The wars in Ukraine, Gaza and other dangerous places around the world have heightened the need to prepare journalists, NGOs (nongovernmental organizations), health care professionals and civilians to be ready for life and death situations in high-risk environments. Global Journalist Security (GJS) is a company doing just that. Philip Alexiou reports.
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washington/istanbul — Turkey’s justice minister announced Thursday that Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud’s son is expected to return to Turkey to face trial over a fatal traffic accident in Istanbul.

Yilmaz Tunc, Turkey’s justice minister, told reporters that Ankara held talks with Somali judicial authorities over extraditing Mohamed Hassan Sheikh Mohamud.

“In the coming days, the defendant will come to Turkey, and the trial process will take place,” Tunc said.

Accident

On November 30, Mohamud hit Yunus Emre Gocer, a motorcycle courier in the Fatih district of Istanbul, while driving a vehicle with a diplomatic license plate. The 38-year-old victim was immediately taken to the hospital, where he died on December 6.

According to police documents that VOA Turkish obtained, after providing testimony, Mohamud was released on the same day of the accident per an Istanbul prosecutor’s instructions.

In a press statement last Friday, the Istanbul prosecutor’s office announced that following Gocer’s death, it issued a detention order for Mohamud accusing him of involuntary manslaughter, but he had already left the country on December 2.

The prosecutor’s office said an arrest warrant for Mohamud was issued on December 8.

Iyaz Cimen, the lawyer for Gocer’s family, says the Somali president’s son was allowed to leave Turkey due to “a chain of negligence.”

“We went to the police station on the evening of the accident day where [the police] ignored us. We requested detention at the prosecutor’s office for eight days from November 30 to December 7. [Mohamud] was not arrested, and in fact, any judicial control, including a travel ban, was not placed,” Cimen told VOA.

On the other hand, Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud told The Associated Press on Tuesday that his son did not flee Turkey and stayed in Istanbul for several days after the crash.

“It was an accident. He did not run away, and he hired a lawyer for this purpose,” the Somali president said. “And there was no arrest warrant. … So, he has a business, and he came out of the country.”

Mohamud added that he is advising his son to present himself to the Turkish court, noting that his son is an adult and “the decision is his — but I am giving that advice.”

The Somali president also extended his condolences to Gocer’s family.

Investigation

Ankara has launched an investigation of the police officers who conducted the crime scene investigation and wrote the initial police report, Tunc posted on social media on Monday.

Also on Monday, a Somali diplomat in Turkey, who requested anonymity, told The Associated Press that Mohamud has since traveled to Dubai. He added that the Somali president’s family travels with diplomatic passports and previously lived in Turkey.

On Tuesday, a Turkish official told Reuters that Ankara sought information from Somali authorities on the incident and the use of a diplomatic car.

“Someone who does not have diplomatic status has no right to use these vehicles,” the official told Reuters. According to the official, as the Somali president’s son does not enjoy “immunity or diplomatic exceptionality,” and it makes no difference that he was driving a vehicle with a diplomatic plate.

VOA contacted Turkey’s justice and foreign ministries but did not receive a response.

Tunc has not disclosed Mohamud’s whereabouts but has noted that there is no mutual legal assistance treaty between Somalia and Turkey.

“However, these are issues that can be achieved within the framework of bilateral relations,” Tunc said.

“We expect that the suspect will actively participate in the trial process amid its return to Turkey and that the family’s damage here will be remedied,” Cimen, the Gocer family’s lawyer, told VOA.

The accident has stirred controversy in Turkey over the police and judicial system.

Ozgur Ozel, leader of the main opposition Republican People’s Party, visited Gocer’s family on Tuesday and said, “If any citizen committed this crime or were involved in this accident, that person would be detained, interrogated, arrested, and if that person were not arrested, a travel ban would be imposed. Everyone knows this.

“But when [that person] is the son of a foreign statesman, what kind of privilege is this? What kind of public administration is this? What kind of justice is this?” Ozel added.

Ankara has built close ties with Mogadishu, as it is part of the Somalia “Quint” group alongside the United States, United Kingdom, Qatar and United Arab Emirates, which was formed to ensure security and counterterrorism support for the African country. The last Quint meeting was held in Ankara in October.

Turkey has its largest overseas military base in Somalia, where it trains Somali forces. In 2016, Erdogan opened the Turkish Embassy in Mogadishu, which he called “the largest Turkish embassy in the world.”

Turkish companies are active in the country for many development projects as Turkish state-run Ziraat bank opened a branch in Mogadishu in October 2023 and became the first foreign bank to operate in Somalia in over a half-century.

Some information came from The Associated Press and Reuters. This story originated in VOA’s Turkish Service, and VOA Somali contributed to this report.
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COPENHAGEN, Denmark — Danish police made several arrests Thursday, saying they carried out the operation “on suspicion of preparation for a terrorist attack.”

The arrests were made in “a coordinated action” in several locations in Denmark early Thursday.

No other details were given. The Copenhagen police and Denmark’s domestic intelligence service were to give a press conference later.

“This is extremely serious,” Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said at a European Union summit in Brussels. “It shows the situation we are in in Denmark. Unfortunately.”

“It is absolutely true when both (Denmark’s intelligence agencies) say that there is a high risk in Denmark,” Frederiksen said. “It is of course completely unacceptable in relation to Israel and Gaza, that there is someone who takes a conflict somewhere else in the world into Danish society.”

The terror threat level in Denmark current is at level four, the second highest.

Earlier this month, the European Union’s home affairs commissioner, Ylva Johansson, warned that Europe faces a “huge risk of terrorist attacks” over the Christmas holiday period due to the fallout from the war between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas.

In July 2022, a gunman at a shopping mall in Copenhagen killed three people and injured seven. The man, who believed the victims were zombies, was sentenced in July to detention in a secure medical facility. He had been charged with murder and attempted murder in the rampage at the huge Field’s shopping center on the outskirts of Copenhagen.

In 2015, a 22-year-old Danish Muslim gunman killed two people and wounded five others at a free speech event and a synagogue in Copenhagen.

Earlier this month, the Danish parliament passed a law making it illegal to desecrate any holy text, after a handful of anti-Islam activists carried out public desecrations of the Quran, sparking angry demonstrations in Muslim countries. 
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STATE DEPARTMENT — The top diplomat on European and Eurasian affairs at the U.S. State Department expressed optimism regarding Ukraine’s accession to the European Union, despite Hungary’s looming threat to veto the bid at a two-day summit starting Thursday.

The senior official also predicted that Russian President Vladimir Putin will “wait through” the results of European elections in 2024 and the U.S. presidential election next November before making peace in Ukraine.

On Wednesday, James O’Brien, assistant secretary of state for European and Eurasian affairs, spoke to VOA State Department bureau chief Nike Ching on issues facing Eurasia countries.

Putin “thinks that the way he wins is that Ukraine support drops,” said O’Brien. While not commenting on U.S. domestic politics, O’Brien said, “It’s clear if President Biden is [reelected] that President Putin’s hopes will not come to bear.”

EU heads of state are set to decide this week whether to launch formal membership talks with Ukraine. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, Russia’s closest ally in the EU, is threatening to veto the move.

“What’s clear is the 27 members stand strong in favor of the union growing, including Ukraine once it’s ready, and continuing financial support, as well. He’s [Orban] one voice, and we’ll see how the discussion goes among the leaders once they’re made,” O’Brien told VOA.

O’Brien also welcomed a prisoner swap between Azerbaijan and Armenia at their border on Wednesday as a significant step toward “building a normal bilateral relationship” between the two countries after decades of conflict.

But he played down the likelihood of the U.S. hosting the next round of Azerbaijan-Armenia peace talks in Washington before the end of this year.

“We’re running out of time this year. We’ll do our best,” O’Brien told VOA.

The following interview has been edited for brevity and clarity.

VOA: Today, Azerbaijan and Armenia exchanged prisoners at their border. How significant is this?

James O’Brien, assistant secretary of state: I think what’s really significant is that the two countries are talking with each other and reaching practical agreements. So, they announced this prisoner release last week, and now just this week, the prisoners are now home. And they issued a joint statement that indicated support for one another in many ways, including their international aspirations for Azerbaijan to host the COP, which they’ve now been awarded, and hopefully both countries will benefit, and for Armenia’s international aspirations, as well. And that kind of demonstration of support is a key part of building a normal bilateral relationship.

VOA: After your meeting in Baku, would you describe business as usual in the U.S.’s relationship with Azerbaijan? Would the State Department host foreign ministers from Azerbaijan and Armenia by the end of this year?

O’Brien: What we’ve said to both countries is that we’re very happy to facilitate them concluding a peace agreement. We’ve already hosted several rounds of peace talks between the two foreign ministers, and we would do that again if the sides determined that that will help them conclude a successful peace.

VOA: By the end of this year?

O’Brien: Well, we’re running out of time this year. We’ll do our best.

VOA: Kyiv was struck by Russian missiles overnight. Ukraine’s top mobile operator was hit by the biggest cyberattack. Can you talk about the latest developments, and how does the U.S. target Russian military procurement networks?

O’Brien: I think it was very helpful for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to come here. What we see is that Ukraine has taken back more than half the territory that Russia seized since February of 2022. It’s continuing to advance on the battlefield. It has opened up its own Black Sea trading routes, and that’s the key to its economy recovering. With the assistance that our European partners are going to provide, and then we would provide, we think Ukraine can build on this success and emerge victorious in this war. That will produce a Ukraine that’s very well-prepared to become wealthy and has a population anxious to join the European Union and the transatlantic organizations like NATO, all of which is a good thing for the security and prosperity of the United States.

VOA: A senior U.S. official has said that Russian President Putin will not make peace in Ukraine before he sees the results of the November 2024 U.S. election. Do you agree with that assessment?

O’BRIEN: So, I think yes. I mean, President Putin is on his own diplomatic offensive, visiting several countries, being filmed talking openly about the prospect of the war. And throughout, he’s trying to persuade people that he believes time is on his side, and he thinks if they continue to fight, that ultimately Russia will win. I think this is simply a bluff.

I think the long-term trends are not in favor of Russia, and his one hope is to attack civilian infrastructure, like the bank, or the places civilians live in Kyiv and elsewhere, in order to inflict pain in the hope that that will make Ukraine sue for peace. Or he has to hope that there’ll be some dramatic change in international support for Ukraine. That’s why he’ll wait through our election, and I think other European elections, over the next year.

VOA: Just to clarify, do you mean that Putin will not make peace in Ukraine until he sees President Biden being reelected, or he sees the Republican candidate being elected?

O’Brien: Well, I think he wants to see the result of elections across Europe and the United States. [The] European Union has elections next year. He thinks that the way he wins is that Ukraine’s support drops. Now, on [the] U.S. election, I’m not going to talk domestic politics. I will say, President Biden just said yesterday, ‘I will not walk away from Ukraine. I want to see Ukraine win, and Ukraine will win.’ So, it’s clear if President Biden is elected, that President Putin’s hopes will not come to bear.

VOA: Can you comment on the upcoming EU summit and potential veto from Hungary over Ukraine’s membership talks?

O’Brien: These are historic moments. The members of the European Union, all the leaders, are going to meet over the next days, and they will decide on budgetary support for Ukraine for the next four years, on a package of financial support for the states of the Western Balkans to encourage reform among those six countries, and a broader package. And they will decide whether they want the union to commit itself to enlarging — to adding up to nine new countries. That’s a 33% increase in the size of the European Union. Prime Minister Orban has been very outspoken and let his views be understood elsewhere. I think what’s clear is the 26 members stand strong in favor of the union growing, including Ukraine once it’s ready, and continuing financial support, as well. He’s one voice, and we’ll see how the discussion goes among the leaders once they’re made.
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Madrid — More than 80 Spanish media organizations are filing a $600 million lawsuit against Meta over what they say is unfair competition in a case that could be repeated across the European Union.

The lawsuit is the latest front in a battle by legacy media against the dominance of tech giants at a time when the traditional media industry is in economic decline.

Losing revenue to Silicon Valley companies means less money to invest in investigative journalism or fewer resources to fight back against disinformation.

The case is the latest example of media globally seeking compensation from internet and social media platforms for use of their content.

The Association of Media of Information (AMI), a consortium of Spanish media companies, claimed in the lawsuit that Meta allegedly violated EU data protection rules between 2018 and 2023, Reuters reported.

The newspapers argue that Meta’s “massive” and “systematic” use of its Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp platform gives it an unfair advantage of designing and offering personalized advertisements, which they say constitutes unfair competition.

Irene Lanzaco, director general of AMI, told VOA it estimated the actions of Meta had cost Spanish newspapers and magazines $539.2 million in lost income between 2018 and 2023.

“This loss of income has meant it is more difficult for the media to practice journalism, to pay its journalists, to mount investigations and to hold politicians to account for corruption,” she said.

“It means that society becomes more polarized, and people become less involved with their communities if they do not know what is going on.”

Analysts say this is an “innovative” strategy by legacy media against tech giants that is more designed to engage people outside the news business.

Until now, traditional media cases against Silicon Valley centered on the theft of intellectual property from the news business, but the Spanish suit made a claim related to alleged theft of personal data.

“Previously, all the cases that legacy media has brought have been about the piracy of intellectual property — ‘We report the news, and these people are putting it on their websites without paying for it,’” Kathy Kiely, the Lee Hills chair in Free Press Studies at the Missouri School of Journalism, told VOA.

“But what this case is about is that these social media platforms have access to a lot of information about the audience to gain unfair advantage in advertising,” she said.

The lawsuit was filed with a commercial court in Madrid, reported Reuters, which saw the court papers.

Matt Pollard, a spokesman for Meta Platforms, told VOA, “We have not received the legal papers on this case, so we cannot comment. All we know about it is what we have read in the media.”

The complainants include Prisa, which publishes Spain’s left-wing daily El País; Vocento, owner of ABC, a right-wing daily; and the Barcelona-based conservative daily La Vanguardia.

They claim that Meta used personal data obtained without the express consent from clients in violation of the EU General Data Protection Regulation in force since May 2018, which demands that any website requests authorization to keep and use personal data.

“Of course in any other EU country, the same legal procedure could be initiated,” as it concerns an alleged violation of European regulations,” Nicolas González Cuellar, a lawyer representing AMI, told Reuters.

Kiely said the Spanish case may engage the broader public and policymakers, in Europe and beyond.

“[This legal case] introduces a new strategy. It is not just about the survival of the local news organization. It is about privacy,” she said. “This engages people outside the news business in a way that piracy of the intellectual property does not.”

The lawsuit is the latest attempt by media organizations who have struggled to make tech giants pay fair fees for using and sharing their content.

The legal battle comes as the Reuters Institute’s 2023 Digital News Report found that tech platforms like Meta and Google had become a “running sore” for news publishers over the past decade.

“Google and Facebook [now Meta] at their height accounted for just under half of online traffic to news sites,” the report said.  “Although the so-called ‘duopoly’ remains hugely consequential, our report shows how this platform position is becoming a little less concentrated in many markets, with more providers competing.”

It added, “Digital audio and video are bringing new platforms into play, while some consumers have adopted less toxic and more private messaging networks for communications.”

Spanish media scored a victory against Alphabet’s Google News service, which the government shut down in 2014 before its reopening in 2022 under new legislation allowing media outlets to negotiate fees directly with the tech giant.

Last month, Google and the Canadian government reached an agreement in their dispute over the Online News Act, which would see Google continue to use Canadian news online in return for the company making annual payments to news companies of about $100 million.

Radio Canada and CBC News reported last month that the Canadian federal government estimated earlier this year that Google’s compensation should amount to about $172 million, while Google estimated this value at $100 million.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said the agreement was “very good news.”

“After months of holding strong, of demonstrating our commitment to local journalism, to strong independent journalists getting paid for their work … Google has agreed to properly support journalists, including local journalism,” he said.

Google said it would not have a mandatory negotiation model imposed on it for talks with the media in Canada. Instead, it preferred to deal with a single media group that would represent all media, allowing the group to limit its arbitration risk.

Google had threatened to block Canadian news content on its platforms because of the legislation but did not.

In contrast, Meta ended its talks with the Canadian government last summer and stopped distributing Canadian news on Facebook and Instagram.

Last month, the Reuters Institute’s 2023 report said that 29% of Canadians used Facebook for news. Around 11% used Facebook Messenger, and 10% used Instagram for the same purpose.
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Turkey is looking for key concessions at the European Union Summit in its longtime bid to join the bloc. EU leaders are focused on Ukraine at this meeting, but as Dorian Jones reports from Istanbul, analysts say Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has some powerful leverage.
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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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