Russia said Sunday that it shot down 36 drones overnight over the Black Sea and the Crimean Peninsula. Ukraine, which has stepped up its campaign against Russia, has not commented on the overnight attack.

From their meeting in Japan Sunday, the G7 trade ministers issued a joint statement about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, calling it “brutal, unprovoked, unjustifiable and illegal war of aggression.”

Russian universities have reportedly been instructed to stop any negative discussions during academic activities about any Russian political, economic and social trends, the British Defense Ministry said Sunday.

This move marks yet another “restriction of the information space in wartime Russia,” the ministry said, “making it more difficult to openly discuss policy issues.”

This restriction, the ministry said, will likely further add to “the trend of Russian policy-making taking place in an echo-chamber of politically acceptable, pro-Kremlin perspectives” in the runup to President Vladimir Putin’s anticipated bid for reelection in March, the British ministry said.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in his daily address Saturday that it was “very symbolic” that the Malta summit was being held that day because that is also the day Ukraine commemorates World War II and the anniversary of the expulsion of the Nazis from its territory.

The summit in Malta is the third round of the Ukrainian-backed peace talks in which more than 60 countries are meeting to consider Zelenskyy’s 10-point plan to end the war. Similar meetings were held earlier this year in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, and Copenhagen, Denmark.

In his daily address, Zelenskyy also thanked Ukraine’s border guards who are now “fighting on the front lines” along with the nation’s defense and security forces “to bring a time of peace closer to Ukraine.”

Russia accused Ukraine of damaging a nuclear waste storage warehouse in a drone attack on the Kursk nuclear power plant and claimed its air defenses shot down eight Ukrainian drones.

The Russian Foreign Ministry said on Saturday that three explosive-laden drones targeted the power plant on Thursday night, striking its administration building and a facility storing nuclear waste. The press service for the Kursk nuclear power plant confirmed the strike Friday, but told journalists there was no significant damage or casualties and that operations were continuing as normal.

Intense fighting has continued around the key city of Avdiivka in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine.

Ukraine’s air force said it destroyed three of four Iskander cruise missiles over the country’s Dnipropetrovsk region Saturday night.

A dearth of reported aerial attacks this weekend follows several weeks of fierce fighting close to Avdiivka. Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umerov told his U.S. counterpart Lloyd Austin on Saturday that Russia had lost about 4,000 troops in Avdiivka, according to Kyiv’s Defense Ministry.
…

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in his daily address Saturday that it was “very symbolic” that the Malta summit was being held that day because that is also the day Ukraine commemorates World War II and the anniversary of the expulsion of the Nazis from its territory. 

The summit in Malta is the third round of the Ukrainian-backed peace talks in which more than 60 countries are meeting to consider Zelenskyy’s 10-point plan to end the war. Similar meetings were held earlier this year in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, and Copenhagen, Denmark. 

In his daily address, Zelenskyy also thanked Ukraine”s border guards who are now “fighting on the front lines” along with the nation’s defense and security forces “to bring a time of peace closer to Ukraine.” 

Russia blames Ukraine for damage

Russia accused Ukraine of damaging a nuclear waste storage warehouse in a drone attack on the Kursk nuclear power plant and claimed its air defenses shot down eight Ukrainian drones. 

The Russian Foreign Ministry said on Saturday that three explosive-laden drones targeted the power plant on Thursday night, striking its administration building and a facility storing nuclear waste. The press service for the Kursk nuclear power plant confirmed the strike Friday, but told journalists there was no significant damage or casualties and that operations were continuing as normal. 

Fighting around Avdiivka 

Intense fighting has continued around the key city of Avdiivka in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine. 

Ukraine’s air force said it destroyed three of four Iskander cruise missiles over the country”s Dnipropetrovsk region Saturday night. 

A dearth of reported aerial attacks this weekend follows several weeks of fierce fighting close to Avdiivka. Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umerov told his U.S. counterpart Lloyd Austin on Saturday that Russia had lost about 4,000 troops in Avdiivka, according to Kyiv”s Defense Ministry. 
…

Schools will move to an online regime starting Monday in Ukraine’s central city of Vinnytsia after a hepatitis A outbreak sent scores of children and adults to the hospital, the country’s chief sanitary official said over the weekend.  

“The main thing now is to establish the center of the outbreak and the causes in order to stop the spread of the viral hepatitis A among the population as soon as possible,” Chief Sanitary Doctor of Ukraine Ihor Kuzin wrote on Facebook on Saturday. 

Kuzin, who also serves as Ukraine’s deputy health minister, said 141 people in the city and the region were in a hospital. Vinnytsia, which had a pre-war population of around 370,000, is the administrative center of the Vinnytsia region in central Ukraine. 

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, hepatitis A is a highly contagious, short-term liver infection that can be spread through close personal contact or eating contaminated food or drink. 

People who get hepatitis A may feel sick for a few weeks to several months but usually recover fully, unless they are in a higher risk group or have pre-existing health conditions.  

“So far, there is no single cause of the outbreak,” Kuzin said. “We are analyzing the centers of spread and are working with the population, in particular to establish a circle of contact persons.” 
…

A third round of Ukrainian-backed peace talks opened in Malta on Saturday with representatives from more than 60 countries but without Moscow, which condemned it as a “blatantly anti-Russian event.” 

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy addressed the first of two days of closed-door talks among national security and policy advisers, which he hopes will drum up support for his 10-point plan to end the war. 

In a statement on social media, he said 66 countries had taken part in the talks, proof that his plan “has gradually become global.” 

It follows similar meetings in Jeddah and Copenhagen this summer, with the Ukrainians hoping to eventually hold a summit at the level of heads of state. 

“The meeting confirmed the broad interest and increasing support for the key elements of Ukraine’s Peace Formula,” an EU official said Saturday. 

Against the backdrop of the Hamas-Israel war, it also showed “that restoration of just peace is important beyond Ukraine, it is about a global plea for respect of international law,” the official said. 

Russian spokesperson calls event ‘anti-Russian’

Russian foreign ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova, however, has dismissed the Malta talks as a “blatantly anti-Russian event.”  

They had “nothing to do with the search for a peaceful resolution,” she said on Thursday. 

Participants in Malta included the United States, the EU and Britain, staunch supporters of Kyiv following Russia’s February 2022 invasion. 

Turkey, which has offered itself as a mediator between Ukraine and Russia, was also represented, according to a list seen by AFP before the talks opened. 

So too were South Africa, Brazil and India, all members of the influential BRICS bloc, which also includes Russia. 

South Africa and India have not condemned Russia’s invasion, while Brazil has refused to join Western nations in sending arms to Ukraine or imposing sanctions on Moscow. 

China, which insists it is neutral and refuses to criticize the invasion, did not attend, despite being present in Jeddah in August, according to the EU official. 

Organizers were hoping for a joint statement from the Malta summit, after both previous meetings ended without a final declaration. 

Talks address territorial integrity

Andriy Yermak, the head of Ukraine’s presidential office, said on Telegram that the discussions on Saturday were lively and focused on five key areas, notably the issue of Ukraine’s territorial integrity. 

Zelensky’s peace plan calls for Russia to withdraw all its troops from Ukraine’s internationally recognized borders, including from the territory of Crimea, which it annexed in 2014. 

Russia, which claimed last year to have annexed the four Ukrainian regions of Lugansk, Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia, has rejected any settlement that would involve giving up land. 

The Malta talks are also looking at nuclear security, notably the need to ensure the safety of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, and how to protect Ukraine’s energy infrastructure as winter approaches. 

The issue of food security was also on the agenda, as Russia blocks grain exports from Ukraine, as well as humanitarian issues, including the release of prisoners and the return of Ukrainian children taken to Russia. 
…

Editor’s note: Here is a look at immigration-related news around the U.S. this week. Questions? Tips? Comments? Email the VOA immigration team: ImmigrationUnit@voanews.com.

Is There a Path to Refugee Resettlement for Palestinians?

Palestinians are the largest stateless community worldwide, according to the United Nations, and when they become refugees, the way to resettlement in the United States or other countries is not a straightforward journey. Immigration reporter Aline Barros reports.

Canada Admits Nearly 40,000 Afghans, Willing to Take More

Canada is on the brink of fulfilling its commitment to accept 40,000 Afghans before the end of this year. The pledge, made by Ottawa in August 2021 when the Taliban seized power in Afghanistan, was driven by concerns for the safety of Afghans who had collaborated with Canadian programs and the former Afghan government. Story by Akmal Dawi.

Venezuelans Now Largest Group of Illegal US Border Crossers

Venezuelans became the largest nationality arrested for illegally crossing the U.S. border, replacing Mexicans for the first time on record, according to figures released Saturday that show September was the second-highest month for arrests of all nationalities. The Associated Press reports.

US Denies Hamas Eyeing US Southern Border

Fears that Hamas’ deadly terror attack on Israel could help spark a wider conflict or even terror attacks in the United States have yet to materialize into actual threats, according to U.S. officials. But that has not stopped concerns that terror-linked operatives may try to enter the U.S. southern border. VOA National Security Correspondent Jeff Seldin has more.

VOA Day In Photos: Little Amal, a 12-foot-tall puppet depicting a 10-year-old Syrian refugee, plays with Fabian, a Venezuelan migrant boy, during her journey along the U.S.-Mexico border in El Paso, Texas, Oct. 25, 2023.

Immigration around the world

Latin American Leaders Hold Summit on Migration

A dozen Latin leaders gathered on October 22 in Mexico to discuss how to confront complicated and huge illegal migration flows, mostly to the United States. Mexico wants to “combine efforts, will and resources to tackle the causes of the migratory phenomenon,” President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said on X, formerly Twitter, as the summit got underway. Agence France-Presse reports.

Scores of African Migrants Arrive on Spain’s Canary Islands

Authorities say more than 1,300 sub-Saharan African migrants reached Spain’s Canary Islands, a seven-island Atlantic archipelago, October 21-22. One vessel carried a record 321 people. Another record was set earlier this month when 8,561 migrants arrived on the islands in the first two weeks of October. VOANews has the story.

Cyprus Busts Refugee Trafficking Ring as More Arrive from Mideast

Police in Cyprus on Monday arrested 10 individuals suspected of running a criminal gang trafficking migrants, as the island saw a fresh spike in arrivals over the weekend. Cyprus, which lies at the crossroads of three continents, has seen irregular migration rise since 2017. Cypriot officials have in recent days repeatedly expressed concern that the rapidly deteriorating security situation in the Middle East could lead to a surge in people fleeing the region. Reuters has the story.

Pakistan Moves to Create Deportation Centers as Afghan Migrant Deadline Nears

The Pakistani government approved the creation of several deportation centers for hundreds of thousands of illegally residing Afghan nationals whom they plan to arrest and repatriate to Afghanistan starting next month, Ayaz Gul reports from Islamabad.

News brief

— U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services has provided additional guidance on its interpretation of changes to the EB-5 program in the Immigration and Nationality Act.
…

Hundreds of thousands of demonstrators rallied in cities in Europe, the Middle East and Asia on Saturday to show support for the Palestinians as Israel’s military widened its air and ground offensive on the Gaza Strip.

In one of the biggest marches, in London, aerial footage showed large crowds marching through the center of the capital to demand the government of Prime Minister Rishi Sunak call for a cease-fire.

“The superpowers at play are not doing enough at the moment. This is why we’re here: We’re calling for a cease-fire, calling for Palestinian rights, the right to exist, to live, human rights, all our rights,” protester Camille Revuelta said.

“This is not about Hamas. This is about protecting Palestinian lives,” she said.

Echoing Washington’s stance, Sunak’s government has stopped short of calling for a cease-fire, instead advocating humanitarian pauses to allow aid to reach people in Gaza.

Britain has supported Israel’s right to defend itself after the October 7 attack by militant group Hamas that killed 1,400 people, mostly civilians.

The death toll in Gaza has climbed to 7,650, also mostly civilians, since Israel’s bombardment began three weeks ago, according to a daily report released on Saturday from the Hamas-controlled Palestinian health ministry.

There has been strong support and sympathy for Israel from Western governments and many citizens over the Hamas attacks, but the Israeli response has also prompted anger, particularly in Arab and Muslim countries.

In Malaysia, a large crowd of demonstrators chanted slogans outside the U.S. embassy in Kuala Lumpur.

Addressing hundreds of thousands of supporters at a huge rally in Istanbul, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said Israel was an occupier and repeated his stance about Hamas not being a terrorist organization. The U.S. designated Hamas a Foreign Terrorist Organization in 1997.

Erdogan drew a sharp rebuke from Israel this week for calling the militant group “freedom fighters.”

Iraqis took part in a rally in Baghdad, and in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, Palestinian protesters in Hebron called on Saturday for a global boycott of Israeli products.

“Don’t contribute to the killing of the children of Palestine,” they chanted.

Elsewhere in Europe, people took to the streets of Copenhagen, Rome and Stockholm.

Some cities in France have banned rallies since the war began, fearing they could fuel social tensions, but despite the ban, a small rally took place on Saturday in Paris. Several hundred people also marched in the southern city of Marseille.

In New Zealand’s capital, Wellington, thousands of people holding Palestinian flags and placards reading “Free Palestine” marched to Parliament House.

In London, special restrictions were in place on protests around the Israeli Embassy.

Saturday’s march was peaceful, but police said they had made two arrests, one along the march route after a police officer was assaulted and another on suspicion of a racially aggravated public order offense after a man was heard shouting racist remarks.

Police estimated the turnout at 50,000 to 70,000 people.

London police have faced criticism in recent days for not being tougher over slogans shouted by some protesters during another pro-Palestinian march in the capital last week, which drew about 100,000 people.
…

As many as 400,000 people are estimated to have suffered sexual abuse from Spain’s Catholic clergy and lay people, according to an independent commission.

At least half of the victims may have been children, said the nearly 800-page report released to the speaker of the Spanish parliament’s lower house Friday and then to reporters.

Conducted by Spain’s ombudsman, Angel Gabilondo, who said the Church had often minimized or denied people’s reports of abuse, Spain’s first official probe of sex abuse by clergy members or others connected to the Catholic Church in the country was drawn from a survey based on 8,000 valid phone and online responses.

According to The Associated Press, the poll said 1.13% of the Spanish adults questioned said they were abused as children by either priests or lay members of the church, including teachers at religious schools. Of those, 0.6% identified their abusers as clergy members.

By those estimates, more than 1 in 200 Spaniards may have been sexually abused by Catholic Church priests, the survey suggested.

“What has happened has been possible because of that silence,” the ombudsman said.

Gabilondo has suggested the creation of a state fund to compensate victims.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said the probe’s findings represent a “milestone” for Spain’s democracy.

“Today we are a little better as a country,” Sánchez said Friday from Brussels, “because a reality has been made known that everyone has known for many years, but which no one spoke of.”

Some information for this report came from The Associated Press.
…

Serbian police have arrested six people and seized automatic weapons after a shooting between migrants near the country’s tense border with Hungary killed three people and injured one.

Police said late Friday they detained four Afghan and two Turkish nationals suspected of unlawful possession of guns and explosives. It was not immediately clear whether they would be charged with the shooting as well.

The suspected clash between groups of migrants happened early Friday in abandoned farming warehouses near the village of Horgos. Police raided the area and seized two automatic rifles and ammunition. They also found 79 migrants and transferred them to reception centers, the statement said.

Reports of violence and gunbattles have become common near the border between Serbia and European Union member nation Hungary. Thousands of migrants have been camping in the area, looking for ways to cross with the help of people smugglers.

Serbian police have raided the border zone on several occasions over the past several months, arresting suspected people smugglers and confiscating weapons. President Aleksandar Vucic said on Friday that Serbia could bring in the military “to fix this,” state RTS television reported.

The Serbia-Hungary border area lies on the so-called Balkan land route of migration toward Western Europe, which leads from Turkey to Greece and Bulgaria, and then on to North Macedonia, Serbia or Bosnia.

Hungary’s staunchly anti-immigrant government has put up razor-wire fence on the border with Serbia to stop the influx. People smuggling gangs, however, have multiplied in the border area, often clashing for control.
…

Ukrainian pro-Russian entrepreneur Oleg Tsaryov was shot twice and seriously wounded late Thursday in Russian-annexed Crimea where he lives, his family and Russian officials said Friday.

Russia’s top investigative body said it had opened a criminal inquiry into the attempt on his life, the latest incident in a series of attacks since the start of the war on several prominent pro-Moscow figures.

Tsaryov was found unconscious and bleeding. A Russian-installed official in southern Ukraine, Vladimir Rogov, said he is in intensive care. The former Ukrainian lawmaker was lined up to lead a puppet administration in Kyiv if Russia succeeded in occupying Kyiv, Reuters reported, citing sources in Moscow.

The shooting of Tsaryov was a special operation conducted by the Security Service of Ukraine, or SBU, a source in the Ukrainian intelligence agency said Friday.

Tsaryov, a wealthy hotel businessman in Crimea, was previously a member of the Ukrainian parliament and then speaker of the parliament of “Novorossiya” — an entity formed after Russian-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine broke away in 2014 and began fighting Ukrainian forces.

Ukraine, the United States and several other Western countries have imposed sanctions on him. He is listed as a “traitor to the motherland” by Myrotvorets, “Peacemaker” in Ukrainian, a vast unofficial database of people considered to be enemies of the country. The website lists personal information about Tsaryov, including an email address, a passport number and an address in Yalta.

Several pro-war Russian figures in the Myrotvorets database have been assassinated since the start of the war, including journalist Darya Dugina, war blogger Vladlen Tatarsky and former submarine commander Stanislav Rzhitsky.

Dugina and Tatarsky died in bombings, while Rzhitsky was shot while out on an early morning run.

No comment was immediately available from Ukrainian intelligence.

War commitment

Ukrainians remain deeply committed to keeping up their country’s defensive fight against Russia, despite some weariness with their country’s 20-month struggle against Russia’s invasion.

According to a recent Gallup survey, Ukrainians remain steadfast in their desire to win the war that Russia started in February 2022, but less so than a year ago.

Three in five (60%) Ukrainians interviewed in July and August said they want Ukraine to keep fighting until it wins, twice as many as those who want Ukraine to negotiate to end the war as soon as possible (31%). Ukrainians’ commitment is slightly muted from what it was in September 2022, when 70% of Ukrainians said they wanted their country to keep fighting, but the majority still staunchly support the war, the survey shows.

The fighting is expected to drag on into the winter as both sides remain deadlocked in fierce battles.

War-weary mothers, wives and children gathered on the streets of Ukrainian cities Friday, demanding an 18-month limit on mandatory military service.

Chanting “Demobilize the soldiers,” about 100 wives, mothers, children and relatives of Ukrainian soldiers attended a demonstration in the capital, Kyiv.

“I live in constant fear for his life,” Valeriia Koliada, 35, said of her husband, who volunteered for the military.

“It’s nerve-wracking for me. He is tired as well,” she said. “We are a young family. I also want to have a child and sleep calm at night.”

Protesters gathered in at least six other Ukrainian cities.

Ukraine ordered a general mobilization of the male population between the ages of 25 and 60 when Russia launched its invasion on February 24, 2022. The vast majority joined as volunteers.

In Russia meanwhile, forces are experiencing morale problems as another winter campaign looms, the White House said.

“We have information that the Russian military has been actually executing soldiers who refuse to follow orders,” White House National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby told a press conference on Thursday.

“We also have information that Russian commanders are threatening to execute entire units if they seek to retreat from Ukrainian artillery fire,” Kirby said, calling the practice “barbaric.”

“Russia’s mobilized forces remain undertrained, underequipped and unprepared for combat, as was the case during their failed winter offensive last year,” Kirby said, adding that Russia appears to be employing “human wave” tactics.

“No proper equipment, no leadership, no resourcing, no support. It is unsurprising that Russian forces are suffering from poor morale,” Kirby said.

Russia’s Washington Embassy did not immediately reply to VOA’s email requesting comment.

Some of the recent casualties of Russian soldiers near the Ukrainian town of Avdiivka were on the orders of their own leaders, the White House said.

Ukrainian and Russian troops have been fighting for Avdiivka, a frontline town in the Donetsk region, since mid-October. The town had essentially been reduced to rubble because of Russian bombing, the Ukrainian military said.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Friday that Russian forces have lost at least a brigade worth of troops trying to advance on Ukraine’s eastern town.

“The invaders made several attempts to surround Avdiivka, but each time our soldiers stopped them and threw them back, causing painful losses. In these cases, the enemy lost at least a brigade,” Zelenskyy told British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak in a phone call, the president’s office said in a statement.

Ukraine aid

Meanwhile, the United States said Thursday it will be providing Ukraine with $150 million in additional military assistance. The package will include artillery and small-arms ammunition, as well as anti-tank weapons.

To date, Washington has provided Kyiv with $43.9 billion in security aid since Russia invaded, meaning the United States is Ukraine’s biggest security donor. However, future U.S. aid for Ukraine may be in jeopardy due to rising Republican opposition.

President Joe Biden met with new House Speaker Mike Johnson and Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries at the White House on Thursday to discuss his request for nearly $106 billion lumping together funding for Israel and Ukraine, as well as for bolstering security at the U.S.-Mexico border.

Johnson, a staunch conservative allied with Donald Trump, said Congress is “not going to abandon” Ukraine. He said House Republicans would first bring a separate bill to provide $14.5 billion in aid to Israel, adding that they need more information about the Biden administration’s Ukraine strategy.

“We can’t allow Vladimir Putin to prevail in Ukraine because I don’t believe it would stop there,” Johnson said on Fox News’ “Hannity,” referring to the Russian president. But he added, “We must stand with our important ally in the Middle East, and that’s Israel.”

Germany has stepped up efforts to supply air defense systems to Ukraine ahead of the impending winter to help protect critical infrastructure there from Russian attacks. The defense ministry in Berlin said Friday it delivered a third IRIS-T SLM air defense system to Kyiv.

Some information in this report came from Reuters, Agence France-Presse and The Associated Press.
…

French President Emmanuel Macron said he would help to build a “humanitarian coalition” to offer support to Palestinian civilians in the Gaza Strip, following a two-day summit of European Union leaders in Brussels that wrapped up Friday.

“We are going to build a humanitarian coalition with several European countries, particularly Cyprus, which will serve as a base for the humanitarian sea corridor,” Macron told reporters.

Helicopter carrier

France announced on Thursday it was deploying a helicopter carrier to support hospitals in Gaza.

Macron reiterated calls for Israel to protect civilian lives as it targets Hamas fighters in Gaza after the militant group staged a cross-border attack October 7, killing more than 1,400 Israeli soldiers and civilians.

Palestinian health officials said more than 7,000 people have been killed in Israeli airstrikes since the latest fighting began, including thousands of children. More than 600,000 people have been made homeless.

“We consider that in the case of a total blockade or indiscriminate shelling — or worse, a massive ground operation — it is not possible to offer the required protection to the civilian population,” Macron said. “We think that a humanitarian pause would now be useful in order to protect people on the ground who have been victims of shelling.”

Macron earlier suggested that the international coalition of nations that came together to fight the Islamic State terror group in Iraq and Syria could help Israel tackle Hamas militants.

EU statement

In a statement issued following the summit, EU leaders called for humanitarian “corridors and pauses” to help bring in relief for the population of Gaza.

“Hamas has provoked a humanitarian crisis in Gaza. For the Commission, it is very important that we continue to intensify our efforts to deal with the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. The aid needs to reach Gaza unhindered and quickly,” EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said at a press conference Thursday.

EU divisions

Europe has backed Israel’s right to defend itself in line with international law, but analysts say the conflict has exposed internal divisions in the bloc.

“We’ve got some sort of agreement. It does paper over the cracks,” said Ian Bond, director of foreign policy at the Center for European Reform.

“It took them some time to agree on the eventual formula. They seem to have spent a long time arguing about whether there should be a ‘pause’ for humanitarian purposes, or ‘pauses.’ A lot of people apparently thought that the former sounded a bit too close to a ceasefire, which they didn’t want to call for,” Bond said.

Peace conference

The EU called for renewed focus on a two-state solution to the Middle East conflict. The bloc also proposed that an international peace conference should take place as soon as possible.

Israel shows little willingness to pause its bombardment of Hamas targets, and the EU’s statement is unlikely to have a big impact, Bond said.

“The reality in any case is that the EU’s influence over Israel in particular has been quite limited for quite a long time, particularly under the [Israeli] Netanyahu government. He is clearly not a fan of the EU, and so I’m not sure that he will have been all that interested in whether they called for ‘a pause’ or ‘pauses,’ ” Bond said.

Ukraine aid

The European Union also discussed a further four-year, $53 billion support package for Ukraine as it fights Russia’s invasion, although final agreement on the details is not expected until December.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, a longtime critic of Western assistance to Ukraine, said he was seeking stronger justification for the aid proposal before he could agree to it. Orban met Russian President Vladimir Putin last week in Moscow, prompting widespread criticism from Western allies. Meanwhile, the newly elected Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico cited corruption concerns in Ukraine.

Ireland’s Prime Minister Leo Varadkar criticized both their positions. “If we don’t stop Putin in Ukraine, he won’t stop there. So, it is a threat to all of us,” he said.

Most EU states strongly support the continuation of military and financial assistance to Kyiv, Bond said. “I wouldn’t exaggerate the divisions in the EU. Orban says a lot publicly, but he tends not to block consensus in the European Council on assistance to Ukraine.

“Most member states are still firmly behind Ukraine, firmly behind aid for Ukraine and supportive of Ukraine’s ambitions to become a member of the European Union and to start accession negotiations, probably in the new year,” Bond told VOA.

Gaza distraction

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said the EU would not be distracted in its support for Ukraine by the conflict in the Middle East.

“In my last contact with [Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy], a telephone conversation I had with him, I assured that our support for Ukraine will not diminish and will not be affected by the fact that we now have this bitter new problem created by the terrible, brutal attack by Hamas on Israel and many citizens there,” Scholz said at a press conference Friday.
…

For many Ukrainians, Hamas’ October 7 assault on Israeli civilians bears stark similarities to Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine last year. Amid fears that the Israel-Gaza war will distract the world’s attention from their own ordeal, Ukraine’s Jewish community leaders and politicians are hoping the U.S. will continue to back both Israel and Ukraine. VOA Eastern Europe Bureau Chief Myroslava Gongadze reports from Kyiv. VOA footage by Yevhenii Shynkar.
…

The Russian military is executing soldiers who do not follow orders related to the war in Ukraine, the White House said Thursday, in what is believed to be a reflection of low morale among Russian soldiers.

“We have information that the Russian military has been actually executing soldiers who refuse to follow orders,” White House National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby told a press conference.

“We also have information that Russian commanders are threatening to execute entire units if they seek to retreat from Ukrainian artillery fire,” Kirby added, calling the practice “barbaric.” 

Russia’s Washington embassy did not immediately reply to VOA’s email requesting comment.

Some of the recent casualties of Russian soldiers near the Ukrainian town of Avdiivka were on the orders of their own leaders, the White House said.

Ukrainian and Russian troops have been fighting for Avdiivka, a frontline town in the Donetsk region since mid-October. The town had essentially been reduced to rubble because of a recent spate of Russian bombing, the Ukrainian military said.

But recently, Russian troops have been refusing to attack Ukrainian positions near the town because of great losses, a Ukrainian army spokesperson said, adding that some Russian units had experienced mutinies.

“Russia’s mobilized forces remain under-trained, under-equipped and unprepared for combat, as was the case during their failed winter offensive last year,” Kirby said, adding that Russia appears to be employing “‘human wave’ tactics.”

“No proper equipment, no leadership, no resourcing, no support. It is unsurprising that Russian forces are suffering from poor morale,” Kirby added.

Meanwhile, the United States announced Thursday that it will be providing Ukraine with an additional $150 million military assistance package. The package will include artillery and small-arms ammunition as well as anti-tank weapons.

To date, Washington has provided Kyiv with $43.9 billion in security aid since Russia invaded, meaning the United States is Ukraine’s biggest security donor. However, future U.S. aid for Ukraine may be in jeopardy due to rising Republican opposition.

The latest package also included air defense missiles and cold weather gear.

“As winter approaches, strengthening air defense is critical to protect Ukrainian cities and infrastructure,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on X, formerly known as Twitter.

With winter looming, Ukraine also said Thursday that its Black Sea grain corridor is working, contrary to recent reports that the corridor had been paused. 

“Ports of Big Odesa continue to process ships that passed through the temporary #Ukrainian_corridor,” Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Oleksandr Kubrakov said on X.

“All available routes established by the Ukrainian Navy are valid and being used by civilian vessels,” he added.

Some information in this report came from Reuters, Agence France-Presse and The Associated Press. 

 
…

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is using his renewed diplomatic engagement and arms dealings with Russian President Vladimir Putin to enhance his position with China as the three socialist countries move to counter the U.S., according to analysts. 

North Korea vowed Tuesday to continue its military cooperation with Russia despite international objections voiced at meetings on conventional weapons at the U.N. General Assembly in New York.

“The DPRK will further develop traditional relations of friendship and cooperation with the Russian Federation and other independent sovereign countries,” said North Korea’s U.N. Representative Kim In Chul. The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) is North Korea’s official name. 

At the U.N. meeting continuing Wednesday, U.S. Representative to the Conference on Disarmament Bruce Turner said the U.S. assessed that North Korea’s delivery of more than 1,000 containers filled with weapons to Russia for its war Ukraine will destabilize international security. 

The White House said on Oct. 13 that North Korea made shipments of military equipment and munitions to Russia.

In return, the White House said, Pyongyang expects to obtain military hardware including fighter aircraft, surface-to-air missiles, armored vehicles and other advanced weapon technologies. 

On Thursday, Washington, Seoul, and Tokyo issued a joint statement condemning North Korea for transferring arms to Russia.

According to the U.S., the shipments that North Korea delivered are thought to be a result of arms deals that Kim and Putin made at their summit in Russia on Sept. 16. Before then, Kim last met with Putin in 2019. 

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov arrived in Pyongyang on Oct. 18.  The next day, Lavrov met with Kim, who stressed the two countries should “faithfully” implement unspecified agreements he made at the summit with Putin, according to North Korea’s state-run KCNA the following day.  

Lavrov said Moscow wants to hold regular security talks with Pyongyang as well as with Beijing over “intensifying” military activities by the U.S., Japan and South Korea, according to an Oct. 20 report from the Russian state news agency, Tass. 

Putin has accepted an invitation from Kim to visit North Korea. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said on Oct. 11 the details of Putin’s trip to Pyongyang were yet to be worked out.  

Chinese Embassy spokesperson Liu Pengyu told VOA Korean Service on Thursday, “As far as China is concerned, we will maintain the continuity and stability of neighborhood diplomacy, seek more friendly political relations, stronger economic ties, deepening security cooperation and closer people-to-people exchange with our neighbors and build with them a community with a shared future.”

VOA Korean contacted the North Korean Mission to the U.N. seeking comments on how its relations with Moscow affect its ties with Beijing but did not receive a response.

Daniel Russel, who served as the assistant secretary of state for East Asia and Pacific affairs in the Obama administration, told VOA Korean that Kim is using his renewed ties with Moscow to boost Pyongyang’s standing with Beijing in a similar way that “China is using its leverage with Russia as a political tool against the United States.” 

“Pyongyang is signaling to Beijing that it has other friends and other options as a way to strengthen its hand … in the very lopsided power dynamics between the PRC and the DPRK,” said Russel, now the vice president for International Security and Diplomacy at the Asia Society Policy Institute.

China’s official name is the People’s Republic of China (PRC).

Although historically close, North Korea and Russia became distant after the Soviet Union collapsed at the end of 1991 and Moscow reduced financial support for Pyongyang.  

Since then, Beijing has been North Korea’s primary economic backer, and Pyongyang continues to depend heavily on China, its top trading partner, especially for assistance in the face of global sanctions that have left it isolated. 

According to Ken Gause, director of CNA’s Special Projects for Strategy and Policy Analysis Program and an expert on North Korean leadership, Pyongyang has been looking for ways to reduce its reliance on its northern neighbor, and Moscow provided an option. 

“It is using Russia as a counterweight to China,” said Gause. Moscow is giving Kim “a second source of funding and supplies, especially for military technology that he is not getting from China.”

Gause said even if Beijing were to support international sanctions on North Korea, Pyongyang knows that Russia, also heavily sanctioned for invading Ukraine in 2022, will block any U.N. resolutions.  

China, Russia and the U.S. are permanent U.N. Security Council members with veto power, a set-up that prevented the passage of repeated U.S.-proposed sanctions on North Korea over its ballistic missile launches over the past two years. 

Although North Korea is economically dependent on China, it does not fully trust Beijing, especially when it comes to military support, according to Bruce Bennett, a senior defense analyst at the Rand Corporation, in a commentary published in September.

Diplomatic relations between the two countries soured after Kim took power in 2011. 

China was wary of then 27-year-old Kim taking control of the regime, and according to Bennett in his September article, Beijing felt betrayed when Kim executed his uncle Jang Song Thaek, a high-ranking official close to China.

Jang was executed for treason. He wanted Kim’s half-brother, Kim Jong Nam, to be the new leader, according to NHK, the Japanese broadcaster. 

was assassinated in Malaysia in 2017.

Kim visited Beijing in 2018 at the invitation of Chinese President Xi Jinping, who was engaged in trade disputes with Washington.

They met three times that year followed by two summits in 2019. Xi’s outreach is seen as an attempt to match a diplomatic breakthrough between Pyongyang and Washington during the Trump administration that resulted in two summits and an impromptu meeting from 2018 to 2019 but failed to produce results on denuclearization.

Evans Revere, a former State Department official with extensive experience negotiating with North Korea, said Pyongyang is keeping Beijing close as its main source of food, fuel and other assistance while propping up the military leg of its national security with Moscow. 

“North Korea is focusing on improving relations with Russia not as an alternative to improve ties with the PRC, but in order to establish an additional pillar of support,” Revere said. 

“Pyongyang seeks an opportunity to greatly improve relations with Russia and secure additional support from Moscow for its military, as well as its nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs. Pyongyang’s goal is not to move away from Beijing or Moscow. Rather, the goal is to grow closer to both.”

Kim rejected food aid Moscow offered when he met Putin in September, said Russian Ambassador to North Korea Alexander Matsegora in an interview with a Russian TV program on Sept. 17.  
…

It has been almost three months since Victoria Roshchyna’s family and colleagues received any word from the award-winning Ukrainian journalist.

Roshchyna, who is known for her courageous reporting on Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, disappeared shortly after passing a checkpoint. Friends and colleagues believe Russian forces detained her.

The reporter had quickly pivoted from covering court cases to reporting from the front lines when Russian forces invaded her home country.

As a freelance journalist, she has written for publications that include the Ukrainian news websites Hromadske and Ukrainska Pravda, as well as the broadcaster Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.

Roshchyna told the stories of children killed in Dnipro and Berdyansk. She spoke to survivors of a missile strike in Uman and reported from Mariupol, where Russian occupiers staged a celebration in front of ruined houses. She interviewed soldiers and civilians, putting a human face to the brutality of war.

But covering these stories came with great personal risk.

On March 5, 2022, the car that Roshchyna was traveling in was shot at by Russian forces. She and the driver managed to escape and seek shelter in a nearby house. Roshchyna’s camera and laptop were stolen from the car, according to reports from the Committee to Protect Journalists, a New York-based nonprofit.

Less than a week later, Russian security agents detained Roshchyna. She was held for 10 days, hit and threatened.

She detailed the experience for Hromadske, writing, “I didn’t feel fear … there was only despair over the unknown and wasted time, the inability to do my job.”

“The fact that she was detained by Russian soldiers and lived through that experience and went back and kept reporting as if that never happened certainly shows an incredible amount of courage and tenacity and a journalist who’s willing to risk everything to report the news,” said Elisa Lees Munoz, executive director of the International Women’s Media Foundation, or IWMF.

The IWMF in 2022 awarded Roshchyna its Courage Award for her coverage of the war.

One year on from presenting that award, Munoz and others are advocating for Roshchyna’s release.

“To disappear somebody is one of the worst things that one can do,” Munoz said. “It’s certainly intended to send a message to others — we can do that to anybody.”

Last call

Roshchyna left Ukraine in late July to travel through Poland and Russia to try to reach Russian-occupied territories of southeastern Ukraine.

On August 3, she called a relative to say she’d passed through several checkpoints, although she didn’t specify where, Anna Nemtsova told VOA. Nemtsova is a correspondent for the Daily Beast who has spoken directly to Roshchyna’s family.

The Ukrainian security service informed Roshchyna’s father that she was captured by Russians, Nemtsova said. Friends have searched for her in and around jails in occupied regions but have found no trace.

VOA emailed the Russian Embassy in Washington for comment but did not receive a reply.

The Ukrainian National Information Bureau told VOA that it keeps records of prisoners of war and civilian hostages but added, “By law we cannot share the data from our records or provide any media comments thereof.”

“Her parents are heartbroken,” Nemtsova told VOA. “Her father, her mother, her sister, they’re all very, very worried about her. And they regret that she wouldn’t stop covering the most dangerous regions. But nobody could stop Victoria.”

Nemtsova, who covers stories on Russia and Eastern Europe, became familiar with Roshchyna by reading her articles.

Later, the two spoke multiple times over the phone. It was Nemtsova, a past IWMF courage honoree, who nominated her colleague for the award.

“She was treating this story, this tragedy, the invasion of Ukraine as the main thing, the why, the most important thing,” Nemtsova told VOA. She heard from mutual friends that, during the winter months of the war, Roshchyna “looked like a shadow, she was so tired.” But she kept reporting.

Maria Romanenko, a Ukrainian journalist and activist, worked alongside Roshchyna for several years while she was then editor-in-chief at Hromadske, an independent Ukrainian media outlet.

Romanenko described Roshchyna as a quiet, hardworking woman with fierce courage and a tireless commitment to journalism.

She had this “very, very impressive braveness in her,” Romanenko told VOA. She was “always going for those stories that nobody else, I think, really wanted to, and she did it willingly.”

Romanenko left Ukraine after the Russian invasion and now lives in the U.K. She said that in the early days of the war, journalists were afraid of what would happen to press freedom if Russians fully occupied the country.

In Russia, it’s not uncommon for journalists to go missing, be detained or even killed, Romanenko said. Russia “is not a safe environment for journalists,” she told VOA. “And when they invade other countries and attack other countries, they try to reproduce the same scenarios in the areas that they manage to occupy.”

Reporters Without Borders, the Paris-based nonprofit, ranks Russia 164 out of 180 countries in terms of press freedom, with 180 being least free.

Around the same time Roshchyna was first detained, Romanenko’s colleague Maks Levin went missing. Levin’s body was later found near Kyiv. An investigation later concluded Russian troops killed him.

Romanenko says she keeps checking social media apps, hoping for news. “It’s a strange reality that we find ourselves in — just going on those chats and checking when she was last online, just hoping that it will suddenly change to ‘online now,’ ” Romanenko said.

Although Munoz, Nemtsova and Romanenko all hope for Roshchyna’s safe return, they also fear the worst.

“We don’t know in what basement she’s in. What kind of pressure she’s suffering from,” Nemtsova told VOA. “The most important thing for her friends, for supporters, for her family is that she’s alive. … We don’t know that yet.”
…

Russian authorities on Thursday formally charged Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty journalist Alsu Kurmasheva with violating the country’s “foreign agent” law.

Russia’s Investigative Committee announced that Kurmasheva has been charged under a section of the Criminal Code that refers to the registration of foreign agents who engage in “purposeful collection of information in the field of military, military-technical activities of Russia,” VOA’s sister outlet RFE/RL reported. 

The Investigative Committee said she did not provide documents to be included on the registry. 

Kurmasheva denies the charge, according to RFE/RL. 

Based in Prague, Kurmasheva is an editor for RFE/RL’s Tatar-Bashkir Service. A dual U.S.-Russian national, she traveled to Russia in May for a family emergency. She was briefly detained in June while waiting for her return flight, and her passports were confiscated. 

She was waiting for her passports to be returned when she was detained on October 18. A Russian court on October 23 ordered her held in pretrial detention until December 5. Kurmasheva faces up to five years in prison.

Press freedom groups, the United Nations Human Rights Office and the U.S. government have condemned Kurmasheva’s detention and called for her immediate release. 

“It is highly disturbing that the authorities took advantage of an urgent trip home for family reasons to detain a journalist who is normally based outside the country precisely to avoid arbitrary arrest,” Scott Griffen, deputy director of the International Press Institute, said in a statement Thursday.

“We demand Kurmasheva’s immediate release, as well as that of all other Russian journalists held behind bars,” Griffen added. 

Russia’s Washington Embassy did not immediately reply to VOA’s email requesting comment. 

Russia has a long history of jailing critical journalists and activists. The country held at least 19 journalists in prison as of late 2022, when the Committee to Protect Journalists conducted its most recent annual prison census.

Kurmasheva is one of two American journalists currently jailed in Russia. 

Russian authorities arrested American Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich in March on espionage charges that he, his employer and the U.S. government vehemently deny. 

Thursday marks Gershkovich’s 32nd birthday, which he spent behind bars in Moscow’s notorious Lefortovo Prison. 

“Every single day he’s detained is a day too long,” his sister, Danielle Gershkovich, told VOA earlier this week.

Most recently, Gershkovich’s pretrial detention was extended until at least November 30. It was originally set to expire in May. 

Meanwhile, also on Thursday, Marina Ovsyannikova, a former Russian state TV journalist who famously interrupted a live broadcast to protest the war in Ukraine and now lives in exile in France, lost custody of her children in a court battle with her ex-husband, who leads the Spanish bureau of the Russian state news outlet RT. 

“I hope my children will be proud of me someday,” she wrote on the Telegram messaging app on Thursday, condemning the court’s ruling. 

Earlier this month, a Russian court sentenced Ovsyannikova in absentia to eight-and-a-half years in prison for staging a separate protest outside the Kremlin in July 2022.

Ovsyannikova fled Russia last year with her 11-year-old daughter, but her 14-year-old son remains with his father, Igor Ovsyannikov. 

Earlier this week, the Moldovan government blocked access to over 20 Russian news outlets, saying they were used as part of an information war against the former Soviet state. 

Russia condemned the move as a “hostile step.”

Moldova previously restricted TV broadcasts of Russia-produced news in June 2022 after Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine earlier that year, instead only permitting entertainment shows and movies. 

Moldovan President Maia Sandu has accused the Kremlin of plotting a coup and trying to destabilize the government. 
…

Ahead of a scheduled visit to Kenya by Britain’s King Charles III and Queen Camilla, the Talai clan of the Kipsigis community is petitioning the king to help it receive compensation for land lost during the colonial period. Francis Ontomwa reports.
…

Sporadic intense fighting continues in the eastern Ukrainian city of Avdiivka and surrounding areas of the Donetsk region as Kyiv watches a European Union summit in Brussels where the 27-nation bloc is expected to reiterate its condemnation of Russia’s war and support for Ukraine amid fears of donor fatigue among some members.

Kyiv’s troops have repelled as many as 15 attacks by Russian forces in and around Avdiivka, a town that has largely been turned to rubble due to Russian bombing, over the past 24 hours, according to the Ukrainian armed forces.

Avdiivka has been the site of Moscow’s largest offensive in the war in months, and some analysts say Ukraine’s supply lines have been whittled down to a narrow corridor.

With the the war now in its 21st month, European Union leaders are expected to reaffirm their support for “Ukraine’s independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity” and “its inherent right of self-defense,” according to the draft conclusions of the summit, seen by RFE/RL.

The document, which is not final and must still be approved by EU leaders, will also reaffirm the bloc’s intention to continue to provide “strong financial, economic, humanitarian, military and diplomatic support to Ukraine and its people for as long as it takes.”

The draft conclusions will also call for “further strengthening sanctions” against Russia over its aggression and will call on the European Commission to “accelerate work” on propositions on how revenues stemming directly from Russia’s immobilized assets could be directed to support Ukraine and its recovery and reconstruction.

Meanwhile, Ukraine is reported to have temporarily closed its new Black Sea grain export corridor due to a possible threat from Russian warplanes and sea mines.

Barva Invest, a Ukrainian agricultural brokerage and analytics company, said that with defense officials citing increased Russian aircraft activities in the Black Sea area, inbound and outbound vessel traffic has been temporarily suspended.

In August, Ukraine announced a so-called “humanitarian corridor” to release ships bound for African and Asian markets, and to circumvent a de facto blockade after Russia abandoned a deal this summer that had guaranteed its exports during the war. The route runs along Ukraine’s southwest Black Sea coast, into Romanian territorial waters and onwards to Turkey.

Some information for his report came from Reuters. 
…

In a city where damaged buildings are everywhere, a destroyed pizzeria stands out as a painful reminder of lives and livelihoods dashed in an instant.

A Russian ballistic missile struck the popular eatery in eastern Ukraine in June, killing 13 people including an award-winning Ukrainian writer and several teenagers. Seven of the victims were staff.

Today, fresh flowers and notes have been placed where the entrance once was. A T-shirt, part of the waitstaff’s uniform, hangs near the makeshift memorial with the inscription “We will never forget.”

“As an entrepreneur, of course, I regret the loss of property, but there’s something that cannot be returned: human lives,” said Dmytro Ihnatenko, the owner of RIA Pizza.

The bombed-out building in Kramatorsk underscores the massive risks for businesses in this front-line city in the Donetsk region. But that has not deterred many other business owners who have reopened their doors to customers in the past year.

The city council estimates there are 50 restaurants and 228 shops now open in Kramatorsk, three times the number open at the same period last year. Most are believed to be existing business that closed in the early days of the war and have reopened.

“We understand that this is a risk, and we are taking it because this is our life,” said Olena Ziabina, chief administrator of the White Burger restaurant in Kramatorsk. “Wherever we are, we need to work. We work here. This is our conscious choice.”

The White Burger chain operated mainly in Donetsk and Luhansk regions before the war. But after Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, it could reopen only in Kramatorsk. It launched two new restaurants in the capital, Kyiv, and Dnipro to keep the chain alive.

Kramatorsk’s restaurant is the chain’s top performer in profitability, even though prices are 20% lower than in the capital’s restaurant.

After the attack on Ria Pizza, White Burger’s operators didn’t consider closing the Kramatorsk restaurant, Ziabina said. “I cried a lot,” she said, recalling the day she heard about the attack.

Kramatorsk’s economy has adapted to war. The city houses the Ukrainian army’s regional headquarters, and many cafes and restaurants are frequented mainly by soldiers as well as journalists and aid workers.

Ukrainian women often travel there to reunite for a few days with husbands and boyfriends.

Soldiers joke that Kramatorsk is their Las Vegas, providing all the “luxuries” they need like good food or coffee. But restaurants offer only non-alcoholic beer due to the city’s proximity to the battlefield.

The city streets are mostly empty except for military cars. The residents who stayed avoid big gatherings and crowded places.

Still, it is a far cry from the war’s early days, when Kramatorsk’s shops, restaurants and cafes were shuttered. Tens of thousands of people were left without jobs, and factories were closed.

“Probably, thanks to the military, we can still come back to this city,” said Oleksandr, who asked to be identified only by his first name because of security concerns.

He is a co-founder of one of the numerous military shops in Kramatorsk serving soldiers. Oleksandr said he marks up prices by only 1 hryvnia (2 cents) above the manufacturer’s price. He said the aim isn’t to earn money but to provide the military with the necessary equipment.

Many residents cherish new work opportunities brought by the reopening of shops and restaurants.

But there are fewer options for older people, said Tetiana Podosionova, 54. She worked at the Kramatorsk Machinebuilding Plant for 32 years, but the plant closed due to security risks when the war started.

“I had hoped to work at the factory until retirement,” Podosionova said. Most jobs are now in restaurants and shops, where she had no experience.

Finally, she found a job at Amazing Fish Aquarium, which resumed operations months after the war began. The aquarium has hundreds of exotic fish and dozens of parrots and remains open to entertain residents, who are often stressed from missile strikes.

But every reopened business carries risk. Ihnatenko, the pizzeria owner, still comes to his destroyed restaurant every day when he’s in Kramatorsk. He doesn’t know why. He looks tired. His voice is hardly above a whisper.

He, like many business owners, saw Ukraine’s successful counteroffensive in the neighboring Kharkiv region last year as a sign that life could return to Kramatorsk.

“It seemed safer here,” he explained, standing in the rubble of his restaurant.

He has no plans to rebuild and reopen yet again.

His tragic experience shows the challenges that business owners face while keeping their doors open.

“A missile can come at any moment,” he said.
…

Despite bleak outlooks on their emotional and financial well-being, Ukrainians still remain optimistic about their future, according to a Gallup poll released Thursday.

The pressures of war have been weighing heavily on Ukrainian citizens since Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022. Many say they have been unable to afford necessities such as food and shelter, and many others report experiencing negative feelings, worry chief among them.

Living conditions in Ukraine have been challenging, with only about 38% of Ukrainians surveyed saying they are satisfied with their standard of living, and around 63% saying that living standards are getting worse.

Nearly 53% of the population surveyed said there were times in the last 12 months when they were unable to afford food for themselves or their families. About 48% of those polled said they were unable to afford shelter.

The hardships were felt most by Ukrainians who have not had more than a secondary education. This group had 20% more respondents who were unable to afford food, and 12% more who were unable to afford housing, compared to those with a higher education.

Emotional issues also remain at high levels, despite having stabilized since the end of last year.

The most frequently experienced negative emotion was worry, which was felt by more than half (53%) of respondents. Other common negative emotions were sadness (39%), stress (32%), and anger (22%).

Some of those surveyed did report positive emotions, with nearly half (48%) saying they either smiled or laughed the previous day, and 54% saying they felt enjoyment.

When asked how they would rate their lives on a scale from one to 10, with 10 being the best possible life, the average response was 4.7.

Despite this, most Ukrainians look forward to a better future. When asked to rate their expectations for their lives five years from now, the response increased to 7.7.

That optimism underscores the results of a previous Gallup poll, which found that most residents are committed to continuing the war effort until Russia is driven from Ukrainian territory.

 
…

After a career spanning three decades and just as many continents, the Wall Street Journal’s Paul Beckett has a new assignment that he hopes will be his shortest yet: freeing his colleague Evan Gershkovich.  

Since Gershkovich was detained in Russia in March, Beckett has been working on his case in an informal capacity in addition to his duties as Washington bureau chief. But in his new role as assistant editor, Gershkovich will be Beckett’s sole priority.

“The longer this goes on, the harder we need to work,” Beckett told VOA recently over coffee. “I couldn’t think of a greater cause to pile in on.” 

 Russian authorities arrested Gershkovich while he was on a reporting trip. Moscow accused the reporter of spying, which he, the Journal and the U.S. government vehemently deny. The U.S. has also declared Gershkovich wrongfully detained.  

The Journal’s response to the arrest has been lauded by media advocates for its relentless coverage and social media blitzes, high-profile events and full-page newspaper ads. News about Gershkovich’s case remains at the top of the outlet’s homepage. 

“If you were ever in Evan’s situation, what would you like to see your employer doing on your behalf?” Beckett said. That’s his guiding principle. 

Four main constituencies are involved in working to free Gershkovich, according to Beckett: the reporter’s family, his newspaper, the U.S. government and the public. 

Gershkovich’s older sister Danielle is part of that first group. Her brother’s plight, she says, has clarified the important role that reporters play.  

“It makes me just believe stronger that journalism must be protected, and journalists must be protected and be able to do their jobs,” she told VOA.  

Beckett is quick to add that he is part of a larger “Team Evan” composed of the Journal’s lawyers and top editors. But in his role, he plans to start by working closely with those key groups, adding, “This is all learning on the job.”

And while discussions for Gershkovich’s release will be government-to-government, Beckett said, part of the strategy is to keep the public’s attention on the reporter. 

People should care about Gershkovich’s case, Beckett said, because it underscores broader threats against journalists and press freedom around the world. 

“The countries that matter the most to the United States, at the moment, are also the same countries that are doing the most against press freedom,” Beckett said. “And if those countries are attacking press freedom, how do you know what is happening in the world? And, therefore, how do you know what’s happening to America’s place in the world?”  

Prolonged detention

Authorities have repeatedly extended Gershkovich’s pre-trial detention, most recently in early October when a court ordered the reporter to remain in custody until at least November 30.

Under Russian law, he can be detained for up to one year before a trial has to begin.  

That reality hits hard for Gershkovich’s family.

“Every single day he’s detained is a day too long,” said his sister, Danielle Gershkovich.  

Media watchdogs rank Russia among the world’s worst press freedom environments, noting it is one of the countries with the most journalists in prison. 

Gershkovich is one of two American journalists imprisoned there.

Authorities in mid-October detained Alsu Kurmasheva, an editor at VOA’s sister outlet Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. Russia said Kurmasheva, a dual U.S.-Russian national, was arrested for failing to register as a foreign agent.  

Russia’s Washington embassy did not reply to VOA’s email requesting comment. 

Over the course of his career Beckett — who originally hails from Scotland — has worked in several places that now have repressive media environments, including Mexico, India and Hong Kong.

Since working on securing Gershkovich’s release, Beckett has found himself reflecting on another Journal colleague — Daniel Pearl, who was kidnapped in Pakistan and killed in 2002. 

At the time, Beckett was covering terrorist financing and had met Pearl just a few months before Islamist militants captured him. 

“It was a huge shock to the Wall Street Journal,” Beckett said. Pearl and Gershkovich’s cases are very different, but Beckett admits the case has him thinking more about Pearl. 

Beckett didn’t know Pearl well, but he has never even met Gershkovich in person. Besides some emails here and there, they’ve never really interacted, Beckett said.  

He acknowledges the ironic one-sidedness of their relationship. The Scotsman spends most of his days thinking about Gershkovich. After many months of conversations with Gershkovich’s family, friends and close colleagues, Beckett knows more about the reporter than most people.  

“I have never met him, but I feel like I know him very well,” Beckett said. In turn, Beckett recognizes that Gershkovich barely knows who he is at all.  

None of that really matters, though, Beckett added.

“I think he would rather have me doing this than not.”  

Thinking about the moment when Gershkovich will be released is sensitive for Beckett. When asked about their eventual meeting, he averted his eyes.  

“I get pretty emotional,” he said after a long pause, still concentrating on the coffee shop door. “That would be an extraordinary time.” 
…

Brinc Drones is one of the U.S. companies shipping hundreds of drones to Ukraine. These drones are designed to help first responders survey the impacted areas of Russian shelling and find survivors. Adriy Borys visited the Brink manufacturing facility. Anna Rice narrates his story. Camera — Dmitriy Savchuk.
…

The United States is providing up to $150 million in additional military aid for Ukraine in a package expected as soon as Wednesday, three U.S. military officials tell VOA, a week after Ukraine used its newest weapon from the United States to pummel Russian military targets deep into Russian-controlled eastern Ukraine.

The package includes more GMLRS rockets for High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS), munitions for the National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile System (NASAMS), TOW anti-tank missiles, AIM-9 Sidewinder missiles and 155 mm rounds, according to two of the officials who spoke to VOA on condition of anonymity to discuss the package prior to its announcement.

The availability of 155 mm rounds has raised concerns in recent days as U.S. partners Ukraine and Israel both need them to fight their wars, one against Russia’s invasion, the other against Palestinian militant group Hamas, who killed hundreds of Israelis and kidnapped dozens more in a brazen terrorist attack on October 7.

Washington has said it is able to support Tel Aviv’s and Kyiv’s military needs.

The U.S. withdrew some 155 mm rounds from its war reserves stockpile in Israel to replenish U.S. stockpiles in Europe earlier this year, but after October 7, much of those rounds were redirected back to Israel to provide to the Israel Defense Forces, according to a senior defense official.

“Yes, 155 [mm rounds] is an area that both have in common. But broadly speaking, that’s just one small area, and we don’t assess right now that we’re going to have any problems providing them with both,” Pentagon press secretary Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder told reporters Monday.

Ukraine launched ATACMS at Russian forces last week after the United States secretly provided a small number of the long-range ballistic missiles to Ukraine in recent days. The ATACMS provided to Ukraine have a maximum range of about 170 kilometers (106 miles), nearly twice as far as the other HIMARS artillery rockets in Ukraine’s arsenal and have allowed Ukraine to reach deeper into Russian-controlled territory.

Ukraine said last week that it destroyed at least nine Russian helicopters, an anti-aircraft launcher and an ammunitions depot in Berdiansk and Luhansk during attacks in which ATACMS are thought to have been used against Russian positions.

“Our agreements with President [Joe] Biden are being implemented, and they are being implemented very accurately. ATACMS have proven themselves,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said following the attacks.

The package expected Wednesday marks the 49th time that the U.S. has used the presidential drawdown authority to provide Ukraine’s miliary with equipment from U.S. stockpiles.

The U.S. has provided about $44 billion in security assistance to Ukraine since the beginning of Russia’s unprovoked invasion in February 2022.

The Pentagon still has about $5 billion of congressionally approved funding for Ukrainian military aid, after the Pentagon discovered in June that it had overestimated the value of weapons shipped to Ukraine by about $6 billion.

When calculating its aid package estimates, the Defense Department was counting the cost incurred to replace the weapons given to Ukraine, while it should have been totaling the cost of the systems actually sent, officials told VOA at the time the error was found.

The Pentagon continues to dip into its aid arsenal despite Congress excluding new aid for Ukraine in a stopgap spending bill passed last month to prevent a government shutdown.

Soon after the stopgap spending bill passed, the House ousted House Speaker Kevin McCarthy from his position as speaker.

The House has yet to vote in a new speaker, and new aid for Ukraine could hinge on who is selected.
…

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy pledged Tuesday to reclaim areas of Ukraine currently occupied by Russian forces.

“Ukraine will reclaim its territory and its people,” Zelenskyy said in his nightly address.  “We will not leave anyone to the occupiers. We are using every means to ensure that this war ends with the defeat of the occupiers.”

He also said that despite doubts from many in the world, “Ukraine has shown that it can prevail, despite all the challenges, especially in the Black Sea region.”

Early Tuesday, Russia’s defense ministry said it destroyed three Ukrainian boats in the northern part of the Black Sea.

Russia also said it conducted an “anti-sabotage” operation near the Sevastopol port, which is home to its Black Sea fleet.

Ukraine said Tuesday that Russian attacks in two parts of the country wounded at least eight people.

In the Kherson region in southern Ukraine, Russian airstrikes and artillery fire wounded four people and damaged several houses, Interior Minister Igor Klymenko said on social media.

Klymenko also said a Russian attack in the Kharkiv region in northeastern Ukraine injured four people.

Ukraine’s air force said its defenses downed six drones that Russian launched from Crimea.

Some information for this report came from Agence France-Presse and Reuters

 
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Fears of a new conflict are growing as Turkey and Azerbaijan demand a corridor through Armenian territory after last month’s forced exodus of ethnic Armenians from the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region. As Dorian Jones reports from Istanbul, the demands come as Iran hosts peace talks between Armenia and Azerbaijan.
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