Kyiv, Ukraine — A massive Russian attack that set apartments alight and knocked out heating to thousands in Ukraine’s southern port city Odesa killed one person and wounded 10 others, authorities said Friday.

The Thursday night strikes on the Black Sea city damaged residential buildings, the heating system, churches and educational institutions, according to Odesa Mayor Gennadiy Trukhanov, who said it had been “a massive combined enemy strike.”

Trukhanov said early Friday that a 35-year-old woman sleeping near a window at the time of the attack had died.

The State Emergency Service of Ukraine confirmed one death and said another 10 people were wounded, including two children.

Fires broke out in several places but were quickly extinguished, while the main heating pipeline was damaged, leaving tens of thousands in the cold as nightly temperatures plunge to freezing.

“More than 40,000 people (as well as) medical and social institutions are without heating,” Trukhanov wrote on Telegram. “Generators and heaters are working in medical institutions.”

The mayor’s office said hot drinks and blankets were being distributed while the pipeline was repaired.

After fleeing during the air raid siren, Odesa resident Oleksandra said she saw pictures of her damaged home.

“When everything happened, we were hiding in a shelter. We saw that this was our house in the photos from the local channels,” she told public broadcaster Suspilne Odesa.

Russia has recently stepped-up aerial attacks on southern Ukraine, damaging civilian vessels and port facilities in the Odesa region, while Kyiv has intensified its attacks on Russian military and energy targets.

Early Friday morning, Ukraine’s air force reported six Tu-95 bombers — which are capable of carrying cruise missiles — heading southeast from a base in Russia.

Moscow’s Ministry of Defense meanwhile announced it had intercepted 51 Ukrainian drones overnight, thwarting an attack that had targeted coastal regions, including over Crimea and the Sea of Azov.

Ukraine is bracing for its toughest winter of war yet, with Moscow having destroyed swathes of its generating capacity and continuing to strike energy sites.

In previous winters, millions of Ukrainians endured regular blackouts and lost heating in sub-zero conditions.

Ukrainian forces are losing ground in the east and concerns are mounting in Kyiv over the future of foreign military aid after the victory of Donald Trump in the United States presidential election.

Kyiv has for months been appealing to its Western allies to provide more air-defense systems to fend off Russian attacks on cities and critical infrastructure.
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U.S. President Joe Biden will meet with leaders of South Korea and Japan Friday to come up with a “coordinated” response to the deployment of thousands of North Korean troops to help Moscow’s war against Ukraine and on Pyongyang’s nuclear threat more broadly, on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Forum in Lima, Peru.

Pyongyang’s troop deployment is a “significant development,” White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters aboard Air Force One en route to Lima, Wednesday.

“We are going to treat it with the seriousness with which it deserves to be treated,” he said.

Sullivan said the trilateral summit will allow leaders to prepare for any potential “provocative” move from Pyongyang, including nuclear testing and ballistic missile launches, as the U.S. prepares for a change of administration when Donald Trump takes office in January.

“Transitions have historically been time periods when the DPRK has taken provocative actions,” Sullivan said, using the abbreviation for North Korea’s formal name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

The United States has an “extended deterrence” policy that aims to prevent adversaries from attacking allies, including South Korea and Japan. The policy states Washington will come to their aid if they are attacked, potentially including use of American nuclear capabilities.

No specific announcement on extended deterrence will be announced at a trilateral level in Lima, Sullivan said. However, the trilateral meeting will be an opportunity to “ensure that each of these two bilateral dialogues are working to reinforce one another, and that there aren’t gaps and seams between them.”

The leaders are set to announce establishment of a trilateral secretariat as part of their efforts to “institutionalize” three-way cooperation that began as a series of leaders’ dialogues on economic security, intelligence sharing, and defense policy coordination. The trilateral leaders’ dialogues began in May 2023 on the sidelines of the G7 summit in Hiroshima, Japan, and then at Camp David in August that year.

The trilateral effort is one of Biden’s signature regional security initiatives to push Seoul and Tokyo to overcome years of animosity and work together to deter common adversaries, North Korea and China.

The leaders are also set to bolster trilateral exercises, Sullivan said.

“We’ve made progress on technology protection, on supply chain diversification, on missile warning and the sharing of data with respect to miswarning in all of those areas,” he said. “We expect to take further steps tomorrow.”

U.S., Japanese and South Korean militaries Thursday launched joint exercises in waters south of the Korean peninsula and west of Japan, the final drills under the Biden administration.

During his first term Trump advocated for friendlier ties with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and pressured Tokyo and Seoul to take on a larger share of U.S. defense burden-sharing.

A day before Trump’s reelection, the U.S. and South Korea a finalized a new agreement for Seoul to pay $1.19 billion in 2026 to support U.S. troops, an 8.3% increase from the previous year. 
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ROME — The ancient Roman Colosseum will be the venue of gladiator fights — albeit staged — for the first time in two millennia under a $1.5 million sponsorship deal with Airbnb that aims to promote “a more conscious tourism.”

But some visitors to the monument Thursday, as well as housing activists, were skeptical about the value of the arrangement, citing ongoing controversies in many cities over the role of short-term rental platforms in fueling overtourism and limiting affordable housing for residents and students.

Under the deal announced by Airbnb and the Colosseum on Wednesday, the sponsorship by the short-term rental giant will cover the renewal of an educational program inside the ancient Roman amphitheater covering the history of the structure and gladiators.

Eight of the platform’s users and their plus-ones will be able to participate in faux gladiator fights after the Colosseum’s closing time on May 7-8, taking the same underground route used by gladiators in ancient Rome to reach the arena. People can apply for the experience on November 27 at no cost, and the “gladiators” will be chosen by lottery.

The superintendent of the Colosseum Archaeological Park, Alfonsina Russo, told The Associated Press that the deal is in conjunction with the release of Ridley Scott’s new film “Gladiators II,” which opened in Italy on Thursday.

Russo characterized the sponsorship arrangement as one of the many such deals to help finance projects at the park.

The Italian fashion brand Tod’s, for example, has funded a multimillion renovation of the Roman monument, including a cleaning, replacing the locking system of arches with new gates and redoing the subterranean areas.

Alberto Campailla, the coordinator of the Nonna Roma nonprofit organization that focuses on housing and food for the poor, called the campaign with Airbnb “a disgrace,” and a form of “touristification.”

Airbnb and other platforms offering short-term rentals “are literally driving people out of not only the city center, but also the outskirts and suburban neighborhoods,” Campailla said.

Tourists from other European cities grappling with overtourism also took issue with the deal.

“It seems to me that the purpose of the Colosseum today is to be a tourist attraction, but not to create an amusement park within it,” said Jaime Montero, a tourist visiting from Madrid. “In the end, tourism eats the essence of the cities, here in Rome, as in other capitals.”

Visiting from Naples, Salvatore Di Matteo saw the deal as “yet another takeover of the territory” by big companies.

“If they start to touch sacred monuments such as the Colosseum here in Rome, it is obviously something that should make us think and is, in any case, a bit worrying,” he said.

The Colosseum is the most important and largest amphitheater constructed by the ancient Romans. Built in the 1st century, it was the center of popular entertainment, hosting hunts and gladiator games, until the 6th century. 
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US President-elect Donald Trump is turning to an old ally to lead the CIA and an outsider some see as a potential disruptor to oversee American intelligence agencies when his second term begins in January. VOA National Security Correspondent Jeff Seldin has more.
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washington — Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was among the first foreign leaders to congratulate U.S. President-elect Donald Trump on his early November election victory.

President Joe Biden has not hosted Erdogan at the White House though the two have met on sidelines of international summits and spoken by phone.

Speaking to journalists accompanying his return from visits to Saudi Arabia and Azerbaijan, Erdogan expressed his hope for improved U.S. ties, adding, however, that in-person meetings would be needed to achieve that end, and that Ankara needs to wait to see what kind of a Cabinet Trump forms.

The two leaders had a close personal relationship during Trump’s first term in office. However, bilateral relations have also been marked by tough times during that administration. With Trump’s January return to the White House, analysts told VOA that although there may be opportunities for more cooperation in some areas, they don’t expect major changes.

James Jeffrey, who served as the U.S. ambassador to Turkey from 2008 to 2010, sees Ukraine as one area with potential for cooperation.

Referring to Trump’s promise to end the war in Ukraine, Jeffrey says Turkey could play a role in negotiating a cease-fire, making both sides “well-aligned for a productive relationship.”

Alan Makovsky, a senior fellow for national security and international policy at the Center for American Progress, also believes Trump’s priority to end the war in Ukraine creates a significant opportunity for Erdogan.

A NATO ally, Turkey has adopted a careful balancing act amid the war in Ukraine, supplying armed drones to Ukraine while maintaining ties with Russia in energy and tourism.

Erdogan, who has maintained good relations with both Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Russian President Vladimir Putin, has long said neither side is gaining from the war and offered to host and mediate negotiations.

Disagreement over Syria

Disagreements between Turkey and the United States during Trump’s first term included Ankara’s frustration with U.S. support for Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) led by Kurdish militia — People’s Protection Units, known as YPG in northern Syria.

After a phone call with Erdogan on October 6, 2019, Trump unexpectedly announced that the U.S. would withdraw from Syria. Many U.S. military officials, all of whom were caught off guard by the announcement, did not support the idea.

Tension between the allies worsened after Trump on October 9 sent a letter to Erdogan, warning him against a military incursion into Syria.

Following Trump’s withdrawal announcement, Turkey launched a military operation in northern Syria targeting the YPG on October 9.

A cease-fire agreement was reached during then-Vice President Mike Pence’s visit to Ankara on October 17.

Now, some in Ankara expect the U.S. may reconsider its presence in northern Syria during Trump’s second term.

Jeffrey, a U.S. envoy for Syria from 2018 to 2020, suggests Trump’s administration may reassess this issue.

“Each time people were able to convince [Trump on Syria, it] was that the troops were serving a set of important purposes. This is one of the most low-cost, high-return military deployments. We are keeping the Islamic State under control. Secondly, we are holding vital terrain, blocking Iranian, Assad and Russian ambitions,” he told VOA.

Washington has long said its SDF partnership is necessary for the enduring defeat of ISIS and countering Iran.

Ankara considers YPG a Syrian offshoot of PKK, which U.S. officials have also designated as a terrorist organization.

Trump nominated Marco Rubio, a Republican senator from Florida, for secretary of state. Rubio was one of the strongest opponents of a U.S.-pullout from Syria at the time.

He labeled the decision as “a catastrophic mistake that will have dire consequences far beyond Syria,” urging Trump to reconsider it.

“We’ll have to see how that works out and how Marco Rubio’s views may have changed to accord more with Trump’s or vice versa,” Makovksy said. “But anyone who thought that Trump’s election meant that the U.S. would soon be withdrawing from Syria would certainly have to rethink that view in light of the Rubio appointment. I think that makes it unlikely that we will withdraw from Syria.”

Trump’s nominees for Cabinet positions will require Senate approval before they assume office.

F-35 program

One complicating factor in U.S.-Turkey relations during Trump’s first term was Turkey’s purchase of the S-400 missile defense system from Russia, which prompted Washington to remove Ankara from an F-35 joint strike fighter program.

“The F-35 cannot coexist with a Russian intelligence collection platform that will be used to learn about its advanced capabilities,” said a White House statement when the system was delivered in July 2019, explaining the U.S. decision to remove Turkey from the project.

The Trump administration in December 2020 sanctioned Turkey under the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA).

Turkey, which has since requested removal of CAATSA sanctions, has returned to talks with U.S. officials about a possible return to the F-35 program.

Analysts say that while there is a likelihood that CAATSA sanctions might be lifted during Trump’s second term, any solution to the S-400 issue that is not permanent would not be technically acceptable to the U.S. military.

Describing the F-35s as the U.S. military’s largest project since World War II, Jeffrey said, “A permanent solution is that they [the S-400s] go away, they’re sold to somebody else. I would like to have a solution, but technically, I don’t think there is one.’’

Makovsky called Turkey’s return to the F-35 program unlikely in the near term.

“If they completely get rid of the S-400s, really give up possession as the law requires, there could be a reasonable chance for F-35,” he told VOA. “But it will be up to the so-called Four Corners – the chairman and senior members of the House Foreign Affairs Committee and the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.”

This story originated in VOA’s Turkish Service.
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Italy’s flagship policy of holding migrants in detention centers in Albania for processing has hit a legal roadblock – as judges in Rome referred the case to the European Union’s Court of Justice, which could take months or years to make a ruling. Henry Ridgwell reports.
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MADISON, Wisconsin — Enbridge’s contentious plan to reroute an aging pipeline around a northern Wisconsin tribal reservation moved closer to reality Thursday after the company won its first permits from state regulators.

Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources officials announced they have issued construction permits for the Line 5 reroute around the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa’s reservation. The energy company still needs discharge permits from the DNR and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

The project has generated fierce opposition. The tribe wants the pipeline off its land, but tribal members and environmentalists maintain rerouting construction will damage the region’s watershed and perpetuate the use of fossil fuels.

Permits issued with conditions

The DNR issued the construction permits with more than 200 conditions attached. The company must complete the project by November 14, 2027, hire DNR-approved environmental monitors and allow DNR employees to access the site during reasonable hours.

The company also must notify the agency within 24 hours of any permit violations or hazardous material spills affecting wetlands or waterways; can’t discharge any drilling mud into wetlands, waterways or sensitive areas; keep spill response equipment at workspace entry and exit points; and monitor for the introduction and spread in invasive plant species.

Enbridge officials issued a statement praising the approval, calling it a “major step” toward construction that will keep reliable energy flowing to Wisconsin and the Great Lakes region.

Bad River tribal officials warned in their own statement Thursday that the project calls for blasting, drilling and digging trenches that would devastate area wetlands and streams and endanger the tribe’s wild rice beds. The tribe noted that investigations identified water quality violations and three aquifer breaches related to the Line 3 pipeline’s construction in northern Minnesota.

“I’m angry that the DNR has signed off on a half-baked plan that spells disaster for our homeland and our way of life,” Bad River Chairman Robert Blanchard said in the statement. “We will continue sounding the alarm to prevent yet another Enbridge pipeline from endangering our watershed.”

Tribe sues in 2019

Line 5 transports up to 23 million gallons (about 87 million liters) of oil and natural gas daily from Superior, Wisconsin, through Michigan to Sarnia, Ontario. About 19 kilometers (12 miles) of the pipeline run across the Bad River reservation.

The tribe sued Enbridge in 2019 to force the company to remove the pipeline from the reservation, arguing that the 71-year-old line is prone to a catastrophic spill and that land easements allowing Enbridge to operate on the reservation expired in 2013.

Enbridge has proposed a 66-kilometer (41-mile) reroute around the reservation’s southern border.

The company has only about two years to complete the project. U.S. District Judge William Conley last year ordered Enbridge to shut down the portion of pipeline crossing the reservation within three years and pay the tribe more than $5 million for trespassing. An Enbridge appeal is pending in a federal appellate court in Chicago.

Michigan’s Democratic attorney general, Dana Nessel, filed a lawsuit in 2019 seeking to shut down twin portions of Line 5 that run beneath the Straits of Mackinac, the narrow waterways that connect Lake Michigan and Lake Huron. Nessel argued that anchor strikes could rupture the line, resulting in a devastating spill. That lawsuit is still pending in a federal appellate court.

Michigan regulators in December approved the company’s $500 million plan to encase the portion of the pipeline beneath the straits in a tunnel to mitigate risk. The plan is awaiting approval from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
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Taipei, Taiwan  — China is ramping up efforts to smooth ties with the European Union in the wake of the U.S. elections, with a top Chinese official and state media maintaining that improved ties are in the interest of both Brussels and Beijing. 

As countries worldwide try to anticipate what President-elect Donald Trump’s victory might mean for U.S. foreign policy, analysts say the push by Beijing appears aimed at driving a wedge between the EU and the United States.     

“Beijing is trying to exploit current uncertainty regarding the future of transatlantic relations to ensure that the EU distances itself from Washington’s increasingly confrontational approach toward China, but it will be difficult [for Beijing] to accomplish [the task,]” said Alicja Bachulska, an expert on Chinese foreign policy at the European Council on Foreign Relations.    

“Europe is becoming increasingly aware of the negative impact of China’s foreign and industrial policy on the single market and the security of NATO’s Eastern flank,” she told VOA in a written response.    

On November 9, the deputy head of European affairs at the Chinese Foreign Ministry, Cao Lei, said that because Trump’s victory could be “the turning point of our times,” the EU and China should repair divisions and improve bilateral relations.    

“No one wants to return to the law of the jungle, no one wants to go back to the era of confrontation and the Cold War, and no one wants to return to unilateral hegemony. This is the backdrop that China-EU relations are facing,” he said at the launch of the China Think-Tank Network on Europe at Beijing Foreign Studies University. 

Tension rises

Some Chinese analysts say the two should restore trust because Europe is more important for China than the United States.  

“With Trump returning to the White House, an enhanced China-Europe cooperation will be beneficial for both sides to address [challenges] at the onset of a new era of uncertainties in the world,” Feng Zhongping, the head of European studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, a Chinese government-affiliated think tank, said at the same event.  

Meanwhile, Chinese state media outlets are urging the EU to adopt a “pragmatic approach” to cooperating with China after the bloc decided to increase tariffs on electric vehicles imported from China to as much as 45.3% in October.  

“A hardline economic and trade policy stance toward China will only further restrict the EU’s maneuvering space in economic cooperation, which will, in turn, exacerbate the EU’s economic difficulties,” China’s state-run tabloid Global Times wrote in an opinion piece on Wednesday. 

Those remarks come amid rising trade tension between China and the EU. In response to the bloc’s tariffs against Chinese EVs, China announced Monday that it will start imposing temporary anti-dumping measures against imported European brandies on November 15.

While the EU and China both claim to have made some progress in the ongoing negotiation to address the EV tariffs last week, Bloomberg reported on Monday that the bloc sees little prospect of a quick deal.

Experts say while China hopes to stabilize trade relations with the EU as it prepares for potential tariffs that Trump has vowed to impose on Chinese products once he takes office, Brussels is unlikely to halt its efforts to rebalance trade relations with China.  

“What Beijing could potentially expect is to see its divide-and-conquer approach slow down the EU’s efforts to implement relevant economic defensive instruments,” Zsuzsa Anna Ferenczy, an expert on EU-China relations at National Dong Hwa University in Taiwan, told VOA by phone.    

Some European leaders also are becoming more critical of China’s close partnership with Russia. Kaja Kallas, the incoming foreign policy chief for the EU, said Beijing should pay “a higher price” for supporting Russia in the war against Ukraine.

“Without China’s support to Russia, Russia would not be able to continue its war with the same force. China needs to also feel a higher cost,” Kallas said during a hearing at the European Parliament on Tuesday.  

Bachulska said Kallas’ comments reflect the growing realization across Europe that “China is a strategic enabler of Russia,” but the sense of urgency is not evenly distributed across EU member states.  

“Some actors are convinced that Beijing should not be further ‘antagonized’ and that China’s geographic distance from Europe makes it less of a threat,” she told VOA, adding that Beijing will try to exploit this narrative.  

Other experts add that with the security threat posed by Russia, European countries will likely put more effort into maintaining their close alliance with the U.S. rather than trying to adjust the bloc’s foreign policy approach toward China.    

“The common denominator is that in the European Commission, security issues now seem to take the driving seat so it’s hard to imagine Europe not putting a lot of effort into maintaining the transatlantic alliance, and it will be surprising if the EU takes a united front to prioritize relations with China,” Sari Arho Havren, an associate fellow at the Royal United Services Institute, told VOA by phone.  

Common ground possible, some say

While European analysts say the effect of China’s attempt to weaken the trans-Atlantic relationship may be limited, some Chinese experts say if Trump imposes high tariffs against products from China and European countries, Beijing and Brussels may find more common ground.  

“I think Trump would impose tariffs against both China and the EU, so this may provide both sides an opportunity to reconcile the bilateral relationship,” Zhou Bo, a senior fellow at the Center for International Security and Strategy at Tsinghua University in China, told VOA by phone. 
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Various human rights groups accuse Russia of committing crimes that amount to crimes against humanity in Africa. Several reports also have exposed Russia’s illegal export of gold worth more than $2.5 billion from Africa to sponsor its war in Ukraine.
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Donald Trump may not be moving into the White House until January, but he is laying the groundwork and making domestic policy plans for the next four years. VOA’s Senior Washington Correspondent Carolyn Presutti has our story. VOA footage by Henry Hernandez.
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MOSCOW — A Russian man went on trial Thursday on charges of high treason for a video he allegedly sent to Ukraine’s security services, the latest in a growing series of espionage cases involving the conflict.

The Volgograd District Court began hearing a new case against Nikita Zhuravel, who is currently serving a 3½-year sentence for burning a Quran in front of a mosque.

The new charges are based on allegations that Zhuravel filmed a trainload of military equipment and warplanes in 2023 and sent the video to a representative of Ukraine’s security agency. He could be sentenced to life in prison if convicted.

Rights activists say Zhuravel is a political prisoner who was beaten while in custody.

While in pretrial custody before his first sentence, Zhuravel was beaten by the 15-year-old son of Ramzan Kadyrov, the Kremlin-appointed strongman leader of the mostly Muslim region of Chechnya. The elder Kadyrov posted the video on social media and praised his son, causing public outrage. He later awarded his son with the medal of “Hero of the Republic of Chechnya.”

Federal authorities have refrained from any criticism of the Chechen strongman.

Separately, a military court on Thursday sentenced to 24 years in prison a man convicted of treason and terrorism for setting fire to a military recruitment office in Moscow. Prosecutors said Sergei Andreev committed the November 2023 attack on instructions from the Ukrainian special services that he received on a messaging app.

Treason and espionage cases have skyrocketed after President Vladimir Putin sent troops into Ukraine in February 2022. The cases have targeted a wide range of suspects, from Kremlin critics and independent journalists to scientists, drawing attention from rights groups.

The legal definition of treason has been expanded to include providing vaguely defined “assistance” to foreign countries or organizations, effectively exposing to prosecution anyone in contact with foreigners.
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On the first day of 2025, Ukraine’s contract with Russian state-owned Gazprom will expire, shutting down a major Russian natural gas pathway to Europe.

Although the Kremlin says it is ready to continue the transit deal, urging Europeans to persuade Ukraine to extend the contract, Kyiv has said it won’t budge.

Russian natural gas supplies were a cornerstone of European energy security before Moscow’s February 2022 invasion, when it temporarily cut off 80 billion cubic meters of gas supplies to the continent in response to sanctions and a payment dispute.

The cut-off dealt a major blow to Europe’s economy that remains palpable in 2024, according to an International Monetary Fund analysis.

Since 2021, however, Europe has secured alternative suppliers for natural gas, with Russian imports via Ukraine dropping from 11% to 5%, according to Rystad Energy, an Oslo-based energy analysis firm.

Observers say some EU countries have taken the issue more seriously than others. Germany and the Czech Republic, for example, have invested heavily in liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminals in record time, said Olga Khakova, deputy director for European energy security at the Washington-based Atlantic Council.

“A lot of landlocked countries, like Czech Republic, have gone out of their way to look at alternative supplies and invested in alternative options,” she told VOA.

Others, like Hungary, have doubled down on their reliance on Russia, while Slovakia and Austria have increased Russian imports.

Those countries, said Khakova, “will have to live with this decision,” explaining that they’ll need to secure alternative routes. Turkey, for example, offers the only other operational pipeline for Europe-bound Russian energy.

Although some European nations would prefer to maintain Russian gas deliveries via Ukraine, it’s “a difficult sell for the EU,” said Christoph Halser, Rystad’s gas and LNG analyst. He expressed confidence in Europe’s political will and supply chain logistics to forfeit dependence on Ukraine’s pipelines for Russian gas.

Other analysts argue that the EU should do more to send a clear signal to companies that cheap Russian gas will no longer be available. With enforceable goals from the EU for phasing out Russian pipeline gas, companies will invest in competing projects to supply reliable European customers, Khakova said.

LNG to compensate?

Although Russia’s pipeline exports to Europe have decreased, Moscow has compensated for some of the shortfall with LNG deliveries via sea, road and rail, seeing the overall share of European LNG imports increase from 15% to 19%.

Rystad’s Halser, however, calls further expansion unlikely, given Western sanctions against Russia.

“To further increase, and to compensate for the set of pipelines, is not possible with current infrastructure,” he told VOA. “New unsanctioned projects on the Russian side would be necessary.”

Growing LNG deliveries from the United States could replace Russian gas, which European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said she brought up with U.S. President-elect Donald Trump during a phone call late last week.

“LNG is one of the topics that we touched upon — I would not say discussed,” she told reporters in Budapest, according to Agence France-Presse. “We still get a whole lot of LNG via Russia, from Russia. … Why not replace it with American LNG, which is cheaper and brings down our energy prices.”

Will Ukraine’s pipeline be empty?

Ending the transit of Russian gas to Europe poses some difficult questions for Ukraine. With the contract’s termination imminent, Khakova and other analysts say Russia feels emboldened to attack Ukraine’s natural gas system, adding to Ukraine’s concerns this winter over how to protect the country’s energy infrastructure.

Some observers say Ukraine may not find another commercial use for its dormant infrastructure. Bloomberg reported late last month that European buyers were in talks with Azerbaijan on a deal that would, through a swap arrangement, effectively deliver Azeri-branded gas to Europe though the Russia-Ukraine pipeline network.

Subsequent reports, however, indicate that no deal has been reached, and Oleksiy Chernyshov, head of state-owned Naftogaz — Ukraine’s largest oil and gas company — told reporters last week that there is no alternative to halting the delivery of Russian gas via Ukrainian pipelines.

Any arrangement short of completely halting the transit of gas across Ukraine would send a negative signal to Europe, said Aura Sabadus of the London-based Independent Commodity Intelligence Services.

“If Ukraine allows for this gas to flow from 2025 onwards, even if it’s sold under a different label — let’s say Azeri gas — other countries might come around and say, ‘well, if Ukraine is doing it, why can’t we do it?’” she told VOA.

Sabadus said industrial consumers in Germany, for example, could then increase pressure to resume gas flows via the Nord Stream network of offshore natural gas pipelines beneath the Baltic Sea, which stretch from Russia to Germany and were the target of apparently deliberate underwater explosions in September 2022.

But Rystad’s Halser finds it unlikely that a short-term transitional deal to keep the natural gas flowing across Ukraine would prompt demands to reopen Nord Stream.

“There is no political consensus in Germany for taking Russian gas in the near future,” he said, adding that an agreement with a third party to deliver gas across Ukraine might benefit all sides involved and bolster commercial interest in Ukraine’s pipeline system.
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Brussels — The European Commission on Thursday fined Meta Platforms $840.24 million over abusive practices benefiting Facebook Marketplace, it said in a statement, confirming an earlier report by Reuters.

“The European Commission has fined Meta … for breaching EU antitrust rules by tying its online classified ads service Facebook Marketplace to its personal social network Facebook and by imposing unfair trading conditions on other online classified ads service providers,” the European Commission said.

Meta said it will appeal the decision, but in the meantime, it will comply and will work quickly and constructively to launch a solution which addresses the points raised.

The move by the European Commission comes two years after it accused the U.S. tech giant of giving its classified ads service Facebook Marketplace an unfair advantage by bundling the two services together.

The European Union opened formal proceedings into possible anticompetitive conduct of Facebook in June, 2021, and in December, 2022, raised concerns that Meta ties its dominant social network Facebook to its online classified ad services.

Facebook launched Marketplace in 2016 and expanded into several European countries a year later.

The EU decision argues that Meta imposes Facebook Marketplace on people who use Facebook in an illegal “tie” but Meta said that argument ignores the fact that Facebook users can choose whether to engage with Marketplace, and many do not.

Meta said the Commission claimed that Marketplace had the potential to hinder the growth of large incumbent online marketplaces in the EU but could not find any evidence of harm to competitors.

Companies risk fines of as much as 10% of their global turnover for EU antitrust violations.
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Before the U.S. presidential election, President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump opposed a Japanese company’s planned $14 billion purchase of U.S. Steel, a once-iconic pillar of America’s industrial age. With the election over, there are indications that the deal may go through. VOA Chief National Correspondent Steve Herman went to Braddock, Pennsylvania, to gauge local sentiment to the acquisition. Videographer: Adam Greenbaum
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The satirical news publication The Onion won the bidding for Alex Jones’ Infowars at a bankruptcy auction, backed by families of Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting victims whom Jones owes more than $1 billion in defamation judgments for calling the massacre a hoax, the families announced Thursday. 

“The dissolution of Alex Jones’ assets and the death of Infowars is the justice we have long awaited and fought for,” Robbie Parker, whose daughter Emilie was killed in the 2012 shooting in Connecticut, said in a statement provided by his lawyers. 

The sale price was not immediately disclosed. 

Jones confirmed The Onion’s acquisition of Infowars in a social media video Thursday and said he planned to file legal challenges to stop it. An email message seeking comment was sent to Infowars. 

It was not immediately clear what The Onion planned to do with the conspiracy theory platform, including its website, social media accounts, studio in Austin, Texas, trademarks and video archive. The Chicago-based Onion did not immediately return emails seeking comment Thursday. 

Sealed bids for the private auction were opened Wednesday. Both supporters and detractors of Jones had expressed interest in buying Infowars. The other bidders have not been disclosed. 

The Onion, a satirical site that manages to persuade people to believe the absurd, bills itself as “the world’s leading news publication, offering highly acclaimed, universally revered coverage of breaking national, international, and local news events” and says it has 4.3 trillion daily readers. 

Jones has been saying on his show that if his detractors bought Infowars, he would move his daily broadcasts and product sales to a new studio, websites and social media accounts that he has already set up. He also said that if his supporters won the bidding, he could stay on the Infowars platforms. 

Relatives of many of the 20 children and six educators killed in the shooting Jones and his company for defamation and emotional distress for repeatedly saying on his show that the shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, was a hoax staged by crisis actors to spur more gun control. Parents and children of many of the victims testified that they were traumatized by Jones’ conspiracies and threats by his followers. 

The lawsuits were filed in Connecticut and Texas. Lawyers for the families in the Connecticut lawsuit said they worked with The Onion to try to acquire Infowars. 
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The European Parliament on Thursday approved a one-year delay on implementing the bloc’s landmark anti-deforestation rules, while also voting to loosen some requirements of the controversial law. 

The move triggered an outcry from environmental groups, which had hailed the law as an unprecedented breakthrough in the fight to protect nature and combat climate change. 

Parliament was called to sign off on a delay requested by the European Commission following pressure from trading partners such as Brazil and the United States, and some member states including Germany. 

But lawmakers on the right used the vote to bring new amendments, passed with support from right-wing and far-right groups.  

This de facto restarted the legislative process, as the new text should now be re-discussed by the commission and member states — creating further uncertainty over its implementation.  

The legislation would prohibit a vast range of goods — from coffee to cocoa, soy, timber, palm oil, cattle, printing paper and rubber — if produced using land that was deforested after December 2020. 

Exporting countries considered high-risk would have at least nine percent of products sent to the EU subjected to checks, with the proportion falling for lower-risk ones. 

Among the amendments introduced Thursday was the creation of a “no risk” category that would see products from some countries — such as Germany — face virtually no scrutiny. 

Julia Christian, a campaigner at environmental group Fern, said it was the equivalent of giving “EU forested countries a free pass.” 

“The message to the rest of the world is unmistakable: you must stop destroying your forests, but the EU won’t end the widespread degradation afflicting its forests,” she said. 
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Russia’s military reported capturing a village in east Ukraine on Thursday, with forces closing in on the town of Kurakhove.

The Russian Defense Ministry said the army captured the village of Voznesenka in the Donetsk region.

The town had a population of about 20,000 before the war began in 2022, Agence France-Presse reported.

Russia also reported damaging Ukrainian airfields and energy facilities and shooting down 78 drones, according to state news agency RIA.

Ukraine’s military said it shot down 21 of 59 Russian drones launched in an overnight attack.

The fighting followed a massive aerial attack on Kyiv and other locations in Ukraine early Wednesday, involving ballistic and cruise missiles and dozens of drones.

Ukraine’s air force said its units shot down four missiles and 37 drones launched by Russia over eight regions.

“It is important that our forces have the means to defend the country from Russian terror,” President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said after attack.

In his Wednesday address, Zelenskyy praised the country’s “air defense warriors.”

“Every night, every day, they shoot down Russian ‘Shahed’ drones and missiles,” he said. “This morning, they intercepted Russian ballistics. This is significant. Every such success means saving the lives of our people.”

Ukraine has been appealing to allies to supply more air defense systems to protect against Russian attacks, and Zelenskyy said the country was grateful “to all our partners who help us with anti-missiles and air defense systems.”

“The strategic goal is to reach a practical level of cooperation with our partners that will enable us to produce the air defense systems and anti-missiles we need here in Ukraine,” he said.

He added Ukraine needs to “finally push Russia towards making a fair peace.”  
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Seoul, South Korea — Following U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s electoral victory, world leaders have scrambled to secure calls and send delegations to strengthen ties with his team.

South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol is taking a different approach: golf practice.

South Korean presidential officials confirmed to VOA that Yoon recently took up golf for the first time in eight years, specifically to prepare for diplomacy with Trump, who is known for bonding with world leaders over the sport.

It’s part of a broader response to the return of Trump, whose unpredictable “America First” approach poses unique economic and security challenges to South Korea.

The task may be especially difficult for Yoon, a conservative who leaned hard into a values-based alliance with the United States under President Joe Biden, pressing North Korea on human rights and projecting military strength.

Now, Yoon must contend with Trump, a famously transactional leader who has advocated for friendlier ties with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and dismissed U.S.-South Korea military drills as costly “war games.”

Trump has also consistently questioned the value of the seven-decade alliance, even hinting at a U.S. troop withdrawal if South Korea does not pay more.

Economic concerns add to South Korea’s unease, as officials worry Trump’s talk of imposing tariffs, and a renewed U.S.-China trade war could destabilize its export-driven economy.

Trump’s win has prompted soul-searching in South Korea, with many left-leaning commentators lamenting what they see as an over-reliance on an increasingly unreliable ally.

“Trump’s reelection heralds a tectonic shift in the U.S.-led international order, which South Korea has been largely dependent on for the past 70 years,” read a recent opinion piece in the prominent Hankyoreh newspaper.

It warned that the Yoon administration, after having “placed all its eggs in the South Korea-U.S. alliance basket,” will now “witness the devastating consequences of such blind belief.”

Many conservative South Korean commentators also expressed concerns about the future of alliance, even while noting that Trump presents unique opportunities.

An editorial in the Chosun Ilbo, South Korea’s largest newspaper, said if Trump demands an excessive increase in defense cost-sharing, South Korea “could negotiate for independent nuclear armament in return.”

Cost-sharing woes

Defense burden-sharing could become the first major alliance test once Trump returns – just as it was throughout his first term.

Just one day before Trump’s reelection, the United States and South Korea finalized a new agreement for Seoul to pay $1.19 billion in 2026 to support U.S. troops – an 8.3% increase from the previous year.

The six-year deal was widely seen as an attempt to “Trump-proof” the alliance. However, some analysts worry it may have the opposite effect, possibly prompting Trump to overturn the agreement unilaterally or impose new financial demands.

For example, Trump could require that South Korea cover costs for joint military exercises or the visits of “strategic assets,” such as bombers and aircraft carriers, said Park Won-gon, a professor at Seoul’s Ewha University.

Such exercises and deployments were recently expanded – a key reassurance for South Korea, which relies on the U.S. nuclear umbrella for protection against nuclear-armed North Korea.

If Trump demanded payment for these activities, Park said, it would “inevitably weaken the overall framework of extended deterrence.”

Abandonment concerns

Trump has long been a critic of U.S.-South Korea military exercises, even scaling them back unexpectedly after his first summit with Kim in 2018. Many in South Korea now worry he could pursue renewed diplomacy with Pyongyang that sidelines Seoul’s security interests.

During his first term, Trump reserved his strongest criticism for North Korea’s intercontinental ballistic missile launches, which threaten the U.S. mainland, while downplaying short-range tests that pose a more immediate risk to South Korea.

Analysts also fear that Trump and Kim could resume talks that highlight their warm relations and project diplomatic progress, without advancing denuclearization in any meaningful way.

“In that case, North Korea will be recognized as a de facto nuclear state, which is a development that South Korea will find difficult to accept,” wrote Lee Sang-hyun, a senior research fellow at Seoul’s Sejong Institute, in an analysis of Trump’s reelection.

Louder nuclear calls

These concerns have emboldened voices within South Korea calling for an independent nuclear arsenal – a proposal that has moved into the mainstream under Yoon’s administration.

The latest high-profile figure to embrace the idea is Park Jin, who served as Yoon’s foreign minister until earlier this year. In an interview this week with a South Korean news outlet, Park stated that South Korea must “seriously consider all possible security options, including potentially acquiring nuclear capabilities,” if Trump resumes threats to withdraw U.S. troops.

South Korea’s nuclear armament also has gained traction in U.S. policy circles, particularly with a growing number of former Trump officials. Trump himself even proposed the idea during his first presidential campaign, though not as president.

But significant barriers remain. Such a move would likely provoke a strong reaction from North Korea and China, potentially endangering South Korea’s security during any “breakout” period. Additionally, South Korea could face severe economic sanctions if it decided to go nuclear.

Golf diplomacy

Together, these challenges present a major diplomatic test for Yoon, who hopes that spending time on the golf course with Trump will offer a chance to address them one on one.

Such an approach would emulate that of Japan’s late former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who formed a close bond with Trump and tried to smooth bilateral frictions, in part by playing golf.

It’s a strategy that makes sense, according to Park, the Seoul-based professor, who stressed the importance of personal relationships and proactive engagement when dealing with Trump.

“For Trump, it’s all about who he listens to,” Park said. “He tends to repeat what those close to him feed him, so we need to leverage close relationships to convey our stance.”
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ANKARA, turkey — Turkey was offered partner country status by the BRICS group of nations, Trade Minister Omer Bolat said, as Ankara continues what it calls its efforts to balance its Eastern and Western ties.

Turkey, a NATO member, has in recent months voiced interest in joining the BRICS group of emerging economies, comprising Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, Ethiopia, Iran, Egypt, and the United Arab Emirates.

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan attended a BRICS leaders’ summit hosted by Russian President Vladimir Putin in Kazan last month, after Ankara said it had taken formal steps to become a member of the group.

“As for Turkey’s status regarding (BRICS) membership, they offered Turkey the status of partner membership,” Bolat said in an interview with private broadcaster TVNet on Wednesday.

“This (status) is the transition process in the organizational structure of BRICS,” he said.

Ankara sees the BRICS group as an opportunity to further economic cooperation with member states, rather than an alternative to its Western ties and NATO membership, Erdogan has said.

Turkish officials have repeatedly said potential membership of BRICS would not affect Turkey’s responsibilities to the Western military alliance.

Aside from full membership, BRICS members introduced a “partner country” category in Kazan, according to the declaration issued by BRICS on October 23.

Bolat did not say whether Ankara had accepted the proposal.

An official in Erdogan’s ruling AK Party told Reuters this month that while the proposal had been discussed in Kazan, partner country status would fall short of Turkey’s demands for membership. 
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washington — U.S. President-elect Donald Trump announced on Wednesday he is nominating Republican Senator Marco Rubio, a senior member of both the foreign relations and intelligence committees and former political rival, to be secretary of state. 

“He will be a strong Advocate for our Nation, a true friend to our Allies, and a fearless Warrior who will never back down to our adversaries,” Trump said in a statement. 

Rubio, 53, is known as a China hawk, an outspoken critic of Cuba’s Communist government and a strong backer of Israel. In the past, he has advocated for a more assertive U.S. foreign policy with respect to America’s geopolitical foes, although recently his views have aligned more closely with those of Trump’s “America First” approach to foreign policy. 

In April, Rubio was one of 15 Republican senators to vote against a big military aid package to help Ukraine resist Russia and support other U.S. partners, including Israel. Trump has been critical of Democratic President Joe Biden’s continuing military assistance for Ukraine as it fights Russia’s invasion. 

Rubio has said in recent interviews that Kyiv needs to seek a negotiated settlement with Russia rather than focus on regaining all of the territory that Moscow has taken in the last decade. 

On the Gaza war, Rubio — like Trump — has been staunchly behind Israel, calling Hamas a terrorist organization that must be eliminated and saying America’s role is to resupply Israel with the military materials needed to finish the job. 

Rubio is a top Senate China hawk, and Beijing imposed sanctions on him in 2020 over his stance on Hong Kong’s democracy protests. This could create difficulties for any attempts to maintain the Biden administration’s effort to keep up diplomatic engagement with Beijing to avoid an unintended conflict. 

Among other things, Rubio shepherded an act through Congress that gave Washington a new tool to bar Chinese imports over China’s treatment of Uyghur Muslims and has also pushed a bill that would decertify Hong Kong’s U.S. economic and trade offices. 

Rubio had also become a strong Trump backer, after harshly criticizing him when he ran against the former real estate developer for president in 2016. 

The three-term Republican senator should easily win confirmation in the Senate, where Trump’s Republicans will hold at least a 52-48 majority starting in January. 

Democratic Senator Mark Warner, chairman of the intelligence committee, quickly issued a statement praising the choice of Rubio, the panel’s vice chairman. 

“I have worked with Marco Rubio for more than a decade on the Intelligence Committee, particularly closely in the last couple of years in his role as Vice Chairman, and while we don’t always agree, he is smart, talented, and will be a strong voice for American interests around the globe,” Warner said in a statement. 

Rubio, the son of immigrants from Cuba, will be the first Latino to serve as America’s top diplomat. 
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WASHINGTON — Republicans have won enough seats to control the U.S. House, completing the party’s sweep into power and securing their hold on U.S. government alongside President-elect Donald Trump.

A House Republican victory in Arizona, alongside a win in slow-counting California earlier Wednesday, gave the GOP the 218 House victories that make up the majority. Republicans earlier gained control of the Senate from Democrats.

With hard-fought yet thin majorities, Republican leaders are envisioning a mandate to upend the federal government and swiftly implement Trump’s vision for the country.

The incoming president has promised to carry out the country’s largest-ever deportation operation, extend tax breaks, punish his political enemies, seize control of the federal government’s most powerful tools and reshape the U.S. economy. The GOP election victories ensure that Congress will be onboard for that agenda, and Democrats will be almost powerless to check it.

When Trump was elected president in 2016, Republicans also swept Congress, but he still encountered Republican leaders resistant to his policy ideas, as well as a Supreme Court with a liberal majority. Not this time.

When he returns to the White House, Trump will be working with a Republican Party that has been completely transformed by his “Make America Great Again” movement and a Supreme Court dominated by conservative justices, including three that he appointed.

Trump rallied House Republicans at a Capitol Hill hotel Wednesday morning, marking his first return to Washington since the election.

“I suspect I won’t be running again unless you say, ‘He’s good, we got to figure something else,'” Trump said to the room full of lawmakers who laughed in response.

House Speaker Mike Johnson, who with Trump’s endorsement won the Republican Conference’s nomination to stay on as speaker next year, has talked of taking a “blowtorch” to the federal government and its programs, eyeing ways to overhaul even popular programs championed by Democrats in recent years. The Louisiana Republican, an ardent conservative, has pulled the House Republican Conference closer to Trump during the campaign season as they prepare an “ambitious” 100-day agenda.

“Republicans in the House and Senate have a mandate,” Johnson said earlier this week. “The American people want us to implement and deliver that ‘America First’ agenda.”

Trump’s allies in the House are already signaling they will seek retribution for the legal troubles Trump faced while out of office. The incoming president on Wednesday said he would nominate Rep. Matt Gaetz, a fierce loyalist, for attorney general.

Meanwhile, Rep. Jim Jordan, the chair of the powerful House Judiciary Committee, has said Republican lawmakers are “not taking anything off the table” in their plans to investigate special counsel Jack Smith, even as Smith is winding down two federal investigations into Trump for plotting to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election and hoarding classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate.

Still, with a few races still uncalled the Republicans may hold the majority by just a few seats as the new Congress begins. Trump’s decision to pull from the House for posts in his administration — Reps. Gaetz, Mike Waltz and Elise Stefanik so far — could complicate Johnson’s ability to maintain a majority in the early days of the new Congress.

Gaetz submitted his resignation Wednesday, effective immediately. Johnson said he hoped the seat could be filled by the time the new Congress convenes January 3. Replacements for members of the House require special elections, and the congressional districts held by the three departing members have been held by Republicans for years.

With the thin majority, a highly functioning House is also far from guaranteed. The past two years of Republican House control were defined by infighting as hardline conservative factions sought to gain influence and power by openly defying their party leadership. While Johnson — at times with Trump’s help — largely tamed open rebellions against his leadership, the right wing of the party is ascendant and ambitious on the heels of Trump’s election victory.

The Republican majority also depends on a small group of lawmakers who won tough elections by running as moderates. It remains to be seen whether they will stay onboard for some of the most extreme proposals championed by Trump and his allies.

House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, meanwhile, is trying to keep Democrats relevant to any legislation that passes Congress, an effort that will depend on Democratic leaders unifying over 200 members, even as the party undergoes a postmortem of its election losses.

In the Senate, GOP leaders, fresh off winning a convincing majority, are already working with Trump to confirm his Cabinet picks. Sen. John Thune of South Dakota won an internal election Wednesday to replace Sen. Mitch McConnell, the longest serving party leader in Senate history.

Thune in the past has been critical of Trump but praised the incoming president during his leadership election bid.

“This Republican team is united. We are on one team,” Thune said. “We are excited to reclaim the majority and to get to work with our colleagues in the House to enact President Trump’s agenda.”

The GOP’s Senate majority of 53 seats also ensures that Republicans will have breathing room when it comes to confirming Cabinet posts, or Supreme Court justices if there is a vacancy. Not all those confirmations are guaranteed. Republicans were incredulous Wednesday when the news hit Capitol Hill that Trump would nominate Gaetz as his attorney general. Even close Trump allies in the Senate distanced themselves from supporting Gaetz, who had been facing a House Ethics Committee investigation into allegations of sexual misconduct and illicit drug use.

Still, Trump on Sunday demanded that any Republican leader must allow him to make administration appointments without a vote while the Senate is in recess. Such a move would be a notable shift in power away from the Senate, yet all the leadership contenders quickly agreed to the idea. Democrats could potentially fight such a maneuver.

Meanwhile, Trump’s social media supporters, including Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, clamored against picking a traditional Republican to lead the Senate chamber. Thune worked as a top lieutenant to McConnell, who once called the former president a “despicable human being” in his private notes.

However, McConnell made it clear that on Capitol Hill the days of Republican resistance to Trump are over. 
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Russian exiles plan a march Sunday in Berlin demanding the withdrawal of Russian troops from Ukraine, the prosecution of Russian President Vladimir Putin as a war criminal, and the release of all political prisoners. Ricardo Marquina reports. Narrator: Elizabeth Cherneff.
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Dubai, United Arab Emirates — Iran has made plans to sustain its oil production and exports and is ready for possible oil restrictions from a Trump administration in the U.S., Oil Minister Mohsen Paknejad said on Wednesday, according to the oil ministry’s news website Shana. 

In 2018, then-U.S. President Donald Trump withdrew from a 2015 nuclear pact with Iran and re-imposed sanctions that hurt Iran’s oil sector, with production dropping to 2.1 million barrels per day, or bpd, during his presidency. 

“Required measures have been taken. I will not go into detail but our colleagues within the oil sector have taken measures to deal with the restrictions that will occur and there is no reason to be concerned,” Paknejad said. 

In recent years, Iranian oil production has rebounded to around 3.2 million barrels per day according to the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, of which Iran is a member. 

Iranian oil exports have climbed this year to near multi-year highs of 1.7 million bpd despite U.S. sanctions.  

Chinese refiners buy most of its supply. Beijing says it doesn’t recognize unilateral U.S. sanctions.  
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Ukrainian overnight drone attacks have set several non-residential buildings on fire in Russia’s Kaluga and Bryansk regions, regional governors said on Sunday.

“Emergency services and firefighters are on the site,” Alexander Bogomaz, governor of the Russian border region of Bryansk, wrote on the Telegram messaging app, without providing further detail.

The defense ministry said its air defense units had destroyed 23 Ukrainian drones overnight, including 17 over Bryansk.

Vladislav Shapsha, governor of the Kaluga region, which borders the Moscow region to its northeast, said a non-residential building in the region was on fire as result of Ukraine’s drone attack. Reuters could not independently verify the reports. There was no immediate comment from Ukraine.

Kyiv has often said its drone attacks on Russian territory are aimed at infrastructure key to Moscow’s war efforts and are in response to Russia’s continued attack on Ukraine’s territory.
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