As designer Clary Salandy pushes open the kitchen door at a nondescript community center in west London, her visitors pause at the sight.

A dozen giraffe heads, crafted in shades of orange and brown with top hats and flowing eyelashes, smile in a tidy row atop the commercial-grade stove, while a pair of zebras peer out from a corner near the refrigerator.

That sense of surprise is exactly what Salandy hopes people will experience Sunday, when the giraffes and zebras join a troupe of dancing elephants and flamingos outside Buckingham Palace as part of the pageant that will cap off four days of festivities celebrating Queen Elizabeth II’s 70 years on the throne. In the meantime, the plastic foam beasts will remain locked in the kitchen for safekeeping.

Salandy and her team at Mahogany Carnival Arts want their playful reimagining of the setting where the young Princess Elizabeth learned she was queen in 1952, while on a wildlife expedition in Kenya, to spark a sense of fun and fantasy in a nation recovering from the coronavirus pandemic.

They want, in short, to inspire joy.

“When you see it, you should go, ‘Wow! You know, that’s amazing!’” Salandy said. “We’re going to lift people out of COVID and take them forward when they finish. People should feel positive that life is coming back and we’re going to move forward and back into enjoying our lives.”

That message will be delivered by a group of 250 artists and performers from the African-Caribbean community, which was particularly hit hard by the pandemic and is now being squeezed by the cost-of-living crisis.

But the performers want to reach out to everyone with a presentation that celebrates the diversity of Britain and the Commonwealth.

Children will become swans, older people will zoom around in mobility scooters decked out as flamingos and dancers will bring the giraffes and zebras to life, perhaps even to mingle with the crowds.

Another group of dancers will unite to form the queen’s coronation robe, with the symbols of every major faith and nods to all 54 of the Commonwealth nations woven into its purple and white fabric.

The dances and costumes — really wearable sculptures — grow out of the traditions of Carnival as it is celebrated in the Caribbean. That heritage inspired the Notting Hill Carnival, a celebration of Caribbean culture that has grown into Europe’s largest street festival. The end-of-summer party was canceled the last two years because of the pandemic.

Artist Carl Gabriel, who is collaborating with Mahogany, is still putting the finishing touches on an 85-kilogram bust of the queen, complete with crown and diamond necklace, that will form the centerpiece of the performance. On its plinth, it is 4 meters tall.

Gabriel has spent months building the sculpture using the traditional technique of wire-bending together with his own innovations. Created by painstakingly bending bits of wire around a metal frame using an assortment of pliers and hammers, the almost finished work resembles a giant macrame project. After he donned safety glasses and a leather apron at his studio in London, he said he wants the work to have meaning for the queen — and many others besides.

“I feel a lot of people are suffering,” Gabriel said. “The least I could do is provide those who suffered a hard time some enjoyment by presenting the work to them.”

At its heart, the performance is a celebration of the queen’s 70 years of service, said Nicola Cummings, a costume-maker and a teacher at Queen’s Park Community School, who is working with 24 young dancers. The queen is at the heart of it all.

“Every visit that she’s ever been on, every time that she’s come out, she’s always represented the country at its best. We’ve never seen her looking scruffy,” Cummings said. “For that alone, you know, we’ve got to give back now. Here we are. We’re showing her our best.”

But the performance also carries a message of rejuvenation.

Mahogany’s community was an epicenter of the first outbreak of COVID-19, and the months of preparation for the jubilee have lifted the performers, many of whom lost family members during the pandemic.

Just as the queen promised the nation at the height of the pandemic that people would meet their friends and families again, so the performers are celebrating the ability to dance again as part of a community — a group even tighter now than before.

Cummings will be thinking about her father, who was also involved in carnivals. He died of COVID-19 last year.

“I feel like I’m representing him in a way,” she said, unable to hold back the tears. “This is almost like a tribute to him.” 
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As images of Elizabeth’s reign were displayed onto the walls, Charles, 73, said the Jubilee had given the country the chance to say thank you
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Queen Elizabeth’s son and heir Prince Charles and her grandson Prince William will pay tribute to the record-breaking monarch at a pop concert at Buckingham Palace on the third day of nationwide celebrations for her 70 years on the throne.

The “Party at the Palace,” which will feature singers Alicia Keys and Diana Ross, is the main Platinum Jubilee event Saturday.

By early evening, tens of thousands of people had gathered on the Mall, the grand boulevard that runs up to the palace, and in a nearby park to watch the concert on big screens, while those with tickets surrounded the stage on a warm evening.

The 96-year-old monarch was not present, having missed a number of Jubilee events because of “episodic mobility problems” that have caused her to cancel engagements recently.

Other acts to appear include rock band Queen + Adam Lambert, singer Rod Stewart and veteran U.S. musician Nile Rodgers. Elton John recorded a special performance.

Queen guitarist Brian May, who played the national anthem from the roof of the palace at a concert for Elizabeth’s golden jubilee in 2002, hinted at another memorable moment.

“There was a moment when I wondered … after Buckingham Palace roof where can you go? Well … you will see,” he said.

Andrew Singleton, a 56-year-old window fitter from northern England who was in the queue for the concert, said the Jubilee had helped to bring the country together.

“People have traveled from as far as America to actually come here and just enjoy the celebrations,” he said.

Earlier in the day the queen also missed the Epsom Derby horse race.

Her daughter Princess Anne, who competed in the three-day equestrian event in the 1976 Olympics, stood in for her mother, who has rarely missed the race during her record-breaking reign and watched on television from her Windsor Castle home.

Four days of celebrations to mark the monarch’s 70 years on the throne began with a military parade, a Royal Air Force fly-by, and the lighting of beacons across Britain and the world, with tens of thousands of people joining the festivities.

During Friday’s National Service of Thanksgiving at St Paul’s Cathedral in London, Archbishop of York Stephen Cottrell used a horse racing analogy in his sermon to pay tribute to the queen.

“Your Majesty, we are sorry that you’re not here with us this morning, but we are so glad that you are still in the saddle,” he said. “And we are glad that there is still more to come. So, thank you for staying the course.”

A sideshow to the main celebrations has been Prince Harry and his American wife Meghan making their first public appearance together in Britain since quitting official duties to move to Los Angeles two years ago, during which time their relationship with other royals has become strained.

Notably Saturday, the official Twitter accounts for the monarch, Charles and William all sent messages almost simultaneously to mark the first birthday of Lilibet, the couple’s daughter who is named after the queen.

Elizabeth had not met her great-granddaughter before the trip, and Buckingham Palace has not commented on newspaper reports that they have finally been introduced.

Harry and Meghan have become divisive figures, with supporters regarding them as a breath of fresh air for the tradition-bound monarchy, while critics and many newspapers pour scorn on their commercial activities such as striking a deal with global streaming service Netflix.

“So Far Apart,” the Daily Mail newspaper said on its front page about the lack of any obvious interaction between Harry and elder brother William at Friday’s thanksgiving service.
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The death toll from a German train derailment near a Bavarian Alpine resort climbed to five on Saturday as another body was recovered from the wreckage, police said.  

Investigators were combing the overturned carriages for victims and clues as to the cause of Friday’s accident near Garmisch-Partenkirchen, a region gearing up to host the G-7 summit in late June.  

“At the moment we do not believe there were further victims, but I cannot yet say for sure,” regional deputy police chief Frank Hellwig told reporters.  

He said four of the dead were women, with another 44 people injured, some of them children.  

The accident occurred just after midday on Friday as school holidays were starting in the two southern German regions Baden-Wuerttemberg and Bavaria.  

Police said the regional train was “very crowded” with about 140 people on board as a new  9 euro ($10) monthly public transport ticket valid across Germany also boosted demand.  

Federal transport minister Volker Wissing visited the site of the accident Saturday, saying he was “very moved” to see the “dramatic” extent of the damage.  

“We will continue to investigate and get to the bottom of what happened,” he told reporters.  

The head of the German rail company Deutsche Bahn, Richard Lutz, also at the scene of the crash, said he was “saddened” by the deaths and pledged a thorough probe.  

The train had just left the popular mountain resort Garmisch-Partenkirchen for the Bavarian state capital Munich when the accident took place in the Burgrain district.  

The region has begun preparations to host the G-7 summit of world leaders later this month.  

From June 26-28, the heads of state and government, including U.S. President Joe Biden, are scheduled to meet at Schloss Elmau — 11 kilometers from Garmisch-Partenkirchen.
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NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg has met with Finland’s prime minister and spoken to Turkey’s president as he seeks to overcome Turkish resistance to Finland and Sweden joining the alliance.

Stoltenberg, who visited Washington this week, tweeted late Friday that he met with Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin while there and discussed “the need to address Turkey’s concerns and move forward” with the Finnish and Swedish membership applications.

Russia’s war in Ukraine pushed the Nordic countries to apply to join NATO, but Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan accuses Sweden and Finland of supporting Kurdish militants deemed by Turkey to be terrorists.

Stoltenberg said he had a “constructive phone call” with Erdogan, calling Turkey a “valued ally” and praising Turkish efforts to broker a deal to ensure the safe transportation of grain supplies from Ukraine amid global food shortages caused by Russia’s invasion. Stoltenberg tweeted that he and Erdogan would continue their dialogue, without elaborating.

Erdogan’s office released a statement in which it said the president had emphasized that Sweden and Finland should “make it clear that they have stopped supporting terrorism,” have lifted defense export restrictions on Turkey and are “ready to show alliance solidarity.”

The Nordic states, among other countries, imposed limitations on arms sales in the wake of Turkey’s 2019 military incursion into northern Syria.

The NATO chief’s diplomatic efforts came before a gathering of senior officials from Sweden, Finland and Turkey next week in Brussels, where NATO is based, to discuss Turkey’s opposition to the applications. 
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North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has sent a message of congratulations to Queen Elizabeth, the reclusive state’s foreign ministry said, as Britain celebrates her Platinum Jubilee.

Friday marked the second of four days of pomp, parties and parades to celebrate the 96-year-old monarch’s record-breaking 70 years on the throne.

“I extend my congratulations to you and your people on the occasion of the National Day of your country, the official birthday of Your Majesty,” Kim said in a message dated June 2.

Britain and North Korea established diplomatic relations in 2000.

North Korea is one of the few countries that the queen, who is also head of state of 14 other nations including Australia, Canada and New Zealand, has never visited during her long reign.

She has however paid a state visit to South Korea.
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For full coverage of the crisis in Ukraine, visit Flashpoint Ukraine.

The latest developments in the conflict between Russia and Ukraine. All times EDT.

1:04 a.m.: The New York Times, citing a report by the United Nations Development Program, says that Ukraine has removed 127,393 explosive devices, mostly in urban areas.

12:02 a.m.: Volunteers have carried out the largest evacuation from Ukraine’s Kharkiv region to date. Around 1,500 people were evacuated from the occupied territory in just one day on May 30 after five volunteer organizations came together and organized a humanitarian corridor to safety. Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty has the story.
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Fighting raged in two key eastern Ukrainian cities on the 100th day of Russia’s war, with both Moscow and Kyiv claiming progress on the battlefront. 

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Friday that Russian troops had succeeded in their main stated task of “protecting civilians” in the separatist-controlled areas in eastern Ukraine. 

He added that Russian forces had “liberated” parts of Ukraine and that “this work will continue until all the goals of the special military operation are achieved.”

Russian forces have been trying to encircle the cities of Sievierodonetsk and Lysychansk in Ukraine’s eastern Luhansk province. 

The Ukrainian head of the Luhansk region, Serhiy Gaidai, told national television Friday that Ukraine had recaptured a large piece of territory in Sievierodonetsk. He said Ukrainian troops had retaken about 20% of the ground they previously lost to the Russians.

Gaidai said that Russian troops were making advances only with heavy artillery, and that once Ukraine had enough Western long-range weapons, it would be able to force the Russians to retreat.  

The United States and Britain pledged this week to send Ukraine advanced missile systems. Ukraine’s Defense Ministry said Friday that soldiers had already begun training in Europe to operate the weapons. 

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a video address Friday: “We have defended Ukraine for 100 days already,” adding, “Victory will be ours.” 

The U.N. crisis coordinator for Ukraine issued a statement Friday to mark the 100th day of the war.  

“This war has taken an unacceptable toll on people and engulfed virtually all aspects of civilian life,” Assistant Secretary-General Amin Awad said. “This war has and will have no winner. Rather, we have witnessed for 100 days what is lost: lives, homes, jobs and prospects. We have witnessed destruction and devastation across cities, towns and villages. Schools, hospitals and shelters have not been spared.”  

Awad added, “The war must end now.”

On Thursday, Zelenskyy said Russian forces occupied about 20% of Ukrainian territory. He said there had been “some progress” in the battle for Sievierodonetsk but did not give specifics. 

Britain’s Defense Ministry said Russia had taken control of most of the city. It said Ukrainian forces controlled the main road into Sievierodonetsk, with Russia making “steady local gains, enabled by a heavy concentration of artillery.”  

The ministry also said Russia controlled more than 90% of the Luhansk region. 

In neighboring Donetsk province, regional governor Pavlo Kyrylenko told Reuters that Russian troops were just 15 kilometers outside the city of Sloviansk. 

Earlier this week, U.S. President Joe Biden said the United States was providing Ukraine with a $700 million package of “more advanced rocket systems and munitions” to help fight off Russia’s invasion, now in its fourth month. White House officials said Ukraine had vowed not to fire those rockets into Russian territory.    

 “This new package will arm them with new capabilities and advanced weaponry, including HIMARS with battlefield munitions, to defend their territory from Russian advances,” Biden said in a statement, using the acronym for the High Mobility Artillery Rocket System. “We will continue to lead the world in providing historic assistance to support Ukraine’s fight for freedom.”  

Some information in this report came from The Associated Press and Reuters.
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Two Reuters journalists were injured and a driver was killed on Friday after the vehicle they were in came under fire while heading to the eastern Ukrainian city of Sievierodonetsk, the latest battle line in Russia’s assault on its neighbor.

Photographer Alexander Ermochenko and cameraman Pavel Klimov were traveling in a car provided by Russia-backed forces on the Russian-held part of the road between Sievierodonetsk and the town of Rubizhne, 10 kilometers (6 miles) to the north.

Reuters could not immediately establish the identity of the driver, who had been assigned to Reuters by the separatists for the reporting trip. The Ukrainian Defense Ministry did not respond to a telephone call seeking comment on the incident.

Ermochenko and Klimov were taken to a hospital in Rubizhne where they received initial treatment, Ermochenko for a small shrapnel wound and Klimov for an arm fracture.

“Reuters extends its deepest sympathies to the family of the driver for their loss,” a Reuters spokesperson said in a statement.

In recent weeks, Russia has poured its forces into the battle for Sievierodonetsk, a small factory city in the east, which Russia must capture to achieve its stated aim of holding all of Luhansk province.

Both sides have been taking punishing losses there in a street-by-street battle that could set the trajectory for a long war of attrition. Moscow describes its presence as a “special military operation” to disarm and “denazify” Ukraine.
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For some Afghans who were evacuated as their country fell to the Taliban last summer, the journey to the United States has stalled, and perhaps ended, at a sun-baked cluster of tents and temporary housing on an American base in the Balkans. 

While more than 78,000 Afghans have arrived in the U.S. for resettlement since August, the future for those who have been flagged for additional security vetting and diverted to Camp Bondsteel, in the small nation of Kosovo, remains up in the air. The U.S. won’t force the dozens there to return to Afghanistan, where they could face reprisals. 

Their frustration is growing. Some Afghans at the base, which has been shrouded in secrecy, took the unusual step this week of staging a protest, holding up signs with messages such as “we want justice,” according to photos sent to The Associated Press. 

“They just keep repeating the same things, that it takes time and we must be patient,” one of the Afghans, Muhammad Arif Sarwari, said in a text message from the base. 

Their complaints open a window into an aspect of the evacuation and resettlement of Afghans that has gotten little attention because U.S. authorities, and the government of Kosovo, have been reluctant to say much about the people sent to Bondsteel. 

The base houses a mix of adults and children, because some of the people who have so far failed to get a visa to the U.S. are traveling with family. Sarwari, a former senior intelligence official with the Afghan government, said there are about 45 people there, representing about 20 or so individual visa cases, after a flight to the U.S. left with 27 of the refugees on Wednesday. 

The Biden administration won’t provide details but acknowledges that some of the evacuees did not make it through what it calls a “a multi-layered, rigorous screening and vetting process” and won’t be permitted to enter the U.S. 

“While the vast majority of Afghan evacuees have been cleared through this process, the small number of individuals who have been denied are examples of the system working exactly as it should,” said Sean Savett, a spokesperson for the National Security Council. 

In all, about 600 Afghans have passed through Bondsteel, according to the government of Kosovo, which initially authorized use of the base for evacuees for a year but recently agreed to extend that until August 2023. 

Kosovo, which gained independence from Serbia in 2008 with U.S. support, has also provided little information about the Afghans at Bondsteel, citing the privacy of the refugees. Prime Minister Albin Kurti said in a statement that the government is proud of its role providing temporary shelter to them. 

Afghans are housed in a section of Bondsteel called Camp Liya, named for an Afghan child handed to the U.S. Marines over a fence at the Hamid Karzai International Airport during the evacuation, according to a U.S. military publication. 

It was the chaotic nature of that evacuation that led to the need for an overseas facility in the first place. As the Afghan government collapsed, thousands of people made it onto military transport planes with minimal screening before they arrived at one of several overseas transit points. 

The people sent to Bondsteel were stopped and diverted for a host of reasons, including missing or flawed documents or security concerns that emerged during overseas vetting by the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security, officials have said. 

At the same time, some in Congress have criticized the administration for what they say has been inadequate vetting of Afghan refugees. 

Sarwari made it to Kuwait from Afghanistan in early September with his wife and two of his daughters and says he doesn’t know why he’s been held up. He was a prominent figure in Afghanistan, serving as the former director of intelligence after the U.S. invasion in 2001. Before that, he was a top official with the anti-Taliban Northern Alliance. 

Both positions would make him a target of the Taliban if he were to return. 

“The vetting team keeps telling us sorry, Washington is just deciding some political issues,” he said. 

Sarwari has applied for a special immigrant visa, which is issued to people who worked for the U.S. government or its allies during the war. He has not received a response, according to his lawyer, Julie Sirrs. 

“In theory, he is free to leave, but it’s not clear where he could go,” Sirrs said. “He obviously cannot return to Afghanistan. He’s clearly in danger if he returns.” 

He and others live a circumscribed existence on Bondsteel. Although technically not detained, they cannot leave the arid, rocky base and have spent months in tents, which were adorned with handwritten signs during this week’s protest. One said, “unfair decision,” while another said, “children are suffering.” 

The Biden administration says authorities have determined that some — it won’t say how many — simply cannot be allowed to enter the U.S. It is working to find other countries that don’t harbor the same security concerns and are willing to accept them for resettlement. No one will be forcibly returned to Afghanistan, the NSC spokesperson said. 

 
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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said “victory will be ours” Friday as the conflict with Russia entered its 100th day.

Zelenskyy appeared in a video filmed outside the presidential palace in Kyiv, flanked by the same officials who appeared in a similar video on the day of the invasion, February 24.

“Our team is much bigger. The Armed Forces of Ukraine are here. The most important — the people, the people of our state are here. Defending Ukraine for 100 days already. Victory will be ours,” he said.

European leaders also voiced solidarity with Ukraine. “100 days ago Russia unleashed its unjustifiable war on Ukraine. The bravery of Ukrainians commands our respect and our admiration. The EU stands with Ukraine,” EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen wrote on Twitter.

Invasion

Russia began building up troops along the border in the fall of 2021 but repeatedly denied it planned to attack its neighbor. Then, on February 24, Russian President Vladimir Putin gave a televised address announcing what he called a “special military operation” in Ukraine.

“We will strive to de-militarize and de-Nazify Ukraine and will bring to justice those who committed multiple bloody crimes against civilians, including Russian citizens,” Putin said.

That night, explosions echoed across Kyiv. Russian tanks and armored vehicles began crossing the border. A sovereign European nation had been invaded, triggering the continent’s worst conflict since 1945.

U.S. President Joe Biden said it was a pre-meditated attack. “The Russian military has begun a brutal assault on the people of Ukraine, without provocation, without justification, without necessity,” Biden said.

Russian failures

A 64-kilometer-long Russian armored column approached Kyiv from the north. But tactical mistakes saw the Russian advance on Kyiv stall as Ukraine’s armed forces put up fierce resistance, aided by Western weapons, including anti-tank missiles and drones.

By April, Russian forces were in retreat from the capital. They left behind scenes of horror. In towns like Bucha, advancing Ukrainian forces uncovered mass civilian graves and widespread evidence of torture and mass rape by Russian soldiers. Moscow claimed the evidence was fabricated.

War crimes

Visiting the site of the mass graves in Bucha, Ukrainian President Zelenskyy said the world must take action. “These are war crimes and they will be recognized by the world as genocide,” he said.

The atrocities prompted NATO and Western countries to beef up their deployments in eastern Europe and increase weapons supplies to Ukraine. “We agreed that we must further strengthen and sustain our support to Ukraine so that Ukraine prevails in the face of Russia’s invasion,” NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said April 7.

The United States has so far pledged $53 billion in military, economic and humanitarian aid.

Finland and Sweden – which for decades have remained neutral – applied to join NATO in the face of Russia’s aggression.

Refugee exodus

Meanwhile, the war prompted a huge exodus of Ukrainian refugees, with some six million fleeing to neighboring countries so far, and a further eight million internally displaced within Ukraine.

Russia is weaponizing refugees, says Afzal Ashraf, a professor of international affairs at Britain’s Loughborough University. “The shelling of civilian areas and driving out large amounts of civilian populations may well be part of the Russian plan, because that serves them well. It puts pressure, long term economic and political pressure, on Western governments,” Ashraf told AFP.

Western sanctions have tightened the economic noose on Russia, causing its currency to plummet. The U.S. banned imports of Russian energy. Europe – which is far more reliant on such imports – agreed to phase out Russian coal by the end of 2022 and ban most oil imports. However, European countries have so far failed to agree on a gas embargo and continue to pay hundreds of millions of dollars to Russia every day.

Eastern offensive

Facing mounting military losses, the Kremlin had redirected its forces to the eastern Donbas region by early May and began a new offensive to take the regions of Luhansk and Donetsk, which had been partly controlled by pro-Russian rebels since Moscow’s forceful annexation of Crimea in 2013.

The strategic port of Mariupol was all but destroyed. It fell to Russian forces in late May, after the last 2,000 Ukrainian soldiers sheltering in the giant Azovstal steelworks surrendered. Tens of thousands of civilians were killed in the city under indiscriminate Russian shelling and missile strikes.

Fighting continues to rage in the east and south of Ukraine. The governor of the Luhansk region said Friday that Russia now controls around 70 percent of the eastern city of Sievierodonetsk. Russian forces have been making steady gains across Donbas in recent days.

New weapons

The U.S. is to begin sending long-range GPS-guided artillery systems to Ukraine, something Kyiv has long demanded, says Bradley Bowman of the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies in Washington.

“If you combine Ukrainian bravery and skill and a willingness to defend their homes against this unprovoked invasion with Western support, which frankly we’re going to have to be able to provide for the long haul, then I think over the long run this will be a grand strategic disaster for Putin. But in the short term, let’s be clear, the picture is mixed,” Bowman told VOA.
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The top African Union official met Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday to discuss the war in Ukraine and its effects on Africa. A cutoff in grain exports has heightened food insecurity in many African countries, leaving millions of Africans hungry.

Senegalese President Macky Sall met with Russian President Vladimir Putin in the Russian city of Sochi Friday to discuss the war in Ukraine and the effect it’s having on Africa’s 1.3 billion people.

Before the war, the continent annually imported about 30 million tons of wheat and maize from Russia and Ukraine. The war has greatly reduced the exports and sparked a global increase in food and fuel prices.

At Friday’s meeting, Sall, the current African Union chairperson, urged Putin to be aware that African countries are “victims” of the Ukraine conflict, according to the French news agency.  He said food supplies should be “outside” of Western sanctions imposed on Moscow over Ukraine.

Speaking to journalists in Nairobi, Africa Development Bank President Akinwumi Adesina, said the rise in oil prices caused by the war is also hurting Africa’s economy.

“You look at the energy prices today, energy prices have gone up to the roof of course which benefits all the exporting countries but you, for example, Kenya, you spend a lot of money importing fuel,” Adesina said. “So fuel made importing countries suffer as a result of that which has a tendency to slow down economic growth.”

Adesina also lamented the Russian blockade of ships in the Black Sea, which is holding back millions of tons of Ukrainian grain meant for other countries, including some in Africa.

The Africa Development Bank recently authorized a $1.5 billion program to ensure that Africa grows enough food to feed its citizens.  The bank group said the money would benefit 20 million African farmers.

Adesina said the bank is determined to make Africa less reliant on outside countries for its food supply.

“Africa will not have a food crisis,” he said “We will support Africa to produce its food and we will use this opportunity. We must not lose, and wait for a crisis, to get Africa to be a solution to global food issues. Africa has 65 percent of all arable land left in the world. So what Africa does with agriculture will determine the future of food in the world. We must take agriculture as a business.”  

 In the meantime, some countries are facing severe problems feeding their populations. 

Chad, a landlocked African country, declared a food emergency Thursday and authorities called other countries for help.

Last month, the United Nations said the number of food-insecure people in the world has doubled from 135 million to 276 million in two years.  The crisis is blamed on climate change, the global pandemic and the current war in Ukraine.

As African leaders meet the Russian president, the head of the African Development Bank is calling for an end to the war that has claimed the lives of tens of thousands and negatively impacted millions of people around the world.
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Russia’s Foreign Ministry said it was summoning the heads of U.S. media outlets in Moscow to a meeting this Monday to notify them of tough measures in response to U.S. restrictions against Russian media.

“If the work of the Russian media – operators and journalists – is not normalized in the United States, the most stringent measures will inevitably follow,” ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said Friday.

“To this end, on Monday, June 6, the heads of the Moscow offices of all American media will be invited to the press center of the Russian Foreign Ministry to explain to them the consequences of their government’s hostile line in the media sphere,” she added. “We look forward to it.”

Russia has accused Western countries of imposing unfair restrictions on its media abroad, including bans on some state-backed news outlets. Lawmakers passed a bill last month giving prosecutors powers to shut foreign media bureaus in Moscow if a Western country has been “unfriendly” to Russian media.

Since invading Ukraine in February, Russia has cracked down on media coverage of the conflict, introducing 15-year prison sentences for journalists spreading intentionally “fake” news about what it calls its “special military operation” in Ukraine.

The law prompted some Western media to pull their journalists out of Russia. Other Western organizations, including Reuters, have stayed in the country and continue to report.

Russia says it is engaged in a “special military operation” to disarm and “denazify” its neighbor. Ukraine and allies call this a baseless pretext for a war that has killed thousands, flattened cities, and forced more than 6 million people to flee abroad.
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Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Friday Russian troops have succeeded in their main stated task of “protecting civilians” in the separatist-controlled areas in eastern Ukraine.  

He added that Russian forces have “liberated” parts of Ukraine and “this work will continue until all the goals of the special military operation are achieved.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Thursday that Russian forces occupy about 20% of Ukrainian territory. Friday marks the 100th day of fighting which continues on several fronts.

“Just imagine! Constant fighting, which stretched along the front line for more than a thousand kilometers,” Zelenskyy told the Luxembourg parliament in a virtual speech Thursday. He said the Ukrainian area controlled by Moscow’s forces is comparable to the entirety of the Netherlands.

Zelenskyy did not say how much territory Russia has captured since the start of its invasion, Feb. 24. Moscow seized Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula in 2014 and Russia-backed separatists had also captured parts of the eastern Donbas region, where fighting is the most intense now, prior to the invasion.

Ukraine said Thursday its forces have recaptured 20 small towns and villages in the Kherson region in the southern part of the country. Meanwhile, Russian forces continued their assault on Sievierodonetsk, the last major city nominally held by Ukraine in the Luhansk region in the eastern part of the country.

Luhansk Governor Serhiy Haidai said Russia controlled about 70% of the city as fierce street battles took place.

Britain’s Defense Ministry said Russia has taken control of most of the city. The ministry said Ukrainian forces control the main road into Sievierodonetsk, with Russia making “steady local gains, enabled by a heavy concentration of artillery.”

A Ukrainian official said Kyiv’s forces were hoping to recapture territory lost earlier in the war in southern Ukraine in part to tie up some Russian forces more focused on fighting in the Donbas region.

The Ukrainian leader’s assessment of the war came a day after U.S. President Joe Biden said the United States is providing Ukraine with a $700 million package of “more advanced rocket systems and munitions” to help fight off Russia’s invasion, now in its fourth month. White House officials say Ukraine has vowed not to fire those rockets into Russian territory.

“This new package will arm them with new capabilities and advanced weaponry, including HIMARS with battlefield munitions, to defend their territory from Russian advances,” Biden said in a statement. “We will continue to lead the world in providing historic assistance to support Ukraine’s fight for freedom.” Biden used the acronym for the High Mobility Artillery Rocket System.

Zelenskyy said in his daily address that the HIMARS package is one item in a list of “three important pieces of news” for Ukraine.

The two other items are the European Union’s moves “towards the implementation of the sixth sanctions package” against Russia, which Zelenskyy said is “primarily about oil,” and also the fact that “more and more embassies” are resuming “their full-fledged activities in Kyiv.”

“The world is giving up Russian oil,” Zelenskyy said. “Moreover, other countries, which produce much better and lighter oil, are preparing to replace Russian supplies. Therefore, huge revenues are lost for the aggressor state in this sphere.” He said, Russia “has to get used to the fact that a very painful reduction in income is an inevitable consequence of the war.”

The return of embassy activity to Ukraine’s capital, Zelenskyy said is “a testament to the faith in our victory.”
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For full coverage of the crisis in Ukraine, visit Flashpoint Ukraine.

The latest developments in the conflict between Russia and Ukraine. All times EDT.

1:05 a.m.: The Associated Press reports that the U.S. says it’ll hold Russia accountable for crimes its forces have committed since the invasion of Ukraine began.

U.S. Undersecretary of State Uzra Zeya addressed the U.N. Security Council and said the U.S. and its allies support a broad range of international investigations into alleged atrocities in Ukraine.

12:02 a.m.: Al Jazeera reports that a man in Kharkiv, Ukraine, has been indicted for allegedly supporting the Russian invasion. A prosecutor says the man produced and distributed materials justifying the invasion. If convicted, he could get five years in prison.
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Britain celebrates the second day of Queen Elizabeth’s Platinum Jubilee on Friday, with the highlight a service of thanksgiving attended by senior royals and politicians that the 96-year-old monarch herself will miss due to ongoing mobility issues.

The four days of events kicked off Thursday, when a happy-looking Elizabeth waved to crowds from the balcony of Buckingham Palace after a military parade and Royal Air Force flyover, and later led the lighting of the Principal Platinum Jubilee Beacon at her Windsor Castle home.

The celebrations continue with a National Service of Thanksgiving at London’s St. Paul’s Cathedral to pay tribute to the sovereign’s 70 years on the throne.

But the queen, who has been forced to cancel a series of engagements recently because of “episodic mobility problems,” will be absent, pulling out late Thursday and slightly taking the sheen off the day’s party atmosphere.

“The queen greatly enjoyed today’s birthday parade and flypast but did experience some discomfort,” Buckingham Palace said in a statement.

Officials said the journey from Windsor Castle, where she spends most of her time, to London and the activity involved for the service were too much and that a regrettable but sensible decision had been taken.

A palace source said it had always been the queen’s hope that she would attend rather than a firm commitment.

She will not be the only absentee. Her second son, Prince Andrew, 62, has tested positive for COVID-19 and will also miss the service, a Buckingham Palace spokesperson said Thursday.

That will potentially spare the royals some awkwardness, with Andrew’s reputation shattered after he settled a U.S. lawsuit in February in which he had been accused of sexually abusing a woman when she was underage, claims he denied.

Grandson Prince Harry and his wife, Meghan, who have made almost no public appearances in Britain since stepping down from royal duties two years ago, are expected to attend.

The couple moved to the United States to lead a more independent life and have since delivered some stinging attacks on Buckingham Palace and the royal family.

The service will include Bible readings, prayers and hymns to express gratitude for Elizabeth’s reign. Political figures from Britain and across the world will be in attendance, and Prime Minister Boris Johnson will give a reading.

David Ison, the Dean of St. Paul’s, will say, “We come together in this cathedral church today to offer to God our thanks and praise for the reign of her majesty the queen and especially for her seventy years of faithful and dedicated service.”

The cathedral’s “Great Paul” bell — the largest in the country and dating to 1882 — will also be rung for the first time at a royal occasion since being restored last year after a mechanism broke in the 1970s.

After the service, a reception will be held at the Guildhall hosted by the Lord Mayor of the City of London.

Thursday marked not only the start of the Jubilee, but also the 69th anniversary of the coronation of Elizabeth, who became queen upon the death of her father, George VI, in February 1952.

She has now been on the throne for longer than any of her predecessors in 1,000 years and is the third-longest reigning monarch ever of a sovereign state. Opinion polls show she remains hugely popular and respected among British people.

“She is a very special person in our lives and always has been,” said 74-year-old retired teacher Sandra Wallace, one of the tens of thousands who thronged central London on Thursday. 
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More than three months into Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the U.S. Justice Department is girding for more Russian cyberattacks, the department’s top national security official said Thursday.

“At DOJ, we’re particularly focused right now on the cyberthreat from Russia,” said Matthew Olsen, head of the Justice Department’s National Security Division. “And we are bracing for the possibility of more attacks.”

Olsen made the remarks at a conference of the NATO Cooperative Cyber Defense Centre of Excellence. The Tallinn, Estonia-based organization this week approved Ukraine’s bid to join as a “contributing participant.”

Olsen’s comments echoed repeated warnings by the Biden administration throughout the Ukraine conflict that Russia is likely to carry out cyberattacks against the United States in response to punishing Western sanctions on Moscow.

In March, the FBI and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency warned about “possible threats to U.S. and international satellite communication networks.”

The warning came after a purported Russian cyberattack on U.S.-based telecommunications provider Viasat on February 24, the day Russia invaded Ukraine.

The attack left tens of thousands of Viasat’s Ukrainian customers without satellite service.

The attack, Olsen said, was “one of numerous recent examples” of Russian malicious cyberactivity.

SolarWinds attack

In a massive cyberattack in late 2020, Russian hackers exploited software developed by U.S.-based SolarWinds Corporation to compromise the computer networks of multiple U.S. government agencies and private companies.

In response, the Biden administration last year expelled 10 Russian diplomats and imposed sanctions on several Russian individuals and entities.

Olsen said the Justice Department is working with other law enforcement agencies and private companies to respond to cyberthreats.

“We are determined to hold accountable those who target and attempt to destroy the computer systems that support our critical infrastructure,” Olsen said.

In March, the Justice Department announced criminal charges against four Russian government employees in connection with two hacking campaigns that targeted the global energy sector between 2012 and 2018.

In addition to prosecuting hackers, the Justice Department has “taken more proactive steps to disrupt nation-state cyberthreats before a significant attack or intrusion can occur,” Olsen said.

He cited a 2021 court-authorized operation by the Justice Department to disrupt a Chinese hacking group’s exploitation of vulnerabilities in the Microsoft Exchange Server.

Olsen did not say whether the U.S. has taken any proactive steps against Russian cyber actors during the Ukraine conflict. But General Paul Nakasone, head of U.S. Cyber Command and the National Security Agency, told Sky News on Wednesday that the U.S. had conducted offensive cyber operations in support of Ukraine during the three-month-old war.
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Hidden from much of the world behind a veil of Kremlin censorship, Russian critics of President Vladimir Putin are waging a vigorous campaign of resistance to the war in Ukraine, according to a prominent opposition spokesman.

“The war in Ukraine is being fought on three different fronts,” said Leonid Volkov, a top aide to jailed Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny, Volkov was in Washington in May to pick up the International Republican Institute’s 2022 Freedom Award on Navalny’s behalf.

Identifying those three fronts as military, informational and economic, he acknowledged that Russian civil society can’t do much to help Ukraine on the military front.

But, he said, Navalny’s supporters are actively fighting to resist Putin on the information front “where we fight to change the attitude of the Russian society,” and they are contributing to the West’s economic sanctions by identifying Putin supporters and their assets.

Volkov told the IRI audience that Navalny and his team have put together a list of what he described as “6,000 of Putin’s warmongers and war enablers – his oligarchs, corrupt government officials, his friends and family.”

“We suggest sanctioning all of them, make Putin toxic, isolated,” Volkov said. “I’m glad to say that during my meetings here, this idea has found a lot of support.”

On the information front, Volkov said, Navalny is leading an effort to counter a Russian propaganda campaign that depicts the war as a “special military operation” and outlaws truthful reporting, even while serving a dubious jail term that was extended by nine years in March.

Navalny “maintains contact with the outside world through his attorneys” and by maintaining an active presence on social media platforms, Volkov said. As a result, the Anti-Corruption Foundation that he established in 2011 has been able to survive enormous repression and is now stronger than it ever was, according to Volkov.

“Just to give you an example, in April this year, we had over 20 million unique views of our program on YouTube where we investigate Putin’s corruption, countering Putin’s propaganda and disinformation and tell our Russian compatriots truth about Putin’s atrocious war against Ukraine,” Volkov said. “Twenty million, this is twice the number of followers we had on social media before the war started.”

Russian-language TV shows produced by Navalny’s foundation have also had tens — and in some instances hundreds — of millions of views on the foundation’s YouTube channel. The foundation is now conducting a GoFundMe campaign in hopes of expanding its reach.

Navalny has also been able to make his case against the war in an article penned for Time magazine and published late last month. In it, he portrayed the war against Ukraine as an extension of oppression within Russia itself.

“If someone destroys the independent media, organizes political assassinations, and sticks to his imperial delusions, then he is a madman capable of causing a bloodbath in the center of Europe in the 21st century,” Navalny wrote.

“A path that begins with ‘just a little election rigging’ always ends with a dictatorship. And dictatorship always leads to war. It’s a lesson we shouldn’t have forgotten.”

In the same essay, Navalny castigated world leaders, who he said, “have hypocritically talked for years about a ‘pragmatic approach’ and the benefits of international trade” with Russia. In so doing, he wrote, “they enabled themselves to benefit from Russian oil and gas while Putin’s grip on power grew stronger.”

The economic gains of those policies have been dwarfed by the costs of defending Ukraine against Russia’s aggression, Navalny continued. “Between sanctions and military and economic aid, this war will cost hundreds of times more than those lucrative oil and gas contracts, the signing of which used to be celebrated with champagne.”

Navalny’s stand has won him praise in the West, where he was honored this week by the European People’s Party, the largest voting bloc within the 27-member European Union.

“His fight for freedom of speech and freedom in Russia is [also] our fight,” the party declared at its annual conference in Rotterdam, where banners declared “We Stand with Freedom” and “We Stand with Ukraine.”

At the IRI event in Washington, Congressman Mike McCaul, the most senior Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, compared Navalny to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, whose staunch resistance to Russia has won him worldwide admiration.

By the same token, “the belligerent actions of Putin’s kleptocratic regime are a threat to freedom and democracy everywhere,” including Russia itself, IRI President Dan Twining told VOA.

To “live and let live” is how he sees the future state of Russia both on Russian soil and in its relations with Ukraine and other neighbors, Navalny said, while delivering his “final words” after a Russian court rejected his appeal of a nine-year sentence last week.

Navalny, a 45-year-old father of a 21-year-old daughter and a 14-year-old son, looked to his own future while addressing the court.

“Certainly, I don’t want to sit in this cage instead of doing some useful things and watching my children grow up. But man is not given life to be afraid of the crazy old man in a bunker and this system he has built.”
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The U.S. government said Thursday that it was trying to shut down sanction evasion measures used by Russia’s elites, including President Vladimir Putin, “to attempt to hide and move money and anonymously make use of luxury assets around the globe.”

The targets include a yacht brokerage, aircraft, Russian officials and others close to Putin.

Targeted yachts include the Russia-flagged Graceful and the Cayman Islands-flagged Olympia, as well as two other yachts, the Shellest and the Nega, both owned by Russian companies.

The White House said the new sanctions were imposed “to crack down on evasion and tighten our sanctions to enhance enforcement and increase pressure on Putin and his enablers.”

In a statement announcing the sanctions, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said, “The United States will continue to support the people of Ukraine while promoting accountability for President Putin and those enabling Russian aggression.”

The U.S. government said Putin had “taken numerous trips” on the now-sanctioned yachts as recently as last year.

“Russia’s elites, up to and including President Putin, rely on complex support networks to hide, move and maintain their wealth and luxury assets,” said Brian Nelson, undersecretary of the Treasury for terrorism and financial intelligence.

“Today’s action demonstrates that Treasury can and will go after those responsible for shielding and maintaining these ill-gotten interests,” he said. “We will continue to enforce our sanctions and expose the corrupt systems by which President Putin and his elites enrich themselves.”
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Matthew Parker is a U.S. army veteran who served in Iraq alongside a Ukrainian American soldier. When Parker heard Russia invaded Ukraine, he decided he wanted to help Ukrainians defend their homeland. He is among thousands of Americans that Ukraine says have joined its new international legion to help protect the country. VOA’s Myroslava Gongadze caught up with Parker when he arrived in Warsaw, Poland. Camera – Bogdan Osyka.
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The Greek government and shipping industry on Thursday called for a global mobilization to free the crews of two oil tankers held by Iran in an ongoing dispute with Athens.

“We call on all nations to act in order to end this unacceptable incident, and to ensure it does not happen again,” Merchant Marine Minister Ioannis Plakiotakis told reporters.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards on Friday seized the two Greek-flagged tankers in the Gulf, days after Athens said it would deliver to Washington Iranian oil it had seized from a Russian tanker in April.

Plakiotakis said last week’s incident posed a “threat” to shipping safety and trade and has “cast a shadow” over Greece’s top shipping fair Posidonia, which opens Monday with over 1,900 companies from nearly 90 nations participating.

Speaking at the Posidonia inaugural press conference on Thursday, Union of Greek Shipowners president Melina Travlos said some of the sailors held by Iran were youths on their first shipping assignment.

“The global shipping community must mobilize, nations, everyone. This situation needs to end,” she said.

Greece’s coastguard on Thursday said both ships are moored at the Iranian port of Bandar.

The coastguard has identified nine Greeks and a Cypriot on board, but has given no information about other crew nationalities.

Iran has said the crews of two tankers were in “good health” and not under arrest.

The Revolutionary Guards — the ideological arm of Iran’s military — had said it seized the tankers “due to violations”, without elaborating further.

Greece has condemned Tehran’s detention of the two ships as “tantamount to acts of piracy” and warned its citizens not to travel to Iran.

The German and French foreign ministries, in separate statements, condemned the seizure as a violation of international law, and called on Iran to immediately release the ships and their crews.

The United States has also strongly condemned Iran’s seizure of the two tankers, and demanded their immediate release.

Iran has called the statements “one-sided” and “inappropriate interference.”

Tehran noted that France and Germany “are protesting against the legal measures taken in Iran” while “remaining silent” on Greece’s own seizure of the tanker, which it said was Iranian.
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Four days of celebrations honoring Queen Elizabeth II’s 70 years on the throne get underway with a display of British military traditions stretching from the days of horse and cannon to the jet age, The Associated Press reports.
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