The funeral home, which is based in the central Russian city of Izhevsk, has put out banners to advertise the shocking service, Polish state news agency PAP reported on Tuesday, citing the independent Russian news outlet Mediazona.
“We work round the clock,” the Russian company said, according to PAP.
The slang expression Cargo No. 200 was first used during the Soviet Union’s invasion of Afghanistan in the 1980s to denote the air transportation of a coffin that contains the body of a soldier killed in action, the PAP news agency reported.
Italian PM invites Ukraine’s Zelensky to Rome
Meanwhile, Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has invited Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to visit Rome, news outlets reported.
The two leaders held a telephone conversation on Tuesday, according to the Ukrainska Pravda website.
Meloni, who took office in October, reiterated her government’s “full support” for Ukraine, her office said in a statement, as cited by Britain’s The Guardian newspaper.
“Meloni renewed the Italian government’s full support for Kyiv in the political, military, economic and humanitarian fields, to repair energy infrastructure and (to work) for the future reconstruction of Ukraine,” the statement said, according to The Guardian.
Meanwhile, Zelensky took to Twitter to thank Meloni for her “solidarity and comprehensive support for Ukraine,” adding that Italy was considering supplying air defence systems to Kyiv, the PAP news agency reported.
Ukraine’s foreign ministry denounces Orban’s comments on the war
Ukraine’s foreign ministry has condemned Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s recent comments about the war, saying they “are evidence of pathological neglect of Ukraine and the Ukrainian nation, which is standing up to Russian aggression, and of Viktor Orban’s own political short-sightedness,” as quoted by PAP.
In a statement posted to the Telegram social messaging app, the Ukrainian foreign ministry said that if Orban cared about peace, he should “use his close ties to Russia to persuade Moscow to stop its aggression against Ukraine and withdraw its troops,” the PAP news agency reported.
The statement came after Orban told Hungary’s Magyar Nemzet newspaper that the war in Ukraine may last “decades” and that Ukraine would be able to fight only as long as the United States supported it with money and weapons.
“If the Americans desire peace, there will be peace,” Orban said in the interview, which was published on Saturday, according to PAP.
Outlining his country’s stance on the war, the Hungarian prime minister said: “The Hungarian government is supporting Ukraine and has an interest in its sovereignty. It also has an interest in Russia not posing a threat to Europe’s security, but it doesn’t have an interest in cutting off all economic ties to Russia.”
Putin bans Russian oil exports to countries that imposed price cap
Meanwhile, Russia’s President Vladimir Putin has delivered Russia’s response to a Western price cap on Russian oil, the Reuters news agency reported.
Putin on Tuesday signed a decree banning the supply of oil and oil products to nations participating in the cap for five months, starting from February 1, The Guardian reported.
The move comes after the Group of Seven major powers, the European Union and Australia agreed earlier this month to a USD 60-per-barrel price cap on Russian seaborne crude oil, effective from December 5, over the Kremlin’s invasion of Ukraine, according to news outlets.
Also on Tuesday, a Ukrainian Air Force spokesperson said Russia had transferred many planes from its southern Engels air force base to other airfields and that overnight Russia’s aviation activity had "significantly decreased," Reuters reported.
The announcement came after a drone believed to be Ukrainian caused a deadly explosion at Engels, the main base for Moscow's strategic bombers, news outlets said.
It was another attack that highlighted gaps in Russia’s air defences; Moscow said it had taken the drone down, causing it to crash at Engels air base, where three service members were killed, according to Reuters.
Meanwhile, Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that the United States, its NATO allies and Ukraine sought to defeat Russia "on the battlefield" in order to destroy it, Reuters also reported.
Tuesday was day 307 of Russia’s war in Ukraine.
(pm/gs)
Source: PAP, Reuters, eurointegration.com.ua, The Guardian, CNN