The Russian invasion of Ukraine has driven home the importance of NATO and the European Union for many of their newest members, according to Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavsky, who was in Washington this week for the funeral of Czech emigre and former U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright. “The reason we joined these two …
Read more “Remembering Havel, Czechs Feel Moral Responsibility to Help Ukraine”
The continuation of negotiations to end Russia’s war against Ukraine is in doubt, with Ukraine’s president saying it is hard to discuss peace amid public anger over alleged atrocities carried out by Russian troops, while Russia’s foreign minister said Western sanctions and arms shipments were impeding the talks, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reported. …
Read more “Ukraine Slows Russian Advance in East, South as Talks in Doubt”
Serbia on Saturday showed off its new Chinese-made surface-to-air missiles and other military hardware purchased from both Russia and the West, as the country seeks to perform a delicate balancing act over Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine. Members of the public and the media were invited to the display at the Batajnica military airfield near Belgrade, …
Read more “Serbia Shows Off New Chinese Missiles in Display of Military Power”
A sandy-colored tower glints in the sunlight and dominates the skyline of the Swedish town of Skelleftea as Scandinavia harnesses its wood resources to lead a global trend towards erecting eco-friendly high-rises. The Sara Cultural Center is one of the world’s tallest timber buildings, made primarily from spruce and towering 75 meters over rows of …
Read more “In Scandinavia, Wooden Buildings Reach New Heights”
Indonesian President Joko Widodo, who holds this year’s G-20 presidency, has invited Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to the group’s summit in Bali later this year, despite Russian President Vladimir Putin’s plans to attend. However, Zelenskyy’s invitation may not be enough to secure the attendance of U.S. and other Western leaders keen on isolating Moscow. White …
First came a court summons alleging Mikhail Samin had discredited the Russian army. Then came the threatening calls. Samin, a 22-year-old from Moscow who has been posting commentary about the war in Ukraine on social media, shared details of those chilling calls with VOA. In one expletive-laden call, a man warned that Samin had 24 …
Read more “Chilling Calls, Legal Action as Russia Seeks to Silence Dissent”
Press freedom group Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has put the websites of two major French broadcasters back online in Mali, after the country’s military government pulled the broadcasters off the air in March and officially banned them from the Malian airwaves this week. RSF put the sites back online Thursday, creating mirrors of the sites …
Read more “Media Watchdog RSF Puts French News Sites Back Online in Mali”
Millions of Ukrainians have fled to neighboring countries since Russia invaded their homeland. Others have moved to western Ukraine and the city of Lviv, which for now are relatively safe. Anna Kosstutschenko has the story of volunteers in Lviv who are opening their homes to the displaced families. Camera – Yuriy Dankevych. …
The U.N. refugee agency said Friday that refugee and migrant deaths are increasing at an alarming rate. More than 3,000 people died or went missing in the Mediterranean or Atlantic last year on attempts to reach Europe. In comparison, 1,439 people died or went missing on those routes in 2019, and about 1,800 in 2020. …
Read more “Thousands of Refugees, Migrants Died in 2021 on Sea Crossings to Europe”
Russia made what appeared to be a late u-turn to avoid a default on Friday, as it made a number of already-overdue international debt payments in dollars despite previously vowing they would only be paid in rubles. Whether the money would make it to the United States and other Western countries that sanctioned Russia was …
Read more “Russia Makes Last-Gasp Dollar Bond Payments in Bid to Avoid Default”
Mountainous and remote, the Greek-Bulgaria border once formed the southern corner of the Iron Curtain. Today, it’s where the European Union is redrawing the region’s energy map to ease its heavy reliance on Russian natural gas. A new pipeline — built during the COVID-19 pandemic, tested and due to start commercial operation in June — …
Read more “New Gas Pipeline Boosts Europe’s Bid to Ease Russian Supply”
A Turkish court on Friday acquitted 33 people, including two Bloomberg reporters and other journalists from local media, of spreading false information about the economy in an article and tweets at the height of a currency crisis in 2018. The case followed a criminal complaint filed in August 2018 by the BDDK banking watchdog over …
Read more “Bloomberg Reporters in Turkey Acquitted Over 2018 Currency Crisis Article”
Ukraine’s leader accused Russia of trying to humiliate the United Nations by raining missiles on Kyiv during a visit by Secretary-General António Guterres, an attack that shattered the capital’s tentative return to normality as the focus of the war moved east. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Ukraine’s forces were holding off Russia’s attempted advance in the …
Read more “Ukraine Slams Kyiv Attack Amid New Mariupol Rescue Effort”
RFE/RL journalist Vira Hyrych has died in Kyiv after a Russian air strike hit the residential building where she lived in the Ukrainian capital. Hyrych’s body was found early in the morning on April 29 amid the wreckage of the building, which was hit by a Russian missile the night before, RFE/RL’s Ukrainian Service said. …
Read more “RFE/RL Journalist Dies in Russian Air Strikes on Kyiv”
The United States has not seen many signs that Russia-Ukraine negotiations are “proving fruitful” as Moscow’s war on the country enters its third month, said a senior State Department official. “The Russians don’t seem to be willing to negotiate in a particularly meaningful way,” State Department Counselor Derek Chollet told VOA in an interview Thursday. …
Read more “US: No Sign Russia-Ukraine Negotiations Will Bear Fruit”
The Biden administration is asking Congress for additional legal authority to make it easier for the U.S. government to seize Russian government and oligarch assets and transfer the proceeds to Ukraine. The White House released the package of legislative changes Thursday as President Joe Biden asked Congress for $33 billion in additional aid for Ukraine …
Read more “US Seeks Authority to Give Seized Russian Assets to Ukraine”
The United States and the European Union have warned against giving in to what they called Russian “blackmail” over gas supplies to Europe. Russia, which supplies about 40% of Europe’s gas needs, had demanded that what it called “unfriendly” European countries pay their gas bills in rubles — seen as a way to prop up …
Read more “US, EU Warn Against Giving In to Russian ‘Gas Blackmail’”
The European Union has warned its members that paying for Russian gas in rubles would breach sanctions on Moscow. Russia on Wednesday cut off gas supplies to Poland and Bulgaria. As Henry Ridgwell reports, some EU states have set up Russian bank accounts to try to work around the sanctions. …
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said in Tokyo on Thursday that his country wanted to strengthen ties with countries in the Indo-Pacific region that have the same values, and to work together to end Russia’s aggression in Ukraine. “My trip is a clear political signal that Germany and the European Union will continue and intensify their …
Read more “Scholz Says Germany Seeks Closer Ties With Indo-Pacific”
It was billed as a promising breakthrough — Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan meeting last month and agreeing to try to resolve their countries’ age-old differences, keeping, at least, a lid on tensions as the conflict in Ukraine rages. But on Thursday, as armed Turkish jets streamed into Greek …
European Union energy ministers meet Monday in Brussels as Russia threatens to widen natural gas shutoffs to more countries. On Wednesday, Russia cut off natural gas supplies to EU member states Poland and Bulgaria, after warning so-called “unfriendly countries” would have to pay for gas in rubles. The move is seen as a Russian effort …
Read more “EU to Meet on Energy, Preparing New Russia Sanctions”
A blast in a residential neighborhood injured three people Thursday in Zaporizhzhya, a strategic city in southeastern Ukraine that lies between areas controlled by Russia and the rest of the country. VOA’s Heather Murdock reports with Yan Boechat in Zaporizhzhya, Ukraine. …
As Russia’s war on Ukraine enters its third month, questions have swirled about whether a negotiated solution with Russian President Vladimir Putin is possible. Kenneth Dekleva, a psychiatrist who previously worked with the U.S. State Department, dismisses any speculation that Putin is unstable and therefore impossible to deal with. “He’s not crazy. He’s a rational …
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said Thursday that in war, “the highest price is paid by civilians,” as he visited sites outside the Ukrainian capital ahead of talks with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. The areas Guterres toured included Borodianka and Irpin, as well as Bucha, where the bodies of civilians were found after Russian forces withdrew from …
Read more “UN Chief in Ukraine Supports War Crimes Investigation”