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The Hungarian government on Monday fired the head of the national weather service and her deputy, two days after a fireworks display to celebrate Hungary’s national holiday was delayed for fear of storms.

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

The ministry did not immediately return AFP’s call.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Independence day

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The incident underlines the vulnerability of Russian forces in Crimea.

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

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

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

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

Heightened nuclear fears

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Sober warning from Britain

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Sensitive political topic

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Sophisticated partners

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Finnish Winter War

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Vice President Fuat Oktay said the emergency workers and journalists had “lost their lives in the line of duty.”
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Conservative British member of parliament Tobias Ellwood, who chairs the House of Commons Defense Select Committee, cautioned that any nuclear accident at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant could draw NATO into the war between Russia and Ukraine.
 

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

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

Let’s make it clear now:

ANY deliberate damage causing potential radiation leak to a Ukrainian nuclear reactor would be a breach of NATO’s Article 5.@thetimes pic.twitter.com/FFv6KR1xdq

— Tobias Ellwood MP (@Tobias_Ellwood) August 19, 2022]]

During a phone call Friday with French President Emmanuel Macron, President Vladimir Putin said Russia will allow international inspectors to enter the Russian–occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear site in Ukraine, Europe’s largest nuclear facility. 

Hours later, while giving a speech commemorating the 78th anniversary of the allied landing in Nazi-occupied southern France, Macron accused the Russian leader of launching a “brutal attack” on Ukraine in an imperialist, revanchist violation of international law.  

He warned French citizens that the resulting energy and economic crisis confronting Europe is not over, calling it “the price of our freedom and our values.”

“Since Vladimir Putin launched his brutal attack on Ukraine, war has returned to European soil, a few hours away from us,” Macron said, adding that Putin is seeking to impose his “imperialist will” on Europe, conjuring “phantoms of the spirit of revenge” in a “flagrant violation of the integrity of states.”

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

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

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in his daily address Friday, “Ukrainian diplomats, our partners, representatives of the U.N. and the IAEA are working out the specific details of the mission to be sent to the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant. …  I am grateful to everyone who joined this work and initiative.”

Zelenskyy also cautioned in his address, “If Russian blackmail with radiation continues, this summer may go down in the history of various European countries as one of the most tragic of all time. Because not a single instruction at any nuclear power plant in the world envisages a procedure in case a terrorist state turns a nuclear power plant into a target.”
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Russian President Vladimir Putin has agreed that independent inspectors can travel to the Moscow-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, the French presidency said Friday, as fears grow over fighting near the site. 

According to French President Emmanuel Macron’s office, Putin had “reconsidered” his demand that the International Atomic Energy Agency travel through Russia to the Zaporizhzhia nuclear site. 

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

Meanwhile, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres urged Moscow’s forces occupying Zaporizhzhia not to disconnect the facility from the grid and potentially cut supplies of electricity to millions of Ukrainians. 

A flare-up in fighting around the Russian-controlled nuclear power station — with both sides blaming each other for attacks — has raised the specter of a disaster worse than in Chernobyl. 

The Kremlin said that Putin and Macron agreed that the IAEA should carry out inspections “as soon as possible” to “assess the real situation on the ground.” 

Putin also “stressed that the systematic shelling by the Ukrainian military of the territory of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant creates the danger of a large-scale catastrophe,” the Kremlin added. 

‘Most tragic’ summer

The warning came a day after Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Guterres, meeting in the western Ukrainian city of Lviv, sounded the alarm over the fighting, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy urged the United Nations to secure the site. 

“This summer may go down in the history of various European countries as one of the most tragic of all time,” Zelenskyy said in his Friday evening address. 

“No instruction at any nuclear power plant in the world provides a procedure in case a terrorist state turns a nuclear power plant into a target.” 

During his visit to the southern port of Odesa on Friday, the U.N. secretary-general said that “obviously, the electricity from Zaporizhzhia is Ukrainian electricity. This principle must be fully respected.” 

“Naturally, its energy must be used by the Ukrainian people,” he told AFP in separate comments.  

On Thursday, Moscow said Kyiv was preparing a “provocation” at the site that would see Russia “accused of creating a man-made disaster at the plant.”  

Kyiv, however, insisted that Moscow was planning the provocation, and said Russia’s occupying forces had ordered most staff to stay home Friday. 

The United States on Friday announced a new $775 million arms package, including more precision-guided missiles for HIMARS systems that enable Ukraine to strike Russian targets far behind the front lines.
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A rights group has asked Switzerland to investigate an alleged attack on a Swiss photojournalist by Russian troops in Ukraine earlier this year, prosecutors confirmed Friday.

Ukrainian NGO Truth Hounds has asked Switzerland’s Office of the Attorney General (OAG) to probe an attack on Swiss freelance journalist Guillaume Briquet in southern Ukraine in March as a possible war crime, according to the Swiss-based Civitas Maxima group that helped it file the complaint.

The OAG confirmed to AFP that it had received the complaint, which it said would “now be examined according to usual procedure.”

“This is the first criminal complaint received in this context,” it said, stressing that receiving a complaint did not automatically mean it would launch an investigation.

Briquet was injured in the head and arms when his car, which had Geneva plates and PRESS written on both sides, was ambushed by Russian troops near Mykolaiv on March 6, according to Civitas Maxima.

Attackers possibly identified

Truth Hounds legal director Dmytro Koval told the RTS broadcaster that the group, which has been documenting war crimes in Ukraine since 2014, had been able to identify the Russian unit that probably opened fire on Briquet’s car.

Civitas Maxima, which provides legal representation for victims of war crimes and crimes against humanity, suggested the journalist had been intentionally targeted.

“Mr. Briquet believes that the reason the press is being targeted is to intimidate journalists not to report on the conflict,” it said in a statement.

Since launching its invasion of Ukraine on February 24, the Russian military has frequently been accused of deliberately targeting journalists who clearly identify as media workers.

At least a dozen journalists have been killed in the past six months of conflict, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists.

Koval highlighted that Ukraine was struggling to investigate towering numbers of alleged war crimes and needed help from other countries.

“No country is capable of dealing with such a large number of war crimes that are currently suspected in Ukraine,” he said in the statement. “It is extremely important to involve in the investigations those states that have a jurisdictional connection with such crimes or can prompt the principle of universal jurisdiction over them.”

Swiss prosecutors have formed a task force to collect evidence of suspected war crimes committed in Ukraine from refugees arriving in Switzerland.

The OAG stressed that it could itself prosecute perpetrators of international crimes only if they were in Switzerland.

But the office also said it was securing any evidence it received of such crimes to pass on to the International Criminal Court in The Hague or to ensure criminal proceedings could be opened quickly if the suspected perpetrators entered Swiss territory.
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Russia will halt natural gas supplies to Europe for three days at the end of the month via its main pipeline into the region, state energy giant Gazprom said Friday, piling pressure on the region as it seeks to refuel ahead of winter. 

The unscheduled maintenance order on the Nord Stream 1 pipeline, which runs under the Baltic Sea to Germany, deepens an energy standoff between Moscow and Brussels, which has already helped send inflation surging in the region and raised the risk of rationing and recession. 

Gazprom said the three-day shutdown was necessary because the pipeline’s only remaining gas compressor requires maintenance. The move will bring further disruption, particularly for Germany, which depends largely on deliveries from Moscow to power its industry. 

“We are monitoring the situation closely with the Federal Network Agency,” a spokesperson for Germany’s economy ministry said. 

The shutdown, to run from August 31 to September 2, follows a 10-day scheduled annual maintenance that took place in July, and it raised fears over whether Russia would resume supplies, which have been reduced since mid-June. 

Germany already has had to give Uniper – its largest importer of Russian gas and the highest-profile corporate victim of Europe’s energy crisis so far – a $15.1 billion (15 billion-euro) bailout after Russia drastically cut flows, forcing it to buy gas elsewhere at much higher prices. 

The broader Germany economic impact was highlighted in producer price data on Friday. July saw the highest ever increases, both year-on-year and month-on-month, as energy costs skyrocket. 

The Nord Stream pipeline had already been running at just a fifth of its capacity, stoking fears that Russia could stop flows completely heading into the winter heating season and make it more difficult to fill up storage facilities. 

Before Gazprom announced the shutdown, gas prices in Europe remained close to five-month highs, while U.S. gas prices reversed course and were up 1.2% after the news.  

German dependence

Germany has made targeted efforts to fill up its storage facilities to prepare for winter with levels standing at 78.19% as of August 17, slightly more than the 75.89% for the European Union as a whole. 

After maintenance is complete, and “in the absence of technical malfunctions,” flows of 33 million cubic meters (mcm) a day — in line with current volumes — will resume, Gazprom said. 

This would still be just 20% of Nord Stream’s full capacity of 167 mcm daily. 

Gazprom said maintenance work at the remaining Trent 60 gas compressor station would be carried out together with Siemens Energy. The Russian group has previously blamed faulty or delayed equipment for lower flows. Germany says this is a pretext to hurt its economy. 

Siemens, which is in charge of maintaining the Nord Stream 1 turbines, declined to comment. 

One of the Nord Stream 1 turbines is currently stuck in Germany after undergoing maintenance in Canada. Germany has said it could be transported any day, but Moscow keeps saying that sanctions imposed by Canada, the European Union and Britain prevented the equipment from being shipped back to Russia. 

Earlier, senior German politicians from governing parties rejected suggestions that gas shortages could be alleviated by allowing the suspended Nord Stream 2 pipeline to go into service, something the Kremlin has suggested as a solution. 

“I strongly suggest we spare ourselves the humiliation of always asking [Russian President Vladimir] Putin for something that we’re not going to get,” said Kevin Kuehnert, the number two official in Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s Social Democrats. 

“The dependence on him has to end for once and all,” he added in an interview with website t-online.
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The Victoria and Albert Museum in London is hosting an exhibition of African fashion that organizers say is the largest of its kind. The landmark exhibit — named simply “Africa Fashion” — promises to set a new standard on how the subject is portrayed in museums and art galleries. For VOA, Pasi Myohanen reports from London. Camera: Humberto Nascimento
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The Ukrainian military’s push to “hollow out” invading Russian forces and retake territory will soon get a boost in the form of a new $775 million security aid package from the United States.

The Pentagon on Friday confirmed it was readying the package — the 19th from the U.S. in the past year — complete with more ammunition for Ukraine’s 16 High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems, or HIMARS, anti-armor systems and rounds, anti-radar missiles and mine-clearing capabilities.

“These are capabilities that are enhancing the Ukrainians’ mobility as they look at this very challenging environment in southern Ukraine in particular,” a senior defense official told reporters on the condition of anonymity, under ground rules established by the Pentagon.

“This continues our tradition of providing the Ukrainians what they need when they need it,” the official said, adding, “This isn’t the end.”

The heart of the latest package includes more precision ammunition for Ukraine’s HIMARS, known as Guided Multiple Launch Rocket Systems (GMLRS), which have a range of up to about 70 kilometers.

U.S. officials have repeatedly described Ukraine’s ability to integrate and deploy the systems as a game changer, allowing the Ukrainian military to strike Russian command-and-control sites and supply depots well behind the front lines.

“We have been seeing Ukraine employing HIMARS masterfully,” the senior defense official told reporters. “This long-range-fire capability has changed, really changed, the dynamic on the battlefield.”

The package also includes 16 105 mm Howitzers, 36,000 105 mm Howitzer rounds, 15 ScanEagle drones to aid Ukrainian forces with reconnaissance and targeting, and High-Speed Anti-Radiation Missiles (HARM) to be used by Ukrainian fighter jets to “seek and destroy Russian radars.”

Another component of the new aid package seeks to enhance Ukraine’s anti-armor capabilities with 1,000 tube-launched, optically tracked, wireless-guided missiles, known as TOW missiles, as well as 1,000 Javelin missiles and anti-armor rifle rounds.

The official said the U.S. would also deliver another 50 Humvees as well as mine-clearing equipment and systems, including 40 MaxxPro Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicles, known as MRAPs.

This latest U.S. aid package comes just under three weeks after the Pentagon announced a $1 billion security assistance package for Ukraine and brings the total value of U.S. security aid to Ukraine to about $10.6 billion since January 2021.

Still, Ukrainian officials have repeatedly called on the United States and other Western countries to supply even more weapons systems, more quickly, including longer-range missile systems like the ATACMS (Army Tactical Missile System), which has a range of up to 300 kilometers.

“We are hopeful that a political decision will be made to give us ATACMS,” Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov told VOA’s Ukrainian Service on Monday. “This would also allow us to preserve more lives of our soldiers — men and women — and inflict very successful damage.”

Reznikov also echoed previous Ukrainian requests for Western fighter planes and tanks.

“Today, the modern world can easily provide us with technology to assure our victory and compensate for the imbalance in manpower [between Russia and Ukraine],” he said.

The U.S. has so far refused to provide the longer-range weapon systems despite Ukraine’s pledge not to use U.S. systems to attack Russian territory, with officials saying that Ukraine’s military has been succeeding with the aid it is already getting.

“We actually are seeing the Ukrainians on a daily basis successfully weakening the Russian forces,” the senior U.S. defense official said Friday, calling the cost being imposed on Russia “significant.”

“You’re seeing this hollowing out of the Russian forces in Ukraine but with implications for their longer-term sustainability,” the official said.

Still, the official acknowledged the weakening of the Russian forces has not yet allowed Ukraine to regain land currently under Russian occupation.

“We haven’t seen a significant retake of territory,” the official said. 
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Almost a year ago, U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm led a U.S. delegation to Kyiv to attend a celebration of the 30th anniversary of the independence of Ukraine. Almost six months since Russia invaded Ukraine, VOA Ukrainian Service’s Iuliia Iarmolenko sat down with Granholm to discuss how the Russian war in Ukraine has affected European energy security, what the U.S. can do to help stabilize the situation at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, and what the future holds for U.S.-Ukraine cooperation in the energy sector.

This interview has been edited for clarity and brevity.

VOA: Secretary Granholm, thank you so much for doing this interview. Let’s start with the situation at Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant. You know that Russian troops seized control of this power plant, biggest nuclear power plant in Europe, in the first days of the war. After the recent reports of shelling, Ukraine is calling for a demilitarized zone around the plant and new sanctions against Russia for what President Zelenskyy called “nuclear blackmail.” How worried are you about this situation? And what can the United States do to help stabilize it?  

Granholm: First, we agree with the demilitarization. There should not be military activities around a nuclear plant, period. It is extremely dangerous. We are monitoring the situation very closely. There are sensors that are in the region that our scientists are monitoring. We strongly condemn what Russia has done. We want them to turn the plant control back over to the Ukrainians. We are so grateful for the workers in the plant, who have continued to operate it and continue to try to abide by rules of safety. But we want to have the International Atomic Energy Agency have access so they can help with safety, they can monitor, they can make sure the protocols for safety are instilled. And, you know, that has not happened yet. So we call upon Russia to turn control back over to the Ukrainians. And we need to stop all military activity near the plant.   

VOA: You talked a little bit about the monitoring mission. What would be the successful monitoring mission? Are you confident in its independence?   

Granholm: I’m confident that the information that we are receiving through the monitors shows, at the moment, no increase in radiation. But our concern is, of course, if there is continued military activity around the plant … if there is an increase in radiation, that is a huge problem. And, you know, I mean, Russia knows this — they’ve been in the nuclear power business for a long time — that it is just reckless and irresponsible, what they are doing. So success is: Turn the plant back over to the Ukrainian authorities, make sure that we are continuously monitoring and do not see elevated signs of radiological contamination.  

VOA: Are there any tools that the international community can use in order to make Russian forces leave the plant? And if the power plant stays under Russian control, can anyone be sure that Europe will not see another nuclear catastrophe?  

Granholm: Clearly, nobody wants to see that happen. I mean, there would be fallout that could damage Russia as well. So they have to understand how serious this is. The United States, obviously, stands so strongly with Ukraine, and will continue to support Ukraine with assistance. We support the demilitarization. Of course, President Biden has said no U.S. troops on the ground, but through our allies, and with our own resources, we will continue to support Ukraine.  

VOA: Even before the full-scale war, the experts were warning about Russian weaponization of energy …   

Granholm: Yes.  

VOA: … and they were calling on European leaders to diversify their sources of energy to wind down the dependence on Russian energy. Now Europe is preparing for a very difficult winter. Do you think that European countries will be able to import enough gas from other sources, including the United States, to make up for the shortages?   

Granholm: Well, first of all, I think they have to have a multiprong strategy … diversification of their fuel sources is one of that. So both diversifying where they’re getting the fuel from, but also diversifying into clean energy to decarbonize their grid, to deploy clean, to also reduce their energy usage. And they are … moving on all of those strategies. The United States, of course, the president has committed to sending more liquefied natural gas. We are working together with the Europeans on a number of technologies to be able to reduce their energy use and to generate clean energy. But honestly, this invasion by Russia is such an example of why countries need to move away from the volatility of fuels from countries who do not have our interests. And from the volatility of fossil fuels. If we want to be energy secure and energy independent, that means we’ve got to produce our own energy. My counterpart in Ireland, the energy minister there, has said that no one has ever weaponized access to the sun. No one has ever weaponized the wind. Perhaps a move to clean energy will be the greatest peace plan the world has ever known.  

VOA: So in the short term, it’s more production, and then in the long term, it’s moving to renewables? 

Granholm: Yes, yes. Unfortunately, this has demonstrated when you’re seeing how the prices of fuel go through the roof in Europe, obviously, the invasion pulled millions of barrels offline of Russian exports of oil, in addition to natural gas. So the prices all around the world went up. Now our president and others have called for increasing production right now, so that we can alleviate the prices at the gas pump for consumers. And this president is definitely concerned about how that impacts real people, inflation, et cetera. But ultimately, we’ve got to move to clean. And that’s what the bill that the president signed yesterday, for the United States, it is the largest commitment to combating climate change of any country in the world. It’s by 10 the largest bill that we’ve ever passed in the United States to combat climate change. So it is so important for our energy security. And I know our European allies are trying to do the same.

VOA: Will it be a difficult winter for Europe?

Granholm: I think it will be.  

VOA: How confident are you that European countries will not crack under the Russian energy pressure, and will not ease sanctions on Russia right when they just start showing their effect?

Granholm: I think that the allies, the NATO allies, the Europeans, are so strong together in seeing what this aggression by Russia has done to them, that they are not going to go back, that we have to wean ourselves off of Russian fuels, or off of fuels in general that come from countries who don’t share our values. So I think we are united. It’s going to be hard. There’s no doubt it’s going to be an expensive winter. I know that the European leaders are looking for how they can alleviate the pain for real people in these increases in prices. But I know ultimately, they are determined to move away from Russian fuels and toward clean energy.  

VOA: So there is no way back …  

Granholm: There’s no way back.   

VOA: … and we are not going to see the Nord Stream 2 renew its function?   

Granholm: From all of the leaders that I’ve talked to, my counterparts in the EU, they are determined not to repeat the mistakes of the past.  

VOA: And of course, Ukraine is also trying to secure natural gas imports to heat homes in Ukraine this winter, and one of the ideas that Ukrainian leaders said they proposed to Washington is so-called gas lend-lease. So they’re saying that they’re asking the United States to provide the LNG through Europe for which Ukraine will repay later. Do you have any comments on such an idea? And are there any other ways that the United States and allies can help Ukraine to secure its needs this winter?  

Granholm: Yeah, this is a really important question about how we increase supply that will help to alleviate the pressure. Right now, in terms of the terminals that we have, we are liquefying every molecule of natural gas that there is with the terminals we have; they are at full capacity. As you know, from an infrastructure point of view, it takes time to add more. I know Norway is increasing their commitments as well. I know there is exploration with other countries to be able to increase. And whether it’s for Ukraine, because I know Ukraine is looking at diversifying and decarbonizing and deploying clean energy as well. All of that has to happen. Of course, it’s so much more difficult for Ukraine right now in the middle of this crisis, which is why I think all ideas should be on the table. I don’t have an answer for you with respect to the lend-lease issue. But I do know that this administration is game to look at whatever it can do to help alleviate the pain in Ukraine.  

VOA: Where do you see the future of U.S.-Ukraine cooperation in the energy sector? Is it going to be more focused on renewables or something else?

Granholm: It’s hard to say at this moment because one of the conversations we’ve been having is small modular nuclear reactors, right? But with what’s happening in Zaporizhzhia, there might be some concern about that. This conflict has to end, I think, before we make a decision about nuclear, but definitely we can cooperate. And we’ll be cooperating on clean. And I’ve had a lot of conversations with Herman Halushchenko, who is my counterpart in Ukraine, the energy minister, they absolutely want to move in this direction. There’s other types of technology that they’re very interested in, too, like clean hydrogen, for example, certainly offshore wind if the offshore component is available to them. There’s just a lot, obviously — solar is an obvious, batteries for energy storage, for renewable energy storage, lots of technologies that we’ve been talking about — and once this conflict ends, and it will end, and we expect that it will end in a way that has Ukraine independent and safe, we look forward to continued cooperation in energy.  

VOA: A year ago, you led the United States delegation to Ukraine to celebrate its 30th anniversary of independence. This year, August 24 will also mark the six months since Russia started the full-scale invasion. After six months, what is the main takeaway for you in terms of Western response to this war? Do you think that there are some lessons that world leaders should learn?  

Granholm: First of all, I am still so moved by how beautiful Ukraine was. In the celebration, there was a parade where President Zelenskyy had a young girl go through the streets of Kyiv, stopping at each of the points of history — it was so beautiful. There wasn’t a dry eye in the viewing stand. It just made me, it made me so … so … I’m not Ukrainian, but it made me so proud of Ukraine and the fierce independence and sense of identity that Ukraine has and the fierce sense of independence. I was there for the summit on Crimea, as well as the 30th anniversary. I would never have guessed that six months later, this horror would be happening. And I think, yes, there are lessons. I mean, one of the biggest lessons for the world is, first of all, it’s clear what Russia’s intentions are. But it’s also clear that NATO and our allies must remain strong in defense of countries who want to protect their freedom. I worry that Russia sees this as a schism in the world, that there is a cleaving of countries right now as a result of what they have done. That is their action. It is not what anybody wants to see. But it is what has been created. Fortunately, there are a lot more countries who stand with Ukraine, and who feel so strongly that we have to stand together when the sovereignty of our allies is attacked. So that’s number one. And number two, I think it really speaks volumes, because I’m the energy secretary, of how much we have to move and how rapidly we have to move to energy security through clean energy.  

VOA: Secretary Granholm, is there something that you want Ukrainian people to know? Some people will have a very tough winter; they’re already going through a lot of difficulties. Is there something you as the secretary of energy want them to know from the United States?  

Granholm: I do want them to know that the United States is so strongly supportive of Ukraine, and we will continue to be supportive, whether it is in energy — I mean, we have been working with the synchronization with the European grid, for example, we will continue to do that — whether it’s in monitoring and ensuring that what we can do to make sure that the Zaporizhzhia plant is safe and the area around it and the citizens around it are safe, whether it is ensuring that Ukraine feels like they have the resources necessary to carry their defense forward. And that this is a friendship that will last, so we will never turn our back on Ukraine.  

VOA: Thank you so much!  

Granholm: Thank you.
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VOA Ukrainian Service’s Iuliia Iarmolenko sits down with U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm to discuss how the war in Ukraine has affected European energy security. Camera: Kostyantyn Golubchuk.
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Europe’s embrace of millions of Ukrainians who fled Russia’s invasion showed that it’s possible to welcome large numbers of asylum-seekers, and the approach should be replicated to receive those fleeing other nations, the head of the U.N. refugee agency said.

In an interview with The Associated Press, U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi described the European Union’s response as “exemplary,” noting that nearly 4 million Ukrainians, mainly women and children, have registered with the bloc’s temporary protection system since the start of the war nearly six months ago.

That stands in stark contrast to EU efforts in recent years to keep migrants from Africa and the Middle East from reaching Europe’s shores. Some European leaders have sought to differentiate between the plight of Ukrainians and that of other refugees — a distinction that Grandi condemned as “racist.”

“If that’s possible for such a large number of people, and since that has proven so effective, why not use some of these approaches also for other people that are coming to knock at Europe’s doors?” Grandi asked.

Though it was created decades ago, the EU’s emergency protection system was activated for the first time this year in response to the flight of more than 6 million Ukrainians over the course of just a few months — the largest exodus of refugees the continent has seen since World War II. It allows Ukrainians to move around the bloc, gives them the right to work, and helps them to access housing, education and health care.

It has been credited with helping Europe avoid setting up refugee camps to house Ukrainians — like the ones that have existed in Greece for years and where thousands of asylum-seekers arriving by boat have often languished.

In the wake of the 2015-16 refugee crisis, when more than 1 million people, mainly from Syria, arrived in Europe by land or sea, leaders erected fences within the EU to keep many from moving deeper into the continent. The bloc has also spent billions to keep people, including those fleeing persecution and conflict but also poverty, from reaching its shores, giving money to countries like Turkey, Libya and Morocco to stop migrants before they set out.

The number of irregular crossings into Europe fell from its peak in 2015 to under 200,000 in 2021, according to Europe’s border and coast guard agency, although it is on the rise again this year. While such crossings often attract significant attention, more than 80% of the world’s refugees are hosted by developing countries, according to UNHCR.

“Heads of government in Europe spent hours, days negotiating where, who should take a hundred people floating on a boat in the Mediterranean,” Grandi said, referring to European leaders’ inability to agree on how to resettle those who have arrived in recent years in Greece, Italy, Malta and Spain. “And then contrary to that, millions (of Ukrainians) embraced, accepted, allowed to have access to services in a very effective manner.”

Asked about the different responses, Grandi said he did not think the European governments’ policies themselves were racist.

But he added: “Declarations that I have heard from some politicians saying the Ukrainians are real refugees … and the others are not real refugees. That’s racist. Full stop.”

Grandi did not specify what statements he was referring to, but Greek Migration Minister Notis Mitarachi was criticized by human rights organizations and opposition lawmakers when he used that phrase to refer to Ukrainians fleeing the war earlier this year.

Other European politicians have made similar statements — with some arguing that many people seeking asylum are looking for a better life, rather than fleeing wars, and thus may not qualify for that protection under international law. Some have also defended the differing treatment by saying they have a duty to help fellow Europeans but shouldn’t be responsible for taking in refugees from other continents.

Grandi acknowledged that the issue is complex and some of those heading to Europe are economic migrants. But he stressed effective systems exist to evaluate asylum claims.

Roughly half of Ukrainians who have left the country so far have returned — and many more may eventually do so, although Grandi said some have ended up fleeing a second time.

Still, with no end to the war in sight, the U.N. refugee agency has said the total number of Ukrainians who have left their homeland at some point could reach more than 8 million by December. There are also currently 6.6 million Ukrainians displaced within the country, according to the International Organization for Migration.

Some 2 million Ukrainians have ended up in Russia, whether they chose to or not. An AP investigation earlier this year revealed many were forced to head there and subjected to human rights abuses along the way. Grandi acknowledged his agency’s access in Russia was limited. Of the 1,500 accommodation sites for Ukrainians in the country, UNHCR teams had only been able to visit nine so far, he said.

While the war in Ukraine has attracted global attention and support for those displaced by it, Grandi pleaded with world leaders to remember the other 12 humanitarian crises for which his agency is struggling to raise funds. He especially noted the Horn of Africa, where a prolonged drought and protracted conflicts have not only forced millions from their homes but have also pushed countries ever closer to famine.

“The big problem that we have at the moment is that it tends to marginalize all other crises in which people suffer,” Grandi said.
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Some newly arrived Afghans in Germany are complaining they feel forgotten as Ukrainian refugees enter the country. VOA’s Helay Asad has the story, narrated by Roshan Noorzai.
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Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov said his country’s goal in the current conflict with Russia is complete victory and the restoration of Ukraine’s borders as of 1991. He spoke this week with VOA Ukrainian Service’s Ruslan Petrychka about developments in the country since Russia’s invasion earlier this year.

VOA: What goal do you set for Ukraine in the war with Russia?

Reznikov: The all-Ukrainian plan is the complete de-occupation of the territories occupied by the Russian Federation and return to the internationally recognized borders as of 1991. Not 2014, ’15. Not February 24, 2022. The ultimate goal is the victory of Ukraine and its restoration within its borders as of 1991. This is the main plan.

The “cool-down” of the military situation is possible. I do not see a possibility of “freezing” — what people tend to call a conflict — because it is not a conflict. It is a war. This is an open war between two regular armies, and one army invaded the territory of its neighbor without any legitimate explanation or right to do so. Therefore, this war is for survival. We will be defending ourselves to survive.

VOA: Per your assessment, how many combat-ready troops have Russian forces assembled near Ukraine’s borders or in the occupied territories?

Reznikov: I may be wrong, but according to the latest military reports, there seems to be about 115 so-called battalion-tactical groups, of which 105 are actively deployed, and 10 are on rotation for replenishment or rest. In sum, there are up to 135,000 people.

VOA: What new military equipment do you expect to receive from the United States and other Western countries?

Reznikov: We are certainly expecting support and assistance from our partners. We are hopeful that a political decision will be made to give us [an] ATACMS [Army Tactical Missile System] that would allow us to hit targets up to 300 km away. This would also allow us to preserve more lives of our soldiers — men and women — and inflict very successful damage. We are hopeful to finally receive Western planes that would allow us to dominate the sky due to their better radars, range, maneuverability and speed. And of course, receiving tanks would also give us an advantage. Today, the modern world can easily provide us with technology to assure our victory and compensate for the imbalance in manpower [between Russia and Ukraine].

VOA: Are you satisfied with the latest $1 billion assistance package to Ukraine from the U.S.?

Reznikov: I am very pleased, because it contains many 155 mm ammunition for the artillery systems that we have received before. It also contains quite a significant number of missiles for HIMARS [High Mobility Artillery Rocket System]. Also, missiles that allow our military to destroy and blind Russian radars. It helps us weaken their air defense system and therefore act more decisively. Hence, we are very satisfied with the assistance package. This is a tremendous help. And I will repeat once again that I hope that a political decision regarding the ATACMS missiles will soon be made. The HIMARS have changed our battlefield strategies significantly, therefore the ATACMS will be a great addition to benefit Ukraine and the civilized world.

VOA: Has Ukraine lost in battle any of the HIMARS systems delivered to Ukraine by the U.S. so far?

Reznikov: I can confirm with absolute responsibility that not a single HIMARS was lost. Therefore, when you read Russian mass media or social networks about “a soldier Ivanov with a Kalashnikov breaking into a truck where he destroyed 12 HIMARS” — all you can do is laugh, shake your head and say, “Well, this is simply their system of propaganda.” It’s total nonsense.

VOA: Do you have any agreements with the U.S. for not hitting Russian military objects in Crimea with the weapons systems provided?

Reznikov: We have an agreement with the United States that we will not be using the weapons provided to us by our partners, the United States, to target the territory of the Russian Federation. However, if we are talking about de-occupying the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine where our enemies are located, then accordingly, we have no such restrictions.

VOA: What measures has Ukraine put in place to monitor and provide control for the use of U.S, weapons systems delivered to Ukraine?

Reznikov: We have several levels of such interactions [to control the use of delivered weapons] because to me, it is fundamentally important to retain and even grow the level of trust. It is essential to maintain this support. And from my first appeals to [U.S. Defense Secretary] Mr. Lloyd Austin and other ministers at the Ramstein conference [on April 26], I said directly in my speech, “Please help us create a system of maximum transparent control of weapons so that you could have open access to this information. We open this information for you completely. Send your emissaries and controllers, even if you would like for them to go to the front line. Feel free to control it according to your own systems.”

And some countries did send their representatives to us immediately according to their security regulations. I will emphasize once again that we are totally interested in the transparency of those things, because if some people are saying that there is some smuggling involved, all that is are propagandistic narratives aimed at weakening this very support and lowering the level of trust.

VOA: What is your message to the world on the eve of Ukraine Independence Day on August 24?

Reznikov: I want to ask everyone — please believe in Ukraine. We continue to pay for our independence. We may have gained independence a little easier than other countries have, as we have not paid so much in blood. But now we are paying a lot, and we are washing our independence with blood. I want to add that today, the Independence Day of Ukraine is simultaneously the Independence Day of many European countries. Therefore, I ask you not to give in to the syndrome of fatigue. Stay with us, and we will win together. Ukraine will win. Everything will be Ukraine!
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