«Дуже велика кількість людей загинула, наших льотчиків»
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У рамках «адаптації» малим маріупольцям у школах будуть викладати усього три предмети
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Theater director Mikhail Durnenkov and actor Aleksey Yudnikov are both longstanding enemies of the Kremlin.
For decades, their performances have parodied the Russian government and its leader, President Vladimir Putin, testing the boundaries of expressive freedom under constant state surveillance.
Durnenkov’s 2015 production, The War Has Not Yet Started, has proven eerily prescient: a tense play of 12 intertwined stories about life in modern Russia amid the undeclared war with Ukraine and endless state propaganda.
Despite regular run-ins with the police and authorities, the Moscow-based Teatr.doc company managed to keep going. But, following a severe clampdown on political opposition and civil society in Russia following its invasion of Ukraine, Durnenkov and Yudnikov are among many artists who have fled the country.
They have found temporary shelter at a haven run by the organization Artists at Risk in Finland’s capital, Helsinki.
“We left the country simply so as not to be on the side that is waging war, so as not to cast our votes in this way. If I’m here [in Finland] that means I can speak, I must speak and I must help the protest voices from Russia to be heard, because in Russia it is impossible,” Durnenkov told VOA.
Anti-war protests in Russia have been forcefully suppressed, with thousands of demonstrators arrested. A new law imposes jail terms of up to 15 years for spreading what the Kremlin calls ‘fake’ news about the invasion or the Russian military.
Durnenkov said the space for freedom of expression has all but disappeared.
“Any statement now in this space is regarded as a betrayal in the war. That is to say, it is literally breaking the law. Then there is an unspoken law that exists now in Russian society, whereby if you are a country at war and if you say something [against it], you are selling out your country at the frontline, and this will be punished instantly, severely, that very second,” he said.
Durnenkov said he will return as soon as it is safe to do so.
“Of course, being a playwright who writes in Russian means being a part of that country. And if I feel that there is an opportunity to influence something, to change something, then I would like to return,” he said.
His friend and colleague, Kyiv-born actor Aleksey Yudnikov, also fled Moscow following the invasion, leaving his family behind.
“I am in a situation where I can’t communicate with my friends and I can’t see my children because I left Russia,” Yudnikov told VOA.
“Some I can’t see because they’re far away, and some I can’t see or hear because they are in another sense far away from me, in their acceptance of [Russia’s] aggression,” he said.
“I feel pain and personal guilt. What could I alone change? I couldn’t find any better option than just leaving. It was spontaneous, an instinctive gesture to leave – but also to try again here [in Finland]. Simply because here, outside of Russia, you can tell the truth,” Yudnikov told VOA.
In April, Yudnikov staged a protest outside the closed Russian pavilion at the Venice Biennale art festival in Italy. He was arrested but released without charge.
The 48-year-old actor said the invasion of Ukraine has unleashed a parallel war within Russia.
“The henchmen of this regime are absolutely shamelessly trying to impose this formula – that Putin is Russia, and that these things that do not exist without each other,” he said.
He added: “This is a war between reality and escape, a total escape from this reality. If you like, it is a war between something real and something fake.”
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People suffering from eco-anxiety — the fear of environmental catastrophe — may get a boost from a green forum in Paris this week. Gathering hundreds of eco-entrepreneurs, companies and activists, ChangeNOW aims to trace a sustainable blueprint for the future.
From food to fashion, technology to transport, a raft of green solutions for our resource-sucking society is parked through Saturday inside a massive events venue — made of sustainable materials — in the shadow of the Eiffel Tower.
“It’s 35 days to reach Madagascar from Marseille. Going through the Suez Canal. And we are using the wind. It helps us to save up to 60 percent energy,” says Louise Chopinet who heads a Brittany-based shipping startup called Windcoop. Its wind-powered sailing vessels carry about 14,000 tons of cargo per trip. For now, that means spices from Madagascar farmers. With the shipping industry challenged to become carbon neutral by 2050, sailing is taking off.
“It’s really a growing interest now. Everyone is getting into sails and wind,” she noted.
Berlin-based Noa Climate also works in Africa. It sells systems that recycle organic waste into energy in places far from power grids. Noa’s Janine Gadke says the company works with financial partners so poor communities can buy products on credit.
“In Kenya, we have a project in an orphanage, they have a system on location … they can get electricity and everything. And they feed the system with kitchen waste,” Gadke expressed.
ChangeNOW is considered one of the biggest global green events of the year. This 5th edition includes CEOs and celebrity activists, like British primatologist Jane Goodall.
Being Paris, representatives of a greening fashion industry are also here, like luxury group LVMH. Also companies pitching natural textiles like silk, cotton, hemp and mohair.
“We can feel a boom in terms of demand,” says Eva Pujol who works for British textile nonprofit The Sustainable Angle; adding that “more and more people are coming and we have brands asking more and more about sustainable material … I think the pressure mostly comes from customers to buy better.”
The forum offers a bicycle parking lot, recyclable waste containers, and a stand cooking up veggie burgers. Those who couldn’t find climate-friendly transport to get here can make a contribution to offset their carbon emissions.
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Як повідомляє пресслужба Кабміну, спікер верхньої палати Марк Дейлі підтримав заявку України на членство в Євросоюзі
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США «ще ніколи в історії не перекидали обладнання так швидко і у таких масштабах до будь-якої іншої країни»
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Єврокомісія запропонувала Україні додатковий кредит розміром 9 млрд євро, каже Урсула фон дер Ляєн
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France’s new government lineup will be announced later on Friday, the presidency said, with the new Cabinet set to meet on Monday.
The announcement came four days after Elisabeth Borne, the outgoing labor minister, was named premier, becoming the first woman to head the French government in more than 30 years.
The government reshuffle was widely expected following the reelection of President Emmanuel Macron in April and ahead of legislative elections next month.
The centrist Macron will need a legislative majority to push through his domestic agenda following his reelection, with a new left-wing alliance and the far right threatening to block his program.
The last woman premier, Edith Cresson, briefly headed the cabinet from May 1991 to April 1992 under President Francois Mitterrand.
Borne, 61, is seen as an able technocrat who can negotiate prudently with unions, as the president embarks on a new package of social reforms that include a rise in the retirement age which risks sparking protests.
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The U.S. Senate on Thursday approved a new $40 billion aid package for Ukraine as the country combats Russia’s invasion. The House of Representatives voted in favor of the package last week.
U.S. President Joe Biden is expected to sign the measure promptly.
Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in his daily address Thursday that the Senate passage of the aid package was “a manifestation of strong leadership and a necessary contribution to our common defense of freedom.”
In another development Thursday, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the administration is authorizing $100 million more in military aid to Ukraine. The package of aid includes 18 more howitzers and 18 vehicles to move them, and three more anti-artillery radars, Pentagon spokesperson John Kirby said.
Russia’s Defense Ministry said Thursday hundreds more Ukrainian soldiers had surrendered at the besieged Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol, bringing the total this week to 1,730.
The International Committee of the Red Cross said in a statement Thursday it was registering fighters who left Azovstal, an operation that began Tuesday.
“The ICRC is not transporting POWs to the places where they are held,” the organization said.
“The registration process that the ICRC facilitated involves the individual filling out a form with personal details like name, date of birth and closest relative. This information allows the ICRC to track those who have been captured and help them keep in touch with their families,” it said.
Ukrainian officials have not confirmed the Russian account of the number of Ukrainian fighters who have surrendered at the last holdout in Mariupol. Ukraine has expressed hopes that the soldiers can be part of a prisoner swap with Russia, while Russia’s main investigative body said it intends to interrogate them and determine if any were involved in crimes against civilians.
The capture of Mariupol, a prewar city of 430,000 people along the north coast of the Sea of Azov, would be Moscow’s biggest success in its nearly three-month offensive against Ukraine.
With Russian forces focusing efforts on the eastern Donbas region, Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy who was involved in several rounds of talks with Russia, said Thursday that agreeing to a cease-fire with Russia “is impossible without total Russian troop withdrawal.”
“Until Russia is ready to fully liberate occupied territories, our negotiating team is weapons, sanctions and money,” Podolyak said in a Twitter post.
A senior U.S. Defense Department official said Thursday there have been no major gains by either Russia or Ukraine in the previous day, although Ukrainian forces “continue to claw back territory” north and northeast of Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-biggest city.
The official did not dispute a British intelligence assessment that top Russian military commanders have been fired.
“We have seen indications where Russian commanders at various levels have been relieved of their duties,” the U.S. official said, adding that the U.S. had nothing to share about “senior, senior levels” of the Russian command.
Russian logistical and troop morale issues are continuing, the official said.
The Pentagon announced that the top U.S. military officer, General Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, spoke by phone Thursday with Russia’s Chief of General Staff Valery Gerasimov, the first conversation between the two since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February.
“The military leaders discussed several security-related issues of concern and agreed to keep the lines of communication open,” a Milley spokesperson said. “In accordance with past practice, the specific details of their conversation will be kept private.”
Russia’s RIA news agency said the two military leaders discussed issues of “mutual interest,” including Ukraine.
Also Thursday, Ukraine welcomed the confirmation of a new U.S. ambassador. The U.S. Senate gave its approval to Bridget Brink, a veteran foreign service officer who had been the U.S. ambassador to Slovakia.
The ambassadorial post in Ukraine had been vacant since 2019 when then-President Donald Trump forced out Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch.
Brink’s confirmation came as the United States also resumed operations at its embassy in Kyiv, joining other nations that have returned since Russian forces withdrew from the area around the Ukrainian capital.
Some information for this story came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.
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Лідери фінансових відомств G7 також обговорили механізми скорочення доходів Росії від експорту нафти до Європи
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«Спроможності цього пакету адаптовані, аби забезпечувати критичні потреби України для сьогоднішньої боротьби»
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За даними Генштабу ЗСУ, російські війська обладнують додаткові вогневі позиції і захисні споруди у прикордонних районах Брянської та Курської областей.
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More than 70 years ago the United States launched a massive reconstruction effort to help rebuild Europe following the end of the Second World War. This week, U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellin said Ukraine will need similar assistance, as the U.S. Congress prepares to approve $40 billion in military, economic and humanitarian aid for Kyiv.
“Eventually, Ukraine will need massive support and private investment for reconstruction and recovery, akin to the task of rebuilding in Europe after 1945,” Yellin told an audience in Brussels Tuesday.
The Marshall Plan, officially known as the European Recovery Plan, was put in place in 1948 by the U.S. government. It is credited with generating a resurgence of postwar European industrialization and investment.
“Europe was devastated economically, and the economic aid that [the U.S.] provided helped us to build up our society again, to invest in education, in roads, in creating jobs again for the people, so the economy started to grow again, thanks to the Marshall Plan,” Andre Haspels, Dutch ambassador to the United States, told VOA.
Haspels spoke on the sidelines of an event hosted by the Netherlands this month rededicating a memorial in Washington that celebrates the alliance, which won the war and then helped rebuild Europe.
Located less than 500 feet from the iconic U.S. Marine Corps War Memorial, also known as the Iwo Jima memorial, a tall steel bell tower with a bronze finish known as the Netherlands Carillon was a gift from the Dutch government in the 1950s. Newly unveiled after an extensive three-year renovation in Europe, the bell tower thanks Americans for helping to liberate the country from Nazi occupation and for providing reconstruction assistance.
Haspels said the May 5 ceremony, which corresponds with Liberation Day in the Netherlands, was as much a presentation of a fully restored carillon as a reinforcement of the ideas and ideals behind it.
“The carillon, it’s also a symbol,” Haspels pointed out, adding that his country wanted to ensure that not only the instrument is tuned, the structure is solid, but younger generations are aware of “how important the transatlantic relationship is.”
“We have added three new bells to the existing carillon, so it went up from 50 bells to 53,” making it officially a grand carillon, Haspel said.
The three new bells were named after George Marshall, the architect of the U.S. recovery plan, Martin Luther King Jr. and Eleanor Roosevelt.
While King and Roosevelt symbolize commitment to civil liberty for all in the United States, the name George Marshall serves as a reminder of what is needed to build up a postwar nation in the Netherlands and all around the globe.
“The carillon is important—it shows the commitment to freedom and to liberty,” Haspels said.
That commitment is what Ukraine values now more than ever, said Oksana Markarova, Ukraine’s ambassador to the U.S., who was invited to address the unveiling ceremony.
“Ukrainians, like Dutch people, like to grow things,” she said, describing her countrymen as “peaceful bread growers” forced to “put aside peaceful tools and fight for our freedom.”
Freedom, which Markarova called an essential feature of life with dignity, is closely tied to democracy: “something we all need in order to be who we are, in order to live peacefully in our own countries, in order to decide who we want to be, what we want to be, what government we want to elect, and change regularly.”
Echoing the Netherlands’ message of gratitude for the help it received in times of need, both to be freed from oppressors and reconstructed, Markarova said her country is grateful “towards all friends, partners and allies.”
“Because you cannot win wars today, like you couldn’t win wars in the previous century, without those who share your values and principles,” she said, calling for additional help from the United States, the Netherlands and other countries.
The reason is quite simple, she said. “Because we need to win.”
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Canada will ban Chinese telecommunications giants Huawei and ZTE from its 5G wireless networks because of national security concerns, officials said Thursday.
The long-awaited move follows those of the United States and other key allies and comes on the heels of a diplomatic row between Ottawa and Beijing over the detention of a senior Huawei executive on a U.S. warrant, which has now been resolved.
The United States has warned of the security implications of giving Chinese tech companies access to telecommunications infrastructure that could be used for state espionage.
Both Huawei and Beijing have rejected the allegations, while Beijing warned of repercussions for nations placing restrictions on the telecom equipment provider.
The company did not immediately respond to an AFP request for comment on Canada’s ban.
Canadian Industry Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne and Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino made the announcement at a news conference.
“Today, we’re announcing our intention to prohibit the inclusion of Huawei and ZTE products and services in Canada’s telecommunication systems,” Champagne said.
“This follows a full review by our security agencies and in consultation with our closest allies.”
Canada had been reviewing the 5G technology and network access for several years, repeatedly delaying a decision that was first expected in 2019.
It remained silent on the telecoms issue after China jailed two Canadians — diplomat Michael Kovrig and businessman Michael Spavor — in what observers believed was in retaliation for the December 2018 arrest of Huawei Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou in Vancouver at the request of the United States.
All three were released in September 2021 after Meng reached a deal with U.S. prosecutors on the fraud charges, ending her extradition fight.
Champagne said Canadian telecommunications companies “will not be permitted to include in their networks products or services that put our national security at risk.”
“Providers who already have this equipment installed will be required to cease its use and remove it,” he said.
‘Hostile actors’
Huawei already supplies some Canadian telecommunications firms with 4G equipment.
Most, if not all, had held off using Huawei in their fifth-generation (5G) wireless networks that deliver speedier online connections with greater data capacity, or looked to other suppliers while Ottawa hemmed and hawed.
Mendicino said 5G innovation “represents a major opportunity for competition and growth” but also comes with risks.
“There are many hostile actors who are ready to exploit vulnerabilities” in telecom networks, he said.
The U.S., Australia, Britain, New Zealand, Japan and Sweden have already blocked or restricted the use of Huawei technology in their 5G networks.
The U.S. government considers Huawei a potential security threat because of the background of its founder and CEO Ren Zhengfei, a former Chinese army engineer who is Meng’s father.
The concern escalated as Huawei rose to become the world leader in telecom networking equipment and one of the top smartphone manufacturers following Beijing’s passage of a 2017 law obliging Chinese companies to assist the government in matters of national security.
Canada’s two spy agencies had reportedly been divided initially over whether to ban Huawei from Canada’s 5G networks. One favored a ban, while the other argued risks could be mitigated.
The Canadian Security Intelligence Service and the Communications Security Establishment had been tasked with conducting a cybersecurity review to evaluate the risks, as well as the economic costs to Canadian telecoms and consumers, of blacklisting the equipment supplier.
Huawei was already prohibited from bidding on Canadian government contracts and core network equipment such as routers and switches.
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Байден додав, що його адміністрація 19 травня передасть звіти щодо вступу двох країн в НАТО до Конгресу, який має схвалити розширення альянсу
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Італійський міністр закордонних справ Луїджі ді Майо вже презентував цей документ генсекретареві ООН Антоніу Ґутеррішу
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«Роблю все, щоб найвпливовіші міжнародні сили були поінформовані та, наскільки це можливо, залучені до порятунку наших військових»
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President Joe Biden on Thursday enthusiastically welcomed Sweden and Finland’s bids to join the NATO security alliance — a move that would bring two of Europe’s most modern militaries right to Russia’s northwest border.
Speaking from the Rose Garden, flanked by Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson of Sweden and President Sauli Niinistö of Finland, Biden said he would send their membership applications to the U.S. Congress, where he hopes for a swift approval.
“Sweden and Finland have strong democratic institutions, strong militaries, and strong and transparent economies,” Biden said. “And a strong moral sense of what is right. They meet every NATO requirement, and then some.”
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg made the announcement about Sweden and Finland on Wednesday at the alliance headquarters in Brussels. The 29 other NATO members will have to agree by consensus to admit the two nations—a process that normally takes up to a year but is expected to be faster in this case.
Finland’s and Sweden’s applications mark a significant departure from their decades-long neutrality, dating from the Cold War. Moscow’s decision to invade neighboring Ukraine on February 24 raised fears in both countries, especially in Finland, which shares a border with Russia of more than 1,300 kilometers.
At a Wednesday meeting at the Pentagon, U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told his Swedish counterpart, Peter Hultqvist, “We look forward to your contributions to the NATO alliance.”
“This is a time when the democracies of Europe and North America must stand together against Russia’s naked aggression,” Hultqvist said.
Only NATO ally Turkey has expressed reservations about the Baltic neighbors joining the alliance, with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan accusing them of giving a haven to “terrorists” and imposing sanctions on Turkey.
“We asked for 30 terrorists to be extradited, but [Sweden] said they wouldn’t,” he said this week. “You will not hand over terrorists to us, but you will ask us to allow you to join NATO. NATO is a security entity. It is a security agency. Therefore, we cannot say ‘yes’ to depriving this security organization of security.”
Ankara says Sweden and Finland have harbored people it says are linked to groups it deems terrorists, namely Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militants and followers of U.S.-based Fethullah Gulen, whom Ankara accuses of orchestrating a 2016 coup attempt.
Erdogan has also said Turkey would oppose NATO bids from those who imposed sanctions on Ankara. Sweden and Finland had banned arms exports to Turkey after its Syria incursion against the Kurdish People’s Protection Units—PKK’s Syrian affiliate—in 2019.
On Thursday in Washington, Finnish President Sauli Niinisto said his government has had discussions with Turkey and assured them they would be good NATO allies.
“As NATO allies, we will commit to Turkey’s security, just as Turkey will commit to our security,” he said. “We take terrorism seriously. We condemn terrorism in all its forms and we are actively engaged in combating it. We are open to discussing all the concerns Turkey may have concerning our membership in an open and constructive manner.”
But analysts say this move could further provoke Russia.
“I do worry that the expansion of NATO to add Finland and Sweden is provocative,” Melanie Sisson, a fellow at the Brookings Institution, told VOA via Zoom. “And I worry that, whatever one’s view about the value of having them in the alliance, I’m not sure that working that issue right now is wise and actually, I think, shows some lack of strategic patience. So I worry about that dynamic potentially causing a different reaction from Russia than we otherwise would see.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin has described NATO’s eastward expansion as a threat to Russia, and cited Ukraine’s desire to join the alliance as a reason for his decision to invade in February.
“The expansion of NATO—this is a problem that is created completely artificially, because it is done in the foreign policy interests of the United States,” Putin said this week. “In general NATO has become a foreign policy instrument of one country.”
Later Thursday, Biden departed for his first presidential trip to Asia, where he will visit U.S. allies South Korea and Japan and attend a summit of Quad leaders. Those meetings are likely to also feature lengthy discussions on the situation in Ukraine.
VOA Pentagon correspondent Carla Babb contributed to this report. Some information is from Reuters.
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