boat and eating insects, birds and a turtle.

He spent the last 15 days without eating, Reuters reported.

Napa Castro told local media he kept thinking about his family to “hold on” to life.

“I said I didn’t want to die for my mother. I had a granddaughter who is a few months old, I held on to her. Every day I thought of my mother,” he said.

The fisherman’s daughter Inés Napa Torres thanked the Ecuadorian fishermen for saving her dad’s life.

“Thank you, Ecuadorian brothers, for rescuing my dad Gatón, God bless you,” she said in a Facebook post.

Napa Castro’s family and groups of fishermen had been searching for him for three months. “Every day is anguish for the whole family and I understand my grandmother’s pain because as a mother I understand her (…) We never thought we would go through this situation, I wouldn’t wish it on anyone, we will not lose hope, Dad, of finding you,” his daughter wrote on March 3 on Facebook.

It’s a new day in Europe.

Gone are the halcyon years of unshakeable American commitment to Europe’s defense against Russia.

Here to stay – at least while Donald Trump is in the White House is something more transactional. And the stakes couldn’t be higher.

Europe must “step up in a big way to provide for its own defense,” US Vice President JD Vance told decision-makers in Munich in February.

Europe’s answer so far has been to pledge to boost spending at home and for Ukraine, with an eye to buying European-made armaments. But a more radical solution has also been floated: a European “nuclear umbrella.”

If the United States has always been Europe’s big brother, France and the United Kingdom are longstanding nuclear powers too — and some European leaders are wondering whether the ultimate deterrence to Moscow could come from closer to home.

While the bulk of the world’s nuclear weapons are US or Russian-owned, France has some 290 nuclear warheads, the UK 225 of the US-designed Trident missiles.

Recent weeks saw a flurry of comments from European leaders looking to bolster their common defense under a British or French nuclear umbrella, as Washington’s reliability appears to waver.

French President Emmanuel Macron earlier this month promised to “open the strategic debate on the protection by our deterrence of our allies on the European continent.”

His comments came after Germany’s presumed next Chancellor Friedrich Merz called for talks with France and the UK on extending their nuclear protection.

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said that the French proposal was “not new” and had come up several times in conversations, throwing his support behind the idea.

Other leaders from countries historically averse to nuclear weapons, like Sweden and Denmark, also welcomed France’s overtures towards European allies.

Since General Charles de Gaulle established France’s nuclear force in the late 1950s, in part to keep Paris at the heart of global decision-making, France’s program has been proudly sovereign — “French from end to end,” as Macron described it.

The UK hasn’t made any public offer to further share or alter its nuclear protection. But its warheads remain pledged to the US-dominated NATO command, thus already offering a strategic protection to European allies.

Some leaders are still hoping for reinforced US support though.

On Thursday, Polish President Andrzej Duda called on Trump to deploy US nuclear weapons in Poland, likening the move to Russia’s decision to base some of its own nuclear missiles in Belarus in 2023.

“I think it’s not only that the time has come, but that it would be safer if those weapons were already here,” Duda told the Financial Times.

Pound for pound

Aside from its huge power, the American arsenal’s size and diversity gives it another key advantage in nuclear war: the potential to minimize any thermonuclear exchange. The US, “can use what we call a graduated response,” Pincé said, to perhaps even deliver a single strike, instead of unleashing its entire arsenal.

In contrast, the French nuclear armory – with missile-laden submarines and nuclear-armed bombers – was historically intended as a last resort if Cold-War Russian forces threatened the French homeland, likely unleashing a barrage on key sites in territories of the Soviet sphere to force an enemy withdrawal.

It is differences such as these that pose a key challenge to any European-centered nuclear umbrella.

“One thing that the Europeans don’t have is nuclear culture. They don’t understand it because they’ve always presumed that the Americans would do it,” Yakovleff said. “I suspect that Macron is thinking of, if I dare say, educating whoever wants it, on nuclear dialogue.”

Macron has proposed having allies participate in the country’s secretive nuclear exercises, to see firsthand France’s capabilities and decision-making.

But he’s also been clear that he’s not yielding his “nuclear button” to allies or even to Brussels. The decision to launch a nuclear strike “has always remained and will remain” in his hands, he told France in a national address.

The UK military has been “very active in terms of increasing what it’s called the nuclear deterrence IQ at NATO,” said Lukasz Kulesa, director of UK-based think tank RUSI’s proliferation and nuclear policy program, thereby “making sure that all the allies are aware and understand the grammar of nuclear deterrence.”

Crucially though, the US hasn’t said it’s pulling out of its commitment to protect NATO allies, she stressed.

This week, a nuclear-capable US bomber flew over central Stockholm to mark the one-year anniversary of Sweden’s accession to NATO – a highly symbolic choice.

Such a move might signal how seriously Washington views the rising temperatures in Europe.

Warding off Moscow

Megaton for megaton, Europe’s arsenal bears no comparison with that of Moscow.

Boosting Europe’s nuclear arsenal would be a “question of years, if not decades,” of investment and development, according to RUSI’s Kulesa.

But deterrence isn’t just a question of the number of missiles; demonstrating the operational credibility of Europe’s nuclear forces is also essential.

More cohesive cooperation with allies around nuclear forces would be a strong boost to deterrence, Kulesa said. That could entail air-to-air refuelling from allies in support of French bombers or anti-submarine warfare capabilities to protect British or French nuclear sub maneuvers.

Given decades of shrinking investment in the British military, questions have been raised over the deterrence that Britain’s conventional and nuclear weapons offer, particularly given its reliance on a US supply chain.

In the last eight years, the UK has publicly acknowledged two failed nuclear missile tests, one of them in the waters off Florida, when dummy missiles didn’t fire as intended.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer last month promised what the government described as “the biggest investment in defense spending since the Cold War” in an increasingly dangerous world.

Other non-nuclear European allies are boosting their spending on conventional weapons – and this also counts, analysts say.

Fundamentally, “nuclear weapons are not a magic instrument,” said Kulesa.

Any true deterrence to Russia will need conventional and nuclear forces, he said, and under Trump, “the question is whether you can count on the American commitment and involvement.”