News Roundup: Zelensky Says Ukraine Open to Russia’s Neutrality Demand

BY JACK CROWE

March 28, 2022

Dear readers, this has been a fun ride, but as I work to expand NR's News Desk, I'll have to prioritize other responsibilities, so I've decided to give up the News Roundup. Unfortunately, this will be the final installment of this particular email, but please continue to keep an eye out for our breaking news items in your inbox. Thanks for reading!

Zelensky Says Ukraine Open to Russia's Neutrality Demand

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Sunday that Ukraine is ready to discuss adopting a neutral status as part of a peace deal with Russia, though the agreement would have to be guaranteed by third parties and put to a referendum.

"Security guarantees and neutrality, non-nuclear status of our state. We are ready to go for it. This is the most important point," Zelensky said in a video call with Russian journalists, according to several reports.

Ukraine voted in 2014 to abandon its "neutral status" and seek NATO membership after Russia invaded and annexed Crimea.

Shanghai Locks Down 26 Million Residents amid Covid Spike

Shanghai's leaders on Sunday announced the city will be subject to new staggered lockdowns by district as China faces a new outbreak of Covid-19.

The city of 26 million will begin enforcing restrictions and mass testing Monday morning in areas east of the Huangpu River, according to the New York Times. The restrictions and testing in that area will go on until April 1, at which point restrictions and testing will begin in districts west of the river in an effort to test the city's entire population.

Some neighborhoods that have emerged as Covid-19 hotspots have already been under lockdown for more than a week. Residents in those neighborhoods have at times had difficulty accessing daily necessities, including medical supplies, the paper reported.

Cory Booker Calls GOP Treatment of Judge Jackson 'Beyond the Pale,' Defends Kavanaugh's Treatment

Senator Cory Booker (D., N.J.) on Sunday criticized Republican senators' questioning of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson during her Supreme Court confirmation hearings as "beyond the pale" but defended Democrats' treatment of Justice Brett Kavanaugh during his infamously contentious confirmation hearings.

Booker's comments came during an appearance on NBC's Meet the Press, after host Chuck Todd claimed that the hearings turned into something "circus-like" and that the confirmation process is "broken" and "partisan." Noting that both parties play the blame game on why the hearings have become partisan, Todd asked Booker how to fix the "broken" process.

Booker replied that there is "a lot of frustration among Democrats, clearly, for what happened with Merrick Garland," when Republicans refused to consider former President Obama's Supreme Court nomination of Garland in 2016.

Chris Wallace Says He 'No Longer Felt Comfortable' Staying at Fox News after 2020 Election

Chris Wallace recently explained his decision to leave his post as a Fox News anchor after 18 years, saying he "just no longer felt comfortable with the programming at Fox," according to a new report.

"I'm fine with opinion: conservative opinion, liberal opinion," Wallace told the New York Times. "But when people start to question the truth — Who won the 2020 election? Was Jan. 6 an insurrection? — I found that unsustainable."

He added that he "spent a lot of 2021 looking to see if there was a different place for me to do my job."

Blinken Says U.S. Has No 'Strategy of Regime Change in Russia' after Biden Says Putin 'Cannot Remain in Power'

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken attempted to walk back President Biden's comment that Russian President Vladimir Putin "cannot remain in power," clarifying on Sunday that the U.S. has no strategy of regime change in Russia.

"I think the president, the White House made the point last night that, quite simply, President Putin cannot be empowered to wage war or engage in aggression against Ukraine or anyone else," Blinken said at a press conference in Jerusalem.

"As you know, and as you've heard us say repeatedly, we do not have a strategy of regime change in Russia or anywhere else, for that matter. In this case, as in any case, it's up to the people of the country in question. It's up to the Russian people," he added.

Biden Says Putin 'Cannot Remain in Power,' White House Walks It Back Moments Later

President Biden said Russian president Vladimir Putin "cannot remain in power" in a speech on the invasion of Ukraine on Saturday.

"Ukraine will never be a victory for Russia. For free people refuse to live in a world of hopelessness and darkness," Biden said at the end of a speech at the Royal Castle in Warsaw, Poland. They "have a different future, a brighter future, rooted in democracy and principle, hope and light, of decency and dignity and freedom and possibilities."

Then Biden added, "For God's sake, this man cannot remain in power."

EU Foreign Policy Chief Says Iran Nuclear Deal 'Very Close'

The European Union's top diplomat said on Saturday that negotiators were close to finishing an international agreement on Iran's nuclear program.

"Now we are very close to an agreement and I hope it will be possible," EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said in a speech to the Doha Forum in Qatar, according to Reuters.

Borrell's comments come amid stalled progress toward a deal, which would see the Obama administration's 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action revived. Russian negotiators demanded earlier this month that any trade between Russia and Iran be exempt from economic sanctions imposed over the invasion of Ukraine, derailing negotiations.

Biden Compares Ukraine Refugee Crisis in Poland to U.S. Southern Border

President Biden compared the influx of Ukrainian refugees in Poland to the situation at the U.S.–Mexico border in comments during a meeting with Polish president Andrzej Duda in Warsaw on Saturday.

Poland has absorbed over 2.2 million Ukrainian refugees since Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine at the end of February. Biden called on other NATO allies to receive more refugees fleeing from the war.

"We do acknowledge that Poland is taking on a significant responsibility that I don't think should just be Poland, it should be the whole world—all of NATO's responsibility. The fact that you have so many Ukrainians seeking refuge in this country of Poland, we understand that because we have on our southern border thousands of people a day—literally, not figuratively—trying to get to the United States," Biden said at a bilateral meeting with Duda.

Chinese Streaming Sites Pull Keanu Reeves Films after Appearance at Pro-Tibet Concert

Several Chinese streaming platforms have pulled films and video content featuring actor Keanu Reeves after he showed support for Tibet earlier this month, according to a new report.

At least 19 of Reeves's movies were removed from Tencent Video, the Los Angeles Times reported on Thursday, after the Canadian actor took part in a benefit concert for Tibet House, a New York-based nonprofit affiliated with the Dalai Lama.

Reeves's participation in the event is controversial as Beijing disputes Tibetan claims of independence and views the Dalai Lama, who is Tibetan Buddhism's spiritual leader, as a "separatist."