NEWS.am digest: Latest on situation in eastern Ukraine, Azerbaijani MPs arrive in Armenia

Armenian News - NEWS.am presents the daily digest of top news as of 21.02.22:

EASTERN UKRAINE

Pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine's breakaway regions ordered the evacuation of civilians to Russia on Friday, accusing Ukraine of planning a large military offensive against the two self-declared republics - Donetsk and Luhansk.

The government in Kyiv has denied any such plans, and rebel leaders have produced no evidence to support their claim.

The eastern part of the country has witnessed the worst shelling in years over the last two days. Each side accuses the other of heavy shelling of civilian areas.

SERZH SARGSYAN

Azerbaijan has declared Armenia’s ex-Presidents Robert Kocharyan and Serzh Sargsyan wanted.

Emil Taghiyev, head of the special investigation department of the Azerbaijani military prosecutor's office, Azerbaijani media reported noted that since February 1988, Kocharyan and Sargsyan had held assemblies of the Armenian employees of the organizations and institutions in Nagorno-Karabakh—and to incite national enmity and hatred between the peoples of Azerbaijan and Armenia.

AZERBAIJANI MPS

The Azerbaijani MPs have already arrived in Armenia for the Yerevan-hosted Bureau and Committees of the Euronest Parliamentary Assembly meetings.

The members of the legislatures of the Eastern Partnership countries and the European Parliament attend these meetings.

Maria Karapetyan, a member of the ruling majority Civil Contract faction, told reporters that two MPs and one escort have come from the Azerbaijani side.

KARABAKH

Shots were fired Friday from the Azerbaijani military position near Taghavard village of the Martuni region of Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) in the direction of the houses of this rural community.

The bullets damaged the outside of the walls of these houses, and one of the bullets hit the window of one of the locals' houses and penetrated inside.

COVID-19 IN ARMENIA

A batch of Pfizer vaccine against COVID-19 has been distributed and is available in Armenian primary health care facilities, outpatient clinics, and mobile vaccination centers.

As of Sunday, a total of 1,959,789 inoculations against COVID-19 have been administered in Armenia.

Armenia has confirmed a total of 415,757 COVID-19 cases. The death toll has reached 8,338.

BEIJING OLYMPICS

The Winter Games of Beijing 2022 came to its end Sunday.

These third straight Games in Asia, after Pyeongchang in 2018 and the delayed Tokyo Summer Games six months ago, were also the second pandemic Games.

The Olympic flag was handed over to the mayors of Milan and Cortina d'Ampezzo. The 2026 Olympic Winter Games will be held in these cities.

International Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach has declared the Games closed.

And now that Beijing 2022 has come to a close, it's time to look back on its high and lows.

ELIZABETH II

Britain's Queen Elizabeth II tests positive for COVID-19 on Sunday and is experiencing mild, cold-like symptoms, Reuters reported, citing Buckingham Palace.

The palace said the 95-year-old British monarch will continue with light duties at Windsor Castle over the coming week.

“She will continue to receive medical attention and will follow all the appropriate guidelines," the palace said in a statement.

Buckingham Palace added that the Queen will receive all necessary medical attention and will follow all medical advice.

TRUMP APP

Donald Trump is aiming to make a social media comeback by starting his own app Truth Social.

The app, which allows users to post and share a "truth" as they would a tweet, has launched on Apple's App Store.

Truth Social has been touted as America's "Big Tent" social media platform that encourages free speech without discriminating against political ideology.

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