Daily: 06/17/2022

UN Weekly Roundup: June 11-17, 2022 

Editor’s note: Here is a fast take on what the international community has been up to this past week, as seen from the United Nations perch.   

UN human rights chief won’t seek second term 

U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet said Monday that she will step down when her term finishes at the end of August. The news was welcomed by China rights activists, who have criticized Bachelet for failing to more forcefully criticize Beijing’s incarceration of nearly 2 million Uyghurs in Xinjiang, including during her recent visit to China. 

Activists Welcome UN Rights Chief’s Decision to Step Down 

Truce eases Yemen violence, but hunger remains grave threat 

U.N. officials said Tuesday that a temporary truce in place across Yemen since April 2 has eased some hardships, but the country is still facing a dangerous food crisis in which 19 million people are going hungry. 

Hunger Stalks Yemenis as Truce Eases Some Hardships 

UK cancels controversial deportation flight to Rwanda  

On Tuesday night, Britain canceled its first deportation flight to Rwanda after a last-minute intervention by the European Court of Human Rights, which decided there was “a real risk of irreversible harm” to the asylum-seekers involved. U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi has been among critics of the plan. “This is all wrong,” Grandi told reporters Monday. 

UK Cancels First Flight to Deport Asylum Seekers to Rwanda 

In brief    

— The heads of six U.N. humanitarian agencies called Thursday on the U.N. Security Council to renew the mandate allowing aid agencies to bring critical food and medical supplies into northwestern Syria from Turkey. The resolution authorizing the cross-border aid operation is due to expire on July 10. Russia has previously opposed renewing it and forced the council to gradually go from four crossing points to just one. The U.N. officials said the operation provides life-saving assistance to 4.1 million Syrians trapped in nongovernment-controlled areas. Damascus would like to see the cross-border operations end, saying all aid distribution should be through the government from inside the country. The U.N. has said such cross-line distribution is insufficient but would like to see it expanded. 

 

— Senior U.N. officials continue to work with Kyiv and Moscow on getting some 20 million tons of Ukrainian grain blocked at a port in Odessa to international markets to ease the growing global food crisis. The drop in Ukrainian grain has particularly hurt parts of the Middle East and Africa and has dramatically driven up operating costs for the World Food Program. EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell told reporters Friday that alternative routes and methods are being sought, “but certainly they are much less efficient than using big ships through the ports.” U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said Thursday at the U.N. that Washington is looking at helping Ukraine build temporary silos along its border to prevent Russian troops from stealing grain and to make space for the upcoming winter harvest.  

— The head of the U.N. mission in Afghanistan, Deborah Lyons, concluded her post this week. In a farewell statement, she said that when she accepted the job two years ago she could not have imagined the Afghanistan she is now leaving. Lyons said she is heartbroken, especially for the millions of Afghan girls who have been denied their right to education and for the talented women told to stay at home by the Taliban authorities. Her replacement is expected to be named soon. On June 23, the Security Council will hold its regular meeting on the situation in Afghanistan.  

Quote of note     

“We have not seen a single genocide or Holocaust, or anything of that nature, that has happened without hate speech. People do not recognize that what Hitler did with his Ministry of Propaganda that was headed by [Joseph] Goebbels, that really was hate speech at the highest level you can imagine. Official hate speech.”  

— Alice Nderitu, U.N. Special Adviser on Genocide, in remarks to reporters Friday ahead of the first International Day for Countering Hate Speech on June 18.  

What we are watching next week  

Monday, June 20, is World Refugee Day. The U.N. Refugee Agency, UNHCR, said this week in its Global Trends report that the war in Ukraine has pushed global displacement to over 100 million. Watch more here:  

World Refugee Day: More than 100 Million People Seek Safety Worldwide 

 

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Attacks, Threats Add to Pressure for Azerbaijan’s Media

News that police in France arrested two men suspected of traveling to the city of Nantes to kill an Azeri blogger will be of little surprise to journalists in Azerbaijan.

Attacks, especially over reporting that is critical of authorities, are common, and a lack of bringing perpetrators to justice makes matters worse, journalists and analysts say.

Reporting on crime, corruption, human rights abuses or alleged wrongdoing by the government can result in attacks or pressure, with orders appearing to come from high up, some journalists told VOA. A culture of impunity adds to the risks.

Last month, an assailant attacked journalist Ayten Mammadova in her apartment building in the capital, Baku. A man followed the journalist into an elevator on May 8, held a knife to her throat and told her to stop reporting on a court case.

The assailant didn’t say which case he was referring to, but Mammadova believes it is related to her coverage of a trial of a man accused of the kidnap, rape and killing of a 10-year-old girl.

Phoned threat

“I also received a threatening call on my landline, because I am one of the few journalists who have recently done research and written articles on this incident,” she told VOA. “I think there are certain forces that do not want the truth behind this incident to be revealed.”

The freelance journalist has been critical of the investigation and legal proceedings.

The man on trial said in court that he was not involved and had confessed after being tortured for four days, a claim the prosecutor general’s office denied.

In the case in France, media watchdog Reporters Without Borders (RSF) said police on Sunday arrested “two suspected hit men” about 90 km from where outspoken Azeri blogger Mahammad Mirzali lives.

The blogger’s address was in their GPS system and a photo of him was found in one of the suspect’s phones, RSF reported.

Mirzali, who lives in exile, has survived two knife attacks. RSF said he receives thousands of threatening messages via social media.

Legal protection

A lack of action in bringing perpetrators to justice increases the risk that other journalists will be attacked, said Khadija Ismayilova, editor-in-chief of Toplum TV.

“The atmosphere of impunity in the country sends a message to everyone that anyone can target journalists. Anyone can attack journalists. In some cases, the source of these attacks comes directly from above,” she told VOA. “People are targeted because they criticize the president and his family members and reveal things they want to keep secret.”

Shahin Hajiyev, executive director of the Najaf Najafov Foundation, a media development fund, told VOA that sooner or later all journalists are subjected to pressure if they seriously cover crime, corruption, human rights abuses or any other kind of wrongdoing by government agencies.

“This practice has been going on in Azerbaijan for a long time,” the director said. “There are certain topics, there are certain classes of people that you are forbidden to criticize or give negative information about. A journalist who violates this will be punished.”

‘Not based on fact’

Elshad Hajiyev, head of media and public relations at the Interior Ministry, which oversees law enforcement, told VOA such claims are baseless.

“All these allegations are subjective considerations, not based on fact. [The ministry] focuses on taking all measures in accordance with the law,” Hajiyev said.

The spokesperson added that Azerbaijan takes measures to bring perpetrators to justice.

Under pressure

Journalists and human rights activists have been pressured for years, according to independent journalist Natig Javadli.

“Journalists work in dangerous conditions,” Javadli said. “The attacks on not only Ayten Mammadova but [others] show that journalists are not safe.”

Ismayilova believes better communication between officials and the press is the way forward and that the president should lead by example and “be open to the press and tolerate criticism.”

“[Officials] must restore communication with journalists who can act as a bridge between them and society,” Ismayilova said.

Impunity in attacks must be addressed, the journalist said, adding, “No one who attacks free speech should go unpunished.”

One problem is that journalists do not have adequate access to necessary legal assistance, said lawyer and media rights expert Alasgar Mammadli.

“The state provides free legal assistance only to those accused of crimes. In addition, direct legal assistance is available only at the request of legal entities and with their own funds. In this regard, legal assistance in Azerbaijan is very limited to the media by nongovernmental organizations,” Mammadli said.

‘Guaranteed’ safety

On the other hand, Mushfig Alasgarli, chair of the Trade Union of Journalists, said the state guarantees the safety of journalists at a high level.

Media security is “guaranteed by law” he told VOA, adding that several mechanisms exist to ensure safety.

“Any incidents involving journalist organizations or journalists are recorded, acted upon, and solidarity is created around that journalist for the issue to be resolved positively,” he said.

Pressure on independent journalists, including those in exile, and inaction on attacks against the media are among the obstacles to press freedom in Azerbaijan, said RSF.

The media watchdog ranks it 154th out of 180 countries where 1 is freest on its Press Freedom Index.

This article originated in VOA’s Azeri Service.

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Єврокомісія: Молдові рекомендуємо статус кандидата в ЄС, Грузії – поки що відмовляємо

Грузія отримає статус кандидата лише після виконання певних умов.

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Громадяни Росії з 1 липня не зможуть потрапити в Україну без візи – рішення уряду

Зеленський «у межах протидії безпрецедентним загрозам нацбезпеці і суверенітету України» запропонував КМУ опрацювати питання візового режиму з РФ

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European Commission Backs Ukraine’s EU Membership

The European Commission recommended Friday that Ukraine should be granted European Union candidate status.

“Ukraine has clearly demonstrated the country’s aspiration and the country’s determination to live up to European values and standards,” the EU’s Executive Commission head Ursula von der Leyen said in Brussels.

The Executive Commission also approved the candidacy of Moldova, one of Ukraine’s neighbors, for membership in the bloc.

Ukraine and Moldova still face a lengthy process to achieve membership.

French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi and President Klaus Iohannis of Romania visited Kyiv on Thursday in a show of support for Ukraine amid its battle to fend off Russia’s invasion.

“It’s an important moment. It’s a message of unity we’re sending to the Ukrainians,” Macron said. Air raid sirens blared as their visit began.

After the talks between the four and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the four signaled that Ukraine would be offered candidate status in the economic bloc.

“My colleagues and I have come here to Kyiv today with a clear message: Ukraine belongs to the European family,” Scholz said.

Dmitry Medvedev, the former Russian president who is now deputy head of the Kremlin Security Council, dismissed the European leaders as “connoisseurs of frogs, liver and pasta” and said their visit brought no benefit.

“Again they promised EU membership and old howitzers, slammed down some vodka and, like 100 years ago, took the train home,” he tweeted. “And that’s all good. It’s just that this doesn’t bring Ukraine any closer to peace. And the clock is ticking.”

But in his nightly video address, Zelenskyy said it was important for him to hear that the European leaders “agree the end of the war and peace for Ukraine should be as Ukraine sees them.”

He said Ukrainians will continue to fight for all of their land.

Military aid

The focus of the fighting remains the eastern city of Sievierodonetsk, where Ukrainian forces say their troops are still holding out. Ukraine is also claiming some progress in taking back territory in the south.

Zelenskyy said winning the war depends on the West continuing to arm Ukraine.

“We appreciate the support already provided by partners; we expect new deliveries, primarily heavy weapons, modern rocket artillery, anti-missile defense systems,” he said after speaking with his European counterparts.

“There is a direct correlation: the more powerful weapons we get, the faster we can liberate our people, our land,” he said.

Macron promised faster deliveries of weapons, including six more truck-mounted artillery guns. In Brussels, NATO defense ministers from more than 45 countries discussed delivering weapons to Ukraine as well as fortifying the alliance’s eastern borders.

On Wednesday, the United States announced $1 billion more in military aid to Ukraine, Washington’s 12th and biggest tranche yet of weaponry and equipment intended to confront Russia’s slow but relentless advance on Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region.

National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby told reporters at the White House the aid includes $350 million of equipment coming directly from the U.S. military, including 18 high-powered mobile long-range howitzers, 36,000 rounds of ammunition and 18 tactical vehicles to tow the howitzers, along with additional ammunition and other equipment.

Kirby said the remaining $650 million in aid, including coastal defense systems, radios, night vision devices and other equipment, will be purchased by the Pentagon from weapons manufacturers through a funding mechanism known as the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative.

Kirby said the United States has provided more than $914 million in humanitarian assistance to Ukraine since the beginning of the invasion on Feb. 24, including an additional $225 million announced Wednesday by President Joe Biden. Biden said in a statement the new money will fund safe drinking water, critical medical supplies and health care, food, shelter, and cash for families to purchase essential items.

Even before Biden’s announcement of new military assistance, the United States and its allies supporting Ukraine had sent billions of dollars of weaponry and ammunition to assist Ukraine’s fighters.

But U.S. General Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, provided a grim assessment of the current battlefield situation on the sidelines of the Brussels conference, telling reporters that the Ukrainian military is suffering as many as 300 casualties a day, including 100 soldiers killed in action and 100-300 wounded.

“For Ukraine, this is an existential threat,” Milley said. “They’re fighting for the very life of their country. So, your ability to endure suffering, your ability to endure casualties is directly proportional to the object to be obtained.”

UNHCR, the U.N. refugee agency, said Thursday Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has contributed to pushing the number of people forced to flee their homes past “the dramatic milestone of 100 million.”

The agency said the situation in Ukraine has caused “the fastest and one of the largest forced displacement crises since World War II.”

“Either the international community comes together to take action to address this human tragedy, resolve conflicts and find lasting solutions,” United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Filippo Grandi, said in a statement, “or this terrible trend will continue.”

National security correspondent Jeff Seldin and White House correspondent Anita Powell contributed to this report. Some material came from Reuters, The Associated Press and Agence France-Presse.

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Після візиту Шольца і Макрона до Києва прибув премʼєр Британії

Це вже другий візит Джонсона до України від початку масштабного вторгнення Росії

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UK Government Approves Extradition of Assange; He Plans to Appeal

The British government on Friday ordered the extradition of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange to the United States to face spying charges — a milestone, but not the end of the decade-long legal saga.

WikiLeaks said it would challenge the order, and has 14 days to lodge an appeal.

Home Secretary Priti Patel signed the order authorizing Assange’s extradition to the U.S., where he faces charges over WikiLeaks’ publication of a huge trove of classified documents.

The decision was referred to Patel after a British court ruled in April that Assange could be sent to the U.S., where he faces trial on 17 charges of espionage and one charge of computer misuse. American prosecutors say Assange unlawfully helped U.S. Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning steal classified diplomatic cables and military files that WikiLeaks later published, putting lives at risk.

The Home Office said in a statement that “the U.K. courts have not found that it would be oppressive, unjust or an abuse of process to extradite Mr. Assange,” and so the government had to approve the extradition.

“Nor have they found that extradition would be incompatible with his human rights, including his right to a fair trial and to freedom of expression, and that whilst in the U.S. he will be treated appropriately, including in relation to his health,” it said.

Supporters and lawyers for Assange, 50, argue that he was acting as a journalist and is entitled to First Amendment protections of freedom of speech for publishing documents that exposed U.S. military wrongdoing in Iraq and Afghanistan. They argue that his case is politically motivated and that he cannot get a fair trial in the U.S.

“Today is not the end of the fight. It is only the beginning of a new legal battle,” said Assange’s wife, Stella Assange. She said the U.K. decision marked “a dark day for press freedom and for British democracy.”

“Julian did nothing wrong,” she said. “He has committed no crime and is not a criminal. He is a journalist and a publisher, and he is being punished for doing his job.”

A British judge approved the extradition in April, leaving the final decision to the government. The ruling came after a legal battle that went all the way to the U.K. Supreme Court.

A British district court judge had initially rejected the extradition request on the grounds that Assange was likely to kill himself if held under harsh U.S. prison conditions. U.S. authorities later provided assurances that the WikiLeaks founder wouldn’t face the severe treatment that his lawyers said would put his physical and mental health at risk. Those assurances led Britain’s High Court and Supreme Court to overturn the lower court’s ruling.

Journalism organizations and human rights groups had called on Britain to refuse the extradition request. Assange’s lawyers say he could face up to 175 years in jail if he is convicted in the U.S., though American authorities have said any sentence is likely to be much lower than that.

Amnesty International Secretary General Agnes Callamard said Friday that extraditing Assange “would put him at great risk and sends a chilling message to journalists the world over.”

“If the extradition proceeds, Amnesty International is extremely concerned that Assange faces a high risk of prolonged solitary confinement, which would violate the prohibition on torture or other ill treatment,” she said. “Diplomatic assurances provided by the US that Assange will not be kept in solitary confinement cannot be taken on face value given previous history.”

Assange has been held at Britain’s high-security Belmarsh Prison in London since 2019, when he was arrested for skipping bail during a separate legal battle. Before that, he spent seven years inside the Ecuadorian Embassy in London to avoid extradition to Sweden to face allegations of rape and sexual assault.

Sweden dropped the sex crimes investigations in November 2019 because so much time had elapsed.

In March Assange and his partner Stella Moris, who have two sons together, married in a prison ceremony.

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Україна не зможе прийняти «Євробачення-2023», конкурс можуть провести у Британії – організатори

Друге місце на пісенному конкурсі посіла Велика Британія. 

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Великобританія схвалила екстрадицію до США засновника WikiLeaks Джуліана Ассанжа

Суд у Лондоні ще 20 квітня дозволив екстрадицію засновника Wikileaks Джуліана Ассанжа до США. Остаточне рішення про екстрадицію залишалося за міністром внутрішніх справ

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Єврокомісія рекомендувала надати Україні статус кандидата в ЄС

Надання статусу «кандидата на вступ» як крок до повноправного членства в союзі означає, що Україні доведеться провести безліч реформ

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Міносвіти попередило про фейки про нібито збір інформації щодо випускників призовного віку

У відомстві зазначають, що поширення підробленого документа є підтвердженням інформаційної війни

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Поставки зброї будуть, але «не все можна озвучувати» – Резніков про підсумки саміту в Брюсселі

Голова Міноборони зазначив, що Україна не планує використовувати зброю для нападу на Росію чи захоплення її територій

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США почали розслідувати схеми постачання американських мікрочіпів для російської військової техніки – ЗМІ

ФБР перевіряє компанії, чиї мікросхеми були встановлені у розвідувальних дронах, радіолокаційному устаткуванні, танках та іншій військовій техніці РФ, захопленій під час бойових дій в Україні

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European Leaders Bear Witness to Ukraine War’s Horror 

Before the ceremony and the serious meetings about war, the European leaders witnessed the devastation wrought by Russia. A must. To understand Ukraine’s fight for survival, they had to see it themselves, with their own eyes.

The blown-up buildings. The smashed cars. And a message of hope spray-painted on a damaged building despite mounting Ukrainian deaths.

French President Emmanuel Macron spotted it immediately amid the ruins Thursday.

“Look at that, ‘Make Europe, not war,’ ” Macron said, pointing and reading the words out loud in English. “It’s very moving to see that.”

The leaders of France, Germany, Italy and Romania had a walking tour of Irpin, a small city that bore the full brunt of Russia’s failed assault on the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, in the first weeks of the war. The tour preceded a meeting in Kyiv with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who met them wearing army green pants, a matching T-shirt and sneakers.

If the four hadn’t fully grasped the scale of the horrors inflicted by the Russian invasion, ravages like the ones visited across much of Europe during World War I and World War II, then Macron, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Italian Premier Mario Draghi and Romanian President Klaus Iohannis have no excuses now.

The leaders traveled by overnight train to the Ukrainian capital because flights aren’t possible in the wartime airspace where missiles, drones, fighter jets and helicopters have rained down death and destruction. Iohannis, whose country has been a key destination for Ukrainian refugees, traveled separately from the others.

Standing out in their suits and ties amid the heavily armed soldiers guarding them, they heard from a Ukrainian government minister how Russian soldiers fired indiscriminately at families in cars and how the blowing up of bridges had blocked escape routes, locking people in a furnace of death and fighting.

“How many cities do you have in such a situation?” Macron asked.

“Hundreds,” Oleksiy Chernyshov, Ukraine’s minister for communities and territories development, replied.

“They were shooting into the families, children, women” as they tried to flee the fighting, the minister said. “They were just deliberately killing people inside the cars.”

Macron wanted to understand how troops could do such things.

“How do you explain this?” he asked.

Chernyshov explained that some of the killers appeared to have been ordinary young soldiers and others appeared to have been special forces from the Caucasus region, which lies between the Black and Caspian seas. Moscow has deployed fighters from Chechnya, known for their ferocity, to Ukraine.

“We have hundreds of these cases, I am sorry to say. They are still going on,” he said.

The devastated buildings with their innards blown out that the chancellor, the premier and the presidents walked past are just a small fraction of the destruction in Ukraine after nearly four months of fighting.

The official said more than 12,000 apartment buildings have been destroyed so far. Add to that electricity substations, heating plants, roads, bridges, schools, churches.

“You name it,” the minister said. “A lot of things to be rebuilt.”

The leaders wanted to know more.

How was the Russian advance going now? Scholz asked.

Macron wanted to know whether additional forces were being massed in Belarus, posing another possible threat to Ukraine.

“We think yes,” Chernyshov said.

Macron was clearly moved. He called Irpin, which Ukrainian forces retook as Russian troops retreated from around Kyiv, “a heroic town.”

“This is where the Ukrainians stopped the Russian army,” he said.

The French leader said Irpin bore “the traces of barbary.”

“Massacres were carried out.” he said. “We have the first traces of what are war crimes.”

So now they know: With their own eyes.

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French, German, Italian, Romanian Leaders Visit Kyiv

French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi and President Klaus Iohannis of Romania visited Kyiv on Thursday in a show of support for Ukraine amid its battle to fend off Russia’s invasion.

“It’s an important moment. It’s a message of unity we’re sending to the Ukrainians,” Macron said. Air raid sirens blared as their visit began.

The European Commission is considering whether to recommend Ukraine be granted candidate status for European Union membership. After the talks between the four and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the four signaled that Ukraine would be offered candidate status in the economic bloc.

“My colleagues and I have come here to Kyiv today with a clear message: Ukraine belongs to the European family,” Scholz said.

Dmitry Medvedev, the former Russian president who is now deputy head of the Kremlin Security Council, dismissed the European leaders as “connoisseurs of frogs, liver and pasta” and said their visit brought no benefit.

“Again they promised EU membership and old howitzers, slammed down some vodka and, like 100 years ago, took the train home,” he tweeted. “And that’s all good. It’s just that this doesn’t bring Ukraine any closer to peace. And the clock is ticking.”

But in his nightly video address, Zelenskyy said it was important for him to hear that the European leaders “agree the end of the war and peace for Ukraine should be as Ukraine sees them.”

He said Ukrainians will continue to fight for all of their land.

Military aid

The focus of the fighting remains the eastern city of Sievierodonetsk, where Ukrainian forces say their troops are still holding out. Ukraine is also claiming some progress in taking back territory in the south.

Zelenskyy said winning the war depends on the West continuing to arm Ukraine.

“We appreciate the support already provided by partners; we expect new deliveries, primarily heavy weapons, modern rocket artillery, anti-missile defense systems,” he said after speaking with his European counterparts.

“There is a direct correlation: the more powerful weapons we get, the faster we can liberate our people, our land,” he said.

Macron promised faster deliveries of weapons, including six more truck-mounted artillery guns. In Brussels, NATO defense ministers from more than 45 countries discussed delivering weapons to Ukraine as well as fortifying the alliance’s eastern borders.

On Wednesday, the United States announced $1 billion more in military aid to Ukraine, Washington’s 12th and biggest tranche yet of weaponry and equipment intended to confront Russia’s slow but relentless advance on Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region.

National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby told reporters at the White House the aid includes $350 million of equipment coming directly from the U.S. military, including 18 high-powered mobile long-range howitzers, 36,000 rounds of ammunition and 18 tactical vehicles to tow the howitzers, along with additional ammunition and other equipment.

Kirby said the remaining $650 million in aid, including coastal defense systems, radios, night vision devices and other equipment, will be purchased by the Pentagon from weapons manufacturers through a funding mechanism known as the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative.

Kirby said the United States has provided more than $914 million in humanitarian assistance to Ukraine since the beginning of the invasion on Feb. 24, including an additional $225 million announced Wednesday by President Joe Biden. Biden said in a statement the new money will fund safe drinking water, critical medical supplies and health care, food, shelter, and cash for families to purchase essential items.

Even before Biden’s announcement of new military assistance, the United States and its allies supporting Ukraine had sent billions of dollars of weaponry and ammunition to assist Ukraine’s fighters.

But U.S. General Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, provided a grim assessment of the current battlefield situation on the sidelines of the Brussels conference, telling reporters that the Ukrainian military is suffering as many as 300 casualties a day, including 100 soldiers killed in action and 100 to 300 wounded.

“For Ukraine, this is an existential threat,” Milley said. “They’re fighting for the very life of their country. So, your ability to endure suffering, your ability to endure casualties is directly proportional to the object to be obtained.”

National security correspondent Jeff Seldin and White House correspondent Anita Powell contributed to this report. Some material came from Reuters, The Associated Press and Agence France-Presse.  

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Агент Росії намагався влаштуватися стажером до Міжнародного кримінального суду – розвідка Нідерландів

Затриманий, як повідомляється, скористався підробленим посвідченням особи громадянина Бразилії, щоб потрапити як інтерн до структури МКС

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Coca-Cola «вичерпує запаси» в Росії, більше виробництва та продажів у країні не буде – Reuters

Таким чином представники компанії прокоментували повідомлення журналістів про те, що газований напій продовжують продавати в Росії

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EU Leaders Visit Kyiv Amid Rising Divisions, Tensions

 Thursday’s visit to Ukraine by four European Union leaders comes ahead of a key decision on Kyiv’s EU candidacy, expected next week — and as tensions grow over Europe’s long-term commitment to the war.

Speaking to reporters from Kyiv’s war-ravaged suburb of Bucha, France’s president, Emmanuel Macron, said his visit with the leaders of Germany, Italy and Romania underscored the European Union’s strong political support for Ukraine and its respect for its people’s courage.

Macron dismissed controversy within the EU over his remarks that aggressor Russia should not be humiliated in finding an exit to the conflict. He said France had been by Kyiv’s side from the beginning.

Ukraine has also criticized Macron’s call for a so-called interim “European political community” group for non-EU members.

The Ukraine visit by the four EU leaders comes a day before the bloc’s executive arm is expected to recommend granting Ukraine EU candidacy status. The EU’s 27 members are expected to make a decision during a summit next week.

Even if its candidacy is approved, Ukraine will likely wait years to become an EU member — but Kyiv says the move is symbolically important.

But the outcome is uncertain. Members like Poland and the Baltic states strongly support Ukraine’s candidacy; others like Portugal and Denmark have voiced reservations. The biggest EU countries appeared lukewarm, but during a visit to Moldova Wednesday, Macron seemed to back candidate status.

Tensions with Kyiv have also surfaced over the strength of the EU military, political and financial support for Ukraine, as it battles the Russian invasion.

Meanwhile, European leaders face eroding support at home for the conflict, amid rising prices and supply shortages. A poll by the European Council on Foreign Relations policy institute finds one-third or more of all EU citizens want the war to end as soon as possible.

Macron faces extra pressure, ahead of legislative elections Sunday that may eliminate his majority in France’s lower house.

His far-right rival, Marine Le Pen, accuses Macron of profiting politically from his trip to Ukraine.

Meanwhile, another political rival, Jean-Francois Cope of the center-right, faults Macron for taking his eyes off the elections that may see a far-left win. The house is burning, Cope told French radio, and Macron is looking elsewhere.

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Greek Neo-Nazi Party Leaders Appeal Convictions

The imprisoned leaders of Greece’s once-powerful neo-Nazi Golden Dawn party are seeking to overturn long prison terms in an appeals court trial that began this week in Athens.

Justice officials suggest it is unlikely that the court will show any leniency to the defendants. But while the neo-Nazi grouping, among the most dangerous in Europe, has been dismantled, far-right extremism still stains the birthplace of democracy.

The appeal comes 18 months after Golden Dawn leader Nikos Mihaloliakos and six other senior lawmakers from the party faced sweeping convictions for operating what the Greek Supreme Court then called a criminal organization masquerading as a political organization.

Mihaloliakos and the other convicted lawmakers are serving 13-year jail terms, but the appeals trial now gives them the chance to rechallenge the charges, potentially cutting years off their sentences or even overturning their convictions.

That prospect alone has activists here concerned.

Hundreds of anti-fascist demonstrators spilled onto the streets of Athens this week demanding judges hearing the Golden Dawn appeal to “keep the Nazis in jail,” as they chanted ….

Fascism must be eradicated once and for all from our society, says this demonstrator.

Mihaloliakos did not attend the opening of the appeal, citing health reasons. Several other defendants followed suit, a sign political commentators in Athens said showed Golden Dawn’s waning appeal on Greek society.

On the margins for decades, the group took Greece – and Europe — by storm as a debt crisis and brutal 10-year economic recession gripped the country, enabling it to emerge as a potent political force.

Analysts say that not since the restoration of democracy here, with the collapse of military rule in 1974, had a party as brazenly thuggish or ideologically extreme been catapulted into the country’s Parliament, becoming the third-strongest political grouping, threatening democracy in the birthplace of democracy.

A bloody reign of terror existed in Athens for nearly a decade, with Golden Dawn regularly targeting migrants, trade unionists and left-wing sympathizers.

It took the 2013 assassination of Pavlos Fyssas, an anti-fascist rapper, to trigger national outrage, setting in motion the group’s decline.  

On Wednesday, Fyssa’s grieving mother, Magda Fyssa, was the first to return to the courtroom.  

Conviction, she said, that is all that they deserve.

Since the conviction of Golden Dawn’s leaders, the extremist group has all but dismantled amid defections, feuds and infighting.

Far-right extremism, though, is far from finished here.

Kostas Papadakis, a leading lawyer of the prosecution explains.

He says the trial is important because it comes amid a rise in far-right extremism and soaring numbers of attacks reported against migrants and far-left sympathizers.

Activists and judicial officials expect Golden Dawn’s leaders to receive little if any leniency in their appeal.  

But with a new recession looming, an inflation rate hovering at over 10% and tensions with Turkey stoking nationalist sentiments, analysts fear the conditions are ripe for an extremist upsurge here. 

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