Veteran Opposition leader and former premier Ranil Wickremesinghe was sworn-in as Sri Lanka’s 26th prime minister on Thursday to stabilise the country’s debt-ridden economy and end the political turmoil, a development welcomed by India which said it looks forward to working with the new government and reaffirmed its commitment to the Sri Lankan people. Wickremesinghe was sworn-in as prime minister by President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to lead a proposed all-party government, days after his predecessor Mahinda Rajapaksa was forced to resign following violent protests over the worst economic crisis in the island nation.
Russian forces have carried out a rocket attack on a major oil refinery in Kremenchuk town in Ukraine’s central Poltava region, said the head of Poltava regional military-civilian administration Dmytro Lunin. “Today’s shelling of the Poltava region is perhaps the largest during the full-scale war,” Lunin wrote on Telegram. Twelve rockets hit the infrastructure facilities in Kremenchuk, with most of them striking the oil refinery, Lunin was quoted as saying by Xinhua news agency. The attack caused fire at the oil refinery, Lunin said, adding there were no casualties in the shelling.
