Latest developments:                      

U.S. President Joe Biden hosted Italian Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, Pope Francis' peace envoy, for talks about Vatican efforts to provide humanitarian aid in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine. 





Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said his government is working to "preserve Ukraine's global role as a guarantor of food security, our maritime access to the global market, and jobs for Ukrainians in ports and in the agricultural industry" following Russia's withdrawal from the Black Sea Grain Initiative. 

Ukrainian officials said Wednesday that Russian forces carried out airstrikes on the Odesa region in southern Ukraine for a second consecutive night. 

Oleh Kiper, the regional governor, urged people to stay in shelters and said air defense systems were activated to repel the attacks. 

After the first night of aerial attacks, which hit Odesa and nearby Mykolaiv, Russia said it was acting in retaliation for an attack Monday that damaged a key bridge linking Russia to the Crimean Peninsula. 

Russia has used the bridge as a major supply route supporting its forces in their invasion of Ukraine. 

The Russian defense ministry said in a statement Tuesday it targeted facilities involved in what it called “terrorist acts” carried out by seaborne drones, including a shipyard near Odesa and Ukrainian fuel depots.   

The Odesa region is the site of multiple ports that were part of the Black Sea Grain Initiative brokered by the United Nations and Turkey to facilitate the export of Ukrainian grain to the world market. Russia withdrew from the deal earlier this week. 

Ukrainian counteroffensive 

It’s too early to judge the outcome of the seemingly slow-moving counteroffensive of Ukrainian forces against Russian strongholds in eastern and southern Ukraine, the top U.S. military officer said Tuesday.  

So far, war analysts say Ukraine has retaken about 250 square kilometers of territory since early June, but Russia has maintained control of large expanses of land.  

Still, General Mark Milley, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, told reporters at the Pentagon, “It is far from a failure, in my view. I think it is way too early to make that kind of call.”  

“First of all, the Russians have had several months to put in a very complex defense,” Milley said. “It’s not quite connected, transform[ing] like World War I, but it’s not dissimilar from that either.”  

Milley said Moscow’s forces had built “lots of complex minefields, Dragon’s Teeth [anti-tank obstacles], barbed-wire trenches.”   

Milley said Russian “morale is low, and now recently because of the [Yevgeny] Prighozin mutiny [of Wagner Group troops], command and control is confusing at best. Significant casualties of their officer corps, so the Russian situation is not very good.”  

He said “what the Ukrainians have, though, is a significant amount of combat power not yet committed. And I will not say what’s going to happen in the future, because that’s going to be a Ukrainian decision… Right now, they are preserving their combat power, and they are slowly and deliberately and steadily working their way through all these minefields.”  

‘Going to do what it takes’

The U.S. military leader said the West’s coalition supporting Ukraine’s forces has trained 17 brigade combat teams and more than 63,000 troops, 15,000 of them by the U.S.  

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said, “I’ve asked our [Western allies] to continue to dig deep into the military stocks because we’re going to do what it takes to support Ukraine’s sovereign right to live free today and for the future…. They continue to make progress on a cohesive training plan and to help some very eager Ukrainian pilots learn to fly fourth generation aircraft.”  

Milley added, “The problem is control of the air space. The most effective and efficient and cost-effective way to do that right now in Ukraine is ground-to-air [missiles]. And that’s what they’ve been provided.”  

“The casualties that Ukrainians are suffering in this offensive are not so much from Russian airpower but from minefields,” Milley said. “So, the problem to solve is minefields.”  

Some information came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters. 
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Swathes of Europe baked Tuesday in a heatwave trailed by wildfires and health warnings, as parts of Asia also suffered under extreme weather. 

Firefighters battled blazes in parts of Greece and the Canary Islands, Spain issued heat alerts while some children in Italy’s Sardinia were warned away from sports for safety reasons. 

“You can’t be in the street, it’s horrible,” said Lidia Rodriguez, 27, in Madrid. 

In much of Europe, authorities have warned in recent days of the health dangers of the extreme heat, urging people to drink water and shelter from the sun.  

Several local temperature records were broken in southern France, the weather service said. 

Meteo France said a record 29.5 degrees Celsius (85 Fahrenheit) had been reached in the Alpine ski resort of Alpe d’Huez, which sits at an altitude of 1,860 meters (6,100 feet), while 40.6 C (105 F) had been recorded for the first time in Verdun in the foothills of the Pyrenees. 

In a stark reminder of the effects of global warming, the U.N.’s World Meteorological Agency (WMO) said the trend of heatwaves “shows no signs of decreasing.” 

“These events will continue to grow in intensity, and the world needs to prepare for more intense heatwaves,” John Nairn, a senior extreme heat adviser at the WMO told reporters in Geneva.  

Wildfires and scorching heat 

Northwest of the Greek capital of Athens, columns of smoke loomed over the forest of Dervenohoria, where one of several fires around the capital and beyond was still burning.  

Fire spokesperson Yannis Artopios called it “a difficult day.” Another heatwave was on the horizon for Thursday, with expected temperatures of 44 C (111 Fahrenheit).  

Still burning was a forest fire by the seaside resort of Loutraki, where the mayor said 1,200 children had been evacuated Monday from holiday camps. 

In the Canary Islands, some 400 firefighters battled a blaze that has ravaged 3,500 hectares of forest and forced 4,000 residents to evacuate, with authorities warning residents to wear face masks outside due to poor air quality. 

Temperatures were unforgiving in Italy and in Spain, where three regions were put under hot weather red alerts. 

The Italian islands of Sardinia and Sicily have been on watch to possibly surpass a continentwide record of 48.8 C (119.8 F), recorded in Sicily in August 2021. 

Many throughout Italy sought escape by the sea, including outside Rome, where the midday heat hit 40 C (104 F). 

“Certainly it’s better at the beach, you can at least get a little wind from the sea. It’s not even possible to remain in the city, too hot,” said Virginia Cesario, 30, at the Focene beach near the capital. 

Climate change impact  

The heatwaves across Europe and the globe are “not one single phenomenon but several acting at the same time,” said Robert Vautard, director of France’s Pierre-Simon Laplace climate institute. 

“But they are all strengthened by one factor: climate change.” 

Health authorities in Italy issued red alerts for 20 cities, from Naples in the south to Venice in the north.  

At Lanusei, near Sardinia’s eastern coast, a children’s summer camp was restricting beach visits to the early morning and forbidding sports, teacher Morgana Cucca told AFP. 

In the Sardinian capital of Cagliari, pharmacist Teresa Angioni said patients were complaining of heat-related symptoms. 

“They mainly buy magnesium and potassium supplements and ask us to measure their blood pressure, which is often low,” Angioni said. 

Heat record in China 

In parts of Asia, record temperatures have triggered torrential rain. 

Nearly 260,000 people were evacuated in southern China and Vietnam before a typhoon made landfall late Monday, bringing fierce winds and rain, but weakening to a tropical storm by Tuesday. 

China reported on Monday a new mid-July high of 52.2 C (126 F) in the northwestern Xinjiang region’s village of Sanbao, breaking the previous high of 50.6 C (123 F) set six years ago. 

The record-setting heat came as U.S. climate envoy John Kerry met with Chinese officials in Beijing, as the world’s two largest polluters revive stalled diplomacy on reducing planet-warming emissions. 

Speaking Tuesday at Beijing’s Great Hall of the People with China’s top diplomat Wang Yi, Kerry called for “global leadership” on climate issues. 
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The Russian private military force known as the Wagner Group captured the world’s attention with its open mutiny and march on Moscow, averted at the last minute through a deal brokered by Belarus. As Wagner’s future role remains uncertain, we take a look at their origins, the role they play in conflicts around the world, and their rise to influence as an unofficial arm of the Kremlin. Story by Alex Gendler; narration by Salem Solomon.
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Belarusian authorities have detained a prominent journalist who used to work for outlets including Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty or RFE/RL.

Police on Monday raided the apartment of Ihar Karnei, in the capital Minsk, seized computers and phones and detained the journalist.

Karnei is being held in the Akrestina pretrial detention center and has not had access to lawyers or his family, according to his daughter, Polina.

“Dad was detained for 10 days; he is in Akrestina. The house was searched,” the daughter told RFE/RL.

The Akrestina facility is known for harsh conditions and mistreating detainees, according to Belarusian human rights group Viasna.   

The Belarusian Embassy in Washington declined to comment directly on the case of the jailed journalist and referred VOA to the foreign ministry.

The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists, or CPJ, told VOA it is looking into Karnei’s case and that of several other journalists detained recently.

“As is usually the case, the authorities provide very little to no information on these detentions and the charges. Secrecy also surrounds the trials. This is an intentional approach of the authorities who want to keep their repressions against independent voices under a tight lid,” Gulnoza Said, who is CPJ’s Europe and Central Asia program coordinator, told VOA via email.

Karnei is a well-known journalist who has previously worked for outlets including RFE/RL.

The media outlet, like VOA, is an independent news network under the U.S. Agency for Global Media.

In 2021, Belarusian authorities labeled RFE/RL as an “extremist organization,” along with other independent media and civil rights groups.

Minsk has been clamping down on opposition and critical voices after the August 2020 contested elections and mass protests that followed after President Alexander Lukashenko declared victory.

Dozens of journalists were detained in the lead up and weeks that followed that election, including Karnei.

More than 30 journalists are currently detained, including two contributors for RFE/RL.

Ihar Losik was arrested in 2020 and is serving a 15-year sentence at a hard labor camp. Web editor Andrey Kuznechyk was detained in November 2021 and is serving a six-year sentence.

“This is their sacrifice for freedom of speech,” Volha Khvoin  of the Belarusian Association of Journalists told VOA earlier this year, while discussing the crackdown on critical voices.

Said of CPJ noted that authorities in Belarus have “never eased up on their relentless crackdown on free media.”

“Belarus has never been free under Lukashenko’s rule but it has become one of the most closed off societies in the world since 2020 and one of the world’s biggest jailers of journalists,” she said.
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Italy and France are each sending two firefighting planes to Greece to help it cope with wildfires burning on multiple fronts around Athens, with more extreme heat on the way.

The planes and their teams of firefighters are part of an EU civil protection mechanism, and they will join some 30 Romanian firefighters already stationed in Greece as part of a seasonal EU fire program, European officials said Tuesday.

Wildfires continued to burn out of control Tuesday to the north and west of Athens, including a blaze near the resort town of Loutraki, where more homes were damaged and evacuations were expanded.

Several smaller fires also broke out nearer the capital, where winds remained moderate but scrub and forest land has been dried out by extreme temperatures last week.

Police spokeswoman Constantina Dimoglidou said several roads near the fires were closed to allow faster access by emergency services.

Greece also activated a rapid mapping evaluation system, which uses EU satellite data to assess fire damage, for the three large wildfires that burned outside Athens for a second day.

A second heatwave is expected Thursday, with temperatures as high as 44 C (111 F) expected in central and southern parts of the country by the end of the week.
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Tunisia has overtaken Libya as the top embarkation point for African migrants heading to Europe starting in Italy. Tunisia’s leaders have recently signed a deal with the EU to work together to reduce migrant flows, but challenges persist.

Matt Herbert is a senior analyst with the Geneva-based Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime. He tells VOA there are several factors explaining why Tunisia is overtaking Libya as the main embarkation point to Italy. One is the rapid increase and magnitude in departures from Tunisia that greatly surpasses those from Libya, especially this year. 

Italian interior ministry figures show more than 15,500 people arrived on Italian shores from Tunisia from January until the end of March in over 180 landings per day. Italian officials said it’s a 920-percent increase compared to the 1,525 arrivals in the same period last year. 

As of last week, the Italian interior ministry recorded more than 75,000 migrants that had arrived by boat on Italian shores since the beginning of the year compared to about 31,900 in the same period last year. 

Herbert says Tunisia’s deeply troubled economy in the aftermath of the 2011 Arab Spring uprising, terror attacks affecting the Mediterranean country’s prime income earner, tourism, and then COVID-19 are the main factors. He says worsening economic and political situations are hitting Tunisia’s people and adding to that, African migrants are coming to the country for work. 

“The continuing economic challenges have had a real impact on their bottom line. The money they have been able to earn has been drastically reduced,” said Herbert. “They are facing economic difficulties staying in country and so some are leveraging the money they already have to leave. The dynamic of departures is being very closely linked to rising xenophobia.” 

Herbert adds that a multi-year rise in irregular migration from Tunisia has seen a growth in human smuggling networks along the Tunisian coastline, providing more escape routes. At its nearest point, Tunisia lies approximately 130 kilometers from the Italian island of Lampedusa. 

On Sunday, the European Union committed financial assistance to Tunisia in exchange for its added efforts to combat human trafficking and strengthen its border controls. The EU has already offered Tunisia more than one billion dollars in long-term aid.  

Tunisian analyst Tasnim Abderrahim, a migrant policy analyst with the Washington-based Middle East Institute, debunked the “perception that North African countries are willing to do anything in exchange for money,” saying there are mitigating factors.  

“Now there are concerns that Italy may be seeking to deport sub-Saharan nationals to Tunisia,” she said. “The repatriation of Tunisian nationals is already happening, and Tunisia has very advanced cooperation with Italy in that sense. But the readmission of third country nationals is something that definitely Tunisians–both the government and the population—reject. There are very little incentives on the Tunisian side to engage in such form of cooperation.”

Racial tensions and anti-migrant sentiment are growing in Tunisia following the death of a Tunisian man on July 3 in a fight between locals and migrants.  

Observers say Tunisia does not have a legal framework to welcome migrants. 
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Spain’s general election on Sunday could make the country the latest European Union member swing to the populist right, a shift that would represent a major upheaval after five years under a left-wing government.

Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez called the early election after his Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party and its small far-left coalition partner, Unidas Podemos (“United We Can”), took a beating in local and regional elections.

The center-right Popular Party emerged from the May 28 elections with the most votes. Polls for the general election have consistently put the PP in first place — but likely needing support from the far-right Vox party to form a government.

Such a coalition would return a far-right force to the Spanish government for the first time since the country transitioned to democracy following the 1975 death of Gen. Francisco Franco, the dictator who ruled Spain for nearly 40 years.

The Popular Party and Vox have agreed to govern together in some 140 cities and towns since May, as well as to add two more regions to the one where they already co-governed. Sen. Alberto Núñez Feijóo, the PP’s leader, has not ruled out a partnership at the national level.

Led by former PP member Santiago Abascal, 47, Vox opposes abortion rights, denies climate change and rejects the need for government to combat gender violence. Election polling indicates the party could finish third this weekend, a showing that would put Abascal in a kingmaker’s role.

Nagore Calvo Mendizabal, a senior lecturer in Spanish and European Politics and Society at King’s College London, said the likelihood of Vox entering government frames Sunday’s parliamentary election “in terms of the future of democracy in Spain as being what is at stake.”

Vox’s manifesto is virtually a “copy-and-paste of the tenets of the Franco regime,” Calvo said. It promises, for example, a return to a highly centralized government by scrapping the 17 regions that came into being after Franco’s death.

Beyond Spain, a PP-Vox government would mean another EU member has moved firmly to the right, a trend seen recently in Sweden, Finland and Italy. Countries such as Germany and France are concerned by what such a shift would portend for EU immigration and climate policies, Calvo said.

Spain took over the EU’s rotating presidency on July 1. Sánchez had hoped to use the six-month term to showcase the advances his government had made before a national election originally scheduled for December.

Voter concerns over immigration and costs of living, as well as frustration with the EU’s perceived interference in national affairs, often have been cited to explain increases in right-wing support in other countries.

In Spain, however, the dominant issue is the “honorability” of the Socialist politician who has served as prime minister since June 2018, according to María José Canel Crespo, a political communication professor at Madrid’s Complutense University.

For most of the past year, the PP has pursued a hard-hitting media and parliamentary campaign on the need to defeat what it calls “Sanchismo,” portraying the prime minister as a liar for his U-turns on major issues.

Sánchez said he would never form a government with Podemos, deeming it too radical, but then he did in 2019. Sánchez also said he would not pardon nine separatists who were convicted of sedition after pushing for the Catalonia region’s secession — but then he did.

The PP claims his minority government betrays Spain by aligning itself with extremists in Basque and Catalan regional parties that ultimately want independence.

But the Socialist-Podemos coalition’s biggest blunder came in what was supposed to have been one of its signature pieces of progressive legislation. A sexual consent law passed in October inadvertently allowed more than 1,000 convicted sex offenders to have their sentences reduced, and over 100 gained early release.

Sánchez apologized and the law was amended to close the legal loophole, but the episode provided invaluable material for the right-wing parties and right-leaning media outlets.

Sánchez “has made it easier for him to be perceived as a liar,” Canel said, adding that he did not help his cause when he explained in a television interview that “Sanchismo” stood for evil, lies and manipulation.

The 51-year-old prime minister also performed disastrously in the only televised pre-election debate with the PP’s Feijóo, 61. Polling analyses show anti-Sánchez sentiment and the fear of Vox entering government has led some 700,000 Socialist voters switching to the PP, according to Canel.

“The vote is not going to be about corruption or the economy. It will be motivated by a rejection of Sánchez,” she said.

Sánchez first took office in June 2018 after winning a no-confidence vote that ended an eight-year run in government for the PP on the back of a major corruption scandal. He led a caretaker government until, after two elections in November 2019, he struck a deal with Podemos.

Within months, Spain was one of the countries hit hardest by the COVID-19 pandemic in terms of both deaths and economic impact, severely testing the strength of the left-wing coalition government. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and its knock-on financial effects tested it again.

But heading into the May elections, Sánchez could boast of a growing economy, falling unemployment and inflation, pension and minimum wage increases, and the establishment of a minimum vital income. The government also negotiated a deal with the EU that allowed it to slash consumer energy costs driven up Russia’s war in Ukraine.

The various measures helped millions of people but apparently have not translated into voter loyalty. King’s College London’s Calvo thinks the right-wing’s nationalist tactics have put Sánchez on the defensive, while his leftist coalition’s laudably progressive policies have made the government seem out of touch.

A factor that could upset poll predictions is Sumar, a new movement of 15 small left-wing parties, including Podemos, led by Spain’s immensely popular labor minister, Yolanda Díaz. If it beats Vox for third place Sunday, Sumar could provide the Socialists with backing to form another coalition government.

With the election taking place at the height of summer, millions of citizens are likely to be vacationing away from their regular polling places. But postal voting requests have soared, and officials have estimated a 70% election turnout.
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If the flow of foodstuffs through the Black Sea is cut off, millions of people enduring food insecurity around the world will suffer the consequences 
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Russia on Monday ended the Black Sea Grain Initiative, which guaranteed the free flow of Ukrainian grain to the rest of the world. Poor nations already struggling with food insecurity are expected to be affected the worst. VOA’s Veronica Balderas Iglesias explains.
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Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan traveled to Saudi Arabia on Monday in a three-stop tour of Persian Gulf states to seek trade and investment opportunities for Turkey’s floundering economy.

Erdogan arrived in Jeddah accompanied by an entourage of some 200 businesspeople, according to the Foreign Economic Relations Board of Turkey. He met Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and is expected to meet King Salman. Business forums have been arranged in Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates during Erdogan’s three-day trip.

“We are hoping to improve our relations and cooperation in many fields. We will focus on joint investment and commercial initiatives to be realized in the upcoming period,” Erdogan told reporters in Istanbul before leaving.

The visit comes as Turks are hit with sales and fuel tax hikes that Finance Minister Mehmet Simsek has said are necessary to restore fiscal discipline and bring inflation down.

The official annual inflation rate stood at 38% last month, down from a high of 85% in October. Independent economists, however, maintain that the actual rate was around 108% in June.

Turkey’s current account deficit reached record levels this year – $37.7 billion in the first five months — and Erdogan is hoping the oil- and gas-rich Gulf states will help plug the gap.

Last month the Turkish central bank delivered a large interest rate hike, signaling a shift toward more conventional economic policies following criticism that Erdogan’s low-rate approach had made a cost-of-living crisis worse.

His Gulf tour was preceded by Turkish officials including Simsek, Vice President Cevdet Yilmaz and central bank Governor Hafize Gaye Erkan holding talks in all three countries.

Ankara has recently repaired ties with Saudi Arabia and the UAE following a decade-long rift. The split arose following the 2011 Arab Spring and Turkey’s support for the Muslim Brotherhood, considered a threat by some Gulf monarchies.

Worsening relations were exacerbated by a boycott of Turkish ally Qatar by Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Egypt and Bahrain. The 2018 murder of Saudi dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi in Istanbul led to a further souring of ties with Riyadh.

Since Erdogan launched a diplomatic reengagement with previously estranged regional powers two years ago, funding from the Gulf has helped relieve pressure on the economy.

Erdogan visited both Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed — the country’s de-facto ruler — and UAE President Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan last year, while the latter came to Istanbul for soccer’s Champions League final a month ago.

Qatar and the UAE have provided Turkey with some $20 billion in currency swap agreements recently while Saudi Arabia deposited $5 billion into Turkey’s Central Bank in March.

Days after Erdogan won reelection last month, the UAE and Turkey signed a trade deal potentially worth $40 billion over the next five years.

Erdogan is due to meet Qatar’s emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, in Doha on Tuesday before seeing the UAE leader in Abu Dhabi on Wednesday.
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Russia said Monday it is ending its participation in a wartime deal that allowed Ukraine safe passage to export grain from three Ukrainian ports past Russian warships on the Black Sea. 

Here is a look at how the grain deal worked and what Russia’s withdrawal from the agreement will mean for both Moscow and Kyiv as well as the global food supply. 

What is the grain deal?

The United Nations and Turkey brokered the deal to allow grain to be shipped from Ukraine, despite Russia’s ongoing war in that country. Much of the exported grain was shipped to impoverished countries in Africa, the Middle East and Asia. The deal also allowed for Russia to ship food and fertilizer throughout the world despite Western sanctions on Moscow.

When did the agreement begin? 

The nearly year-old deal was reached in July 2022 and was meant to be extended every four months. It was renewed three times, but the last two renewals were for only two months each as Russia complained of obstacles to exporting its food and fertilizer. 

Why did Russia withdrawal from the pact? 

Russia has repeatedly said it was not benefiting enough under the initiative. Ukraine and Russia are both major global suppliers of wheat, barley, sunflower oil and other affordable food products. One of Russia’s main demands has been for its agriculture bank to be reinstated in the SWIFT system of financial transactions.    

What was the effect of the deal?

After Russia’s February 2022 invasion of Ukraine — considered the breadbasket of Europe — grain prices rose worldwide. The U.N. gain deal, brokered five months after the war began, helped to bring down global food prices. The U.N. said that since exports from the pact began in August 2022, 32.9 metric tons of food commodities have been exported to 45 countries.

Will food prices rise again? 

Experts say not renewing the Black Sea grain deal could cause food prices to again climb. However, they say the worldwide food situation is not as volatile as it was last year because other countries are now producing more grain to counterbalance losses from Ukraine, including Argentina, Brazil, and European nations. 

Can Ukraine still ship from the Black Sea?

It is not clear if Russia will block Ukrainian ports following its withdrawal from the grain deal. However, even if Russia does not block or attack Ukrainian ships carrying food supplies, ship owners will surely see increased insurance premiums to enter the Black Sea and are likely to be reluctant for their vessels to pass through a war zone without assurances of safety. 

Can Ukraine send more grain through Europe? 

Ukraine has been sending large amounts of grain through eastern European countries since the conflict began; however, these routes — both land and river — handle lower amounts compared to sea shipments. Ukraine’s shipments through Europe have also prompted anger from some European countries that say the shipments have undercut local supplies. As a result, five EU countries — Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Slovakia — have banned domestic sales of some Ukrainian grains.

What does the deal’s end mean for the World Food Program?

The U.N. World Food Program says grain from Ukraine has played an important role in its efforts to distribute food to those in need. The U.N. agency says the grain initiative has allowed it to ship more than 725,200 tons of grain to relieve hunger around the world, including to Afghanistan, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen. 

Some information in this report came from The Associated Press and Reuters.
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The family of a German-Iranian political dissident sentenced to death in Iran is expressing concern over his condition after a phone conversation with him Sunday.

Ghazaleh Sharmahd, the daughter of Jamshid Sharmahd, wrote on Twitter “After five months, today we had our first phone call with my father, Jamshid Sharmahd. It is concerning that he was deprived of contact with his daughter for two years, and now he has been allowed to speak with me.”

“This greatly worries me. Could this be his farewell call,” she said.

Jamshid Sharmahd, a German-Iranian dual citizen and opposition figure was accused of masterminding a deadly 2008 bombing of a mosque in Shiraz, charges his family strongly denies. He faces a death sentence.

Sharmahd, 68, had been living in the United States, where he served as the spokesperson for Tondar, a group that aims to restore the Western-backed monarchy that ruled Iran before the 1979 Islamic Revolution. His family says Iranian authorities kidnapped Sharmahd during a stopover in Dubai in 2020.

Describing her father’s condition during the Sunday phone call, Ghazaleh Sharmahd said “His voice was feeble, he was severely ill, and he has spent over 1,000 days in solitary confinement, enduring pain and terror.”

Amnesty International said that he has been deprived of adequate health care and called for his immediate release.

Germany has condemned the death sentence that was handed down against Jamshid Sharmahd.

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock questioned the proceedings in the case against him and said earlier this year that Sharmahd never had “even the semblance of a fair trial.” She asked Iran to reverse the death sentence immediately.

Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani accused Germany of “interfering in Iran’s internal and judicial affairs,” and said “Iran will not ask permission from anyone in the way of confronting terrorism and executing justice.”
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Elton John briefly testified Monday for the defense at Kevin Spacey ‘s sexual assault trial as the actor’s lawyer attempted to discredit a man who claimed the Oscar winner aggressively grabbed his crotch while driving to the singer’s summer ball.

John appeared in the London court by video link from Monaco after his husband, David Furnish, testified that Spacey did not attend the annual party at their Windsor home the year the accuser said he was attacked.

One of the alleged victims said he was driving Spacey to the White Tie & Tiara Ball in 2004 or 2005 when the actor grabbed him so forcefully he almost ran off the road.

Furnish supported Spacey’s own testimony that he only attended the event in 2001. Furnish said he had reviewed photographs taken at the party from 2001 to 2005 and Spacey only appeared in images that one year. He said all guests were photographed each year.

John said the actor attended the party in the early 2000s and arrived after flying in on a private jet.

Furnish said Spacey’s appearance was a surprise and he remembered it because it was a big deal.

“He was an Oscar-winning actor and there was a lot of buzz and excitement that he was at the ball,” Furnish said.

John said he only remembered Spacey coming once to the gala and said the actor spent the night at their house after the event. He also confirmed that Spacey bought a Mini Cooper at the auction held that night for the Elton John AIDS Foundation.

The alleged victim said he may have gotten the year wrong, but that he would not have forgotten the incident because it took his breath away and he almost crashed the car.

The timeline, however, is important because the man testified that Spacey had fondled him over several years beginning in the early 2000s. The incident was the final occasion, he said, when he threatened to hit the actor and then avoided him.

Spacey said the two were friends and they engaged in some romantic contact but the man was straight, so the actor respected his wishes not to go further. He said he was crushed when he learned the man had complained to police about him and said the man had “reimagined” what had been consensual touching.

Furnish said he was familiar with the accuser and described him as “charming,” the same term Spacey used.

Spacey, 63, has pleaded not guilty to a dozen charges that include sexual and indecent assault counts and one count of causing a person to engage in penetrative sexual activity without consent.

Over two days of testimony last week, the two-time Academy Award winner insisted that he never sexually assaulted three of the four accusers who described disturbing encounters between 2001 and 2013. The acts allegedly escalated from unwanted touching to aggressive fondling to one instance of performing oral sex act on an unconscious man.

Spacey dismissed one man’s fondling claims as “pure fantasy” and said he shared consensual encounters with two others who later regretted it. He accepted the claims of a fourth man, saying he had made a “clumsy pass” during a night of heavy drinking, but he took exception to the “crotch-grabbing” characterization.

John’s testimony comes just over a week after he wrapped up his 50-year touring career with a show in Stockholm.

It’s the second time the “Rocket Man” star and Furnish have made appearances in a London courtroom this year. The two showed up at hearings in their phone hacking lawsuit with Prince Harry against the publisher of the Daily Mail newspaper.

The couple, the Duke of Sussex and actors Elizabeth Hurley and Sadie Frost are among a group of claimants that allege Associated Newspapers Ltd. violated their privacy by intercepting voicemails and using unlawful methods to snoop on them.

A judge is deciding whether to throw out the case after the publisher said the group waited too long to bring their claims.
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Mikhail Nalivajko, a fighter with Ukraine’s Air Assault Forces, lost his right leg in an attack on his unit. His injuries defied treatment until a nonprofit brought him to the U.S. for medical care. Nina Vishneva has the story, narrated by Anna Rice. Camera: Vladimir Badikov, Natalia Latukhina.
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Leaders from the European Union and Latin America were gathering for a major summit of long-lost relatives starting on Monday. Whether it will be a joyful meeting of long-lost friends remains to be seen.

Their last such encounter was eight years ago. Since then, the COVID-19 pandemic and Brazil’s three-year departure from the 33-nation Community of Latin American and Caribbean States — or CELAC — had made the Atlantic Ocean separating the two sides seem wider.

“The world has certainly changed during that time,” said EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. “So we need our close friends to be at our side in these uncertain times.” Yet, uncertainty still swirled around the two-day summit, too.

Division ranging from Russia’s war in Ukraine to trade, deforestation and slavery reparations has given extra spice to a meeting that will now already be considered a success if all agree to meet more frequently from now on.

The 27-nation EU certainly takes it share of the blame for the estrangement.

“For too many years, Europe has been turning its back on what is, without a doubt, by far the most Euro-compatible region on the planet,” said Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares of Spain, which holds the rotating EU presidency.

Several EU nations have ties to the Americas going back centuries that were for so long based on exploitative colonialism and slavery. And even since the nations wrested independence from European powers, sometimes as long as 200 years ago, trade was seen for too long as a one-way street where Europeans stood to benefit first and foremost.

In the 21st century though, China has steadily been pushing its influence and trade outreach deep into Latin America, and the EU realizes it has a geo-strategic battle on its hands. 

In talks early Monday with Brazil President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, von der Leyen stressed how important it was to “de-risk” their economies, which is EU code-speak for taking distance from Beijing for fear the Chinese could become so powerful as investors as to control nations from afar.

Lula, for his part, said that as Brazil is developing further, “we want to share that intense econ activity with our partners in the EU.”

The balance in Latin America, however, is shifting.

“A lot of European companies have lost ground,” said Parsifal D’Sola, executive director of the Center of Chinese-Latin American Investigations.

“There is an overall interest in counterbalancing the economic influence that China has throughout the world, but in this particular case in Latin America,” D’Sola said.

The EU has called China a “systemic rival” for four years now, and has seen Beijing rapidly encroach on Europe’s age-old interests in Africa, and Central and South America. Up to a point that D’Sola now warns that China’s flexibility and heavy investment in a variety of sectors will make it difficult to truly pull influence away from Beijing in the way that EU nations may desire.

Still, there is no underestimating Europe’s continued clout in Latin America, especially when it comes to the economy. The latest figures show that annual trade between the two blocs has increased by 39% over the past decade to $414 billion. EU investment in the region stood at $777 billion, a 45% increase over the past decade. The EU already has trade deals with 27 of the 33 CELAC nations.

It is also why the elephant in the room will be the huge EU-Mercosur trade agreement between the EU bloc and Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay, which has been foundering for five years just short of full ratification.

Unlock that deal, and shared prosperity would be the reward for all involved, insisted von der Leyen. “All of this is within reach if we get the Mercosur, EU agreement across the finishing line. Our ambition is to settle any remaining differences as soon as possible.” 

Several EU nations have powerful farm lobbies that seek to keep competition from beef producing nations like Brazil and Argentina at bay. And after then Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro allowed Amazon deforestation to surge to a 15-year high, EU nations have been insisting on tougher environmental standards.

When Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who succeeded Bolsonaro this year, and took the presidency of Mercosur in early July, he called the threat of EU sanctions “unacceptable.” Before the summit, EU officials were at pains to insist that sanctions on countries that fail to comply with the 2015 international climate Paris Agreement weren’t on the table this week and lauded Lula’s efforts to turn back rampant deforestation.

“Brazil will meet its climate commitments,” insisted Lula, including those on deforestation. 

Russia and the war in Ukraine is now also a point of division instead of a natural unifier. CELAC has member nations like Cuba and Venezuela, whose views on Russia contrast with just about every EU nation. There was initially an expectation that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy would address the summit. That idea has now been shelved.

Such issues have seriously complicated drafting a joint summit statement, which was long expected to be a long and detailed text, but is now quickly turning into a “shorthand declaration,” a senior EU official involved in the drafting said. He spoke on condition of anonymity since talks were ongoing.

He also didn’t expect “any particular breakthrough” on the Mercosur deal or other outstanding trade agreements, but added that the summit could create momentum “that all of these trade agreements are coming together this year.”
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Russia has a "sufficient stockpile" of cluster bombs and the right to use them if cluster munitions are used against its forces in Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin told Russian TV Sunday. Ukraine has pledged to only deploy the munitions it received from the United States to repel enemy soldiers from Ukrainian territory. Cluster munitions are banned in more than 100 countries.





The Russian state has assumed control of the Russian subsidiary of French yogurt maker Danone and Danish beer company Carlsberg's stake in a local brewer as a retaliatory move after Western countries froze assets of Russian companies abroad.

Russia said Monday it has halted its participation in a nearly year-old agreement that facilitated grain exports from three Ukrainian ports on the Black Sea.

The United Nations and Turkey brokered the Black Sea Grain Initiative amid a global food crisis, seeking to facilitate the exports blocked by Russia’s war in Ukraine.

Ahead of the deal’s expiration on Monday, Russia had said it was not benefitting enough under the initiative.

A parallel memorandum of understanding between Moscow and the United Nations has sought to remove obstacles to the export of Russian grain and fertilizer. While food and fertilizer are not sanctioned by the West, efforts have been made to ease concerns of anxious banks, insurers, shippers and other private sector actors about doing business with Russia.

One of Russia’s main demands has been for its agriculture bank to be reinstated in the Swift system of financial transactions.

“Unfortunately, the part of these Black Sea agreements concerning Russia has not been implemented so far, so its effect is terminated,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters. “As soon as the Russian part of the agreements is fulfilled, the Russian side will return to the implementation of this deal, immediately.”

The U.N. said that since the exports began in August 2022, 32.9 metric tons of food commodities were exported to 45 countries. Experts said not renewing the deal would cause food prices to spike.

The last ship to depart Ukraine under the deal left a Ukrainian port on Sunday.

Crimea bridge

Russia said a Ukrainian attack Monday on a bridge linking Russia’s Krasnodar region to the Crimean Peninsula killed a civilian couple and their child, while damaging the bridge’s road decking and halting traffic.

Russia’s Anti-Terrorism Committee attributed the attack to two Ukrainian sea drones.

The bridge serves as a key link to supply Russian forces in their invasion of Ukraine.

Russian authorities said the attack damaged a section of the bridge closer to Crimea, the region Russia annexed in 2014 in a move not recognized by the international community. There was no damage to the bridge’s piers, Russia said.

The bridge was previously damaged in an October explosion that Russia also blamed on Ukraine.

Ukrainian Security Service spokesman Artem Degtyarenko said in a statement that details of the incident would be revealed after Ukraine wins the war.

“In the meantime, we are watching with interest how one of the symbols of the Putin regime once again failed to withstand the military load,” Degtyarenko said.

Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak also alluded to the attack in a tweet Monday, saying: “Any illegal structures used to deliver Russian instruments of mass murder are necessarily short-lived… regardless of the reasons for the destruction.”

Ukrainian gains

A Ukrainian defense official said Monday the country’s military had retaken 18 square kilometers of territory during the past week, and 210 square kilometers from Russian forces since launching a counteroffensive last month.

The gains included 7 square kilometers in the Bakhmut area, in eastern Ukraine. Russian forces have occupied the city of Bakhmut since May.

In southern Ukraine, Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar said Ukrainian fighters had retaken 11 square kilometers as they advance toward the cities of Berdyansk and Melitopol.

Maliar also said Russian forces have advanced toward Kupiansk in the Kharkiv region in eastern Ukraine.

Margaret Besheer contributed to this report. Some information also came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.
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Russia has a "sufficient stockpile" of cluster bombs and the right to use them if cluster munitions are used against its forces in Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin told Russian TV Sunday. Ukraine has pledged to only deploy the munitions it received from the United States to repel enemy soldiers from Ukrainian territory. Cluster munitions are banned in more than 100 countries.
The Russian state has assumed control of the Russian subsidiaries of French yogurt maker Danone's DANO.PA and Danish beer company Carlsberg's CARLb.CO as a retaliatory move after Western countries froze assets of Russian companies abroad.
The U.N.-brokered grain deal that has allowed Ukrainian exports through the Black Sea – is set to expire late Monday. The deal remains in limbo as Putin has not yet said if he will agree to renew it.

Russia-installed officials said traffic was halted Monday on a bridge linking Crimea to Russia’s Krasnodar region, amid reports of explosions on the bridge.

Sergei Aksyonov, the Russia-installed governor of Crimea, said on Telegram that traffic was stopped due to an “emergency” and that authorities were working to handle the situation.

The bridge is a key supply route for Russian forces in Ukraine. It was previously damaged in an October explosion that Russia blamed on Ukraine.

Russia annexed Crimea in 2014 in a move not recognized by the international community.

Fighting in eastern Ukraine “somewhat intensified” as Ukrainian and Russian forces clashed in at least three areas on the eastern front, Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar said Sunday on the messaging app Telegram.

Ukrainian forces say they are making steady progress along the northern and southern flanks of the war-ravaged city of Bakhmut, which Russian forces have occupied since May.

There was also fighting along the southern front in Zaporizhzhia, where Ukrainian forces are making minimal gains against formidable Russian fortifications.

Maliar recently claimed that Kyiv’s forces had destroyed six Russian ammunition depots in the space of 24 hours, a remark that hinted at Ukrainian tactics.

“We inflict effective, painful and precise blows and bleed the occupier, for whom the lack of ammunition and fuel will sooner or later become fatal,” she said.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said Sunday in an interview with state television that Ukraine’s operation was “not succeeding” and that attempts to break through Russian defenses had failed.

In an interview with ABC’s “This Week” TV program, White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said Ukraine’s counteroffensive was never expected to be quick and easy. “We said before this counteroffensive started that it would be hard going, and it’s been hard going. That’s the nature of war. But the Ukrainians are continuing to move forward,” he said.

One man was killed, and several people were wounded Sunday in Russian shelling of a district of Kharkiv, in eastern Ukraine local officials said.

Kharkiv Mayor Ihor Terekhov said on Telegram that seven people were injured in the shelling of the southern Osnovyanskyi district of the city. Reuters could not independently confirm details of the attack and casualty figures.

Vyacheslav Gladkov, the governor of Russia’s Belgorod region, said Sunday that Ukrainian forces had shelled the Russian town of Shebekino about 5 kilometers from the Ukrainian border with Grad missiles, killing a woman riding her bike.

Both Russia and Ukraine have denied targeting civilians.

Some information for this report came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.
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European leaders and Tunisia’s president announced progress Sunday in the building of hoped-for closer economic and trade relations and on measures to combat the often-lethal smuggling of migrants across the Mediterranean Sea.

The leaders of Italy, the Netherlands and the European Commission made their second visit to Tunis in just over a month. They expressed hope that a memorandum newly signed with Tunisia during the trip would pave the way for a comprehensive partnership.

On their last visit in June, the leaders held out the promise of more than 1 billion euros ($1.1 billion) in financial aid to rescue Tunisia’s teetering economy and better police its borders, to restore stability to the North African country and to stem migration from its shores to Europe.

This time, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni and Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte didn’t detail the full monetary value of the EU aid on offer to Tunisia, in statements they made after talks with Tunisian President Kais Saied.

But von der Leyen said the latest trip secured agreement on “a comprehensive package of measures that we will now put into practice swiftly.”

Saied, speaking through an interpreter, said that he expects the memorandum to be followed by “a set of binding agreements” — suggesting more negotiating work ahead.

Tunisia intends to implement the memorandum “in the nearest time possible,” he said.

Specific aid that von der Leyen announced included a 10-million-euro ($11 million) program to boost exchanges of students and 65 million euros ($73 million) in EU funding to modernize Tunisian schools.

On migration, von der Leyen said: “We need an effective cooperation more than ever.”

The EU will work with Tunisia on an anti-smuggling partnership, will increase coordination in search and rescue operations and both sides also agreed to cooperate on border management, she said. Von der Leyen pledged 100 million euros ($112 million) for those efforts — a figure she had already announced on the leaders’ previous visit.

Tunisia has faced an international outcry over the plight of hundreds of migrants who were deported to inhospitable desert areas on the Libya and Algeria borders. On the Tunisia-Algeria border, local reports have said as many as 30 migrants died.

Saied, however, insisted migrants are well treated.

“The Tunisian people have provided these migrants with everything possible, with unlimited generosity, while many organizations, supposed to play their humanitarian role, only manifested themselves in press releases,” he said.

Rutte described the new memorandum as the “promising start of a comprehensive strategic partnership” between the EU and Tunisia that will aim to boost economic growth.

He said that EU member countries now must approve the deal, adding: “I’m very confident that there will be broad support.”
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Russia has a “sufficient stockpile” of cluster bombs and the right to use them if cluster munitions are used against its forces in Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin told Russian TV Sunday. Ukraine has pledged to only deploy the munitions it received from the United States to repel enemy soldiers from Ukrainian territory. Cluster munitions are banned in more than 100 countries.  
The Russian state has assumed control of the Russian subsidiaries of French yogurt maker Danone’s DANO.PA and Danish beer company Carlsberg’s CARLb.CO as a retaliatory move after Western countries froze assets of Russian companies abroad.
Since July 2022, the United Kingdom has trained 18,000 Ukrainian volunteer infantrymen under the Operation Interflex training program, the defense ministry said Saturday. Ukrainian soldiers have been trained to “survive and be lethal in their fight against the illegal invasion of their homeland,” it said.
President Putin could be arrested if he attends next month’s summit of the BRICS group of emerging economies in South Africa. A warrant issued against him in March by the International Criminal Court accuses him of the war crime of deporting Ukrainian children to Russia. It is not clear if Putin will attend the talks. South Africa is a signatory to the ICC and would be obliged to arrest him if he enters the country.

Fighting in eastern Ukraine “somewhat intensified” as Ukrainian and Russian forces clashed in at least three areas on the eastern front, Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar said on the messaging app Telegram on Sunday.

Ukrainian forces claim they are making steady progress along the northern and southern flanks of the war-ravaged city of Bakhmut, which Russian forces have been occupied since May.

Battles are also raging along the southern front in Zaporizhzhia, where Ukrainian forces are making minimal gains against formidable Russian fortifications.

Maliar recently claimed that Kyiv’s forces had destroyed six Russian ammunition depots in the space of 24 hours, a remark that hinted at Ukrainian tactics.

“We inflict effective, painful and precise blows and bleed the occupier, for whom the lack of ammunition and fuel will sooner or later become fatal,” she said.

British Admiral Tony Radakin, chief of the U.K.’s defense staff, said that Ukraine’s first goal is to starve Russian units of supplies and reinforcements by attacking logistic and command centers in the rear and then storm through when the front lines collapse.

“I would describe it as a policy of starve, stretch and strike,’’ Radakin told a British parliamentary committee.

Radakin said that Ukraine lacks vital air cover for its attacks. Kyiv has won pledges from its Western allies of F-16 fighter jets, but they aren’t expected to be seen over the battlefield until next year. Ukraine is also asking for long-range weapons and more ammunition.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said Sunday in an interview with state television that Ukraine’s operation was “not succeeding” and that attempts to break through Russian defenses had failed.

In an interview with ABC’s “This Week” TV program, White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said Ukraine’s counteroffensive was never expected to be quick and easy. “We said before this counteroffensive started that it would be hard going, and it’s been hard going. That’s the nature of war. But the Ukrainians are continuing to move forward,” he said.

Watch related video by Veronica Balderas Iglesias:

Black Sea grain initiative

The last ship to travel under a U.N.-brokered grain deal that allows the safe Black Sea export of Ukrainian grain left the port of Odesa early Sunday ahead of the initiative’s expiration deadline Monday. 

Putin is remaining silent about a possible extension of the deal.

In a phone call Saturday with South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, Putin discussed “the need for a permanent and sustainable solution to the movement of grain from Russia and Ukraine to the international markets,” according to the South African president’s office. No further details were provided.

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has asked Putin to extend the deal in return for connecting a subsidiary of Russia’s agricultural bank, Rosselkhozbank, to the SWIFT international payment system, but he has not received a reply, according to a U.N. spokesperson Friday.

“Discussions are being had, WhatsApp messages are being sent, Signal messages are being sent and exchanged. We’re also waiting for a response to the letter,” U.N. spokesperson Stephane Dujarric told reporters when asked about the negotiations.

Russia has said it would agree to extend the grain deal only if its conditions are met regarding implementation.

Wagner Group

Russia’s security apparatus experienced “a period of confusion and negotiations,” following the Wagner Group’s mutiny last month, the British defense ministry said Sunday in its daily intelligence update about Russian’s invasion of Ukraine. Now, however, an interim arrangement for the mercenary group’s future is shaping up, according to the report posted on Twitter.

Meanwhile, some social media groups associated with Wagner restarted their postings, focusing on Wagner’s activities in Africa. The ministry said recent announcements from Russian officials indicate that Russia is “likely prepared” to accept “Wagner’s aspirations to maintain its extensive presence on the continent.”

Both Ukraine and Poland Saturday confirmed the arrival of Wagner forces in Belarus, one day after Minsk said the mercenaries were training its troops.

“There may be several hundred of them at the moment,” Stanislaw Zaryn, Poland’s deputy minister coordinator of special services, said on Twitter.

Yevgeny Prigozhin, the Wagner chief, has not been spotted in Belarus or been seen in public since June 24.

Some information for this report came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.
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Despite not advancing on its goal to join NATO, Ukraine did receive security assurances by the military alliance’s members during their summit last week in Vilnius. And as VOA’s Veronica Balderas Iglesias reports, the Biden administration emphasized this Sunday again, that its’ support for Kyiv, remains strong.
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