Month: May 2022

One-third of businesses say their employees lack basic literacy and numerical skills, a survey found.

A survey of British business by the PwC found that most felt that the education system was not preparing young people for the world of work.

Fifty percent said their organization would be more productive if the education system was better prepared for future employment. 89 percent say it is important for young people to be assessed more than academic ability.

In January, the commission estimated that education reform would boost the UK economy by £ 125 billion.

The study concludes that better preparing young people for the work world, such as helping students develop better time management, team skills and resilience, can increase productivity and help young people find jobs and career opportunities.

PwC’s research shows that a significant number of businesses lack basic skills.

Thirty-five percent said they lacked basic skills in reading, writing, and numeracy. A similar number is expected to see a decline in literacy next year.

39 percent also felt that they lacked personal skills such as time management and problem solving. Thirty-three percent think they are struggling to find employees with strong skills in leadership, networking and communication. Forty percent feared they would fight to find people with creativity and entrepreneurship next year.

Kevin Ellis, chairman and senior partner at PwC UK, who is addressing the commission’s summit in London today, said: “Fundamental numbers and literacy should be given. We also need other skills that stand the test of time, such as empathy, resilience and agility. You can’t predict all future jobs, but you can predict the mentality needed to adapt and prepare. “

Last year Dame Sharon White, chairman of the John Lewis Partnership, told the commission it needed to teach basic literacy and numeracy to teen employees. He said many had been “completely failed” by the education system, and some could have taught for ten to 12 years but lacked effective literacy.

Even if they develop “imaginary human skills,” it’s something that is often acquired outside of education, he said.

89 percent of employers say it is important to consider skills outside of academic performance for evaluation. While most businesses say the testing system is useful for teaching young people to work under pressure, 19 percent say it does not help students develop teamwork and collaborative skills. As a result, 74 percent of employers use their own assessment techniques as well as considering an applicant’s academic history. Seventeen percent use only their own methods and completely waive the educational qualifications of the candidates.

Ellis says: “The exams have their place but they can be influenced by someone’s background and the opportunities they are given. They are not the best measure of probability. Employers will lose talent if they measure it through a single lens. “

Thirty-eight percent of those who do not consider qualifications said it helped recruit staff from a more diverse background than relying on traditional markers for their performance.

Sir James Dyson and Sir Richard Branson are lobbying for significant changes in the education system to improve Britain’s economic fortunes.

Dyson told the commission: “Children are creative, they love to create and create things. . . But as they get closer to GCSEs and A-levels that is excluded from them. It’s all about root-learning, not about using your imagination. The system doesn’t measure creativity, it measures what you can remember about other people’s events. “

A professional career spanning the globe, primarily working in corporate finance and M&A, with significant business transformation projects for the World Bank, Suezan Holmes His skill has made his mark in the business world. Today, he is leading with a vision of growing up with confidence CEO Of ScaleXP.

With a learning attitude, Suezan always captures new skills, expanding the scope of his work in multiple roles. In her professional journey, she took a break to pursue an MBA in Finance at the Wharton Business School, which coincided with the Spanish stream of their Lauder program. His versatility in looking at the business allows him to be the CFO of various corporations in London before focusing on the high-growth SME business.

A small but more aggressively expanded business transition in Suezan led to the formation of ScaleXP. He insists, “My single biggest surprise while working on this new platform was the complexity of access and understanding of customer growth. I expect information with one click; My highest growth customer this year compared to last year and then a few more clicks; An analysis of common features (sector, size, location, our contact headings). Allowing the identification of similar companies to be targeted as a new customer in the end, so that as CFO I can have a significant impact on growth. “

“This data is very difficult to access and understand, but with my professional and technical experience, I knew the problem could be solved.” Suezan explains.

Universe Denting

As CFO of corporate and top growth companies in the UK, Suezan has learned first hand the challenges of maintaining a 200% + CAGR. More importantly, he learned how non-corporates are usually limited by the lack of affordable software solutions to uncover and learn from their data.

Suezan reveals that hardworking and diligent companies struggle to manually create complex, error-prone spreadsheets to grasp the basics. Each ‘data cycle’ takes days. The information generated by benchmarks and broad KPI options and the insights gained are immediately accessible and should always be at the fingertips of CFOs, CEOs and the larger executive team.

Suezan noted, “Combining my technical and financial experience, we have come up with the power of software to carry; Specifically, we used the accessibility and cost benefits of ‘Software as a Service’ (SaaS). As a result, ScaleXP is becoming a game-changer in the B2B software space. Automating and streamlining the reporting process to save money allows professionals to provide insights into customer-centric advice. I think it’s because of this groundbreaking approach that I’ve been runner-up in the UK Female Entrepreneur of the Year award. “

Grow up with confidence

ScaleXP aims to help high-growth companies, unlike large multinationals, use their data power to make the best decisions for their business. Large corporations have invested in multi-million dollar systems and business units just to focus on crushing their data. ScaleXP makes this capability affordable and manageable by a finance professional – democratizing access to business benefits from data.

ScaleXP’s cloud-reporting software integrates financial, sales and marketing data into one dashboard to facilitate data-driven decisions and energy growth. The goal is to help you make a well-known decision with confidence as a founder, startup or investor. Using its interactive dashboard and insights, growth trajectories and potential hurdles can be shared between your team, board or even investors.

The software has over 100 automated KPIs tailored to your business type and industry – no need for manual calculations and formulas in your spreadsheet. Days, even weeks, are saved. The ScaleXP approach should be an essential tool-set within the global high-growth business community, exposing the power of internal data and keeping it at the fingertips of all aspiring business leaders.

Suezan shares, “We are formed against a background of disruption and confusion and counterfeit business. Our culture is one of perseverance and dedication to information disclosure that leads to self-understanding and awareness; For ourselves as a member of the ScaleXP team, ScaleXP as a company and for our clients and users. “

Technical edge

ScaleXP is a deep technology platform that integrates data from accounting and sales systems to automate dashboards and reports.

The platform combines data from accounting systems (Quickbook, Zero, Sage) and sales systems to provide a comprehensive business picture. Its CEO and CFO highlight dashboard issues Impressive and comprehensive presentations no longer take hours to prepare. Graph and financial are prepared for you. You add comments, literally save hours of tedious admin. All of which is acquired on its server, then distributed to the user via the cloud, as a SaaS solution.

Data analysis shift

The basic goal of ScaleXP is to democratize the costly conservation of larger corporations. Systems Integrators have been installing and operating analytical systems for decades on complex and complex data warehouses, data marts and data lakes.

Suezan says that in the early stages, high-growth businesses don’t have to wait until they can carry a data analysis department run by 50+ people operating these legacy systems; They can bypass all this and start now for the advancement of technology. He shares, “One of the major changes in the ‘data-driven industry’ set to deliver huge benefits is AI-driven business analysis or intelligence. ScaleXP is already a partner of AI leaders in academia where we collaborate on very practical research. “

Above and beyond

The immediate focus of ScaleXP is to provide a great product and a growing army of high-growth companies around the world. It will continue to expand, explore, research and deploy best practices that further risk its clients’ ambitions, but it also learns from the user community as it unfolds new situations.

“In the long run, I want to see our client community become a valuable point in itself; Like-minded professionals are open to mutual understanding of how their relevant sectors are performing, where there are opportunities and threats. Suezan clarifies.

Guide to the next generation

Suezan understands that an entrepreneur’s journey is very personal and has unique reasons. He says “Equipped with a great idea, you should evaluate which case you need the most help with; a thorough, honest assessment of what skills you don’t have. Then go out and find your partners who meet the skill set requirements. But be aware that it Very, very difficult; personality, ability and reliability are hard to measure. In many ways, this is your biggest challenge. Many VCs will tell you that they will support a great team with a good idea. The wheel“

“But assuming you have a great idea and a great team, you’ve created a product and are an early user, I have to say (with a little tongue) that you really need your business metrics to raise money, and present it consistently, In short, you need ScaleXP. “

“Besides, in February 2022, ScaleXP hosted an event to fund entrepreneurs in 2022: What the Experts Say.” At the event, we had a panel of London-based industry experts giving their input on important areas such as invoice factoring, venture capital and how to reach investors. Suez ends.

Hong Kong – Hong Kong’s (HK) Leader-in-Waiting John Lee was approved by a committee of pro-Beijing loyalists for the top post in the city on Sunday as the financial center seeks to re-establish itself after years of political unrest.

Mr Lee, the sole candidate, received a vote of 1,416 members of the pro-Beijing election committee on Sunday morning, giving him the majority needed to be the next leader of Hong Kong. Eight voted not to support him.

Despite China’s promise to one day give full democracy to the former British colony, which returned to Chinese rule in 1997, very few of the city’s 7.4 million people have a say in choosing their leader.

Security was tight around the venue, with police blocking a small group of protesters.

“We believe we represent a lot of people in Hong Kong to oppose this China-style, single-candidate election,” said Chan Po-ying, a protester in the League of Social Democrats, holding a banner demanding full democracy.

Mr Lee, Hong Kong’s former secretary of state for security, forcibly enforced China’s strict measures under a national security law that was used to arrest many democrats, dismantle civil society groups and shut down liberal media outlets, such as Apple Daily And Stand news.

He vowed to re-establish Hong Kong as an international city and strengthen its competitiveness, amid concerns among some Western governments, including the United States, that independence and the rule of law would be undermined by security legislation imposed by Beijing in 2020.

Chinese authorities say the law is necessary to restore stability in 2019 after pro-democracy protests.

Some critics say Mr Lee’s efforts to reintroduce Hong Kong internationally could be affected by US sanctions imposed on him in 2020, which Washington said had a role to play in “forcing, arresting, detaining or detaining people”. Security Act.

The owner of YouTube is Alphabet, Inc. It said it had removed Lee Campaign’s YouTube account in order to comply with US sanctions.

Mr Lee, who said it would be a priority for Hong Kong to enact more national security laws, often said Hong Kong was a law-abiding society and everyone must abide by the law.

Among his other priorities, Mr Lee said he would restructure the government to strengthen policy-making and seek to increase housing supply in one of the world’s most expensive real estate markets. – Reuters

While the average British family now pays £ 1.1 million in taxes over their lifetime, Perrys Chartered Accountants provide her six top tips to make sure you’re not overpaying.

1. Check your tax code

If you are a full or part-time employee, you may be paying taxes through PAYE. This means your income tax is deducted at source and goes directly to HMRC. Your tax code is basically a number and a letter, for example 1257L, and it is shown on your payslip. These few numbers can make a big difference in the amount of tax you pay, and it’s not uncommon for errors to persist. For example, if you once owned a company car with a fuel-burning engine, you switched to an eco-friendly model, you should adjust your tax code to make sure you’re paying less. If in doubt about your tax code, talk to your employer or call HMRC directly.

2. Claim authorized costs

For self-employed workers, there are many approved costs that can help reduce your tax bill. These costs include the cost of running the office, train fares and website fees, and your overall profit should be deducted, meaning you pay tax on the amount remaining after these costs.

3. Check if you are eligible for tax-free childcare

If you have children and pay for nursery, childminding, or wrapping care, you may be eligible for tax-free childcare. Under this scheme, the government will pay 20% of your child care costs up to a maximum of £ 2,000 per year for eligible children. Tax-free child care is one of several child care schemes available – working parents can also qualify for a variety of free child care and tax credits. Use the government’s child care calculator to find out which option is best for your family.

4. Pay the pension

Most UK taxpayers receive tax relief on payments made to the pension fund, which means the government pays into your retirement savings. For basic rate taxpayers, the top-up is 20% – HMRC will add £ 20 for every £ 80 you contribute to the pension fund. As well as such tax relief, savings for retirement can actually reduce the annual tax bill for those who earn more than £ 100,000 a year. This is because personal allowance (tax-free annual income allowance is currently set at £ 12,570) is gradually reduced by £ 1 for every 2 earned over £ 100,000. Pension contributions reduce your taxable income, so if these contributions keep your annual income below £ 100,000, you will benefit from the maximum level of personal allowance.

Paying more in the pension container can also have an impact on the child’s well-being. Currently, monthly child benefit payments are gradually reduced if high-income parents receive more than £ 50,000 annually, and any entitlements disappear completely when income reaches £ 60,000. By making additional payments to the pension fund, you may be able to keep your taxable salary below £ 50,000, thus ensuring full childcare entitlement and increasing your pension savings for years to come.

5. Make the most of your marriage or civic partnership

Marriage allowance is a tax break that allows a husband, wife or citizen partner to transfer their personal allowance of ব্যক্তিগত 1,260 to a higher earning partner. To qualify, you must not pay income tax or your income must be below personal allowance (£ 12,750). Your partner must pay income tax at the basic rate, which means their income is between £ 12,751 and £ 50,270 before they receive the marriage allowance.

Marriage allowances can cost up to 2 252 in tax savings per year, yet about 2.4 million eligible couples are failing to claim benefits. However, the good news is that marriage allowance claims can be backdated for up to four years.

6. Save if you are unmarried!

Being alone can bring its benefits. Don’t forget that most local authorities in England and Wales offer a single person council tax deduction of 25%. It can cost around £ 300 a year, yet many residents fail to claim benefits. To find out more, contact your local council directly.

One can choose to walk different paths to achieve their goals; However, sometimes, the unintentional path can create a beautiful journey.

“If I could say this path was intentional in the beginning,” Said Emma Dixon Sharing the professional journey that led him to become CEO And President A. Home Helper Home Care.

Emma attended college to become a high school teacher, where she learned that teaching, coaching, and developing people are the keys to a successful business growth. His early career began in corporate training and development. He handled the growing responsibilities that shaped his leadership qualities at Blockbuster and Sylvan.

Emma realized that her most important responsibility as a leader was to help employees and companies realize their potential. The position of CEO of Home Helper Home Care has given him a fair chance to do so. He focused on building a team that was as committed to the company as he was: They call home wherever they can to help people stay as independent, safe and happy as possible.

Emma notes, “As we grow older, we add to our team and our outstanding network of franchises. We have kept our focus on our mission. Our goal is to drive our innovation spirit and bring the team together while we aggressively pursue our goals. “

As she talks about the challenges that come with pursuing goals, Emma realizes that most people who do great things face challenges. He insists, “Deciding how much you want to achieve, the risks you are willing to take, the bold choices you make and your determination to move forward.”

For the people

Emma has dedicated the last fourteen years of her career to advancing senior care through home helpers and working with her as an industry lawyer. Home Care Association of AmericaServe as President Board of Directors.

Most recently, Emma has advocated for the care of home care workers throughout the epidemic. Her tireless efforts have ensured that home care aids are categorized as essential staff. He has also formed partnerships with PPE providers to ensure the safety of all home helper employees and their clients.

Careful hands

Home Helper Home Care envisions becoming the most trusted and respected provider of comprehensive home care services and support to help people stay independent, happy, and secure no matter where they call home.

Emma says the company is a move away from direct care delivery for those who work at the National Support Center. As such, he constantly reminds his team of the “why” behind the work that is best presented with the exceptional caregiver program. Emma shares, “Every year, we receive hundreds of nominations from clients – we share these with our team on a regular basis – because they always show the importance of what we do and the genuine appreciation of clients for our caregiver and services provided.”

Incomparable culture

Emma reveals that the spirit of innovation drives the organization and keeps the team highly engaged, improving the lives of seniors and their families.

In 2021, Home Helpers launched its new CARED-4 (SM) service offer, an innovative approach that is changing how Home Care can help people stay independent until they choose and do so with affordable options for its clients.

Emma explains that CARD-4 starts with exceptional in-home care and offers new ways to connect and engage with clients, uniquely covering the four major risk factors associated with hospitalization. From nutrition plans and food preparation to medicine reminders, wellness calls, and technology-enabled devices to help in emergencies, CARD-4 extends the continuity of home care and the next generation of home care.

Take to care

Since many seniors need extra support to stay independent, they are concerned about the financial and personal impact of home care. As an organization, home helpers have dedicated themselves to using technology to increase their franchise and client care and reduce costs.

Emma says using in-home monitoring solutions can help home help agencies and a client’s family know if there has been a fall, a routine change or even a warning if there is an emergency. He adds, “Having access to monitoring technology can give our clients more freedom to enjoy the activities of their choice, knowing that if they need help, we can push a button away. We are the first in our industry to use voice-controlled monitoring, as well as technology that provides key family and caregiver data points for the overall well-being of clients in an easy-to-use portal. “

Home helpers also add wellness calls to its service offerings, allowing franchisees to check in with clients when a caregiver is not at home. These calls provide invaluable social connections and life-saving reminders about medications or other routines needed to keep clients safe and healthy.

Home Helper’s fully integrated back-end enterprise software system helps franchisees more efficiently manage their workload and help caregivers plan their staff to reduce burnout and turnover. The system provides access to data that helps franchisees run more efficiently and make better decisions for their employees and clients.

Willing to

The industry can create efficient technology and hyper focus on labor reduction from technology, especially robotics. Emma says, “I am hopeful that other executives like me will weigh the benefits of these technologies with the much-needed personal connections that our clients deserve. In many cases, the bond between a client and a caregiver is very personal and one of the greatest gifts you can get from working with a group like Home Helper Home Care. “

Preparing to overcome obstacles

Labor shortages are one of the most significant challenges facing home care agencies today and in the next few years. Demand for this specialty has grown significantly as a result of recent corporate scandals.

Operators need to find ways to reduce turnover, increase hiring skills and enhance caregiver experience. Home helpers provide ongoing training programs to franchisees so that their carers can virtually develop new skills and create more opportunities for themselves.

It has created a recognition program that showcases the excellent work of caregivers and helps those interested to see valuable support that encourages caregivers to encourage others to consider career change.

Visionary goal

Senior care is essential for Emma because she has been a family caregiver for many years. He shares, “It simply came to our notice then. I can’t imagine a future where I’m not attached to this industry in some size or fashion. For Home Helper Home Care, I see a very bright future that focuses on supporting our franchisees with innovative programs that help them grow and serve their community. We have achieved double-digit compound annual system-revenue growth in the last ten years. I see our growth continue, both in terms of market share and industry growth as a whole. “

Head-on

Emma advises aspiring entrepreneurs to jump on both legs as the industry continues to move forward with the countless tailwinds that take the field forward. “Our population is living in old age, longevity and more chronic conditions. We need people who want to change the quality of life of their clients / patients and their employees and colleagues and contribute positively, ”he said. Emma finishes.

Taiwanese multinational technology company Micro-Star International Co., Ltd. (MSI) on Wednesday unveiled a new line of laptops designed for business and productivity, aimed at adding office workers and home users to a market in the Philippines made up mainly of gamers.

“There is now an MSI Business and Productivity Laptop for everyone looking for the best productivity in this challenging new normal time,” said Rhyan Sy, product sales manager at MSI Philippines, personally during the May 4 launch.

Already an established brand in the gaming community, MSI wants to pivot in the enterprise segment, especially where the market is growing between epidemiological distance work and learning continuity, he added.

The new lines are: Summit Series for Business Professionals and Elites; Prestige series for artists and content creators; And light modern series for workers and students.

The three product lines will be available locally this May through Tectron Systems Corporation, MSI’s new distribution partner.

“Techtron’s core competencies and experience in the enterprise market will help us leverage our position in the Philippines in the future,” said Mr. Sai.

Powered by a 12th-generation Intel Core processor, the new laptops “meet user needs from anywhere, such as device responsiveness, long battery life, fast-charging support, and robust security and safety features,” according to a MSI press release.

GP Padit, Country Retail Marketing Manager at MSI Philippines, explained at launch that these processors are designed with a focus on performance and efficiency.

“This time around, we’re focusing on hybrid performance technology,” he said. “Imagine slim and light laptops that can display multiple screens in 4k resolution.”

According to Ira James Garcia, product marketing manager at MSI Philippines, both the Summit and Prestige series will have enterprise-grade security. This includes smart sensor software Tobii Aware, which blurs the screen when you move away from your laptop or see someone peeking from behind.

The Summit E16 Flip A12 UDT-057PH, Summit E14 Flip Evo A12MT-072PH and Summit E14 Flip Evo A12MT-074PH are priced at P124,995, P89,995 and P79,995 respectively.

Artist and content creator-friendly Prestige 15 and 14 series laptops will have five price points: P109,995, P99,995 P89,995, P69,995 and P59,995.

Meanwhile, home users can find the modern 15 B12M priced at P48,995; And the modern 14 C12M, at P46,995.

“Business and productivity laptops are not designed for gaming, but they can handle it,” Mr Garcia added. “It is useful for professionals and students who are also gamers.” – Bronte H. Laksamana

A study by Sterling Bank last year found that more than 1.5 million women had started their own businesses in the last 12 months and almost three times had an ambition to start soon.

In another survey by YouGov and The Telegraph, the only women entrepreneurs who started a business during the epidemic painted a picture of resilience and innovation, with 77% confident about their chances of success next year.

“One of the positive aspects of the epidemic is the number of women who have decided to go it alone and start their own business,” said Melita Campbell, a business instructor. Maybe I interviewed about 100 entrepreneurial women for my podcast that they believe is what it takes to be successful in business. I would like to share some of their top tips. “

Believe in your point of view – Instead of focusing on your current skills or resources, think about how you would like to use your skills, talents and experience to create a better world. It doesn’t matter if your vision seems like an impossible dream. In fact, this might even be a good thing. Your vision does not necessarily achieve a goal, but ambition is an effect. A big impossible dream will get you to grow, connect and achieve more than a goal you already know you can achieve.

Understand your value – Our values ​​drive our motivation and activity and determine how we interpret our experiences. Understanding your values, and aligning your activities and offers with them will improve your results, as well as how you feel about your work, which will give you a foundation for further success in the future.

Trust your instincts – Being a ‘good girl’ year after year and following the advice, guidelines and framework given to us by schools, associations and workplaces has led many of us to disconnect from our normal instincts or even disbelieve. Remember that our gut instincts are not some random feeling. This is the ultimate consequence of all our education and experience so far. It is a powerful asset that can lead us to meaningful success.

Build your network – Very few successful people will deny the ability to have a network that knows, likes and trusts you. A strong network can help you build more inspiration and insights to help you achieve professional goals, a solid pipeline of leads and referrals for your business, speaker engagement, as well as more success than you ever thought possible.

Surround yourself with inspiring women – In addition to your network, it’s worth creating an ‘inner circle’ of people who inspire you and who believe in your vision and who can support you at every step, encouraging you to dream bigger and achieve more of your goals in the process. . Most of my podcast guests believe that these ‘inner circles’, mentors or business friends have played a key role in their success.

Ask for help – It can be difficult for many women. And admits most of my guests have learned to ask for help in difficult ways. But it is important to acknowledge that we can achieve this on our own. Learning to represent, investing in a small team and asking for the support of the people around us are essential to our success.

Embrace your skills and success – We often skip the tasks and activities we enjoy and the ones that come naturally to us, thinking that if they are easy for us, they are easy for everyone. The truth is, when you feel this way about your work, it is a sign that you are working in your talent zone. The work you do in this area is probably highly valued and may be sought after by others. Embrace your natural talents and own your success.

Embrace your failure – Failure is often thought to be the opposite of success, but it is not! The process of testing and learning what it does makes it invaluable information that can help us move toward a larger vision. So instead of being the opposite, failure is an important part of every success.

Invest in yourself – Although you have undoubtedly gained a lot of valuable experience in your life and career to date, when you come to start something new and start something as a business, you can shortcut the path to success by investing in enhancing your skills and mentality with the help of a business coach. .

Determine what success means to you – Success only makes sense when it has an impact on your life and the world you want it to be. Advertising often leads us to believe that success means a big house, new cars and designer clothes, but these are external indicators of success. True wealth comes from feeling full and achieving the life we ​​want. Spend time determining what success means to you personally and then use it to set your goals, plans and actions.

E-commerce giant – Amazon plans to deliver Internet from space using 3,236 satellites in low Earth orbit – Project Kuiper.

The company has signed a multibillion-dollar deal – the largest deal in the history of the commercial aerospace industry – with three different companies to launch its Kuiper satellites: Jeff Bezos’s Blue Origin, United Launch Alliance and Europe’s Arianspace.

“In many ways, it’s a reaction and a competition with Elon Musk and SpaceX’s Starlink network.” News correspondent Michael Schitz says. Starlink already has about 2,000 satellites in orbit.

Amazon has yet to launch a satellite, but it could be a big player in the game.

“The satellite communications market is one that is worth billions of dollars. No one in this industry believes that it is a one-system-tech-all kind of environment. We hope that at least two and possibly more constellations will emerge, serving not just residential consumers, but any type of business or organization that relies on Internet connections, “said Caleb Henry, a senior analyst at Quilty Analytics.

“Amazon is known as the company of everything, and it’s hard to be the company of everything without the internet. “Amazon’s fastest growing segment is its AWS cloud service. And in support of that, they’ve built a lot of Internet infrastructure, whether it’s data centers or fiber. “ Henry says.

DOBROPILIA / KIEV, Ukraine – Ukraine’s shelling has killed and injured its own civilians in the southern Kherson region, Russia said Sunday, after a series of missile strikes in the south and east, when some civilians went off a steel plane from the besieged Mariupol.

After failing to capture the capital Kyiv in a nine-week offensive, Moscow has focused on southern and eastern Ukraine, which has flattened cities, killed thousands of civilians and forced more than 5 million to flee abroad.

Its forces have occupied the town of Kherson, giving them a foothold just 100 km (60 miles) north of Russia-occupied Crimea, and have largely occupied the strategic eastern port city of Mariupol in the Azov Sea.

Russia’s Defense Ministry has accused Ukrainian forces of shelling a school, kindergarten and cemetery in the villages of Kislyevka and Shiroka Balka in the Kherson region, the Russian RIA Novosti news agency reported on Sunday.

The ministry did not provide further details. The report did not immediately return a request for comment, but could not immediately be reached for comment.

On April 21, Russia declared victory in Mariupol, and hundreds of Ukrainian soldiers and civilians took refuge in the Azvastal Steel project.

The United Nations has called for an eviction treaty. A Ukrainian fighter inside Saturday said about 20 women and children had rescued him.

“We’re pulling civilians out of the rubble with ropes – old people, women and children,” said the fighter, Sviatoslav Palamar, referring to the 4 square kilometers (1.5 square miles) wide plant debris.

Mr Palamar said Russia and Ukraine respected the local ceasefire and hoped the evacuated civilians would be relocated to the northwestern Ukrainian city of Zaporizhia.

Russia and the United Nations have not commented on the evictions. Ukrainian officials say hundreds of Ukrainians remain inside the steelworks.

Odessa strike
A Russian missile fired from Crimea destroyed the runway of the main airport in the western city of Odessa, regional governor Maxim Marchenko said, but no one was injured.

The Ukrainian military says the airport can no longer be used. President Volodymyr Zelensky promised to rebuild it, saying in a late-night video speech that “Russia’s treatment of Odessa will never be forgotten.”

Moscow has not commented on the strike, whose forces have sporadically targeted Ukraine’s third-largest city, where eight people have been killed in recent Russian attacks, Ukrainian officials say.

Moscow’s attack on the south is aimed at annexing the region to Crimea as it pushes for full control of the eastern Donbass region of Ukraine, where Russian-backed separatists already controlled parts of Luhansk and Donetsk provinces before Moscow’s February 24 invasion.

In his speech, Mr Zelensky said Russia was “gathering additional forces for new attacks against our military forces before the country” and was “trying to increase pressure on the Donbass”.

Moscow has called its move a “special operation” to disarm Ukraine and free it from anti-Russian nationalism instigated by the West. Ukraine and the West say Russia has launched an unprovoked aggression.

Despite weeks of peace talks, on Saturday both sides were as far apart as ever.

Ukraine has accused Russian troops of carrying out atrocities in areas near Kiev in early April, a claim Moscow has denied. The negotiators last met face-to-face on March 29 and have since spoken via video link

The United States and its European allies have imposed extensive sanctions on Russia’s economy and provided arms and humanitarian aid to Ukraine.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Saturday that Britain would “continue to provide the Ukrainians with the tools they need to defend themselves.”

US President Joseph R. Biden is seeking a $ 33 billion weapons aid package, including 20 billion for Kiev.

Mr Biden praised the courage of journalists covering Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in remarks at a White House Correspondents Association dinner in Washington.

“A poison is running through our democracy … growing with widespread confusion,” Mr Biden said Saturday night. “You, the free press, are more important than what you have done in the last century.”

Britain’s Foreign Office warned on Sunday that Russia was using a troll factory to spread confusion on social media about the war in Ukraine.

“We cannot allow the Kremlin and its shady troll firms to invade our online spaces with their lies about Putin’s illegal war,” Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said in a statement. – Reuters