A Moscow court has upheld a nine-year prison term for opposition politician Alexey Navalny, who is already behind bars for a previous conviction he and his supporters have called politically motivated.

Navalny took part in the Tuesday hearing via a video link from a prison in the Vladimir region.

The Kremlin critic used his final statement in court to condemn the Russian authorities for launching the ongoing unprovoked invasion of Ukraine and reiterated his previous statements that all of the charges against him are politically motivated.

Navalny was handed the sentence on March 22 after the court found him guilty of embezzlement and contempt charges that he and his supporters have repeatedly rejected as politically motivated.

Navalny was arrested in January last year upon his arrival to Moscow from Germany, where he was treated for a poison attack with what European labs defined as a Soviet-style nerve agent.

He was then handed a 2 1/2-year prison sentence for violating the terms of an earlier parole because of his convalescence abroad. The original conviction is widely regarded as a trumped-up, politically motivated case.

Navalny has blamed Russian President Vladimir Putin for his poisoning with a Novichok-style chemical substance. The Kremlin has denied any role in the attack.

International organizations consider Navalny a political prisoner.

The European Union, U.S. President Joe Biden, and other international officials have demanded Russia release the 45-year-old Kremlin-critic.

Navalny is currently serving his term in a prison in the town of Pokrov, some 200 kilometers east of Moscow. He is expected to be transferred to a stricter regime prison for the new conviction.
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Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba Tuesday urged other governments to send more weapons more quickly to aid Ukraine’s fight against Russian forces.

“Too early to conclude that Ukraine already has all the arms it needs,” Kuleba tweeted Tuesday. “Russian offensive in the Donbas is a ruthless battle, the largest one on European soil since WWII. I urge partners to speed up deliveries of weapons and ammunition, especially MLRS, long-range artillery, APCs.”

Britain’s defense ministry said Tuesday that Russian forces have increased the intensity of their operations in the Donbas region in eastern Ukraine as they try to encircle multiple cities, including Severodonetsk.

“Russia’s capture of the Severodonetsk pocket would see the whole of Luhansk Oblast placed under Russian occupation. While currently Russia’s main effort, this operation is only one part of Russia’s campaign to seize the Donbas.”

Kuleba’s call for more military help came a day after U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said about 20 countries are sending new security assistance packages for Ukraine.

“Many countries are donating critically needed artillery ammunition, coastal defense systems, tanks and other armored vehicles. Others came forward with new commitments for training Ukraine’s forces and sustaining its military systems,” Austin told reporters at the Pentagon after concluding the second meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group.

Denmark said it would provide Ukrainian forces with a Harpoon launcher and missiles, while the Czech Republic donated attack helicopters, tanks and rocket systems.

Monday’s meeting included 47 nations that participated virtually, according to Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman General Mark Milley, the top U.S. military officer. Austria, Colombia and Ireland were among the new participants.

The group’s next meeting will be held June 15 in Brussels.

“Everyone here understands the stakes of this war, and they stretch far beyond Europe,” Austin said.

U.S. President Joe Biden had a similar message Tuesday as he met with the leaders of Japan, India and Australia, telling the group that the conflict in Ukraine “is more than just a European issue, it’s a global issue.”

Citing the widespread effects of the conflict, including on the global food supply, Biden pledged ongoing U.S. support, saying, “as long as Russia continues the war, the United States will work with our partners to help be the global response, because it’s going to affect all parts of the world.”

The American multinational chain of coffeehouses, Starbucks, became the latest company on Monday to announce it will stop operations in Russia, closing its 130 cafes. The move follows an announcement last week by U.S. multinational fastfood chain, McDonald’s, that it was leaving Russia.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in his nightly video address Monday that Russia has launched almost 1,500 missile strikes on Ukraine since the start of the war nearly three months ago. He said the majority of the 1,474 missile strikes were against civilian targets.

Some information for this story came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.
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For full coverage of the crisis in Ukraine, visit Flashpoint Ukraine.

The latest developments in the conflict between Russia and Ukraine. All times EDT:

1:00 a.m.: As Ukraine marks three months since the start of the Russian invasion, residents in capital Kyiv have commemorated those who have been lost since the start of the conflict, The Associated Press reported. 

A lawn in a square in the capital has been strewn with small Ukrainian flags, put out in tribute to those who have lost their lives since the fighting broke out on February 24. A monument displays the message “Ukrainians killed by (Russian President Vladimir) Putin” with the number 7,463 written below. 

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy took part in a ceremony to launch the series which will see five million stamps in total put into circulation. 

12:30 a.m.: Analyst APK-Inform, an information and analytical agency, raised its forecasts for Ukraine’s 2022/23 grain crop and exports because of a better-than-expected winter harvest on Tuesday, Reuters reported.

Ukraine could harvest 48.3 million tons of grain in 2022, including almost 17.1 million tons of wheat and 25.2 million tons of corn, the consultancy agency said in a statement.

APK-Inform said 2022/23 exports could also rise to 39.4 million tons versus the previous outlook of 33.2 million tons.

12:15 a.m.: About 20 countries are sending new security assistance packages for Ukraine, U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said after concluding the second meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group.

“Many countries are donating critically needed artillery ammunition, coastal defense systems, tanks and other armored vehicles. Others came forward with new commitments for training Ukraine’s forces and sustaining its military systems,” Austin told reporters at the Pentagon Monday. VOA’s Pentagon correspondent Carla Babb has the story.

12:01 a.m.: Through photos, videos, charts, and analysis, The Guardian documents “Russia’s use of illegal weapons” during the invasion of Ukraine.

“The Guardian has visited the small towns and villages north of Kyiv razed to the ground during the Russian occupation and reviewed evidence found there – as well as other materials from Ukrainian prosecutors – of imprecise munitions such as the FAB-250, metal dart shells and cluster bombs whose use led to the deaths of hundreds of civilians.”

 
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Turkey is vowing to crush the presence of the Kurdish militant group PKK in Iraq. The PKK has used neighboring Iraq as the main base in its war for greater minority rights in Turkey. But as the Turkish military closes in on the PKK, analysts warn that the Kurdish group could turn to Iran, with implications across the region, including US forces in Syria. Dorian Jones reports for VOA from Istanbul.
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At his swearing-in ceremony, new Education Minister Pap Ndiaye paid tribute to the nation’s teachers, singling out Samuel Paty, killed by an Islamist extremist in 2020.

Ndiaye described himself as a symbol of meritocracy and diversity. Rather than feeling proud, he said, he assumed his new job with a sense of duty and responsibility.

The 57-year-old Ndiaye is a longtime university professor and expert on the history of minorities and rights movements in both France and the United States. Last year, he was tapped to head France’s National Museum of the History of Immigration.

“It was unexpected, obviously, but it was very good news.”

Louis-Georges Tin is a Black rights activist and former head of the Representative Council of Black Associations, or CRAN. He salutes the new education minister.

“He’s a brilliant person,” Tin said. “He’s respected in the academy. He’s done quite a few actions in terms also of the fight against racism in the country.”

While Tin is not alone in praising Ndiaye’s appointment, some right-wing politicians are criticizing it.

Far-right leader Marine Le Pen, who came second in last month’s presidential vote, described Ndiaye’s designation as an alarming signal for the future. She called him a defender of so-called “racialism” and woke-ism, which critics deride as a leftist protest ideology. Other critics describe Ndiaye as anti-police.

Interviewed on French radio, Ndiaye’s sister, award-winning author Marie Ndiaye, said she wasn’t surprised at the criticism — but called it absurd and stupid.

Some observers say the controversy over Ndiaye’s appointment reflects simmering discrimination in France, as the 2020 death of African-American George Floyd in police custody in the United States ignited similar Black rights protests here.

In interviews over the years, Pap Ndiaye has said France is reluctant to fully examine its history of colonialism and slavery. He has praised French police but also said police violence should be discussed.

Activist Louis-Georges Tin said much more needs to be done in teaching French students about discrimination. Tin said he fears Ndiaye’s efforts to change things during his tenure will result in pushback.

“Having a Black minister in France is not new,” Tin said. “And having racist attacks is not new either. It’s always the same story … so that’s why we are in a situation of state racism, systemic racism. People don’t want Black ministers in this country.”

Ndiaye is certainly different from his predecessor, Jean-Michel Blanquer, who criticized both the “Black Lives Matter” movement and so-called woke culture. Education unions, which clashed with Blanquer, have reacted positively to the country’s new education chief.
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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told world leaders and business executives at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland Monday that they faced a turning point following Russia’s invasion of his country — and that it was time to ratchet up sanctions against Moscow.

It is the first time world and business leaders have gathered at Davos since January 2020, just before the coronavirus pandemic. They now operate in a vastly changed world faced with numerous challenges: the war in Ukraine, economic crises and food shortages.

Maximum sanctions

Dressed not in the business uniform of the Davos elite but in the army fatigues of a wartime leader, Ukraine’s president addressed delegates by video link from Kyiv. He demanded “maximum sanctions” on Russia.

“An embargo on Russian oil, a complete blockade of all Russian banks, without exception. Total abandonment of the Russian IT sector and complete cessation of trade with the aggressor… do not wait for Russia’s use of special weapons, chemical, biological, God forbid, nuclear,” Zelenskyy urged the audience in Davos.

“You need to set a precedent for the complete exit of all foreign businesses from the Russian market so that your brands are not associated with war crimes and that war criminals do not use your offices, accounts, and goods in their bloody interests.”

Ukraine has sent a large delegation to Davos, including the mayor of Kyiv, Vitali Klitschko. “Every one of you has to understand: we are defending you, personally,” Kiltschko said Monday. “We are fighting for values. I hope the same values, democratic values.”

The message from the Ukrainian delegation has been warmly welcomed. But Kyiv’s demands for a complete embargo on Russian energy and trade are far from being met.

Embargo

Several European nations, including Germany, continue to import Russian oil and gas. Hungary is resisting efforts toward a full EU embargo on Russian oil imports.

Germany’s economy minister and vice chancellor, Robert Habeck, urged Hungary to join its EU partners.

“We have to be very careful that we are not applying the same rules for everyone and not seeing the difficult situation some states are in. But saying that, I expect everyone — also Hungary — that they work to find a solution and not saying, ‘OK, we have an exception and then we will lay back and build on our partnership with Putin,’” Habeck said.

Sven Smit, a senior partner with consulting firm McKinsey & Company in the Netherlands and among the delegates at Davos, said isolating Russia would take time. “This is a fight we can’t fully participate in, but we are trying to do our best, I think. You feel a little helpless, if you stand there and see what the Ukrainians have to do for us, to stand for our values and to stand for our lives,” Smit told Reuters.

Food warning

Meanwhile the head of the United Nations’ World Food Program, David Beasley, warned of a global food crisis unless Russia ended its blockade of Ukraine’s Black Sea ports.

“[Ukraine] grows enough food to feed 400 million people. That’s off the market and the only way you get it back into the market is the ports have to be opened back,” Beasley said Monday.

“It’s going to be a global food crisis. If we don’t get those ports open, you will be talking about a food pricing problem over the next 10 to 12 months, but next year, it’s going to be a food availability problem and that is going to be hell on Earth,” he added.

War crimes

Russian delegates haven’t been invited to the WEF. Instead, the former “Russia House” in Davos has been transformed into what’s been dubbed the “Russian War Crimes House,” depicting alleged atrocities carried out by the Kremlin’s forces.

The exhibition’s curator, Bjorn Geldhof, the artistic director of the PinchukArtCentre in Kyiv, said it was vital that visitors to the Davos summit are reminded of the reality of the war.

“The atrocities that are happening are of such a massive scale that it’s important to speak to everybody about it all the time. And here in Davos, the world’s most powerful people come together, and to them we also have to show who is suffering and why they are suffering,” Geldhof said.
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A veteran Russian diplomat to the United Nations office in Geneva resigned Monday because he said he was “so ashamed” of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine three months ago.

In a rare, but not unprecedented protest within the Russian diplomatic corps, Boris Bondarev, 41, handed in his resignation in a letter addressed to Ambassador Gennady Gatilov and then released a scathing denunciation of the Russian war effort.

“The aggressive war unleashed by Putin against Ukraine, and in fact against the entire Western world, is not only a crime against the Ukrainian people,” Bondarev said, “but also perhaps the most serious crime against the people of Russia, with a bold letter Z (signifying support for the war) crossing out all hopes and prospects for a prosperous free society in our country.”

Bondarev, who has focused on Russian disarmament issues in Geneva, contended “that those who conceived this war want only one thing — to remain in power forever, live in pompous tasteless palaces, sail in yachts comparable in tonnage and costs to the entire Russian navy, enjoying unlimited power and complete impunity.”

“To achieve that, Bondarev said, “they are willing to sacrifice as many lives as it takes. Thousands of Russians and Ukrainians have already died just for this.”

He said that during his 20 years as a Russian diplomat, including postings in Cambodia and Mongolia, “the level of lies and unprofessionalism in the Foreign Ministry has been increasing all the time.”

Bondarev attacked Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov as a “good illustration of the degradation of this system,” someone who had fallen from a “professional and educated intellectual” held in “high esteem” by his diplomatic colleagues to “a person who constantly broadcasts conflicting statements and threatens the world (that is, Russia too) with nuclear weapons!”

“Russia no longer has allies,” he concluded, “and there is no one to blame but its reckless and ill-conceived policy. …. I cannot any longer share in this bloody, witless and absolutely needless ignominy.”

Almost as an aside, he added, “Job offers are welcome.”

Bondarev told The Associated Press he had not received any reaction yet from Russian officials, but added, “Am I concerned about the possible reaction from Moscow? I have to be concerned about it.”

Asked if some colleagues felt the same, he added, “Not all Russian diplomats are warmongering. They are reasonable, but they have to keep their mouths shut.” 

Russia has cracked down on protests against the Ukraine invasion, arresting street protesters, curbing media criticism and approving up to 15-year prison terms for those spreading “false information” about the invasion, including calling it a war instead of a “special military operation.” 

Some information for this report came from The Associated Press.
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So far, Russia’s oil exports have not slowed down a bit from the war in Ukraine and international sanctions. In fact, Russia exported more oil in April than it did before the war. And high oil prices mean Moscow is raking in money. That’s one reason Europe is considering a Russian oil ban: Current sanctions are not hurting Moscow enough. Europe gets more of its oil from Russia than anywhere else. It would have to make up for those banned barrels somewhere else, and that won’t be easy. And it’s likely to push oil prices everywhere up even further.
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German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said his country is interested in a major gas exploitation project in Senegal as he began a three-nation visit to Africa on Sunday that also is focused on the geopolitical consequences of the war in Ukraine.

Senegal is believed to have significant deposits of natural gas along its border with Mauritania at a time when Germany and other European countries are trying to reduce their dependence on importing Russian gas.

“We have begun exchanges and we will continue our efforts at the level of experts because it is our wish to achieve progress,” Scholz said at a joint news briefing with Senegalese President Macky Sall.

The gas project off the coast of Senegal is being led by BP, and the first barrels are not expected until next year.

This week’s trip marks Scholz’s first to Africa since becoming chancellor nearly six months ago. Two of the countries he is visiting — Senegal and South Africa — have been invited to attend the Group of 7 summit in Germany at the end of June.

Participants there will try to find a common position toward Russia, which was kicked out of the then-Group of Eight following its 2014 seizure of Crimea from Ukraine.

Leaders at the G-7 summit also will be addressing the threat of climate change. Several G-7 countries, including Germany and the United States, signed a ‘just energy transition partnership’ with South Africa last year to help the country wean itself off heavily polluting coal.

A similar agreement is in the works with Senegal, where Germany has supported the construction of a solar farm.

German officials also said Scholz will make a stop in Niger, a country that like its neighbors has long been battling Islamic extremists.

Earlier this month, the German government backed a plan to move hundreds of its soldiers to Niger from neighboring Mali. The development comes amid a deepening political crisis in Mali that prompted former colonial power France to announce it was withdrawing its troops after nine years of helping Mali battle insurgents.

Germany officials say their decision also was motivated by concerns that Malian forces receiving EU training could cooperate with Russian mercenaries now operating in the country.

Germany, though, will increase its participation in a U.N. peacekeeping mission in Mali, providing up to 1,400 soldiers. The Cabinet’s decisions still need to be approved by parliament.

Niger is also a major transit hub for illegal migration to Europe. People from across West Africa connect with smugglers there to make the journey northward to attempt the dangerous trip across the Mediterranean Sea.
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For full coverage of the crisis in Ukraine, visit Flashpoint Ukraine.

The latest developments in the conflict between Russia and Ukraine. All times EDT:

2:00 a.m.: Russian citizens may express their discontent with the way the war against Ukraine is going, the British defense ministry predicted Monday, based on the number of casualties Russian forces have suffered.  

“Russia has likely suffered a similar death toll to that experienced by the Soviet Union during its nine year war in Afghanistan,” The ministry said in its daily update posted on Twitter.

1:30 a.m.: The U.N.’s refugee agency said conflict, violence, human rights violations and persecution around the world, including the war in Ukraine following Russia’s invasion, have driven more than 100 million people from their homes in total.  

“100 million refugees and displaced people are a terrible indicator of the state of our world,” U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, Filippo Grandi said Monday in a Twitter post. 

1:00 a.m.: German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said his country is interested in a major gas exploitation project in Senegal as he began a three-nation visit to Africa on Sunday that also is focused on the geopolitical consequences of the war in Ukraine. The Associated Press has the story.

12:30 a.m.: During U.S. President Joe Biden’s visit to Japan this week, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida told Biden Monday that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine “undermines the foundation of global order,” The New York Times reported.

“We can in no way allow whatsoever such attempts to change the status quo by force wherever it may be in the world,” Kishida said.
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One of Eastern Europe’s most acclaimed filmmakers, Romania’s Cristian Mungiu, is back at the Cannes Film Festival with a dark tale about how little it takes for people to turn on their neighbors.

His wrenching Ceausescu-era drama about illegal abortion “4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days” clinched the top prize at the world’s top cinema showcase in 2007.

Mungiu also won best screenplay for 2012’s “Beyond the Hills” and best director for “Graduation” in 2016. 

His new film, “RMN,” again sees him in the race for the Palme d’Or, and the 54-year-old told AFP it explores the collapse of hopes for a new era of peace following the end of the Cold War.

“I try to speak about human nature and about the state of the world today and about this feeling that we have today that things are not going in the right direction,” he said.

“Things are coming to some sort of an end and everybody feels this anxiety,” not least over the war raging in Ukraine, he said.

RMN is the Romanian abbreviation for an MRI, which, when scanning the brain, can reveal fascinating secrets of how human beings are wired, Mungiu said.

The film explores the anxieties of a multiethnic community in Transylvania, a historical crossroads of migration and competing empires that has left Romanian, Hungarian and German speakers living side-by-side to this day.

It is inspired by a story widely covered by Romanian media in 2020, when a village in Transylvania rose up against the local bakery for hiring two Sri Lankans.

In the film, the foreign men are recruited to a bread factory reliant on EU grants and offering minimum-wage jobs that long went unfilled because the salary was too low for locals.

A manager tries to look after the dislocated Sri Lankans, who don’t speak any of the local languages and are struggling to integrate.

A violent attack leads to confrontations with the police, the village priest and finally a town meeting in which hysterical fears about the outsiders are aired.

Mungiu said he aimed to hold up a mirror to the “instincts and cruelty which is deep inside us as human animals and to see that people who are neighbors today are capable of anything tomorrow — raping, killing and torturing somebody else simply because somebody told me this is the enemy.”

The film won warm reviews, with The Guardian saying it was “seriously engaged with the dysfunction and unhappiness in Europe that goes unreported and unacknowledged.”

U.S. movie website IndieWire called it another “moral thriller” from Mungiu that pulls “harder and harder at the tension between complex socioeconomic forces and the simple human emotions they inspire.” 

Mungiu is part of Romania’s New Wave of filmmakers tracking the realities of the post-communist transition who have scooped up prizes at international festivals for the past two decades.

He admitted at Cannes that those acclaimed movies have been far less popular at home.

“(Romanians) don’t really like what we do — they don’t really understand why somebody likes it somewhere else,” he said. “But for us, it’s really important that we managed to create some sort of a movement which is now complex enough — there are quite diverse filmmakers expressing themselves. 

“At some point I think it will be acknowledged as something good that we did also for the culture of Romania,” he said.

The Palme d’Or will be awarded May 28.
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The usual trophies and prize money will be on the line for Novak Djokovic, Iga Swiatek and other top players at Wimbledon, but there is a significant change there this year: No one will earn ranking points, a valuable currency in tennis, when play begins June 27.

The women’s and men’s professional tours announced Friday they will not award those points at the grass-court Grand Slam tournament because of the All England Club’s decision to bar players from Russia and Belarus over the invasion of Ukraine.

Both the WTA and ATP said they were reacting to what they called “discrimination.”

Here is a look at how this unprecedented move came about and what it means:

What is happening in Ukraine?

Russia, with help from Belarus, launched an invasion of neighboring Ukraine on Feb. 24. Russia’s bombardment and siege of the southern port city of Mariupol killed over 20,000 civilians, according to Ukraine, including strikes on a maternity hospital and a theater where civilians had taken shelter.

Why did Wimbledon bar Russians and Belarusians?

The All England Club, which runs the oldest Grand Slam tournament (Wimbledon was first held in 1877), announced in April it would not allow players from Russia or Belarus to enter the event in 2022. Chief Executive Sally Bolton defended the club’s move as following a directive from the British government, and she cited a “responsibility to play our part in limiting the possibility of Wimbledon being used to justify the harm being done to others by the Russian regime.”

Have other sports banned Russian athletes?

Yes, including in soccer, where the Russian men’s team was kicked out of qualifying matches for this year’s World Cup. Figure skating and track and field are among the other sports to have taken action against Russian and Belarusian athletes. In tennis, players from those countries have been allowed to compete — including at the French Open, the year’s second Grand Slam tournament, which begins Sunday in Paris — but as “neutral” athletes who are not being identified by their nationalities.

Who can’t play at Wimbledon?

The most prominent Russian tennis player at the moment is Daniil Medvedev, who won the U.S. Open in September and briefly reached No. 1 in the men’s rankings this year. Andrey Rublev, who is ranked No. 7 in the ATP, is another top male player. The WTA’s No. 7, Aryna Sabalenka, who was a semifinalist at Wimbledon a year ago, and former No. 1 Victoria Azarenka, a two-time Australian Open champion, are from Belarus.

Why cancel ranking points?

The WTA and ATP condemned the invasion of Ukraine, but said it was not fair for the All England Club to prevent certain players from playing because of the actions of their countries’ governments.

“Our rules and agreements exist in order to protect the rights of players as a whole,” the ATP said. “Unilateral decisions of this nature, if unaddressed, set a damaging precedent for the rest of the tour.”

The International Tennis Federation also withdrew its ranking points from the junior and wheelchair events at Wimbledon.

Taylor Fritz, the highest-ranked American man and seeded No. 13 at the French Open, said he thinks “most players agree” that athletes from Russia and Belarus should be allowed to play at Wimbledon. The ban, he said, “is a sign to show support for Ukraine, but you’re just kind of punishing people based off of where they were born … and they can’t really change that.”

How do ranking points work? Why do they matter?

The WTA and ATP official rankings date to the early 1970s and currently are based on each player’s best results over the preceding 52 weeks (women count their top 16 tournaments, men their top 19). Swiatek is the 28th woman to sit atop the WTA; Djokovic is one of 27 men to lead the ATP and has spent more weeks in that spot than anyone else. Wimbledon and the three other Grand Slam tournaments award 2,000 points apiece to the women’s and men’s singles champions, more than any other events. In addition to other measures such as trophies or prize money, rankings are a way for fans, sponsors and others — including the players themselves — to understand where athletes stand in the sport’s hierarchy. Technically, any tennis event that does not award ranking points is considered an exhibition.

Has this happened before?

Representatives of the ATP, WTA and ITF said they were unaware of any previous instances of ranking points being withheld from a tournament.

Will any players skip Wimbledon because there aren’t ranking points?

It’s too soon to know, but even without ranking points, Wimbledon still offers plenty of prestige and millions of dollars in payouts. “If you win it, I think you’d still be pretty happy,” said Jessica Pegula, an American seeded 11th at Roland Garros. “But I think it’s just up to each individual person — how they’re feeling, their motivation.”

What will happen at the US Open?

It is not yet known whether players from Russia or Belarus will be able to enter the U.S. Open, the year’s last Grand Slam tournament, which begins in New York Aug. 29. “We continue to monitor events,” U.S. Tennis Association spokesman Chris Widmaier wrote in an email, “and are in active dialogue with the Ukraine and Russian/Belarusian players, the tours, the other Grand Slams, and other relevant parties.”
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As Russia lays claim on the southeastern Ukrainian port city of Mariupol, Poland’s president makes an unannounced visit to Ukraine’s capital and addresses parliament in a show of support for the embattled nation. U.S. President Joe Biden signs a hefty aid package to Ukraine while Russia continues pressing its offensive in the eastern Donbas region. VOA’s Arash Arabasadi has more.
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A sea of Ukrainian flags marks the graves of the fallen at Kharkiv’s cemetery N°18.

The cemetery, at Bezliudivka, on the outskirts of Ukraine’s second city, has had a military section for several years.

It has been burying Ukrainian soldiers since the Russian invasion three months ago. And on Saturday, more soldiers were laid to rest beside their comrades.

Two coffins placed on trestles belonged to Sergiy Profotilov, born in 1976, and Igor Malenkov, born in 1985. Both were killed at Vilkhivka, to the east of Kharkiv.

The official date of their deaths marked on their graves was May 11. But that was probably when their bodies were recovered from the village, the scene of fierce fighting before its liberation over a month ago.

“They were found with five other bodies that we couldn’t identify,” said one soldier, who spoke on condition he is not identified.

“We suspect they were executed,” he added. “They were killed by bullets to the back of the head.”

Only half a dozen soldiers and the brother of one of the dead were present for the ceremony, which lasted about an hour.

The military chaplain recited the prayers and sprinkled incense on the coffins under the grey sky, against a background of Russian and Ukrainian artillery fire just a few kilometers away.

The mourners laid red carnations on the graves. Then, after a brief exchange of greetings and embraces, they went their separate ways.

The brother walked alone down a line of dozens of graves, the death certificate in his hand.

Two pickup trucks arrived carrying soldiers from Ukraine’s foreign legion. About a dozen of them have come to pay a final homage to one of their comrades, a Dutch soldier killed by artillery fire.

It was forbidden to film the ceremony or to identify the fallen fighter.

Here, there was no religious ceremony, but a brief speech in English given by an officer. One soldier, with a British flag on his vest, gave a military salute. Another touched the cross before leaving.

At a fifth ceremony, the family of 47-year-old Olexandr Gaponchev was mourning his death at Tsyrkuny, north of Kharkiv. Many of those present in tears. 

And a few minutes later, the fifth funeral of the day started.

The mother of the fallen soldier wept inconsolably over her son’s coffin, held up by members of her family, as rain began to fall.

Then as the coffin was lowered into the ground, each mourner threw a fistful of earth into the grave before the cemetery workers filled it in and planted a wooden cross with the name of the dead soldiers.

Behind that grave, a line of Ukrainian flags flapped in the wind, one for each grave.
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Britain has insisted it is up to the European Union to unblock political paralysis in Northern Ireland, after assuring a delegation from the U.S. Congress of its “cast-iron” commitment to peace in the province.

The UK government has provoked anger on both sides of the Atlantic with a plan to overhaul the so-called Northern Ireland Protocol, a trading arrangement that was agreed as part of its Brexit divorce deal with the EU.

London is bidding to placate pro-UK unionists who are refusing to join a new power-sharing government in Belfast — led for the first time by pro-Irish nationalists — until the protocol is reformed.

Interviewed by the Sunday Telegraph newspaper, Northern Ireland Secretary Brandon Lewis demanded that Brussels adopt a new negotiating mandate to address the fierce objections of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP).

“I made this point to the EU myself before the (May 5) elections. My view was, it was much easier to get a deal before the elections than afterwards,” Lewis said.

“The idea that it was going to be easier after the elections was a crazy one from the EU.”

The protocol recognized Northern Ireland’s status as a fragile, post-conflict territory that shares the UK’s new land border with the EU.

Keeping the border open with neighboring Ireland, an EU member, was mandated in the 1998 Good Friday Agreement, given that the frontier was a frequent flashpoint during three decades of violence.

‘Frank’ discussion

But the protocol’s requirement for checks on goods arriving from England, Scotland and Wales has infuriated the DUP and other unionists, who say it drives a wedge between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK.

Lewis stressed that the DUP, as the biggest unionist party, had a democratic mandate to back its position.

“And at the moment, the protocol, which the EU claims is about protecting the Good Friday Agreement, is the very document putting the Good Friday Agreement most at risk,” he said.

But the EU insists the protocol is not up for renegotiation.

And last week Nancy Pelosi, the speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, warned that the UK could forget about a post-Brexit trade deal if it rewrites the agreement.

On Saturday, Foreign Secretary Liz Truss met in England with a congressional delegation led by Richard Neal, a senior member of Pelosi’s Democratic party in the House.

“We discussed our cast-iron commitment to the Belfast (Good Friday) Agreement, the importance of free trade and our condemnation of Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine,” Truss tweeted.

The foreign ministry declined to comment further.

But according to Britain’s Observer newspaper on Sunday, Truss told Neal’s delegation that London could not let the “situation drag on” if the EU did not respond favorably.

Neal, however, stressed Washington’s “unity” with the EU after the members of Congress visited Brussels on Friday.

And after what he called the “frank” meeting with Truss, the Democrat tweeted on Sunday: “I urge good faith negotiations with the EU to find durable solutions for post-Brexit trade between Great Britain and Northern Ireland.”
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The first Grand Slam tournament without any COVID-19 restrictions since the pandemic started in early 2020 kicked off under menacing skies at Roland Garros Sunday.

The French Open was the first major to be hit by the pandemic when it was postponed two years ago but all safety measures were lifted for this tournament, giving the fortnight a welcome sense of normality again.

Thousands of mask-free spectators flocked into the stadium before play started at 11:00 local time (0900GMT) as Roland Garros opened its gates for the start of the main tournament.

Tunisia’s Ons Jabeur, one of the favorites to win the women’s singles, opened proceedings on the main Philippe Chatrier court against Pole Magda Linette who levelled the match at one-set all by winning the second set tiebreak.

The highlight of the day will be teenage sensation Carlos Alcaraz starting his campaign against Argentine Juan Ignacio Londero in the last match on Chatrier.

The French Open is the only one of the four majors to start on a Sunday.

World number one and defending champion Novak Djokovic is due to make his return to Grand Slam action on Monday after he was not allowed to take part in the Australian Open because of his refusal to be vaccinated against COVID-19.

The Serbian is bidding to match 13-times French Open champion Rafael Nadal’s men’s record of 21 Grand Slam titles and the two are on a quarter-final collision course.

Iga Swiatek, the hot favorite in the women’s draw, is scheduled to play her first match on Monday or Tuesday.
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For full coverage of the crisis in Ukraine, visit Flashpoint Ukraine.

The latest developments in the conflict between Russia and Ukraine. All times EDT:

1:07 a.m.: International sanctions have “practically broken” logistics in Russia, Al Jazeera reports.

“The sanctions imposed on Russia… have practically broken all logistics in our country. And we have to look for new logistics corridors,” said Vitaly Savelyev, Russia’s transport minister.

12:02 a.m.: Al Jazeera reports that Russia has again accused Ukraine of attacking its settlements. Roman Starovoit, the governor of the Kursk region, said there were no casualties or damage to infrastructure.

Some information in this report came from The Associated Press, Reuters and Agence France-Presse.
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There will be no cease-fire or concessions to Russia, Ukraine’s lead negotiator said Saturday as Russia upped its assault on Luhansk, one of the two provinces that make up the Donbas in eastern Ukraine.

“The war will not stop (after concessions). It will just be put on pause for some time,” Mykhailo Podolyak, who is also an adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, said, explaining Ukraine’s position in light of recent calls for a cease-fire from U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi. “They’ll start a new offensive, even more bloody and large-scale,” Podolyak added.

Pro-Russian separatists have fought Ukraine for control of the Luhansk and Donetsk provinces – which together make up the Donbas – since 2014, when Russia seized the Crimean Peninsula.

Ukrainian forces in the two provinces said via Facebook that at least seven people had been killed in Donetsk in the previous 24 hours when Russians, using aircraft, artillery, tanks, rockets, mortars and missiles, pummeled civilian structures and residential areas, Reuters reported.

The Ukrainians said they had turned back nine attacks, destroying five tanks and 10 armored vehicles, according to the Facebook post.

“The situation in Donbas is extremely difficult,” Zelenskyy said Saturday in his nightly address. He said Ukrainian forces were holding off the Russian army as it was trying to attack the cities of Sloviansk and Sievierodonetsk.

On Friday night Zelenskyy said that victory against Russia will ultimately come through a diplomatic settlement.

“The victory will be difficult, it will be bloody and in battle, but its end will be in diplomacy. I am very convinced of this,” Zelenskyy said in a Ukrainian television interview late Friday. “There are things that we can’t bring to an end without sitting at the negotiation table.”

The Ukrainian leader also said his country is attempting to recover fighters who surrendered to Russian forces after weeks of fighting at the Azovstal steel plant in the southern port city of Mariupol.

“Everything will depend on (the responsibilities) the U.N., the Red Cross and the Russian Federation took on themselves, that they (the fighters) all will be in safety, waiting for one or the other exchange format,” he said. He said Ukraine’s intelligence service is making preparations “for a dialogue and an exchange.”

Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine nearly three months ago, on Feb. 24.

Concern for the treatment of those fighters increased Saturday when Denis Pushilin, the pro-Kremlin head of an area of eastern Ukraine controlled by Moscow-backed separatists, said they would face tribunals.

Pushilin said there were 2,439 people in custody, including some foreign nationals among the fighters.

Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said Saturday that Ukraine would fight for the return of every soldier.

There was no immediate confirmation from Ukraine that Mariupol was fully under Russian control.

The port city is the scene of the war’s bloodiest siege, with Russian forces bombarding it for nearly three months. Much of Mariupol has been reduced to rubble, and more than 20,000 civilians are feared dead.

But its capture adds to Moscow’s goal of a land route from Russia to the Crimea and perhaps beyond.

Russia destroyed a Ukrainian special operations base near Odesa, Ukraine’s main Black Sea port on Saturday, as well as a significant cache of Western-supplied weapons in northern Ukraine’s Zhytomyr region, The Associated Press reported, quoting Russian Defense Ministry spokesperson Igor Konashenkov. There was no confirmation from the Ukrainian side.

The end of the fighting in Mariupol not only gives Russian President Vladimir Putin a victory, but it allows him to shift fighters east to the Donbas.

Among the developments there:

The only functioning hospital in Sievierodonetsk, the main city under Ukrainian control in the Luhansk region, has three doctors left and enough supplies for 10 days, Gov. Serhii Haidai said.

Haidai also said Russian troops destroyed a bridge on the Siverskiy Donets River between Sievierodonetsk and Lysychansk. There was fighting on the outskirts of Sievierodonetsk from morning through the night, Haidai said on the Telegram messaging app.

A monastery in the village of Bohorodichne in the Donetsk region was evacuated after it was hit by a Russian airstrike, the regional police said Saturday, the AP reported.

About 100 monks, nuns and children had been sheltering in the basement of the church and no one was hurt, the police said in a Facebook post, which included a video of the damage to the monastery as well as nuns, monks and children boarding vans on Friday for the evacuation.

Zelenskyy on Saturday emphasized that the Donbas remains part of Ukraine and his forces were fighting to liberate it.

Some information for this story came from The Associated Press and Reuters.
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North Macedonia’s fugitive former Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski has been handed a nine-year prison sentence for illegally ordering the 2011 demolition of a multimillion-dollar residential and business complex owned by a former political ally turned opponent. 

The Criminal Court in the capital, Skopje, found that the demolition was an “act of political revenge” against Fijat Canoski, then the leader of the small Party for European Future (PEI), who had left Gruevski’s conservative government coalition and joined the opposition. 

Three other former officials at the time of the demolition were also sentenced late Friday. Toni Trajkovski, the former mayor of the Gazi Baba municipality, one of the 10 neighborhoods that make up Skopje, and a former municipal official were sentenced to four years each in prison while former Transport Minister Mile Janakieski got three years in prison. The three were also sentenced to pay a total of 11 million euros ($11.6 million) in damages. 

Three other officials were acquitted. 

This is Gruevski’s fourth conviction since he left office in 2016 after nearly 10 years in power. 

In 2018, he was sentenced to two years for unlawfully influencing interior ministry officials over the purchase of a luxury armored car. In 2020, he received 1½ years in prison for orchestrating violence against his political opponents in 2013. In April 2022, he was sentenced to seven years for using his party’s funds to enrich himself. 

Gruevski fled to Hungary in 2018 before his first sentence could be carried out. He has compared himself in social media postings to Joseph K., the main character of Franz Kafka’s novel “The Trial” who is convicted and executed without ever learning of what he is accused. 

There are two more cases pending against Gruevski for corruption, election irregularities and abuse of office. The charges stem from a wiretapping scandal that broke in 2015, when it emerged that the phone conversations of more than 20,000 people had been illegally recorded, including those of politicians, judges, police, journalists and foreign diplomats. 

The scandal brought down Gruevski’s government and he lost the subsequent 2016 election to Social Democrat Zoran Zaev. 
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A storm that swept across parts of Germany generated three tornadoes, the country’s weather service said Saturday. One of them left a trail of destruction and more than 40 people injured in a western city.

Meteorologists had warned of heavy rainfall, hail and strong gusts of wind in western and central Germany on Friday, and people in the western state of North Rhine-Westphalia were advised to stay home. Storms on Thursday had already disrupted traffic, uprooted trees that toppled onto rail tracks and roads, and flooded hundreds of basements in western Germany.

The German Weather Service confirmed three tornadoes in North Rhine-Westphalia — in Paderborn, in nearby Lippstadt, and on the edge of the town of Hoexter, news agency DPA reported.

Forty-three people were injured in Paderborn as the tornado tore across the city’s downtown area on Friday afternoon, 13 of them seriously, Mayor Michael Dreier said.

Trees in a park and stop lights “snapped like matches,” roofs were ripped off buildings and windows smashed, he told reporters on Saturday, and the storm left a roughly 300-meter-wide trail of destruction. A tree hit the windshield of a fire truck, but the occupants weren’t hurt.

Police urged people to stay home or stay out of the city on Saturday so as not to get in the way of recovery work. They said they still expected possible risks from high wind.

Further south, authorities in Bavaria said 14 people were injured Friday when the wooden hut they were trying to shelter in collapsed during a storm at Lake Brombach, south of Nuremberg.

Elsewhere in Europe, Spain was sweltering Saturday under unusually high temperatures for late spring, with a mass of hot, dry air carrying dust from North Africa.

The mercury rose to 42.3 degrees Celsius (108 Fahrenheit) on Friday afternoon in Andujar, in the southern Andalucia region, after reaching 39.5 degrees Thursday. Two of the region’s provincial capitals, Cordoba and Sevilla, also saw similar temperatures.

At least 13 regions were on alert Saturday due to heat, Spain’s State Meteorological Agency AEMET said, and the temperatures could provoke storms in five of them. The “unusual and extreme” temperatures are expected to peak Saturday.
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Representatives of the United States and several other nations walked out of an Asia-Pacific trade ministers meeting in Bangkok on Saturday to protest Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, officials said.

Representatives from Canada, New Zealand, Japan and Australia joined the Americans in walking out of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) meeting, two Thai officials and two international diplomats told Reuters.

The walkout took place while the Russian representative was delivering remarks at the opening of the two-day meeting of the group of 21 economies.
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Russia on Saturday halted providing natural gas to neighboring Finland, which has angered Moscow by applying for NATO membership, after the Nordic country refused to pay supplier Gazprom in rubles.

Natural gas accounts for about 8% of Finland’s energy consumption and most of it comes from Russia.

Following Russia’s Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine, Moscow has asked clients from “unfriendly countries” — including EU member states — pay for gas in rubles, a way to sidestep Western financial sanctions against its central bank.

Finnish state-owned energy company Gasum said it would make up for the shortfall from other sources through the Balticconnector pipeline, which connects Finland to Estonia, and assured that filling stations would run normally.

“Natural gas supplies to Finland under Gasum’s supply contract have been cut off,” the company said in a statement.

Gasum said Friday that it had been informed by Gazprom Export, the exporting arm of Russian gas giant Gazprom, that the supply would stop on Saturday morning.

In April, Gazprom Export demanded that future payments in the supply contract be made in rubles instead of euros.

Gasum rejected the demand and announced on Tuesday it was taking the issue to arbitration.

Gazprom Export said it would defend its interests in court by any “means available.”

Gasum said it would be able to secure gas from other sources and that gas filling stations in the network area would continue “normal operation.”

In efforts to mitigate the risks of relying on Russian energy exports, the Finnish government on Friday also announced that the country had signed a 10-year lease agreement for an LNG (liquefied natural gas) terminal ship with US-based Excelerate Energy.

On Sunday, Russia suspended electricity supplies to Finland overnight after its energy firm RAO Nordic claimed payment arrears, although the shortfall was quickly replaced.

Finland, along with neighboring Sweden, this week broke its historical military non-alignment and applied for NATO membership, after public and political support for the alliance soared following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Moscow has warned Finland that any NATO membership application would be “a grave mistake with far-reaching consequences. 
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For full coverage of the crisis in Ukraine, visit Flashpoint Ukraine.

The latest developments in the conflict between Russia and Ukraine. All times EDT:

1:03 a.m.: Al Jazeera reports that Russia has removed the last bodies from the Mariupol theater it bombed in March. Ukrainian officials said that more than 1,300 people were hiding in the theater when it was hit and that some 300 died.

12:02 a.m.: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy took to Telegram to criticize Russia’s destruction of a cultural center in the city of Lazova, CNN reports.

The airstrike injured at least seven people, including a child, when it hit the “newly renovated House of Culture,” he wrote.

“The occupiers identified culture, education and humanity as their enemies,” he wrote. “They do not spare missiles or bombs for them. What is in the minds of people who choose such targets? Absolute evil, absolute stupidity.”

Some information in this report came from The Associated Press, Reuters and Agence France-Presse.
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Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has again said his country will oppose applications by Finland and Sweden to join NATO unless his security conditions are met. Analysts say Erdogan may be looking for more attention to his concerns from U.S. President Joe Biden. VOA’s Senior Diplomatic Correspondent Cindy Saine reports. 
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