The US is sending a new tranche of military assistance to help Ukraine defend itself against Russia’s invading force, a package valued at $3 billion dollars. This aid comes on top of the more than $10 billion in military assistance the U.S. has already sent to Ukraine in the past year and a half. VOA Pentagon correspondent Carla Babb has the details.
Video Editor: Kimberlyn Weeks
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The White House announced its largest-ever security assistance package for Ukraine on Wednesday — six months to the day since Russia invaded — with a $3 billion commitment that brings the U.S. price tag for this 184-day conflict to $13.6 billion.

Unlike previous aid packages that addressed immediate military needs, this new package focuses on medium- and long-term military assistance that will take months or even years to land.

“This is a long-term commitment to Ukraine to continue to fight for their freedom, and bravely, as they have been doing for the past six months,” said White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre.

She added that President Joe Biden will speak to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Thursday. When asked if or when Biden might visit Zelenskyy in Kyiv, John Kirby, the National Security Council’s coordinator of strategic communications, told reporters there currently are no plans for such a trip.

In late June at a NATO summit, Biden said U.S. support for Ukraine would continue “as long as it takes.” On Wednesday, the White House said that remains true.

“President Biden has been clear that we will continue to hold Russia accountable and support Ukraine for as long as it takes,” Kirby said Wednesday. “… And we’re going to continue to rally the free world, galvanize allies and partners to support Ukraine as they again defend their sovereignty against this further invasion by Russia.”

The Pentagon emphasized this large new commitment doesn’t presuppose an outcome to the grueling conflict, which technically started in 2014 with Russia’s annexation of Crimea.

“This type of package does not presume any particular outcome of a conflict in Ukraine,” Colin Kahl, undersecretary of defense for policy, told reporters on Wednesday. ”So, for example, if the war continues for years, this package is relevant. If there is a cease-fire or a peace settlement, this package is still relevant, because Ukraine needs the ability to defend itself and deter future aggression.

There are signs that European interest in funding Ukraine has waned, with European foreign policy chief Josep Borrell warning the continent in July against what he called “democratic fatigue” that Russia would try to exploit.

That does not seem to be the case in the U.S., where large aid packages have sailed almost effortlessly through Congress, and where a July poll saw seven out of 10 Americans support continued assistance.

But Elias Yousif, a research analyst with the Stimson Center’s Conventional Defense Program, said the administration has an obligation to continue to sell this expenditure to American taxpayers.

“It really is incumbent upon the administration to make the case to the American people as to why this investment is important,” he said via Zoom. “You know, the United States is clearly spending a great amount of time and effort on this problem. And it’ll be very important for government officials and for public policy to be pitching to the American people why this is more than just about Ukraine, why this speaks to their interests and to a certain vision for the world, and a certain world order that has their best interest at heart.”

More bullets than Ukrainians

In the last six months alone, the U.S. has doled out nearly $10 billion worth of support, comprising thousands of anti-missile and anti-armor systems, hundreds of vehicles, and nearly 60 million rounds of small-arms ammunition — more bullets, in fact, than there are Ukrainians.

“I absolutely think that it’s been worth it,” Ivana Stradner, an analyst at the American Enterprise Institute, told VOA via Zoom. “This war is also our war. So, it is in American interest to help Ukraine to win as fast as possible so we actually do not allow [Russian President Vladimir] Putin to wage this war in the way that he wants, and to put him actually on defense, rather than to allow Russia to dictate how long this war is going to last.”

But Yousif also warned the administration to be vigilant about where this assistance ends up.

“One of the main risks that we are all looking at is the risk of diversion of military hardware onto the black market,” he said. “This is something that we’ve seen time and time again from U.S. military aid programs, especially the very large ones. The United States, unfortunately, has a history of losing track of some of the arms that it provides in these large-scale military aid efforts, whether that’s been in Iraq or Afghanistan.

“And Ukraine also has a history of being a nexus of the illicit arms market — really, since the end of the Cold War. So, taken all together, the potential for losing some of these arms or having them leak into the black market could be quite high,” Yousif said.

Uncertain end, but certain determination

Now, six months and $13.6 billion later, how does this end? While no one knows the answer, the Biden administration has been clear on who holds the key to ending the war.

“It could end now,” Kirby said, “if President Putin did the right thing and pulled his troops out of Ukraine. There’s no reason for them to be there in the first place. … Sadly, we haven’t seen any indications by the Russian side that they’re willing to do that — quite the contrary.”

Zelenskyy, for his part, approached the six-month mark — which this year happened to fall on the day Ukraine declared independence from the Soviet Union 31 years ago — with determination and a hint of optimism.

“For 180 days, almost six months, the absolute majority of our people have no doubts that we will achieve the victory of Ukraine,” Zelenskyy said. “We are united. We are more confident now in ourselves than we have been in many decades.”

VOA’s Carla Babb contributed to this report.
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Russian forces Wednesday launched a rocket attack on a Ukrainian train station on the embattled country’s Independence Day, killing 22 people, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said after warning for days that Moscow might attempt “something particularly cruel” this week. 

The lethal attack took place in Chaplyne, a town of about 3,500 people in the central Dnipropetrovsk region, Ukrainian news agencies quoted Zelenskyy as telling the U.N. Security Council via video. The president’s office also reported that an 11-year-old child was killed by rocket fire earlier in the day in the settlement. 

“Chaplyne is our pain today,” Zelenskyy said in his nightly video address to the nation. 

At one point, Zelenskyy put the number of wounded at about 50. The deputy head of Zelenskyy’s office later said 22 people were wounded in the attack, which hit five passenger rail cars. 

Ukraine had been bracing for especially heavy attacks around the national holiday that commemorates Ukraine’s declaration of independence from the Soviet Union in 1991. Wednesday also marked the six-month point in the war. 

Days ahead of Independence Day, Kyiv authorities banned large gatherings in the capital through Thursday for fear of missile strikes. 

Residents of Kyiv, which has been largely spared in recent months, woke up Wednesday to air raid sirens, but no immediate strikes followed. As the day wore on, Russian bombardments were reported in the country’s east, west and center, with the most serious attack apparently at the train station. 

Outgoing British Prime Minister Boris Johnson marked the holiday with a visit to Kyiv — his third since the war broke out — and other European leaders used the occasion to pledge unwavering support for Ukraine, locked in a battle that was widely expected to be a lightning conquest by Moscow but has turned into a grinding war of attrition. U.S. President Joe Biden announced a new military aid package of nearly $3 billion to help Ukrainian forces fight for years to come. 

Over the weekend, Zelenskyy cautioned that Russia “may try to do something particularly nasty, something particularly cruel” this week. He repeated the warnings ahead of the train station attack, saying, “Russian provocations and brutal strikes are a possibility.” 

Nevertheless, a festive atmosphere prevailed during the day at Kyiv’s Maidan square as thousands of residents posed for pictures next to burned-out Russian tanks put on display. Folk singers set up, and many revelers — ignoring the sirens — were out and about in traditionally embroidered dresses and shirts. 

Others were fearful. 

“I can’t sleep at night because of what I see and hear about what is being done in Ukraine,” said a retiree who gave only her first name, Tetyana, her voice shaking with emotion. “This is not a war. It is the destruction of the Ukrainian people.” 

In a holiday message to the country, Zelenskyy exulted over Ukraine’s success in fending off Moscow’s forces since the invasion, saying: “On February 24, we were told: You have no chance. On August 24, we say: Happy Independence Day, Ukraine!” 

Britain’s Johnson urged Western allies to stand by Ukraine through the winter. 

“This is not the time to put forward flimsy negotiating proposals,” he said. “You can’t negotiate with a bear when it’s eating your leg or with a street robber when he has you pinned to the floor.” 

A car bombing outside Moscow that killed the 29-year-old daughter of right-wing Russian political theorist Alexander Dugin on Saturday also heightened fears that Russia might intensify attacks on Ukraine this week. Russian officials have blamed Ukraine for the death of Darya Dugina, a pro-Kremlin TV commentator. Ukraine has denied any involvement. 

Russian President Vladimir Putin’s forces have encountered unexpectedly stiff Ukrainian resistance in their invasion and abandoned their effort to storm the capital in the spring. The fighting has turned into a slog that has reduced neighborhoods to rubble and sent shock waves through the world economy. 

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, speaking Wednesday at a meeting of his counterparts from a security organization dominated by Russia and China, claimed the slow pace of Moscow’s military action was due to what he said was an effort to spare civilians. 

Russian forces have repeatedly targeted civilian areas in cities, including hospitals and a Mariupol theater where hundreds of people were taking shelter. 

But Shoigu said Russia is carrying out strikes with precision weapons against Ukrainian military targets, and “everything is done to avoid civilian casualties.” 

“Undoubtedly, it slows down the pace of the offensive, but we do it deliberately,” he said. 

On the battlefield, Russian forces struck several towns and villages in Donetsk province in the east over 24 hours, killing one person, authorities said. A building materials superstore in the city of Donetsk was hit by a shell and erupted in flames, the mayor said. There were no immediate reports of injuries. 

In the Dnipropetrovsk region, the Russians again shelled the cities of Nikopol and Marhanets, damaging several buildings and wounding people, authorities said. Russian troops also shelled the city of Zaporizhzhia, but no casualties were reported. 

In addition, Russian rockets struck unspecified targets in the Khmelnytskyi region, about 300 kilometers west of Kyiv, the regional governor said. Attacks there have been infrequent.
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As Ukraine marks the six-month anniversary of Russia’s invasion, VOA’s Senior Diplomatic Correspondent Cindy Saine reports on the fallout from the conflict. Millions of refugees have fled the country, food exports have plummeted and the United Nations is warning that the world faces “maximum danger” over the situation at Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant.
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The number of coronavirus deaths reported worldwide fell by 15% in the past week while new infections dropped by 9%, the World Health Organization said Wednesday.

In its latest weekly assessment of the COVID-19 pandemic, the U.N. health agency said there were 5.3 million new cases and more than 14,000 deaths reported last week. WHO said the number of new infections declined in every world region except the Western Pacific.

Deaths jumped by more than 183% in Africa but fell by nearly a third in Europe and by 15% in the Americas. Still, WHO warned that COVID-19 numbers are likely severely underestimated as many countries have dropped their testing and surveillance protocols to monitor the virus, meaning that there are far fewer cases being detected.

WHO said the predominant COVID-19 variant worldwide is omicron subvariant BA.5, which accounts for more than 70% of virus sequences shared with the world’s biggest public viral database. Omicron variants account for 99% of all sequences reported in the last month.

Earlier this week, Pfizer asked U.S. regulators to authorize its combination COVID-19 vaccine that adds protection against the newest omicron relatives, BA.4 and BA.5, a key step towards opening a fall booster campaign.

The Food and Drug Administration had ordered vaccine makers to tweak their shots to target BA.4 and BA.5, which are better than ever at dodging immunity from earlier vaccination or infection.

Meanwhile, in the U.K., regulators authorized a version of Moderna’s updated COVID-19 vaccine last week that includes protection against the earlier omicron subvariant BA.1. British officials will offer it to people aged 50 and over beginning next month.

In Germany, Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s Cabinet approved legislation Wednesday that ensures basic protective measures against the coronavirus pandemic are continued during the fall and winter, when more virus cases are expected.

Meanwhile, in the Philippines, millions of students wearing face masks streamed back to primary and secondary schools across the country on Monday for their first in-person classes after two years of coronavirus lockdowns.

Officials had grappled with daunting problems, including classroom shortages, lingering COVID-19 fears, an approaching storm and quake-damaged school buildings in the country’s north, to welcome back nearly 28 million students who enrolled for the school year.
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President Joe Biden on Wednesday praised the “extraordinary courage and dedication to freedom” of the Ukrainian people in fending off Russian fighters, six months into Moscow’s invasion, while demonstrating continued U.S. support for Kyiv’s forces with nearly $3 billion in new military aid.

On Ukraine’s Independence Day marking 31 years since escaping Soviet rule in 1991, Biden said the day “is not only a celebration of the past, but a resounding affirmation that Ukraine proudly remains – and will remain – a sovereign and independent nation.”

Biden said the new tranche of military assistance was designed to help Ukraine defend itself over the long term, with U.S. officials saying some of the weaponry might not be used for a year or two. The U.S. leader said the package would include air defense systems, artillery systems and munitions, counter-unmanned aerial systems, and radars.

The new aid comes on top of about $10.6 billion in military assistance the U.S. has already sent to Ukraine in the last year and a half.

Biden said he knows that this year’s Independence Day “is bittersweet for many Ukrainians as thousands have been killed or wounded, millions have been displaced from their homes, and so many others have fallen victim to Russian atrocities and attacks.”

He added, “Today and every day, we stand with the Ukrainian people to proclaim that the darkness that drives autocracy is no match for the flame of liberty that lights the souls of free people everywhere.”

In Norway, the defense ministry issued a statement saying Norway and Britain are jointly supplying Ukraine with micro drones used for “reconnaissance and target identification.”

Norway is also supplying a portable system that would allow Ukrainian forces to jam enemy drones, which the Norwegian defense ministry said is “particularly suitable for protecting smaller patrols, artillery positions and other important resources.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, in a video address from Kyiv’s Independence Square, said Ukrainians are “fighting for our destiny” and will defend their land “until the end.”

He declared that while the end of the war would be marked by peace, now Ukraine wants victory.

“And we will put our hands up only once — when we will celebrate our victory. The whole of Ukraine,” Zelenskyy said. “Because we do not trade our lands and our people. For us, Ukraine is all of Ukraine. All 25 regions, without any concessions or compromises.”

Zelenskyy said Ukraine would regain control of the eastern Donbas region, where heavy fighting has raged for months, as well as Crimea.

Russian forces shifted their focus to the Donbas after failing in an early push toward the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv. Russian-backed separatists have been battling Ukrainian forces in the Donbas since 2014. The same year, Russian seized Crimea in a move not recognized by the international community.

“You don’t want your soldiers to die? Free our lands,” Zelenskyy said. “You don’t want your mothers to cry? Free our lands. These are our simple and clear terms.”

Public Independence Day celebrations were banned in Kyiv as Ukrainian leaders, and the United States, warned of increased Russian efforts to strike civilian infrastructure and government facilities in Ukraine.

Pope Francis used part of his general audience Wednesday to renew a call for prayers for the Ukrainian people, saying they have “been suffering the horrors of war for six months now,” according to Vatican News.

“I hope that concrete steps will be taken to bring an end to the war and to avert the risk of a nuclear disaster at Zaporizhzhia,” the pope said, referring to a nuclear power plant that Russia and Ukraine have accused each other of attacking in recent weeks.

The pontiff also talked about what he called “the madness” of war and losses on both sides of the conflict, saying children “have lost their father or mother, whether Russians or Ukrainians.”

Some information for this story came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.
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Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Wednesday that Ukrainians are “fighting for our destiny” as the country marked its Independence Day along with six months since Russia launched its invasion.

Speaking in a video address from Kyiv’s Independence Square, Zelenskyy said Ukraine will fight for its land “until the end,” and that while once the end of the war would be marked by peace, now Ukraine wants victory.

“And we will put our hands up only once — when we will celebrate our victory. The whole of Ukraine,” Zelenskyy said. “Because we do not trade our lands and our people. For us, Ukraine is all of Ukraine. All 25 regions, without any concessions or compromises.”

Zelenskyy said Ukraine would regain control of the eastern Donbas region as well as Crimea.

Russian forces shifted their focus to the Donbas after failing in an early push toward the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv. Russian-backed separatists have been battling Ukrainian forces in the Donbas since 2014. The same year, Russian annexed Crimea in a move not recognized by the international community.

“You don’t want your soldiers to die? Free our lands,” Zelenskyy said. “You don’t want your mothers to cry? Free our lands. These are our simple and clear terms.”

Public Independence Day celebrations were banned in Kyiv as Ukrainian leaders, and the United States, warned of increased Russian efforts to strike civilian infrastructure and government facilities in Ukraine.

Military aid

U.S. officials are expected to announced as early as Wednesday an additional $3 billion in new aid to train and supply Ukrainian forces for years to come. The officials said the assistance would fund contracts for drones, weapons and other equipment that may not be used on the battlefront for a year or two.

Unlike most previous packages that provided immediate battlefield assistance, the new funding is largely aimed at helping Ukraine secure its medium- to long-term defense.

The new aid would come on top of about $10.6 billion in military assistance the U.S. has already sent to Ukraine in the last year and a half.

Norway’s defense ministry said in a statement Wednesday that Norway and Britain are jointly supplying Ukraine with micro drones used for “reconnaissance and target identification.”

Norway is also supplying a portable system that would allow Ukrainian forces to jam enemy drones, which Norwegian defense ministry said is “particularly suitable for protecting smaller patrols, artillery positions and other important resources.”

‘Madness’ of war

Pope Francis used part of his general audience Wednesday to renew a call for prayers for the Ukrainian people, saying they have “been suffering the horrors of war for six months now,” according to Vatican News.

“I hope that concrete steps will be taken to bring an end to the war and to avert the risk of a nuclear disaster at Zaporizhzhia,” the pope said, referring to a nuclear power plant that Russia and Ukraine have accused each other of attacking in recent weeks.

Pope Francis also talked about what he called “the madness” of war and losses on both sides of the conflict, saying children “have lost their father or mother, whether Russians or Ukrainians.”

Some information for this story came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.
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Russia’s leading internet firm Yandex on Tuesday said it had agreed to sell its news aggregator and yandex.ru homepage to rival VK in a move likely to further limit Russians’ access to independent media.

The all-share deal, in which Yandex will acquire 100% of food delivery service Delivery Club, marks a significant shift in Russia’s internet landscape, with Yandex effectively passing control over distribution of online content to a state-controlled firm.

VK already runs Russia’s largest social network, V Kontakte, while Moscow has blocked access to some foreign platforms, including Meta Platforms’ Facebook and Instagram.

Russia’s yearslong suppression of independent media intensified sharply after Moscow sent troops into Ukraine on February 24, passing a law banning what it calls “false information” about the armed forces and quashing many organizations’ ability to broadcast freely.

“The board and management of Yandex have concluded that the interests of the company’s stakeholders … are best served by pursuing the strategic exit from its media businesses and shifting to a focus on other technologies and services,” Yandex said in a statement.

Nasdaq-listed Yandex, often referred to as “Russia’s Google,” has in recent years complied with Moscow’s demands under threat of fines over which publications’ stories can feature on its news aggregator, drawing criticism over the impact on media freedom.

Moscow has not blocked access to most foreign-language media, which remain freely available in Russia and on Yandex, but search results do restrict access to any sites that communications regulator Roskomnadzor has banned, many of which are Russian-language independent media.

In February, Yandex started warning Russian users seeking information about events in Ukraine of unreliable information online.

In March, a former head of Yandex News, Lev Gershenzon, described Yandex as a key element in hiding information about the conflict in Ukraine. Yandex has denied being complicit in censorship.

“We are buying our freedom,” a source close to Yandex said. “This business had been such a weight on our feet. … This will enable us to do our business significantly depoliticized, practically completely depoliticized.”

Yandex dominates Russia’s online search market with a share of around 62%, according to its own analytics tool Yandex Radar. Google accounts for about 36%, with VK’s mail.ru at less than 1%.

That stronghold over the online search market will likely continue.

Yandex.ru displays a bundle of news stories below its search bar, followed by a rolling stream of content. The company’s entry point for search will now become ya.ru, a site that resembles Google’s homepage and is already popular with those who prefer uncluttered searches.

Yandex.ru, complete with News and Zen, will be renamed dzen.ru, Yandex said, with VK to take over development and control over “content, look and feel.”

The deal, signed on Monday, requires anti-monopoly approval and is expected to close in the coming months, Yandex said.

*Please note from Reuters that this content was produced in Russia where the law restricts coverage of Russian military operations in Ukraine.
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Unmanned aerial vehicles, or drones, are playing a huge part in the war in Ukraine. But keeping them in the air can be challenging. One Ukrainian company is doing just that and more. Kateryna Markova has the story. Camera – Viktor Petrovych.
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The United States warned Tuesday that Russia is “stepping up efforts to launch strikes against Ukraine’s civilian infrastructure and government facilities in the coming days.”

The message posted by the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv followed similar warnings from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy about potential Russian actions against Ukraine coinciding with his country’s Independence Day.

“Russian strikes in Ukraine pose a continued threat to civilians and civilian infrastructure,” the U.S. Embassy said, adding that U.S. citizens should depart Ukraine if they are able.

Wednesday marks 31 years since Ukraine gained independence from Soviet rule, as well as six months since Russia launched its war.

Amid the warnings, Kyiv canceled public Independence Day celebrations.

Poland’s President Andrzej Duda traveled Tuesday to Kyiv for talks with Zelenskyy and other officials about military, economic and humanitarian support for Ukraine.

The head of Duda’s office, Pawel Szrot, told reporters the neighboring leaders would also discuss “how Poland can politically help to persuade other countries to help.”

Elsewhere in the country, Ukraine’s military said Tuesday that Russian forces carried out fresh artillery and airstrikes in the Zaporizhzhia region where fighting has raised concerns about safety near Europe’s largest nuclear power plant.

Ukrainian casualties

Ukraine’s military chief said Monday nearly 9,000 soldiers have died since Russia invaded Ukraine almost six months ago.

General Valerii Zaluzhnyi made the remarks at a veterans event, giving the first official toll of Ukraine’s military losses since April.

The United Nations says it has confirmed the deaths of more than 5,500 civilians during Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which began February 24.

The U.N. children’s agency said Monday it has confirmed at least 972 Ukrainian children killed or injured from violence but said the true number is likely to be much higher.

Most of the child casualties have been caused by the use of explosive weapons, according to a statement by UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell.

Some information for this story came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.
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Ukraine marks six months on Wednesday since Russia invaded the country in what Russian President Vladimir Putin calls a “special military operation.” 

Ukraine and its Western backers accuse Moscow of waging an unprovoked war of aggression with the aim of grabbing land and erasing Ukrainian national identity. 

Putin said his aim was to disarm the country in order to preemptively ensure Russia’s own security against NATO expansion and to rid it of far-right nationalists who he said threatened Russia. 

Here is a timeline of the main events in Ukraine’s political history since it won independence from Moscow in 1991. 

1991: Leonid Kravchuk, leader of the Soviet republic of Ukraine, declares independence from Moscow. In a referendum and presidential election, Ukrainians overwhelmingly back independence and elect Kravchuk president. He is replaced by Leonid Kuchma in 1994, when Ukraine also agrees to relinquish its nuclear arsenal — the world’s third largest, inherited from Soviet times – in return for security assurances based on respect for its independence and sovereignty under the Budapest Memorandum signed also by Russia, the United States and Britain. 

2004: Pro-Russian candidate Viktor Yanukovich is declared president but allegations of vote-rigging trigger protests in what becomes known as the Orange Revolution, forcing a re-run of the vote. A pro-Western former prime minister, Viktor Yushchenko, is elected president. 

2005: Yushchenko takes power with promises to lead Ukraine out of the Kremlin’s orbit, towards NATO and the European Union. He appoints former energy company boss Yulia Tymoshenko as prime minister but after in-fighting in the pro-Western camp, she is sacked.   

2010: Yanukovich defeats Tymoshenko in a presidential election. Russia and Ukraine clinch a gas pricing deal in exchange for extending the lease for the Russian navy at a Black Sea port on Ukraine’s Crimea peninsula. 

2013: Yanukovich’s government suspends trade and association talks with the EU in November and opts to revive economic ties with Moscow, triggering months of mass rallies in Kyiv. Putin accuses the West of inciting and supporting the protests.   

2014: The protests, largely focused around Kyiv’s Maidan Square, turn violent. Dozens of protesters are killed. In February, the parliament votes to remove Yanukovich, who flees. Within days, armed men seize parliament in Crimea and raise the Russian flag. Moscow annexes the territory after a March 16 referendum which shows overwhelming support in Crimea for joining Russia. 

April 2014: Pro-Russian separatists in Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region declare independence. Fighting breaks out and continues sporadically into 2022, despite frequent ceasefires. 

July 2014: A missile brings down passenger plane MH17 over eastern Ukraine en route from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, killing all 298 people on board. Investigators trace back the weapon used to Russia, which denies involvement. 

2017: President Petro Poroshenko, a pro-Western billionaire businessman in power since May 2014, clinches an association agreement with the EU on free trade of goods and services. Ukrainians also gain the right to visa-free travel to the EU.   

2019: Former comic actor Volodymyr Zelenskyy defeats Poroshenko in an April presidential election on promises to tackle endemic corruption and end the war in eastern Ukraine. His Servant of the People party wins a July parliamentary election. 

2021: Zelenskyy appeals in January to U.S. President Joe Biden to let Ukraine join NATO. Russia masses troops near Ukraine’s borders during the spring in what it says are training exercises. In December Russia presents detailed security demands including a legally binding guarantee that NATO will give up any military activity in eastern Europe and Ukraine. In response, NATO repeats a commitment to its “open-door” policy while offering “pragmatic” discussions of Moscow’s security concerns. 

2022: In a televised address on February 21, Putin says that Ukraine is an integral part of Russian history, has never had a history of genuine statehood, is managed by foreign powers, and has a puppet regime. Putin signs agreements to recognize the breakaway regions in eastern Ukraine as independent and orders Russian troops there. The West imposes more economic sanctions on Russia. On February 24, Putin declares war in a pre-dawn televised address and Russia launches a three-pronged invasion, targeting Ukrainian forces and air bases with missiles and artillery and striking areas in cities. As tens of thousands of people flee their homes, Zelenskyy orders a general mobilization. 
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The Hungarian government on Monday fired the head of the national weather service and her deputy, two days after a fireworks display to celebrate Hungary’s national holiday was delayed for fear of storms.

Technology Minister Laszlo Palkovics, under whose authority the National Meteorological Service (NMS) falls, relieved President Kornelia Radics and her deputy Gyula Horvath from their duties but did not provide a reason.

The ministry did not immediately return AFP’s call.

But the announcement came a day after pro-government media criticized NMS for their forecast of thunderstorms and gusts of wind, which prompted the cancellation of the fireworks on Saturday.

Online news outlet Origo said the agency had given “misleading information about the extent of the bad weather, which misled the operation team responsible for security.”

The NMS agency apologized on Sunday, citing “a factor of uncertainty inherent in the profession.”

In a reaction broadcast on the social network Facebook, liberal politician Andras Fekete-Gyor joked: “They couldn’t produce the desired weather, they were fired.

“No, it’s not a dictatorship in Central Asia, it’s the Hungary of Fidesz,” he said, referring to the country’s ruling party.

The fireworks display — billed as “the biggest in Europe” to celebrate “Hungary’s millennial state” — has been rescheduled for later this week.

The opposition had earlier called for its cancellation, denouncing it as “a useless waste of money” at a time when the country’s economy is struggling.

In 2006, the annual festivities were hit by a violent storm that killed five people and injured several hundred, causing widespread panic among more than a million people who had gathered to watch on the banks of the Danube.
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Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has already killed some 9,000 Ukrainian soldiers since it began nearly six months ago, a general said, and the fighting Monday showed no signs that the war is abating.

At a veterans event, Ukraine’s military chief, Gen. Valerii Zaluzhnyi, said many of Ukraine’s children need to be taken care of because “their father went to the front line and, perhaps, is one of those almost 9,000 heroes who died.”

In Nikopol, across the river from Ukraine’s main nuclear power plant, Russian shelling wounded four people Monday, an official said. The city on the Dnieper River has faced relentless pounding since July 12 that has damaged 850 buildings and sent about half its population of 100,000 fleeing.

“I feel hate toward Russians,” said 74-year-old Liudmyla Shyshkina, standing on the edge of her destroyed fourth-floor apartment in Nikopol that no longer has walls. She is still injured from the Aug. 10 blast that killed her 81-year-old husband, Anatoliy.

“The Second World War didn’t take away my father, but the Russian war did,” noted Pavlo Shyshkin, his son.

The U.N. said 5,587 civilians have been killed and 7,890 wounded in the Russian invasion of Ukraine that began Feb. 24, although the estimate is likely an undercount. The U.N. children’s agency said Monday that at least 972 Ukrainian children have been killed or injured since Russia invaded. UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell said these are U.N.-verified figures but “we believe the number to be much higher.”

U.S. President Joe Biden and the leaders of Britain, France and Germany pleaded Sunday for Russia to end military operations so close to the Zaporizhzhya nuclear plant — Europe’s largest — but Nikopol came under fire three times overnight from rockets and mortar shells. Houses, a kindergarten, a bus station and stores were hit, authorities said.

There are widespread fears that continued shelling and fighting in the area could lead to a nuclear catastrophe. Russia has asked for an urgent meeting of the U.N. Security Council Tuesday to discuss the situation — a move “the audacity” of which Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy decried in his evening video address.

“The total number of different Russian cruise missiles that Russia used against us is approaching 3,500. It is simply impossible to count the strikes of Russian artillery; there are so many of them, and they are so intense,” Zelenskyy said Monday.

Vladimir Rogov, an official with the Russia-installed administration of the occupied Zaporizhzhia region, claimed that because of shelling from Ukraine, staffing at the nuclear plant had been cut sharply. Ukrainians say Russia is storing weapons at the plant and has blocked off areas to Ukrainian nuclear workers.

Monday’s announcement of the scope of Ukraine’s military dead stands in sharp contrast to Russia’s military, which last gave an update March 25 when it said 1,351 Russian troops were killed during the first month of fighting. U.S. military officials estimated two weeks ago that Russia has lost between 70,000 to 80,000 soldiers, both killed and wounded in action.

On Monday though, Moscow turned its attention to one specific civilian death.

Russia blamed Ukrainian spy agencies for the weekend car bombing on the outskirts of Moscow that killed the daughter of a far-right Russian nationalist who ardently supports the invasion of Ukraine.

Russia’s Federal Security Service, the main successor to the KGB, said Monday the killing was “prepared and perpetrated by the Ukrainian special services.” It charged that the bombing that killed 29-year-old TV commentator Darya Dugina, whose father, political theorist Alexander Dugin, is often referred to as “Putin’s brain,” was carried out by a Ukrainian citizen who left Russia for Estonia quickly afterward.

Ukrainian officials have vehemently denied any involvement in the car bombing. Estonian officials say Russia has not asked them to look for the alleged bomber or even spoken to them about the bombing.

On the front lines, the Ukraine military said it carried out a strike on a key bridge over the Dnieper River in the Russian-occupied Kherson region. Local Russia-installed officials said the strike killed two people Monday and wounded 16 others.

Photos on social media showed thick plumes of smoke rising over the Antonivskyi Bridge, an important supply route for the Russian military in Kherson.

On the Russian-occupied Crimean Peninsula, anxiety has been spreading following a spate of fires and explosions at Russian facilities over the past two weeks. The Russian-backed governor of Sevastopol, Mikhail Razvozhaev, ordered signs showing the location of bomb shelters be placed in the city, which had long seemed untouchable.

Razvozhaev said on Telegram the city is well-protected but “it is better to know where the shelters are.”

Sevastopol, the Crimean port that is the home of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet, has seen a series of drone attacks. A drone exploded at the fleet’s headquarters July 31, and another was shot down over it last week. Authorities said air-defense systems have shot down other drones as well.

On Monday evening, Sevastopol residents reported hearing loud explosions on social media. Razvozhaev said the air-defense system had shot down “an object … at high altitude.”

“Preliminary (conclusion) is that it is, again, a drone,” he wrote on Telegram.

Russian President Vladimir Putin didn’t directly mention the war during a speech Monday marking National Flag Day but echoed some of the justifications cited for the invasion.

“We are firm in pursuing in the international arena only those policies that meet the fundamental interests of the motherland,” Putin said. He maintains that Russia sent troops into Ukraine to protect its people against the encroaching West.
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A bag with an explosive charge was found in a Stockholm park during an annual cultural festival and police have opened a preliminary investigation into attempted public destruction, police in Sweden said Monday.

On Sunday, a bag was found and its content was immediately “assessed as dangerous.” The surrounding area was cordoned off and traffic was temporarily rerouted, police said. A bomb squad neutralized the content of the bag on the spot.

“It is only after the investigation at the national forensic center that we can say whether the dangerous object was functional,” said Erik Åkerlund, local police manager.

The police department said it was working “widely,” interviewing witnesses and examining photo and video images. At the moment no one is in custody.

Police said the bag was found at 9:40 p.m. Sunday. The Aftonbladet newspaper said it was left near the Cafe Opera, a famous nightclub.

The five-day Stockholm Culture Festival ended Sunday with a concert by Iranian pop singer Ebi, whose real name is Ebrahim Hamedi and who is a known Iranian dissident. The free festival included musical acts, activities and performances in six areas across the Swedish capital.
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Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin has tested negative in a drug test she took following the publication of video footage last week that showed her partying with friends, the prime minister’s office said on Monday.

Video clips of Marin, 36, at a party with Finnish celebrities began circulating on social media last week and they were soon published by several media outlets in Finland and abroad.  

On Thursday, Marin said she was upset that videos of her dancing at private parties were published online as they were meant to be seen only by friends.

Marin, who became the world’s youngest serving government leader in December 2019, agreed on Friday to take the drug test, saying she had never taken drugs and that she had not seen anyone doing so at the party she attended.  

Social Democrat leader Marin also said her ability to perform her official duties had remained unimpaired on the Saturday night in question and that she would have left the party had she been required to work.

Some Finns have voiced support for Marin and others have raised questions about her judgment.
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Ukraine reported fresh Russian aerial attacks Monday near the site of a major nuclear power plant, while Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned of potential Russian actions as Ukraine prepares to mark the anniversary of its independence.

Regional governor Valentyn Reznichenko said Russian rocket strikes hit areas to the west of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant.  The rockets struck houses, a kindergarten and stores, Reznichenko said.

Russia and Ukraine have traded blame for repeated shelling near the power plant.  Ukraine has asked the United Nations and other international organizations to force Russia to leave the site, which it has occupied since March, even as Ukrainian technicians operate the facility.

The White House said U.S. President Joe Biden, French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson discussed the situation in a call Sunday.

A White House statement said the leaders talked about “the need to avoid military operations near the plant and the importance of an IAEA visit as soon as feasible to ascertain the state of safety systems.”

Talks have been under way for more than a week to arrange for a visit to the plant by the International Atomic Energy Agency.

In a phone call Friday, Russian President Vladimir Putin told French President Emmanuel Macron that Russia would allow international inspectors to enter the plant.

Independence day

Wednesday’s 31st anniversary of Ukraine’s independence from Soviet rule coincides with six months since Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine.

Zelenskyy said during his nightly address Sunday that he had spoken with Macron about “all the threats” posed by Russia, and that similar messages had been sent to U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

“All of Ukraine’s partners have been informed about what the terrorist state can prepare for this week,” Zelenskyy said.

The Ukrainian leader mentioned one action Russia may take is holding a trial for a group of Ukrainian soldiers captured during the siege of the Ukrainian city of Mariupol.

“If this despicable show trial were to go ahead … this would be the line beyond which negotiations are no longer possible,” Zelenskyy said. “There will be no more conversations. Our state has said everything.”

The war between the neighboring countries, raging since Russia’s February 24 invasion, has killed thousands of fighters on both sides and Ukrainian civilians, while forcing millions of Ukrainians to flee their homes for safety in the western part of the country, far from the front battle lines in eastern Ukraine, or go to neighboring countries.

Artillery shells hit Ukraine’s southern city of Nikopol early Sunday, not far from the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant.

Some information for this story came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.
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Serbia’s president called on NATO on Sunday to “do their job” in Kosovo or he says Serbia itself will move to protect its minority in the breakaway province.

The fiery televised address to his nation by President Aleksandar Vucic followed the collapse of political talks between Serbian and Kosovo leaders earlier this week mediated by the European Union in Brussels.

Serbia, along with its allies Russia and China, has refused to recognize Kosovo’s 2008 declaration of independence. A NATO-led intervention in 1999 ended the war between Serbian forces and separatists in Kosovo and stopped Belgrade’s bloody crackdown against Kosovo’s majority Albanians.

The EU has overseen years of unsuccessful talks to normalize their ties, saying that’s one of the main preconditions for Kosovo and Serbia’s eventual membership in the 27-nation bloc.

“We have nowhere to go; we are cornered,” Vucic said. “We will save our people from persecution and pogroms, if NATO does not want to do it.”

He also claimed that Kosovo Albanian “gangs” need to be stopped from crossing into northern Kosovo, where most of the Kosovo Serbs live. He offered no proof for the claim.

There are widespread fears in the West that Russia could encourage its ally Serbia into an armed intervention in northern Kosovo that would further destabilize the Balkans and shift at least some world and NATO attention from Russia’s war in Ukraine.

Nearly 4,000 NATO-led peacekeepers have been stationed in Kosovo following the 1998-99 war and any armed intervention there by Serbia or Russia would mean a major escalation of a simmering conflict in Europe.

Following the collapse of the EU-mediated talks, NATO peacekeeping troops in Kosovo have been deployed at main roads in its north, saying they are ready to protect the freedom of movement for all sides.

Tensions between Serbia and Kosovo soared anew last month when the Kosovo government led by Prime Minister Albin Kurti declared that Serbian identity documents and vehicle license plates would no longer be valid in Kosovo’s territory. Serbia has been implementing the same measures for Kosovo citizens crossing into Serbia for the past 10 years.

Minority Serbs in Kosovo reacted with anger to the proposed changes, putting up roadblocks, sounding air raid sirens and firing guns into the air and in the direction of Kosovo police officers. No one was injured.

Under apparent pressure from the West, Kurti postponed implementation of the measure for a month to Sept. 1, when more trouble is expected if a compromise is not reached by then.

Vucic said Serbia will “work hard” to reach a “compromise solution in the next 10 days” and accused the Kosovo leadership of “only being interested in abolishing any trace of the Serbian state in Kosovo.”

Vucic also claimed, again without proof, that Kosovo’s government wanted “the final removal of the Serbian people from Kosovo” — something that has been repeatedly denied by Kosovo officials.

Kosovo Interior Minister Xhelal Svecla on Sunday visited Kosovo police units stationed near the northern border with Serbia, saying that he hopes there will be no trouble when the new measures begin on Sept.1.

“Our common interest here is that this land is ours and we will not give it up at any price,” he said.
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The leaders of the United States, Britain, France and Germany discussed efforts to revive the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, the White House said on Sunday in a statement largely focused on Ukraine.  

“In addition, they discussed ongoing negotiations over Iran’s nuclear program, the need to strengthen support for partners in the Middle East region, and joint efforts to deter and constrain Iran’s destabilizing regional activities,” the White House said in its description of the call among the four.

The White House provided no further details regarding the Middle Eastern portion of the discussion among U.S. President Joe Biden, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.

The European Union and United States last week said they were studying Iran’s response to what the EU has called its “final” proposal to revive the deal, under which Tehran curbed its nuclear program in return for economic sanctions relief.

Failure in the nuclear negotiations could raise the risk of a fresh regional war, with Israel threatening military action against Iran if diplomacy fails to prevent Tehran from developing a nuclear weapons capability.

Iran, which has long denied having such ambitions, has warned of a “crushing” response to any Israeli attack.

In 2018, then-President Donald Trump reneged on the nuclear deal reached before he took office, calling it too soft on Iran, and reimposed harsh U.S. sanctions, spurring the Islamic Republic to begin breaching its limits on uranium enrichment.
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Pope Francis on Sunday called for an “open and sincere” dialogue to resolve a stand-off between the Church and government in Nicaragua, following the arrest of a bishop who is a leading critic of President Daniel Ortega.

Speaking to pilgrims and tourists in St. Peter’s Square for his weekly blessing, Francis made his first comments on the crisis in the Central American country, where in recent months authorities have detained priests while others have gone into exile.

Francis, who did not specifically mention the arrest of the Bishop Rolando Alvarez of Matagalpa in the north of the country, said he was following the situation in Nicaragua “with worry and pain” and asked for prayers for the country. 

“I would like to express my conviction and my wish that, through an open and sincere dialogue, the foundations for a respectful and peaceful coexistence can be found,” Francis said.

Alvarez was whisked away during a pre-dawn raid in Matagalpa on Friday and put under house arrest in the capital, Managua.

Alvarez, a critic of Ortega’s government and one of the Nicaraguan Church’s most influential figures, had been confined for two weeks in a Church house in Matagalpa along with five priests, one seminarian and a cameraman for a religious television channel.
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Ukraine is set this week to mark six months since the Russian invasion.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in his daily address Saturday, “I remember what various ‘advisers’ told me and advised me then. … I know that many of them are now ashamed of the words that were said then. … Ukrainians have proven that our people are invincible, our defenders are invincible.”

Zelenskyy said, “We still need to fight, we still need to do a lot, we still need to persevere and endure, unfortunately, a lot of pain. … But Ukrainians can feel proud of themselves, their country, and their heroes.

“We should be aware,” he added, “that this week Russia may try to do something particularly nasty, something particularly cruel. Such is our enemy. But in any other week during these six months, Russia did the same thing all the time – disgusting and cruel.”

Russian air defenses shot down a drone in Crimea on Saturday, Russian authorities said. It was the second such incident at the headquarters of its Black Sea Fleet in three weeks.

Oleg Kryuchkov, an aide to Crimea’s governor, also said without elaborating that “attacks by small drones” triggered air defenses in western Crimea.

Russia considers Crimea to be Russian territory, but Ukrainian officials have never accepted its 2014 annexation.

Mikhail Razvozhaev, the governor of Sevastopol, said the drone that was shot down fell on the roof of the Russian fleet’s headquarters but did not cause casualties or major damage.

Razvozhaev posted a new statement on Telegram on Saturday night asking residents to stop filming and disseminating pictures of the region’s anti-aircraft system and how it was working, Reuters reported.

The incident underlines the vulnerability of Russian forces in Crimea.

Earlier this month, explosions at a Russian air base destroyed nine Russian warplanes and earlier this week a Russian ammunition depot in Crimea was hit by a blast. A drone attack on the Black Sea headquarters July 31 injured five people and forced the cancelation of observances of Russia’s Navy Day, The Associated Press said.

Ukrainian authorities have not claimed responsibility for any of the attacks, but Zelenskyy referred obliquely to them Saturday in his nightly video address, Reuters reported, saying there was anticipation there for next week’s anniversary of Ukrainian independence from Soviet rule.

“You can literally feel Crimea in the air this year, that the occupation there is only temporary, and that Ukraine is coming back,” he said.

Christopher Miller, a professor of international history at Tufts University, told The New York Times, that Ukraine may try to disrupt Russian logistics and supply lines, and also put the war back on the Russian domestic political agenda.

Heightened nuclear fears

For weeks shelling around the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant has raised fears of a nuclear disaster.

On Saturday, the town of Voznesensk, which is about 30 kilometers from the Pivdennoukrainsk nuclear power plant, the second-largest in Ukraine, was hit by a Russian missile Reuters reported, quoting Vitaliy Kim, the Mykolaiv regional governor.

Kim said on Telegram that the missile injured at least nine people and damaged houses and an apartment block in Voznesensk. State-run Energoatom, which manages all four Ukrainian nuclear energy generators, called the attack on Voznesensk “another act of Russian nuclear terrorism,” Reuters reported.

“It is possible that this missile was aimed specifically at the Pivdennoukrainsk nuclear power plant, which the Russian military tried to seize back at the beginning of March,” Energoatom said in a statement.

Reuters was unable immediately to verify the situation in Voznesensk. There were no reports of any damage to the Pivdennoukrainsk plant. Russia did not immediately respond to requests for comment, Reuters said.

Ukraine has asked the United Nations and other international organizations to force Russia to leave the Zaporizhzhia plant, which it has occupied since March.

Enerhodar, a town near the Zaporizhzhia plant, has recently seen repeated shelling, with Moscow and Kyiv trading blame for the attacks, according to Reuters.

Talks have been underway for more than a week to arrange for a visit to the plant by the International Atomic Energy Agency.

In a phone call Friday, Russian President Vladimir Putin told French President Emmanuel Macron that Russia would allow international inspectors to enter the Zaporizhzhia plant.

IAEA chief Rafael Grossi “welcomed recent statements indicating that both Ukraine and Russia supported the IAEA’s aim to send a mission” to the plant.

Sober warning from Britain

Conservative British Member of Parliament Tobias Ellwood, who chairs the House of Commons Defense Select Committee, cautioned that any nuclear accident at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant could draw NATO into the war between Russia and Ukraine.

“Let’s make it clear now: any deliberate damage causing potential radiation leak to a Ukrainian nuclear reactor would be a breach of NATO’s Article 5,” he said Friday on Twitter.

Article 5 of the NATO treaty states that an armed attack against one or more NATO allies in Europe or North America is to be considered an attack against them all and compels each to take any action it deems necessary to assist the attacked member state.

There is growing concern in Europe that shelling around Zaporizhzhia could result in a catastrophe worse than the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster.

Some information for this report came from The Associated Press and Reuters.
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The daughter of an ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin was killed Saturday when the Toyota Land Cruiser she was driving exploded in Russia.

Darya Dugin, a journalist, was killed in the blast Saturday near Moscow.

Darya’s father is Russian political commentator Alexander Dugin, often referred to a “Putin’s brain.”

Media reports say the elder Dugin, an ultra-nationalist, may have been the intended target.

Both father and daughter were supporters of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
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Shortly before his two-day trip to Canada, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz received support for his interest in Canadian liquid natural gas to help replace Russian gas imports from an unexpected ally: Ukrainian state-owned gas company Naftogaz.

Kyiv has been at loggerheads with Berlin over its gas imports policy: firstly, over its deal with Moscow to build the Nord Stream 2 pipeline and more recently over its deal with Canada to get a repaired turbine for the Nord Stream 1 delivered back to Germany.

But the prospect of LNG deliveries to Europe from Canada, one of the world’s top gas producers, is something that not only Naftogaz supports, it’s something it has also been quietly working on itself.

Naftogaz earlier this year signed a little-reported memorandum of understanding with Canadian energy developer Symbio Infrastructure to purchase LNG from Canada.

Meanwhile, Canada and Germany have been discussing building LNG terminals on the Canadian Atlantic coast.

Naftogaz’s CEO Yuriy Vitrenko told Reuters in an emailed statement that Canadian gas had many advantages.

“Canadian suppliers do not have dominance in the German market, do not abuse it, as Gazprom, who is artificially decreasing supplies, ‘cornering the market’, and ripping off its customers,” he said.

Still, the challenges to these proposals are considerable, German and Canadian officials point out.

The costs of transporting gas from Alberta in the Canadian west to the East Coast would be high. New pipelines would be needed, and the global shift away from fossil fuels means the terminal’s lifetime would be too short to be profitable unless converted into a hydrogen terminal when gas demand declines.

German officials acknowledged this week that Canadian LNG deliveries were, at best, a medium-term prospect and played up instead a deal on hydrogen that Scholz is set to sign with Canadian Prime Minister Justine Trudeau.

Sensitive political topic

German government officials are keen not to cause ally Trudeau more headaches after a backlash to his decision to allow a turbine for the Nord Stream gas pipeline to be delivered back to Germany after repairs in Canada.

Scholz and Economy Minister Robert Habeck will also meet with Quebec Premier Francois Legault — from a different political camp than Trudeau — because of considerable resistance there to the construction of an LNG terminal and the necessary infrastructure.

Michael Link, transatlantic coordinator for the German government, said it would make much more sense to import LNG from Canada than from autocratic governments, noting it was important Scholz was visiting the provinces in the federal country.

“Canada is reliable, democratic and disposes of the highest environmental and social standards,” he said in an interview.

Yet, at the end of the day, even Canadian LNG deliveries to Asia from the West coast would help, he said.

“The gas exported there goes onto the world market, it increases the supply and puts downward pressure on prices,” Link told Reuters.
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The first surprise, for the Finnish conscripts and officers taking part in a NATO-hosted military exercise in the Arctic this spring: the sudden roar of a U.S. Marine helicopter assault force, touching down in a field right next to the Finns’ well-hidden command post.

The second surprise: Spilling out of their field headquarters, the Finnish Signal Corps communications workers and others inside routed the U.S. Marines — the Finns’ designated adversary in the NATO exercise and members of America’s professional and premier expeditionary force — in the mock firefight that followed.

Finnish camouflage for the Arctic snow, scrub and scree likely had kept the Americans from even realizing the command post was there when they landed, Finnish commander Lt. Col. Mikko Kuoka suspected.

“For those who years from now will doubt it,” Kuoka wrote in an infantry-focused blog of an episode he later confirmed for The Associated Press, “That actually happened.”

As the exercise made clear, NATO’s addition of Finland and Sweden — what President Joe Biden calls “our allies of the high north” — would bring military and territorial advantages to the Western defense alliance. That’s especially so as the rapid melting of the Arctic from climate change awakens strategic rivalries at the top of the world.

Sophisticated partners

In contrast to the NATO expansion of former Soviet states that needed big boosts in the decades after the Cold War, the alliance would be bringing in two sophisticated militaries and, in Finland’s case, a country with a remarkable tradition of national defense. Both Finland and Sweden are in a region on one of Europe’s front lines and meeting places with Russia.

Finland, defending against Soviet Russia’s invasion on the eve of World War II, relied on fighters on snowshoes and skis, expert snow and forest camouflage, and reindeers transporting weapons.

Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine in late February, along with his pointed reminder about the Kremlin’s nuclear arsenal and his repeated invocation of broad territorial claims stemming from the days of the Russian Empire, have galvanized current NATO nations into strengthening their collective defenses and bringing on board new members.

Finland — until 1917 a grand duchy in that empire — and Sweden abandoned longtime national policies of military nonalignment. They applied to come under NATO’s nuclear and conventional umbrella and join 30 other member states in a powerful mutual defense pact, stipulating that an attack on one member is an attack on all.

Putin justified his invasion of West-looking Ukraine as pushing back against NATO and the West as, he said, they encroached ever closer on Russia. A NATO that includes Finland and Sweden would come as an ultimate rebuke for Putin’s war, empowering the defensive alliance in a strategically important region, surrounding Russia in the Baltic Sea and Arctic Ocean, and crowding NATO up against Russia’s western border for more than 1,300 kilometers (800 miles).

“I spent four years, my term, trying to persuade Sweden and Finland to join NATO,” former NATO secretary-general Lord George Robertson said this summer. “Vladimir Putin managed it in four weeks.”

Biden has been part of bipartisan U.S. and international cheerleading for the two countries’ candidacies. Reservations expressed by Turkey and Hungary keep NATO approval from being a lock.

Russia in recent years has been “rearming up in the north, with advanced nuclear weapons, hypersonic missiles and multiple bases,” NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said this month. “Russia’s threats, and Russia’s military build-up, mean that NATO is strengthening its presence in the north.’

Finland and Sweden would bring a lot to that mix. But they’re not without flaws.

Both countries downsized their militaries, cut defense funding and closed bases after the collapse of the Soviet Union lulled Cold War-era fears. As of just five years ago, Sweden’s entire national defense force could fit into one of Stockholm’s soccer stadiums, a critic noted.

But as Putin grew more confrontational, Sweden reinstated conscription and otherwise moved to rebuild its military. Sweden has a capable navy and a high-tech air force. Like Finland, Sweden has a valued homegrown defense industry; Sweden is one of the smallest countries in the world to build its own fighter jets.

Finnish Winter War

Finland’s defense force, meanwhile, is the stuff of legend.

In 1939 and 1940, Finland’s tiny, miserably equipped forces, fighting alone in what became known as the Winter War, made the nation one of few to survive a full-on assault by the Soviet Union with independence intact. Over the course of an exceptionally, deathly cold winter, Finnish fighters, sometimes cloaked in white bedsheets for camouflage and typically moving unseen on foot, snowshoes and skis, lost some territory to Russia but forced out the invaders.

Finns were responsible for up to 200,000 fatalities among invading forces versus an estimated 25,000 Finns lost, said Iskander Rehman, a fellow at Johns Hopkins’ Henry A. Kissinger Center for Global Affairs.

It helped fuel a Finnish national credo of “sisu,” or grit. Finnish Winter War veterans were recruited for the U.S. Army’s winter warfare training, Rehman noted.

Finland’s constitution makes rallying to the national defense an obligation of every citizen. Finland says it can muster a 280,000-strong fighting force, built on near-universal male conscription and a large, well-trained reserve, equipped with modern artillery, warplanes and tanks, much of it U.S.

The U.S. and NATO are likely to increase their presence around the Baltic and Arctic with the accession of the two Scandinavian countries.

“Just looking at the map, if you add in Finland and Sweden, you essentially turn the entire Baltic Sea into a NATO lake,” with just two smaller bits of Russia lining it, said Zachary Selden, a former director of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly’s defense and security committee who is now a national security expert at the University of Florida.

Likewise, Russia will become the only non-NATO member among countries with claims to Arctic territory, and the only non-NATO member of the Atlantic Council, an eight-member international forum created for Arctic issues.

Selden predicts a greater NATO presence in the Baltics as a result, perhaps with a new NATO regional command, along with U.S. military rotations, although likely not any permanent base.

Russia sees its military presence in the Arctic as vital to its European strategy, including ballistic missile submarines that give it second-strike capability in any conflict with NATO, analysts say.

The Arctic is warming much faster under climate change than the Earth as a whole, opening up competition for Arctic resources and access as Arctic ice vanishes.

Russia has been building its fleet of nuclear-powered icebreakers, aiming to escort expected future commercial shipping traffic through the melting Arctic, “as a way to create this toll road for transit,’ said Sherri Goodman, a former U.S. first deputy undersecretary of defense, now at the Wilson Center’s Polar Institute and at the Center for Climate & Security.

Goodman points to future threats NATO will need to be able to deal with as the melting Arctic opens up, such as the kind of shadowy, unofficial forces Russia has used in Crimea and in Africa and elsewhere, and the increased risk of a hard-to-handle Russian nuclear maritime accident.

NATO strategy increasingly will incorporate the strategic advantage Finland and Sweden would bring to such scenarios, analysts said.
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Sixteen people were killed in southeast Turkey on Saturday when a bus crashed into emergency workers and journalists who were working at an earlier accident on a highway near the city of Gaziantep, local authorities said.

Regional governor Davut Gul said the dead included three firefighters, four emergency health workers and two drone operators from a Turkish news agency.

“At around 10:45 this morning, a passenger bus crashed here,” Gul said, speaking from the scene of the accident on the road east of Gaziantep.

“While the fire brigade, medical teams and other colleagues were responding to the accident, another bus crashed 200 meters behind. The second bus slid to this site and hit the first responders and the wounded people on the ground.”

Vice President Fuat Oktay said the emergency workers and journalists had “lost their lives in the line of duty.”
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