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Britain's Prince William and Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, arrive at Philip SW Goldson International Airport in Belize City, Belize, on Mar 19, 2022. (Photo: Reuters/Toby Melville, Pool) - 

Britain's Prince William and his wife Kate arrived in Belize on Saturday (Mar 19) for a week-long Caribbean tour that was marred by a local protest before it even began amid growing scrutiny of the British Empire's colonial ties to the region.

The arrival of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge coincides with the celebration of Queen Elizabeth's 70th year on the throne, and comes nearly four months after Barbados voted to become a republic, cutting ties with the monarchy but remaining part of the British-led Commonwealth of Nations.

Three miniature cannons fired a salute to the couple as their plane landed in Belize City before a military band played the national anthems of Belize and Britain at a welcoming ceremony that kept the media throng at a distance.

William inspected a guard of honour as the band played the local creole song Ding Ding Wala, then drove off with his wife to meet Prime Minister John Briceno.

Afterwards, Briceno told Reuters that the duke and duchess were "excited to be here in Belize as we are delighted to have them", adding: "We wish them a fruitful and memorable visit."

The couple are due to stay in Belize, formerly British Honduras, until Tuesday morning. On the eve of their departure, an event planned for Sunday was scrapped when a few dozen villagers staged a protest.

Residents of Indian Creek, an indigenous Maya village in southern Belize, said they were upset that the royal couple's helicopter had been granted permission to land on a local football field without prior consultation.

The village is in a land dispute with Fauna & Flora International (FFI), a conservation group supported by the royal family, stirring discontent over colonial-era territorial settlements still contested by indigenous groups.

A visit to a different site is being planned instead, Belize's government said. In a statement, Kensington Palace confirmed that the schedule would be changed because of "sensitive issues" involving the Indian Creek community.

In a statement, FFI said that it had purchased land at the nearby Boden Creek from private owners in December 2021, and that it would conserve and protect the area's wildlife while supporting the livelihoods and traditional rights of local people.

Without directly addressing the dispute, FFI said that it bought the land to benefit the area's ecological integrity, resident communities and Belize as a whole, and pledged to maintain "open and continuous dialogue" with the local community.

After Belize, the duke and duchess are due to visit Jamaica and the Bahamas. Meetings and a variety of events are scheduled with politicians and a range of civic leaders.

Dickie Arbiter, Queen Elizabeth's press secretary from 1988 to 2000, described the tour as a goodwill visit that ought to give a temporary lift to the family's popularity.

Today, many people in former colonies see the monarchy as an anachronism that should be let go, he said. But he expected that little would change while Elizabeth remained on the throne.

"The royal family is pragmatic," he said. "It knows it can't look at these countries as realm states forever and a day."//CNA

A file photo of an S-400 "Triumph" surface-to-air missile system after its deployment at a military base outside the town of Gvardeysk near Kaliningrad, Russia, on Mar 11, 2019. (File photo: Reuters/Vitaly Nevar) - 

The United States has informally raised with Turkey the unlikely possibility of sending its Russian-made S-400 missile defence systems to Ukraine to help it fight invading Russian forces, according to three sources familiar with the matter.

US officials have floated the suggestion over the past month with their Turkish counterparts, but no specific or formal request was made, the sources told Reuters. They said that it also came up briefly during Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman's visit to Turkey earlier this month.

The Biden administration has been asking allies who have been using Russian made equipment and systems including S-300s and S-400s to consider transferring them to Ukraine as it tries to fend off a Russian invasion that began on Feb 24.

The idea, which analysts said was sure to be shot down by Turkey, was part of a wider discussion between Sherman and Turkish officials about how the United States and its allies can do more to support Ukraine and on how to improve bilateral ties.

The Turkish authorities have not commented on any US suggestion or proposal relating to the transfer to Ukraine of Ankara's S-400 systems, which have been a point of long-standing contention between the two North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) allies.

Turkish foreign ministry officials were not immediately available for comment.

Turkish sources and analysts said that any such suggestion would be a non-starter for Turkey, citing issues ranging from technical hurdles related to installing and operating the S-400s in Ukraine, to political concerns such as the blowback Ankara would likely face from Moscow.

Washington has repeatedly asked Ankara to get rid of the Russian-built surface-to-air missile batteries since the first delivery arrived in July 2019. The United States has imposed sanctions on a Turkey's defence industry and removed Turkey from the F-35 fighter jet programme as a result.

Ankara has said that it was forced to opt for the S-400s because allies did not provide weapons on satisfactory terms.

US officials are keen to seize this moment to draw Turkey back into Washington's orbit. Efforts to find "creative" ways to improve the strained relationship have accelerated in recent weeks, even though no specific proposal has so far gained traction, US and Turkish sources have said.

"I think everyone knows that the S-400 has been a long standing issue and perhaps this is a moment when we can figure out a new way to solve this problem," Sherman told Turkish broadcaster Haberturk in an interview on Mar 5.

It was not clear what exactly she meant and the State Department has not answered questions about her comments. The White House did not respond to a request for comment about the suggestion made during her visit to Turkey.

The effort is also part of a wider bid by the Biden administration to respond to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's plea to help protect Ukraine's skies. Russian or Soviet-made air defence systems such as S-300s that other NATO allies have and S-400s are sought after.

One source familiar with US thinking said that Washington's floating of the possibility came as a result of the renewed effort to improve ties at a time when Ankara has been spooked by Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had not received a specific heads up from Russian President Vladimir Putin on his plans of a full-scale attack on Ukraine, another source familiar with the discussions said.

Turkey shares a maritime border with Ukraine and Russia in the Black Sea and has good ties with both. It has said the invasion is unacceptable and voiced support for Ukraine, but has also opposed sanctions on Moscow while offering to mediate.

Ankara has carefully formulated its rhetoric not to offend Moscow, analysts say, with which it has close energy, defence and tourism ties. But Ankara has also sold military drones to Kyiv and signed a deal to co-produce more, angering the Kremlin. Turkey also opposes Russian policies in Syria and Libya, as well as its 2014 annexation of Crimea.

"Turkey has managed to walk on the razor's edge, and a transfer of a Russian S-400 would certainly lead to severe Russian ire," said Aaron Stein, director of research at the Philadelphia-based Foreign Policy Research Institute.

"And for Erdogan, the S-400 has become a symbol of Turkish sovereignty, so trading it away wouldn't be all roses and flowers."//CNA

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy speaks during a demonstration for peace, via videolink, amid Russia's invasion of Ukraine, in front of the seat of the Swiss federal parliament Bundeshaus in Bern, Switzerland Mar 19, 2022. (Photo: REUTERS/Arnd Wiegmann) - 

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called on Saturday for comprehensive peace talks with Moscow and also urged Switzerland to do more to crack down on Russian oligarchs who he said were helping wage war on his country with their money.

British intelligence warned that Russia, frustrated by its failure to achieve its objectives since it launched the invasion on Feb 24, was now pursuing a strategy of attrition that could intensify the humanitarian crisis.

Russian forces have taken heavy losses and their advance has largely stalled since President Vladimir Putin launched the assault, with long columns of troops that bore down on Kyiv halted in the suburbs.

But they have laid siege to cities, blasting urban areas to rubble, and in recent days have intensified missile attacks on scattered targets in western Ukraine, away from the main battlefields.

Zelenskyy, who makes frequent impassioned appeals to foreign audiences for help for his country, told an anti-war protest in Bern that Swiss banks were where the "money of the people who unleashed this war" lay and their accounts should be frozen.

Ukrainian cities "are being destroyed on the orders of people who live in European, in beautiful Swiss towns, who enjoy property in your cities. It would really be good to strip them of this privilege," he said in an audio address.

Neutral Switzerland, which is not a member of the European Union, has fully adopted EU sanctions against Russian individuals and entities, including orders to freeze their wealth in Swiss banks.

The EU measures are part of a wider sanctions effort by Western nations, criticised by China, aimed at squeezing Russia's economy and starving its war machine.

In an address earlier on Saturday, Zelenskyy urged Moscow to hold peace talks now.

"I want everyone to hear me now, especially in Moscow. The time has come for a meeting, it is time to talk," he said in a video address. "The time has come to restore territorial integrity and justice for Ukraine. Otherwise, Russia's losses will be such that it will take you several generations to recover."

Britain's Defence Attaché to the United States said British intelligence believes Russia has been taken aback by the Ukrainian resistance to its assault and has so far failed to achieve its original objectives.

"Russia has been forced to change its operational approach and is now pursuing a strategy of attrition" likely to involve the "indiscriminate use of firepower resulting in increased civilian casualties", Air Vice-Marshal Mick Smeath said in a statement.

Putin, who calls the action a "special operation" aimed at demilitarising Ukraine and purging it of what he sees as dangerous nationalists, told a rally on Friday in Moscow that all the Kremlin's aims would be achieved.

On Saturday, Russia said its hypersonic missiles had destroyed a large underground depot for missiles and aircraft ammunition in the western Ivano-Frankivsk region. Hypersonic weapons can travel faster than five times the speed of sound and the Interfax agency said it was the first time Russia had used them in Ukraine.

A spokesperson for the Ukrainian Air Force Command confirmed the attack, but said the Ukrainian side had no information on the type of missiles used.

Even so, the Ukrainian defence ministry, in an update posted on Facebook, said "the operational situation has not changed significantly". Troops were concentrating their efforts around the strategically important cities of Kyiv, Chernihiv, Kharkiv, Mariupol and Mykolayiv, it said, adding that "Russian troops continue to suffer heavy losses".The Ukrainian military command in charge of forces in two breakaway regions of eastern Ukraine said they had fought off 10 attacks on Saturday, destroying a total of 28 tanks, armoured personnel carriers and arnoured cars and killing more than 100 soldiers. Reuters was unable to independently corroborate the claim.

The UN human rights office said at least 847 civilians had been killed and 1,399 wounded in Ukraine as of Friday, with the real figure likely much higher. The Ukrainian prosecutor general's office said 112 children were among the dead. Russia says it is not targeting civilians.

Kyiv authorities said on Saturday that 228 people had been killed in the capital since Russia's invasion began, including four children.

A further 912 people have been wounded, the Kyiv city administration said in a statement.

Reuters has not been able to independently confirm casualty figures.

Ordinary Ukrainians have joined the effort to defend their country, such as at a training facility in Odessa, a picturesque, multicultural Black Sea port, where young urban professionals were learning about handling weapons and applying first aid.

"Every person should know how to fight, how to make medicine," said 26-year-old graphic designer Olga Moroz.

More than 3.3 million refugees have fled Ukraine through its western border, with around 2 more million displaced inside the country. Ukraine has evacuated 190,000 civilians from frontline areas via humanitarian corridors, Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said on Saturday.

"I'll go (to Germany) for three weeks but I hope I can go home after that," said Olga Pavlovska, a 28-year-old refugee in the Polish town of Przemysl, hoping Zelenskyy's calls for comprehensive peace talks will end the invasion.

Hundreds of thousands have been trapped in the port city of Mariupol for more than two weeks with power, water and heat supplies cut off. Bodies amid the rubble are a common sight. Local officials say fighting has reached the city centre and heavy shelling kept humanitarian aid from getting in.

About 600 residential buildings in the eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv have been destroyed and are unfit for habitation since the start of the Russian invasion, Kharkiv's regional governor Oleh Synyehubov said.

Rescue workers were still searching for survivors in a Mariupol theatre that authorities say was flattened by Russian air strikes on Wednesday. Russia denies hitting the theatre.

Interfax quoted Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov as saying Moscow expected its operation in Ukraine to end with a signing of a comprehensive agreement on security issues, including Ukraine's neutral status.

Kyiv and Moscow reported some progress in talks this week towards a political formula that would guarantee Ukraine's security, while keeping it outside NATO, though both sides accused each other of dragging things out. 

China has not condemned Russia's invasion, though it has expressed concern about the war. 

Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Le Yucheng said on Saturday Western sanctions against Russia were getting "more and more outrageous"//CNA

Police put the Paris turnout at 2,100, while organise said at least 8,000 marched (Photo: AFP/Christophe ARCHAMBAULT) - 

Thousands of people in several French cities marched on Saturday (Mar 19) to protest racism and police brutality.

In Paris, protesters paraded through the city centre behind a banner condemning "state crimes". Other demonstrators carried "Black Lives Matter" banners.

Several people spoke at the rally to tell the stories of members of their families who had died at the hands of the police.

Interior ministry figures put the turnout out at 2,100, but the march organisers estimated 8,000-10,000.

The interior ministry said another 11 protests took place elsewhere in France, saying the total turnout for these protests was 1,400.

Other protests took place in Bordeaux and Toulouse in the southwest, and Lyon in the southeast.

Saturday's demonstration comes two days ahead of International Day for the Elimination of Racism. It is held on Mar 21 to mark the day, in 1960, that police in apartheid South Africa opened fire on a peaceful demonstration, killing 69 people//CNA