Category: Євросоюз

Russia’s efforts to sway the opinions of people across the world about the righteousness of its invasion of Ukraine appears to be mirroring the effort of some of its forces on the ground – despite bringing lots of firepower, the Kremlin’s influence operations seem to be stalling, unable to penetrate key audiences. Much of Moscow’s influence operation has been carried out in plain sight, with Russian-backed media outlets like RT, Sputnik, Ria Novosti, Izvestia and others pumping out stories and social media posts in Russian, English, Spanish, Turkish and Arabic. But research by Omelas, a Washington-based firm that tracks influence …

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Vulnerable children constitute a large proportion of the more than 1 million Ukrainians who have fled Russia’s invasion of their country and heavy bombardment of residential areas, according to the United Nations Children’s Fund.   Half a million children, some unaccompanied, have crossed into Poland and other neighboring countries, according to UNICEF, which says refugee minors are at high risk of suffering violence, abuse and exploitation.     Overall, the exodus of Ukrainians is producing what many fear will be Europe’s largest refugee crises since World War II.   In a statement, Filippo Grandi, the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, …

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More than one-and-a-half million people have fled Ukraine to neighboring countries since the Russian invasion, making it Europe’s fastest-growing refugee crisis since World War Two. Henry Ridgwell reports from the town of Przemysl on the Polish-Ukraine border. …

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France on Monday warned Russia not to resort to blackmail over efforts to revive a nuclear deal between Iran and world powers, after Moscow demanded a U.S. guarantee that sanctions it faces over Ukraine would not hurt its trade with Tehran. Iran in turn said it would not allow others to impede its interests as, following the potential stumbling block raised by Russia on Saturday, a deal over reviving the 2015 pact that seemed within touching distance after months of indirect talks between Tehran and Washington threatened to unravel. Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian said the Islamic Republic will not …

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US lawmakers favor more support for Kyiv, but not a no-fly zone     …

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Israel has offered to mediate between Ukraine and Russia …

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The Ukrainian father of two took off with a sprint when he saw the GPS coordinates from his wife’s cellphone draw nearer to the border crossing into Poland. Yevgen Chornomordenko had been waiting for 11 days on the Polish side of the border for his wife, Alina, and two children to arrive from the Ukrainian capital, which had woken up to Russian shelling Feb. 24. War had broken out at home just days after his arrival in the Polish city of Wroclow, near Germany, for a job installing solar panels. “I never believed war would start,” Chornomordenko said, as he …

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The impact of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine — a country long known as the “breadbasket of Europe” because of the prodigious amounts of wheat, corn and other cereal grains that it produces — will extend far beyond Europe, wreaking havoc on global food supplies, experts from aid agencies say. Ukraine produces 16% of the world’s corn, and Ukraine and Russia combined produce 29% of the wheat sold on world markets. Much of what they export goes to Africa, the Middle East and South Asia, and with virtually no cargo moving out of either county’s Black Sea ports, prices for the …

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Ukraine remains under attack from Russian forces waging war on orders from Russia’s President Vladimir Putin. Steadily increasing Western sanctions have so far failed to deter Russia’s aggression, as evacuation efforts in Ukraine stall because of indiscriminate bombing of civilian infrastructure. VOA’s Arash Arabasadi has the story. …

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Thousands of people have been detained at protests in dozens of cities across Russia against President Vladimir Putin’s unprovoked war in Ukraine, the Russian Interior Ministry and an independent protest monitor said on Sunday. The monitor OVD-Info said 3,895 people were detained during protests in 53 cities. It added that police departments may have more detainees than appear on their published lists. Interior Ministry spokeswoman Irina Volk said 1,700 people were detained in Moscow and 750 were detained in St. Petersburg. The people arrested in Moscow were among around 2,500 people who took part in an “unauthorized rally,” Volk said, …

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A day after many of them spoke with Ukraine’s president, U.S. lawmakers are pledging to provide additional military aid to Kyiv as the government there continues to fight for its survival amid the invasion by Russia. Congress will soon approve emergency funding, putting “$10 billion into both defensive equipment for Ukraine, but also humanitarian assistance to get civilians out,” said Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut, on “Fox News Sunday.” Despite generally bipartisan and robust support for Kyiv, members of the U.S. Congress are drawing the line at another Ukrainian request: a no-fly zone for the country’s airspace to deter Russian …

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Moldovan Prime Minister Natalia Gavrilita urged the United States on Sunday to provide more humanitarian support as the number of refugees fleeing the war in Ukraine to the small European country hit 120,000. At the beginning of a meeting with visiting U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, she said her country of 2.6 million, one of Europe’s poorest, was straining under the weight of those fleeing Russia’s invasion of neighboring Ukraine. “As of this morning, we had more than 230,000 people who have crossed the border from Ukraine, and 120,000 stayed in Moldova. 96,000 of them are Ukrainian citizens. For …

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Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi dismissed suggestions his country’s “neutral” stance in the Russia-Ukraine conflict is straining Islamabad’s relationship with the United States or the West at large, in an interview Sunday with VOA. The South Asian nuclear-armed Muslim country has resisted Western pressure to condemn Moscow for its invasion of Ukraine, instead advocating dialogue and diplomacy to end the crisis. Pakistan has argued that it needs to step back from global bloc politics to improve ties with all countries, including Russia, and to tackle its own domestic economic challenges. “We do not want to be part of any …

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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 venue offered last minute after Maria asked for advice in a neighborhood Facebook group. The couple met last year and got engaged in October. On Monday, she plans to fly to Poland, then make her way to the Ukrainian border, ultimately aiming to volunteer to …

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Full developments of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine    …

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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 Iran, and Rafael Mariano Grossi of the International Atomic Energy, came hours after the two met in Tehran. It envisions the issue of the discovery of uranium particles at former undeclared sites in the country being wrapped up by June — a move that is …

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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 or ATMs. “We don’t take this decision lightly,” Mastercard said in a statement, adding that it made the move after discussions with customers, partners and governments. Visa said it’s working with clients and partners in Russia to cease all Visa transactions over the coming days. …

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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 identified the person arrested as a player for the U.S. women’s team and did not specify the date of her arrest. Russian media reported the player was Griner, and her agent, Lindsay Kagawa Colas, did not dispute those reports. “We are aware of the situation …

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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 political uncertainties caused by the Ukraine war. China has refused to pick sides or condemn the Russian attack. Some experts believe China will look for opportunities to invade Taiwan. Beijing regards Taiwan as a rogue province and has often indicated plans to take it over …

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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 Iraq with me who was from Ukraine,” he told VOA of his decision to join what he sees as a fight about justice and friendship. “He became an American citizen, joined the Army, and he told me about his home. He told me about his …

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