Month: June 2022

The European Union’s executive arm unveiled groundbreaking environmental proposals Wednesday — a draft law that would halve the EU’s pesticide use by 2030 — and work to restore its land, seas and rivers. The draft legislation aims to restore 20% of Europe’s degraded land and waterways within the next eight years — a measure the European Commission’s Vice President Frans Timmermans says is vital for the region’s future. “We’re proposing a law that would require all member states to restore nature,” he said. “We need to repair 80% of our nature that’s in bad shape and bring back to our …

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U.S. Ambassador to Russia John Sullivan said Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, a “massive act of aggression,” was a major topic during the Global Chiefs of Mission Conference in Washington on Tuesday. Speaking at the State Department to VOA’s Russian service, Sullivan said, “I think it’s important to understand the scale of the problem and what the Russian government has done through its actions. Almost 15 million people are either refugees, have left Ukraine or they’re internally displaced persons. We’ve heard the casualty statistics — thousands upon thousands of innocent people, men women and children killed, but millions of refugees.” “So …

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Elite swimmer Mykhailo Romanchuk doesn’t know if his father was able to see him winning a medal for Ukraine at the swimming world championships. Romanchuk’s father is fighting in the east of Ukraine, where pockets of resistance are still denying Russia full military control of the region almost four months after it unleashed its invasion. “He’s in a hot spot and it’s a hard time,” Romanchuk said after taking bronze in the men’s 800-meter freestyle race on Tuesday. Romanchuk doesn’t dare talk to his dad out of fear his father’s location could be tracked through the call. “It’s not possible …

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Ukraine reported heavy strikes Tuesday in the Sievierodonetsk region as Russian forces push to gain full control of the eastern city. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in his nightly video address that the military situation in the eastern region of Luhansk “is really the toughest area right now. The occupiers are also putting serious pressure on the Donetsk direction.” He said Russia has stepped up efforts to evict Ukrainian troops from key areas. A spokesman for the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine said at a daily briefing that fighting in Sievierodonetsk was fierce, with Russia conducting airstrikes …

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Pavlo Vyshebaba joined the military on the first day of the Russian invasion, having no combat experience at all. Then the well-known Ukrainian eco-activist headed straight to his native Donbas region. During brief calm moments on the front line, he wrote about what he was seeing and feeling. Lesia Bakalets has the story, narrated by Anna Rice. …

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President Emmanuel Macron held talks Tuesday with France’s main party leaders in a bid to show he is open to dialogue after his centrist alliance failed to win an absolute majority in parliamentary elections.  The meetings at the Elysee presidential palace come after Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne formally offered her resignation Tuesday, in line with the tradition after parliamentary elections. Macron immediately rejected the offer and maintained the current government.  Macron’s Together! alliance won 245 seats in Sunday’s parliamentary elections — 44 seats short of a majority in the National Assembly, France’s most powerful house of parliament.  The leftist Nupes …

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Analysts say the African Union (AU) is unlikely to offer Ukraine much support against Russia despite a passionate address Monday by Ukraine’s president.  Many African nations have historical ties to Russia and have refused to condemn its invasion of Ukraine. In his speech to the African Union Monday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy accused Russia of holding Africa hostage by not allowing Ukrainian grain exports to reach the continent unless Western sanctions are lifted.   Zelenskyy, speaking via videolink, also reminded AU leaders about Africa’s history of being colonized and said the continent should never support any attempt by one nation to …

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