The United States is working to ensure that U.S. sanctions are not impeding the flow of Russian food and fertilizer to developing countries during talks to renew a U.N.-brokered deal on food shipments from Ukraine that will expire Nov. 19.

In an interview this week, the U.S. State Department’s top official on economic affairs, Ramin Toloui, told VOA there would be daunting consequences on global food security if Russia does not renew the deal.

“When there was a period, just in the last couple of weeks, where Russia suspended its cooperation in the deal, and we saw that global food prices increased quite sharply.  And then when Russia rejoined that deal, which we were very pleased to see, global food prices came down,” Toloui said Wednesday.

“So the consequence of not renewing the deal is very significant. We unfortunately got a preview of that just during this brief period of time, where Russia suspended its cooperation,” he added.

The United Nations- and Turkish-negotiated Black Sea Grain Initiative was signed in July and created a corridor for food and fertilizer shipments, but Russia has been reluctant to renew it.

A Reuters report said Russia has asked the West to ease sanctions-hit Russian Agricultural Bank, also known as Rosselkhozbank.

“We are doing a number of things to try to make sure that we’re facilitating Russia’s ability to export food and fertilizer to those who need it in the developing world,” said Toloui when asked if the U.S. would consider such demand.

The following are excerpts from VOA’s interview with Ramin Toloui, assistant secretary of state for economic and business affairs. They have been edited for brevity and clarity.

VOA: On November 19, the U.N.-brokered Black Sea Grain Initiative will expire unless renewed. What is the U.S. message to Russia?

Toloui: The Black Sea Grain Initiative, which has been advanced by the U.N. secretary general and with the support of Turkey, has been incredibly important to the world, and particularly people in developing countries. Under the initiative, about 10 million metric tons of grain have been exported since it was launched in July. And to put that in perspective, that’s equivalent to about a billion loaves of bread per month. … Two-thirds of the grain has gone to developing countries, and it has helped bring down global food prices from their highs, following Russia’s further invasion of Ukraine.

VOA: Would the U.S. consider easing some of the restrictions on Rosselkhozbank?

Toloui: This is a very important point. When the U.S. imposed sanctions against Russia for its invasion of Ukraine, we specifically carved out food and fertilizer, agricultural products from those sanctions. We don’t want U.S. sanctions to impede the ability of developing countries to import the Russian food and fertilizer that they need. So there’s what’s called a general license authorizing transactions in food and fertilizer. And we’ve also been clear in communicating with governments and the private sector that those sanctions don’t apply to transactions related to food and fertilizer.

VOA: To clarify, are you ruling out U.S. support to ease restrictions on Rosselkhozbank?

Toloui: Well, what we’re working very hard is to make sure that our sanctions are not impeding the flow of Russian food and fertilizer. In fact, in addition to the efforts I mentioned, we have established a helpline at the State Department where countries, companies can bring any difficulties that they’re having in transacting Russian food and fertilizer, so we can help resolve them.

VOA: Is that fair to say that Russia’s proposal to ease sanctions on that bank is off the table?

Toloui: As I said, we are doing a number of things to try to make sure that we’re facilitating Russia’s ability to export food and fertilizer to those who need it in the developing world.

VOA: Can you give us an update on the U.S. effort to promote global food security?

Toloui: Yes. We have taken this issue of global food security very seriously, even before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

But since the invasion, Secretary [of State Antony] Blinken convened a meeting of more than 30 ministers of agriculture, foreign affairs and development in April to launch the “Roadmap for Global Food Security Call to Action,” which lays out the international community’s plan for confronting these global food security challenges. More than 100 countries have now signed up to that plan, and it includes actions like increasing contributions to humanitarian organizations that are providing essential support to those at risk of starvation.

It includes making investments in agricultural capacity in developing countries to increase their food production now but also improve their resilience going forward.  And the United States has done a number of things to implement that roadmap.  We’ve committed $10.5 billion this year in development assistance and humanitarian assistance, which is addressing some of these priorities that were laid out in the roadmap, which has been endorsed by more than 100 countries.

VOA: Since you are heading to Asia, some of those countries are hurt by inflation and soaring food prices but have refrained from condemning Russia outright. What is the U.S. message to these countries, such as India and China?

Toloui:  Well, I think one of the most important things is that everyone be aware of how important this Black Sea Grain Initiative is to global food security.

As I mentioned, 10 million metric tons of grains have come out of the Black Sea and gone to the global markets. Two-thirds of that has gone to developing countries, and that’s equivalent to a billion loaves of bread per month.

And so it’s incredibly important that those Black Sea Grain Initiative be extended. We want all parties, including Russia, to agree to extending that before it expires on November 19.

So we’re encouraging countries around the world to speak about how important this Black Sea Grain Initiative is to the global food security challenges and support the U.N. secretary general’s efforts to renew the Black Sea Grain Initiative.
…

Ukrainian forces have recaptured more than 40 towns in southern Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Thursday, as Russia announced it was pulling its troops from Kherson.

“The number of Ukrainian flags returning to their rightful place in the framework of the ongoing defense operation is already dozens, 41 settlements were liberated,” Zelenskyy said in his nightly video address.

Kherson, a strategic port city on the Dnipro River, was captured within days after Russian forces invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24.

On Wednesday, Moscow announced that it had made the “difficult decision” to withdraw from the west bank of the Dnipro, which includes Kherson.

By Thursday, Russia’s Defense Ministry said its units were leaving the area, Reuters reported.

Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov told Reuters that it would take a week for Russian troops to leave the city. He added that Moscow still has 40,000 troops in the region and its intelligence showed Russian forces remained in and around the city.

The rest of the Kherson region forms a land bridge from Russia to Crimea, the peninsula that Moscow annexed in 2014, Agence France-Presse reported. Kherson also is one of the four provinces that Russian President Vladimir Putin claimed to have annexed in September, a move the United States and other countries have condemned as illegal.

Meanwhile, the Pentagon announced Thursday the United States will provide air defense systems and surface-to-air missiles to Ukraine as part of a new $400 million security assistance package.

With “Russia’s unrelenting and brutal air attacks on Ukrainian civilian and critical infrastructure, additional air defense capabilities are critical,” deputy Pentagon press secretary Sabrina Singh told journalists, according to The Associated Press.

The Pentagon said the package would include four short-range, highly mobile Avenger air defense systems — the first time they have been provided to Ukraine — as well as the Stinger missiles they fire.

Zelenskyy thanked U.S. President Joe Biden and the American people for the assistance, tweeting: “Together we’re building an air shield to protect (Ukrainian) civilians. We’re bringing victory over the aggressor closer!”

The package brings to more than $18.6 billion the total U.S. security assistance to Ukraine since Russian forces invaded in February.

Ukrainian forces are pushing toward Kherson.

Yaroslav Yanushevych, Ukraine’s appointed governor for the region, said on Telegram that Russian troops had “taken away public equipment, damaged power lines and wanted to leave a trap behind them,” Reuters reported.

Russia has denied deliberately targeting civilians.

However, since Moscow invaded Ukraine, the conflict has killed thousands of people, displaced millions and destroyed Ukrainian cities and infrastructure.

In mid-October, the U.N. refugee agency said there were more than 7.6 million Ukrainian refugees across Europe, including 2.85 million in Russia. It said another 7 million people have been uprooted within Ukraine.

Since February, “aid workers have provided critical aid and protection services to some 13.5 million people across all regions of Ukraine,” Stephanie Tremblay, an associate U.N. spokesperson, told reporters Thursday in New York.

Late Wednesday, U.S. General Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, estimated that about 200,000 soldiers – 100,000 each of Russian and Ukrainian troops – have been killed in the fighting so far, Reuters reported. He said about 40,000 civilians caught up in the fighting have also been killed.

On Friday, the United Nations said senior U.N. and Russian officials are to meet in Geneva for discussions to extend a deal that allowed Ukrainian grain to return to world markets and was supposed to eliminate obstacles for Russian exports of grain and fertilizer.

The agreement expires Nov. 19, and Ukraine and Western nations are pressing for it to be extended, AP reported. However, Russia’s government has said it is undecided, expressing dissatisfaction with how the deal has worked for its side.

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

Human rights groups report Thursday that Iranian security forces have arrested two Spanish nationals in connection with ongoing nationwide protests in the country.

The human rights news agency HRANA reports the Spanish nationals are still in detention, though little more is known about them.

The most recent arrest was 24-year-old Ana Baneira, who HRANA says was taken into custody during the protests and jailed “in recent days,” citing sources close to her family, though they said the actual date she was arrested and her whereabouts are unknown.

Her arrest follows that of 41-year-old Santiago Sanchez, who was arrested in the city of Saqqez after visiting the burial place of Mahsa Amini, whose death sparked the recent unrest. The Reuters news service reports Sanchez last sent a picture of himself to his friends on the Iraq-Iran border with the caption: “Entry to Iran.”

The Associated Press reported Thursday the Spanish Embassy in Tehran confirmed the arrests of both Spanish nationals and said its staff is in touch with Iranian authorities about them. AP reports Sanchez entered Iran as he was traveling from Madrid to Doha for the 2022 FIFA World Cup soccer tournament.

HRANA also reported Thursday that security forces arrested Elham Afkari, the sister of Iranian wrestler Navid Afkari, who was executed in 2020 after being convicted of murder.

Iranian government-affiliated news agencies reported Elham Afkari was arrested at the border as she attempted to flee the country. They accused her of being an agent for the London-based Persian broadcast news organization, Iran International.

From its Twitter account, Iran International categorically denied “the Islamic Republic’s claim that Elham Afkari worked for or collaborated” with the broadcaster.

State media showed pictures it said were of Afkari’s arrest, in which she was seen with a large black blindfold over her face while seated in the back of a security vehicle with barred windows.

But her brother Saeed Afkari wrote on social media that his sister, her husband and their 3-year-old son were arrested in the southern city of Shiraz. Human rights groups also dispute the Iranian state-media version of the events.

Iran International reports Elham’s brother, wrestler Navid Afkari, was executed in September 2020, after participating in protests and being accused of killing a government employee. His execution led to strong domestic and international condemnations.

The news organization reports two other brothers of Afkari’s are still in prison serving a jail term of 66 years between them. The report goes on to say the family has been persecuted for more than four years, and Navid and his two brothers were subjected to extensive torture in prison.

The arrests come as protests that began in September continue across the country. They were sparked after 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, from Iran’s Kurdish region, died after being taken into the custody of the morality police for allegedly not following the country’s strict dress code.

The protests represent one of the biggest domestic challenges to Iran’s theocracy since the 2009 Green Movement protests. Some oil workers Monday joined the protests at two key refinery complexes, for the first time linking an industry that is key to the theocracy to the unrest.

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

France has resolved a dayslong spat with Italy’s right-wing government by agreeing to take in a ship carrying more than 200 migrants rescued in the Mediterranean Sea. The Ocean Viking is due to dock in the southern French port of Toulon on Friday — but relations with Rome remain bitter.

For the 234 migrants aboard the Ocean Viking, France’s agreement to take them in was the end of long odyssey.

They hail from a mix of countries, including Bangladesh, Syria and Eritrea. And they count among hundreds rescued from the Mediterranean in late October by NGO SOS Mediterranee and the Red Cross.

Italian officials finally allowed three boatloads to disembark, but not the Ocean Viking.

French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin called Rome’s behavior “unacceptable” and warned there would be ‘strong consequences’ in bilateral relations. France and Germany are expected to each welcome one-third of those onboard. The rest will reportedly be shared among other European Union member states.

Questions over fairly sharing asylum seekers — many arriving in Europe via the Mediterranean — aren’t new. For years, front-line countries like Italy and Greece have demanded that other EU members take in more. But tensions have sharpened since Prime Minister Georgia Meloni came to power in Italy.

In France, the main opposition, the anti-immigrant far-right National Rally Party also opposed letting Ocean Viking’s migrants ashore. It would make France a suction pump for immigration, said party president Jordan Bardella. It would be unending.

The several hundred thousand non-European asylum-seekers who have arrived in the EU this year dwarf the more than a million who surged into the bloc in 2015. But that number doesn’t include the more than 4 million Ukrainian refugees who have been granted automatic asylum in the EU.

Reports suggest migrant shelters in places such as Brussels — the EU’s de facto capital — are packed, with Ukrainians getting priority.

Lorena Martini, who specializes in migration at the European Council on Foreign Relations think tank, says the Ukraine crisis should galvanize more European solidarity toward asylum-seekers from elsewhere. Some countries that once shunned migrants.

Some fear Europe’s welcome mat for Ukrainians might disappear, as well, as winter sets in, possibly driving a new refugee influx westward. 
…

Throughout the war in Ukraine, the nation of Belarus, under the authoritarian rule of President Alexander Lukashenko, has acted as a Russian ally. That relationship has led to problems for many Belarusians outside of the country. Maxim Moskalkov has the story. Videographer: Sandzhar Khamidov
…

Indonesia, host of the G-20 summit has confirmed that Russian President Vladimir Putin will not be attending the gathering of the world’s twenty largest economies in person, which starts on November 15 in Bali.

Moscow will be represented by Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, Jodi Mahardi, a spokesperson for Indonesia’s Coordinating Ministry for Maritime and Investment Affairs told VOA. Putin may “participate online in one of the meetings,” he added.

Putin’s virtual participation is perhaps the best-case scenario for Jakarta, which has been under extreme diplomatic pressure from the West to rescind its invitation to the Russian leader amid its ongoing war in Ukraine. Indonesian President Joko Widodo has resisted such pressures and instead invited Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to participate despite Ukraine not being a member.

Ukraine’s ambassador to Indonesia, Vasyl Hamianin, told VOA President Zelenskyy is “definitely” participating but still no confirmation whether he will do so in person or virtually.

Earlier this week Widodo said he has spoken by phone to his counterparts Putin and Zelenskyy and that both leaders had told him they would attend “if conditions allow,” without elaborating what those conditions might be.

Zelenskyy ASEAN

Russia’s Lavrov will also be attending ASEAN partner summit in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, between November 10-13. Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs Dmytro Kuleba is also expected to attend the meetings.

In a phone call with Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen earlier this month, Zelenskyy had requested to deliver a video statement during the ASEAN summit and reaffirmed Ukraine’s wish to become its dialogue partner. However, it is unclear whether the bloc, which will need a consensus to make a final decision, will agree on Zelenskyy’s video appearance.

Pa Chanroeun, an analyst at the Cambodian Institute for Democracy think tank, said it wouldn’t be a surprise if ASEAN members reject Zelenskyy’s participation since not all of its members voted to denounce Russia’s aggression in Ukraine at the United Nations.

ASEAN members focus too much on each country’s interests, he told VOA, adding that “it also shows the influence of geopolitics in Southeast Asia.”

The ten members of ASEAN have varying degrees of trade and diplomatic ties with Russia, and many see Moscow as another great power to maintain good relations with amid U.S.-China rivalry in the region.

During the summit, Ukrainian Minister Kuleba is expected to sign a so-called Instrument of Accession to the Treaty on Amity and Cooperation in Southeast Asia, or TAC.

TAC is a peace treaty established in 1976 by ASEAN’s founding members that enshrines fundamental principles such as mutual respect for the sovereignty, territorial integrity and national identity of treaty nations.

It is a symbolic diplomatic move by 10 ASEAN member states to agree on the accession of Ukraine, a non-Southeast Asian country, to the

pact. The bloc will not be required to provide material or financial aid to Kyiv, but Ukraine gains additional international support in the region and isolates Russia.

Asked about the importance of Ukraine’s participation in the meetings, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said, “this theme, in general, has nothing to do with us,” in response to questions from reporters on Wednesday.

Leaders of other ASEAN partners, including U.S. President Joe Biden and Chinese Premier Li Keqiang, are scheduled to attend the gathering in person and meet with Cambodian PM Hun Sen on the sidelines of the summit. A highly anticipated meeting between Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping is being planned during the G-20 summit in Bali.

VOA’s State Department Bureau chief Nike Ching, Ahadian Utama and Sun Narin contributed to the report.
…

Ukraine Thursday claimed the recapture of its southern town of Snihurivka from Russia, the last remaining town under Russian occupation in the Mykolaiv region and a strategic location leading to the city of Kherson.

“Today, on November 10, Snihurivka was liberated by the forces of the 131st Separate Intelligence Battalion. Glory to Ukraine!” a soldier shouted as civilians clapped and cheered, according to Reuters. The video’s location, shared by the Ukrainian national television and posted on social media, was verified by Reuters but not the date the video was taken.

Russia’s defense minister said Wednesday that Moscow’s troops were retreating from the key southern Ukraine city of Kherson, although Ukrainian officials expressed skepticism that a full withdrawal was underway from the lone regional capital Russia had captured since its invasion last February.

Despite Russia’s announcement of withdrawal from the area, Ukraine’s officials say they are erring on the side of caution and suspect it could be a Kremlin trap.

Although such a withdrawal would be a major setback for Russian President Vladimir Putin, President Joe Biden would not say Wednesday whether this would prompt Kyiv to negotiate with Moscow.

“It remains to be seen whether or not there’ll be a judgment made as to whether or not Ukraine is prepared to compromise with Russia,” he said. “I’m going to be going to the G-20. I’m told that President Putin is not likely to be there but other world leaders are going to be there in Indonesia, and we’re going to have an opportunity to see what the next steps may be.”

Russian defense chief Sergei Shoigu made the announcement in a televised meeting with Russia’s top military leaders as General Sergei Surovikin, the commander for Russia’s forces in Ukraine, told Shoigu the withdrawal decision was difficult but would “preserve lives of servicemen and combat readiness of forces.”

Ukrainian advances had put Kyiv’s forces within striking distance of Kherson.

“Under these conditions,” Surovikin said, “the city of Kherson and nearby settlements cannot be supplied in a fully fledged manner. After a thorough assessment of the current situation, I offer to take up defense along the left bank of the Dnipro River.”

Shoigu responded, “Go ahead with the pullout of troops, and take all measures to ensure safe transfer of troops, weapons and equipment to the other bank of the Dnipro River.”

But Ukraine was initially skeptical of the Russian retreat, suggesting it might be a Russian ruse for an ambush of Ukrainian troops.

“The enemy does not give us gifts, does not make ‘goodwill gestures’, we win it all,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in his daily address to the nation, adding any gains by Ukraine come at the expense of “lives lost by our heroes.”

Ukraine’s army was, he said, “moving very carefully, without emotions, without unnecessary risk, in the interests of liberating all our land and so that the losses are as small as possible.”

Presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak said on Twitter that he expected some Russian forces to remain in Kherson. He said Ukraine would declare the city freed from Russian control based on its own intelligence, not televised Russian statements.

Winter as weapon

Meanwhile, Slovakia and Hungary said they were preparing for an increase in refugees fleeing the war in Ukraine in the coming months as winter approaches.

Russia has targeted power and heating plants in Ukraine in the past few months. Temperatures have been dropping below zero degrees Celsius (32 degrees Fahrenheit), with lows of minus 20 degrees Celsius in the region.  Zelenskyy has said about 4 million people are out of power.

Roman Dohovic, an aid coordinator for the eastern Slovak city of Kosice, said the number of refugees is “currently up 15%,” with about 6.9 million people believed to be internally displaced within Ukraine.

Biden said on Wednesday that he expected U.S. aid to Ukraine to continue despite a warning last month from Republican House leader Kevin McCarthy that a Republican-controlled House of Representatives would not would not write a “blank check” to the besieged nation.

“There’s so much at stake,” Biden said. “So I would be surprised if Leader McCarthy even has a majority of his Republican colleagues who say they’re not going to fund the legitimate defensive needs of Ukraine.”

Russia continues to deploy its troops and call on reservists in a continuation of its invasion. Ukraine’s forces have been fending off attacks, according to reports, and are also on the offensive.

As part of its broader war efforts, Russia has been working on repairing the Crimean Bridge that was damaged in October, but the British Defense Ministry said Wednesday that the bridge is “unlikely to be fully operational until at least September 2023.”

The road bridge was scheduled to close Tuesday in order to install a 64-meter span, the ministry said in an intelligence update it posted on Twitter. Three additional spans are needed to rebuild the bridge, it added.

“Although Crimean officials have claimed these additional spans will be in place by 20 December, a briefing provided to President Putin added that works to the other carriageway would cause disruption to road traffic until March 2023,” the intelligence update said.

The bridge had been used to transfer Russian logistics supplies for Crimea and southern Ukraine, as well as military equipment and troops. The bridge damage, along with other setbacks, significantly hinders Russia’s ability to “paint a picture of military success,” the Defense Ministry said.

Some information in this report came from Reuters.
…

Russia said Wednesday it will host a multilateral meeting scheduled for November 16 to discuss the situation in Afghanistan.

Special Afghan envoys from China, India, Pakistan, Kazakhstan, Iran, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan are expected to attend the gathering of what is known as the Moscow format of consultations on Afghanistan.

“The discussion to focus on the military-political, socioeconomic and humanitarian situation in Afghanistan as well as coordinating efforts to strengthen regional security,” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova told a news conference in Moscow. She shared no other details.

Russian officials have confirmed that there will be no participation by Afghanistan’s Islamist Taliban government at the talks, even though it took part in the last session of the Moscow format meeting held in October 2021.

Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Tuesday his government would conduct a detailed briefing for both the Taliban and other Afghan political forces following the planned huddle in the Russian capital. He was referring to former Afghan government officials and political figures who fled the country after the Taliban takeover for fear reprisals.

“We maintain regular contact with the Taliban representatives that will be told about the agenda of the Moscow format meeting. We have no secrets from them,” Lavrov told reporters in Moscow.

He renewed his government’s call for the Taliban to ensure they govern Afghanistan through a politically inclusive system and ease restrictions on women’s access to work and education.

“We have not yet achieved the desired result. We do not believe our colleagues that are in power in Kabul are moving fast enough in fulfilling their announced commitments to their people,” Lavrov added.

The Taliban foreign ministry has dismissed Russia-hosted talks as “incomplete” without its representation at the meeting.

“Fortunately, Afghanistan now has an independent, accountable & legitimate government that has managed to establish effective security, safeguarded borders & engaged positively with neighboring, regional & world countries in political, economic & security matters,” said a ministry statement posted online last week.

“Therefore, the absence of the Afghan government from such meetings can have an adverse effect on engagement,” the statement cautioned.

The Moscow consultative format was initiated in 2016 in a bid to promote political reconciliation between the then-internationally backed Kabul government and the Taliban, who were at the time waging a deadly insurgency against Afghan security forces and their U.S.-led NATO partners.

The Taliban regained control of Afghanistan in August 2021 when all U.S.-led foreign troops withdrew from the country after battling the insurgents for nearly two decades.

Since then, the new Islamist rulers have instructed Afghan women to cover their faces in public and avoid long road trips unless accompanied by a male relative. Most female public sector employees have been told to stay at home, and teenage girls are barred from attending secondary schools from grade seven to 12.

Foreign governments have not yet formally recognized the Taliban, saying they need to ease curbs on women if they want legitimacy for their rule.

The Taliban dismiss criticism of their governance, maintaining it is in line with Afghan culture and Islamic law.
…

U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Linda Thomas-Greenfield met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kyiv this week. She said she expressed to Zelenskyy the United States’ steadfast support of Ukraine, which Russia invaded on February 24.

Thomas-Greenfield spoke with VOA Eastern Europe Bureau Chief Myroslava Gongadze in Warsaw on Wednesday. The following interview has been edited for brevity and clarity.

VOA: So, thank you for this opportunity. You just came from Ukraine and it was the first time you visited a country in war, in this region. What is your impression? How did you feel about the leadership, and how did you feel about the people?

Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield: Well, I felt it was really important for me to go to Ukraine because it is on our agenda, almost on a weekly basis, in the Security Council, and I wanted to be able to speak from experience. And I can only say it was an eye-opening experience for me to, one, see the strength and the courage of the Ukrainians — from the president on down to little children that I met — but also to see the devastation that this war is having on Ukraine and the people of Ukraine. And I left there absolutely more committed to doing everything possible to end this war.

VOA: You met President Zelenskyy. [White House national security adviser] Mr. [Jake] Sullivan met President Zelenskyy just a few days before you. There are a lot of discussions about a possible peace plan, and President Zelenskyy laid out his conditions for the peace plan. How do you see this possible peace plan going forward?

Thomas-Greenfield: Well, certainly I see Ukraine in the driver’s seat, and having President Zelenskyy lay out his conditions, I think, sets a very strong platform for any discussions that might go forward on peace. But truthfully, this ends tomorrow if Russia pulls its troops out of Ukraine. And there won’t be any need for talks. Kids can go back to school. Ukrainians can start to rebuild their lives. They can start to return home. This is in [Russian President Vladimir] Putin’s hands, and we need to keep the pressure on President Putin, unfortunately.  

VOA: It’s true, but unfortunately it doesn’t look like he’s planning to stop. What are the challenges and worst-case scenario you can see in this crisis — in this war?

Thomas-Greenfield: Well, currently the biggest crisis is winter. And I was there to look at the winterization program. Russia is attacking Ukraine’s infrastructure. They are attacking their energy and electricity grid. They’re attacking water systems. And that will make it very, very hard for people to get through what is predicted to be a very cold winter. So, I did go with the idea of talking to the humanitarian agencies about their contingency plans for addressing this, the winter, moving forward, and I’ve had those discussions here as well.

VOA: The United States showed leadership in coordinating and organizing the international community in support of Ukraine. However, some countries are not on board in supporting Ukraine. And how do you — what kind of challenges do you see in this regard, specifically before the G-20 summit that’s coming up?

Thomas-Greenfield: I think the biggest challenge is to really communicate that this is not a war between Russia and the United States, it’s not between East and West, this is an attack on the U.N. Charter. It is an attack on the sovereignty of Ukraine, an independent country, on the integrity of their borders. And that is the message that we want to get across as we go into the G-20. It is a message that we work every day to get across at the United Nations. And I think we have had great success. I mean, getting 143 countries to condemn Russia’s attempted annexation of Ukrainian territory, I think, was a major achievement and we will keep working to build this coalition of countries that — who are prepared to very publicly condemn Russia’s actions.

VOA: You mentioned the U.N. Charter, and, you know, my next question would be about, actually, challenges for the U.N. Charter and specifically about Russia on the Security Council. If they break the rules — they’ve broken international rules. How do you — why are they still on the U.N. Security Council and are you planning to deal with it?

Thomas-Greenfield: They have challenged the charter. They’ve challenged everything that we believe in. We do not think that the kinds of actions that Russia is taking in Ukraine are worthy of a person — of a country — that is a permanent member of the Security Council. That said, they are a permanent member, so what we’re working to do in the council, and in the U.N., is to isolate them. To condemn them, to isolate them, to kick them off of those entities where we’re able to kick them off. We were able to suspend them from the Human Rights Council, we worked to suspend them and kick them off of other U.N. bodies. And we will continue to condemn them in the Security Council.

VOA: Do you see the path of them — kicking them out from the Security Council?

Thomas-Greenfield: I don’t see that path, but I don’t think that we should give up on that possibility, if presented the opportunity.
…

Even with the political control of Congress uncertain Wednesday after nationwide elections, key U.S. lawmakers are vowing continued arms and financial support for Ukraine as it fends off Russia’s invasion, now in its ninth month.

Virginia Senator Mark Warner, chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, told VOA he is confident there will be continued Democratic and Republican support for the Kyiv government in the new U.S. Congress that takes office in January — regardless of how the final vote-counting turns out. Republicans were edging closer to winning the House of Representatives, but the outcome in the Senate was even more uncertain. 

Warner offered his assessment at an event in the Virginia capital of Richmond, where the city took part in an initiative called Ambulances for Ukraine, sending an ambulance filled with medical supplies to the war-torn country.

Two other senators, Democrat Chris Coons of Delaware and Republican Rob Portman of Ohio, made a recent trip to Ukraine where they reassured government officials of the U.S. Congress’ bipartisan support.

Four House members — Republicans Adam Kinzinger and Victoria Spartz, and Democrats Andy Levin and David Price — told VOA in separate interviews they also foresee continued support for Ukraine. 

Democratic President Joe Biden, with little congressional review, has sent nearly $20 billion in arms and humanitarian aid to Ukraine since the war started in late February.

But if Republicans take control of the House, Congressman Kevin McCarthy, most likely the new House speaker, told CNN the party’s lawmakers would not routinely rubber stamp new requests for Ukraine aid. Some of the party’s most conservative lawmakers have been calling for an aid cutoff, which could lead to contentious debates over new Biden requests for more Ukraine spending. 

“I’m very supportive of Ukraine,” McCarthy said. “I think there has to be accountability going forward. … You always need, not a blank check, but make sure the resources are going to where it is needed. And make sure Congress, and the Senate, have the ability to debate it openly.” 

Mykola Davydiuk, a political analyst based in Kyiv, told VOA it matters little to Ukrainians which political party controls Congress, just that the flow of assistance continues.

“We don’t have favorites or the party that we would like it to win,” Davykiuk said. “I am more than convinced the support will remain. We are not only good friends, but we are also partners with common values. We are both on the side of Western democracy and fight against autocracy and dictatorship.”  

But another Ukrainian political analyst, Volodymyr Fesenko, said Republican control of either or both houses of Congress could prove problematic.

“We can face a problem if a Republican majority emphasizes their opposition and takes a more critical look at the budget proposals of the Biden administration,” Fesenko said. “As they have already said, ‘No more blank checks.’ They will try to have more control over the budget process and control the spending.”  

Officials in Moscow, Reuters reported, do not expect U.S. aid to Ukraine to be cut if Republicans take control of either chamber of Congress.

“A Republican victory in the U.S. congressional elections will not lead to a revolution in U.S. foreign policy and an end to Washington’s support for Ukraine,” Alexei Pushkov, a hawkish Russian senator and foreign policy specialist, wrote on the Telegram messaging service.

“However, the Biden administration will find it more difficult to push financial aid programs to Kyiv through Congress, and the position of U.S. critics of unlimited aid to Ukraine will markedly strengthen,” he said.

VOA Eastern Europe Chief Myroslava Gongadze contributed to this report from Kyiv.. Some material came from VOA’s Eurasia Division and Reuters.
…

Russia’s defense minister said Wednesday that Moscow’s troops were retreating from the key southern Ukraine city of Kherson, although Ukrainian officials expressed skepticism that a full withdrawal was underway from the lone regional capital Russia had captured since it invaded in February.

Such a withdrawal would be a major setback for Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Defense chief Sergei Shoigu made the announcement in a televised meeting with Russia’s top military leaders as General Sergei Surovikin, the commander for Russia’s forces in Ukraine, told Shoigu the withdrawal decision was difficult but would “preserve lives of servicemen and combat readiness of forces.”

Ukrainian advances had put Kyiv’s forces within striking distance of Kherson.

“Under these conditions,” Surovikin said, “the city of Kherson and nearby settlements cannot be supplied in a fully fledged manner. After a thorough assessment of the current situation, I offer to take up defense along the left bank of the Dnipro River.”

Shoigu responded, “Go ahead with the pullout of troops and take all measures to ensure safe transfer of troops, weapons and equipment to the other bank of the Dnipro River.”

But Ukraine was initially skeptical of the Russian retreat, suggesting it might be a Russian ruse for an ambush of Ukrainian troops.

“Actions speak louder than words,” presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak said on Twitter, adding that he expected some Russian forces to remain in Kherson. He said Ukraine would declare the city freed from Russian control based on its own intelligence, not televised Russian statements.

Meanwhile, the Eastern European countries of Slovakia and Hungary said they were preparing for an increase in the number of refugees fleeing the war in Ukraine in the coming months as winter approaches.

Russia has targeted power and heating plants in Ukraine in the past few months. Temperatures are dropping below zero Celsius (32 degrees Fahrenheit), with lows of minus 20 degrees Celsius in the region. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said about 4 million people are without power.

Roman Dohovic, an aid coordinator for the eastern Slovak city of Kosice, said refugee numbers were “currently up 15%,” with about 6.9 million people believed to be displaced internally within Ukraine.

Russia continues to deploy its troops, however, and call on reservists in a continuation of its invasion. Ukraine’s forces have been fending off attacks, according to reports, and are also on the offensive.

As part of its broader war efforts, Russia has been working on repairing the Crimean Bridge destroyed in October, but the British defense ministry said Wednesday that the bridge was “unlikely to be fully operational until at least September 2023.”

The road bridge was scheduled to close Tuesday in order to install a 64-meter span, the ministry said in a Twitter post. Three additional spans are needed to rebuild the damaged bridge.

“Although Crimean officials have claimed these additional spans will be in place by 20 December, a briefing provided to President Putin added that works to the other carriageway would cause disruption to road traffic until March 2023,” the ministry said.

The bridge has been used to transfer Russian logistics supplies for Crimea and southern Ukraine. Russia used the route to move military equipment and troops in the area by rail or road since the invasion of Ukraine on February 24, the defense ministry’s update added.

Fierce fighting

Elsewhere in Russian-occupied areas, the Kremlin-installed mayor in the town of Snihurivka, east of the southern city of Mykolaiv, was cited by Russia’s RIA news agency as saying residents had seen tanks and that fierce fighting was going on.

“They got into contact during the day and said there were tanks moving around and, according to their information, heavy fighting on the edge of the town,” Reuters quoted Mayor Yuri Barabashov as saying, sharing accounts of residents.

“People saw this equipment moving through the streets in the town center,” Barabashov said.

The Ukrainian governor of Mykolaiv region, Vitaly Kim, said Ukraine’s offenses had pushed Russian troops out of the region.

“Russian troops are complaining that they have already been thrown out of there,” Kim said in a statement on his Telegram channel.

The Reuters news agency reported that it was not able to independently verify the accounts coming from the warring sides. No official confirmation from Ukraine or Russia was issued on the battleground reports, the report added.

Some information for this report came from Reuters.
…

A leading ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin met Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi on Wednesday on a trip to deepen trade and security cooperation, as Moscow looks to shore up its economy and bolster its war effort in Ukraine.

Russian Security Council secretary Nikolai Patrushev’s visit was a sign of Iran’s growing importance as a supportive partner and weapons supplier at a time when Moscow is isolated by Western sanctions and faces intense Ukrainian military pressure.

With Russia’s “special military operation” in Ukraine in its ninth month, Raisi and Patrushev discussed “various issues of Russian-Iranian cooperation in the field of security, as well as a number of international problems,” Interfax news agency said.

Russian state media said Patrushev discussed the situation in Ukraine and measures to combat “Western interference” in both countries’ internal affairs with his Iranian security counterpart Ali Shamkhani.

NourNews, affiliated with Iran’s top security body, said Shamkhani called for deeper ties across a range of sectors from energy to banking.

“Iran welcomes and supports any initiative that leads to a ceasefire and peace between Russia and Ukraine based on dialog and is ready to play a role in ending the war,” Shamkhani was quoted as saying.

Kyiv and the West say Russia has used Iranian Shahed-136 drones to target Ukrainian energy infrastructure in recent weeks, forcing Ukraine to introduce rolling blackouts in major cities, including the capital, to preserve power.

Iran acknowledged for the first time at the weekend it supplied Moscow with drones, but said it sent only a small number and they were shipped before the war began. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy called that a lie.

Last month, two senior Iranian officials and two Iranian diplomats told Reuters that Iran had promised to provide Russia with surface-to-surface missiles, in addition to more drones.

Russia has accelerated efforts to build economic, trade and political relations with Iran and other non-Western countries since invading Ukraine on Feb. 24, in a drive to destroy what it calls U.S. “hegemony” and build a new international order.
…

French President Emmanuel Macron on Wednesday announced that France was ending its Barkhane anti-jihadist mission in Africa after over a decade, saying a new strategy would be worked out with African partners.

The declaration came in a wide-ranging speech reviewing France’s strategy where the president also underlined the importance of its nuclear deterrent, as well as relations with Germany and the United Kingdom despite recent tensions.

Macron laid out his strategic defense priorities for France in Europe and Africa in the coming years, not least in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and a growing international assertiveness of China.

“I have decided, in coordination with our partners, to make official today the end of the Barkhane operation,” Macron said in the keynote speech on military policy to top generals and diplomats aboard a helicopter carrier Mediterranean naval base at Toulon.

The move was the “consequence of what we have experienced” in recent months, and a new strategy would be worked out within the next half-year, he added.

“Our military support for African countries will continue, but according to new principles that we have defined with them,” said Macron.

No ‘unlimited’ deployment

He indicated that future strategy would be based on a far closer cooperation with African armies to make France’s own deployment lighter and more dynamic.

French forces have faced growing hostility from some who see them as the ineffective occupying force of a former colonial power, and Macron pulled troops out of Mali this year as relations soured with the country’s military rulers.

Around 3,000 French soldiers remain in Burkina Faso, Chad and Niger. There are no immediate plans for a reduction in numbers.

Macron said that in the coming days exchanges would be launched with African nations and regional organizations and allies “to change the status, format and mission” of French bases in Africa.

“Our interventions should have better time limits and from the very start. We do not want to remain engaged for an unlimited time in foreign operations,” he said.

The French deployment was launched in 2013, when jihadists took over much of northern Mali before being turned back.

But the rebels regrouped and soon the region was targeted by other Islamist insurgencies that are now looking to push south toward the Gulf of Guinea, experts say.

‘Indispensable partner’

He revealed that Britain and France will hold a summit in the first quarter of 2023 aimed at reinforcing their military and defense cooperation, in a new sign of a reset under new Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.

“Our partnership with the United Kingdom must also be raised to another level,” Macron said.

“I hope that we will actively resume our dialogue on operations, capacities, nuclear and hybrid areas and renew the ambitions of our two countries as friends and allies.”

Macron also insisted on the need for deeper military cooperation with Germany, and “indispensable partner” for building up Europe’s military autonomy.

The two countries have agreed to work notably on next-generation fighter jets and tanks, but both projects have reportedly stalled on divergences over technical needs and how to share production.

“The success of the European project depends in large part, I believe, on the balance of our partnership,” Macron said.

“In that regard I hope that we can make decisive progress in the coming weeks.”

Nuclear deterrent

Macron added that the French nuclear deterrent contributed to the security of Europe, after sparking a controversy with recent comments over what circumstances would cause France to use its atomic weapons.

“Today, even more than yesterday, the vital interests of France have a European dimension. Our nuclear forces therefore contribute by their own existence to the security of France and Europe”, he said.

“Don’t forget that France has nuclear deterrent and don’t dramatize a few remarks,” he added.

Macron in October in an interview had appeared to cast doubt on whether France would contemplate striking back if Russia attacked Ukraine with a tactical nuclear weapon.

“Our [nuclear] doctrine is based on what we call the fundamental interests of the nation and they are defined in a very clear way. It is not at all what would be affected if there was a ballistic nuclear attack in Ukraine or the region,” he then told the France 2 channel.
…

Eastern European countries like Slovakia and Hungary are preparing for an increase in the number of refugees fleeing the war in Ukraine in the coming months as winter approaches.

Russia has targeted power and heating plants in Ukraine in the past few months. Temperatures drop below zero Celsius (32 degrees Fahrenheit), with lows of minus 20 degrees Celsius in the region. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said about 4 million people are out of power.

Roman Dohovic, an aid coordinator for the eastern Slovak city of Kosice, said the increase in the number of refugees is “currently up 15%,” with about 6.9 million people believed to be displaced internally within different parts of Ukraine.

Russia continues to deploy its troops, however, and call on reservists in continuation of its invasion. Ukraine’s forces have been fending off attacks, according to reports, and are also on the offensive. 

As part of its broader war efforts, Russia has been working on repairing the Crimean Bridge damaged in October, but the British defense ministry said Wednesday the bridge is “unlikely to be fully operational until at least September 2023.” 

The road bridge was scheduled to close Tuesday in order to install a 64-meter span, the ministry said in a Twitter post. Three additional spans are needed to rebuild the damaged bridge.

“Although Crimean officials have claimed these additional spans will be in place by 20 December, a briefing provided to President [Vladmir] Putin added that works to the other carriageway would cause disruption to road traffic until March 2023,” the post said.

The bridge is used to transfer Russian logistics supplies for Crimea and southern Ukraine. Russia used the route to move military equipment and troops in the area by rail or road since the invasion of Ukraine on February 24, the defense ministry’s update added.

Fierce fighting

Elsewhere in Russian-occupied areas, the Kremlin-installed mayor in the town of Snihurivka, east of the southern city of Mykolaiv, was cited by Russia’s RIA news agency as saying residents had seen tanks and that fierce fighting was going on. 

“They got into contact during the day and said there were tanks moving around and, according to their information, heavy fighting on the edge of the town,” Reuters quoted Mayor Yuri Barabashov as saying, sharing accounts of residents.

“People saw this equipment moving through the streets in the town center,” Barabashov said.

The Ukrainian governor of Mykolaiv region, Vitaly Kim, said Ukraine’s offenses have pushed Russian troops out of the region. “Russian troops are complaining that they have already been thrown out of there,” Kim said in a statement on his Telegram channel.

The Reuters news agency reported that it was not able to independently verify the accounts coming from the warring sides. No official confirmation from Ukraine and Russia were issued on the battleground reports, the report added.

NATO summit

NATO leaders announced Wednesday they are planning to meet for another summit in Vilnius, Lithuania, from July 11 to 12, 2023. They met in Madrid, Spain, in June.

NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg said the military alliance plans to take “further steps to strengthen our deterrence and defense and review significant increases in defense spending, as well as to continue our support for Ukraine.”

Meanwhile, the chief of staff to Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban said Wednesday the country’s parliament is scheduled to discuss the ratification of Sweden’s and Finland’s accession to NATO during its autumn session after a series of EU-related bills have been passed. 

“Finland and Sweden are our allies and they can count on us,” Gergely Gulyas told a briefing. Hungary and Turkey are the only members of the alliance that have not cleared the accession process.

Some information in this report came from Reuters.
…

The first North American tour of two Belarusian rock legends just ended in the US. For both artists this tour was about more than just making music. Angelina Bagdasaryan has the story, narrated by Anna Rice.
…

The United States and Russia will soon hold talks on resuming suspended nuclear arms control inspections that had been put on hold during the COVID-19 pandemic and languished after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the State Department said Tuesday. 

State Department spokesman Ned Price said negotiations on the inspections would take place “in the near future” under the terms of the New START treaty and would not include any discussion of the conflict in Ukraine. 

He would not give a date or a venue for the talks, but other officials suggested they would be held before the end of the year, likely in Egypt. 

The meeting of the treaty’s so-called “Bilateral Consultative Commission” will be the first in more than a year and is intended to show that the two countries remain committed to arms control and keeping lines of communication open despite other differences. 

“We believe deeply around the world in the transformative power and the importance of diplomacy and dialogue,” Price told reporters in Washington. He stressed that the Biden administration was “realistic” about what the meeting could accomplish. 

“It demonstrates our commitment to risk reduction, to strategic stability, something we remain committed to, something that is profoundly in the bilateral interest, and we hope the upcoming meeting is constructive,” he said. 

Inspections of U.S. and Russian military sites under the New START treaty were paused by both sides because of the spread of coronavirus in March 2020. The committee last met in October 2021, but Russia then unilaterally suspended its cooperation with the treaty’s inspection provisions in August to protest U.S. support for Ukraine. 

“We’ve made clear to Russia that measures imposed as a result of Russia’s unprovoked war against Ukraine don’t prevent Russians and Russian inspectors from conducting New START treaty inspections in the United States,” Price said. “So we hope that the meeting of the BCC will allow us to continue with those inspections.” 

 
…

Ukraine urgently needs more air defense systems from the West, according to a new report, which warns that Russia could seek to repeat the tactics it used in Syria to bombard Ukrainian cities from the skies.

The analysis from Britain’s Royal United Services Institute says that in the early days of the invasion in February and March, the skies above Ukraine were largely unprotected as the country’s air defense systems were suppressed by initial Russian attacks.

“During this period, Ukrainian fighter aircraft inflicted some losses on [Russian] aircraft but also took serious casualties due to being totally technologically outmatched and badly outnumbered,” the report says.

After several days, however, Ukraine was able to deploy and activate its air defenses. Since then, Ukrainian forces have shot down dozens of Russian fighter jets, helicopters, other aircraft and missiles, notes report coauthor Justin Bronk.

“The Russian Air Force retains a huge amount of potential firepower. It’s just not being able to use it effectively at the moment because Ukraine is still denying them access to Ukrainian airspace above a very low level, because they still have these surface-to-air missile systems. But Ukrainian stocks of missiles for air defense were not nearly intended to last this long. There’s been very high intensity use for a long time,” Bronk told VOA.

Meanwhile, Russia is using Iranian-made loitering drones and long-range missile strikes to pound Ukraine’s cities and infrastructure. The report says it marks a change in tactics by Russia’s armed forces.

“The latest iteration is a more focused and sustainable bombardment of the Ukrainian electricity grid, blending hundreds of cheap Iranian-supplied Shahed-136 loitering munitions against substations with continued use of cruise and ballistic missiles against larger targets.”

Bronk said the West must not become complacent about the need to urgently bolster Ukrainian air defense capacity.

“The West really needs to focus on delivering additional ammunition and eventually the replacement of some systems with systems we can more easily support — because of course these are Soviet-era systems that we don’t use ourselves in the West,” Bronk added.

Western nations have supplied various air defense systems. Ukraine’s defense minister said Monday his country had received the first NASAMS (National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile Systems) developed jointly by the United States and Norway. Kyiv also has taken delivery of Italian-made Aspide surface-to-air missiles.

“The priority No. 1 is air defense systems. Our partners know this very well,” Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov said Monday.

Germany sent an Iris-T air defense system last month and is supplying dozens of Gepard anti-aircraft tanks. France has sent its “Crotale” air defense system.

The report authors say Ukraine needs more from the West. Advanced fighter aircraft would create an important deterrent, noted Bronk.

“The provision of Western fighter aircraft will also be a huge boon to Ukraine in terms of being able to keep the Russian Air Force back. The Russian Air Force has been extremely risk-averse throughout this. And so, even a small number of Western fighters equipped with missiles and radars that are able to meet Russian fighters on relatively equal terms … would be a really valuable deterrent force,” Bronk told VOA.

He said the likely consequence of Russia gaining control of the skies is tragically evident.

“We know what happens in Syria when the Russian Air Force is able to attack with relative impunity from medium and higher altitudes: large scale bombardments with a lot of unguided bombs — on not just frontline positions but also besieged cities. We remember Aleppo and Homs.”

Those cities were all but destroyed by Russian and Syrian government air strikes in 2015 and 2016 at the height of the civil war. Tens of thousands of people were killed, forcing a withdrawal of rebel forces.

As Russia’s ground forces are forced back in eastern Ukraine, analysts fear the Kremlin wants to repeat the tactics used in Syria on Ukrainian cities.
…

UNICEF warns millions of children caught in climate-induced disasters are at risk of starvation, disease, exploitation, and death.

A UNICEF analysis released Tuesday finds 27.7 million children in 27 countries have been affected by flooding so far this year. Among them, Chad, the Gambia, and northeast Bangladesh have recorded the worst floods in a generation.  The agency reports Pakistan’s record-breaking floods have killed nearly 1,700 people, 615 of them children.

UNICEF’s global communication and advocacy director, Paloma Escudero, says she saw for herself the enormity of the disaster during a visit to Pakistan last week. She says the needs are vast, adding 10 million girls and boys need immediate lifesaving support.

“The floods have contaminated drinking water, which is spawning deadly water-borne diseases such as acute watery diarrhea, which compounds already acute malnutrition,” Escudero said.  “Estimates suggest close to 1.6 million children in flood areas could be suffering from severe acute malnutrition.”   

She notes stagnant water is a perfect breeding ground for mosquitoes, increasing the risk of malaria and dengue. She warns many vulnerable children and young people will die in the days and weeks to come without urgent action.

Escudero spoke on a video link from Sharm el-Sheikh, site of COP27, the climate change conference. She says scientists have found the recent floods in Pakistan have been made worse by climate change. While children are the least responsible for creating this problem, she says they are suffering the most.

“In Africa, just like in Pakistan, children are paying the price for a climate disaster not of their making. From the extreme drought and risk of famine in Somalia to the erratic rains across the Sahel, UNICEF is being challenged to respond at an unprecedented scale to emergencies that have all the markings of climate-induced disasters,” Escudero said. 

UNICEF reports children account for almost half of the more than 20 million people facing famine in drought-stricken Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, and Somalia.

Nearly 40 youth climate activists from around the world are in Sharm el-Sheikh. They are working with UNICEF to sensitize delegates to the severe impact of the climate crisis on the world’s poorest, most vulnerable children.

Escudero notes it is not up to young people to keep raising the alarm. What is needed, she says, is for people with power to start acting.
…

Greece’s Supreme Court has ordered an investigation into allegations that the country’s intelligence service was tapping the phones of nearly three dozen politicians, businessmen, and journalists. Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis has denied the allegations but the scandal, analysts say, may force him to resign as leader of the country’s center-right party.  

The scandal is being likened to the Watergate political scandal that forced the resignation of former U.S. President Richard Nixon in the 1970s. Mitsotakis is vehemently denying any implication in allegations that 33 businessmen, journalists and even politicians of his own party, including the country’s foreign minister, were being tapped by Greek spies.

“This is all shameless and dangerous,” he said in a late-night interview with local television. “But I have faith,” Mitsotakis added, “that the Supreme Court prosecutor will request and get the clarifications needed.”

The left-wing newspaper Documento exposed the scandal on Saturday, reporting that the public figures had been targeted illegally by spyware known as Predator as well as surveillance bugs planted by the state intelligence service, known here as EYP.

Mitsotakis, who leads the country’s center-right party and oversees EYP as part of his duties as prime minister, is already under pressure over a similar scandal that erupted over the summer alleging that EYP had tapped the phone of his socialist political opponent.

At the time, Mitsotakis flatly denied using illegal Israeli-made spyware to listen into the calls of his rival. But he said the taps were legal and admitted that state intelligence had in fact eavesdropped on his opponent, though without explaining why.

On Monday, Kostas Vaxevanis, the editor and journalist who exposed the latest scandal appeared before a Supreme Court prosecutor to answer to an urgent investigation launched in response to the revelations.

Vexevanis emerged from the testimony hours later insisting his story was solid.

“Of course, there is credible proof substantiating the revelations,” he told reporters. “We have already published four text messages sent to people who were being tapped proving that they were being illegally monitored.”

Vexevanis’s report cited two people who claimed they had key roles in the surveillance. 

Mitsotakis said the report was part of a bigger political conspiracy to bring down his government and spark the election process early.

“This is all part of an attempt to sink the county in mud and an unbelievable debate in which the government now is being called upon to prove it is not the elephant it is being made out to be,” he said.

Leading businesspeople and politicians targeted by the alleged phone taps have lashed out at the government and Mitsotakis personally. Meanwhile, observers say Greeks have been left stunned and fearful of a state apparatus employing shady tactics more reminiscent of the Cold War than representative of a flourishing democracy.

Vaxevanis has vowed to release more details in the coming weeks.

If verified, the allegations mark an impeachable offense that, analysts say, may see the Greek leader resigning well ahead of national elections slated for next year.
…

A German humanitarian group said its ship docked in southern Italy early Tuesday and disembarked 89 people rescued at sea, ending one migrant rescue saga as others continue under Italy’s new hard-right government.

Mission Lifeline posted videos on social media of the 25-meter (80-foot) Rise Above freighter docking in Reggio Calabria and said the “odyssey of 89 passengers and nine crew members on board seems to be over.” In a subsequent post it said all 89 were allowed to disembark.

The group had waited at sea for days for Italy to assign it a port after it entered Italian waters over the weekend without consent because of rough seas. Six of the original 95 people were evacuated at sea for medical reasons.

Italy has refused to assign migrant rescue ships with a port of safety as the new far-right-led government of Premier Giorgia Meloni takes a hard line with nongovernmental organizations operating in the central Mediterranean. Instead, it has been instructing them to ports, where authorities allow only vulnerable people to disembark.

Italian authorities insist the boats must then return to international waters with those not deemed vulnerable and that the countries whose flag the ships fly take the migrants in.

Two NGO-run boats are docked in Catania, in Sicily, one with 35 people that Italy won’t allow to disembark, the other with 214 people. Both ships are refusing to leave, saying that under international law all people rescued at sea are vulnerable and entitled to a safe port.

A fourth ship, the Ocean Viking operated by SOS Mediterranee, remains in international waters off Sicily with 234 rescued people. Its first rescue was 17 days ago.
…

Chinese authorities behind a major trade expo in Shanghai pulled an opening ceremony address by the European Council president that was set to criticize Russia’s “illegal war” in Ukraine and call for reduced trade dependency on China, diplomats said.

The pre-recorded video by Charles Michel was meant to be one of several from world leaders and heads of international organizations including Chinese President Xi Jinping at the opening of the China International Import Expo (CIIE) on Friday, three European diplomats told Reuters.

The diplomats, who cannot be named due to the sensitivity of the matter, told Reuters they were surprised the speech was removed.

“President Michel was invited to address 5th Hongqiao Forum/CIIE in Shanghai,” Barend Leyts, a spokesman for Michel told Reuters. “As requested by the Chinese authorities, we had indeed provided a pre-recorded message which was ultimately not shown. We have addressed this through the normal diplomatic channels.”

No one from China’s foreign ministry or the co-organizers of the expo, China’s commerce ministry and the Shanghai city government, responded to Reuters requests for comment.

Other dignitaries who did speak at the ceremony after Xi included the managing director of the International Monetary Fund, the director-general of the World Trade Organization and the presidents of Indonesia, Sri Lanka and Belarus, according to the expo’s official website.

Belarus’s Alexander Lukashenko is a staunch ally of Russia’s leader Vladimir Putin whose country has hosted thousands of Russian troops before and during what Moscow calls a “special operation” in Ukraine.

Focus on Russia and trade

The European Council president’s speech was set to be heavily critical of “Russia’s illegal war against Ukraine” and say Europe is learning “important lessons” from it, according to excerpts of the address provided by European diplomats.

Europe has been over-dependent on Russia for fossil fuels, leading to a trade imbalance, Michel was to say.

“In Europe, we want balance in our trade relations … to avoid over-dependencies,” according to the diplomats familiar with what he was to say. “This is also true of our trade relations with China.”

Michel was also set to call for China to do more do put an end to the bloodshed in Ukraine.

China has consistently refused to criticize Russia’s aggression which has ravaged cities across Ukraine and killed thousands of troops and civilians since it began on February 24.

“China has a role in using its influence to stop Russia’s brutal war … through your so-called ‘no-limits’ partnership with Russia,” Michel was to say, referring to a pact announced by Xi and Putin in Beijing before the war began. “You, China, can help put an end to this.”

Both Xi and Michel are expected to attend and meet at the Group of Twenty (G-20) heads of state summit in Bali next Tuesday and Wednesday.

The President of the European Council is one of the European Union’s top ranked officials whose role includes representing the bloc at international summits and bilateral summits with other heads of state.

Since 2019, the EU has officially regarded China as a partner, an economic competitor and systemic rival.

The EU’s foreign policy service said in a paper last month that Beijing should now be thought of primarily as a competitor that is promoting “an alternative vision of the world order.”
…

Ukraine is boosting its ties with Southeast Asian nations, signing a key foreign relations pact with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) later this week in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs Dmytro Kuleba is expected to sign, in person, the so-called instrument of accession to the Treaty on Amity and Cooperation in Southeast Asia (TAC) and attend some ASEAN events.

TAC is a peace treaty established in 1976 by ASEAN’s founding members that enshrines fundamental principles such as mutual respect for the sovereignty, territorial integrity and national identity of treaty nations.

It is a measured diplomatic move by 10 ASEAN member states to agree on the accession of Ukraine, a non-Southeast Asian country, to the pact. The bloc will not be required to provide material or financial aid to the embattled country.

“[Acceding] to TAC does not incur any obligation for ASEAN to provide any assistance” to Ukraine, a senior Cambodian official told VOA. “The treaty is the code of conduct in implementing foreign relations, not an agreement to provide any assistance to anyone.”

As of August 2022, there are 49 signatories to the peace pact, including Russia, China, the United States and the European Union.

“I’m happy to say that we have invited [the] Ukraine foreign minister to sign the TAC in Phnom Penh in the next course of two weeks’ time on the sideline of the [ASEAN] meetings,” Cambodia’s Ambassador to the U.S. Keo Chhea said at an October 26 seminar hosted by the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

Cambodia chairs this year’s ASEAN summit and East Asia Summit. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov will be in Phnom Penh representing Russian President Vladimir Putin for the East Asia Summit.

In March, Cambodia formally condemned Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and echoed ASEAN-backed calls for an immediate ceasefire. Regional news outlets reported last week that Cambodia’s foreign ministry offered to host Russian-Ukrainian talks at the upcoming summit, but neither side has expressed willingness to engage in dialogue.

“Ukraine’s presence at the East Asia Summit would demonstrate ASEAN’s conflict resolution and peacekeeping leadership in the international community, as well as ASEAN’s long-standing support for respecting sovereignty and territorial integrity,” said Daniel Kritenbrink, the U.S. State Department’s top official on Asia during the same event.

Cambodia and Ukraine had agreed to establish a diplomatic relationship after a call between Cambodia’s Prime Minister Hung Sen and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on November 1. The two countries will appoint ambassadors to advance diplomatic ties.

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen also agreed to send demining teams, in cooperation with Japan, to help Ukraine remove land mines planted by Russian forces during the invasion. Cambodia became one of the world’s most mined countries during almost 30 years of civil war that ended in 1998. In exchange, Ukraine plans to increase grain exports to Cambodia amid the global food crisis.

ASEAN does not have a unified position on Russia’s invasion in Ukraine.

Except for Singapore, ASEAN was largely muted in the early months after Russia’s invasion in Ukraine in late February.

While expressing concern over Russia’s war on Ukraine, ASEAN members that rely on Russian weapons have refrained from an outright condemnation of Putin.

Three ASEAN members (Vietnam, Thailand, and Laos) abstained from an October United Nations General Assembly vote condemning Russia’s attempts to annex additional regions of Ukraine.
…

The captain of Humanity 1, a German charity rescue ship, was ordered to leave the port of Catania Sunday after 144 rescued migrants were allowed to disembark, but 35 people remained on board. The captain refused to leave.

Italy allowed the ship carrying 179 migrants to enter the Sicilian port early Sunday, while rejecting safe harbor for three other ships in the vicinity carrying 900 people, The Associated Press reported.

Amnesty International’s deputy director at Europe’s regional office, Julia Hall said, “the law of the sea is clear,” in a statement.

“A rescue ends with all those rescued, are disembarked in a place of safety. There is no room for creative interpretations of the law when people are suffering and traumatized after risking their lives at sea.” 

Hall said 144 people were allowed to disembark following a brief physical exam.

But she added, “All the people rescued by Humanity 1 departed from Libya, were refugees and migrants are at constant risk of torture and other ill-treatment, arbitrary detention and other abuses.”

“By forcing 35 people to remain on board the Humanity 1, Italy is not only violating its international obligations to disembark and protect them under both human rights and maritime law, but also creating a risky situation which endangers the rescued people and the crew of Humanity 1,” Hall said. “We urge the Italian authorities to allow all those still on board to disembark as soon as possible.”

Also Sunday, another migrant rescue ship, the Geo Barents, operated by Doctors Without Borders, a charity commonly known by its French acronym MSF, arrived in Catania. This time 357 of the 572 were allowed off the vessel.”

“Italy legitimately expects other EU Member States to share responsibility for people seeking asylum, Amnesty’s Hall said, “but this does not justify imposing measures that only increase the suffering of already traumatized people.”

“It is disgraceful that the Italian government continues to assist Libyan authorities in violating their people’s human rights,” said Hall. “It adds insult to injury that the Italian government also refuses disembarkation to those who managed to leave that country.”

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

Some former members of Afghanistan’s special forces who fled to Iran after the Taliban’s takeover in Afghanistan are now being recruited to fight for Russia in Ukraine and for Iran in Yemen, two former senior Afghan security officials told VOA.

The former Afghan army chief, General Haibatullah Alizai, said Tehran is using the vulnerability of former Afghan forces now living in the country to recruit them to strengthen the ranks of Houthi rebels in Yemen.

“When former Afghan military members go to immigration bureaus in Iran to extend their visas, they are told to go to Yemen to fight in support of the Houthis,” Alizai told VOA.

Mohammad Farid Ahmadi, the former commander of Afghanistan’s elite National Army Commando Corps, told VOA that former Afghan special forces now are engaged in “six critical areas” of the world: Nagorno-Karabakh, Ukraine, Yemen, Iran, Syria and Russia, but “in small groups.”

Afghan commandos who were trained by the U.S. and NATO are considered the most experienced former military personnel in Afghanistan. Before the fall of Afghanistan to the Taliban, the commandos were led most of the complex combat operations throughout the country.

The Associated Press reported that Russia is now also seeking to recruit former Afghan special forces in Iran to fight alongside their military in Ukraine by offering them “$1,500-a-month payments and promises of safe havens for themselves and their families.”

Officials with the Russian embassy in Washington and Iran’s United Nations representatives have not responded to emailed questions about whether their governments are recruiting former Afghan armed forces and commandos. The Associated Press reported that Yevgeny Prigozhin, the head of the Wagner Group, dismissed claims of recruiting former Afghan soldiers as “crazy nonsense.”

But pressuring Afghans to fight is not a new tactic. In 2016, Human Rights Watch said Iran was using Afghan refugees as soldiers to fight in Syria.

Taliban threat

Former Army Commando Corps leader Ahmadi said there were about 30,000 commandos serving in Afghanistan before the Taliban took control of Kabul.

“Now a big majority of Afghan former commandos are inside Afghanistan, disguising and living in hiding,” said Ahmadi, adding that “a number of them were detained and tortured by the Taliban.”

According to a report published a few months ago by the U.S. Office of the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR), former Afghan commandos who have stayed in the country have “almost certainly” joined the fledgling opposition group known as the National Resistance Front or are living in hiding out of fear of being killed or imprisoned by the Taliban.

Ahmadi said some of the former soldiers were held and tortured in Taliban prisons. But he said after tribal elders intervened, many were released after they paid money and vowed never to speak of their treatment in prison.

Ahmadi says Afghan special forces feel betrayed by the country’s former political leaders and he describes many now as “desperate, hopeless and vulnerable.”

He also urged officials in Washington to try to help those Afghans who fought shoulder to shoulder with the U.S. forces for the past 20 years.

“The U.S. should fulfill its promises and not let these forces be hired as mercenaries,” Ahmadi said.

Washington ‘in a difficult position’

At a Washington news briefing on October 31, State Department spokesperson Edward Price responded to questions about the recruitment of Afghan commandos by saying, “I’m aware of those reports. I’m not aware, though, that we have been in a position to confirm that such Afghan commandos have actually been enlisted into President Putin’s war.”

Rand Corporation policy researcher Jason Campbell said that limited U.S. reach in parts of Iran and Taliban-controlled Afghanistan where former Afghan commandos live puts Washington, logistically speaking, “in a difficult position.”

“It’s certainly a hard decision for the U.S. to make in terms of trying to take steps to ensure the safety of all these thousands of commandos, particularly in light of recent developments, where, as we said, certainly Russia but [also] other states might see an opportunity here to recruit some of these … seasoned and well-trained fighters who find themselves living in desperate conditions,” Campbell said.

Bill Roggio, a senior fellow at the Washington-based Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, told VOA that the chaotic U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan created this problem.

“This is one of the unforeseen consequences of the U.S. disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan. We left behind tens of thousands of highly trained Afghan soldiers. These are the commandos who are quite capable. They were on the frontlines in the fight against the Taliban,” he said.

Roggio added, “Some [former Afghan commandos] have gone into Iran, but by Russia opening up the opportunity for them to possibly get Russian citizenship and telling them that you fight for us in Ukraine, we will help you and help your family. That is quite appealing.”

Lina Rozbih contributed to this report. This story originated in VOA’s Afghan service.
…