Re: “How to safeguard the DOJ against the next Trump,” Feb. 22 commentary

I would advocate a more concrete way of safeguarding the Department of Justice than even Barbara McQuade suggests. Amendments to the Constitution are harder for the Supreme Court to overturn than legislation.

Here are some proposed constitutional amendments:

Separately elect the Attorney General by a majority of the popular vote (runoff if necessary) in the midterm of the presidency. This would codify the separation of the DOJ from the executive branch. The AG’s responsibilities should include military prosecutions, and the AG should have jurisdiction over all JAG officers who will be, for practical purposes, civilians. This will prevent the execution of illegal orders of the president to the Department of Defense. Passage should prevent the weaponization of the DOJ. The same impeachment and removal procedure would apply to the AG as to the president.

Please note that presently, state AGs are separately elected by voters in 43 of the 50 states.

Given the above, there is a possibility that a corrupt AG can be elected. To lessen that possibility, the Citizens United decision by the Supreme Court must be overturned. I suggest: “Reasonable election campaign spending limits may be imposed by the states in compliance with Amendment XIV.”  This will lessen the possibility of a bought election.

Mitch Brodsky, Denver

Fear and detention, from Ukraine to the United States

Re: “,” Feb. 22 news story

Soldiers are wielding guns, bullying citizens, and invading their homes. Everyone was scared and afraid to go outside. This was a description in Sunday’s Denver Post article describing life in Ukraine under Russia’s oppressive occupation.

The description seems eerily similar to life in Minnesota under the oppressive invasion and occupation by ICE: terrorizing and killing U.S. citizens, and U.S. citizens afraid to leave their homes.

The same article describes how Russia established a vast network of official and secret detention centers where tens of thousands are being detained. Another article in Sunday’s Post describes how ICE is spending tens of billions to secretly snap up warehouses across the United States, converting them to detention centers.

Thanks to the big bad bill, ICE has $45 billion to spend on expanding detention centers! These new detention centers will be placed in our neighborhoods near our homes. ICE is doing this secretly without informing the communities where the detention center will be placed.

I think we have better needs for that kind of money: educating and feeding our children, taking care of our veterans, repairing our crumbling bridges, sewer systems and other infrastructure.

The United States is supposed to be the land of the free. Worldwide, we are living in a culture of war, hate, inhumanity, and animosity. Throw in a good measure of nihilism, greed, and narcissism.

Surely God is looking down upon what he created and is sadly crying. What is the answer? Maybe we could start by creating a culture that follows one of God’s commandments: to love our neighbor — not detain and kill one another.

Gregg A. Kulma, Lakewood

We need to protect bears from euthanization

Bears are euthanized because we humans can’t or won’t take care of our garbage and other bear attractants, which is a tragedy. What does it take to adequately store and dispose of smelly garbage, liquids, and other attractants?

The State of Colorado and Colorado Parks and Wildlife need to establish regulations and laws that fine individuals who don’t adequately store or dispose of garbage when a bear or other wildlife needs to be euthanized. Shame on us.

Alan Aldrich, Thornton

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He’s so good that three months ago the 21-year-old defeated one of the sport����ap top wrestlers.

This was not just any top wrestler. He beat Mongolian-born Hoshoryu who, with Japanese-born Onosato, is one of the two highest-ranked wrestlers in Japan. They both carry the title of

Yavhushyshyn now goes by the Japanese ring name of Aonishiki Arata and, at a news conference on Thursday, he chose to speak almost exclusively about his rise in the sport.

abroad openly appeal for support for the war. But Aonishiki stuck to sports.

Aonishiki, who is now part of the highly regimented world of sumo, talked mostly about his eating and training habits, learning Japanese, and being exposed to sumo as a 6-year-old in his home town of Vinnytsia in west central Ukraine.

“My country is in a very difficult circumstance, however, I am a sumo wrestler so I would like to speak about sumo,” he said speaking Japanese, a language he has picked up rapidly.

“My family,” he added. “They now are in Germany, so they are safe.”

Asked again about the war and his high-profile status in Japan, he replied. “I hope that people from Ukraine will be able to see my sumo and have some kind of encouragement from that.”

Non-Japanese sumo wrestlers have excelled in different periods in Japan. They have included Mongolians, Ukrainians. A second Ukrainian, Shishi Masaru, is also a highly-ranked wrestler in Japan.

Ukraine has a very strong tradition in Olympic wrestling. Its last gold-medal winner was in the Greco-Roman category at the Tokyo Games, which were delayed until 2021 by the pandemic.

“Sumo is quite popular in Ukraine, however it����ap quite rare for someone to be doing only sumo,” Aonishiki said. “They’ll often be doing wrestling and sumo, or judo and sumo.”

Aonishiki said he came to Japan in 2022 after striking up a friendship with a Japanese wrestler at a tournament in 2019. He hasn’t been back to Ukraine since arriving in Japan and said, of course, he’d like to visit.

“It is the place where I was born, where I was raised,” he said. “It is my homeland and there are many people I know there. So if there were a chance I would like to be able to go and visit Ukraine.”

He also talked about his future interest in obtaining a Japanese passport.

There were questions about his wrestling technique and strength. He can bench press 210 kilograms (460 pounds).

Of course, there were queries about his weight and eating habits. He weighs only 125 kilograms (275 pounds). This is slight in sumo since many weigh at least 150-kilograms (330 pounds) and some much more.

“My weight is somewhat lighter or smaller than others,” he said. “If possible I would like to increase my weight by around 10 kilograms (22 pounds). However, that����ap not so easy to do. It����ap hard to really eat more than I am at the moment. It could be quite painful in a way.”

President Donald Trump’s meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin inspires comparisons with the meeting in late September 1938 between Adolph Hitler and UK Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain. Chamberlain returned to the United Kingdom on September 30, 1938 and declared “Peace For Our Time”.

He achieved that peace by giving Hitler the Sudetenland of Czechoslovakia in exchange for Hitler’s promise that he would not threaten the rest of Europe. That meeting resulted in the Munich Agreement.

Less than five and a half months later, Hitler breached the Munich Agreement and invaded the rest of Czechoslovakia, which resulted in World War II. Unlike the meeting between Trump and Putin, the media at the time extensively covered the results of the meeting between Hitler and Chamberlain. Most of today’s journalists were not even born by March 15, 1939, the date of Hitler’s invasion, so it is not surprising that the Trump/Putin meeting results are not a red flag to today’s journalists.

But the Trump/Putin meeting has all the earmarks of that historic meeting between Hitler and Chamberlain, which was proof that appeasement is not a peaceful solution to aggression.

Hopefully, the Trump meeting with Zelenskyy and the European attendees will be successful in convincing Trump that giving up parts of Ukraine in exchange for “peace” is the same fool’s errand that it was in 1938/1939, and Ukraine deserves continued support from the US.

William Holben, Denver

I find it interesting and infuriating that Trump thinks he has the authority to give part of Ukraine to Russia without any input from Ukraine.  I wonder how Trump would react to Canada conspiring with Mexico to give Texas back to Mexico without input from the US.  How can anyone support Trump’s obvious effort to curry favor with the communist dictator, Putin, with whom Trump is so enamored and who Trump is so desperately trying to emulate?

Larry Bailey, Denver

It comes as no surprise that Trump has caved to Putin over the ceasefire and betrayed Ukraine. His long history of making grand claims about his abilities and influence have always turned out to be titanic lies. He will happily let Ukraine be forced to cede territory to his KGB pal and abandon NATO. Putin will continue to attack Ukraine, killing thousands of innocent civilians, and Trump will do nothing but to continue his illegal, unconstitutional farce of a presidency, enriching himself and all his wealthy cronies while he impoverishes the working people he swore to stand up for.

Thomas M. Holzfaster, Lakewood

“Putin praises Trump’s efforts to end war.” The guy who invaded Ukraine to satisfy his own quirky itch to expand his empire, praises the energy and sincerity of someone else’s effort to untangle a very simple knot. Putin started the Ukraine war for no good reason. He could stop the war by ordering his armed forces to stop killing people. How he praises Trump or anyone else for their efforts is mere propaganda to pretend simple truth is an intractable problem. The USA should not buy into Putin’s cynical con.

Randy Livingston, Denver

In our history, has there ever been anyone allowed on U.S. soil that has been wanted for war crimes such as Putin? Perhaps, Trump could have redeemed himself by having Putin arrested while he is in Alaska. So many women and children kidnapped or murdered by Putin.

Wayne Wathen, Centennial

What did Trump get from his meeting with Putin? A big fat nothing burger. It was a lost opportunity when Putin agreed to ride with Trump — they could’ve whisked the Russian dictator away and locked him up for what he is: an international war criminal!

Then guess how fast a ceasefire would happen?

Jerry Witt, Commerce City

Kafer gives me hope that truth will prevail

I am a life-long Democrat, and I always enjoy Krista Kafer’s column. When I don’t agree with her, she gives me food for thought and reminds me there are still thoughtful, careful and considerate republicans who have not drunk the MAGA Kool-Aid. When I agree with her as with this Sunday’s column, I am pleased to be reminded there can be commonalities across the aisle.

I found “The plural of anecdote … is not data”, so meaningful today where the Trump administration cherry picks, and blows out of proportion specific instances to demonstrate the need for their draconian policies. Her description of guardrails related to past and current information technology gives me hope that somehow truth will prevail, and we will be able to get a grip on AI delusions presented as fact and viral bigotry and hatred.

Nancy Litwack-Strong, Lakewood

Don’t forget our female athletes

Having been an educator when Title 9 was enacted (equal opportunities for all genders in academics and athletics) and when women were finally allowed to have a credit card in their own name as opposed to their husband’s. I’m particularly sensitive to unequal treatment of girls and women. Upon skimming the Prep Preview section of The Denver Post, I couldn’t help but notice 10 of the 12 pages were devoted to male athletes and only 2 to female athletes. This certainly doesn’t look like equality to me. With the current state of national affairs, it seems that promoting equality is more important now than ever before.

Mariann Storck, Wheat Ridge

Don’t put a pause on wolf progress

In The Post’s Aug. 19 report on a legislative attempt to “pause” Colorado’s wolf-reintroduction program, you quote the measure’s sponsor, Sen. Dylan Roberts, who says that funds allocated for wolves should be diverted to the state’s health insurance affordability fund. He’s against “spending more money on wolves.”

It’s true that Congress has made massive cuts to Medicaid. But this bill won’t make a dent: The $264,000 Roberts’ measure would pilfer accounts for 0.03% of Colorado’s predicted shortfall of $783 million. This is not about money.

It is about wolves, and Roberts’ arguments are misleading. First, he suggests the wolf program is over budget. False. The program is spending what lawmakers allocated.

Second, Roberts focuses on the cost of wolf reintroduction but fails to note that a key reason for that expense is Colorado’s extraordinarily generous program to compensate the livestock industry for losses that it claims, sometimes on thin evidence, are due to wolves.

Third, the bill would overrule the scientific judgment of Colorado Parks and Wildlife’s experts and submit to the political whims of some lawmakers.

Fourth, “pausing” reintroduction would threaten Colorado’s existing wolves, which right now number only about 30. Populations of fewer than 50 wolves are vulnerable to high mortality rates from disease, mortality, poaching, poisoning, and drought. A “pause” would actually take us backwards.

Finally, Senator Roberts effectively seeks to overturn the expressed will of the voters. He might disagree with the voters, but he is utterly wrong to undermine their vote.

Clint Talbott, Nederland

Losing confidence Congress will save Social Security

When I separated from the U.S. Air Force in 1975 the job market was horrible. I ended up in the life insurance business, using a financial planning model. Like all good financial planners, I talked about retirement planning. In developing recommendations, I asked whether each client wanted to plan with the assumption that Social Security would or would not be in existence when they retired.

For the next decade and a half, at least half the clients I worked with assumed it would not be available. Then I had a great deal of confidence it would be there for us. Today, with Congress pushing the problem down the road, time is short for implementing the obvious solutions to ensure the majority of seniors in our future are not destitute.

Mandell S. Winter, Jr., Denver

Who is really to blame for Denver layoffs?

During a televised meeting with the Denver city council about mass city employee layoffs. Denver’s Mayor, Mike Johnston said that this has been the hardest leadership task he’s probably ever undertaken. Need I remind you that his decisions have caused this problem. As a former Denver City employee of 35 years, I can guarantee you the layoffs will be at the lower positions and not in the administration departments where these foolish decisions are made.

Leroy Martinez, Denver

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Re: “Congress approves Trump cuts to public broadcasting, foreign aid,” July 19 news story

In the span of a single week, KDNK Community Radio in Carbondale has gone from experiencing one of our greatest highs, celebrating the 100th birthday of our Art Ackerman, the world’s oldest DJ, to the devastating low of losing all of the station’s federal funding. This amounts to a $174,000 shortfall, or 27% of KDNK’s annual budget. This is a funding challenge unlike any other in the station’s 42-year history.

KDNK has long been a model of the best of what community radio can be. With 98 regular DJs and program hosts free of station restrictions on their content and self-expression, award-winning local reporting, 22 volunteer public affairs shows, a powerhouse youth radio partnership with the Andy Zanca Youth Empowerment Program, a remarkable culture of music discovery, a strong commitment to emergency preparedness and regional resilience, and an authentic local spirit that springs from a cross-section of our community, we know that KDNK holds a special place in the hearts of so many.

That is why, now, in our hour of need, we turn to you.

If you believe in a free and truthful press, a place for art and expression outside the confines of commercialism, a right to information and emergency alerts for residents of our remote areas, and a democratic institution truly by and for the people, now is your moment. Please visit KDNK.org and find out the different ways that you can stand with KDNK.

Megan Passmore and Chris Hassig, on behalf of the staff and board of directors, Carbondale

Editor’s note: Passmore is KDNK station director and Hassig is the membership coordinator.

Public-media biases are no surprise

On Denver’s classical music station KVOD, listeners are reminded that federal cuts to Colorado Public Radio may impact its ability to continue broadcasting. In days of old, this radio station broadcast classical music through the support of its advertisers. That is, until 2001, after .

But NPR, PBS and their local affiliates have brought the Trump administration’s cutbacks on themselves. As even the acknowledged, “Republicans complain, not always wrongly, that public media reflects left-leaning assumptions and biases.” But why are we being told that now? Listeners have known that all along.

Brian Stuckey, Denver

Pay council members by the hour

Re: “Booming cities need full-time councils, but pay can’t increase until that happens,” July 20 editorial

It is odd that The Denver Post editorial board chose only two options for the payment of city council members.  Either a pittance for part-time work or a reasonable salary for a full-time job. An alternative would be to pay city council workers by the hour for actual work done.

There are systems that can track remote work. Dedicated city council members would be paid more than the members who apply themselves with less purpose.

In 2024, the average (mean) Colorado wage is . Surely, city council workers are worth more than that. Let’s say $50 an hour. Ten hours a week spent on city council business would produce an income of roughly $25,000 per year. Twenty hours a week (realistically, the maximum for a person holding another full-time job) would produce an additional income of about $50,000 per year.

If $50 an hour is insufficient to attract well-qualified city council workers, then raise the hourly rate until it is.

Guy Wroble, Denver

Ushering out a supporter of the president and his bill

Re: “Hutson tried to keep Trump from a second term. Six months in, he’s ‘very impressed.’ “July 20 commentary

I would like to hear again from Roger Hutson once we see what President Donald Trump’s actions have done to our research universities, our new energy sector, our consumer prices, and our moral authority in both the world and at home. Shame on him for ignoring the ramifications of Trump’s selfish, vengeful tactics.

Brandt Wilkins, Denver

Dear Roger Hutson,

You are satisfied with Trump’s leadership. You’re OK with drastic immigration arrests, deep cuts to many benefits and government services, and executive reign over our Constitution. Due process? Who needs that?

I can understand why you support the Republican big beautiful bill. Among the many perks for businesses and corporations is the on 20-year assets taken in year one. Also, oil and gas royalty payments to the federal government from extraction on public land are reduced to 12.5%, both onshore and offshore, down from 16.7% and 18.75% respectively. That’s a big savings for your industry; not so good for the rest of us. This, and other provisions of the Republican budget bill, including non-competitive bidding, mandated lease sales of public land, and ending royalty payments on methane gas emissions, will result in a loss of billions in federal revenue through 2050. That is our money from our public lands.

Glad you are doing well. Maybe you don’t rely on Medicaid, Medicare or Social Security for your health insurance or retirement. Millions of Americans do rely on these lifeline social programs. Your political party, No Labels, is misnamed. It should be called the Know Nothings, a historical homage to anti-immigration and willful ignorance.

Victoria Swearingen, Denver

Hutson, like so many Republicans, wants to maintain his own veneer of decency while still managing to support what Trump is doing. So he talks about border control, trade deficits and increased defense spending by NATO without mentioning the downside of these supposed policy successes.

Border control and decreased illegal immigration have come with a frontal assault by the executive branch on the rule of law and the terrorizing of large segments of the American population.

Tariffs on friendly trading partners are solutions in search of a problem. The so-called trade deficits are a distraction. Trump’s tariff regimen, should he ever actually settle on one, will do very little to alter the trade imbalance, but it will play havoc with the world economy.

And how did Trump get NATO on board with increased defense spending? By threatening to throw Ukraine under the bus and gifting Russian leader Vladimir Putin with diplomatic cover for his heinous crimes.

Hutson asserts, incredibly, that world leaders respect the president. In truth, almost all regard him with a mixture of fear, amusement and distaste. They recognize that he must be dealt with, and feigning respect and admiration is the only way to do it. They know a malignant narcissist when they see one.

Hutson’s blinders regarding Trump have closed in on him and become a blindfold. He and the rest of the Republican Party need to recognize and acknowledge that Trump’s policy successes have come at a horrible cost, and that pathology is not the same as personality.

George Zepernick, Denver

Who needs Congress when you have President Trump?

Re: “,” July 20 news story

Even before this appeared, I was thinking how much money could be saved by eliminating Congress — upwards of $15 billion with a “B.” Since they are a rubber stamp to Trump, they are not necessary. Goodbye, Congress, hello savings!

Bruce Johnson, Centennial

I have read many books on the American Revolution, including those about George Washington, and how he struggled to raise money for his soldiers — for food and clothing — from the American people. It seems that Americans have not changed. We have run the federal deficit up to $36 trillion and counting, with all our politicians adding to the bill. And it is still going on.

The House and Senate have just gone along with Trump running up the deficit again, passing the budget bill with no thought for tomorrow. This is our history from the very beginning. We need fiscally responsible politicians, not ones who are just thinking of getting reelected with tons of money from the rich next time.

Wake up, representatives and senators. Stop following free-spending leaders with no thought for the future. Have some concern for the long-term good of the country.

Dea Coschignano, Wheat Ridge

The headline amused me. It could have read, “Congress and just about everyone else …” with the possible exceptions of Vladimir Putin and Benjamin Netanyahu, but they don’t really count because they are way over there. The rest of us are stuck with this character whose whims will continue to impact Americans for years, possibly decades.

By now, we’re used to his lies, threats, idiotic lawsuits, and insults. His denunciation of Stephen Colbert was unforgivably petty. If he ever were to say a decent word about a decent human being, it would be a first.

I’m in my final glide pattern, so I will miss out on what a lot of you are going to experience (and suffer). My singular hope is that I live long enough to see Humpty Dumpty fall.

Craig Marshall Smith, Highlands Ranch

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BRIDGEWATER, N.J. (AP) — NATO Secretary-General is set to meet President this week on the heels of the U.S. leader announcing plans that they can then pass on to Ukraine.

Rutte will be in Washington on Monday and Tuesday and plans to hold talks with Trump, Secretary of State and Defense Secretary as well as members of .

“I’m gonna have a meeting with the secretary-general who’s coming in tomorrow,” Trump told reporters as he arrived in Washington on Sunday night. “But we basically are going to send them various pieces of very sophisticated (weapons) and they’re gonna pay us 100% for them.”

A top ally of Trump, Republican Sen. of South Carolina, said Sunday that the conflict is nearing an inflection point as Trump shows growing interest in helping Ukraine fight back Russia. It’s a cause that Trump, who during his campaign made quickly ending the war a top priority, had previously dismissed as being a waste of U.S. taxpayer money.

“In the coming days, you’ll see weapons flowing at a record level to help Ukraine defend themselves,” Graham said on CBS’ “Face the Nation.” He added: ”One of the biggest miscalculations (Russian President Vladimir) Putin has made is to play Trump. And you just watch, in the coming days and weeks, there’s going to be a massive effort to get Putin to the table.”

The Rutte visit comes after Trump last week teased that he would make a “major statement” on Russia on Monday and as Ukraine struggles to repel massive and complex air assaults launched by . Trump on Sunday declined to offer further details on his coming announcement.

“We’re going to see what we will see tomorrow,” he said.

Graham and Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, who also appeared on CBS, said there is also growing consensus on Capitol Hill and among European officials about tapping some of the $300 billion in Russian assets frozen by countries early in the war to help Ukraine.

“It’s time to do it,” Blumenthal said.

Rubio said Friday that some of the U.S.-made weapons that Ukraine is seeking are deployed with NATO allies in Europe. Those weapons could be more quickly transferred to Ukraine, with European countries buying replacements from the U.S., he said.

French Defense Minister , in an interview published Sunday in La Tribune Dimanche, said European officials have been making the case to the Trump administration to bolster air defense capabilities with any coming packages.

He added that France is in a “capacity hole” and will have to wait until next year before being able to provide Ukraine new ground-air missiles.

Trump is also facing calls from Republicans and Democrats as well as European allies to support that aims to cripple Russia’s oil industry and hit Moscow with U.S. sanctions for its ongoing invasion of Ukraine.

The legislation, in part, calls for a on goods imported from countries that continue to buy Russian oil, gas, uranium and other exports. It would have an enormous impact on the economies of , China and India, which account for the vast majority of .

“The big offender here is China, India and Brazil,” Graham said. “My goal is to end this war. And the only way you are going to end this war is to get people who prop up Putin — make them choose between the American economy and helping Putin.”

That revenue is critical in helping keep the Russian war machine humming as the U.S. and Europe have imposed significant import and export bans on a wide range of goods to and from Russia, affecting sectors like finance, energy, transport, technology and defense.

Trump for months had threatened, but held off on, imposing new sanctions against Russia’s oil industry.

But the Republican leader has become increasingly exasperated with Putin in recent days and has repeatedly laid into the Russian leader for prolonging the war.

“He talks so beautifully and then he’ll bomb people at night,” Trump said in his latest broadside against Putin. “We don’t like that.”

Congress has been prepared to act on the legislation, sponsored by and , for some time.

The bill has overwhelming support in the Senate, but Republican leadership has been waiting for Trump to give the green light before moving ahead with it.

The White House had expressed some reservations about the legislation. Trump made clear he wants full authority over the waiver process to lift the sanctions, tariffs or other penalties, without having to cede control to Congress.

Under the initial bill, the president “may terminate” the penalties under certain circumstances, but immediately reimpose them if the violations resume. Graham has said the president would be allowed to waive the sanctions, for 180 days, and could also renew a waiver.

Some Democratic lawmakers have expressed concerns about the waivers. But Blumenthal downplayed the differences and said the legislation would give Trump a “sledgehammer” to utilize on Putin.

“The waiver language we will have in this bill is very much like the provisions have existed in past similar measures,” Blumenthal said. He added, “What I think is most important right now is our unity.”

___

Associated Press writer Angela Charlton in Paris contributed to this report.

KYIV, Ukraine — A Ukrainian drone attack has destroyed more than 40 Russian planes deep in Russia’s territory, a Ukrainian security official told The Associated Press on Sunday, while Russia pounded Ukraine with missiles and drones a day before the two sides meet for a

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to disclose operational details, said the attack took over 1 1/2-year to execute and was personally supervised by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

The operation saw drones transported in containers carried by trucks deep into Russian territory, he said. The drones reportedly hit 41 planes stationed at several airfields on Sunday afternoon, including A-50, Tu-95 and Tu-22M aircraft, the official said. Moscow has previously used Tupolev Tu-95 and Tu-22 long-range bombers to launch missiles at Ukraine, while A-50s are used to coordinate targets and detect air defenses and guided missiles.

Russia’s Defense Ministry in a statement confirmed the attacks, which spanned five airfields. The FPV drones damaged aircraft and sparked fires on air bases in the Irkutsk region, more than 4,000 kilometers (2,500 miles) from Ukraine, as well as Russia’s northern Murmansk, it said. Strikes were repelled in the Amur region in Russia’s Far East and in the western regions of Ivanovo and Ryazan, the ministry said.

The attack came the same day as Zelenskyy said Ukraine will send a delegation to Istanbul for a new round of direct peace talks with Russia on Monday.

In a statement on Telegram, Zelenskyy said that Defense Minister Rustem Umerov will lead the Ukrainian delegation. “We are doing everything to protect our independence, our state and our people,” Zelenskyy said.

Ukrainian officials had previously called on the Kremlin to provide a promised on ending the war before the meeting takes place. Moscow had said it would share its memorandum during the talks.

Russian strike hits an army unit

Russia on Sunday launched the biggest number of drones — 472 — on Ukraine since the full-scale invasion in February 2022, Ukraine’s air force said.

Russian forces also launched seven missiles alongside the barrage of drones, said Yuriy Ignat, head of communications for the air force. Earlier Sunday, Ukraine’s army said at least 12 Ukrainian service members were killed and more than 60 were injured in a Russian missile strike on an army training unit.

The strike occurred at 12:50 p.m., the statement said, emphasizing that no formations or mass gatherings of personnel were being held at the time.

Ukrainian army commander Mykhailo Drapatyi later Sunday submitted his resignation following the attack. He was a respected commander whose leadership saw Ukraine regain land on the eastern front for the first time since Kyiv’s 2022 counteroffensive.

The training unit was located to the rear of the 1,000-kilometer (620-mile) active front line, where Russian reconnaissance and strike drones are able to strike. Ukraine’s forces lack troops and take extra precautions to avoid mass gatherings as the skies across the front line are saturated with Russian drones looking for targets.

Northern pressure

Russia’s Ministry of Defense said Sunday that it had taken control of the village of Oleksiivka in Ukraine’s northern Sumy region. Ukrainian authorities in Sumy ordered mandatory evacuations in 11 more settlements Saturday as Russian forces make steady gains in the area.

Speaking Saturday, Ukraine’s top army chief, Oleksandr Syrskyi, said that Russian forces were focusing their main offensive efforts on Pokrovsk, Toretsk and Lyman in the Donetsk region, as well as the Sumy border area.

___

Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at

VATICAN CITY — called for a genuine and just peace in and an immediate in his first Sunday noon blessing as pontiff that featured some symbolic gestures suggesting a message of unity in a polarized Catholic Church.

“I, too, address the world’s great powers by repeating the ever-present call ‘never again war,’” Leo said from the loggia of St. Peter’s Basilica to an estimated 100,000 people below.

It was the first time that Leo had returned to the loggia since he first appeared to the world on Thursday evening following his remarkable election as pope, the first from the United States. Then, too, he delivered a message of peace.

Leo was picking up the papal tradition of offering a Sunday blessing at noon, but with some twists. Whereas his predecessors delivered the greeting from the studio window of the Apostolic Palace, off to the side of the piazza, Leo went to the very center of the square and the heart of the church.

Part of that was logistics: He didn’t have access to the papal apartments in the palace until later Sunday, when they were unsealed for the first time since

Leo also offered a novelty by singing the Regina Caeli prayer, a Latin prayer said during the Easter season which recent popes would usually just recite and harked back to the old Latin Mass of the past.

Traditionalists and conservatives, many of whom felt alienated by Pope Francis’ reforms and loose liturgical style, have been looking for gestures and substance from Leo in hopes he will work to heal the divisions that grew in the church. Some have expressed cautious optimism at the very least with a return to a traditional style that Leo exhibited on Thursday night, when he emerged for the first time wearing the formal red cape of the papacy that Francis had eschewed.

He followed up on Saturday by wearing the brocaded papal stole during a visit to a Marian sanctuary south of Rome. There, he knelt in reverence at the altar and greeted the crowd surrounded by priests in long cassocks usually favored by conservatives.

Aldo Maria Valli, a conservative Italian journalist who writes a popular blog, said he appreciated these gestures and urged traditionalists to give Leo a chance, saying he liked a lot of what he has seen so far. “Don’t shoot Leo,” he wrote.

On Sunday Leo wore the simple white cassock of the papacy and had reverted back to wearing his silver pectoral cross. He had worn a more ornate one that contains the relics of St. Augustine and his mother, St. Monica, on Thursday night that had been given to him by his Augustinian religious order.

‘Beloved Ukrainian people’

Leo quoted Pope Francis in denouncing the number of conflicts ravaging the globe today, saying it was a “third world war in pieces.”

“I carry in my heart the sufferings of the beloved Ukrainian people,” he said. “Let everything possible be done to achieve genuine, just and lasting peace as soon as possible.”

As a at the start of Russia’s 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine, then-Bishop Robert Prevost had not minced words in assigning blame to Moscow. According to a clip of a TV interview on the Peruvian show “Weekly Expression,” circulating in Italian media Sunday, Prevost said it was an “imperialist invasion in which Russia wants to conquer territory for reasons of power given Ukraine’s strategic location.”

In his remarks Sunday, Leo also called for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, and for humanitarian relief to be provided to the “exhausted civilian population and all hostages be freed.”

Leo also noted that Sunday was Mother’s Day in many countries and wished all mothers, “including those in heaven” a Happy Mother’s Day.

The crowd, filled with marching bands in town for a special Jubilee weekend, erupted in cheers and music as the bells of St. Peter’s Basilica tolled.

Angela Gentile of Bari arrived in the square three hours early to be in place. Nonplussed that cardinals had elected yet another non-Italian pope, she said she was happy Leo came to the central balcony of the basilica, so the crowd could see him face-to-face. “What����ap good for the Holy Spirit works for me,” she said. “I have trust.”

More than 50 pilgrims from Houston, Texas, were in the square, too, They were in Rome on a pre-planned Holy Year pilgrimage and said they were proud to be part of this historic occasion.

“Words cannot express my admiration and gratitude to God,” said the Rev. Dominic Nguyen, who led the Vietnamese American group. He said he hoped the pope would be happy to see the Stars and Stripes but also Peruvian flags and all other countries, showing the universality of the church.

A Mass in the grottoes and unsealing the apartment

Also Sunday, Leo celebrated a private Mass near the tomb of St. Peter and prayed at the tombs of several past popes in the grottoes underneath the basilica. Vatican Media filmed him praying before a mix of progressive and tradition-minded popes: Pope Paul VI, who closed out the modernizing reforms of the 1960s Second Vatican Council, and Popes Pius XII and Benedict XVI, on the more conservative end of the spectrum.

He celebrated the intimate Mass with the head of his and his brother, John, in the pews. In his homily, he recalled that Sunday was also the day that the Catholic Church celebrates religious vocations, and noted that the issue of declining vocations had been raised by cardinals in their pre-conclave discussions before his election.

Leo said priests can encourage more vocations by offering a good example, “living the joy of the Gospel, not discouraging others, but rather looking for ways to encourage young people to hear the voice of the Lord and to follow it and to serve in the church.”

Leo also attended the official unsealing of the papal apartments in the Apostolic Palace, which were sealed after Francis’ April 21 death. It is unclear if Leo will move into the apartments or just use them for formal audiences as Francis did.

Leo has slept in his old apartment in a Vatican palazzo since his election. Francis decided to live and work at the Domus Santa Marta hotel in the Vatican rather than move into the palace, eventually taking over much of the second floor.

The 69-year-old Chicago-born missionary was elected 267th pope on Thursday. He has a busy week of audiences before his formal installation Mass next Sunday.

Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.

Re: “Trump says Zelenskyy is prolonging conflict,” April 24 news story

Today, your lead is another lie from President Donald Trump. Sadly, we can expect no truth or facts from him or anyone in his orbit.

I think Ukraine has the right to defend its land from the aggressor, Russia. Trump wants them to cave, as he has done in all his dealings with Russian leader Vladimir Putin. You have to wonder what Putin has on him. I’m with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Slava Ukraini and middle finger to the liar and thief.

Deborah Harvey, Thornton

Trump is apparently okay with rewarding Putin for his illegal invasion of Ukraine since it is his position that Russia gets to keep the territory that Russia now occupies.

I have been convinced that Trump is a Russian asset ever since he met with Putin in Helsinki during his first presidency and sided with Putin over our own intelligence agencies before the world.

Now, Trump is dismantling our intelligence and counterintelligence agencies as well as our cybersecurity agencies.  He is also weakening our State Department and our military command. I’m sure all this is making Putin very happy, and China’s leader, Xi Jinping, as well.

Bob Wood, Monument

Selling crypto from the White House

Re: “Top investors of $TRUMP meme coin get a dinner with president,” April 24 news story

The article reports that the president invited 220 purchasers of his cryptocurrency to an “intimate” dinner at one of his golf clubs. The report calls the invitation “an astonishing escalation of the Trump family’s efforts to profit from cryptocurrencies.” That����ap putting a kind face on it. More accurately, the effort is to profit astonishingly from the office of the presidency. While he cavalierly pursues policies that decimate retirement accounts, President Donald Trump carefully promotes any opportunity to leverage his office for personal gain.

Randy Livingston, Denver

A convenient way to the airport without more roads

Re: “Looking for better ways to get to the airport,” April 13 letter to the editor

My wife and I just rode the A Line to and from the airport from the 40th and Colorado Station for a recent trip. We live not far from the letter writer, near 16th Avenue and Grape Street. We moved to Denver from the D.C. area some years ago, so we know is good public transportation and horrible traffic congestion.

We paid $1.35 each (senior 3-hour ticket fare) each way. The standard fare for a 3-hour ticket is $2.75. We got rides from family to and from the station. It����ap about 10 minutes away. The trains run about every 20 minutes and pretty close to the published schedule. The ride to the airport is about 30 minutes. If we drive and park at the RTD lot at 40th, we get the first 24 hours free and $2 a day thereafter. An Uber is about $8 each way.

We watched incredulously from the train the heavy traffic on Peña Boulevard while we rode an almost empty train directly to the airport terminal for a very low fare. In D.C. or anyplace else on the East Coast, that train would be packed. So, my fellow Denverites, wake up and get with the program! The A Line to the airport is a fantastic way to get to and from the airport and it requires zero additional road construction. For goodness sakes, use it!

Tim Hopkins, Denver

To send a letter to the editor about this article, submit online or check out our guidelines for how to submit by email or mail.

SUMY, Ukraine — Russian missiles struck the as people gathered , killing at least 34 people, officials said, in the second large-scale attack to claim civilian lives in just over a week.

The two ballistic missiles hit around 10:15 a.m., officials said. Images from the scene showed lines of black body bags on the side of the road, while more bodies were seen wrapped in foil blankets among the debris. Video footage also showed fire crews fighting to extinguish the shells of burned-out cars among the rubble from damaged buildings.

The dead included two children, the State Emergency Service of Ukraine said in a statement. A further 117 people were wounded, including 15 children, it said.

“Only filthy scum can act like this — taking the lives of ordinary people,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said. In a statement on social media, he said the first strike hit buildings belonging to a city university, while the second exploded above street level.

The head of the Ukrainian president����ap office, Andriy Yermak, said the strike also used cluster munitions in an attempt to kill as many people as possible. The Associated Press was unable to verify the claim.

The attack on Sumy followed a deadly April 4 missile strike that killed some 20 people, including nine children.

Zelenskyy called for a global response to the attack. “Talks have never stopped ballistic missiles and aerial bombs. What����ap needed is an attitude toward Russia that a terrorist deserves,” he said.

Other world leaders also condemned the attack, with French President Emmanuel Macron saying that it undermined Washington-led peace talks between the two sides.

“Everyone knows: This war was initiated by Russia alone. And today, it is clear that Russia alone chooses to continue it — with blatant disregard for human lives, international law and the diplomatic efforts of President Trump,” he wrote in a statement.

Elsewhere in Ukraine, two women, ages 62 and 68, and a 48-year-old man were killed in Russian attacks on the Kherson region, local Gov. Oleksandr Prokudin said. Another person was killed during Russian shelling on Ukraine’s Donetsk region, Gov. Vadym Filashkin said.

The mayor of the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv, Ihor Terekhov, said a Russian strike hit one of the city’s kindergartens, shattering windows and damaging the building’s facade. No casualties were reported.

Spring offensive fears despite peace talks

The strikes come a day after Russia and Ukraine’s senior diplomats accused each other of violating a tentative U.S.-brokered deal to pause strikes on energy infrastructure, underscoring the challenges of negotiating an end to the three-year war.

The two countries’ foreign ministers spoke at separate events at the annual Antalya Diplomacy Forum a day after met with to discuss peace prospects.

“The Ukrainians have been attacking us from the very beginning, every passing day, maybe with two or three exceptions,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said, adding that Moscow would provide the U.S., Turkey and international bodies with a list of Kyiv’s attacks during the past three weeks.

His Ukrainian counterpart, Andrii Sybiha, contested that claim, saying Saturday that Russia had launched almost 70 missiles, over 2,200 exploding drones and more than 6,000 guided aerial bombs at Ukraine, “mostly at civilians” since agreeing to the limited pause on strikes.

Russian forces hold the advantage in Ukraine, and that Moscow is planning a fresh spring offensive to ramp up pressure on its foe and improve its negotiating position.

Ukraine has endorsed a broader U.S. , but Russia has effectively blocked it by imposing far-reaching conditions. European governments have accused Putin of dragging his feet.

Retired Lt. Gen. Keith Kellogg, Trump’s special envoy to Ukraine and Russia, said the Sumy attack crossed “any line of decency” and that the White House remained committed to ending the conflict.

“There are scores of civilian dead and wounded. As a former military leader, I understand targeting, and this is wrong. It is why President Trump is working hard to end this war,” he said.

___

Associated Press journalists Volodymr Yuchuk in Kyiv, Ukraine, and Katie Marie Davies in Manchester, England, contributed to this report.

___

Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at

Campbell, a University of Colorado grad who lives in Ridgway, faced other kinds of potentially fatal risks beyond his control — cluster bombs, missiles, artillery fire — on multiple trips to Ukraine since 2022 as a conflict journalist. He survived to produce a 40-minute documentary film, “,” which had its premiere in Washington last month to mark the three-year anniversary of the Russian invasion.

His main character did not survive, however. Peter Fouché, a South African drawn to Ukraine to serve as a combat medic, was killed in action near the front lines last June, three weeks before film production was finished. Campbell calls him the hero of the film.

“He was this rough and tumble guy, originally a police officer from South Africa, then a cab driver in London, who gave up everything to serve in Ukraine,” Campbell said. “Peter was killed by the Russians by multiple drones. He’s been written up in the BBC. He looked like Jean-Claude Van Damme. Just an exceptional, heroic figure.”

Campbell’s post-mountaineering second career as a filmmaker has taken him to Nepal, Kosovo, Lebanon, Cameroon, South Sudan, Libya and Iraq. In the early days of the Ukraine war he reached out to a Ukrainian friend, Iryna Karagan, an elite Himalayan mountaineer whom he’d met through climbing circles.

“I said, ‘I’m really concerned, you‘ve got to get out of the country,'” said Campbell, 57. “She said, ‘No, we’re going to stay here and we’re going to fight. I’m building Molotov cocktails in my basement.’ I booked a ticket within 24 hours. That����ap where the film about ‘war and resilience’ started in my head.”

In Ukraine, Campbell embedded with emergency medical teams and took his cameras into military hospitals. He toured abandoned, bombed-out cities and rode in ambulances through the streets of Kostyantynivka, where he experienced the impact of cluster bombs on civilian areas. Fouché took him to positions near the frontline in the Eastern Donbas region, where Fouché describes Ukraine’s invaders as “Russian genocidal maniacs.”

Another central figure in the film is Olga Butko, a Ukrainian television news anchor who partners with Campbell to tell the story of her homeland under siege, describing the tragedy in heartbreaking detail. In one scene she takes him to her childhood home, which her parents fled when Russian artillery drew close.

“I’m trying not to hate, so basically it’s anger,” Butko says of her emotional struggle. “This war is just because one country, for more than 100 years, they just don’t want us to exist. You can call it genocide. … Raping, torturing, massive graves. What is this?”

In a particularly dramatic scene, Fouché and Campbell hear the sound of cluster-bomb explosions nearby. Soon after, they encounter the body of a farmer who was killed in that attack.

“I don’t know which is more prevalent in this war — soldiers being killed or war crimes being committed,” Fouché says with a tremor in his voice. “Schools have been bombed, hospitals have been bombed. There are jets flying over you daily, dropping cluster munitions on residential areas. …  People are dying in the thousands, soldiers coming home without faces and limbs and hands. Children being brutally gang-raped and then beaten to death in front of their parents.

“The West will be remembered for what they have done, and not done, in this war.”

, had its premiere at George Washington University’s Lisner Auditorium in Washington on Feb. 24. The Ukrainian ambassador, Oksana Markarova, spoke at the event, as did Mark Dillen, executive director of . Butko flew in from Ukraine.

The next day, Campbell said, Markarova sent a message to the Ukrainian foreign ministry recommending that the film be used by Ukrainian diplomatic missions worldwide.

Now Campbell is seeking financial backing to fund distribution of the film to a mass audience. He got a boost this week when the announced that he will be honored at this year’s festival, receiving its “Film in Action” award. He will present the film there on June 19.

Campbell acknowledges there are similarities in calculating risk avoidance in mountaineering, versus filming near the front lines of a war, but there’s one fundamental difference. Mountaineers climb primarily for their own sense of fulfillment. Helping the world see suffering and evil up close comes from a humanitarian impulse.

“Going back to my first Himalayan trip in 1992, I saw a lot of underserved people who were on the edge of life,” Campbell said. “In 2002, when I went to Tibet, I saw tons of people who lacked access to health care, a humanitarian crisis. I also saw the political occupation of the Chinese over the Tibetans. Risk tolerance is part of it, but because of those expeditions, you see the world from a lens of, ‘Wow, there’s so much need.’

“And, when you see something turn into an injustice like Ukraine, it really gets under your ribcage.”