French President Emmanuel Macron said he would continue diplomatic efforts with Russian President Vladimir Putin to try to negotiate a ceasefire in Ukraine, as he told his nation blame for the war fell solely on Putin's "lie."

"It is alone, betraying his international commitments one by one, that President Putin chose war," Macron said in an address to the people of France.

"This war is not a conflict between the West and Russia, as some would like us to believe. There is no NATO base in Ukraine. These are lies. Russia is not aggressed, it is the aggressor. This war is not a fight against Nazism ... it's a lie.”

Four Russian fighter jets flew over Swedish airspace Wednesday, an incident Swedish officials condemned as “completely unacceptable.”

Two SU27 jets and two SU24 jets briefly flew over the Baltic Sea east of the island of Gotland, according to Sweden’s Armed Forces.

Swedish jets were deployed to document the violation.

The news came three days after Sweden said it would send military aid and weapons to Ukraine, marking the first time since 1939 the Scandinavian nation armed a war-torn country.

With Post wires

The front cover of the New York Post on March 2, 2022.

Heartbreaking pictures appear to show young Russian kids arrested for protesting against their country’s invasion of Ukraine.

The photos were shared by an opposition politician after thousands across the country were detained for voicing opposition to Vladimir Putin’s war.

The pictures show children of school age in the back of a police van in Moscow after taking part in anti-war protests.

The kids were held when they reportedly went to lay flowers at the city’s Ukrainian embassy.

A girl wearing a green hat holds a sign saying ‘No War’ in Russian with small Russian and Ukrainian flags painted around the words.

Another girl in a pink puffer jacket carries flowers and she was pictured later in a police station, with an officer behind her at a computer.

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Russia will not allow Ukraine to obtain nuclear weapons, TASS news agency quoted Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov as saying on Wednesday.

Russia launched an invasion of Ukraine last week in what it called a special operation to demilitarize and "denazify" the country, a justification dismissed by Kyiv and the West as propaganda.

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Tens of thousands of Ukrainian refugees fleeing for their lives have arrived in Moldova, a country on Ukraine’s southern border, since Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered troops into Ukraine last week. 

Although Moldova is one of Europe’s poorest countries, it has taken in at least 88,000 Ukrainians. 

Moldova, like Ukraine, was part of the former Soviet Union, and is facing a labor shortage. More than 1 million Moldovans have left the country of about 3.5 million since 1991, according to Canada’s Globe and Mail newspaper. 

Ukrainians fleeing to Moldova are being offered jobs in a wide array of fields, including as teachers, construction workers, in the country’s burgeoning information technology sector and in the service industry, the report said.

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European Union diplomats have approved new sanctions against Belarus for its supporting role in Russia's invasion of Ukraine, an EU senior diplomat told Reuters on Wednesday.

A second official said this week that the aim of new sanctions against Minsk is was stop exports of any further Belarusian goods to the EU, on top of those already subject to sanctions.

Sanctions would also hit oligarchs, the central bank and would cut Belarusian banks off from the SWIFT banking system, the second official had said.

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Automobile manufacturer Honda will temporarily suspend the export of its cars and motorcycles to Russia, Japan media organization NHK reported.

Honda joins the list of Western companies sanctioning -- and further jeopardizing -- the Russian economy. The Japanese car company suspending exports goes along with many countries' imposing stricter sanctions because of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

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Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak told Reuters on Wednesday that holding more talks with Russia was under discussion and that a "substantial agenda" was needed.

Asked about the date for a second round of talks since Russia invaded its neighbor last week, Podolyak said: "It's under discussion for now. A substantial agenda is needed."

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Swiss business tycoon Hansjoerg Wyss is considering buying football club Chelsea from Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich, Wyss told Swiss newspaper Blick.

"Abramovich is currently trying to sell all his villas in England. He also wants to get rid of Chelsea quickly now. I, along with three other people, received an offer on Tuesday to buy Chelsea from Abramovich," Blick quoted Wyss as saying in an interview published on Wednesday.

Wyss said he would have to wait four or five days to see how things play out.

"Abramovich is asking for far too much at the moment. You know: Chelsea owes him 2 billion pounds. But Chelsea has no money. Meaning: those who buy Chelsea should compensate Abramovich," he said.

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The Ukraine government issued war bonds Tuesday to fund its defense against a Russian invasion, raising about 8.1 billion hryvnia (or $270 million), officials said.

“The proceeds from the bonds will be used to meet the needs of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and to ensure the uninterrupted provision of the state’s financial needs under the war,” Ukraine’s foreign ministry said in a LinkedIn post. 

The office issued two sets of bonds, with one having a 1-year maturity and an 11 percent yield, while the other matures in two months and has a 10 percent yield, it said. 

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Ukraine braced for another day of fighting Wednesday as invading Russian forces claimed to take full control of Kherson and advanced on the capital city of Kyiv while troops continued to ramp up attacks on urban areas.

An airstrike appeared to demolish an administrative building in Kharkiv — Ukraine’s second-largest city. A Ukrainian official posted footage of the devastating blast on social media.

After a day of fierce fighting in the southern city of Kherson, near the annexed region of Crimea, Russia claimed to have the entire city under control. Russian tanks rolled into the Black Sea port city earlier this week amid fierce battles.

Many panicked residents who remained in the Ukraine capital in the initial days of the war made desperate attempts to flee the city as an entire Russian army division inched closer to Kyiv and airstrikes rocked suburbs just outside the city.

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