Immigrants from Belarus, Ukraine and other Eastern European countries are actively exploring the American IT startup market. One immigrant-run venture capital firm is helping them find investments. Evgeny Maslov has the story, narrated by Anna Rice. Camera: Michael Eckels.
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The European Commission has recently recommended opening negotiations for Ukraine and Moldova to join the European Union. And the smaller Moldova, like its northern neighbor, Ukraine, is also contending with Russian troops inside its borders. VOA Pentagon correspondent Carla Babb reports from Chisinau. (Camera and Video Edited by Ricardo Marquina)
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London — In 1979, British painter Martin Lever was only 9 years old when he moved to Hong Kong because his father was employed as a surveyor in the Hong Kong Housing Department. He tells VOA’s Cantonese service that growing up in the multicultural city gave him a very different upbringing, one he is grateful for to this day.

Lever returned to England to attend university and worked there for several years. But he returned to Hong Kong, where he pursued a career in the advertising industry. By the time he left in May 2022, he had spent a total of 36 years living in the Asian city.

Lever, who also goes by the Chinese name Li Wah, was not always an artist. He worked as a copywriter in international advertising companies in the 1990s, and later rose to the position of creative director. It was during his final years in advertising that he slowly became a full-time artist. Hong Kong has long been his muse, and his paintings of mostly urban street scenes, grassroots workers and elements of life capture Hong Kong’s characteristics in an abstract style.

Many Hong Kong people do not realize that most of their lives occur high in the sky, he said.

“They live on the 10th floor, work on the 20th floor and eat on the 30th floor,” said Lever. Hong Kong, when seen from a high altitude from the ground, is very different. Works derived from this concept have been popular, he said.

It wasn’t until more recently that he started to turn his attention to politics and the political turmoil of Hong Kong. Using his earlier perspectives, he created a series of works titled “Above the Protests,” scenes of Hong Kong’s mass demonstrations from above.

In 2021, he exhibited the work at the Affordable Art Fair in Hong Kong. Before it began, he received a notice hinting that exhibits should avoid controversy. He had no choice but to rename the work “Above the Streets,” but that experience made him start to question just how much room there was for freedom of expression as an artist in Hong Kong.

Lever said he fully supported the peaceful demonstrations of the 2014 Umbrella Movement in Hong Kong. During the 2019 mass protests, while he was shocked by the violence on the streets, he believed that the root of the problem was then-Chief Executive Carrie Lam’s unwillingness to talk to the demonstrators. Lam regarded the incident as a matter of law and order.

Life in Hong Kong turned harder for him during the COVID-19 pandemic, as he was unable to visit his family in Britain. On his return to Hong Kong, he endured what he describes as a painful hotel quarantine, one of the reasons that made him decide to leave Hong Kong. After the National Security Law came into effect, his doubts about the future of Hong Kong grew stronger.

Lever said a lot of people wondered if the National Security Law was good or bad, also wondering if it was just a way to stop the violence until there could be a dialogue. But then he saw the targeting of those who had been critical of Beijing – pro-democracy media tycoon Jimmy Lai, Catholic priests – and the closing down of the Apple Daily newspaper.

“And it was, like, ‘Why are they doing this? This is so unnecessary,’’’ Lever said. “I guess that’s the game China plays. That started to impact me; it made me angry, that this should not be happening in Hong Kong.”

He said some of his Western friends who still live in Hong Kong remained neutral about law-abiding people being jailed, songs and books being banned and media outlets being shut down. They could still go through life as usual, he said.

“But having grown up in Hong Kong and having benefited from having so many freedoms and opportunities that came for me because of that, having employed so many young Chinese guys and girls over the years in advertising, and to see that they are slowly now being denied some of the freedoms that we take for granted, it makes me very sad and very angry,” he said. “Upon leaving Hong Kong, I felt I had to express this through my art.”

In his new collection “Silent Protest,” the mouths of Hong Kong people standing in front of libraries, subways, banks and courts have become closed zippers or covered by Chinese national flag face masks, a metaphor for the ubiquity of deathly silence under Hong Kong’s National Security Law.

Lever’s paintings are filled with quotes from former Chinese leader Mao Zedong. He said this is because many of Mao’s sayings are the same as what young Hong Kong residents were demanding.

“Mao said things like anyone can criticize the Communist Party; he said we work for the people; he said New China must look after her youth,” he said. “The layers of irony in putting these two things together, I felt, was very powerful.”

Like Lever, many Hong Kong residents have now moved to the U.K., part of wave of mass emigration. Though he now lives in a small town in northeastern England, he is happy that he can always see some Hong Kong people living close to him. He said they seem to be satisfied with their new lives despite the challenges of being uprooted from their home.

Lever said he hopes that his new paintings will show the changes in Hong Kong to the outside world. He adds that he is not against the Hong Kong or Chinese governments, but just stating the facts.

“I know that there is a risk that maybe if this creates enough noise, maybe I would be blackballed too, which would be heartbreaking,” he said. “But if I was to be blackballed from Hong Kong for painting some paintings, then that would kind of underline the whole point of me doing this, because that’s a tragic situation.”

Lever’s artwork will be exhibited at The Crypt Gallery in London between December 15 and 17.
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WARSAW, Poland — The new Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk was sworn in by the president on Wednesday morning in a ceremony where each of his ministers was also taking the oath of office.

The swearing-in ceremony of the pro-European Union government took place in the presidential palace in Warsaw. It is the final step in a transition of power that has taken place this week.

It marks the end of eight tumultuous years of rule by a national conservative party, Law and Justice.

The government change follows a national election on Oct. 15 that was won by a group of parties that ran on separate tickets vowing to work together under Tusk’s leadership to restore democratic norms eroded by Law and Justice and mend alliances with allies that were also strained.

Tusk and his ministers arrived at the presidential palace in a bus in the white and red colors of Poland’s flag and the words: “We thank you, Poland!” They were greeted by cheering supporters.

Tusk’s government won a vote of confidence in parliament on Tuesday evening after giving an inaugural speech there in which he vowed to demand that the West keep up its support for Ukraine.

Tusk called on Poland’s fractious political class to unite, saying it cannot afford divisions while Russia is waging a war of aggression across the border, a conflict many fear could spread if Moscow prevails.
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Ukraine’s president, alongside President Joe Biden, pleaded with U.S. lawmakers Tuesday to approve $61 billion in aid for the country as it continues to fight off Russia’s invasion. Without those funds, they say, a cold, grim winter looms. White House Correspondent Anita Powell reports.
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The White House — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, alongside President Joe Biden, on Tuesday forcefully, evocatively, and emotionally pressed his case for $61 billion in new U.S. aid to help his country fight off Russia’s invasion – a prospect that hangs in the balance as Congress decides on the matter.

Zelenskyy, who has met in person with Biden multiple times since the Russian invasion in early 2022, rejected the notion that his nation would cede territory to the Russians after nearly two years of brutal warfare.

“That’s insane, to be honest,” he said.

He added: “I don’t know whose idea it is, but I have a question to these people: if they are ready to give up their children to terrorists. I think not.”

Biden also pressed for Ukrainian victory and seemed to push back against starting negotiations with Moscow.

“We need to ensure Putin continues to fail in Ukraine and Ukraine to succeed,” he said. “And the best way for that to do that is to pass the supplemental” funding request.

But the U.S. Congress, which signs the checks, is not yet convinced. Earlier Tuesday, Zelenskyy met with lawmakers in an attempt to persuade them.

Republicans say they want to see “proper oversight” of the funding, and they also want to see “a clear articulation of strategy.”

Biden, meanwhile, accused Republicans of playing into Moscow’s hands by failing to pass the aid package.

“The host of a Kremlin-run show said, ‘Well done, Republicans. That’s good for us,’” he said, adding: “If you’re being celebrated by Russian propagandists, it might be time to rethink what you’re doing. History will judge harshly those who turn their back on freedom’s cause.”

Russia’s Foreign Ministry accused Zelenskyy of “cadging” – slang meaning to beg for something undeserved – and said he is an American puppet.

But U.S. taxpayers are showing signs of Ukraine fatigue, and some Republicans question why about a third of U.S. money goes not toward weapons, but government assistance.

John Jameson, a mine-clearing campaigner who recently visited the country, said Ukraine needs every penny.

“The deminers were working while we heard the sound of artillery going on,” he told VOA, on Zoom. “And they’re doing that because they know it’s essential for them to be able to start farming and producing and going back to work now so they can live so they can not only just to fight the war but so they can live but no, we can’t wait until the fighting is over.”

But when will it end? Analysts say this may take more than a year – and question whether Ukraine’s supporters are funding it enough, considering how well this small army has done against a much larger foe.

“They’ve become, in some ways, victims of their own success,” said Dalibor Rohac, a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute. “I don’t think we should be sort of reasonably asking Ukrainians to do more, especially given the almost homeopathic nature of Western assistance. When you think about the amounts of munitions that are being delivered – the miniscule amounts of long range artillery, precision artillery, air defenses, etc, etc, that are being delivered to Ukraine. I think they are making a really impressive use of very limited resources that are given to them, provided to them, against a much larger adversary.”

This urgent discussion comes as Biden on Tuesday announced another $200 million in military aid for Ukraine.

Speaking Monday at the National Defense University in Washington, Zelenskyy said Ukraine needs to “win the sky,” as he advocated for missiles, drones and jets to expand the Ukrainian military’s air defenses.

“It’s crucial that politicians don’t even try to betray the soldiers because, just like weapons are needed for their defense, freedom always requires unity,” Zelenskyy said.

Biden has asked Congress for a $110 billion package of wartime funding for Ukraine and Israel, along with other national security priorities. Ukraine would get more than $61 billion of that.

But Republicans in the U.S. Senate have balked, saying major U.S. border security changes are needed.

Some Republicans are asking for the immediate deportation of migrants who entered the country illegally, stripping them of a chance to seek U.S. asylum.

They have also called for greatly scaling back Biden administration programs that have allowed hundreds of thousands of migrants to enter the U.S. lawfully.

The U.S. has already provided Ukraine $111 billion for its fight against Russia’s 2022 invasion.

In his speech Monday, Zelenskyy emphasized the importance of defeating Russia in Ukraine because if Russia wins in Ukraine, he said, Russian President Vladimir Putin will not stop there.

“His [Putin’s] weapon against you right now is propaganda and disinformation. But if he sees a chance, he’ll go further,” he said. “Now, he’s shifting Russia’s economy and society [onto] what he calls ‘war tracks.’”

The Ukrainian president said that, so far, Ukrainian forces have taken back 50% of the territory they lost to Russia and pointed to the perseverance of Ukrainian “warriors” on the battleground.

“Right now, amid fierce battles, our soldiers are holding positions on the front and preparing for further actions, and we haven’t let Russia score any victory this year,” Zelenskyy said.

U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin also spoke at the National Defense University event, saying U.S. support in Ukraine is unshakeable.

“If we do not stand up [to] the Kremlin’s aggression today, if we do not deter other would-be aggressors, we will only invite more aggression, more bloodshed and more chaos,” Austin said.

IMF funding

The International Monetary Fund’s executive board on Monday approved a $900 million disbursement for Ukraine as part of an ongoing, long-term loan.

“Thank you for supporting Ukraine and celebrating the successes of our country and our people,” Zelenskyy said on his Telegram channel after his meeting with IMF chief Kristalina Georgieva Monday in Washington.

Georgieva said Ukraine’s economy had proven resilient despite Russia’s invasion in February 2022.

“Looking ahead, whereas the recovery is expected to continue, the outlook has significant risks stemming mainly from the exceptionally high war-related uncertainty,” Georgieva said in a statement, according to Reuters. “It is also critical that external financing on concessional terms continue on a timely and predictable basis.”

The IMF on Monday asked Ukraine to conduct an “ambitious” external commercial debt restructuring in the first half of 2024 to help restore debt sustainability.

Russian submarines

In a televised ceremony Monday, Putin inspected two nuclear submarines — the Krasnoyarsk and Emperor Alexander III — at the Sevmash shipbuilding yard in the arctic port of Severodvinsk.

The Emperor Alexander III is part of Russia’s new Borei [Arctic Wind] class of nuclear submarines, the first new generation Russia has launched since the Cold War.

Last month, the Russian Defense Ministry said the vessel had successfully tested a nuclear-capable Bulava intercontinental ballistic missile.

Security analysts say nuclear arms have assumed a greater importance in Putin’s thinking and rhetoric since the start of the Ukraine conflict, where his conventional forces are locked in a grinding war of attrition with no end in sight.

VOA’s Carla Babb contributed to this report. Some information came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.
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Washington — Russian authorities have added fresh charges in the case of an RFE/RL journalist held in custody since October.

Authorities now accuse Alsu Kurmasheva, a dual U.S.-Russian national, of spreading false news about the Russian military, Kremlin-backed media reported Tuesday.

Kurmasheva, a Prague-based editor at Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty’s Tatar-Bashkir Service, is already facing charges that she failed to register as a “foreign agent.” She and her network reject the charge, which carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison.

If convicted of spreading false news, Kurmasheva could face an additional 10 years in prison, according to the state-controlled Tatar-Inform news agency in Russia’s Tatarstan region and the Baza Telegram channel.

“We strongly condemn Russian authorities’ apparent decision to bring additional charges against Alsu,” RFE/RL acting President Jeffrey Gedmin said in a statement.

RFE/RL, like VOA, is an independent media outlet funded by the U.S. Congress.

The fake news charge is related to a book published by the RFE/RL Tatar-Bashkir Service in 2022 about Russians who oppose the invasion of Ukraine. Kurmasheva engaged in the book’s distribution, according to investigators. 

“Journalism is not a crime. It is time for this cruel persecution to end. Alsu has already spent 56 days unjustly detained and separated from her family,” Gedmin said. 

Press freedom groups have criticized the latest legal action. 

“The new charges against Alsu Kurmasheva lay bare the Kremlin’s true motivation for targeting her: the criminalization of independent journalism,” Clayton Weimers, executive director of the Reporters Without Borders U.S. office, said in a statement. 

“It has never been more clear that Alsu is wrongfully detained, and the U.S. State Department should designate her as such immediately,” Weimers added. 

Press freedom groups, RFE/RL and various U.S. lawmakers have urged the State Department to declare Kurmasheva wrongfully detained, which would open up additional resources to help secure her release.

Evan Gershkovich, the American Wall Street Journal reporter jailed in Russia, has been declared wrongfully detained by the U.S.

Detained in March, Gershkovich is charged with espionage. He, his employer and the U.S. government deny the charges against him. 

A State Department spokesperson previously told VOA that it “continuously reviews the circumstances surrounding the detentions of U.S. nationals overseas, including those in Russia, for indicators that they are wrongful.”

The Russian Embassy in Washington did not immediately reply to VOA’s email requesting comment. 

Based in Prague, Kurmasheva traveled to Russia in May for a family emergency. Her passports were confiscated when she tried to leave the country in June, and she was waiting for her passports to be returned when she was detained in October. 

The Supreme Court of Tatarstan on Tuesday confirmed that Kurmasheva’s pretrial detention will be extended until at least February 4.

On Sunday, activists in Kazan, Tatarstan, protested the Kremlin’s crackdown on independent journalists, including Kurmasheva, RFE/RL reported.

“Alsu Kurmasheva is a journalist, not a criminal,” one placard said. 

 
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Washington — Newly declassified U.S. intelligence indicates Russia has suffered from some staggering losses as a result of its nearly two-year-old invasion of Ukraine, including major setbacks during its latest offensive.

The assessment, parts of which were shared with VOA, estimates more than 13,000 Russian forces have been killed or wounded since Moscow launched its October offensive along the Avdiivka-Novopavlivka axis in eastern Ukraine.

U.S. intelligence also believes Ukraine’s military has destroyed or immobilized more than 220 Russian combat vehicles, the equivalent of six battalions’ worth of vehicles.

“Russia’s attempt at an offensive has resulted in no strategic gains,” National Security Council spokesperson Adrienne Watson told VOA in a statement, describing the Russian losses as “severe.” 

“But Russia is determined to press forward,” she added. “Russia seems to believe that a military deadlock through the winter will drain Western support for Ukraine and ultimately give Russia the advantage despite Russian losses and persistent shortages of trained personnel, munitions, and equipment.”

The decision to declassify the latest intelligence Tuesday comes as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is in Washington, visiting with U.S. lawmakers and with U.S. President Joe Biden.

During a speech at the National Defense University in Washington on Monday, Zelenskyy pleaded with U.S. lawmakers “not to betray” Ukraine’s forces and provide more weapons and support, warning Moscow sees Ukraine as “just a stepping-stone.”

“We know what to do,” he said. “You can count on Ukraine, and we hope just as much to be able to count on you.”

The White House has been pushing U.S. lawmakers to approve more than $61 billion in supplemental funding for Kyiv before the end of the year.

But some lawmakers have balked, with some Republicans insisting any deal to provide more money to Ukraine must also include provisions to strengthen U.S. immigration policies and security along the U.S. southern border with Mexico.

White House officials, however, point to the latest declassified intelligence to argue that funding for Ukraine simply cannot wait.

“This shows how Ukraine is having success stopping Russian forces, but Putin is continuing to order his troops forward,” a senior administration official told VOA, speaking on the condition of anonymity due to the sensitive nature of the intelligence and the political negotiations.

“It’s critical we continue to support Ukraine and make sure they have what they need to defend themselves,” the official added.

Top U.S. military and intelligence officials have previously said Russia’s losses in Ukraine have set its military back by as much as five to ten years.

Still, the Pentagon warned Monday a failure to back Ukraine will send Russian President Vladimir Putin the wrong message.

“Despite his isolation, Putin still believes that he can outlast Ukraine, and that he can outlast America,” Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said Monday, speaking with Zelenskyy at the National Defense University.  “If we do not stand up to the Kremlin’s aggression today, if we do not deter other would-be aggressors, we will only invite more aggression, more bloodshed, and more chaos.”

Patsy Widakuswara contributed to this report.
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DUBAI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES — Undeterred by wars at home, delegations from Ukraine and the Palestinian territories are active at COP28, determined to call attention not only to the environmental threats facing their homelands but also to emphasize their places in the global community.

Ukraine, attending its second COP international conference, is using its pavilion in Dubai to highlight the extensive environmental damage caused by Russia’s invasion and propose preventive measures against ecocide on a global scale.

Ruslan Strilets, Ukraine’s minister of environmental protection and natural resources, told VOA that the delegation aims not only to showcase the environmental and climate consequences of the war, but also to unite and engage the international community in achieving justice and peace.

Ukraine is committed to fighting climate change, Strilets said.

“Despite the war, Ukraine is finalizing the development of its climate architecture and consistently fulfilling its climate commitments. At COP28, we plan to gather even more partners around our country for a greener future for Ukraine and the entire world,” he said.

The Ukraine pavilion’s exposition is organized into three key blocks. One block recounts a catastrophic explosion at the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant dam in June, which flooded dozens of towns and villages and killed more than 50 people.

A second block illustrates Ukrainians’ efforts to swiftly rebuild what the war has destroyed, and the third block details the impact the war is having on the environment.

During a visit this week to the Ukrainian Pavilion, Moldova Energy Minister Victor Parlicov expressed his country’s endorsement of the COP28 Environmental Declaration and reiterated that Russia should be held responsible for the environmental harm resulting from the war.

Other visitors to the pavilion have included Slovakian President Zuzana Caputova and Keit Kasemets, first deputy minister of climate for Estonia.

In the Palestinian pavilion, Ahmed Abuthaher, director general of the West Bank-based Environment Quality Authority, told VOA his delegation is in Dubai “to tell people to look at us as humanitarians, and this conference is for human beings.”

“For climate change, we need to have easy access to the financial resources. We have water shortage and in some areas we have desertification,” he said, expressing hope for help from a Loss and Damage Fund announced on the first day of the conference.

A June 2022 report prepared by the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said that 78% of piped water in Gaza is unfit for human consumption.

According to the COP28 official webpage of their pavilion, the Palestinian leadership recognizes that collective efforts across sectors are crucial to the fulfillment of the conference’s climate commitments and ensuring a sustainable and resilient future.

Abuthaher emphasized the Palestinian commitment to participating in COP28 while calling for the global community to take meaningful action to address the issues faced by the Palestinian people.

The environmental damage inflicted by Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine has been documented in several studies, including an October 2022 report from the U.N. Environment Program finding that almost 1 million hectares (3,800 square miles) of land have experienced significant impact, with 812 specific sites facing threats.

VOA reported in January that the repercussions of the war extend as far as Indian-administered Kashmir, where ornithologists have cited its contribution to a scarcity of migratory birds.

COP28 delegate Ievgeniia Kopytsia, an associate of Oxford Net Zero at the University of Oxford in the U.K., said the war is also increasing carbon emissions that are widely blamed for rising temperatures worldwide.

“On top of the local pollution caused by the warfare,” she told VOA, a significant amount of greenhouse gas has been emitted into the atmosphere “caused by the consumption of fuel for military purposes, use of munitions, fires caused by shelling, bombing and mine-laying operations, and reconstruction of the civilian infrastructure.”

In July 2022, during a head-of-states conference in Lugano, Switzerland, the Ukrainian government unveiled the initial version of its 10-year national recovery plan, outlining proposed recovery pathways for major sectors at an estimated cost of $750 billion.

Kopytsia said participation in events such as COP28 can help turn that vision into a reality.

“Engaging with the global community in climate initiatives may foster diplomatic relations and provide opportunities for assistance in conflict resolution,” she said.

The impact of conflict on the environment must be addressed not only in Ukraine and Gaza but around the world, argued Simon Chambers, the director of ACT Alliance, a global alliance of more than 145 churches and other organizations from over 120 countries that provides humanitarian aid for poor and marginalized people.

“Climate justice is possible to be achieved, as is a just transition” to cleaner sources of energy, he said to VOA, but it will require all parts of society to come together — governments, nongovernmental organizations and businesses.

“We need to put the needs of the creation, of people and the planet ahead of profit and power,” he said. “If we all act in the face of the urgency of the climate emergency, it is possible to achieve the goals of the Paris Agreement and to do so in a way that is just.”
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WARSAW — New Prime Minister Donald Tusk set out a pro-European Union vision for Poland and pledged strong support for Ukraine on Tuesday, a day after his appointment ended eight years of nationalist rule that soured relations with the EU.  

Presenting his government’s plans to parliament, Tusk said Poland would be a loyal ally of the United States and a committed member of NATO, and signaled his determination to mend Warsaw’s ties with Brussels after years of feuding over issues ranging from judicial independence to LGBT rights.  

“Poland will regain its position as a leader in the European Union… Poland will build its strength, the position it deserves,” said Tusk, later promising to “bring back billions of euros” from Brussels. 

The European Commission, the EU executive, put significant funds earmarked for Poland on hold when the nationalist Law and Justice (PiS) party was in power because of concerns over the rule of law. 

Poland has gained approval to access $5.5 billion in advance payments as part of an EU program to encourage a shift from Russian fossil fuels. 

But the rest of a total of $64 billion  in green transition and COVID-19 recovery funds is frozen until Warsaw rolls back a judicial overhaul implemented by PiS which critics say undermined the independence of the courts. 

Despite his pro-EU line, Tusk, who was also prime minister form 2007 to 2014, said he would oppose any changes of EU treaties that would disadvantage Poland.  

“Any attempts to change treaties that are against our interests are out of the question … no one will outplay me in the European Union,” said Tusk, a former president of the European Council, which groups the leaders of EU member states. 

Tusk, 66, also promised his government would make defense a priority and honor previously signed arms contracts. 

PiS came first in an Oct. 15 election and had the first shot at forming a government, but lacked the necessary majority to do so after all other parties ruled out working with it. 

Tusk is expected to win a vote of confidence later on Tuesday, enabling his government to be sworn in by President Andrzej Duda on Wednesday morning. 

But, in a post on X, PiS lawmaker Mariusz Blaszczak called Tusk’s speech a “festival of lies,” criticized it for lacking specific policy details and said: “This is a bad time for Poland.” 

The final months of Mateusz Morawiecki’s PiS government were marked by a souring of relations with Kyiv, mainly over Warsaw’s extension of a ban on Ukrainian grain imports. 

With concerns growing in Kyiv about its Western allies’ commitment to funding its defense against Russia’s invasion, Tusk said Poland would advocate for continued support. 

“We will … loudly and decisively demand the full mobilization of the free world, the Western world, to help Ukraine in this war,” he said. 

Ukraine also faces the possibility that Hungary will not give the green light for it to start EU accession talks at a Brussels summit this week. 

Ties between Warsaw and Kyiv have been strained by a protest by Polish truckers who have blocked some border crossings in a dispute over Ukrainian trucking firms’ access to the EU. 

Tusk said he would quickly resolve issues behind the protest, and that Poland would ensure its eastern border — an external border of the EU — is secure. 

Poland has accused Belarus of orchestrating a migrant crisis on their mutual border. But human rights activists have accused Poland of mistreating migrants, mainly from the Middle East and Africa, who have sought access from Belarus. 

“You can protect the Polish border and be humane at the same time,” Tusk said. 

He said that after he returned from this week’s EU summit he would meet the leaders of the Baltic states in Estonia to discuss the Ukraine war and safe borders. 
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Germany expects Israel to adapt its military strategy to better prevent suffering among Palestinian civilians, Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said on Monday, marking a slight shift in Berlin toward a more critical stance of its ally.

Germany has staunchly defended Israel’s right to defend itself since the Hamas attacks on Oct. 7, underscoring its duty to stand by the country’s side in atonement for its perpetration of the Holocaust in which 6 million Jews died.

The government has faced accusations, including from prominent Jewish residents in Germany, of allowing guilt to blinker its response to Israel’s retaliation, which has caused a humanitarian crisis in Gaza.

German government officials have increasingly stressed the need for Israel to adhere to international law in its response to the Hamas attacks but have mostly avoided outright criticism of its actions in the Palestinian territories.

That has changed over the last week, with typically more outspoken foreign minister Baerbock leading the charge.

“We expect Israel … to allow more humanitarian aid, especially in the north, to ensure its military actions are more targeted and cause fewer civilian casualties,” the minister said at a news conference in Dubai on the sidelines of the United Nations climate summit.

Most of Gaza’s 2.3 million people have been driven from their homes and residents say it is impossible to find refuge in the densely populated enclave, with around 18,000 people already killed and conflict intensifying. 

“The question of how Israel carries out this battle is central to the perspective of a political solution,” Baerbock added.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who lit the first candle on Berlin’s giant menorah for the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah last week in solidarity with the Jewish people, has been less outspoken in his criticism.

Still, Scholz has increasingly called upon Israel to allow more humanitarian aid into Gaza and denounced the violence of Jewish settlers in the West Bank, including in a phone call on Saturday with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The foreign ministry last week said it welcomed the U.S. imposition of sanctions on a number of Israeli settlers over attacks on Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and called for the EU to consider similar sanctions.

 
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European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said on Monday he would propose sanctions against Jewish settlers responsible for violence against Palestinians in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

Borrell was speaking after EU foreign ministers debated possible next steps in their response to the Middle East crisis triggered by Palestinian militant group Hamas’s deadly Oct. 7 attack on Israel from Gaza.

While much international attention has focused on the cross-border assault and Israel’s subsequent war against Hamas in Gaza, European officials have also expressed increasing concern about rising violence against Palestinians in the West Bank.

Borrell said he would propose a special sanctions program to target Hamas – backed by the foreign ministers of France, Germany and Italy – but EU also had to act against violent Israeli settlers.

“The time has come to move from words to actions… and to start adopting the measures we can take with regard to the acts of violence against the Palestinian population in the West Bank,” Borrell told reporters after the meeting in Brussels.

U.N. figures show daily settler attacks have more than doubled since the Hamas attack and Israel’s assault on Gaza. 

Borrell said the ministers had not yet shown the unanimous support that would be necessary to pass such a measure, but he stressed he had not yet submitted a formal proposal.

EU officials would draw up a list of people known for attacks on Palestinians in the West Bank and he would then propose they be sanctioned for human rights abuses, he said.

Borell did not say what the sanctions would entail but EU officials have said they would involve bans on travel to the EU.

Diplomats have predicted it will be hard to get unanimity for EU-wide bans, as countries such as Austria, the Czech Republic and Hungary are staunch allies of Israel.

But some suggested a decision last week by the United States, Israel’s biggest backer, to start imposing visa bans on people involved in violence in the West Bank could encourage EU countries to take similar steps.

France said last month the EU should consider such measures and Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna told reporters on Monday that Paris was considering domestic sanctions against such individuals. Belgium has said it will ban them from its territory.

To be truly effective, however, any EU ban would have to be enforced across the bloc’s border-free Schengen zone.

The settlements are one of the most contentious issues of the decades-long Israel-Palestinian conflict. They are built on land captured by Israel in the 1967 Middle East War but which the Palestinians seek for a future independent state. They are deemed illegal by most countries but have consistently expanded over the years.

On the issue of a special sanctions program to target Hamas, Borrell said no minister had opposed the idea and he would bring forward a proposal for approval.

The EU already classifies Hamas as a terrorist organization, meaning any funds or assets that it has in the EU should be frozen.

In recent days, it has added Mohammed Deif, commander general of the military wing of Hamas, and his deputy, Marwan Issa, to its list of terrorists under sanction.

But the foreign ministers of France, Germany and Italy said in a letter to Borrell that a special Hamas sanctions program would send a strong political message and help the EU to target “Hamas members, affiliated groups and supporters of its destabilizing activities.”

 
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A monthlong blockade of Ukrainian border crossings by protesting Polish truck drivers was briefly lifted on Monday at one crossing, but by evening, police said the road leading to it was again impassable.

The lifting of the blockade for a few hours at the Yahodyn-Dorohusk crossing had allowed vehicles and goods to pass through into Ukrainian territory. Broadcaster Polsat News earlier reported that a Polish mayor had taken action to stop the blockade because he feared it would hurt local jobs.

Polish truckers have been blockading four of the eight road crossings between the two countries since early November to protest Ukrainian drivers getting permit-free access to the EU.

Monday evening, a police spokesperson in the border area said a truck had stopped diagonally across the road leading to the Yahodyn-Dorohusk crossing due to an apparent breakdown, blocking traffic in both directions.

She said a tow truck was on its way to remove the vehicle.

Earlier on Monday, European Union Commissioner for Transport Adina Vălean had welcomed the reopening of Yahodyn-Dorohusk, calling it “the most significant border crossing point between Poland and Ukraine.”

“I want to remind all involved parties of the damage these protests cause to the European economy, to the supply chains, to other road operators, and Ukraine, a country at war,” she said, calling for the remaining border crossing points to be unblocked without delay.

Thousands of trucks carrying commercial goods have been backed up for weeks at Poland’s border crossings with Ukraine because of the protests, which began on November 6.

The Polish truckers have accused their Ukrainian counterparts of using their permit-free access to the EU to undercut prices and offer services they are not allowed to.

They said on Monday their protest had not ended, and they were taking legal action against a reported local order disbanding one stoppage.

Oleksandr Kubrakov, deputy prime minister for the restoration of Ukraine, said 15 trucks had passed into Ukraine by the Yahodyn-Dorohusk crossing during the temporary halt. Plans called for trucks to be cleared to head the other way, Kubrakov said on Facebook.

Ukraine’s customs service had earlier reported that the Yahodyn-Dorohusk checkpoint was open in both directions.

It said on Telegram that 1,000 trucks were waiting to enter Ukraine from Poland, and 100 trucks would go in the opposite direction.

The protest has pushed up prices of fuel and some food items in Ukraine and delayed drone deliveries to its troops fighting invading Russian forces.

Both Kyiv and Brussels say the access agreement is not negotiable. But Deputy Infrastructure Minister Serhiy Derkach said Ukraine was open to talks.

“We are ready for a constructive dialog with the Polish authorities to resolve the situation completely and prevent further protests,” he wrote in a post on Facebook.

The Ukrainian border service also reported on Telegram that truckers in Slovakia had resumed a partial blockade of the country’s sole freight road crossing with Ukraine.
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Britain and Norway announced Monday that they were banding together to bolster Ukraine’s navy, saying that strong maritime forces were critical to countering Russia’s aggression and securing grain and steel shipments through the Black Sea.

As part of the effort, Britain is sending two mine-hunting ships, amphibious armored vehicles and coastal raiding boats to Ukraine, U.K. Defense Secretary Grant Shapps said.

Shapps and Norwegian Defense Minister Bjorn Arild Gram announced the formation of a maritime capability coalition during a news conference in London, saying other nations were expected to join soon, making it a “truly global affair.”

The European commitment to Ukraine in the face of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion remains firm, despite fears that U.S. funding will be cut off by a political dispute in Congress.

“Securing the seas is the only way to defeat a tyrant like Putin, to guarantee the long-term independence and prosperity for Ukraine and for the whole of Europe,” Shapps said.

British Foreign Secretary David Cameron last week trumpeted the success of Ukraine’s tiny naval forces against Russia’s Black Sea Fleet as an example of why the United States and other democracies should continue to provide military aid to the government in Kyiv.

“Ukraine doesn’t even really have a navy, but they have managed to sink about a fifth of the Russian Black Sea Fleet,” Cameron said at the Aspen Security Forum in Washington. “Well, that is … a remarkable thing.”

The new coalition will work with Ukraine to expand its forces in the Black Sea, develop a Ukrainian Marine Corps and enhance the use of river patrol craft to defend inland and coastal waterways, British authorities said.

The package of U.K. aid announced Monday includes 20 Viking armored personnel vehicles, which can be deployed rapidly using helicopters or landing craft and 23 coastal raiding boats that can be used to land small detachments of troops or as a firing platform for heavy machine guns.

Britain also said it had transferred two Sandown class vessels — designed to help clear mines from coastal waters — to Ukraine.

But deployment of the craft has been stalled by Turkey’s decision to prevent ships not based in the Black Sea from passing through the Bosporus Strait — a move designed to prevent the body of water from becoming a theater of war.

Britain first announced a deal to sell the two mine-hunting ships to Ukraine in June 2021, before Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Ukrainian personnel began training on the ships last year in Scotland.

“Our goal is to contribute to building a lasting Ukrainian naval capability,” Norway’s defense minister said. “In the further work, I hope Norway, as a sea-faring nation, can contribute with maritime expertise, new technological solutions and innovative thinking.”
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The whereabouts of Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny are currently unknown, with his allies saying he is no longer at the penal colony where he had been imprisoned since last year. 

Russian officials have not said where Navalny was taken, and there has been no comment from the Kremlin.

Navalny’s spokeswoman, Kira Yarmysh, said Monday had been due to make a court appearance via video link but did not. She said the prison cited problems with the electricity. The spokeswoman said the last time his lawyers and allies had heard from him was six days ago. 

Navalny was sentenced to 19 years in prison in August on charges of extremist activity. He was serving his sentence in a maximum-security prison, Penal Colony No. 6, in the town of Melekhovo in the Vladimir region more than 225 kilometers east of Moscow.

According to the Associated Press, Navalny had been expected to be transferred to a “special security” penal colony with the strictest security level in the Russian prison system. Transferring inmates from one prison to another in Russia can take weeks, with inmates having to take trains across the vast country, with limited to no information given about their well-being or location. 

The United States has expressed concern over the situation, with White House national security spokesman John Kirby saying, “He should be released immediately. He should never have been jailed in the first place.”

Navalny is considered Russian President Vladimir Putin’s strongest rival. He was arrested in January 2021 after returning from Germany, where he received treatment for nerve agent poisoning he blamed on the Kremlin. Moscow has denied involvement.

Navalny has campaigned against corruption and faced a number of charges that he denies.

Some have speculated Navalny’s disappearance was strategically timed, as it is the beginning of a campaign period for a presidential election.

“0% coincidence and 100% direct manual political control from the Kremlin,”

Navalny aide Leonid Volkov posted on X, formerly Twitter, in regard to the timing. “It is no secret to Putin who his main opponent is in these ‘elections’. And he wants to make sure that Navalny’s voice is not heard.”

Navalny’s disappearance also comes as some have grown concerned over his health.

Recently, “He felt dizzy and lay down on the floor. Prison officials rushed to him, unfolded the bed, put Alexei on it and gave him an IV drip. We don’t know what caused it, but given that he’s being deprived of food, kept in a cell without ventilation and has been offered minimal outdoor time, it looks like fainting out of hunger,” Navalny spokeswoman Yarmysh said.

Some information in this report came from The Associated Press and Reuters.
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The United Nations is appealing for $46.4 billion to provide life-saving assistance to more than 180 million of the world’s neediest people in 72 countries next year. The appeal comes as donor fatigue sets in amid the proliferation of natural and manmade disasters.

In launching its humanitarian appeal Monday, the U.N. warned that conflicts, climate emergencies and collapsing economies are wreaking havoc in vulnerable communities around the world, resulting in “catastrophic hunger, massive displacement, and disease outbreaks.”

Despite the devastating toll taken by these multiple overlapping emergencies on the lives of hundreds of millions of people, “the necessary support from the international community is not keeping pace with needs,” said Martin Griffiths, under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs and emergency relief coordinator.

While 300 million people need humanitarian assistance and protection, he noted that lack of money has forced the U.N. to drastically scale down its global humanitarian operations and target aid to fewer of the most destitute people.

“Against the backdrop of a severe and ominous funding crisis,” Griffiths said the U.N. was asking for $10 billion less than last year’s humanitarian appeal for $56.7 billion, noting that only $20 billion, just over one-third of the amount needed for 2023, had been received.

“If we cannot provide more help in 2024, people will pay for it with their lives,” he said.

The U.N. emergency chief cited the Palestinian people and Gaza, Sudan and Sudan westward as the places of greatest need, adding that the crisis in Gaza is likely to divert attention from other areas of great need.

“I think the ones that are being forgotten are parts of Africa, which have traditionally been in the front of our attention,” he said. “Even Ukraine now has difficulty getting on the news. It is becoming more and more difficult to get attention.”

He said, “It is becoming like a hit parade of where the worst place is now” to get the world’s attention.

The consequences of being marginalized by so-called more newsworthy cases are tragic.

For example, the United Nations reports in Afghanistan, 10 million people lost food assistance between May and November; in Myanmar, more than half a million people are living in inadequate living conditions; in Yemen, more than 80% of those in dire straits do not have proper water and sanitation; and in Nigeria, only 2% of women needing sexual and reproductive health services and gender-based violence prevention are receiving it.

While armed conflict remains a leading cause of death, disaster and misery, humanitarians attending the launch of the U.N.’s global humanitarian appeal viewed the global climate emergency as the driving force behind displacement and world hunger.

Attending a high-level panel discussion on humanitarian action in the context of the climate crisis, Joyce Msuya, assistant secretary-general for humanitarian affairs, warned that human activity had “pushed the planet into an age of fire, heat, floods and drought unlike any humans have faced.”

So far this year, she said climate and weather-related disasters have affected more than 44 million people, causing more than 18,000 deaths.

“The climate crisis also is turbocharging the world’s existing humanitarian crises, plunging people already reeling from disaster into even greater depth of misery,” she said.

Another panelist warned that climate change “was throwing fuel on the embers of crises all over the world.”

Kelly Clements, U.N. deputy high commissioner for refugees, said that drought, floods and other natural disasters have forcibly displaced 114 million people.

“Right now, about two-thirds of forcibly displaced people are in climate vulnerable areas. These also are areas where the overlap with conflict becomes most acute,” she said.

Amadou Seyni, of the International Migrant Women’s Solidarity Association in Turkey, noted that in Niger, 80% of the population, mainly women, depend upon agriculture.

“The effects of climate change now represent a major threat to economic development and a source of conflict,” she said.

In winding up the day’s launch, U.N. emergency chief Griffiths paid tribute to humanitarians. He said they are “saving lives, fighting hunger, protecting children, pushing back epidemics and providing shelter and sanitation in many or the world’s most inhumane contexts.”

Unfortunately, he said many people in urgent need did not receive aid because the hoped-for support did not materialize.

“Throughout the year, humanitarian agencies had to make increasingly painful decisions, including cutting life-saving food, water, and health programming,” he said. “And we would like, we would hope, not to continue this trend into next year.”
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The European Commission recently recommended opening negotiations for Ukraine and Moldova to join the European Union. Ukraine and much smaller Moldova have a lot in common — both former Soviet republics are turning to the West for help modernizing their militaries. VOA Pentagon correspondent Carla Babb brings us an exclusive look at Moldova’s security challenges. VOA footage by Ricardo Marquina.
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The national conservatives who have ruled Poland for eight years are expected to finally relinquish power this week to a centrist bloc led by political veteran Donald Tusk.

The transition will come in several steps over three days, starting Monday, nearly two months since Poles turned out in huge numbers to vote for change in a national election. The transition was delayed for weeks by the president, who chose to keep his political allies in office as long as possible.

“READY, STEADY, GO!” tweeted Tusk, who is expected to be chosen as the new prime minister by the evening.

The change of power in Poland is consequential for the 38 million citizens of the central European nation, where collective anger produced a record-high turnout to replace a government that had been eroding democratic norms.

There is relief for many, including women who saw reproductive rights eroded and LGBTQ+ people who faced a government hate campaign that drove some to leave the country.

The change holds important implications for Ukraine and the EU as well.

Tusk, a past EU leader, is expected to improve Warsaw’s standing in Brussels. His leadership of the EU’s fifth largest member by population will boost centrist, pro-EU forces at a time when euroskeptics, such as Geert Wilders in the Netherlands, are gaining strength.

Poland’s outgoing nationalist government was initially one of Kyiv’s strongest allies after Russia invaded Ukraine last year, but ties have worsened as economic competition from Ukrainian food producers and truckers has angered Poles who say their livelihoods are threatened.

A blockade by Polish truckers at the border with Ukraine counts among the many problems Tusk will have to tackle immediately. The protest has held up the shipment of some military equipment that charities are importing, and Tusk has accused the outgoing government of Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki of mishandling the situation.

The next days will be a choreography of political steps dictated by the constitution.

First, Morawiecki is required to address the Sejm, the Polish parliament’s lower house, and then face a confidence vote which he will lose, bringing an end to his premiership exactly six years after he assumed the office on Dec. 11, 2017. Simple arithmetic indicates he has no chance of surviving the vote. His Law and Justice party won the most seats in the Oct. 15 election but lost its parliamentary majority.

The Sejm is scheduled to elect Tusk later Monday. He must then address lawmakers Tuesday and he will face a confidence vote himself, which he seems sure to win given that he is backed by a majority in the 460-seat body.

It’s a day long awaited by former President Lech Walesa, the anti-communist freedom fighter who had despaired at the unraveling of the democracy he fought for. Though he was hospitalized last week for COVID-19, he nevertheless traveled early from his home in Gdansk to attend the parliamentary session.

Walesa arrived wearing a sweatshirt with the word “Constitution” — a slogan against Law and Justice. He sat in a balcony above the lawmakers with other dignitaries. Many stood to applaud him, chanting his name.

Law and Justice lawmakers did not clap and remained seated.

The final act will involve President Andrzej Duda swearing in Tusk and his government. That is expected to happen on Wednesday.

Tusk then plans to fly to Brussels for an EU summit later in the week where discussions critical for Ukraine’s future are expected as the nation fights off the Russian invasion. 

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, Russia’s closest ally in the EU, is demanding that Ukraine’s membership in the EU and billions of euros in funding meant for the war-torn country be taken off the agenda.

Morawiecki’s government reacted to an economic dispute with Kyiv during the election campaign by banning Ukraine food imports and saying it had stopped sending military aid to Ukraine. Last week, Tusk said he would seek solutions to the truckers’ protest that take into account their financial needs but also regional security.

The power transition has already been playing out for weeks in the Sejm, where Szymon Holownia, the leader of a party allied with Tusk, became the speaker weeks ago and has been trying to encourage more dignified behavior in the sometime raucous assembly.

The lively proceedings led by Holownia, a former reality TV showman, have since become very popular, igniting huge curiosity and emotions that have led to a spike in the number of subscribers to the Sejm’s YouTube channel.

The heightened public interest inspired a movie theater in Warsaw to broadcast the week’s live proceedings on its big screens.
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Afghan special forces trained and funded by Britain and who worked side-by-side with British troops in Afghanistan in the fight against the Taliban are now facing the possibility of being deported from Pakistan, where the Afghan troops and their families fled, according to a BBC report.  

The 200 special forces would likely be targeted for revenge by the Taliban if they were to return to Afghanistan. 

Pakistan says it is ready to deport any Afghans who do not possess the proper papers for residency. 

Failing to relocate the Afghans who worked with the British in Afghanistan “is a disgrace,” Gen. Sir Richard Barrons told the BBC Newsnight. “It reflects that either we’re duplicitous as a nation or incompetent. . . Neither are acceptable.” 

In addition, 32 former Afghan politicians now living in Pakistan who worked with Britain and the U.S. have also not received the proper paperwork that would enable them to travel and live abroad. 

Most members of both groups – the troops and the politicians – have filled out the paperwork to relocate to Britain through the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Program.  

Many have been rejected, while others are still waiting to learn their status more than a year later, the BBC reported. 
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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy witnessed the swearing-in on Sunday of Argentina’s new president, Javier Milei. 

It was the Ukrainian leader’s first official trip to Latin America as Kyiv continues to court support among developing nations for its 21-month-old fight against Russia’s invading forces. 

During Zelenskyy’s visit to Buenos Aires, his office and the White House announced he would travel to Washington to meet with President Joe Biden on Tuesday. 

Biden has asked Congress for a $110 billion package of wartime funding for Ukraine and Israel, along with other national security priorities. But the request is caught up in a debate over U.S. immigration policy and border security. 

The visit to Washington would focus on “ensuring the unity of the U.S., Europe and the world” in supporting Ukraine in the war against Russia, Zelenskyy’s office said. 

In Argentina, Milei welcomed Zelenskyy at the presidential palace after his inauguration. The two shared an extended hug, exchanged words and then Milei, who has said he intends to convert to Judaism, presented his Ukrainian counterpart with a menorah as a gift. They were expected to have a longer one-on-one meeting later on Sunday. 

A political outsider who has railed against what he calls entrenched official corruption in Argentina and promised to uproot the political establishment, Milei ran on a pro-Western foreign policy platform, repeatedly expressing distrust of Moscow and Beijing. 

Zelenskyy phoned Milei shortly after the Argentine’s electoral victory last month, thanking him for his “clear support for Ukraine.” In its readout of the call, Milei’s office said he had offered to host a summit between Ukraine and Latin American states, a potential boon to Kyiv’s monthslong effort to strengthen its relationships with countries of the global south. 

Zelenskyy and other senior Ukrainian officials have repeatedly presented Ukraine’s war against Russia as resistance against colonial aggression, hoping to win support from Asian, African and Latin American states that in the past struggled to free themselves from foreign domination, sometimes turning to Moscow for support against Western powers. 

Zelenskyy used the trip to Argentina to meet leaders of several developing countries. He met the prime minister of the West African country of Cape Verde, Ulisses Correia e Silva, on his way to Buenos Aires. Once in Argentina, Zelenskyy met separately with the presidents of Paraguay, Ecuador and Uruguay, his office said. 

“The support and strong united voice of Latin American countries that stand with the people of Ukraine in the war for our freedom and democracy is very important for us,” Zelenskyy said in a statement. 

He also had a phone conversation with French President Emmanuel Macron, discussing “the details of the next defense package from the French Republic, which will significantly enhance Ukraine’s firepower, and the current needs of our country in armaments,” Zelenskyy’s office said.
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Hungarian truckers plan to protest near Hungary’s main border crossing with Ukraine on Monday, aiming to slow the movement of trucks as they demand restrictions on Ukrainian haulers working in the European Union, police said Sunday. 

Police have given permission for the protest in which about a dozen trucks will partially block the main road leading to the Zahony crossing, police said in a reply to emailed questions from Reuters. 

Police did not say how long the protest would last, but website index.hu reported the plan was to partially block the road leading to the border until the end of December. 

Truckers from Ukraine have been exempted from seeking permits to cross into the European Union since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Haulers across eastern Europe have sought to win restrictions on the number of Ukrainian trucks entering the EU. 

“We have asked the EU … to review its agreement signed with Ukraine and consider the interests of haulers in EU members, among them Hungary,” Tivadar Arvay, general secretary of the Association of Hungarian Road Haulers told state news agency MTI. 

In the past weeks trucks at the Poland-Ukraine crossing were backed up for miles as Polish truckers blocked roads to three border crossings.
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