Russia’s Top General Visits Troops in Ukraine to Discuss Next Steps 

Chief of the General Staff of Russian Armed Forces Valery Gerasimov meets with service members who, according to the Defense Ministry, participated in taking Avdiivka, at a Russian military command center in a location given as Russian-controlled Ukraine, in this still image taken from video released February 21, 2024. (Russian Defense Ministry/Handout via Reuters)
Chief of the General Staff of Russian Armed Forces Valery Gerasimov meets with service members who, according to the Defense Ministry, participated in taking Avdiivka, at a Russian military command center in a location given as Russian-controlled Ukraine, in this still image taken from video released February 21, 2024. (Russian Defense Ministry/Handout via Reuters)
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Russia’s Top General Visits Troops in Ukraine to Discuss Next Steps 

Chief of the General Staff of Russian Armed Forces Valery Gerasimov meets with service members who, according to the Defense Ministry, participated in taking Avdiivka, at a Russian military command center in a location given as Russian-controlled Ukraine, in this still image taken from video released February 21, 2024. (Russian Defense Ministry/Handout via Reuters)
Chief of the General Staff of Russian Armed Forces Valery Gerasimov meets with service members who, according to the Defense Ministry, participated in taking Avdiivka, at a Russian military command center in a location given as Russian-controlled Ukraine, in this still image taken from video released February 21, 2024. (Russian Defense Ministry/Handout via Reuters)

Russia's top general, Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov, visited troops fighting in the war in Ukraine to discuss the next steps after the taking the town of Avdiivka, state media reported on Wednesday.

President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday Russian troops would push further into Ukraine to build on their success on the battlefield after the fall of the town of Avdiivka where he said Ukrainian troops had been forced to flee in chaos.

Gerasimov was shown awarding medals to Russian troops involved in taking Avdiivka and he was given a report by the commander in charge of the Russian assault on Avdiivka, Colonel-General Andrei Mordvichev, state media said.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba told CNN that Avdiivka would not have fallen had Kyiv received weapons held up by the US Congress' failure to approve a large aid package.

After the failure of Ukraine to pierce Russian front lines in the east and south last year, Moscow has been trying to grind down Ukrainian forces just as Kyiv ponders a major new mobilization.



ICC Concerned About Hungary's Decision to Withdraw from the Court

Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban (L) and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu shake hands at the end of a press conference following bilateral talks on April 3, 2025 in Budapest, Hungary. (Photo by Attila KISBENEDEK / AFP)
Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban (L) and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu shake hands at the end of a press conference following bilateral talks on April 3, 2025 in Budapest, Hungary. (Photo by Attila KISBENEDEK / AFP)
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ICC Concerned About Hungary's Decision to Withdraw from the Court

Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban (L) and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu shake hands at the end of a press conference following bilateral talks on April 3, 2025 in Budapest, Hungary. (Photo by Attila KISBENEDEK / AFP)
Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban (L) and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu shake hands at the end of a press conference following bilateral talks on April 3, 2025 in Budapest, Hungary. (Photo by Attila KISBENEDEK / AFP)

The presidency of the International Criminal Court on Thursday expressed concern about Hungary's decision to withdraw from the court.
In a letter to Hungary it urged the country to continue to be a resolute party to the Rome Statute, the founding treaty of the ICC.

Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban said the country would withdraw completely from the court on the same day Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu, indicted by the ICC, visited Budapest.

Orban gave the Israeli leader a welcome with full military honors in Budapest’s Castle District. The two close allies stood side by side as a military band played and an elaborate procession of soldiers on horseback and carrying swords and bayoneted rifles marched by.

As the ceremony unfolded, Orban’s chief of staff, Gergely Gulyás, released a brief statement saying that “the government will initiate the withdrawal procedure” for leaving the court, which could take a year or more to complete.

Orban later said that he believes the ICC is “a political court.”
The ICC, based in The Hague, Netherlands, said when issuing its warrant that there was reason to believe Netanyahu and former Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant had committed crimes against humanity in connection with the war in Gaza.