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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Focus on Russia and trade

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Taliban threat

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Washington ‘in a difficult position’

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Britain announced Monday that a trade minister was heading to Taiwan for the first in-person talks since the coronavirus in a bid to strengthen ties with the island, a trip that sparked a rebuke from Beijing.

Trade Policy Minister Greg Hands will co-host annual talks and meet with Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen during his two-day visit, the Department for International Trade said.

The visit “is a clear signal of the UK’s commitment to boosting UK-Taiwan trade ties. Like the UK, Taiwan is a champion of free and fair trade underpinned by a rules-based global trading system,” the department said in its statement.

A spokesperson for Britain’s de facto embassy in Taiwan told AFP that Hands’ official program would start on Tuesday.

Hands said boosting trade with a “vital partner” like Taiwan was “part of the UK’s post-Brexit tilt towards the Indo-Pacific and closer collaboration will help us future-proof our economy in the decades to come”.

Taiwan has seen a flurry of visits by foreign officials and lawmakers in recent months, the most high-profile of which was US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, whose trip infuriated Beijing.

China claims the self-ruled island democracy as part of its territory to be seized one day, by force if necessary, and opposes any move that might lend Taiwan international legitimacy.

China staged unprecedented military drills in retaliation for Pelosi’s visit in August, sending tensions to their highest level in decades.

Beijing’s foreign ministry criticized the visit by Hands using rhetoric it often employs for such trips.

“China firmly rejects any form of official exchanges with the Taiwan region by any countries having diplomatic ties with China,” spokesman Zhao Lijian said at a daily press conference.

Zhao said Beijing urged Britain to “stop any form of official exchanges with Taiwan and stop sending wrong signals to Taiwan separatist forces”.

Like many countries, Britain diplomatically recognizes Beijing over Taipei, but it maintains unofficial relations with the island through a representative office.

The last time a British minister travelled to Taiwan was in 2018.

Britain said this week’s talks would try to address barriers in some sectors including “fintech, food and drink and pharma” and that trade between the two had risen 14% in the last two years to $9 billion.
…

The captain of a charity-run migrant rescue ship refused Italian orders to leave a Sicilian port Sunday after authorities refused to let 35 of the migrants on his ship disembark — part of directives by Italy’s new far-right-led government targeting foreign-flagged rescue ships.

Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni’s two-week-old government is refusing safe port to four ships operating in the central Mediterranean that have rescued migrants at sea in distress, some as many as 16 days ago, and is allowing only those identified as vulnerable to disembark.

On Sunday, Italy ordered the Humanity 1 to vacate the port of Catania after disembarking 144 rescued migrants, including children, more than 100 unaccompanied minors, and people with medical emergencies.

But its captain refused to comply “until all survivors rescued from distress at sea have been disembarked,” said SOS Humanity, the German charity that operates the ship. The vessel remained moored at the port with 35 migrants on board.

Later Sunday, a second charity ship arrived in Catania, and the vetting process was being repeated with the 572 migrants aboard the Geo Barents ship operated by Doctors Without Borders. The selection was completed by late evening, with 357 allowed off but 215 people blocked on board.

Families were the first to leave the ship. One man cradling a baby expressed his gratitude, saying “Thank you, Geo Barents, thank you,” as he left. Another man in a wheelchair was carried down by Red Cross workers.

Yet two other boats run by nongovernmental organizations did not find a port willing to accept the people they rescued.

Humanitarian groups, human rights activists and two Italian lawmakers who traveled to Sicily protested the selection process as illegal and inhumane. Italy’s new Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi is targeting nongovernmental organizations, which Italy has long accused of encouraging people trafficking in the central Mediterranean Sea. The groups deny the claim.

“Free all the people, free them,” Italian lawmaker Aboubakar Soumahoro said in an emotional appeal directed at Meloni from the Humanity 1 rescue ship.

The passengers have faced “trauma, they have faced everything that we can define as prolonged suffering,” said Soumahoro, who spent the night on the ship.

Later at the port, he accused Meloni of playing politics at the expense of “newborns, of women, of people who have suffered traumas of all kinds,” including torture in Libyan prisons.

He said neither translators nor psychologists were on hand during Italy’s selection process and many of the migrants were from Gambia, unable to speak French, English or Italian.

“Their fault is to speak another language. Their fault is to have another color,” Soumahoro said, accusing the Italian government of using the migrants to distract from other issues, including high energy prices.

Aboard the Humanity 1, doctors in Italy identified people needing urgent medical care after the ship’s doctor refused to make a selection, said SOS Humanity spokesman Wasil Schauseil. Thirty-six people were declared non-vulnerable and were not permitted to disembark, prompting one to collapse and be taken away by an ambulance.

“You can imagine the condition of the people. It is very devastating,” he said.

Both SOS Humanity and Doctors Without Borders issued statements declaring that all their passengers were vulnerable after being rescued at sea and deserving of a safe port under international law. SOS Humanity said it plans to file a civil case in Catania to ensure that all 35 survivors on board have access to formal asylum procedures on land.

Doctors Without Borders emphasized that “a rescue operation is considered complete only when all of the survivors have been disembarked in a safe place.”

Two other charity ships carrying rescued migrants remained stuck at sea, with people sleeping on floors and decks and spreading respiratory infections and scabies as food and medical supplies drew low.

The German-run Rise Above, carrying 93 rescued at sea, sought a more protected position in the waters east of Sicily due to the weather, but spokesperson Hermine Poschmann said Sunday that the crew had not received any communications from Italian authorities.

Poschmann described cramped conditions on the relatively small 25-meter (82-foot) ship.

The Ocean Viking, operated by the European charity SOS Mediterranee, with 234 migrants on board, remained in international waters, south of the Strait of Messina, and got no instructions to proceed to an Italian port, a spokesperson said Sunday. Its first rescue was 16 days ago.

“Agitation is evident among the survivors,” a charity worker named Morgane told The Associated Press Sunday. Cases of seasickness were soaring after high waves tossed the ship through the night.

“Today, the weather considerably deteriorated, bringing strong winds, rough seas and rain on deck. … these extreme conditions added [to their] suffering,” she said.

The confrontational stance taken by Meloni’s government is reminiscent of the standoffs orchestrated by Matteo Salvini, now Meloni’s infrastructure minister in charge of ports, during his brief 2018-2019 stint as interior minister. Italy’s new government is insisting the countries whose flags the charity-run ships fly must take in the migrants.

In a Facebook video, Salvini repeated his allegations that the presence of the humanitarian boats encourages smugglers.

Nongovernmental organizations rejected that claim, saying they are obligated by the law of the sea to rescue people in distress and that coastal nations are obligated to provide a safe port as soon as feasible.

Amnesty International called Italy’s stance “disgraceful.”

“Italy legitimately expects other EU member states to share responsibility for people seeking asylum, but this does not justify imposing measures that only increase the suffering of already traumatized people,” the group said.
…

Several thousand ethnic Serbs rallied in Kosovo Sunday as a dispute over vehicle license plates heightened ongoing tensions between Serbia and its former province.

The government’s decision to gradually ban Serbia-issued license plates has angered Kosovo Serbs, most of whom do not recognize Kosovo’s 2008 declaration of independence. Members of the ethnic Serb minority left their government jobs Saturday in a protest over the directive.

The Serbian government, with support from China and Russia, also has refused to acknowledge Kosovo’s statehood. The United States and its allies recognize Kosovo as an independent country.

During Sunday’s protest in the northern Kosovo town of Mitrovica, Serb political leaders said the police officers, judges and other public employees would not return to their jobs unless Kosovo’s government reversed its license plate policy.

“We are on our land, and we will not give up,” Serb politician Goran Rakic said. “There is no withdrawal. Long live Serbia.”

The issue of Kosovo’s independence sparked a 1998-99 war in which some 13,000 people died. Serbia launched a brutal crackdown to curb a separatist rebellion by ethnic Albanians. NATO bombed Serbia in 1999 to end the war.

Both Serbia and Kosovo have been told they must normalize relations in order to advance in their effort to join the European Union. However, EU-mediated talks have stalled, triggering concerns of instability more than two decades after the conflict.

Further dashing hopes of a quick resolution, Serbian Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic said Sunday that the country’s leadership has rejected the latest proposal. It reportedly offered Serbia a faster track to EU membership in exchange for Kosovo’s membership in the United Nations.

Dacic told pro-government broadcast Prva TV that proposals submitted by France and Germany “starts from the position that the independence of Kosovo is already a foregone conclusion.”

“Serbia cannot accept that,” he said.

Watch related video by Leonat Shehu and Artan Haraqija:

Kosovo’s government previously postponed until November 1 a requirement for vehicles holding old or Serbian license plates to replace them with Kosovar ones. Serbia has required the reverse for vehicles coming in from Kosovo for 11 years.

European Union and U.S. officials have stepped up efforts to bring Serbia and Kosovo closer to an agreement on fully normalizing their relations. The West fears Russia could try to destabilize the Balkans to avert at least some attention from its invasion of Ukraine.
…

In Kherson, residents were without lights and water Sunday as the city’s Russian-installed officials accused Ukraine of “sabotage” without evidence.

The Kremlin-installed administration in Kherson said an airstrike — the “result of an attack organized” by Ukraine — damaged “three concrete poles of high-voltage power lines.”

The authorities said energy specialists were working to “quickly” resolve the issue, according to Agence France-Presse.

However, Yaroslav Yanushevych, the head of the Kherson regional administration, blamed Russia for the power outages.

Yanushevych wrote on Telegram: “In temporarily occupied Beryslav, Russian troops blew up high-voltage power lines. About one and a half kilometers of utility poles and lines were destroyed.”

The “damage is quite extensive,” he added, according to AFP.

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and other officials have said in the past month that between 30% and 40% of Ukraine’s energy infrastructure has been destroyed by Russian airstrikes.

He said in his nightly video address Sunday, “As of this evening, stabilization blackouts continue in Kyiv and six regions. More than 4.5 million consumers are without electricity. Most of them are now in Kyiv and the Kyiv region. It’s really difficult.”

Residents told to prepare for worst

In Kyiv, Mayor Vitali Klitschko warned the city’s residents Sunday that they must prepare for the worst this winter — such as having no electricity, water or heat in the freezing cold — if Russia keeps striking the country’s energy infrastructure.

“We are doing everything to avoid this. But let’s be frank, our enemies are doing everything for the city to be without heat, without electricity, without water supply, in general, so we all die. And the future of the country and the future of each of us depends on how prepared we are for different situations,” Klitschko told state media.

The United Nations Climate Change Conference, commonly referred to as COP27, opened in Egypt Sunday with the summit being overshadowed by Russia’s war in Ukraine.

U.K. representative Alok Sharma, who was the president of COP26, said at the ceremonial opening speech at COP27: “(Russian President Vladimir) Putin’s brutal and illegal war in Ukraine has precipitated multiple global crisis, energy and food insecurity, inflationary pressures and spiraling debt.

“These crises have compounded existing climate vulnerabilities and the scarring effects of the pandemic,” Sharma added.

Sameh Shoukry, incoming COP27 president and Egyptian foreign minister, expressed concern Sunday that crises related to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine should not overshadow action on climate change.

Ukrainians cautious in Kherson

In Kherson, Russia is increasing its evacuation of residents from the conflict zone and acknowledging the deteriorating situation in the region. At least 70,000 civilians have been moved from Kherson, which fell to Russian forces within days of the start of the conflict in February.

While a bloody battle for the city is predicted, the “situation in Kherson is clear as mud,” Michael Kofman, the director of Russian studies at CNA, a research institute in Arlington, Virginia, wrote in an analysis this week, The New York Times reported. “Russian forces seemed to withdraw from some parts, evacuated and drew down, but also reinforced with mobilized personnel.”

Residents of the city report abandoned checkpoints and no more Russian patrols, but Ukrainian officials are cautious, believing Moscow is setting a trap.

Meanwhile, Zelenskyy said, in reference to the Iranian regime, that everyone who helps Russia prolong this war must bear responsibility for the consequences of this war.

“If it was not for the Iranian supply of weapons to the aggressor, we would be closer to peace now. And this means closer to a complete solution to the food crisis. Closer to solving the cost-of-living crisis. Closer to stabilization at the energy market. Closer to reliable security against radiation blackmail, which Russia does not give up,” Zelenskyy said.

Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian admitted for the first time Saturday that Iran sent drones to Russia, but he said that was before the war.

In his Sunday night video address, Zelenskyy dismissed Iran’s admission of providing only a limited number of drones to Russia. He said Ukrainian forces are downing unmanned aerial vehicles daily.

The United States and its Western allies on the U.N. Security Council have called on Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to investigate whether Russia has used Iranian drones to attack civilians in Ukraine.

Also Sunday, Britain’s defense ministry said in its daily intelligence report about Ukraine that there has been a “series of dismissals of senior Russian military commanders since the onset of the invasion in February 2022.”

The report said, “These dismissals represent a pattern of blame against senior Russian military commanders for failures to achieve Russian objectives on the battlefield. This is in part likely an attempt to insulate and deflect blame from Russian senior leadership at home.”

In its intelligence update Saturday, however, the British defense ministry said “Russia is probably struggling to provide military training for its current mobilization drive and its annual autumn conscription intake. The Russian Armed Forces were already stretched providing training for the approximate 300,000 troops required for its partial mobilization, announced in September.

“These issues,” the ministry said, “will be compounded by the additional regular autumn annual conscription cycle” that begins in November for about 120,000 conscripts.

Russia has resorted to training troops in Belarus, the ministry said, “due to a shortage of training staff, munitions and facilities in Russia.” The intelligence update said that “deploying forces with little or no training provides little additional offensive combat capability.”

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

The mayor of Ukraine’s capital of Kyiv is warning residents that they must prepare for the worst this winter if Russia keeps striking the country’s energy infrastructure — that means there might not be any electricity, water or heat when temperatures fall below freezing.

“We are doing everything to avoid this. But let’s be frank, our enemies are doing everything for the city to be without heat, without electricity, without water supply, in general, so we all die. And the future of the country and the future of each of us depends on how prepared we are for different situations,” Mayor Vitali Klitschko told state media.

Russia has focused on striking Ukraine’s energy infrastructure over the last month, causing power shortages and rolling outages across the country. Kyiv was scheduled to have hourly rotating blackouts Sunday in parts of the city and the surrounding region.

Rolling blackouts also were planned in the nearby Chernihiv, Cherkasy, Zhytomyr, Sumy, Kharkiv and Poltava regions, Ukraine’s state-owned energy operator, Ukrenergo, said.

Kyiv plans to deploy about 1,000 heating points but noted that this may not be enough for a city of 3 million people.

Russian forces ‘occupying and evacuating’ Kherson

As Russia intensifies its attacks on the capital, Ukrainian forces are pushing forward in the south. Residents of Ukraine’s Russian-occupied city of Kherson received warning messages on their phones urging them to evacuate as soon as possible, Ukraine’s military said Sunday. Russian soldiers warned civilians that Ukraine’s army was preparing for a massive attack and told people to leave for the city’s right bank immediately.

Russian forces are preparing for a Ukrainian counteroffensive to seize back the southern city of Kherson, which was captured during the early days of the invasion. In September, Russia illegally annexed Kherson as well as three other regions of Ukraine and subsequently declared martial law in the four provinces.

The Kremlin-installed administration in Kherson already has moved tens of thousands of civilians out of the city.

Russia has been “occupying and evacuating” Kherson simultaneously, trying to convince Ukrainians that they’re leaving when in fact they’re digging in, Nataliya Humenyuk, a spokeswoman for Ukraine’s Southern Forces, told state television.

“There are defense units that have dug in there quite powerfully, a certain amount of equipment has been left, firing positions have been set up,” she said.

Russian forces are also digging in in a fiercely contested region in the east, worsening the already tough conditions for residents and the defending Ukrainian army following Moscow’s illegal annexation and declaration of martial law in Donetsk province.

‘Destruction is daily, if not hourly’

The attacks have almost completely destroyed the power plants that serve the city of Bakhmut and the nearby town of Soledar, said Pavlo Kyrylenko, the region’s Ukrainian governor, said. Shelling killed one civilian and wounded three, he reported late Saturday.

“The destruction is daily, if not hourly,” Kyrylenko told state television.

Moscow-backed separatists have controlled part of Donetsk for nearly eight years before Russia invaded Ukraine in late February. Protecting the separatists’ self-proclaimed republic there was one of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s justifications for the invasion, and his troops have spent months trying to capture the entire province.

While Russia’s “greatest brutality” was focused in the Donetsk region, “constant fighting” continued elsewhere along the front line that stretches more than 1,000 kilometers (620 miles), Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in his nightly video address.

Between Saturday and Sunday, Russia launched four missiles and 19 airstrikes hitting more than 35 villages in nine regions — from Chernihiv and Kharkiv in the northeast to Kherson and Mykolaiv in the south, according to the president’s office. The strikes killed two people and wounded six, the office said.

In the Donetsk city of Bakhmut, 15,000 remaining residents were living under daily shelling and without water or power, according to local media. The city has been under attack for months, but the bombardment picked up after Russian forces experienced setbacks during Ukrainian counteroffensives in the Kharkiv and Kherson regions.

The front line is now on Bakhmut’s outskirts, where mercenaries from the Wagner Group, a shadowy Russian military company, are reported to be leading the charge.

Yevgeny Prigozhin, founder of the group who has typically remained under the radar, is taking a more visible role in the war. In a statement Sunday he announced the funding and creation of “militia training centers” in Russia’s Belgorod and Kursk regions in the southwest, saying that locals were best placed to “fight against sabotage” on Russian soil. The training centers are in addition to a military technology center the group said it was opening in St. Petersburg.

In Kharkiv, officials were working to identify bodies found in mass graves after the Russians withdrew, Dmytro Chubenko, a spokesperson for the regional prosecutor’s office, told local media.

DNA samples have been collected from 450 bodies discovered in a mass grave in the city of Izium, but the samples need to be matched with relatives and so far only 80 people have participated, he said.

In one sliver of good news, the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant was reconnected to Ukraine’s power grid, local media reported Sunday. Europe’s largest nuclear plant needs electricity to maintain vital cooling systems, but it had been running on emergency diesel generators since Russian shelling severed its outside connections.
…

Britain’s Defense Ministry said Sunday in its daily intelligence report about Ukraine that there has been a “series of dismissals of senior Russian military commanders since the onset of the invasion in February 2022.”

The report said, “These dismissals represent a pattern of blame against senior Russian military commanders for failures to achieve Russian objectives on the battlefield. This is in part likely an attempt to insulate and deflect blame from Russian senior leadership at home.”

Heavy fighting and explosions were reported Saturday by authorities in Ukraine’s southern Kherson region.

Over the previous 24 hours Ukrainian forces attacked nine locations, including an ammunition depot in the Kherson region, using Russian military equipment that they had seized.

“[Ukrainian forces] prepare for another stage of an offensive on the Kherson Region. Artillery brigade groups, mortar batteries, tactical aviation planes and army aviation helicopters inflict massive fire within their preparation for an assault,” the Moscow-installed Deputy Governor Kirill Stremousov said on his Telegram channel Saturday.

Russia continues to target the country’s energy and water infrastructure, reportedly destroying 30% to 40% of its energy system, leading to increased rolling blackouts meant to protect the county’s power grid from failing.

Meanwhile, external power lines have been repaired and reconnected to Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant two days after it was taken off the power grid when Russian shelling damaged high voltage lines, the International Atomic Energy agency said Saturday.

IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi again called for a nuclear safety and security protection zone to be set up around the plant to prevent a nuclear accident.

“We can’t afford to lose any more time. We must act before it is too late,” he said.

Russia is increasing its evacuation of residents from the conflict zone and acknowledging the deteriorating situation in the Kherson region. At least 70,000 civilians have been moved from Kherson, the only regional capital captured by Moscow since February.

Pro-Kremlin media members have reported that Russian troops have moved their headquarters 80 kilometers to the southeast, destroying infrastructure and looting the city as they leave, residents and Ukrainian officials said, according to The New York Times.

While a bloody battle for the city is predicted, the “situation in Kherson is clear as mud,” Michael Kofman, the director of Russian studies at CNA, a research institute in Arlington, Virgina, wrote in an analysis this week, the Times reported. “Russian forces seemed to withdraw from some parts, evacuated and drew down, but also reinforced with mobilized personnel.”

Residents of the city report abandoned checkpoints and no more Russian patrols, but Ukrainian officials are cautious, believing Moscow is setting a trap.

In its intelligence update Saturday, however, the British defense ministry said that “Russia is probably struggling to provide military training for its current mobilization drive and its annual autumn conscription intake. The Russian Armed Forces were already stretched providing training for the approximate 300,000 troops required for its partial mobilization, announced in September.

“These issues,” the ministry said, “will be compounded by the additional regular autumn annual conscription cycle” that begins in November for about 120,000 conscripts.

Russia has resorted to training troops in Belarus, the ministry said, “due to a shortage of training staff, munitions and facilities in Russia.” The intelligence update said that “deploying forces with little or no training provides little additional offensive combat capability.”

Iranian drones

Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian admitted for the first time Saturday that Iran sent drones to Russia, but he said that was before the Russian invasion of Ukraine, where Russia has been using drones to target power stations and civilian infrastructure.

However, in a video address, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy dismissed Iran’s admission of providing only a limited number of drones to Russia before the war on Ukraine. He said Ukrainian forces are downing at least 10 or the unmanned aerial vehicles daily.

The U.S. and its Western allies on the U.N. Security Council have called on Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to investigate whether Russia has used Iranian drones to attack civilians in Ukraine.

Meanwhile, the U.S. is providing about $400 million in additional security assistance to Ukraine as the fight against Russia’s invasion enters its ninth month.

The U.S. military assistance includes refurbishing HAWK air defense missiles, funding for 45 refurbished T-72B tanks with advanced optics, communications, and armor packages, 1,100 Phoenix Ghost tactical unmanned aerial systems, 40 armored riverine command boats, funding to refurbish 250 M1117 armored security vehicles, as well as tactical secure communications systems and surveillance systems, along with funding for training, maintenance, and sustainment.

In his nightly address Friday, Zelenskyy thanked the United States for its latest military assistance and said it is the armored vehicles in particular that “we very much need to move forward at the front.”

“I am grateful to President Biden, the U.S. Congress and the entire American people for the continued and vital assistance,” he said.

The Associated Press and Reuters provided information for this report.
…

The German version of the television show The Voice had a special guest Saturday on its final episode of the season.

Rana Mansour, an Iranian American singer, performed the protest song For, (Baraye) a song dedicated to Mahsa Amini, the 22-year-old Iranian woman who died recently after being arrested by Iranian police. Amini was detained for wearing her headscarf “improperly.”

Mansour performed the song in English so that it could be understood by an international audience.

Demonstrators have taken to the streets across Iran since Amini’s death, protesting not only her death, but the restrictions that many, especially women, face in Iran.

At the end of her performance, Mansour held up her fingers in the Victory sign and said, “Woman, life, freedom,” a phrase chanted by Iranian protesters.

Mansour received a standing ovation.
…

The Biden administration is privately encouraging Ukraine’s leaders to signal an openness to negotiate with Russia and drop their public refusal to engage in peace talks unless President Vladimir Putin is removed from power, The Washington Post reported Saturday.

The paper quoted unnamed people familiar with the discussions as saying that the request by American officials was not aimed at pushing Ukraine to the negotiating table, but a calculated attempt to ensure Kyiv maintains the support of other nations facing constituencies wary of fueling a war for many years to come.

It said the discussions illustrated the complexity of the Biden administration’s position on Ukraine, as U.S. officials publicly vow to support Kyiv with massive sums of aid “for as long as it takes” while hoping for a resolution to the eight-month conflict that has taken a big toll on the world economy and triggered fears of nuclear war.

The paper said U.S. officials shared the assessment of their Ukrainian counterparts that Putin is not for now serious about negotiations but acknowledged that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s ban on talks with him had generated concern in parts of Europe, Africa and Latin America, where the war’s effects on costs of food and fuel are felt most sharply.

“Ukraine fatigue is a real thing for some of our partners,” the Post quoted one unnamed U.S. official as saying.

The White House National Security Council had no immediate comment when asked if the report was accurate, while a spokesperson for the State Department responded by saying: “We’ve said it before and will say it again: Actions speak louder than words. If Russia is ready for negotiation, it should stop its bombs and missiles and withdraw its forces from Ukraine.

“The Kremlin continues to escalate this war. The Kremlin has demonstrated its unwillingness to seriously engage in negotiations since even before it launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.”

The spokesperson also noted remarks by Zelenskyy on Friday, in which he said: “We are ready for peace, for a fair and just peace, the formula of which we have voiced many times.”

In his nightly address to the Ukrainian people on Friday, Zelenskyy added: “The world knows our position. This is respect for the UN Charter, respect for our territorial integrity, respect for our people.”

U.S. National Security adviser Jake Sullivan said during a visit to Kyiv on Friday that Washington’s support for Ukraine would remain “unwavering and unflinching” following next Tuesday’s midterm congressional elections.
…

Hundreds of environmental activists wearing white overalls stormed an area holding private jets at Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport and stopped aircraft from leaving for hours by sitting in front of their wheels Saturday.

Military police moved in and were seen taking dozens of the protesters away in buses. More than 100 activists were arrested, national broadcaster NOS reported.

The protest was part of a day of demonstrations in and around the air hub organized by Greenpeace and Extinction Rebellion in the buildup to the COP27 climate talks in Egypt.

No delays to commercial flights were reported.

“We want fewer flights, more trains and a ban on unnecessary short-haul flights and private jets,” Greenpeace Netherlands campaign leader Dewi Zloch said.

The environmental group says Schiphol is the largest source of carbon dioxide emissions in the Netherlands, emitting 12 billion kilograms annually.

Hundreds of other demonstrators in and around the airport’s main hall carried signs saying, “Restrict Aviation” and “More Trains.”

Responding to the protest, Schiphol said it aims to become an emissions-free airport by 2030 and supports targets for the aviation industry to reach net zero emissions by 2050.

Military police tasked with airport security said in a statement they had “made a number of detentions of persons who were on airport property without being allowed.”

The Dutch government announced plans in June for a cap on annual passengers at the airport at 440,000, around 11% below 2019 levels, citing air pollution and climate concerns.

Transportation Minister Mark Harbers told parliament last month his office could not control growing private jet traffic, and the government is considering whether to include the issue in its climate policy.
…

European lawmaker Jordan Bardella replaced his mentor Marine Le Pen on Saturday at the helm of France’s leading far-right party and pledged to defend French civilization from perceived threats posed by immigration and work closely with far-right parties around Europe.

Bardella, 27, won an internal party vote with 85% support, marking a symbolic changing of the guard at the resurgent National Rally party. He is the first person to lead the party who doesn’t have the Le Pen name since it was founded a half-century ago.

The National Rally is seeking to capitalize on its recent breakthrough in France’s legislative election and growing support for far-right parties in Europe, notably in neighboring Italy. It’s also facing broad public anger over a racist comment this week by a National Rally member in parliament.

Marine Le Pen is still expected to wield significant power in the party’s leadership and run again for France’s presidency in 2027. She says she stepped aside to focus on leading the party’s 89 lawmakers in France’s National Assembly.

To broad applause, she hugged Bardella after the results were announced at a party congress on Paris’ Left Bank, and both raised their arms in victory. Le Pen said Bardella’s main challenge will be pursuing the party “roadmap” of taking power in France.

“We are going to win!” supporters chanted.

Anti-racism activists, union leaders and politicians protested nearby Saturday against the National Rally, denouncing what many see as a creeping acceptance of its xenophobic views.

Yeliz Alkac, 30, told The AP that she was demonstrating to support people who face persistent racism in France. She described shock and dismay that the racist remark toward a Black lawmaker in parliament was seen as “normal” by some in France.

“The fact that the National Rally has 89 lawmakers at the National Assembly is a strong signal. It should be a warning about how the extreme right is going strong,” she said.

In his speech Saturday, Bardella defended the National Rally legislator who was suspended over the remark, calling him a victim of a “manhunt.”

Bardella described his family’s Italian immigrant roots and pride at becoming French but made it clear that not all foreigners are welcome.

“France shouldn’t be the world’s hotel,” he said, calling for “drastic” limits on immigration.

He welcomed a representative of Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni’s far-right party who came to the congress, calling for a “rapprochement” of similar forces in Europe.

Bardella had been the interim president of the National Rally since Le Pen entered the presidential race last year. He beat out party heavyweight Louis Aliot, 53, who had argued that the National Rally needs to reshape itself to be more palatable to the mainstream right.

“Bardella’s election feels like a fresh push,” said party member Marie Audinette, 23. “He embodies the youth.”

Audinette, who grew up in a working-class neighborhood in Bordeaux, said that her country “was perishing,” citing deteriorating public services that struggled to cope with the COVID-19 pandemic. She also described “a clear change of population” in Bordeaux.

Some far-right supporters in France increasingly refer to the false “great replacement” conspiracy theory that the populations of Western countries are being overrun by nonwhite, non-Christian immigrants. The claim, propagated by white supremacists, has inspired deadly attacks.

Le Pen lost to French President Emmanuel Macron on her third presidential bid in April but earned her highest score yet. Two months later, her party won its most seats to date in the lower house of parliament.

Le Pen has worked to remove the stigma of racism and antisemitism that clung to her party. She has notably distanced herself from her now-ostracized father Jean-Marie Le Pen, who co-founded the party then called the National Front and has been repeatedly convicted of hate speech.

“Bardella is part of a generation of young, very young, people who engaged themselves behind Marine Le Pen in the 2010s and who probably wouldn’t have joined the National Rally during Jean-Marie Le Pen’s era,” political scientist Jean-Yves Camus told The Associated Press.

According to Camus, Saturday’s party vote won’t question Le Pen’s leadership.

“Le Pen won’t have to deal with the party (now) and can focus on the most important thing, leading the party’s lawmakers in the National Assembly,” he said.
…

Two German-run migrant rescue ships carrying nearly 300 rescued people were waiting off the eastern coast of Sicily Saturday, one with permission to disembark its most vulnerable migrants while the other ship’s request for a safe port has gone unanswered despite “critical” conditions on board.

The situation describes the chaos and uncertainty resulting from the decision by Italy’s far-right-led government to close its ports to humanitarian rescue ships.

Nearly 1,100 rescued migrants are aboard four ships run by European charity organizations stuck in the Mediterranean Sea, some with people rescued as long as two weeks ago amid deteriorating conditions on board.

Both the Humanity 1 and Rise Above ships, run by separate German humanitarian groups, were in Italian waters: the Humanity 1 carrying 179 migrants has received permission to disembark minors and people needing medical care, but the Rise Above’s request for port for its 93 rescued people has so far gone unanswered.

By Saturday afternoon, there was still no word on when the Humanity 1 evacuations might start, or on safe ports for the other ships.

The SOS Humanity charity challenged Italy’s move to distinguish “vulnerable” migrants, saying they were rescued at sea, which alone qualifies them for a safe port under international law.

Italy’s only Black lawmaker in the lower chamber, Aboubakar Soumahoro, said he would join migrants on the ship if Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni’s government did not act soon to aid all those blocked at sea.

Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi said Friday that the Humanity 1 would be allowed in Italian waters only long enough to disembark minors and people in need of urgent medical care.

The measure was approved after Germany and France each called on Italy to grant a safe port to the migrants and indicated they would receive some of the migrants so Italy wouldn’t bear the burden alone.

No such provisions have been offered to the other three ships, and both the Geo Barents, carrying 572 migrants, and the Rise Above have entered Italian waters without consent despite repeated requests for a safe port. The Ocean Viking with 234 migrants remained in international waters, south of the Strait of Messina.

“We have been waiting for 10 days for a safe place to disembark the 572 survivors,” Juan Mattias Gil, the head of mission for the Geo Barents said. Operation chief Riccardo Gatti said besides suffering from skin and respiratory infections, many on board were stressed by the prolonged period at sea.

SOS Humanity, which operates Humanity 1, alone said it had made 19 requests for a safe port, all unanswered. The boat is carrying 100 unaccompanied minors as well as infants as young as 7 months old.

Italy’s new far-right-led government is insisting that countries whose flag the charity-run ships fly must take on the migrants. Speaking at a news conference late Friday, Piantedosi described such vessels as “islands” that are under the jurisdiction of the flag countries.

Infrastructure Minister Matteo Salvini, known for his anti-migrant stance as interior minister from 2018-19, cheered the new directive that he signed along with Italy’s defense and interior ministers.

“We stop being hostage to these foreign and private NGOs that organize the routes, the traffic, the transport and the migratory policies,” Salvini said in a Facebook video.

Nongovernmental organizations stridently oppose that interpretation, and say they are obligated by the law of the sea to rescue people in distress, no matter how they learn of their plight, and that coastal nations are obligated to provide a safe port as soon as feasible.

“The Italian Minister of Interior’s decree is undoubtedly illegal,” says Mirka Schaefer, advocacy officer at SOS Humanity. “Pushing back refugees at the Italian border violates the Geneva Refugee Convention and international law.”

Most have traveled via Libya, where they set off in unseaworthy boats seeking a better life in Europe, often being subjected to torture by human traffickers along the way.

While the humanitarian-run boats are being denied a safe port, thousands of migrants have reached Italian shores over the last week, either on their own in fishing boats or rescued at sea by Italian authorities.

The situation on the Rise Above was particularly desperate, with 93 people packed aboard the relatively small 25-meter boat. Spokesperson Hermine Poschmann described a “very critical situation that … led to very great tensions” on board, because passengers saw land and didn’t understand why they weren’t docking.

The head of mission on the vessel, Clemens Ledwa, demanded a port of safety immediately, citing also bad weather and the limited capacity of the small ship.

“This is not a wish. This is everyone’s right,” he said Friday. 
…

Behind wire fences in southeast England, children wave their arms and chant “freedom” to grab the attention of people on the other side. A young girl throws a bottle with a message inside. “We need your help. Please help us,” the note reads.

The children are among thousands of people being held in dangerously overcrowded conditions at a closed airport serving as a processing center for migrants who recently arrived on British shores after crossing the English Channel in small boats. The situation there has reignited a heated debate about the Conservative U.K. government’s treatment of asylum-seekers.

Located at the site of a former British air force base that had a short life as the civilian Manston Airport, the center in Kent was designed as a short-term processing facility housing about 1,600 newcomers. Up to 4,000 were staying there at one point this week, with some reportedly detained unlawfully for a month or more.

Independent government inspectors said they saw families sleeping on floors in prison-like conditions that presented fire and health hazards. The inspectors warned of the risk of outbreaks after cases of scabies, diphtheria and other conditions were reported. 

“Welcome to the U.K,” read a headline in the Metro newspaper, accompanied by a close-up photo of young children gazing out from behind metal fences. 

Facing pressure over the situation, U.K. Home Secretary Suella Braverman defended the government’s policies and described the increasing number of migrants arriving via the English Channel as “an invasion on our southern coast.” Her comment drew widespread condemnation.

The conditions at the center in the village of Manston has put a spotlight on wider problems in Britain’s asylum system, which is struggling to cope with a record number of small boat crossings at a time when border officials are trying to clear a massive backlog of refugee applications. 

‘Lack of political will’

“We’ve got this kind of perfect storm of more people coming — which the government was warned about — and added to the mix we have this huge waiting list of around 100,000 individuals who have sought asylum,” said Jonathan Ellis, the policy and public affairs lead at Britain’s Refugee Council. “There’s a lack of political will, a lack of political focus, and therefore, (a lack of) the associated resources to really tackle this issue.”

Around 40,000 people from countries that include Iran, Afghanistan, Iraq and Albania have crossed one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes in dinghies and other unseaworthy boats from northern France so far this year, hoping to start new lives in the U.K. 

That’s the highest number ever recorded, and it represents an exponential increase from 2018, when only 299 migrants were detected arriving in England in small boats without authorization, official data showed. Last year, there were 28,536. 

Dozens of people have lost their lives attempting the passage, including 27 who died when a packed smuggling boat capsized in November 2021.

Braverman, who is known for an uncompromising approach to immigration, has blamed criminal gangs for facilitating the crossings and focused on what she called spurious claims by some of those seeking refuge. 

She told lawmakers in Parliament this week to “stop pretending that they are all refugees in distress.” Her harsh language has drawn criticism, including from within the governing Conservative Party. Some critics accuse Braverman of fueling anti-immigration hate.

‘Scapegoating migrants’ 

“The government rhetoric since I arrived has been scapegoating migrants, blaming us for the problems of this country. But it’s gotten a lot worse,” said Hassan Akkad, a documentary maker who fled Syria in 2012 to seek asylum in the U.K. 

“When you have a home secretary comparing asylum-seekers to an invading enemy, you are giving a green light to the public to attack them,” added Akkad, who works with refugee charity Choose Love. 

The overcrowding at the Manston center reached a breaking point this week after hundreds of people were moved there from another migrant processing center nearby that was hit with gasoline bombs. Police said the man who carried out the Oct. 30 attack and killed himself afterward was likely driven by a “hate-filled grievance.”

Braverman also faced accusations that she blocked hotel bookings for asylum-seekers to ease overcrowding at Manston and ignored legal advice on the matter. She denied the claims. 

Critics say government incompetence in managing Britain’s asylum system extend beyond Manston and precede Braverman becoming interior minister in September. The opposition Labour Party said only 4% of asylum claims from small boat arrivals were processed last year, meaning that more than 100,000 people are in limbo waiting for their applications for protection to be considered. 

Britain as magnet

The U.K. is a preferred destination in Europe for migrants who speak English or have family connections in the country. Before the coronavirus pandemic, many tried to cross from northern France by hiding in freight trucks traveling through the Channel Tunnel. 

COVID-19 travel restrictions and stricter security measures on the route made the hazardous sea journey a more viable way to enter the U.K. 

But despite the unprecedented increase in people arriving in small boats, the U.K. receives far fewer asylum-seekers than many other European countries, including France, Germany and Italy. Last year, 48,540 people applied for British asylum, compared to 148,200 applicants in Germany and more than 103,000 in France. 

A controversial deal the U.K. government struck with Rwanda in April added to its reputation of not being the most welcoming. The agreement called for deporting some asylum-seekers to the African country, where their claims would be processed, and successful applicants would be allowed to stay in Rwanda. The plan was meant to deter people from entering the U.K. illegally, but no one to date has been deported because of legal challenges to the policy.  

U.K. authorities have also sought to work with their French counterparts to stop the Channel crossings. The two sides engaged in tense wrangling over the issue last year, but relations appeared to improve after Liz Truss — and her successor Rishi Sunak — became prime minister. 

In a call with French President Emmanuel Macron last week, Sunak said the U.K. and France were “committed to deepening our partnership to deter deadly journeys across the Channel that benefit organized criminals.”

Ellis, at the Refugee Council, said authorities ultimately would need to focus less on hostile rhetoric and deterrence and more on safer routes for legitimate asylum seekers to apply for refuge. 

“We need to challenge this political rhetoric that people should only come to this country through legal routes,” he said. “Ostensibly that’s reasonable, but for someone who’s fleeing the Horn of Africa, where are they meant to go? What are those safe routes? There is none.”
…

John Kirby, the National Security Council’s coordinator for strategic communications, spoke with VOA White House bureau chief Patsy Widakuswara on whether President Joe Biden is signaling his support for regime change in Iran, the latest on the Ukraine war, North Korean provocations ahead of Biden’s trip to Asia and whether the president will meet with Chinese leader Xi Jinping.

This transcript has been edited for brevity and clarity.

VOA: I’m going to start with what the president said last night on the campaign trail in California. He said, “Don’t worry, we’re going to free Iran. They’re going to free themselves pretty soon.” Is the president signaling his support for regime change in Tehran?

John Kirby: What he was signaling was our solidarity with the protesters in Iran. And he’s been doing that from the outset, Patsy. I mean, right from the well of the U.N., [he] made it clear that we stand in solidarity with these Iranian protesters as they try to fight for their basic human rights, and for what a woman can wear or not wear. The Iranian leadership is dealing with problems of its own making. But ultimately, the future of Iran should belong to the Iranian people.

VOA: So, the first part of that statement, ‘Don’t worry, we’re going to free Iran.’ That’s not a change in policy? Did the president misspeak?

Kirby: The president was speaking very plainly, as he has, about how much we stand in solidarity with the Iranian protesters. But as I said, the future of Iran should belong to the Iranian people.

VOA: I’m going to continue with Iran. At this point, what do we know about what else Iran is doing for Russia beyond sending drones? Have they sent surface-to-surface ballistic missiles, short-range ballistic missiles at this point? Are they still training personnel, Russian personnel, in Crimea?

Kirby: I don’t have an update on [the] Iranian presence in Crimea. We know they were there to provide technical assistance and training for some of these drones that they provided the Russian military. We haven’t seen any indication that they’ve transferred any other weapons or technology, for instance, surface-to-surface missiles, but we’re watching as best we can. The mere fact that Iran and Russia are talking about the possibility for additional capabilities, be they UAVs or be they missiles, just shows you how much more isolated both countries are from the rest of the international community. And it shows you how desperate Mr. Putin is becoming with his own defense industrial base — that he has to rely on outside suppliers like Iran and now, potentially, North Korea.

VOA: On North Korea, this was what you said earlier this week: that you have intelligence that Pyongyang is supplying artillery to Russia to —

Kirby: Covertly supplying, yes.

VOA: Yeah. And funneling it through a third country. Can you share what that third —

Kirby: And perhaps more than one “third country.” I don’t have any more detail that I’m willing to share on, on what exact countries we’re talking about. But our information is that they are covertly supplying artillery shells, trying to funnel them through third-party countries, so as to make it look like it’s not a direct transfer into the Russian military ranks.

VOA: And you’re saying third-party countries at this point, so possibly more than one? I just want to clarify … 

Kirby: Possibly more than one.

VOA: OK, staying on Iran. Earlier this week, there was a warning of a potential attack on Saudi soil. And the warning was that the attack is imminent, within days. Is that still a credible threat?

Kirby: We’re still watching this threat. We have to take it very, very seriously, Patsy. I don’t have any additional updates for you on the imminence. But we work collaboratively with our Saudi partners here on the intelligence collection side just to see what the threat really is. And again, we took this threat seriously, as we do all threats. I mean, there are 70,000 Americans living in Saudi Arabia, thousands of troops, and we’re still committed to helping Saudi Arabia with its self-defense capabilities. This is a country that comes under frequent attack from Iran-backed rebels in Yemen, the Houthis, and Iran has made no bones about the fact that they’re willing to continue to foment the activities of terrorist groups and groups like the Houthis who are willing to use violence inside Saudi Arabia. So, it’s a legitimate, valid threat. We take it seriously. And we’re going to keep working with the Saudi Arabians to see what we can do to help them defend themselves.

VOA: And the U.S. security support for Saudi does not change, despite the fact of their recent decision with OPEC+ to cut production, as the administration says, siding with Russia?

Kirby: We have a strategic partnership with Saudi Arabia – have for eight decades. We have 70,000 Americans that live and work there, including some of our troops. We have a commitment to help Saudi Arabia defend itself and we’re still staying at that. Now, look, the president does want to take a look at the bilateral relationship given the OPEC decision, but he hasn’t made any decisions one way or another. The team is still producing some options for him. He wants to have discussions with members of Congress when they come back to town after the election. So, we’ll leave that aside for right now. We’re still going to do that. But we’re also going to meet our commitments to help Saudi Arabia defend itself against what are clearly viable threats.

VOA: OK. I want to go back again to North Korea, John. Just this morning, South Korea said that it detected 180 North Korean military flights near its border. We know that North Korea has launched dozens of missiles, including one that landed off the coast of South Korea for the first time. This is all happening right before the president’s trip to the region. Are you bracing for more provocations, including the possibility of North Korea attempting another nuclear test while the president and the vice president are in the region?

Kirby: We’ve said for quite some time that North Korea could conduct a nuclear test and anytime … so we’re watching this as best we can. And obviously, we’re concerned about these provocations, so many of the ones that you just named over the last 24 hours alone. We’ve also said that we’re willing to sit down with Mr. Kim and the regime in Pyongyang, without preconditions, to talk about the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. That’s still the goal; that hasn’t changed. At the same time, because he’s shown no interest in doing that – quite the contrary, he’s shown a lot of interest in increasing tensions on the peninsula – we have to make sure that we’re militarily ready for all outcomes. As the U.S. troops on the peninsula like to say, they have to be ready to fight tonight, if need be. Now, obviously, nobody wants it to come to that. But that’s why we’re conducting yet another annual, long-planned exercise with the South Koreans. They’ve extended it for an extra day. We have conducted both bilateral exercises with them as well as our Japanese allies, and trilateral exercises between the three of us, because we have to make sure that we’re militarily ready.

VOA: So, what’s the game plan here with North Korea? You’re bolstering the security of Japan and South Korea, you’re offering dialogue, but it seems that this posture of just increased deterrence from both sides just makes it seem like escalation is inevitable.

Kirby: The only side escalating here is the Kim regime. They’re the ones that are popping off these missiles and rockets and conducting these flights.

VOA: But we are increasing our military exercises as well.

Kirby: But our exercises and our treaty commitments to South Korea are defensive in nature, defensive in nature. So, there’s only one side here that’s provoking and that’s increasing tensions and instability on the peninsula. And that’s why we continue to urge that they take us up on our offer to sit down without preconditions to begin a dialogue over denuclearization of the peninsula, because that still remains our goal.

VOA: I want to move on to Ukraine. John, is the U.S. at this point considering sending tanks or other tracked vehicles that would be helpful in the fight, especially heading toward the winter and winter terrain there?

Kirby: Well, I think you’re going to see at the Pentagon, here, very shortly an announcement of some additional funding to help refurbish some T-72 tanks that the Ukrainians know how to use and operate. So, what we’re going to do is we’re going to work to help make sure that they can refurbish some of the T-72 tanks that they already know how to use. But when I tell you we’re working in lockstep with the Ukrainians, almost every day to talk about what their capabilities are, what they need and what we can do to provide them. And right now, the big focus is on air defense. The United States has been providing air defense since the very beginning of this conflict. We are still looking at what we can do with more advanced capabilities to help them knock down these drones and these cruise missiles that the Russians keep firing in civilian infrastructure. We’re also working with allies and partners; some 40 other countries are contributing security assistance to Ukraine – France, Spain, Germany have been real big contributors with respect to providing some additional air defense capabilities, so we are working —

VOA: Any update on the Patriot missile defense?

Kirby: I don’t have any updates with respect to Patriots. We’re going to work to see what we can do to help Ukraine with their air defense capabilities. And if it’s not something that we can provide, then we’re going to make sure that we can work with allies and partners who have these capabilities, who might be willing to provide them as well. And I think you’re going to see in [the] coming days some additional announcements out of the Pentagon about more creative ways we can do that.

VOA: We do see at this point that Moscow does seem to be softening its rhetoric, saying that “a nuclear war cannot be won and must never be fought.” They also returned to the Black Sea grain deal. Do you see this as the beginning signs of a detente and what do you credit that to?

Kirby: I think it’s encouraging to hear that the Russians are saying they’re not interested in a nuclear exchange. We hope that they actually mean that, because we agree with them. A nuclear war should never be fought, and it certainly can’t be won. And there’s no reason to escalate the tensions, the war inside Ukraine, any more than they already are. Too many Ukrainian people have been killed, too many have been injured, too many have been flung from their homes and are now finding refuge in other countries outside their own home country. The war needs to end. It could end today if Mr. Putin would do the right thing.

VOA: Do you see him as softening, though?

Kirby: I think we have to look at what’s actually happening on the ground. And what’s happening on the ground is that the Russians continue to try to hold and occupy Ukrainian land in the Donbas and in the south. The Russians continue to flow in reservists now, calling up 300,000 reservists. They conducted a sham referendum to try to politically annex ground they couldn’t occupy militarily and then try to put martial law in place. They’re going to countries like Iran and North Korea for additional capabilities. This is — we’re judging them by what they’re doing, not by what they’re saying. What they’re doing is showing every indication of continuing to want to prosecute this war and kill innocent Ukrainian people. And so, we have to do everything we can, and we are, to help the Ukrainians defend themselves against those threats. Now again, look, if they mean what they say about the dangers of nuclear war, then that’s a welcome sign. But we have seen the Russians say things and then do the complete opposite in the future, which is why we’re going to continue to monitor this as best we can.

VOA: So, we are seeing increased strategic competition with China. We just discussed a whole bunch of threats coming from North Korea, from Iran and also the war in Ukraine. We are seeing a partisan divide at home, increased economic pressures, we’re seeing political violence at home. So overall, it just doesn’t feel like it’s a safe time under the Biden administration. Is that a fair characterization?

Kirby: President Biden takes nothing more seriously than his role as commander in chief and his duty to secure our national interests, abroad and at home. And I think you can see that virtually everything he’s done throughout the first 18 months here of his administration, working to shore up alliances and partnerships around the world. Relationships that were strained under the previous administration. Trying to restore some trust and confidence. You’ve heard the president say America’s back. Well, now, when he heads off to the G-20 next week, he cannot only reaffirm that America’s back, but he can talk about how America is leading. We are putting our money where our mouth is; we’ve now contributed an extra 20,000 troops to Europe alone. There’s now 100,000 soldiers and troops in Europe, contributing to the security of the eastern flank of NATO. And now we’re going to have two extra members of NATO. Because again, we have shown some leadership and are willing to put our skin in the game in terms of securing our national interests around the world.

VOA: Speaking about the president’s trip to the region. He’s going to Phnom Penh; he’s going to Bali. President Xi Jinping will also be in the region. We don’t know whether President Vladimir Putin will attend in person. What is top of mind for the president for his trip in Asia? What would he consider a successful trip?

Kirby: The president’s looking forward to this, again, because it’s an opportunity to engage with foreign leaders about so many shared challenges that affect all of us. And it’s certainly, I would expect, an opportunity for the president to talk with foreign leaders, too, about the instability in the European continent, thanks to Mr. Putin’s unprovoked war, and the instability that exists now certainly in Northeast Asia with what Kim Jong Un is doing with these provocations, and a chance to get the perspectives of foreign leaders about what collectively the international community can do to try to ease these tensions and to help end this war in Ukraine. So there’s a lot of very practical reasons to go on this trip and to have these conversations, but he’s also looking at an opportunity to talk about shared challenges that all these nations face, whether we agree with them or not on the issues, or even some of the things that are shared, but climate change, pandemics, the, you know, what, when the next one’s going to be and what that’s going to look like and how do we continue to work together to get through COVID, transnational terrorism, food security, that’ll be on the agenda, and that is too a global problem. So, there’s an awful lot on the president’s agenda as he heads into this trip and he’s very much looking forward to it. I’ll end by just saying: It’s also, again, another opportunity to make sure that international partners understand how committed the United States is to our leadership role in the world and how that leadership can actually contribute to everybody’s better security, not just the United States.

VOA: Can you confirm at this point the Biden-and-Xi meeting there?

Kirby: I cannot. There are working-level discussions right now about the potential for a bilateral meeting, but I don’t have anything to report at this time.

VOA: Thank you very much, John Kirby. I’ll see you in the region.

Kirby: I look forward to it. Thank you.
…

Iran’s foreign minister on Saturday acknowledged for the first time that his country has supplied Russia with drones, insisting the transfer came before Moscow’s war on Ukraine that has seen the Iranian-made drones divebombing Kyiv. 

The comments by Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian come after months of confusing messaging from Iran about the weapons shipment, as Russia sends the drones slamming into Ukrainian energy infrastructure and civilian targets. 

“We gave a limited number of drones to Russia months before the Ukraine war,” Amirabdollahian told reporters after a meeting in Tehran.

Previously, Iranian officials had denied arming Russia in its war on Ukraine. Just earlier this week, Iran’s Ambassador to the U.N. Amir Saeid Iravani called the allegations ‘totally unfounded” and reiterated Iran’s position of neutrality in the war. The U.S. and its Western allies on the Security Council have called on Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to investigate if Russia has used Iranian drones to attack civilians in Ukraine.

Even so, Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard has vaguely boasted of providing drones to the world’s top powers. Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has extolled the efficacy of the drones and mocked Western handwringing over their danger. During state-backed demonstrations to mark the 1979 U.S. Embassy takeover on Friday, crowds waved placards of the triangle-shaped drones as a point of national pride. 

As he acknowledged the shipment, Amirabdollahian claimed on Saturday that Iran was oblivious to the use of its drones in Ukraine. He said Iran remained committed to stopping the conflict. 

“If [Ukraine] has any documents in their possession that Russia used Iranian drones in Ukraine, they should provide them to us,” he said. “If it is proven to us that Russia used Iranian drones in the war against Ukraine, we will not be indifferent to this issue.”
…

Only dialogue and diplomacy can end the devastating war in Ukraine, with total victory on the battlefield impossible for either warring party, members of a group of prominent former world leaders founded by Nelson Mandela said Friday.

The group, known as The Elders, delivered that message to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, telling him on a visit to Kyiv this summer that he must start considering a way out of the conflict, former Irish President Mary Robinson who chairs the group know as The Elders said in a meeting with Associated Press executives.

“We need to encourage more thinking about how it will end in order to get the idea that this needs to end, as opposed to increasing the military arsenal on both sides and the devastation to the population in Ukraine,” said Robinson, who also served as U.N. high commissioner for human rights.

The Elders have condemned Russia’s Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine as “a flagrant violation of the United Nations Charter and a reckless, unjustifiable act of aggression that threatens to destabilize world peace and security.” In late September, The Elders also condemned Russia’s illegal annexation of four Ukrainian regions and defended Ukraine’s right to defend its territory and sovereignty.

Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein, a previous U.N. human rights commissioner, agreed that diplomacy and negotiation were the only way out of the war, but he stressed that did not mean asking Ukraine to cede its sovereignty, since it was the victim of unprovoked Russian aggression.

He hinted that a settlement of the conflict could instead involve Russia receiving a concession “from another direction,” a possible reference to NATO, or one of its key members. Russian President Vladimir Putin has long complained the Western alliance has been pushing closer to its borders, a reality he has cited in justifying the invasion.

Former Mexican President Ernesto Zedillo said that despite economic sanctions imposed by the European Union and the United States “the flow of resources to finance this war has continued,” including the huge influx of oil revenue to Russia.

“I think there should be less hypocrisy about the way in which this bellicose economic war is being fought,” he said.

Zedillo also accused Russia of committing crimes that the International Criminal Court is charged with addressing — genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity — and that have to be decided by “due process.”
…

Nineteen-year-old-year-old Mykyta wants to be a doctor, but not right now. Instead, he, like other young men and women in Ukraine, has volunteered to join the fight against invading Russian troops. Anna Kosstutschenko has the story. VOA footage and video editing by  Paviel Syhodolskiy.
…

Europe’s challenges in formulating a common approach to China were on display this week as German Chancellor Olaf Scholz set out on a high-profile visit to Beijing while lawmakers from seven European countries and the European Union were winding up a show of solidarity in Taiwan.

The eight lawmakers — from Belgium, Britain, the Czech Republic, Germany, Kosovo, the Netherlands, Ukraine and the European Parliament — belong to IPAC, the global Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China. The group was established two years ago with the goal of alerting their governments to what they see as a threat to peace and democracy posed by China as it is led by the Chinese Communist Party.

The group met with Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen, who thanked them for their work to strengthen political and economic ties between democratic countries and Taiwan. Tsai was gifted with a traditional shirt known as a vyshyvanka by Ukrainian lawmaker Mykola Kniazhytskyi, while Foreign Minister Joseph Wu was given a pair of boxing gloves signed by brothers Vitali and Wladimir Klitschko, former champion fighters who have gained further fame with the Russia-Ukraine war. Vitali Klitschko is also known as a former mayor of Kyiv.

“Thank you for passing on the fighting spirit of Ukraine to Taiwan. We stand in solidarity and box against authoritarianism,” Wu said in a statement posted on social media, alongside photos of himself putting the gloves into action.

Els Van Hoof, a member of the Belgian parliament, spoke Thursday at a press conference hosted by the IPAC lawmakers in Taipei. “Taiwan’s safety — and the safety of all our democracies — grows with stronger partnerships,” she said. “We will push to increase the number of inter-parliamentary visits between Taiwan and our legislatures, to aid mutual understanding and cooperation.”

IPAC lawmakers are also committed to “work towards appropriate military and defense cooperation between our countries and Taiwan,” while pushing for Taiwan’s greater involvement in international institutions and increased bilateral trade, Van Hoof said.

Dutch lawmaker Sjoerd Wiemer Sjoerdsma told VOA before leaving Taipei on Friday that he was impressed by the resilience and optimism he witnessed on the trip.

“Nevertheless, the sense of urgency among their leaders is real,” he said. Taiwan’s leaders, he noted, are committed to de-escalating tension and are seeking international partners to help them do this, while preparing for the scenario “in which the threats of the leader of the Chinese Communist Party are not just rhetoric.”

The delegation was led by Reinhard Buetikofer, a member of the German Green Party who was among 10 European lawmakers sanctioned by Beijing in March 2021 for what the Chinese foreign ministry described as severely harming China’s sovereignty and interests “and maliciously spread[ing] lies and disinformation.” The action followed unilateral sanctions imposed on China by the EU over Beijing’s human rights record.

In Taipei, the government presented Buetikofer with its Grand Medal of Diplomacy for his “determination to stand up for democracy, strengthen Taiwan-EU ties and support our international participation.”

As the IPAC lawmakers wound up their trip to Taiwan, Chancellor Scholz was headed to Beijing with some of Germany’s leading business executives. Facing criticism over the trip at home, he defended it in a recent opinion article published jointly by Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung and Politico.

Acknowledging the consolidation of Communist Party rule and power under Chinese leader Xi Jinping, Scholz wrote that it “is precisely because ‘business as usual’ is no longer an option in these circumstances that I’m traveling to Beijing.”

“The outcome of the Communist Party Congress that has just ended is unambiguous: Avowals of Marxism-Leninism take up a much broader space than in the conclusions of previous congresses … As China changes, the way that we deal with China must change, too,” Scholz wrote.

However, the visit remains controversial even for some members of Scholz’s governing coalition, which includes Buetikofer’s Green Party and the traditionally pro-business Free Democratic Party (FDP), one of whose members was part of the IPAC delegation to Taiwan.

Speaking to VOA in September, legislator Gyde Jensen, a member of the FDP who participated in the IPAC delegation, said China’s treatment of Hong Kong and the Muslim minorities in Xinjiang have “disqualified” Beijing as a “trusted member of our rules-based order, which should alarm [every]one, especially those who conduct business there.”

Human rights “in my opinion, is the lens that every politician should look through, because human rights are at the heart and center of our liberal democracies,” Jensen said while in Washington to attend IPAC’s 2022 summit.

“I firmly believe that we can only counter the growing influence of the Chinese Communist Party and preserve our rules-based order if we join forces and build alliances across the globe,” Jensen added.
…

Two U.S. senators met with families in Ukraine’s capital Thursday and promised continued humanitarian support for the war-torn country as winter nears.

Democrat Chris Coons and Republican Rob Portman emphasized their commitment to the people of Ukraine while visiting a distribution center in Kyiv and speaking to families bracing for a dark, cold season with inadequate heating and electricity.

Ukrainian authorities say Russian strikes on energy infrastructure have knocked out 40% of the country’s energy system, cutting off power for tens of thousands of people. Although crews make repairs as quickly as possible, it’s not certain they will be able to keep up with the damage.

“Russia has responded to Ukraine’s success on the battlefield by once again attacking not on the battlefield but attacking the civilians of Ukraine. Trying to turn off the lights, turn off the heat, turn off the water. It’s cowardly. It’s brutal,” Portman said at a news conference. “We cannot let this stand.”

‘The most important fight for freedom’

Since Russia invaded Ukraine in February, the U.S. government has provided $1.5 billion in humanitarian assistance to millions of people in Ukraine and neighboring countries, according to the United States Agency for International Development.

Last month, the U.S. announced a $55 million, five-year investment in Ukraine’s heating infrastructure to support repairs and the maintenance of pipes and other equipment needed to heat homes, hospitals, schools and businesses.

Watch related video by VOA’s Patsy Widakuswara:

Coons and Portman’s trip came less than a week before the crucial U.S. midterm elections. Coons said the elections would not impact future support for Ukraine, whatever the outcome.

“I am confident that bipartisan robust American support for the fight of the Ukrainian people will continue in Congress,” he said. “The United States has long been a nation that fights for freedom, and this is the most important fight for freedom in the world today.”

Residents of southern Ukraine’s city of Mykolaiv have been without water for a month. People on the front line of the fighting in the eastern city of Bakhmut live in constant fear of not having heating and electricity, said Governor Pavlo Kyrylenko, head of the regional administration of the Donetsk region.

Earlier this week, a barrage of Russian cruise missiles and drone strikes hit Kyiv, Kharkiv and other Ukrainian cities, knocking out water and power in several areas in apparent retaliation for what Moscow alleged was a Ukrainian attack on its Black Sea Fleet in Crimea.

In Kyiv, water was cut off to 80% of the capital city’s more than 3 million people. Residents lined up to fill water containers at hand pumps around the city. Workers quickly repaired the damage, and water supplies resumed within about 12 hours.

“Thank god this water problem is in autumn, when it’s not so cold. But we don’t know what the war will bring in winter,” Yulia Shypik, a Kyiv resident, said while waiting in line at a pump. “It’s the first time in our lives we have a situation like this. We don’t know what will be tomorrow.”

‘The toughest winter of their lives’

Russia’s illegal annexation and declaration of martial law in four regions of Ukraine may make it more difficult for civilians to move in and out of those areas and for aid groups to reach vulnerable people, according to the United Nations.

Aid groups warn that while governments have given tens of billions of dollars to support Ukraine, people are displaced from their homes and living without reliable access to electricity, water and food.

“After eight months of a relentless war, they are preparing to face what may be the toughest winter of their lives,” Matthew Hollingworth, the emergency coordinator in Ukraine for the U.N.’s World Food Program, told The Associated Press.
…

Chancellor Olaf Scholz is making his first visit to China as German leader this week, a diplomatically delicate trip while Germany and the European Union work on their strategy toward an increasingly assertive and authoritarian Beijing.

Scholz’s messages will face close scrutiny. While his nearly year-old government has signaled a departure from predecessor Angela Merkel’s firmly trade-first approach, he is taking a business delegation and his trip follows domestic discord over a Chinese shipping company’s investment in a German container terminal.

The leader of Europe’s biggest economy will meet President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang during Friday’s one-day visit. With China still imposing tough COVID-19 restrictions, his delegation won’t stay in Beijing overnight.

Scholz’s visit, the first recently by a major EU leader, comes just after Xi was named to a third term as head of the ruling Communist Party and promoted allies who support his vision of tighter control over society and the economy. It is also accompanied by rising tensions over Taiwan and follows a U.N. report that said Chinese human rights violations against Uyghurs and other ethnic groups may amount to “crimes against humanity.”

A senior German official, who briefed reporters on condition of anonymity in line with department rules, characterized the visit as “an exploratory trip” to find out “where China stands, where China is going and what forms of cooperation are possible with this specific China in the current global situation.”

The official pointed to China’s “particular responsibility” as an ally of Russia to help end the war in Ukraine and press Moscow to tone down its nuclear rhetoric; to concerns over tensions in Taiwan and the broader region; to Germany’s desire for a “level playing field” in economic relations; and to Scholz’s current status as this year’s chair of the Group of Seven industrial powers.

Even as political relations have grown tenser, business ties have flourished. China was Germany’s biggest trading partner in 2021 for the sixth consecutive year, its biggest single source of imports and its No. 2 export destination after the U.S.

Scholz’s government has sought to balance those ties with recognition that China is increasingly a competitor and “systemic rival,” as well as a partner on issues such as climate change. His three-party coalition has pledged to draw up a “comprehensive China strategy.”

That is still pending. But Russia’s war in Ukraine is concentrating minds as Germany grapples with the fallout of having depended on Russia for over half its natural gas supplies. This year, Germany has scrambled to end that dependence, while Russia eventually shut off supplies.

Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said Sunday that she fears “that a mistake Germany made in recent years with Russia could be repeated.” And, she told ARD television, “we must prevent that.”

Baerbock’s comments came after the government argued over whether to allow China’s COSCO to take a 35% stake in a container terminal at the Hamburg port. Baerbock and others in two junior coalition parties opposed the deal while Scholz downplayed its significance. In a compromise, COSCO was cleared to take a stake below 25%, above which an investor can block a company’s decisions.

Scholz has appeared to tread a middle path on China. Unlike his two immediate predecessors, he made Japan rather than China his first Asian destination. He is encouraging companies to diversify, but isn’t discouraging business with China.

After an EU summit last month, he said: “No one is saying that we have to get out of there, we can’t export there any more, we can’t invest there and we can’t import from China any more.”

But, in an increasingly multipolar world, ”we shouldn’t concentrate on just a few countries,” he said, adding that “not putting all your eggs in one basket” is wise.

At the same summit, leaders of the 27-nation EU discussed reducing their dependence on China for technology equipment and raw minerals, and agreed to demand a better balance of economic relations while working with Beijing on global issues.

Scholz said in an article for the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung newspaper that he’s traveling “as a European,” and Berlin consulted closely with European and trans-Atlantic partners before the visit. He said “Germany’s China policy can only be successful if embedded in a European China policy.”

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian said Tuesday that Beijing believes Scholz’s visit “will inject new impetus” into the development of the “comprehensive strategic partnership” between the two countries “and contribute to world peace, stability and growth.”

“Current Sino-German relations can be characterized as ‘cold politically and hot economically,’” said Ding Chun, director of the Center for European Studies of China’s Fudan University, using a formulation often used to describe Beijing’s relations with Japan. But Ding said the visit will help promote bilateral relations by showing support for economic ties and multilateralism in the face of calls for “decoupling.”

In Germany, many are warier.

Scholz should warn China against substantial support for Russia in the Ukraine war, make clear to its leaders that Germany is committed to EU unity toward Beijing, and to German managers the extent of the geopolitical risks they might face, said Guntram Wolff, the director of the German Council on Foreign Relations think tank.

Some recent decisions “looked more as though they want to take up the Merkel tradition, in which people thought they could bring about change through trade and so on,” he said.

The head of Germany’s domestic intelligence agency, Thomas Haldenwang, recently made a comparison with the turmoil over the Ukraine war, saying that “Russia is the storm, China is climate change.”

Some human rights groups have urged Scholz to cancel the trip, but German officials argue that they won’t achieve anything if they don’t attempt dialogue.
…