RiyadMedia

Ukraine said Russian missile strikes killed at least 10 Ukrainian civilians Friday as fierce fighting continued in the east of the country. Twenty others were wounded.

Ukrainian officials say most of the casualties from the missile strikes occurred in towns in the country’s east and south that are near Russian artillery units. They follow Russian missile attacks that went farther into Ukrainian territory Thursday, killing 11 people.

Kyiv said its troops were involved in fierce fighting Friday with Russian troops in the eastern town of Vuhledar, part of the Donetsk region.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in his nightly address Friday that fighting was heavy in Donetsk and that Russian forces were not just trying to achieve military gains but were also seeking to destroy towns and villages.

Earlier Friday, the European Union’s top general said that Russia is taking the war in Ukraine into a “different stage,” launching indiscriminate attacks against civilians and cities as a reaction to recent decisions by NATO allies to send advanced armaments to Ukraine in support of its war effort.

Speaking at a news conference in Tokyo, European External Action Service Secretary-General Stefano Sannino told reporters Russia is no longer focused on military targets but is making indiscriminate attacks on cities and people.

“I think that this latest development in terms of armed supply is just an evolution of the situation and of the way Russia started moving the war into a different stage,” he said.

“[Russian President Vladimir] Putin has moved from a concept of [a] special [military] operation to a concept now of a war against NATO and the West,” Sannino noted.

Russia has repeatedly denied targeting civilians in Ukraine.

Sannino’s comments came as Germany and the United States announced this week they will send advanced battle tanks to Ukraine, hoping to match the firepower Russia has on the ground.

The EU general said the new supplies from the West are not an escalation but rather an effort to give Ukraine a chance to defend itself. He said the developments have forced Putin to change his initial narrative, in which he described the invasion as a “special operation” to free Ukraine from a Nazi regime.

“Now we are speaking about a war with NATO and the West. Different story,” Sannino said.

Poland pledged Friday to send more tanks to Ukraine, promising an additional 60 tanks on top of 14 German-made Leopard 2 tanks it had already agreed to send.

Zelenskyy responded on Twitter, “Thank you … Poland for these important decisions to deliver to Ukraine 60 Polish tanks — 30 of which are the famous PT-91 Twardy, along with 14 Leopards.”

A Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Maria Zakharova, said Friday the supply of Western tanks to Ukraine would not help Kyiv’s military prospects but would rather “bring the countries of the West to a new level of confrontation with our country and our people.”

On Thursday, Zelenskyy expressed gratitude for the growing number of countries pledging advanced weaponry, including tanks, while at the same time pressing the need to hasten delivery of the promised weapons systems.

Zelenskyy said the only way to stop “this Russian aggression” is with “adequate weapons.” He emphasized, “The terrorist state will not understand anything else.”

The Ukrainian president also credited Western supplies for added protection from Thursday’s missile attacks. “Today, thanks to the air defense systems provided to Ukraine and the professionalism of our warriors, we managed to shoot down most of the Russian missiles and Shaheds,” he said in his address.

“Unfortunately, it is difficult to provide 100% protection with air defense alone. Especially when terrorists use ballistic missiles,” he added.

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

As the administration of U.S. President Joe Biden seeks to secure NATO enlargement with the accession of Sweden and Finland, it is dealing with requests by Turkey and Greece to purchase fighter jets, the latter being less controversial and more likely to be approved.

Analysts speaking to VOA said the outcome of the proposed sale of F-16s to Ankara and F-35s to Athens would impact the air defense capabilities of the two neighbors and the power balance in the region.

Turkey requested to buy 40 F-16 Block 70 fighter jets, the most advanced of their kind, and nearly 80 modernization kits from the United States to upgrade its aging fleet of other F-16s. Greece sent a request to buy 20 F-35s, plus 20 more down the road. Turkey was removed from the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program almost three years ago because of its purchase of the S-400 missile defense system from Russia.

Both proposed sales require approval by Congress. Some U.S. senators, including Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Menendez, oppose the F-16 sale to Turkey, citing several concerns about Turkey’s relations with Russia and its persistent blockage of NATO expansion. The Greek request for the F-35s is seen as more likely to be approved.

Some experts say a scenario where Turkey is not able to get the F-16s but Greece is approved for the F-35s could give Athens the upper hand in terms of aircraft technology in the long run.

“If Turkey cannot get the F-16s and modernize its aircraft as opposed to Greece having the F-35s, upgraded F-16s as well as the Rafale jets it purchased from France, this brings the risk of tilting the air superiority in favor of Greece,” Sinan Ulgen told VOA. Ulgen is the chairman of the Istanbul-based Center for Economics and Foreign Policy research group and a visiting fellow at Carnegie Europe in Brussels.

He argued that if the process gets stalled, Turkey might investigate other options available in the NATO system, such as the Eurofighter Typhoon developed by a consortium of defense companies in the U.K., Germany, Italy and Spain. He added that Ankara is also working on the production of its own national combat aircraft.

Jim Townsend, a former U.S. deputy assistant secretary of defense for European and NATO policy, said the United States has been successful in terms of managing the balance between the two NATO allies despite their many spats over the years and would not let things get to a point where that balance could significantly shift. Townsend is currently an adjunct senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security Transatlantic Security Program.

Sweetening the deal

U.S. experts previously speaking to VOA suggested that a deal on F-16s for Turkey could be dependent on whether Ankara drops its objection to Sweden and Finland’s joint NATO membership bid.

Townsend argued that the administration’s position on F-16s may be a bargaining chip if it signals it’s prepared to work with Congress and use its leverage to get the sale approved — provided that Turkey gives them assurances on NATO’s enlargement.

Turkey had been involved in trilateral talks with Finland and Sweden to try to persuade them to do more to address its security concerns, including the repatriation of individuals whom it considers to be affiliated with terrorist groups.

Angered by a recent protest in Stockholm outside the Turkish Embassy in which far-right anti-Islam activist Rasmus Paludan burned the Quran, Turkey postponed the next round of those talks indefinitely.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu, at a joint news conference with his Serbian counterpart, Ivica Dacic, accused Sweden on Thursday of not taking serious steps to address Turkey’s concerns, saying “a trilateral meeting would not make sense” under the circumstances.

Window of opportunity

U.S. and NATO officials hope to resolve the differences by July, in time for NATO’s summit. Before that happens, Turkey will hold elections in mid-May. Some analysts predict that the election could be the nation’s most consequential vote in generations.

Experts speaking to VOA said it would be beneficial if a solution could be found in the two months between Turkey’s elections and the NATO summit.

“We are used to nations extracting concessions within the alliance over various policy issues,” Townsend told VOA. “Every nation has its national agenda. But they eventually will compromise. Once that election goes by, if Turkey continues to obstruct, I think it’ll be a lot of harsh words behind closed doors.”

Ulgen said he expected the issue to be resolved after the elections, saying Turkey would not want to be blamed for the stall.

In an opinion piece for Bloomberg earlier this week, former NATO commander Admiral James Stavridis wrote that the alliance needs Turkey to continue being an active and positive member and needs to have Finland and Sweden on board.

“No one wants to have to choose between them,” he wrote, putting the onus on Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to ensure that that doesn’t have to happen.

Townsend agreed, adding that Turkey should not be moving the goal posts or stretching out the decision to gain more concessions after the elections.

“Otherwise, we are in some uncharted territory,” he warned.
…

Turkey summoned the Danish ambassador and accused Denmark of endorsing a “hate crime” after an anti-Islam activist on Friday burned two copies of Islam’s holy book, the Quran, in a solitary protest in Copenhagen. 

Rasmus Paludan, a far-right activist who holds both Danish and Swedish citizenship, had already infuriated Turkey by staging a Quran-burning protest in Sweden on January 21. On Friday, he replicated the stunt in front of a mosque, as well as the Turkish Embassy in Copenhagen, and vowed to continue every Friday until Sweden is admitted into NATO. 

Sweden and neighboring Finland are seeking to join the military alliance amid the war in Ukraine, in a historic departure from their nonaligned policies. But their accession requires approval from all NATO members, and Turkey has indicated it will block Sweden’s bid — in part because of Paludan’s initial stunt. Even before that, Ankara was pressing the two countries to crack down on Kurdish militants and other groups it considers terrorists. 

Turkey’s state-run Anadolu Agency said the Danish ambassador was summoned to the Turkish Foreign Ministry where Turkish officials “strongly condemned the permission given for this provocative act, which clearly constitutes a hate crime.” 

The ambassador was told that “Denmark’s attitude is unacceptable” and that Turkey expected that the permission be revoked, according to Anadolu. 

Turkey’s Foreign Ministry later issued a statement calling Paludan an “Islam-hating charlatan” and deploring the fact that he was allowed to stage the demonstration. 

“Showing tolerance toward such heinous acts that offend the sensitivities of millions of people living in Europe threatens the practice of peaceful coexistence and provokes racist, xenophobic and anti-Muslim attacks,” the ministry said. 

Danish Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen told Danish media that the incident would not change Denmark’s “good relationship” with Turkey, adding that Copenhagen intended to talk to Ankara about Denmark’s laws upholding freedoms. 

“Our task now is to talk to Turkey about how the conditions are in Denmark with our open democracy, and that there is a difference between Denmark as a country — and our people as such — and then about individual people who have strongly divergent views,” Lokke Rasmussen said. 

After Paludan’s action in Sweden last week, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned Stockholm not to expect support for its NATO bid. Turkey also indefinitely postponed a key meeting in Brussels that would have discussed Sweden’s and Finland’s membership. 

A lawyer, Paludan established far-right parties in both Sweden and Denmark that have failed to win any seats in national, regional or municipal elections. In last year’s parliamentary election in Sweden, his party received just 156 votes nationwide. 

On Friday, protests were held in several predominantly Muslim countries to denounce Paludan’s protest in Sweden and a similar incident in the Netherlands. 
…

The United Nations held a solemn ceremony Friday to mark the International Day of Commemoration in memory of the 6 million Jews killed in the Holocaust, plus the Roma, disabled people and countless others who died at the hands of Nazi Germany.

It began with a lullaby composed by Gideon Klein, who perished in a Nazi concentration camp. Klein’s music was followed by a solemn ceremony in which six candles were lit in memory of the 6 million victims of the Holocaust.

The event also paid tribute to those who liberated the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp in Poland 78 years ago on January 27, 1945.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres spoke in honor of the millions whose lives were cut short, their futures taken away.

He said the Holocaust was not inevitable but was the culmination of a millennia of antisemitic hate.

“The Nazis could only move with calculated cruelty from the discrimination of Europe’s Jews to their annihilation because so few stood up, and so many stood by,” Guterres said. “It was the deafening silence, both at home and abroad, that emboldened them. … Today and every day, let us resolve to never again remain silent in the face of evil.”

The Israeli ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva, Meirav Eilon Shahar, said antisemitism did not start with the Nazis and did not end with the liberation of the camps in 1945. She said anti-Jewish sentiment is still alive and spreading.

“We must double down on our fight against antisemitism,” she said. “We must fight against indifference and never forget our responsibilities. It is also why preserving the memory of the Holocaust and why remembering it is more important than ever.”

Holocaust survivor Avraham Roet was born in the Netherlands in 1928. He has made it his mission to pass on his memories of life as a Jewish child under Nazi occupation to a younger generation.

He said he survived by becoming a so-called child of the hidden. He said he had to keep moving from one place to another so as not to get caught. He said every community had traitors who were on the lookout for Jewish children to turn over to the Nazis.

“Finally, I did wind up with very poor Dutch farmers in the south of Holland,” he said. “They were Catholic and there was a pastor in that village who gave them orders to hide children with the various farmers in that neighborhood.”

Roet spoke for nearly an hour, the words flowing out in a rush as if a dam were about to break, as if time were running out.

“I feel it is my plight,” he said. “I feel it as my obligation to ask you to remember and not to forget. My sisters, Holocaust victims — all of them before they died, they asked me please remember and do not forget.”

The ceremony ended with a song by a Jewish composer who died in Auschwitz. Pianist Amit Weiner dedicated the song to his grandfather, Israel Weiner, and to the memory of his family members who were murdered in the Holocaust.
…

As countries around the world prepare to send high-tech weapons to Ukraine, remnants of the Russian occupation of some villages reveal how low-tech the war can also be. VOA’s Heather Murdock reports from the Kherson Oblast in Ukraine. Videographer: Yan Boechat
…

A Finnish court on Friday said two journalists at Finland’s largest daily newspaper Helsingin Sanomat were found guilty of revealing classified defense intelligence, in a rare criminal trial restricting press freedom in the Nordic country.

Helsinki district court said it had sentenced Tuomo Pietilainen, the lead writer of a 2017 report entitled “Finland’s most secret place,” to pay a fine, while his colleague Laura Halminen was sentenced but left without a punishment because of her minor role in the reporting.

Finland has for years been among the top countries in a global press freedom ranking published by Reporters Without Borders, but last year slipped to fifth place of 180 countries, partly due to the court case.

“If a court in Finland, a country ranked on the top of the World Press Freedom Index […], prosecutes journalists for reporting on national security issues, what message is this for the countries ranked lower in the Index?” Reporters Without Borders asked in a statement, calling it “a dangerous precedent.”

The 2017 investigative report by Helsingin Sanomat revealed 10-year-old data on the rough location and tasks of an intelligence unit of the defense forces at a time when parliament was debating whether to expand its powers to monitor private data in digital networks.

“several types of information regarding military intelligence were made public, which had been regulated to be kept secret for the sake of Finland’s external security,” the court said in a release.

The court maintained that the revealed details had no connection to the legislation debated by the parliament and that the article did not reveal any problems or malpractices that could have justified its publication.

Helsingin Sanomat Editor-in-Chief Antero Mukka said the newspaper was disappointed by the verdict.

“Despite the moderate punishments, the damage to freedom of speech has already been carried out,” he said in a statement.

The court acquitted an editor who it said did not participate in the revelations.

The journalists all denied any wrongdoing and have the possibility to appeal the verdict.

Prosecutors had sought suspended prison sentences of at least 18 months for the trio.

Helsingin Sanomat is published by Sanoma Media Finland, part of the Sanoma Group.
…

January 27 is International Holocaust Remembrance Day.  The date was chosen because it marks the day in 1945 that Auschwitz, Nazi Germany’s largest concentration and death camp, was liberated by Soviet troops, revealing the horrors within. 

The United Nations is commemorating the day with an event that will be livestreamed.  

According to History.com, Soviet troops thought the camp in southern Poland was empty, but they were wrong. 

“Auschwitz seemed silent and abandoned at first, soldiers soon realized they were filled with people—thousands of them, left to die by SS guards who evacuated the camps after trying to cover up their crimes. As they saw the soldiers, the emaciated prisoners hugged, kissed and cried.”

Six million Jews were systematically killed by the Nazis in World War II

Other groups were also targeted, according to the Council of Europe, for “their perceived racial and biological inferiority.  These included Roma, disabled people, Soviet prisoners of war and homosexuals.  Others, such as Jehovah’s Witnesses, Socialists and Communists, were targeted for their religious or political beliefs.”
…

Ukraine is urging Australia to increase its military aid ahead of a visit to Europe next week by Australian Foreign Affairs Minister Penny Wong and Defense Minister Richard Marles.

Australia, the largest non-NATO contributor to Ukraine’s war effort, has supplied missiles and Bushmaster armored personnel carriers. They have a special ‘V’-shaped floor designed to spread the impact of an explosion more effectively than a conventional flat floor. A group of up to 70 Australian defense force personnel has also been stationed in Britain to help train Ukrainian troops.

Analysts say the commitment of Germany and the United States to deliver tanks to Ukraine puts pressure on Australia to increase its military assistance to Kyiv.

Vasyl Myroshnychenko, Ukraine’s ambassador to Australia, told the Australian Broadcasting Corp. on Friday he hopes Canberra will boost military assistance to his country.

“Australia can choose to send more Bushmasters,” he said. “What is important is that Australia continues supporting Ukraine. We are extremely thankful for what Australia has done so far, especially the last package, which was announced in October, where another 30 Bushmasters were allocated. The troops, which are now in Britain, will be training Ukrainian soldiers. We are thankful for that. it is really a big help.”

The United States is by far the biggest provider of weapons and equipment to Ukraine, followed by Britain, Poland, Germany and Canada.

Australia also has sweeping sanctions on Russia — the most severe ever imposed on a foreign government.

Since the war began almost a year ago, Australia has granted visas to almost 9,000 Ukrainian refugees.

Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade has said Canberra condemns “Russia’s unilateral, illegal and immoral aggression against the people of Ukraine,” adding that the “invasion is a gross violation of international law.”

Wong and Marles head to France next week to try to repair a diplomatic rift caused by Canberra’s abrupt cancelation in 2021 of a lucrative submarine contract with Paris in favor of a new alliance — the AUKUS pact — with the United States and Britain.

They will also travel to Britain for ministerial talks.
…

Germany and its European allies plan to send around 80 Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine in the coming weeks, according to Berlin, which announced the change of policy this week following intense pressure from Kyiv and its Western partners.

The Leopard 2 is considered one of the world’s most powerful tanks and well-suited to the Ukraine conflict.

Britain and the United States are also sending dozens of their main battle tanks. The decision marks a significant step up in Western weapons supplies to Ukraine and is being seen by NATO as a pivotal moment in the war — one that also draws Western nations deeper into the conflict.

March delivery

Germany not only plans to send 14 tanks but has also permitted allies to send their German-made Leopard tanks. German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said the tanks should be delivered by the end of March.

“My primary task now is to enter into talks with the defense industry with the aim of significantly speeding up procurement times,” Pistorius said Thursday during a visit to an army training camp. “If you look at ammunition, there is also the issue of quantity. … I will also hold initial talks with the arms industry on this issue, probably as early as next week,” he added.

Poland, Spain, Norway and Finland have all said they were willing to send Leopard 2 tanks. Canada announced Thursday it would send four of the tanks to Kyiv.

Germany said Wednesday the total should amount to two battalions, or around 80 vehicles.

Time and strategy

In addition, Ukraine will receive 14 British Challenger 2 tanks in the coming weeks and 31 U.S. Abrams tanks from the United States later in the year. Ukrainian troops will require several weeks of training on the different equipment, said John Lough, an associate fellow of the Russia and Eurasia program at the London-based policy institute Chatham House.

“The Ukrainians have proved to be, I think, remarkably capable of absorbing Western military assistance. But it does take time, and time is not on their side, given that spring is round the corner and there’s an expectation that Russia is going to mount some form of major offensive,” Lough told VOA.

Ukraine will have to decide how to integrate the tanks into its armed forces.

“The tanks will make a real difference,” said Ed Arnold, a research fellow at the Royal United Services Institute in London, a defense and security think tank in the U.K. “Ukraine will still need to decide, actually, how they use these tanks. Do they put them straight into the fight as soon as they’re available? Or do they integrate them into larger formations, train and rehearse those larger formations, and spend a bit more time integrating them into the way that they fight to then potentially use in the summer?” Arnold told the Reuters news agency.

‘Pivotal’ moment in the war

NATO’s Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg described the decision to send tanks as a “pivotal moment.”

“We must provide heavier and more advanced systems to Ukraine, and we must do it faster,” Stoltenberg said.

Angela Stent, a Russia expert at Georgetown University in Washington, said the delivery of Western main battle tanks to Ukraine is further evidence of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s miscalculation.

“What Vladimir Putin is hoping for and has been for the past few months is that this kind of threat of intimidation and then weariness in the Europeans — particularly for the impact that sanctions is having on their own economies — that all those things will cause the transatlantic unity on this to break. But so far, it hasn’t. We’ve seen the opposite,” Stent told Reuters.

Kyiv says it needs 300 tanks — far more than it is likely to receive in the coming months. Ukraine also says it needs Western fighter jets such as the American F-16 to defeat the Russian invasion. Could that be the next barrier for the West to overcome?

“As air forces in Europe and the U.S. modernize, they have older equipment that they potentially could give to Ukraine. It would be another escalatory measure. But I think at the moment what they want to do is see how Ukraine gets on with the tanks and then assess from there,” Arnold said.

Western involvement

The West is now heavily invested in the Ukraine war. Its flagship battle tanks, crewed by Ukrainians, will soon go head-to-head with Russian armor on the steppes of Europe.

John Lough of Chatham House said the West must be clear about the implications.

“Sending this level of equipment in these quantities means that NATO countries are, I think, effectively entering the war,” Lough said. “Of course, indirectly, but they are, because they are becoming the critical sole source of supply to the Ukrainian armed forces.

“This could go on for a very long time,” Lough continued. “The Russians recognize this, and we can tell from Putin’s messaging to Russian society that he is preparing the country for a long war. The question, I think, however, on the Western side is whether Western governments are prepared to do the same thing with their own societies.”
…

There have been several “small” positive developments in the situation of jailed Iranian hip-hop star and dissident Toomaj Salehi, according to a German lawmaker serving as his political sponsor.

Salehi has been in solitary confinement for 89 days at Dastgerd Prison in the central Iranian city of Isfahan, according to the latest update from his official Twitter account, which is being administered by his supporters.

He was detained by Iranian authorities on October 30, 2022, and charged with several offenses, including “corruption on Earth,” a serious crime punishable by death. His songs denounce Iran’s Islamist rulers and the perceived injustices they have perpetrated against the Iranian people.

Salehi also embraced Iran’s anti-government protest movement that began last September. In the days before his arrest, he posted videos of himself on Instagram participating in peaceful street demonstrations and urging others to do the same.

In December, Iranian state media published a video of Salehi appearing to express regret for promoting violence through music, as he put it. But his supporters denounced the video as the latest example of the Iranian government’s common practice of producing videos of forced confessions of alleged crimes by people whom it targets for arrest.

Ye-One Rhie, a member of the German federal parliament for the ruling Social Democratic Party, has been campaigning for Salehi’s release in recent months as part of a long-standing tradition of German lawmakers serving as sponsors of political prisoners around the world. She discussed the latest developments in his case in a January 20 phone interview for VOA’s “Flashpoint Iran” podcast.

The following transcript has been edited for brevity and clarity.

VOA: You’ve been trying to contact the Iranian ambassador to Germany, and I understand you’ve written multiple letters and only received one response so far. So, why are you continuing to write to him?

Ye-One Rhie, German Federal Parliament Member: We are not writing because we really expect him to reply in a very honest and open way. We just want him to know that we will keep an eye out for all the political prisoners that we have a sponsorship for, and that he should never think that we lessen our approach, or that our attention is weakening. So, that’s the reason why we are writing him.

But we are looking out very carefully at what is happening with the prisoners in Iran. We are just looking for: Are there any lighter sentences? Are there people or prisoners who get out of prison, or whose death sentence has been lifted? That’s the response we are looking for. And we don’t want the embassy or the regime in Iran to think that we don’t care anymore. That’s the reason why we keep writing.

VOA: Do you have any idea how many other German parliament members are politically sponsoring Iranian prisoners, and what kind of coordination do you have with them?

Rhie: There are over 300 members of parliament in Germany who have political sponsorships. It’s [not only] the members of the Bundestag but also the [German] members of the European Parliament.

And we have, I think as far as I know, two bigger coordinations going on. There are three activists who are doing it. They have, I think, matched and coordinated most of the sponsorships.

We [also] have the International Society for Human Rights [IGFM] in Germany, and they have a lot of experience already in matching and coordinating political sponsorships.

So, they are doing all the research work. They are finding out who is in prison right now for political reasons — what the accusations are, what the status is, and how to get in touch with people who know more about their cases. So, that’s what they are doing. The members of parliament are just the ones who are in public for that. But the work in the background is going on with the IGFM and the activists who are doing it.

VOA: Speaking of the status of the prisoners, what have you learned about Toomaj’s latest condition?

Rhie: As far as I know, the last I heard from him, is — what I always repeat — that the condition of his left eye is still worrying. Probably most people know that he was tortured and that he had a lot of broken bones all over his body. But especially the condition of his left eye is worrying because we don’t really know how far his eyesight is affected.

And what I’m hearing is, if he doesn’t get treated very, very soon, it might be permanent. So, that’s the most worrying aspect of this health condition right now.

Other than that, there are a few small positive steps, like that his father was allowed to visit him on a very regular basis, and that his two appointed lawyers were chosen by himself. But it’s not enough that I would say, “Well, we made progress,” because we don’t really know how far they [Iranian authorities] will go with that, or if they will turn back all of those developments that we are considering to be a little bit positive.

So, the lawyers don’t have access to all the case files. So, it could be a little bit of a scam to be allowed to have the lawyers but [at the same time] they are not allowed to study the case files. So, they are not prepared, [and] so it doesn’t make any change in how the court ruling will go. So, we are pressing for that.

But I’m relieved that he has at least some kind of contact with the father, because he has been in solitary confinement for 80 [now 89] days. I mean, every person would go insane just being by himself and being tortured and being injured as he is. So, small steps. That’s pretty much what we are getting out of this situation right now.
…

With the U.S. now joining Germany and Britain in promising to send battle tanks to Ukraine, what are the capabilities and differences among the three types of tanks that will join the fight? VOA’s Steve Redisch takes their measure.
…

Russia launched new missile attacks on several locations in Ukraine on Thursday, killing 11 people and wounding 11 others, authorities reported.

Ukraine’s State Emergency Service said the attacks hit 11 regions across the country. Ukraine’s Air Force said Russia fired 55 missiles, with Ukraine shooting down most of them. Thirty-five buildings were damaged in the attacks.

Moscow’s forces continued to target Ukraine’s energy infrastructure in the depth of winter, an effort to demoralize Ukrainians. Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said in a post on Telegram, “The main goal is energy facilities, providing Ukrainians with light and heat.”

Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said one person was killed in the Ukrainian capital and two more were wounded when a missile hit a building. The state prosecutor general’s office said three people were killed in a Russian strike on infrastructure in Zaporizhzhia, where Europe’s biggest nuclear plant is located, and there were reports of strikes in the Vinnytsia region in western Ukraine and outside Odesa.

International Atomic Energy Agency chief Rafael Mariano Grossi said that IAEA’s security staff has been reporting almost daily blasts near the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, with eight detonations heard Wednesday and more on Thursday. He called again, as he has for months, for Russia and Ukraine to agree to a safety and security zone around the nuclear plant to make sure it is not targeted and not used for attacks from the site.

Grossi discussed the proposed zone with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kyiv last week and is also continuing discussions with Russia.

Six reactors remain shut down at the Zaporizhzhia site with two continuing in hot shutdown mode to supply steam and heat to the plant and the nearby city of Enerhodar.

The new missile attacks came after Zelenskyy, speaking just hours after Germany and the United States pledged to provide Kyiv with advanced battle tanks, called on Kyiv’s Western allies to deliver long-range missiles and military aircraft to beef up Ukraine’s air defense.

Zelenskyy praised the allies’ commitment to deliver advanced tanks and urged them to provide large numbers of tanks quickly, although it could be months before some of them arrive on the battlefront.

“The key now is speed and volumes. Speed in training our forces, speed in supplying tanks to Ukraine. The numbers in tank support,” he said. “We have to form such a ‘tank fist,’ such a ‘fist of freedom.'”

“It is very important that there is progress in other aspects of our defense cooperation, as well,” Zelenskyy said.

“We must also open the supply of long-range missiles to Ukraine. It is important. We must also expand our cooperation in artillery. We must enter into the supply of aircraft for Ukraine. And this is a dream. And this is the task,” he added.

President Joe Biden said Wednesday the U.S. will send 31 of its highly advanced Abrams tanks in a move he said was not a threat to Russia.

Moscow has warned that it regards the Western supply of advanced battle tanks to Ukraine a dangerous provocation.

Speaking from the White House, Biden said the NATO tanks for Ukraine would help “improve their ability to maneuver in open terrain.”

He praised Berlin’s similar announcement as evidence that “Germany has really stepped up.”

Chancellor Olaf Scholz said hours earlier that Germany will supply 14 Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine and will also allow third countries to reexport their own German-made Leopards.

Scholz said the decision was “the right principle” in the face of Russia’s unprovoked invasion of its neighbor, a war now in its 12th month.

German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius added that the first Leopard tanks could be in Ukraine within three months.

Some material in this report came from Reuters and The Associated Press.
…

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced Thursday a series of sanctions targeting individuals associated with Russia’s paramilitary Wagner Group, including its leader and associated front companies, for waging war in Ukraine, including battlefield activities and the targeting of civilians.

In a statement, Blinken said the sanctions will target five entities and one individual linked to the Wagner Group and its head, Yevgeniy Prigozhin, as well as several other individuals and entities, for their status as government officials and for being part of Russia’s military industrial complex.

Blinken’s statement said the State Department also is designating three individuals for their roles as heads of the Russian Federal Penitentiary Service, which has been reported to facilitate the recruitment of Russian prisoners into the Wagner Group, and subsequently sent to the front lines to fight in the conflict in Ukraine.

Additionally, the top U.S. diplomat said the U.S. Treasury Department is designating the Wagner Group a “significant transnational criminal organization” for actions taken in Africa.

The statement said the “group’s pattern of serious criminal behavior includes violent harassment of journalists, aid workers, and members of minority groups and harassment, obstruction, and intimidation of U.N. peacekeepers in the Central African Republic, as well as rape and killings in Mali.”

In the statement Thursday, Blinken noted, “The United States is steadfast in our resolve against Russia’s aggression and other destabilizing behavior worldwide. [Thursday’s] designations will further impede the Kremlin’s ability to arm its war-machine that is engaged in a war of aggression against Ukraine, and which has caused unconscionable death and destruction.”
…

After a recent military pullout, only about 400 French troops remain in Burkina Faso to help the government fight Islamist militants linked to al-Qaida and the Islamic State. But now many in the country want Russia to help and the government has ordered all French troops to leave within the month. Reporter Kader Traore has more from Ouagadougou in this report narrated by Vincent Makori.
…

Russia launched a fresh wave of missile strikes on Ukraine in the morning Thursday, killing at least one person, hours after an overnight drone attack, while heavy fighting continues unabated in the east, where Moscow’s forces have been increasing pressure on Ukrainian defenders.

The new missile attacks came after President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, speaking just hours after Germany and the United States pledged to provide Kyiv with advanced battle tanks, called on Kyiv’s Western allies to deliver long-range missiles and military aircraft to beef up Ukraine’s air defense.

Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said one person was killed and two others were wounded in a strike on the capital and urged residents to stay in shelters.

“As a result of a rocket hitting a nonresidential building in the Holosiyiv district, we have information about one dead and two wounded. The wounded were hospitalized,” he said.

Serhiy Popko, the head of Kyiv’s military administration, said more than a dozen missiles were destroyed above the capital by air defenses.

“The enemy launched more than 15 cruise missiles in the direction of Kyiv. Thanks to the excellent work of air defense, all air targets were shot down,” he said.

Andriy Yermak, the head of Ukraine’s presidential administration, wrote on Telegram, “the first Russian missiles have already been shot down,” without specifying the locations.

Two energy facilities were hit by Russian missiles in the southern region of Odesa, local authorities said.

“There is already information about damage done to two critical energy infrastructure facilities in Odesa. There are no injured. Air-defense forces are working over the Odesa region,” the head of the region’s military administration, Yuriy Kruk, wrote on social media. 

The central region of Vinnitsya was also targeted by Russian missiles, said Serhiy Borzov, the head of the regional military administration, adding that there were no casualties.

Earlier, the General Staff of the Ukrainian Military said its forces destroyed 24 drones, including 15 over Kyiv, that Russia launched in overnight attacks.

Zelenskyy said in his regular nightly video address on Wednesday that it is now necessary to “go ahead with the supply of aircraft for Ukraine.”

On the battlefield, Ukrainian forces continued to sustain incessant pressure from Russian attacks in the east, mainly in Bakhmut and Avdiyivka in the Donetsk region and Chervopopyivka in Luhansk, the General Staff said in its daily report Thursday.

“Despite suffering numerous losses, the enemy did not halt its offensive actions,” the General Staff said, adding that Ukrainian defenders also repelled attacks in Lyman, Kupyansk, Zaporizhzhya, and Kherson.

Russia has been “intensifying” its offensive near Bakhmut, where it deployed a “superior number of soldiers and weapons” in what has become a hot spot in the 11-month-old invasion, Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Malyar said Wednesday, adding that “the enemy is intensifying pressure in the Bakhmut and Vuhledar sectors” of the front.

Ukrainian officials on Wednesday also acknowledged their loss to Russian forces of the Donetsk-region salt-mining town of Soledar as many military experts are forecasting a Russian spring offensive in the area.

Berlin and Washington agreed to provide the tanks following months of intense debate among NATO allies in the hope of helping stem the expected push by Russia.

Zelenskyy praised the allies’ commitment to deliver advanced tanks and urged them to provide large numbers of tanks quickly.

“The key now is speed and volumes. Speed in training our forces, speed in supplying tanks to Ukraine. The numbers in tank support,” he said. “We have to form such a ‘tank fist,’ such a ‘fist of freedom.'”

“It is very important that there is progress in other aspects of our defense cooperation as well,” Zelenskyy said.

“We must also open the supply of long-range missiles to Ukraine. It is important — we must also expand our cooperation in artillery, we must enter into the supply of aircraft for Ukraine. And this is a dream. And this is the task.”

President Joe Biden on Wednesday said the United States will send 31 of its highly advanced Abrams tanks in a move he said was not a threat to Russia.

Moscow has warned that it regards the Western supply of advanced battle tanks to Ukraine a dangerous provocation.

Speaking from the White House, Biden said the NATO tanks for Ukraine would help “improve their ability to maneuver in open terrain.”

He praised Berlin’s similar announcement as evidence that “Germany has really stepped up.”

Chancellor Olaf Scholz said hours earlier that Germany will supply 14 Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine and will also allow third countries to reexport their own German-made Leopards.

Scholz said the decision, approved Wednesday, was “the right principle” in the face of Russia’s unprovoked invasion of its neighbor.

German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius added that the first Leopard tanks could be in Ukraine within three months.

With reporting by Reuters, The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and dpa.
…

South Korea, with a world-class arms industry, is facing mounting pressure to find a way to get needed arms and munitions to Ukraine without unduly angering Russia, which has hinted that it could resume military cooperation with North Korea.

Experts interviewed by VOA say the most likely solution under consideration in Seoul is for the nation’s commercial arms manufacturers to make private sales to the United States, allowing the U.S to ship more of its own armaments to Ukraine without depleting its stockpiles.

A spokesperson for the South Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs told VOA Korean Service on Wednesday that the administration in Seoul “has been providing humanitarian support to the people of Ukraine” but “there has not been a change” in its position that it “will not send lethal weapons to Ukraine.”

Depleted stockpiles

Since the Russian invasion, Washington’s military aid to Kyiv has depleted U.S. weapons stockpiles.

The Ukraine Defense Contact Group, a U.S.-led coalition of about 50 countries, has been sending Kyiv weaponry ranging from High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS) to howitzers. The U.S. and Germany announced Wednesday that they will send 31 M1 Abrams tanks and 14 Leopard 2 tanks, respectively. Additional tanks have been promised by other NATO countries.

Ukraine is using about 90,000 artillery rounds per month while the U.S. and European countries are producing only half that amount among them, according to The New York Times, citing U.S. and Western officials.

The U.S. has asked the U.S. Forces Korea (USFK) to route some of its equipment stockpiled in South Korea to Ukraine, USFK spokesperson Isaac Taylor told the VOA Korean Service on Jan. 19.

And Washington “has been in discussion about potential sales of ammunition” from South Korea’s “non-government industrial defense base,” said Pentagon spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Martin Meiners to the VOA Korean Service on Jan. 18.

“The Republic of Korea has a world-class defense industry which regularly sells to allies and partners, including the United States,” Meiners added. South Korea’s official name is the Republic of Korea (ROK).

South Korea’s arms sales

Experts said arms sales from South Korea’s private defense companies to the U.S. could elevate South Korea’s standing as “a global pivotal state,” a stated foreign policy aspiration of President Yoon Suk Yeol since he took office in May.

Yoon said in August that South Korea’s goal is to become one of the top four global arms sellers. He reiterated the goal of boosting weapons sales in November.

South Korea was the world’s eighth-largest exporter of weapons in 2017-21 according to a 2022 report by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) which said the United States, Russia, France, China and Germany are the top five sellers.

“President Yoon has called South Korea a global pivotal state,” David Maxwell, a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, said. “… Providing support to Ukraine directly or indirectly is an example of that.”

Putin’s warning

Experts said that by allowing the private arms sales to proceed, South Korea could shore up its alliances with Western powers and help to demonstrate to authoritarian neighbors like China and North Korea that the kind of aggression launched by Russia in Ukraine will not succeed.

But the move will likely come at the cost of further deterioration in Seoul’s relations with Moscow, which are already fraying over South Korea’s support of the sanctions the U.S. imposed on Russia after it invaded Ukraine.

“South Korea has the same interest about peace, stability, territorial sovereignty, protecting [against] states that are invading through outright aggression,” said Terence Roehrig, a professor of national security and Korea expert at the U.S. Naval War College.

“It is about South Korea making the decision that it needs to stand with the West on those issues with some degree of hedging by being reluctant to send direct military assistance to Ukraine,” he added.

“You will not see South Korea directly contributing arms to Ukraine. It will only be about backfilling other states who might be doing that.” That, he said, is because of concerns that Russia could “play a role on North Korea” through potential technology transfers and weapons development.

In October, Russian President Vladimir Putin warned South Korea that sending ammunition to Ukraine would ruin their relations.

“We have learned that the Republic of Korea has made a decision to supply weapons and ammunition to Ukraine. This will destroy our relations,” said Putin as reported by Russian state-owned Tass. “How would the Republic of Korea react if we resumed cooperation with North Korea in that sphere?”

Until it collapsed in 1991, the Soviet Union provided military support to North Korea. The Ukraine war has drawn Russia and North Korea closer together. On Friday, the U.S. released a photo of what it said was evidence of North Korea sending weapons to the Wagner Group, a Russian private military organization, via trains to Russia.

VOA Korea contacted the Russian embassy in Washington and Foreign Ministry in Moscow for comment, but they did not respond.

Andrew Yeo, the SK-Korea Foundation chair at Brookings Institution, said the proposed private weapons sales to the U.S. “would suggest greater support for the Ukrainian cause and further sour relations with Moscow, although Moscow has already placed Seoul on its list of hostile countries.”

In March, Russia placed South Korea on a list of countries that commit “unfriendly actions,” according to Tass. According to the Tass report, countries on the list imposed or joined the sanctions imposed on Russia after it invaded Ukraine.

“Seoul is eager to preserve a workable relationship with Moscow, so in some way drawing down U.S. weapons in [its bases in South] Korea is more palatable than selling them directly,” said Patrick Cronin, the Asia-Pacific security chair at Hudson Institute.

“But South Korea also has an abiding interest in ensuring that Russian aggression in Ukraine cannot prevail,” he added. “That would be a bad precedent for South Korea’s neighbors.”
…

President Joe Biden announced the U.S. will send 31 Abrams battle tanks to Ukraine just hours after Germany said it will send 14 Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine. The moves are part of a united effort to help Kyiv defend itself against invading Russian forces. VOA’s Senior Diplomatic Correspondent Cindy Saine reports.
…

Russia and Pakistan emphasized in bilateral talks Wednesday the need for “practical engagement” with Afghanistan’s Taliban but ruled out formal recognition of the Islamist rulers until they address international concerns over women’s rights and inclusive governance.

The Russian presidential envoy for Afghanistan, Zamir Kabulov, led his delegation in the talks with Pakistani officials in Islamabad and briefed them on his meetings earlier this month with the Taliban in Kabul.

Kabulov said Moscow was continuing to engage with the Taliban but was not considering granting legitimacy to the de facto Afghan rulers “for the time being,” official Pakistani sources privy to Wednesday’s meetings told VOA.

The sources quoted the Russian envoy as saying he “advised” the Islamist Taliban to move toward creating a politically inclusive government and easing curbs on women, saying that otherwise there can be no movement forward on the issue of their legitimacy, nor can Afghanistan get any substantial support from the world.

A brief Pakistani statement posted on Twitter after Kabulov’s meeting with Deputy Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar said the two sides “emphasized [the] need for practical engagement with the interim Afghan government.”

The Pakistani side also reiterated that Islamabad was not considering giving the Taliban formal recognition and would do so only collectively with the international community, the sources said.

The foreign ministry in a formal statement issued later offered few details of the meeting and did not mention the issue of recognition of the de facto Afghan authorities.

The statement quoted Khar as urging the international community “to continue extending assistance and support, in order to address urgent humanitarian needs and to provide a sustainable pathway for Afghanistan’s prosperity and development.”

The Taliban reclaimed power in Afghanistan in August 2021 following the end of almost 20 years of U.S.-led foreign military intervention in the conflict-torn South Asian nation.

The world has not yet formally recognized the male-only Taliban government, mainly over human rights concerns and curbs it has placed on women’s access to work and education.

While the United States and Western nations at large shifted their Afghan diplomatic missions to Qatar after the Taliban captured Kabul, several countries, including Pakistan, Russia, China, Turkey and Iran, have kept their embassies open and maintain close contacts with the hard-line rulers.

Chinese support

Last week, newly appointed Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang spoke with his Taliban counterpart, Amir Khan Muttaqi, and reaffirmed Beijing’s support for the group to establish what he called “a broad and inclusive political structure” in Kabul.

Afghan women have been excluded from most areas of the workforce and have been banned from using parks, gyms and public bath houses. The Taliban have refused to reopen secondary schools for girls beyond grade six since returning to power.

The hard-line Taliban reject criticism of their administration, saying the government represents all ethnic and political groups in Afghanistan. They also strongly defend restrictions on women, saying the policies are in line with Afghan culture and Islamic law, or Shariah.

Last month, the Taliban authorities closed universities to female students until further notice, and they forbade women from working for national and international nongovernmental organizations.

The Taliban’s curbs on Afghan female aid workers have forced major international charity groups to halt some of their programs in a country where 97% of the estimated population of 40 million lives below the poverty line and nearly half of them need humanitarian assistance.
…

France has received a request from junta-ruled Burkina Faso to withdraw its troops from the Sahel country and will do so within a month, the foreign ministry said Wednesday.

“On Tuesday … we formally received notice from the Burkinabe government of the termination of the 2018 agreement on the status of French armed forces present in the country,” a ministry spokeswoman said.

“According to the terms of the accord, the termination takes effect a month after reception of written notification. We will respect the terms of the agreement by honoring this request.”

About 400 French special forces are currently based in Burkina Faso in a deployment dubbed “Sabre,” part of a broader military presence to fight jihadists across the Sahel region.

But the country has followed a similar course to neighboring Mali, falling out with Paris after a military coup brought a junta to power and the French presence became increasingly unpopular among the public.

The Burkinabe government has assured Paris it will not follow Mali by turning to Russia’s Wagner to back up its army—although a liaison team from the mercenary group has already visited.

A source familiar with French military plans told AFP that while the troops would be gone by the end of February, their equipment would be picked up by late April.

Paris asked for clarification from Ouagadougou’s transitional president Ibrahim Traore on Monday after the government had said it was asking French forces to leave.

“This does not mean the end of diplomatic relations between Burkina Faso and France,” government spokesman Jean-Emmanuel Ouedraogo told broadcaster RTV following the announcement.

In addition, the government has requested that Paris replace its ambassador after incumbent Luc Hallade commented publicly on the worsening security situation in the country.

The landlocked state, a former French colony, is one of the poorest and most volatile in Africa.

Thousands of troops, police and civilians have been killed and about 2 million people have fled their homes since jihadists launched an insurgency from neighboring Mali in 2015.

More than a third of the country lies beyond the control of the government, and frustration within the army at the mounting toll triggered two coups last year.
…

The U.K. said Wednesday it was reviewing how sanctioned individuals are permitted to use the country’s legal services, after reports the government helped the head of Russian mercenary group Wagner sue a British journalist.

The finance ministry currently grants licenses allowing sanctioned people to circumvent restrictions so as to hire U.K. lawyers and pay their fees for lawsuits filed in British courts.

It reportedly allowed Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin — who was sanctioned by Britain and others in 2020 — to launch a libel suit against Eliot Higgins, a journalist for investigative outlet Bellingcat.

The Netherlands-based site had reported extensively on Wagner’s previously shadowy operations, which have been on more public display in the war in Ukraine.

U.K.-based investigative website openDemocracy reported this week that the ministry’s Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation (OFSI) had granted licenses for a U.K. law firm to work on the case.

The office also approved those lawyers flying business class to Russia to meet Prigozhin’s legal representatives there face-to-face and allowed payments from him by wire transfer into U.K. bank accounts, openDemocracy said.

The revelations are based on a cache of hacked emails and documents from one of Russia’s biggest law firms. Although the lawsuit eventually failed, the revelations have sparked an outcry in Britain.

Government ‘complacent’

Responding to an urgent question on the case in parliament, junior finance minister James Cartlidge refused to comment on the specific case. But he did say OFSI processes were now under review.

“The Treasury is now considering whether this approach is the right one and if changes can be made without the Treasury assuming unacceptable legal risk and ensuring that we adhere to the rule of law,” he told lawmakers.

Such decisions had been taken by officials, rather than ministers, using a pre-established framework, said Cartlidge. “The issuance of licenses for legal fees are not and should not be political,” he added.

The main opposition Labour party, which has persistently criticized the ruling Conservatives for failing to deliver on promises to curb illicit Russian money entering the U.K., called the government “complacent.”

“The government appears to have granted a waiver for a warlord that enabled him to launch a legal attack on a British journalist,” Labour’s foreign affairs spokesman David Lammy said.

Prigozhin’s libel suit, which collapsed last year after Russia invaded Ukraine, was the “perfect example” of trying “to silence critics through financial intimidation,” he said.

The government last year promised a “crackdown on corrupt elites” abusing the U.K. legal system, which would target so-called “Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation (SLAPPs).” SLAPP suits are aimed at intimidating and silencing critics with burdensome legal action.

But the government has not yet introduced any legislation reforming the legal system.

Asked when a draft law could be expected, Cartlidge told lawmakers that was “above my paygrade.”
…

The European Court of Human Rights said cases brought by Ukraine and the Netherlands against Russia over human rights violations in the two breakaway regions of Luhansk and Donetsk in Ukraine, and the shooting down of Flight MH-17, were admissible. 

The decision is procedural and does not rule on the merits of the cases, but it does show the Strasbourg-based court considers Russia can be held liable for alleged human rights violations in the separatist regions. 

“Among other things, the Court found that areas in eastern Ukraine in separatist hands were, from 11 May 2014 and up to at least 26 January 2022, under the jurisdiction of the Russian Federation,” the court said in a ruling on Wednesday. 

The cases will now move on to the merits stage, expected to take another one to two years before a final decision is issued. 

The ECHR ruling opens the doors to at least three other cases by the Ukrainian state against Russia, which had been put on hold pending the decision on jurisdiction. 

The Netherlands filed its case with the ECHR in 2020, saying the shooting down of Flight MH-17 over territory in eastern Ukraine held by Russian-backed separatists breached the European Convention on Human Rights. 

Moscow has repeatedly denied any involvement in the destruction of the aircraft as fighting raged between the separatists and Ukrainian government forces. 

The two Ukrainian cases, which date from 2014, pertain to what Kyiv says were administrative practices by Russia in eastern Ukraine in violation of the European Convention on Human Rights, as well as the abduction of three groups of Ukrainian orphan children and children without parental care, and a number of adults accompanying them.

All were returned home one day or, in the third case, five days after their abduction, the ECHR said. 
…

Pope Francis criticized laws that criminalize homosexuality as “unjust,” saying God loves all his children just as they are and called on Catholic bishops who support the laws to welcome LGBTQ people into the church.

“Being homosexual isn’t a crime,” Francis said during an interview Tuesday with The Associated Press.

Francis acknowledged that Catholic bishops in some parts of the world support laws that criminalize homosexuality or discriminate against the LGBTQ community, and he himself referred to the issue in terms of “sin.” But he attributed such attitudes to cultural backgrounds, and said bishops in particular need to undergo a process of change to recognize the dignity of everyone.

“These bishops have to have a process of conversion,” he said, adding that they should apply “tenderness, please, as God has for each one of us.”

Some 67 countries or jurisdictions worldwide criminalize consensual same-sex sexual activity, 11 of which can or do impose the death penalty, according to The Human Dignity Trust, which works to end such laws. Experts say even where the laws are not enforced, they contribute to harassment, stigmatization and violence against LGBTQ people.

In the U.S., more than a dozen states still have anti-sodomy laws on the books, despite a 2003 Supreme Court ruling declaring them unconstitutional. Gay rights advocates say the antiquated laws are used to harass homosexuals, and point to new legislation, such as the “Don’t say gay” law in Florida, which forbids instruction on sexual orientation and gender identity in kindergarten through third grade, as evidence of continued efforts to marginalize LGBTQ people.

The United Nations has repeatedly called for an end to laws criminalizing homosexuality outright, saying they violate rights to privacy and freedom from discrimination and are a breach of countries’ obligations under international law to protect the human rights of all people, regardless of their sexual orientation or gender identity.

Declaring such laws “unjust,” Francis said the Catholic Church can and should work to put an end to them. “It must do this. It must do this,” he said.

Francis quoted the Catechism of the Catholic Church in saying gay people must be welcomed and respected, and should not be marginalized or discriminated against.

“We are all children of God, and God loves us as we are and for the strength that each of us fights for our dignity,” Francis said, speaking to the AP in the Vatican hotel where he lives.

Such laws are common in Africa and the Middle East and date from British colonial times or are inspired by Islamic law. Some Catholic bishops have strongly upheld them as consistent with Vatican teaching that considers homosexual activity “intrinsically disordered,” while others have called for them to be overturned as a violation of basic human dignity.

In 2019, Francis had been expected to issue a statement opposing criminalization of homosexuality during a meeting with human rights groups that conducted research into the effects of such laws and so-called “conversion therapies.”

In the end, the pope did not meet with the groups, which instead met with the Vatican No. 2, who reaffirmed “the dignity of every human person and against every form of violence.”

On Tuesday, Francis said there needed to be a distinction between a crime and a sin with regard to homosexuality.

“Being homosexual is not a crime,” he said. “It’s not a crime. Yes, but it’s a sin. Fine, but first let’s distinguish between a sin and a crime.”

“It’s also a sin to lack charity with one another,” he added.

Catholic teaching holds that while gay people must be treated with respect, homosexual acts are “intrinsically disordered.” Francis has not changed that teaching, but he has made reaching out to the LGBTQ community a hallmark of his papacy.

Starting with his famous 2013 declaration, “Who am I to judge?” when he was asked about a purportedly gay priest, Francis has gone on to minister repeatedly and publicly to the gay and trans community. As archbishop of Buenos Aires, he favored granting legal protections to same-sex couples as an alternative to endorsing gay marriage, which Catholic doctrine forbids.

Despite such outreach, Francis was criticized by the Catholic LGBTQ community for a 2021 decree from the Vatican’s doctrine office that the church cannot bless same-sex unions “because God cannot bless sin.”

The Vatican in 2008 declined to sign onto a U.N. declaration that called for the decriminalization of homosexuality, complaining the text went beyond the original scope and also included language about “sexual orientation” and “gender identity” it found problematic. In a statement at the time, the Vatican urged countries to avoid “unjust discrimination” against gay people and end penalties against them.
…

Hundreds of people attended a memorial service in Lusaka on Tuesday for a Zambian student who died fighting for Russia in Ukraine as Tanzania confirmed the death of another student who was also recruited in a Russian jail.

Family members broke down as they filed past the coffin of Lemekani Nyirenda at Lusaka Baptist Church, where the 23-year-old was a regular worshipper before moving to Russia to study nuclear engineering.

Nyirenda was recruited by Russia’s mercenary Wagner Group last year while serving a nine-and-a-half year jail term for a drug offense and sent to fight in Ukraine.

His death in September sparked a diplomatic spat, with Zambia demanding an urgent explanation from the Kremlin.

Meanwhile, Tanzania on Tuesday confirmed that another student, Nemes Tarimo, had been killed after also being recruited in jail by Wagner.

“When Tarimo was serving jail, he was given an opportunity to join the Russian army group called Wagner for payment and the promise that he would be freed after the war,” Tanzanian Foreign Minister Stergomena Tax said.

“Tarimo agreed, and he was taken to Ukraine where he was killed on October 24.”

In recent months, men have been recruited from Russian prisons to fight on the front lines in Ukraine with the promise of reduced sentences and attractive fees.

Tarimo, who had been studying in Russia since 2020, was arrested in March 2022 and sentenced to a seven-year jail term for undisclosed reasons.

“It’s illegal for a Tanzanian national to join any foreign army,” added the foreign minister.

On Tuesday, Nyirenda’s father paid tribute to his son, saying he was a hard worker who helped set up a beehive business for the family.

Edwin Nyirenda told mourners his son had sought a part-time job and “started working as a courier” after posting an advertisement online when he got into trouble.

The two were last in touch at the end of August when Nyirenda told his father he would return home after going to fight in Ukraine.

Nyirenda’s body was repatriated in December and will be laid to rest in a private ceremony in Rufunsa, east of Lusaka, on Wednesday.

Funerals were delayed after some family members raised concerns that the remains might not belong to the student.

But doubts were dispelled by a DNA test, said family spokesman Ian Banda.

“There may be some parts missing but by and large, we have the remains of Lemekhani,” Banda told journalists after the service.
…

Pleas by Ukrainian officials for more tanks, and more advanced tanks, to use in their fight against Russia have begun to resonate in Washington with the United States now preparing to send Kyiv dozens of its top-of-the-line battle tank.

A U.S. official familiar with the deliberations told VOA on Tuesday that the White House is working to finalize a plan to get Ukraine the coveted M1 Abrams tanks, though it could be some time before Ukraine would be able to take delivery and insert them onto the battlefield.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the plans, said the tanks would likely be provided through the Pentagon’s Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative (USAI). The fund allows the Defense Department to purchase weapons and systems either from defense manufacturers or from other sources, rather than draw them directly from U.S. stocks.

In this case, the official said the U.S. might seek to purchase the M1 Abrams tanks from other countries and refurbish them before sending them to Ukraine.

The decision to send the M1 Abrams to Ukraine, as part of a diplomatic understanding with Germany regarding provision of some of its tanks to Ukraine, was first reported by The Wall Street Journal.

The move to provide Kyiv with the tanks would represent an about-face for U.S. officials, many of whom have dismissed the idea of sending Abrams tanks to Ukraine, warning that while Abrams tanks are very capable, they are difficult to maintain and require more fuel than Kyiv can spare.

“We should not be providing the Ukrainians systems they can’t repair, they can’t sustain, and that they, over the long term, can’t afford, because it’s not helpful,” Under Secretary of Defense for Policy Colin Kahl told reporters last week.

Pentagon press secretary Brigadier General Patrick Ryder echoed those concerns Tuesday.

“Our focus has been on providing Ukraine with capabilities it can employ right now on the battlefield,” he said. “The M1 [Abrams tank] is a complex weapon system that is challenging to maintain. … That was true yesterday. It is true today. It will be true in the future.”

The shift in the U.S. position on sending Ukraine the M1 Abrams tanks came as multiple German news outlets reported that Germany had decided to send some of its Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine in addition to clearing the way for other countries to send their German-made Leopard tanks to Kyiv.

Earlier, following a meeting in Berlin, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg welcomed Germany’s decision to allow allies, led by Poland, to send Ukraine the coveted German-made tanks.

“At this pivotal moment in the war, we must provide heavier and more advanced systems to Ukraine, and we must do it faster,” Stoltenberg said.

He added that providing battle tanks to Ukrainian forces is important in order to both repel Russian advances and to help Ukraine retake its territory.

Ukrainian officials have said Western battle tanks, like the Leopard and the Abrams, will allow their forces to maneuver more effectively, with greater firepower and protection, as they seek to push back Russian forces occupying their country.

“A few hundred tanks for our tank crews — the best tank crews in the world. This is what is going to become a real punching fist of democracy against the autocracy from the bog,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, wrote on Telegram Tuesday.

In the meantime, the U.S. signaled that despite an initial reluctance to provide Ukraine with some weapon systems, it remains willing to shift gears as conditions on the ground change.

“We have not taken capabilities off the table,” State Department spokesman Ned Price told reporters Tuesday. “This is a conversation based on what our Ukrainian partners need, where they need it, when they need it.”

Ukraine corruption

Several senior Ukrainian officials announced their resignations Tuesday amid what Zelenskyy said would be some personnel changes in his government.

Deputy Defense Minister Viacheslav Shapovalov, who was in charge of logistical support for Ukraine’s forces, stepped down from his post, citing allegations about a food procurement scandal that he denies.

Deputy Prosecutor General Oleksiy Symonenko and the deputy head of Zelenskyy’s office, Kyrylo Tymoshenko, also resigned without giving reasons for their departures.

“There are already personnel decisions — some today, some tomorrow — regarding officials at various levels in ministries and other central government structures, as well as in the regions and in law enforcement,” Zelenskyy said in his evening address Monday.

U.S. officials on Tuesday said there appear to be no indications that the corruption issues have affected U.S. security assistance to Ukraine.

“We’re not aware of any type of widespread issues regarding corruption that would negatively impact the fight,” said the Pentagon’s Ryder.

Nike Ching, Cindy Saine and Patsy Widakuswara contributed to this report. Some information for this report came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.
…