The city council of Ukraine’s Mariupol said an evacuation of some of 400,000 residents trapped by encircling Russian forces would start at 12 p.m. local time (1000 GMT) on Sunday under a temporary cease-fire that will last till 9 p.m. A similar plan had to be abandoned Saturday after the cease-fire was not fully observed, …
The superyacht Dilbar stretches nearly 140 meters in length. It has two helipads, berths for more than 130 people and a 25-meter swimming pool that itself can accommodate another superyacht. Dilbar was launched in 2016 at a reported cost of more than $648 million. Five years later, its purported owner, the Kremlin-aligned Russian oligarch Alisher …
Read more “Fleeing Sanctions, Oligarchs Seek Safe Ports for Superyachts”
When Russia invaded her home country of Ukraine, Maria decided she had to get there and help defend it — even if it meant leaving her fiancé behind in Chicago days after getting married. Maria and her fiancé, David, married Saturday before about 20 people in the backyard of an Oak Park home — the …
Read more “Ukrainian Woman Weds Chicago Fiancé Ahead Of Return Home”
U.S. President Joe Biden spoke Saturday night with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. They talked about the work the United States, its allies, partners and private industry are doing to raise the cost of the war for Russia. Biden said his administration is ramping up security, economic and humanitarian aid to Ukraine and is working with …
Read more “Biden, Zelenskyy Discuss Raising Cost of War for Russia”
Full developments of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine …
The already challenging path to bringing home Americans jailed in Russia and Ukraine is likely even more complicated now with a war overwhelming the region and increasingly hostile relations between the United States and the Kremlin. Marine veteran Trevor Reed and corporate security executive Paul Whelan are each serving lengthy prison sentences in Russia, but …
Read more “War in Ukraine Complicates Path Home for American Detainees”
Iran has agreed to supply answers long sought by the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog, Tehran and the U.N. agency said Saturday, as talks in Vienna over its tattered atomic deal with world powers appear to be coming to an end. A joint statement by Mohammad Eslami, the head of the civilian Atomic Energy Organization of …
Read more “Iran to Answer UN Nuclear Questions as Deal Talks Near End”
Mastercard and Visa are suspending their operations in Russia, the companies said Saturday, in the latest blow to the country’s financial system after its invasion of Ukraine. Mastercard said cards issued by Russian banks will no longer be supported by its network and any Mastercard issued outside the country will not work at Russian stores …
Read more “Mastercard, Visa Suspend Operations in Russia After Invasion”
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Saturday visited a welcome center set up by Polish authorities in what once was a shopping mall in Korczowa, close to the border with Ukraine, where roughly 3,000 refugees are taking shelter after the Russian invasion of their homeland. While at the border later, Blinken stepped briefly onto …
Read more “Blinken Hears Harrowing Tales From Refugees Fleeing Ukraine”
WNBA All-Star Brittney Griner was arrested last month at a Moscow airport after Russian authorities said a search of her luggage revealed vape cartridges. The Russian Customs Service said Saturday that the cartridges were identified as containing oil derived from cannabis, which could carry a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison. The customs service …
Read more “American Basketball Star Brittney Griner Arrested in Russia on Drug Charges”
China has decided to raise its defense spending by 7.1%, which is the largest increase since 2019. The rise is significant because the country’s economy is expected to grow this year at the lowest level in decades at 5.5%. China’s defense spending is being carefully watched around the world in view of the atmosphere of …
Read more “China Boosts Military Spending Amid Ukraine Uncertainties”
U.N. aid agencies are calling for unimpeded access to all areas of Ukraine in need of humanitarian assistance and protection. The call comes amid reported efforts to establish humanitarian corridors in Ukraine. The U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, or OCHA, welcomes a reported agreement between Ukraine and Russia to facilitate safe passage …
Some Australian finance firms have started to divest Russian assets in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The Australian government Thursday urged the country’s $2.5 trillion pension industry to reassess its Russian holdings after the invasion. In addition, Russia’s Ukraine invasion has prompted several Australian companies to cut ties with Russia by selling assets …
Read more “Australian Retirement Funds Start Dumping Russian Assets Over Ukraine Invasion”
Canada has the largest population of Ukrainian ancestry outside of Ukraine and Russia. Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the Canadian government has been quick to impose sanctions against Russia. The Canadian government of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau wasted no time in imposing sharp economic sanctions soon after Russian forces crossed into Ukraine. Giving much of …
Read more “Canada Slaps Sanctions on Russia Over Ukraine Invasion”
When Matthew Parker, an American veteran with 22 years of service in the U.S. Army, heard that Russian forces had invaded Ukraine, he thought about a Ukrainian American soldier who had served alongside him with U.S. forces in Iraq and decided he wanted to help the Ukrainians defend their homeland. “I had a soldier in …
Russia’s demand for written U.S. guarantees that sanctions on Moscow would not damage Russian cooperation with Iran is “not constructive” for talks between Tehran and global powers to revive a 2015 nuclear deal, a senior Iranian official told Reuters Saturday. The announcement by Russia, which could torpedo months of intensive indirect talks between Tehran and …
Read more “Iran Official: Russia’s Demand for US Guarantees May Harm Nuclear Talks”
Two men originally from China are among the 1 million refugees fleeing Ukraine into neighboring countries this week after Russia’s invasion on Feb. 24. VOA chronicled the journeys of Ibrahim Abliz, a Uyghur, and Ersin Erkinuly, a Kazakh. Abliz and Erkinuly were among thousands of Uyghurs and Kazakhs who fled China because of its “anti-terrorism” …
Read more “From China to Turkey, Ukraine: 2 Men’s Search for Safety”
As Russia’s bombardment of Ukraine’s cities intensifies, hundreds of thousands of people are fleeing the country. The United Nations has appealed to donor countries for help, as Henry Ridgwell reports from the Polish-Ukrainian border. Camera: Henry Ridgwell …
The U.S. Embassy in Ukraine said that attacking a nuclear power plant is a war crime, after Russia on Friday seized a Ukrainian nuclear facility that is the biggest in Europe. The statement on the embassy’s Twitter account went further than any U.S. characterization of Russia’s actions in Ukraine since it launched its invasion Feb. …
Read more “US Embassy in Ukraine Calls Nuclear Power Plant Attack ‘War Crime’”
Russia’s blocking of Facebook is a symptom of its broader effort to cut itself off from sources of information that could imperil its internationally condemned invasion of Ukraine, experts say. The often-criticized social network is part of a web of information sources that can challenge the Kremlin’s preferred perspective that its assault on Ukraine is …
Formed in a fury to counter Russia’s blitzkrieg attack, Ukraine’s hundreds-strong volunteer “hacker” corps is much more than a paramilitary cyberattack force in Europe’s first major war of the internet age. It is crucial to information combat and to crowdsourcing intelligence. “We are really a swarm. A self-organizing swarm,” said Roman Zakharov, a 37-year-old IT …
Read more “Ukraine Digital Army Brews Cyberattacks, Intel and Infowar”
Full developments of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine …
While U.S. President Joe Biden has played a key role in galvanizing Western nations’ condemnation of Moscow’s aggression against Ukraine, his administration is finding it harder to build a global coalition in the Indo-Pacific to isolate Russian President Vladimir Putin. Key regional partners such as Australia, Japan, South Korea, Singapore and Taiwan have announced significant …
Read more “US Indo-Pacific Partners’ Approach to Ukraine Fractured”
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with NATO foreign ministers in Brussels just hours after Russia’s shelling of Europe’s largest nuclear power plant in Ukraine. VOA’s Senior Diplomatic Correspondent Cindy Saine reports from Washington. …