Ukraine has invited U.N. experts to examine debris from what it says are Iranian-made drones sold to Russia in violation of international sanctions and used to attack Ukrainian towns and cities.    

In a letter sent to the president of the U.N. Security Council and seen by VOA, Ukraine’s ambassador says that according to public information, Russia has been receiving shipments of prohibited items from Iran since January 2016.    

“Specifically, in late August 2022, Mohajer- and Shahed-series unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) were transferred from Iran to Russia,” Ambassador Sergiy Kyslytsya said in the letter. “Ukraine assesses that this is likely part of Iran’s plans to export hundreds of UAVs to Russia.”   

In recent weeks, Ukraine has repeatedly reported Russian attacks on its cities using Iran’s Shahed-136 drones. Iran denies equipping Russia with its drones.   

Kyslytsya noted that both the Mohajer and Shahed drones are manufactured by Qods Aviation, which is subject to an international asset freeze under Security Council Resolution 2231.   

The council adopted that resolution in 2015, codifying the international agreement that limited Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief, but certain restrictions remain in place.   

Resolution 2231 allows for transfers of restricted items to or from Iran only when approved on a case-by-case basis by the Security Council. No such approval has been sought.   

“Therefore, the transfers from Iran to Russia should be considered as violations of UNSCR 2231,” Kyslytsya wrote.    

On Monday, Washington said Iran’s actions violate Resolution 2231.     

“Earlier today, our French and British allies publicly offered the assessment that Iran’s supply of these UAVs to Russia is a violation of U.N. Security Council Resolution 2231, and this is something that we agree with,” deputy State Department spokesperson Vedant Patel told reporters.      

Diplomats said Tuesday that the United States, Britain and France have requested that the U.N. Security Council discuss the Iranian drone issue in a closed-door meeting on Wednesday.    

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre also told reporters that the Iranians “have not been truthful about this and deny providing weapons to Russia for use in Ukraine.”    

Jean-Pierre said the United States will enforce sanctions on Russian and Iranian arms trade and “make it harder for Iran to sell these weapons to Russia.”   

 
…

An appeals court in Moscow has rejected jailed opposition politician Alexey Navalny’s move to have his nine-year prison sentence on charges of financial fraud and contempt of court struck down. 

The second court of appeals of common jurisdiction in the Russian capital announced its decision on Tuesday. 

Navalny, who took part in the hearing via a video link from a penal colony, and his defense team insisted that the verdict and sentence handed to the outspoken Kremlin critic in March while he was already serving another prison term from a separate case, are illegal and should be annulled. 

The Lefortovo district court in Moscow handed down the nine-year prison sentence to Navalny on March 22 after finding him guilty of embezzlement and contempt of court, charges that he and his supporters have repeatedly rejected as politically motivated. 

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

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

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

International organizations consider Navalny to be a political prisoner. The European Union, U.S. President Joe Biden, and other international officials have demanded that Russian authorities release the 46-year-old Kremlin-critic. 

Navalny is currently serving his term in a penal colony in the town of Pokrov in the region of Vladimir, some 200 kilometers east of Moscow. 

 
…

The death toll has risen to 14 after a Russian warplane crashed into a residential area in the Russian port city of Yeysk, causing a massive fire at an apartment building. 

Authorities released the updated death toll on Tuesday. 

The Russian Defense Ministry said the plane was on a training mission Monday when one of its engines caught fire. The plane’s crew safely ejected before the crash.  

Local authorities said the plane crash ignited a massive fire that engulfed several floors of a nine-story apartment building in Yeysk, on the Sea of Azov. 

Several hours after the crash, Regional Governor Veniamin Kondratyev said emergency services had contained the fire. 

Yeysk, with a population of 90,000, is in southwestern Russia near the border with Ukraine and is home to a large Russian air base.  

The Defense Ministry said the plane was a Su-34 bomber, a supersonic twin-engine plane that Russia has been using during its war in Ukraine.  

President Vladimir Putin was informed of the crash and ordered government officials to provide all necessary help, the Kremlin said.  

Reuters news agency reported that Russia’s state Investigative Committee has opened a criminal case and sent investigators to the scene of the crash.  

Some information in this report comes from The Associated Press and Reuters. 

 
…

NATO on Monday began its long-planned annual nuclear exercises in northwestern Europe as tensions simmer over the war in Ukraine and President Vladimir Putin’s threat to use any means to defend Russian territory. 

Fourteen of NATO’s 30 member countries were due to take part in the exercises, which the military alliance said would involve around 60 aircraft including fighter jets and surveillance and refueling planes. 

The bulk of the war games will be held at least 1,000 kilometers (625 miles) from Russia’s borders. 

U.S. long-range B-52 bombers will also take part in the maneuvers, dubbed Steadfast Noon, which will run until Oct. 30. NATO is not permitting any media access. 

NATO said that training flights will take place over Belgium, which is hosting Steadfast Noon this year, as well as over the North Sea and the United Kingdom. The exercises involve fighter jets capable of carrying nuclear warheads, but do not involve any live bombs. 

The exercises were planned before Putin ordered Russian troops into Ukraine in February. Russia usually holds its own annual maneuvers around the same time, and NATO is expecting Moscow to exercise its nuclear forces sometime this month. 
…

Sri Lankan writer Shehan Karunatilaka won the Booker Prize on Monday for his second novel The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida, about a dead war photographer on a mission in the afterlife.

Karunatilaka received a trophy from Queen Consort Camilla at the English language literary award’s first in-person ceremony since 2019. He also gets a 50,000 pound ($56,810) prize.

Set in 1990 Sri Lanka during the country’s civil war, Karunatilaka’s story follows gay war photographer and gambler Maali Almeida, who wakes up dead.

Time is of essence for Maali, who has “seven moons” to reach out to loved ones and guide them to hidden photos he has taken depicting the brutality of his country’s conflict.

“My hope for Seven Moons is that in the not-too-distant future … it is read in a Sri Lanka that has understood that these ideas of corruption, race baiting and cronyism have not worked and will never work,” Karunatilaka said in his acceptance speech.

“I hope it is read in a Sri Lanka that learns from its stories and that ‘Seven Moons’ will be in the fantasy section of the bookshop and will … not be mistaken for realism or political satire.”

This year’s shortlist of Booker Prize contenders included British author Alan Garner’s Treacle Walker, Zimbabwean author NoViolet Bulawayo’s Glory, Small Things Like These by Irish writer Claire Keegan, U.S. author Percival Everett’s The Trees and Oh William! by U.S. author Elizabeth Strout.

“This is a metaphysical thriller, an afterlife noir that dissolves the boundaries not just of different genres, but of life and death, body and spirit, east and west,” judges chair Neil MacGregor said of Karunatilaka’s book.

“It is an entirely serious philosophical romp that takes the reader to ‘the world’s dark heart’ — the murderous horrors of civil war Sri Lanka,” MacGregor added. “And once there, the reader also discovers the tenderness and beauty, the love and loyalty, and the pursuit of an ideal that justify every human life.”

Past winners of the Booker Prize, which was first awarded in 1969, include Margaret Atwood, Salman Rushdie and Yann Martel.
…

A photograph of migrants found exposed, without clothing, along the border of Greece and Turkey last week shocked the world and is raising international concerns that the migrants and refugees are becoming the latest victims of a growing dispute between Turkey and Greece. From Istanbul, Dorian Jones reports both nations blame each other for the incident.
…

A Russian warplane has crashed into a residential area in the Russian port city of Yeysk, the military said.

The Russian Defense Ministry said the plane was on a training mission Monday when one of its engines caught fire. The plane’s crew safely ejected before the crash.

Local officials said the plane crash ignited a massive fire engulfing several floors of a multistory residential building in Yeysk, on the Sea of Azov. It is not known if there are casualties on the ground.

Yeysk, with a population of 90,000, is in southwestern Russia near the border with Ukraine and is home to a large Russian air base.

The Defense Ministry said the plane was a Su-34 bomber, a supersonic twin-engine plane which Russia has been using during its war in Ukraine.

The Kremlin said President Vladimir Putin has been informed of the crash and has ordered government officials to provide all necessary help.

Reuters news agency reports that Russia’s state Investigative Committee has opened a criminal case and sent investigators to the scene of the crash.

Some information in this report comes from The Associated Press and Reuters.
…

The war in Ukraine has provoked an economic crisis in Germany, which was heavily dependent on Russian energy. Not only are small businesses concerned about their survival, economists also say the crisis will force a redirection of the entire German economy. Jacob Russell has this report from Berlin
…

Multiple explosive-laden drones hit Ukraine’s capital during the Monday morning rush, a week after Russian missile strikes broke a period relative calm in Kyiv. 

Ukrainian officials said the drones were Iranian-made Shahed drones, which Russia has used to carry out so-called kamikaze attacks in which the drone are intentionally crashed into a target. 

“All night and all morning, the enemy terrorizes the civilian population,” President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Telegram. “Kamikaze drones and missiles are attacking all of Ukraine. The enemy can attack our cities, but it won’t be able to break us.” 

Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klichko said among the areas hit was the central Shevchenko district, the same area where Russian missiles struck last week as part of widespread airstrikes across the country.    

Klichko said Monday’s attack killed at least one person, while damaging several apartment blocks and sparking a fire in a non-residential building. He said rescue workers pulled 18 people from the rubble of an apartment building and that two others remained trapped. 

Andrii Yermak, the head of Zelenskyy’s office, said Ukraine needs more air defense systems as soon as possible. 

“More weapons to defend the sky and destroy the enemy,” Yermak tweeted. 

The U.S. Embassy in Kyiv called Monday’s attacks against civilians “desperate and reprehensible.” 

“We admire the strength and resilience of the Ukrainian people. We will stand with you for as long as it takes,” the embassy tweeted.    

Last week’s attacks interrupted a long stretch of relative quiet in Kyiv.    

Russian President Vladimir Putin said those strikes and the ones elsewhere were in retaliation for an attack on a key bridge linking Crimea to Russia.    

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

For their first trip to a celebrated robotics contest for high school students from scores of countries, a team of Ukrainian teens had a problem. 

With shipments of goods to Ukraine uncertain, and Ukrainian customs officers careful about incoming merchandise, the group only received a base kit of gadgetry on the day they were set to leave for the event in Geneva. 

That set off a mad scramble to assemble their robot for the latest edition of the “First Global” contest, a three-day affair that opened Friday, in-person for the first time since the pandemic. Nearly all the 180-odd teams from countries across the world had been preparing their robots for months.

“We couldn’t back down because we were really determined to compete here and to give our country a good result — because it really needs it right now,” said Danylo Gladkyi, a member of Ukraine’s team. He and his teammates are too young to be eligible for Ukraine’s national call-up of all men over 18 to take part in the war effort. 

Gladkyi said an international package delivery company wasn’t delivering into Ukraine, and reliance on a smaller private company to ship the kit from Poland into Ukraine got tangled up with customs officials. That logjam got cleared last Sunday, forcing the team to dash to get their robot ready with adaptations they had planned — only days before the contest began. 

The event, launched in 2017 with backing from American innovator Dean Kamen, encourages young people from all corners of the globe to put their technical smarts and mechanical know-how to challenges that represent symbolic solutions to global problems. 

This year’s theme is carbon capture, a nascent technology in which excess heat-trapping CO2 in the atmosphere is sucked out of the skies and sequestered, often underground, to help fight global warming. 

Teams use game controllers like those attached to consoles in millions of households worldwide to direct their self-designed robots to zip around pits, or “fields,” to scoop up hollow plastic balls with holes in them that symbolically represent carbon. Each round starts by emptying a clear rectangular box filled with the balls into the field, prompting a whirring, hissing scramble to pick them up. 

The initial goal is to fill a tower topped by a funnel in the center of the field with as many balls as possible. Teams can do that in one of two ways: either by directing the robots to feed the balls into corner pockets, where team members can pluck them out and toss them by hand into the funnel or by having the robots catapult the balls up into the funnels themselves. 

Every team has an interest in filling the funnel: the more collected, the more everyone benefits. 

But in the final 30 seconds of each session, after the frenetic quest to collect the balls, a second, cutthroat challenge awaits: Along the stem of each tower are short branches, or bars, at varying levels that the teams — choosing the mechanism of their choice such as hooks, winches or extendable arms — try to direct their robots to ascend. 

The higher the level reached, the greater the “multiplier” of the total point value of the balls they will receive. Success is getting as high as possible, and with six teams on the field, it’s a dash for the highest perch. 

By meshing competition with common interest, the “First Global” initiative aims to offer a tonic to a troubled world, where children look past politics to help solve problems that face everybody. 

The opening-day ceremony had an Olympic vibe, with teams parading in behind their national flags, and short bars of national anthems playing, but the young people made it clear this was about a new kind of global high school sport, in an industrial domain that promises to leave a large footprint in the 21st century. 

The competition takes many minds off troubles in the world, from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine to the fallout from Syria’s war, to famine in the Horn of Africa and the recent upheaval in Iran. 

While most of the world’s countries were taking part, some – like Russia – were not. 

Past winners of such robotics competitions include “Team Hope” — refugees and stateless others — and a team of Afghan girls.  
…

A Sweden Democrats official was suspended by the far-right party for making degrading comments about Jewish teenage diarist Anne Frank.

In an Instagram posting that has now been deleted, Rebecka Fallenkvist called Anne “immoral” among other things, according to Swedish media.

Anne, who wrote a diary while in hiding in Amsterdam before she was captured, died at age 15 in Nazi Germany’s Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in February 1945.

The posting by Fallenkvist, a 26-year-old head of television programming for the Sweden Democrats, prompted strong reactions from Jewish groups and Israeli Ambassador Ziv Nevo Kulman, who in a tweet said: “I strongly condemn this despicable insult, disrespectful of the memory of Anne Frank.” His posting included what appeared to be a screen shot of Fallenkvist’s Instagram post.

The Sweden Democrats’ media director, Oskar Cavalli-Bjorkman, told the Swedish news agency TT late Saturday that the party would take Fallenkvist’s “insensitive and inappropriate” comments seriously and launch an internal investigation on the matter.

While it remained unclear what kind of point Fallenkvist wanted to make with her comments on Anne’s diary, later she sent a text message to Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter saying she had been misinterpreted.

“The book is a moving depiction of human good and evil,” Fallenkvist said in her message to the newspaper. “The good Anne, who in the first chapters is like any other young girl living her life in peace and finding an interest in boys (which I highlighted), is contrasted with the evil of Nazism. My story was aimed at the good and human in Anne while not playing down the evil to which she was subjected.”

Sweden Democrats was founded in the 1980s by people who had been active in right-wing extremist groups, including neo-Nazis. The party emerged as Sweden’s second-largest party in the Sept. 11 election under the leadership of Jimmie Akesson.

On Friday, three Swedish center-right parties agreed to form a coalition government with the support of the Sweden Democrats that has moved toward mainstream politics but retains a hard line on immigration.
…

Turkish officials Sunday shot back at Greek allegations that Turkey forced 92 naked migrants into Greece, calling it “fake news” and accusing Greece of the mistreatment.

Greek migration minister Notis Mitarachi was “sharing false information” after the official tweeted a photo of the naked migrants Saturday and blamed Turkey, said Fahrettin Altun, the communications director of Turkey’s president.

Altun tweeted in Turkish, Greek and English that this was to “cast suspicion on our country,” while calling on Athens to abandon its “harsh treatment of refugees.”

“Greece has shown once again to the entire world that it does not respect the dignity of refugees by posting these oppressed people’s pictures it has deported after extorting their personal possessions,” he said.

Deputy Interior Minister Ismail Catakli tweeted that the photo showed Greece’s cruelty. “Spend your time to obey human rights, not for manipulations & dishonesty!”

Greek police said Saturday that police officers found the migrants stark naked Friday, “some with bodily injuries” who had entered the country using plastic boats to cross the Evros River, which forms a border between the two countries.

Relations between the two neighboring countries have been tense over a variety of issues, including migration.

Turkey regularly accuses Greece of violently pushing back migrants entering the country by land and sea. Turkey’s coast guard frequently shares videos of such pushbacks.

Greece accuses Turkey, which hosts the largest number of refugees in the world, of “pushing forward” migrants to put pressure on the EU.

The U.N. refugee agency said it was “deeply distressed by the shocking reports,” condemning the “degrading treatment” and calling for an investigation.
…

Rocket fire inflicted new damage in Ukraine Sunday, with pro-Kremlin officials blaming Kyiv for an attack that hit the mayor’s office in separatist-controlled Donetsk, while Ukrainian authorities said Russian missiles hit a city across from the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, wounding six people.

The mayor’s building in Donetsk, part of the Ukrainian region Russia recently claimed as its own, was seriously damaged, with rows of blown-out windows and a partially collapsed ceiling. Nearby cars were burned out.

There were no immediate reports of casualties. The Kyiv government did not claim responsibility for the attack or comment on it.

Ukraine said the attack near the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, aside from the injuries, also damaged five power lines, gas pipelines, and several civilian businesses and residential buildings.

Russia and Ukraine have repeatedly accused each other of firing at and around the plant. It is controlled by Russia but continues to be operated by Ukrainian technicians.

Fighting continued elsewhere as well, with Kyiv saying that Moscow shelled civilian settlements along the front line in the eastern Kharkiv and Luhansk regions. Ukraine said “active hostilities” continued in the southern Kherson region, another key area where Ukraine has advanced in recent weeks.

Meanwhile, Russia said its air defenses in the southern Belgorod region bordering Ukraine shot down “a minimum” of 16 Ukrainian missiles, state news agency RIA Novosti reported.

Britain Questions Russia’s Ability to Continue to Produce Munitions

With the continuing hostilities nearing the eight-month mark, Britain’s defense ministry cast doubt on Russia’s ability to continue to produce weapons during its invasion of Ukraine.

In an intelligence update posted to Twitter on Sunday, the ministry estimated that Russia fired more than 80 cruise missiles into Ukraine on Oct. 10, a move that Russian President Vladimir Putin said was in retaliation for the bombing of the bridge that links Russia to the annexed Crimean Peninsula earlier this month. There has been no claim of responsibility for the blast.

“Russia’s defense industry is probably incapable of producing advanced munitions at the rate they are being expended,” Britain said. “These attacks represent a further degradation of Russia’s long-range missile stocks, which is likely to constrain their ability to strike the volume of targets they desire in future.”

Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, in his daily address Saturday, thanked the U.S. for its $725 million assistance package, enabling Ukraine to purchase ammunition, artillery, anti-tanks weapons and anti-radar missiles.

Russian strikes continue

Russian forces carried out more sporadic missile strikes Saturday in Ukraine, targeting facilities that provide power to the country and its residential areas.

Kyiv regional Governor Oleksiy Kuleba said the attack damaged a key energy facility in Ukraine’s capital region, but no causalities were reported, and the location was not disclosed.

Kyrylo Tymoshenko, the deputy head of the Ukrainian president’s office, urged Kyiv-area residents and people in three neighboring regions to conserve energy during the evening hours of peak demand.

The attack on the power transmission facility came hours after Ukrainian officials said Russia fired artillery into residential areas of Nikopol, southeast of Zaporizhzhia. Yevhen Yevtushenko, head of the Nikopol district military administration, said five people were wounded in the Saturday morning attack on the city. He said the attacks were focused on “maximum damage to civilians.”

Russians killed at firing range

At least 11 Russian troops were killed and 15 more were wounded Saturday when two Russian volunteer soldiers opened fire at a military firing range in the southwest Belgorod region near Ukraine, according to the Russian defense ministry.

The defense ministry said the pair of volunteers were from a former Soviet nation and were killed by return fire, describing the incident as a terrorist attack.

“During a firearms training session with individuals who voluntarily expressed a desire to participate in the special military operation (against Ukraine), the terrorists opened fire with small arms on the personnel of the unit,” RIA cited a defense ministry statement as saying.

Some Russian independent media outlets were reporting higher casualties.

Oleksiy Arestovych, an adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, said in an interview that the attackers were from Tajikistan and had opened fire after an argument over religion, Reuters reported.

Tajikistan is a predominantly Muslim nation in Central Asia. About half of Russians follow various branches of Christianity. The Russian ministry had said the attackers were from a nation in the Commonwealth of Independent States, which includes Tajikistan.

Reuters was not immediately able to confirm Arestovych’s comments or independently verify the casualty numbers or other details of the incident.

Information from Reuters, Agence France-Presse and The Associated Press was used in this report.
…

At least 18 migrants died last week in a deadly sea crossing from Turkey to Greece. It was one of the deadliest in recent years and experts fear more may follow as tension between Greece and Tukey soars in the Aegean Sea that divides them. Anthee Carassava travelled to the island of Lesbos and tracked some of the Somali women who survived the shipwreck.

When monster waves flipped the boat over, thrusting it onto the rocky shores of this craggy island, Ismahan, like scores of other Somali women crammed in the rubber dinghy, struggled to stay alive.

“I was tossed in the sea. But within seconds, people around me were dead and drowning. I reached for a rubber tire that was keeping one the dead woman afloat and clasped on to it, remaining in the rough sea for about an hour until Greek police and authorities came to pull us out.”

“I never thought I would make it. These visions now haunt my head… dead bodies scattered in the sea… I close my eyes but I can no longer sleep,” she said.

She peels off her long purple scarf and reveals bumps and bruises on her head… Scars left behind from her traumatic sea crossing from Turkey.

The journey was the final leg of an escape, as she calls it, from Somalia that began in early August… a risky odyssey for which she paid $900, fleeing the country’s drought and humanitarian crisis, but also the abuse, she confesses, of her husband and his family.

Now, though, a week after the near-death crossing, Ismahan says she would do it again.

“I was left with no other option. I want get asylum here and bring over my eight children — two boys and six girls,” she said.

Scrunched, now, in an Isobox hut in a refugee camp on Lesbos, Ismahan and five other Somali women who survived the sinking, will put in their requests to local authorities on Monday.

And while it is unlikely that strict migration rules here will grant them asylum status, experts here are bracing for more migrant crossings.

Already this year, Greece has seen more than a 150 percent increase in migrant sea crossings from Turkey compared to 2021. Much of this has been linked to the Taliban takeover in Afghanistan, the political crisis in Somalia and renewed unrest in Lebanon and other pockets of the Middle East.

But it also comes amid renewed tension between longtime rivals but NATO allies Greece and Turkey, as both their leaders face key election years.

Greece has linked the rising rate of refugee flows to Turkish designs to destabilize Greece, accusing it of turning a blind eye to human smugglers making a mint out of migrant misery. It has also slammed NGOs like Aegean Boat Watch for facilitating illegal migrant transfers.

VOA spoke with Tommy Olsen, the head of the group, by phone from Norway, days after the deadly sinking that Turkish smugglers organized.

“To put out these boats out in such weather… it is amazing they even thought of it. And that shows how little human traffickers care about human lives. They just care about the money,” he said.

Olsen said migrants were being used as pawns, as he put it, in a bigger power play, especially as elections near in Greece and Turkey.

Both sides are trying to win and to get votes, so, they need to spike nationalism to appear as defenders against the bad guy on the other side. But in doing so they are using innocent people as tools to reach their goals.

Olsen says the situation in Turkey is becoming so difficult for refugees there, that many are already on the move because they either fear fresh orders to be deported to the countries they escaped, or because a new leader that may succeed Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is likely to be less tolerant of the 5 million refugees Turkey has been hosting for nearly a decade now.

“If more people are trying to leave Turkey, more people will be on the move. But what options do they really have? They must cross the Aegean Sea. There is no other option,” he said.

That prospect has Greece bolstering its sea and land patrols to block illegal crossings. It is also appealing to Turkey to do the same. But the U.N. refugee agency fears more sinkings may result from tougher border controls and illegal pushbacks Greece and Turkey have been waging in recent months.

Reyhaneh Shakibaie, head of the UNHC office in Lesbos explains.

“We are very concerned about the loss of lives in the Aegean. We are advising governments to facilitate safe pass ways to asylum that do not require migrants to travel illegally,” he said.

Whether governments, and refugees themselves, will heed such advice is uncertain. Ismahan and others, though, vow to continue their journey to safety at whatever cost.
…

Pope Francis said the need to reform the United Nations was “more than obvious” after the COVID-19 pandemic and the Ukraine war exposed its limits, in an extract of his new book published Sunday.

The Argentine pontiff said Russia’s February invasion of Ukraine highlighted the need to ensure the current multilateral structure — especially the UN Security Council — finds “more agile and effective ways of resolving conflicts.”

“In wartime, it is essential to affirm that we need more multilateralism and a better multilateralism,” but the UN is no longer fit for “new realities,” he added in an extract published by La Stampa daily.

The organisation was founded to prevent the horrors of two World Wars from happening again, but although the threat represented by those conflicts was still alive, “today’s world is no longer the same,” said Francis.

“The necessity of these reforms became more than obvious after the pandemic” when the current multilateral system “showed all its limits,” he added.

Francis denounced the unequal distribution of vaccines as a “glaring example” of the law of the strongest prevailing over solidarity.

The 85-year-old advocated “organic reforms” aimed at allowing international organisations to rediscover their essential purpose of “serving the human family” and said international institutions must be the result of the “widest possible consensus.”

The pope also proposed guaranteeing food, health, economic and social rights on which international institutions would base their decisions.

Francis’s new book, “I ask you in the name of God: Ten prayers for a future of hope”, is due to come out in Italy Tuesday.
…

Britain’s defense ministry has cast doubt on Russia’s ability to continue to produce weapons during its invasion of Ukraine.

In an intelligence update posted to Twitter on Sunday, the ministry estimated that Russia fired more than 80 cruise missiles into Ukraine on Oct. 10, a move that Russian President Vladimir Putin said was in retaliation for the bombing of the bridge that links Russia to the annexed Crimean Peninsula earlier this month.  There has been no claim of responsibility for the blast.

“Russia’s defense industry is probably incapable of producing advanced munitions at the rate they are being expended,” Britain said. “These attacks represent a further degradation of Russia’s long-range missile stocks, which is likely to constrain their ability to strike the volume of targets they desire in future.”

Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, in his daily address Saturday, thanked the U.S. for its $725 million assistance package, enabling Ukraine to purchase ammunition, artillery, anti-tanks weapons and anti-radar missiles.

Russian strikes continue

Russian forces carried out more sporadic missile strikes Saturday in Ukraine, targeting facilities that provide power to the country and its residential areas.

Kyiv regional Governor Oleksiy Kuleba said the attack damaged a key energy facility in Ukraine’s capital region, but no causalities were reported, and the location was not disclosed.

Kyrylo Tymoshenko, the deputy head of the Ukrainian president’s office, urged Kyiv-area residents and people in three neighboring regions to conserve energy during the evening hours of peak demand.

The attack on the power transmission facility came hours after Ukrainian officials said Russia fired artillery into residential areas of Nikopol, southeast of Zaporizhzhia. Yevhen Yevtushenko, head of the Nikopol district military administration, said five people were wounded in the Saturday morning attack on the city. He said the attacks were focused on “maximum damage to civilians.”

Russians killed at firing range

At least 11 Russian troops were killed and 15 more were wounded Saturday when two Russian volunteer soldiers opened fire at a military firing range in the southwest Belgorod region near Ukraine, according to the Russian defense ministry.

The defense ministry said the pair of volunteers were from a former Soviet nation and were killed by return fire, describing the incident as a terrorist attack.

“During a firearms training session with individuals who voluntarily expressed a desire to participate in the special military operation (against Ukraine), the terrorists opened fire with small arms on the personnel of the unit,” RIA cited a defense ministry statement as saying.

Some Russian independent media outlets were reporting higher casualties.

Oleksiy Arestovych, an adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, said in an interview that the attackers were from Tajikistan and had opened fire after an argument over religion, Reuters reported.

Tajikistan is a predominantly Muslim nation in Central Asia. About half of Russians follow various branches of Christianity. The Russian ministry had said the attackers were from a nation in the Commonwealth of Independent States, which includes Tajikistan.

Reuters was not immediately able to confirm Arestovych’s comments or independently verify the casualty numbers or other details of the incident.

Information from Reuters, Agence France-Presse and The Associated Press was used in this report.
…

Elon Musk said Saturday his rocket company, SpaceX, would continue to fund its Starlink internet service in Ukraine, citing the need for “good deeds,” a day after he said it could no longer afford to do so.

Musk tweeted: “the hell with it … even though starlink is still losing money & other companies are getting billions of taxpayer $, we’ll just keep funding ukraine govt for free.”

Musk said Friday that SpaceX could not indefinitely fund Starlink in Ukraine. The service has helped civilians and military stay online during the war with Russia.

Although it was not immediately clear whether Musk’s change of mind was genuine, he later appeared to indicate it was. When a Twitter user told Musk “No good deed goes unpunished,” he replied “Even so, we should still do good deeds.”

The billionaire has been in online fights with Ukrainian officials over a peace plan he put forward which Ukraine says is too generous to Russia.

He had made his Friday remarks about funding after a media report that SpaceX had asked the Pentagon to pay for the donations of Starlink.

SpaceX did not respond to a request for comment. The Pentagon declined to comment.
…

U.S. President Joe Biden says he thought British Prime Minister Liz Truss’ original economic plan was a mistake and that he wasn’t alone. Truss’ plan led to a steep dive in the value of the British pound.

“I wasn’t the only one that thought it was a mistake,” Biden said to reporters during a stop at an ice cream shop in Oregon where he was helping campaign for Tina Kotek, who is running for Oregon governor.

The White House has refrained from commenting on Truss’ problems and when asked about the strength of the U.S. dollar, Biden said, “I’m not concerned about the strength of the dollar. I’m concerned about the rest of the world.”

Earlier Saturday, Britain’s new finance minister, Jeremy Hunt, said some taxes would go up and tough spending decisions were needed, saying the prime minister had made mistakes as she battles to keep her job just more than a month into her term.

In an attempt to appease financial markets that have been in turmoil for three weeks, Truss fired Kwasi Kwarteng as her chancellor of the exchequer on Friday and scrapped parts of their controversial economic package.

Biden also told reporters in Oregon something he’d said a day earlier in California: that he was surprised by the courage of the people taking to the streets in protest in Iran. He was commenting on the weeks of unrest in Iran since a young woman was killed in police custody. 
…

Greek police have rescued a group of 92 illegal migrants who were discovered naked, and some with injuries, close to its northern border with Turkey, police said Saturday.

The migrants, all men, were discovered close to the Evros river that marks the border between Greece and Turkey on Friday, Greek police said in a statement.

An investigation by Greek police and officials from the EU border agency Frontex, found evidence that the migrants crossed the river into Greek territory in rubber dinghies from Turkey, police said.

“Border policemen…discovered 92 illegal migrants without clothes, some of whom had injuries on their bodies,” the statement said. It was not clear how and why the men had lost their clothes.

Greek Migration Minister Notis Mitarachi said in a tweet that Turkey’s treatment of the migrants was a “shame for civilization.” He said Athens expected Ankara to investigate the incident.

Turkish authorities were not immediately available for comment.

Greece was on the front line of a European migration crisis in 2015 and 2016, when around a million refugees fleeing war and poverty in Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan arrived in the country, mainly via Turkey.

The number of arrivals has fallen since then. But Greek authorities said they had recently seen an increase in attempted arrivals through the Turkish land border and the Greek islands.

Greece has urged Turkey to respect a 2016 deal with the European Union in which Ankara agreed to contain the flow of migrants to Europe in exchange for billions of euros in aid.

Turkey says it has ramped up measures to prevent people smuggling. 
…

Britain’s new Treasury chief Saturday acknowledged mistakes made by his predecessor and suggested that he may reverse much of Conservative Prime Minister Liz Truss’ tax-cutting plans in order to bring stability to the country after weeks of economic and political turbulence. 

Jeremy Hunt, who was brought in Friday to replace Kwasi Kwarteng as Treasury chief and restore order in Truss’ administration, warned of “difficult decisions” to come. He said taxes could rise and public spending budgets would likely be squeezed further in the coming months. 

Truss on Friday fired Kwarteng and ditched her pledge to scrap a planned increase in corporation tax as she sought to hang on to her job — after just six weeks in office. 

Truss, a free-market libertarian, had previously insisted that her tax-cutting plans were what Britain needs to boost economic growth. But a “mini-budget” that she and Kwarteng unveiled three weeks ago, which promised 45 billion pounds ($50 billion) in tax cuts without explaining how the government would pay for them, sent the markets and the British pound tumbling and left her credibility in tatters. 

The policies, which included cutting income tax for those on the highest incomes, were also widely criticized for being tone-deaf in the face of Britain’s cost-of-living crisis. 

Hunt said Truss recognizes her mistakes and he is going to put them right. Hunt is expected to meet with Treasury officials later and with Truss on Sunday. 

“It was wrong to cut the top rate of tax for the very highest earners at a time where we’re going to have to be asking for sacrifices from everyone to get through a very difficult period,” Hunt told the BBC Saturday. 

“And it was wrong to fly blind and to announce those plans without reassuring people with the discipline of the Office for Budget Responsibility that we actually can afford to pay for them,” he added. “We have to show the world we have a plan that adds up financially.” 

Hunt also indicated that taxes could rise and warned “it’s going to be difficult,” though he declined to give details about how he plans to balance the books ahead of a full fiscal statement expected Oct. 31. 

“Spending will not rise by as much as people would like and all government departments are going to have to find more efficiencies than they were planning to. And some taxes will not be cut as quickly as people want,” he said. 

Hunt, who twice ran in the Conservative Party’s leadership contests, is an experienced lawmaker who previously served in top government posts including as foreign secretary. 

His comments Saturday suggested he may dismantle many of the economic pledges that Truss campaigned for and tried to implement during her first weeks in office. 

Truss’ U-turn on her pledge to stop a planned rise in corporation tax came after an earlier climbdown on her plans to cut the top rate of income tax for the highest earners. 

Her position remains fragile. She has faced heavy pressure from across the political spectrum, including reports that senior members of her Conservative Party were plotting to force her from office. 

On Friday she avoided repeated questions about why she should remain in office when she and Kwarteng were equally responsible for the government’s economic plan and the fallout it triggered. 

“I am absolutely determined to see through what I have promised,” she said. 

Asked Saturday how long Truss would remain as leader, Hunt said, “what the country wants now is stability” and she would be judged by what she delivers until the next general election in 2024. 

“She has been prime minister for less than five weeks and I would just say this – I think that she will be judged at an election,” he said. 
…

Egypt’s energy minister says gas supplies in the Mediterranean region are probably sufficient to meet Europe’s need if investments are made to exploit gas fields in the area.   

Egyptian TV reported Saturday that Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades thanked Egypt for its efforts to jointly coordinate the exploitation of regional undersea natural gas resources by putting together the East Mediterranean Gas Forum last June.  

Arab media also reported Saturday that Egypt’s energy minister, Tarek el Molla, who attended the one-day conference bringing together several nations in Cyprus Friday, said that gas supplies in the East Med region will be what he called “a life-saver for Europe at a time of crisis,” and “could eventually meet Europe’s gas needs if the proper investments are made.”  

Egypt has been critical in the past of European and international finance institutions for being unwilling or unenthusiastic about making investments in regional oil fields to share the burden of bringing gas production in several undersea fields online, which is frequently very costly.

Egyptian political sociologist Said Sadek told VOA that the current international crisis resulting from the conflict between Russia and Ukraine could eventually subside and “if Russian gas was again pumped to Europe, it would make some East Med gas fields less profitable to exploit.”  

Sadek pointed out that a number of East Mediterranean gas fields are fraught with problems linked to regional rivalries and conflicts between Egypt and Turkey — over fields near Libya and Greece — and Turkey over fields in Cypriot territorial waters, and in fields between Greece and Turkey.  

“The Mediterranean is full of gas …enough to export, but the trouble is the struggle, especially the problem with Libya is problematic and it will take time, [and] the Cana field in Lebanon was not ready,” he said. “Turkey wants a piece of the pie and they tried to harass Greece (in a variety of ways).”  

Sadek noted that Russian President Vladimir Putin reportedly told his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, when the latter visited Moscow recently, that he should “extend the TurkStream natural gas pipeline going from Russia to Turkey into Eastern Europe.” Sadek added that such a move “angered a number of countries and that it would take several years to do, in any case.”  

U.S.-based energy analyst Paul Sullivan concurs with Sadek, pointing out that “there is a lot of gas in the eastern Mediterranean region [but] it takes a long time to develop gas fields and transport infrastructure to get the gas to market.” He stressed that “over time the East Mediterranean gas fields could bring much more gas to Europe and other places.”

“Investing in these fields,” he added, “includes financial and even political and physical risks,” as well.
…

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz Saturday called for reforms of the European Union to make it fit for the admission of new countries as well as more military autonomy of the 27-country bloc.

Speaking at the Congress of the Party of European Socialists in Berlin, Scholz advocated for gradually abolishing the principle of unanimity for decisions in foreign policy, but also in other areas such as tax policy.

“I know that we still have a lot of convincing to do there,” the chancellor said. “But I also say clearly: if a geopolitical Europe is our aspiration, then majority decisions are a gain and not a loss of sovereignty.”

Currently, many EU decisions can only be made if all countries vote unanimously.

Scholz also supports more military autonomy of the EU. He called for coordinated procurement of weapons and equipment, the establishment of an EU rapid reaction force by 2025, and for an EU headquarters for European armed forces.

“In Europe, we need better interplay between our defense efforts,” he said. “In the future, Europe will need a coordinated increase in capabilities … we must confidently and jointly advance European defense.”
…

Two women have been charged with criminal damage after climate change protesters threw soup on Vincent van Gogh’s painting “Sunflowers” at London’s National Gallery, British police said Saturday.

A video posted by the Just Stop Oil campaign group, which has been holding protests for the last two weeks in the British capital, showed two of its activists on Friday throwing tins of Heinz tomato soup over the painting, one of five versions on display in museums and galleries around the world.

The gallery said the incident had caused minor damage to the frame, but the painting was unharmed. It later went back on display.

Police said two women, aged 21 and 20, would appear later at Westminster Magistrates’ Court charged with “criminal damage to the frame of van Gogh’s Sunflowers painting”.

Another activist will also appear in court, accused of damaging the sign outside the New Scotland Yard police headquarters in central London.

Police said in total 28 people had been arrested during protests on Friday.
…

Iran has once again rejected allegations that it has supplied Russia with weapons “to be used in the war in Ukraine”, its foreign ministry said Saturday.

Kyiv and many of its Western allies have accused Moscow of using Iranian-made drones in attacks on Ukraine in recent weeks. The topic is expected to be discussed by European Union foreign ministers in a meeting in Luxemburg on Monday.

Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian “emphasized that the Islamic republic of Iran has not and will not provide any weapon to be used in the war in Ukraine,” the foreign ministry said in a statement.

“We believe that the arming of each side of the crisis will prolong the war,” the Iranian foreign minister said in a call with his Portuguese counterpart Joao Gomes Cravinho.

“We have not considered and do not consider war to be the right path either in Ukraine or in Afghanistan, Syria and Yemen.”

In a separate phone call with EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell on Friday, Amir-Abdollahian reiterated Iran’s official stance of neutrality over the war that started nearly eight months ago.

“We have defense cooperation with Russia, but our policy regarding the war in Ukraine is not sending weapons to the conflicting parties, stopping the war and ending the displacement of people,” he said.

On Monday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Iranian drones were used in Russian attacks on energy infrastructure in several Ukrainian cities.

Last month, Kyiv decided to significantly reduce its diplomatic relations with Tehran over alleged arms deliveries to Russia.

Iran said the decision was “driven by baseless information provided by foreign media propaganda”.

In September, the United States slapped sanctions on a company it accused of helping deliver Iranian drones to Russia for use in Ukraine.
…