Надзвичайний та повноважний посол України у Франції Вадим Омельченко заявляє про зменшення впливу росіян у Франції.
«Росіяни були дуже активні у Франції. У них дійсно багато потужностей, багато впливу було. Але зараз вони сидять тихо як миші під віником. Наразі їх не видно і не чути. Є деякі намагання, але ми дуже швидко реагуємо і зараз перевага на нашому боці абсолютно», – сказав він в ефірі національного телемарафону.
За його словами, французи «ніби прокинулися» і нині вони солідарні з українцями.
«Рівень підтримки – дуже серйозний», – зауважує посол.
Президент Франції Емманюель Макрон після початку повномасштабної війни кілька разів телефонував Путіну. Він говорив, що це не приносить йому задоволення, але підкреслював, що контакти необхідні для пошуку миру. Через ці дзвінки він зазнав критики.
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«Обговорили подальші кроки після того, як Україна стала країною-кандидатом в ЄС, і узгодили позиції перед зустріччю міністрів закордонних справ «Групи двадцяти»
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Українські військові «допомогли» окупантам остаточно евакуювати залишки свого гарнізону з острова
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Публікація рішення Єврокомісії очікується найближчими днями
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Наприкінці лютого Рада Європи призупинила членство РФ через російське вторгнення в Україну, а 15 березня її виключили із Ради Європи
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Зазначено, що 42 залізничні вагони з товарно-матеріальними цінностями заїхали на територію України ще до початку повномасштабного вторгнення РФ
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«Українці дуже ускладнили росіянам можливість підтримувати їхні операції там»
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A rural town in central Texas is home to the largest bitcoin mining facility in North America, bringing jobs and welcomed vitality into the community. But critics warn the operations are part of a volatile new industry. Deana Mitchell has the story.
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The United States announced details Friday of $820 million in additional military aid for Ukraine, including new surface-to-air missile systems and counter-artillery radar.
The latest aid package is designed to help Ukraine counter Russia’s use of long-range missiles and follows calls by Ukrainian officials for Western countries to send more advanced weapons systems that can better match Moscow’s equipment.
The Pentagon said Friday the Biden administration has now sent $7.6 billion in security assistance to Ukraine, including nearly $7 billion since the start of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine at the end of February.
U.S. President Joe Biden said at a news conference during this week’s NATO summit in Madrid that the United States is “going to support Ukraine as long as it takes.”
The 14th U.S. package of military aid for Ukraine include two air defense systems, known as NASAMS, which can help Ukrainian forces defend against cruise missiles and aircraft.
A senior U.S. official said the systems are NATO-standard defense systems and are part of an effort to update Ukraine’s air defenses from a Soviet-era system to a modern one.
“The Ukrainians are doing a magnificent job of employing their existing air defense systems, but we all know that Soviet-type systems means that it’s Russian made … so over time it will be harder to sustain with the spare parts,” the official said.
The latest military aid package also provides Ukrainians with up to 150,000 rounds of 155-millimeter artillery ammunition as well as additional ammunition for medium-range rocket systems the United States provided Ukraine in June.
On the battlefront Friday, at least 21 people were killed and dozens injured in Russian missile strikes in Ukraine’s Odesa region. At least one of the sites that were hit was a residential building. Ukrainian military officials said two children were among the dead, and the search for survivors is ongoing.
The missile struck the nine-story building in the town of Bilhorod-Dnistrovskyi, according to a Ukraine Defense Ministry statement.
Serhiy Bratchuk, spokesperson for the Odesa regional administration, said on Ukrainian state television that a rescue operation continues to free people buried under the rubble after a section of the building collapsed. Another missile hit a resort facility, Bratchuk said, wounding several people.
Russia has denied targeting civilians in the attack.
“I would like to remind you of the president’s words that the Russian Armed Forces do not work with civilian targets,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s chief of staff accused Russia of waging a war on civilians.
In his nightly video address Friday, Zelenskyy called the strikes “conscious, deliberately targeted Russian terror and not some sort of error or a coincidental missile strike.”
Friday’s missile attack in Odesa came hours after Russia said it had pulled its forces from Ukraine’s Snake Island on Thursday. The strategic island had become a symbol of Ukrainian resistance since Moscow’s invasion four months ago.
Russia had used the Black Sea island near Odesa as a staging ground after seizing it in the early stages of the war, launching attacks on Ukraine from it and monitoring shipments from Ukrainian ports.
Ukraine confirmed Russian forces had pulled out after Ukrainian forces hit the island with missile and artillery strikes overnight, leaving the remaining Russian forces to escape in two speedboats.
The Russian Defense Ministry claimed it had left the small island “as a symbol of goodwill” after completing its mission there.
A senior U.S. official said the United States does “not believe there is any credence to what Russia is saying, that this is a gesture of goodwill.” The official said the retreat was more about Ukraine’s efforts to defend the island and Kyiv’s use of weapons like harpoon missiles.
“The Ukrainians made it very hard for the Russians to sustain their operations there, made them very vulnerable to Ukrainian strikes,” the official said.
In other developments, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen told Ukraine’s parliament that EU membership was “within reach” but urged them to press forward with anti-corruption reforms.
“You have created an impressive anti-corruption machine,” she told the lawmakers by video link Friday. Von der Leyen stressed that Brussels and the EU member states were firmly behind Ukraine in both its battle with the ongoing Russian invasion and the quest to be “reunited with our European family.”
For his part Zelenskyy said Ukraine and the European Union were starting a new chapter of their history after Brussels formally accepted Ukraine’s candidacy to join the 27-nation bloc.
“We made a journey of 115 days to candidate status and our journey to membership shouldn’t take decades. We should make it down this road quickly,” Zelenskyy said.
At the NATO meeting in Madrid, Western leaders, including Biden, proclaimed their continued military and humanitarian support for Ukraine.
Norway announced $1 billion in aid to Ukraine over two years, as Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store visited the country.
The fund is for “humanitarian aid, reconstruction of the country, weapons and operational support to the (Ukrainian) authorities,” the Norwegian government said in a statement Friday.
“We stand together with the Ukrainian people,” Store said in the statement.
“We help support the Ukrainians’ struggle for freedom. They are fighting for their country, but also for our democratic values.”
Some information for this report came from The Associated Press, Reuters and Agence France-Presse.
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The World Health Organization’s Europe chief warned Friday that monkeypox cases in the region have tripled in the past two weeks and urged countries to do more to ensure the previously rare disease does not become entrenched on the continent.
And African health authorities said they are treating the expanding monkeypox outbreak as an emergency, calling on rich countries to share limited supplies of vaccines to avoid equity problems seen during the COVID-19 pandemic.
WHO Europe chief Dr. Hans Kluge said in a statement that increased efforts were needed despite the U.N. health agency’s decision last week that the escalating outbreak did not yet warrant being declared a global health emergency.
“Urgent and coordinated action is imperative if we are to turn a corner in the race to reverse the ongoing spread of this disease,” Kluge said.
To date, more than 5,000 monkeypox cases have been reported from 51 countries worldwide that don’t normally report the disease, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Kluge said the number of infections in Europe represents about 90% of the global total, with 31 countries in the WHO’s European region having identified cases.
Kluge said data reported to the WHO show that 99% of cases have been in men — the majority in men who have sex with men. But he said there were now “small numbers” of cases among household contacts, including children. Most people reported symptoms including a rash, fever, fatigue, muscle pain, vomiting and chills.
Scientists warn that anyone who is in close physical contact with someone who has monkeypox or their clothing or bedsheets is at risk of infection. Vulnerable populations such as children and pregnant women are thought more likely to suffer severe disease.
About 10% of patients were hospitalized for treatment or to be isolated, and one person was admitted to an intensive care unit. No deaths have been reported.
Kluge said the problem of stigmatization in some countries might make some people wary of seeking health care and said the WHO was working with partners including organizers of gay pride events.
In the U.K., which has the biggest monkeypox outbreak beyond Africa, officials have noted the disease is spreading in “defined sexual networks of gay, bisexual, or men who have sex with men.” British health authorities said there were no signs suggesting sustained transmission beyond those populations.
A leading WHO adviser said in May that the spike in cases in Europe was likely tied to sexual activity by men at two rave parties in Spain and Belgium.
Ahead of gay pride events in the U.K. this weekend, London’s top public health doctor asked people with symptoms of monkeypox, like swollen glands or blisters, to stay home.
Nevertheless, in Africa the WHO says that according to detailed data from Ghana monkeypox cases were almost evenly split between men and women, and no spread has been detected among men who have sex with men.
WHO Europe director Kluge also said the procurement of vaccines “must apply the principles of equity.”
The main vaccine being used against monkeypox was originally developed for smallpox and the European Medicines Agency said this week it was beginning to evaluate whether it should be authorized for monkeypox. The WHO has said supplies of the vaccine, made by Bavarian Nordic, are extremely limited.
Countries including the U.K. and Germany have already begun vaccinating people at high risk of monkeypox; the U.K. recently widened its immunization program to mostly gay and bisexual men who have multiple sexual partners and are thought to be most vulnerable.
Until May, monkeypox had never been known to cause large outbreaks beyond parts of central and west Africa, where it’s been sickening people for decades, is endemic in several countries and mostly causes limited outbreaks when it jumps to people from infected wild animals.
To date, there have been about 1,800 suspected monkeypox cases in Africa, including more than 70 deaths, but only 109 have been lab-confirmed. The lack of laboratory diagnosis and weak surveillance means many cases are going undetected.
“This particular outbreak for us means an emergency,” said Ahmed Ogwell, the acting director of the Africa Centers for Disease Control.
The WHO says monkeypox has spread to African countries where it hasn’t previously been seen, including South Africa, Ghana and Morocco. But more than 90% of the continent’s infections are in Congo and Nigeria, according to WHO Africa director, Dr. Moeti Matshidiso.
Vaccines have never been used to stop monkeypox outbreaks in Africa; officials have relied mostly on contact tracing and isolation.
The WHO noted that similar to the scramble last year for COVID-19 vaccines, countries with supplies of vaccines for monkeypox are not yet sharing them with Africa.
“We do not have any donations that have been offered to (poorer) countries,” said Fiona Braka, who heads the WHO emergency response team in Africa. “We know that those countries that have some stocks, they are mainly reserving them for their own populations.”
Matshidiso said the WHO was in talks with manufacturers and countries with stockpiles to see if they might be shared.
“We would like to see the global spotlight on monkeypox act as a catalyst to beat this disease once and for all in Africa,” she said Thursday.
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Це перша частина пакету макрофінансової допомоги обсягом до 9 мільярдів євро, оголошеного в травні.
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As Ukrainians seek refuge in any way they can – inside and outside Ukraine – many take their pets with them wherever they go. Maxim Moskalkov has the story.
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