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China and Russia used the second day of the BRICS Summit of emerging economies to criticize the West, while also throwing their support behind the proposed expansion of what’s seen by some as an alternative power bloc.

The leaders of Brazil, India, and China are all in South Africa — which is hosting the event — while Russian President Vladimir Putin is participating virtually to avoid arrest under an International Criminal Court warrant over war crimes in Ukraine.

Via video link, Putin — who ordered Russia’s invasion of Ukraine last year — said the West’s actions had led to that conflict by trying to “promote their hegemony,” “exceptionalism,” and policies of “neo-colonialism.” 

“Our actions in Ukraine are guided by only one thing, to put an end to the war that was unleashed by the West,” said Putin, speaking through a translator. 

Meanwhile, the leaders of Brazil and South Africa stressed the need for a peaceful solution to the Ukraine war — though there were no words of criticism for Moscow. 

For his part, Chinese leader Xi Jinping noted the world was undergoing major shifts and had entered a new period of “turbulence and transformation.” He blamed countries that form “exclusive blocs” for the problems. 

“The cold war mentality is still haunting our world and the geopolitical situation is getting tense,” he said through a translator. 

Xi had baffled China-watchers the day before by failing to turn up when the leaders each made a first-day address, instead sending his commerce minister to fill in for him. 

Paul Nantulya, a researcher at the Africa Center for Strategic Studies, said one could only speculate. 

“What I think is happening is there are some headwinds back home in China …which are upsetting the domestic dynamic, and I think something must have erupted that required the president’s attention,” he said. 

In other developments, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi threw his support behind the group expanding, after reports India was only lukewarm about the idea. 

High on the agenda of this summit is possible expansion of the BRICS group — with Argentina, Egypt, Iran and Saudi Arabia among the countries that have applied to join. 

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva also expressed support for expansion. However, he said BRICS must not aim to rival the U.S., and Cyril Ramaphosa, president of South Africa, also stressed BRICS was not in opposition to anyone. 

“While firmly committed to advance the interests of the Global South, BRICS stands ready to collaborate with all countries that aspire to create a more inclusive international order,” he said. 

Another theme of the summit is de-dollarization and a move towards greater use of the BRICS currencies. Xi said he would like to see reform of the international financial system. 

The summit concludes Thursday, with a final statement from the group expected. 

 
…

Russia on Wednesday requested that the pre-trial detention of American journalist Evan Gershkovich be extended. 

The Wall Street Journal reporter’s current detention period is set to expire on August 30. The 31-year-old journalist has been in Russian custody since his arrest on March 29. 

Russia accuses Gershkovich of espionage, a charge that he, the newspaper and U.S. officials deny. 

In a request submitted Wednesday, Russian authorities requested that Gershkovich be detained for an unspecified period, The Wall Street Journal reported. 

Russian state media have reported that a Moscow court is due to hold a hearing Thursday on the request. 

“Evan’s wrongful detention is outrageous, and we continue to demand his immediate release,” The Wall Street Journal said in a statement on Wednesday. 

Few visits since arrest

Since his arrest, Gershkovich has been allowed only three consular visits with U.S. officials. 

The most recent was August 14, when he met with U.S. Ambassador to Russia Lynne Tracy.

“Ambassador Tracy reported that Evan continues to be in good health and remains strong, despite the circumstances,” the U.S. Embassy in Moscow said in a statement. 

In July, Moscow said officials were in contact with Washington about a possible prisoner swap. 

‘Serious about a prisoner exchange’

President Joe Biden said his administration is “serious about a prisoner exchange,” but the White House has also said discussions with the Kremlin on a potential swap have not yet given way to “a pathway to a resolution.” 

Clayton Weimers, executive director of the U.S. bureau of Reporters Without Borders, told VOA earlier in August that Gershkovich’s case shows that the U.S. needs a better strategy to respond to the threat of these issues. 

“The United States, and indeed democracies around the world, need to find ways to raise the cost of this kind of bad business,” Weimers said. “How do we impose stiffer penalties to disincentivize hostage-taking in the first place?” 
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Syrian forces have ramped up their attacks on rebel bases and weapons depots, targeting dozens of fighters, the defense ministry said on Wednesday amid an upsurge in violence. 

Both the Syrian army and Russian air force “carried out several air and artillery strikes targeting terrorist headquarters in the countryside of Aleppo, Latakia and Hama,” a statement said, after “repeated attacks” on regime-held areas in the provinces. 

The strikes left dozens of fighters “dead or wounded,” the defense ministry said. 

“Terrorist” bases, missile and drone launchers and ammunition depots were all targeted, it said. 

The jihadi Hayat Tahrir al-Sham group (HTS), led by Syria’s former al-Qaida affiliate, controls swaths of Idlib province as well as parts of the adjacent provinces of Aleppo, Hama and Latakia. 

Since June, Russian airstrikes have killed 13 civilians, including two children, and about 28 jihadis, according to the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor. 

Moscow’s intervention since 2015 in the Syrian conflict has helped President Bashar al-Assad’s regime in Damascus claw back much of the territory it lost to rebels early in the 12-year civil war. 

Observatory chief Rami Abdel Rahman attributed the increased number of attacks by Assad’s ally Moscow as retaliation for drone strikes by HTS and its allies on government-held territory. 

Russia’s military has mainly targeted HTS bases suspected of manufacturing drones, Abdel Rahman said. 

HTS regularly carries out deadly attacks on soldiers and pro-government forces, and Russia has repeatedly struck the Idlib area of the rebel-held region in the northwest of the country. 

Earlier Wednesday, shelling that targeted Assad’s hometown in the coastal province of Latakia wounded one civilian, state media said. It was the second such attack in two months. 

“Five shells were fired by terrorist groups deployed in the northern countryside on agricultural lands in the Qardaha area, wounding a citizen,” the official news agency SANA said, quoting a police source. 

The Observatory, which has a wide network of sources inside Syria, said the attack was carried out early in the morning by factions affiliated with HTS. 

In the previous attack on Qardaha, a civilian was killed in a drone strike on June 23, the Observatory reported at the time. 

On Tuesday, five people including two civilians were killed in separate Russian strikes in Syria’s rebel-held northwest, the monitor said. 

The Syrian war broke out after Assad’s repression of peaceful anti-government demonstrations in 2011 escalated into a deadly conflict that pulled in foreign powers and global jihadis. 

The conflict has killed more than 500,000 people and forced about half of the country’s pre-war population from their homes. 

The rebel-held Idlib region is home to about 3 million people, about half of them displaced from elsewhere in Syria. 
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Greece’s Supreme Court has ordered an urgent investigation into racist attacks that followed the outbreak of ferocious wildfires in the country’s northeast.

The court order came after search teams found the bodies of 18 migrants who had been burned beyond recognition in a wooded area that had gone up in flames in Alexandroupolis, bordering Turkey. 

In a separate case, a man was arrested late Tuesday after posting a social media video showing him pulling a trailer along a dirt road, then asking another person to swing open the rear door, revealing 13 Syrian and Pakistani migrants, all handcuffed and visibly frightened.

In the video, the man is heard shouting in Greek, “Let’s get organized.” He calls for others to go out and “round them up,” saying, “They will burn us.” 

Vigilantes are ubiquitous in Greece’s rugged northeastern border areas, which are key crossing points for thousands of asylum-seekers sneaking into the country from neighboring Turkey. The high court ordered a crackdown on the vigilantes, who have accused migrants of setting the fires and have incited other locals to go after them. 

Minister of Migration Dimitris Keridis quickly spoke in support of the court’s action against hate crimes.

In Greece, he said, “The law of the land prevails, not those who choose to take it into their own hands.”

Such behavior will be crushed, he said. 

More than 350 wildfires have broken out across the country in the past week, with the worst raging out of control in Alexandroupolis and on the outskirts of Athens, near a national preserve. 

Schools, hospitals, homes for the elderly and a monastery housing nuns have been evacuated. A migrant camp with 800 asylum-seekers in Athens was also cleared out on Wednesday, and migrants moved to another housing facility about 50 kilometers south of the Greek capital, Athens. 

Firefighters across Greece say they fear the worst is yet to come. Searing temperatures and gale-force winds were forecast for several days before rainfall was expected to bring some relief.
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Latest Developments:

Australia is sending $74 million in new military assistance to Ukraine. The package includes armored vehicles, special operations vehicles and trucks.
Britain’s defense ministry says allies have trained more than 17,000 Ukrainian troops, and that the number could reach 30,000 by 2024.

Ukraine’s military said Monday its forces downed two of three cruise missiles that Russia fired from the Black Sea as well as seven of eight Iranian-made Shahed drones launched by Russia.

Such aerial attacks have been a common part of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, with Ukrainian officials hailing the work of air defenses in countering the assaults.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in his nightly address Sunday after a phone call with U.S. President Joe Biden that he was “especially grateful” to the United States for the reliability of Patriot air defense batteries.

Biden reaffirmed unwavering U.S. support for Ukraine, including through continued security, economic and humanitarian aid, according to a White House statement.

Zelenskyy said he also discussed the fighting on the front lines and strengthening Ukraine’s troops in his call with Biden and similar conversations Sunday with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Polish President Andrzej Duda.

Ukraine Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar said Monday that Ukrainian forces had made some gains in the eastern part of the country during the past week, and that there was heavy fighting ongoing in the Lyman, Bakhmut, Avdiivka and Maryinka areas.

Maliar also said that while “the situation in the south has not undergone significant changes over the past week,” overall Ukrainian forces had freed 130 square kilometers since launching a counteroffensive earlier this month.

US, Ukrainian reaction

The unprecedented challenge to Russian President Vladimir Putin by fighters from the Wagner paramilitary forces has exposed fresh “cracks” in the strength of Putin’s leadership that may take weeks or months to play out, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Sunday in a TV interview on the NBC program “Meet the Press.”

Blinken characterized Wagner Group’s mutiny and its subsequent crisis as a Russian “internal matter.”

He added, “This is a challenge coming from within to Putin, and that’s where his focus has been. Our focus is resolutely and relentlessly on Ukraine making sure that it has what it needs to defend itself and to take back territory that Russia has seized.”

Blinken said that although it is too soon to tell what Russia’s internal turmoil meant, Putin’s distraction is to the advantage of Ukraine. He also said that at the end of the day, the reason Ukraine will prevail is that “this is about their land, this is about their future, this is about their freedom, not Russia’s.”

Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov said he discussed the turmoil in Russia in a phone call with his U.S. counterpart Sunday, describing the Russian authorities as “weak” and saying things were “moving in the right direction.”

In a brief readout of the call with U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, Reznikov said they also discussed Ukraine’s counteroffensive and steps to strengthen Ukraine’s armed forces.

“We agree that the Russian authorities are weak and that withdrawing Russian troops from Ukraine is the best choice for the Kremlin,” Reznikov wrote on Twitter.

Some information for this story came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.
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Turkey’s media regulator has given Voice of America’s Turkish Service a three-day deadline to apply for a broadcast license or face potential criminal charges.

The Radio and Television Supreme Council, or RTUK, on Monday told VOA it needed to apply for an on-demand broadcasting license.

The on-demand license is more commonly acquired by entertainment streaming services such as Netflix.

Failure to comply with the request and pay a three-month license fee would result in the regulator applying to the Criminal Judgeships of Peace with a request to block access to VOA’s content.

The media regulator said it was acting under a Turkish law stating that broadcasting executives who air programs despite the cancellation of their licenses could face charges that carry sentences of up to two years in prison.

The directive comes more than a year after the regulator moved to block VOA’s Turkish language content over the broadcaster’s refusal to comply with the same new licensing regulation, over concerns of censorship.

The RTUK also targeted German news outlet Deutsche Welle, which like VOA, is a public, state-owned international broadcaster with an editorially independent newsroom.’

When RTUK blocked access to VOA’s Turkish service in June 2022, VOA moved to a different web address. The new directive could block access to that content.

VOA’s public relations department confirmed that the regulator had issued a new order requiring the broadcaster to obtain a license within 72 hours.

“As a public service broadcaster designed to provide accurate and objective news, VOA cannot comply with any directive intended to enable censorship,” VOA spokesperson Bridget Serchak said in an email.

“VOA will continue to object to any requirement by Turkish regulators — or regulators in any country where we provide news and information — that smacks of attempts to censor our news coverage,” VOA acting director Yolanda Lopez said in a statement Tuesday.

“The requirement to remain a reliable source of independent journalism for our audience is enshrined in our Charter,” Lopez said, adding, “We will take every step necessary to avoid any interference by anyone that threatens the VOA’s ability to deliver on its mission.”

The U.S. State Department said Tuesday it is closely following the situation and is “deeply concerned.”

A spokesperson, speaking on background, told VOA via email that the U.S. urges Turkey to “uphold its obligations and commitments to respect the fundamental freedom of expression.”

“The individual’s rights to freedom of expression includes freedom to seek, receive, and impart information and ideas of all kinds, regardless of frontiers,” the spokesperson said.

“Respect for freedom of expression is enshrined in Turkey’s constitution and in its international commitments and obligations,” the spokesperson said.

VOA emailed the RTUK regulator late Tuesday and as of publication had not received a response.

The regulator’s deputy head last year had dismissed concerns raised by broadcasters and others over the new regulation, saying the decision “has nothing to do with censorship but is part of technical measures.”

RTUK had previously ordered VOA and two other international broadcasters in February 2022 to apply for a license.

A few months later, it blocked access to VOA’s Turkish-language content and that of Deutsche Welle when both declined to apply for licenses as requested by the regulator.

The February 2022 licensing decision was based on a regulation that had gone into effect in August 2019. At that time, several media freedom advocates raised concerns about possible censorship because the regulation granted RTUK the authority to control all online content.

Under the regulation, RTUK is authorized to request broadcast licenses from “media service providers” so that their radio, TV broadcasting and on-demand audiovisual media services can continue their online presence.

If the licensees do not follow RTUK’s principles, the regulation allows RTUK to impose fines, suspend broadcasting for three months or cancel broadcast licenses

In the past, the U.S. State Department has said that moves to block VOA and DW content in Turkey amounted to an expansion of “government control over freedom of expression and media freedom in Turkey. Free press is essential to a robust democracy.”

Turkey has a poor record for media freedom, with watchdog Reporters Without Borders noting that around 90% of media is government controlled, leaving few independent or critical news outlets.

The country, which has one of the worst records globally for jailing journalists, ranks 165 out of 180 on the press freedom Index, where 1 shows the best media environment. 
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The daughter of a German citizen of Iranian descent who was sentenced to death by Tehran pleaded Tuesday for the United States and Germany to act urgently to save him. 

The daughter of Jamshid Sharmahd was making her case in Washington, including holding a sit-in outside the State Department, on the heels of a deal by President Joe Biden’s administration to free five U.S. citizens who were imprisoned in Iran. 

According to his family, Sharmahd, a software developer who had been living in California, was kidnapped in 2020 on a visit to the United Arab Emirates and taken to Iran. 

He was sentenced to death over a deadly blast at a mosque in 2008 in the southern city of Shiraz, charges the family describes as ridiculous. Iran’s Supreme Court confirmed the death penalty in April. 

“What I’m asking the U.S. and Germany is to free my father, to bring my father back, to save (his) life,” said his daughter Gazelle Sharmahd, who lives in California. 

“This is a life-and-death situation,” she told a roundtable. 

She voiced frustration that Germany and the United States are playing “some form of responsibility ping-pong.”  

“It goes back and forth. Not my citizen. He doesn’t live here. Not my problem, not my problem. And we’re not getting through to them,” she said. 

Germany has said it is engaging at the highest levels and through all channels on the case, with a foreign ministry spokesman acknowledging that the family is “going through something unimaginable and unbearable.” 

But Gazelle Sharmahd insisted that German efforts were focused only on improving his conditions in prison. 

“What, does he need better toothpaste before they murder him right now?” she said. 

The U.S. State Department has called Iran’s treatment of Sharmahd reprehensible but said it was for Germany to discuss the case of its own citizen. 

Secretary of State Antony Blinken has said that all U.S. citizens have been released from prison under the deal, which drew fire from the Republican Party. 

Under the arrangement, the five U.S. citizens, all of Iranian origin, were freed to house arrest and are expected to be allowed to leave after the unfreezing of $6 billion in Iranian oil revenue that had been held in South Korea to comply with U.S. sanctions. 
…

Many Hongkongers who moved to the U.K. after China cracked down on their home city are concerned about their safety while protesting Beijing’s policies or visiting Chinese diplomatic offices to extend travel documents, according to a recent survey.

Initiative SAFE, a research project founded by the group Hongkongers in Britain, conducted an online survey between April 22 and May 7, and released the results on Aug. 17.

Of 458 people who responded, more than 40% had children, and over 50% of all respondents planned to travel to Hong Kong within the next two years. This may require them to obtain travel documents from Chinese diplomatic offices.

The survey found that more than 80% of the respondents had participated in events organized by Hongkonger groups in the U.K. Of this cohort, nearly 90% said that they would check the background of the organizers before participating in any event.

However, only about 40% of the immigrants from Hong Kong in the U.K. said they had participated in rallies or protests related to Hong Kong. Of all the respondents, 37% considered such activities “quite unsafe” or “very unsafe.” A fifth of the 458 survey participants cited concerns about their safety upon returning to Hong Kong as a reason for not participating in Hong Kong-related activities in the U.K.

Among those who had participated in such events, 34% mentioned being photographed by strangers, 8% reported experiencing verbal violence, and 7% felt they were being followed.

VOA Cantonese contacted the Chinese Embassy in London for comment but received no response.  

Almost 80% of the respondents expressed a lack of confidence in the U.K. government’s ability to effectively respond if a foreign government threatened the safety of Hongkongers in the U.K. More than 70% of the respondents believed that the U.K. government had not taken sufficient measures to protect the civic participation and freedom of expression of Hongkongers in the U.K.

“Attempts by foreign governments to coerce, intimidate, harass or harm their critics overseas, undermining democracy and the rule of law, are unacceptable,” said a spokesperson for the U.K. Home Office. “The Defending Democracy Taskforce is reviewing our approach to transnational repression to help tackle these challenges wherever they originate.”

The Home Office describes itself as “the lead U.K. government department for immigration and passports, drugs policy, crime, fire, counterterrorism and police.”

The survey indicated that a vast majority of respondents were aware of an incident last October when diplomats at the Chinese Consulate-General in Manchester assaulted a Hong Kong protester outside the consulate. Six Chinese consular officials allegedly involved left the U.K. voluntarily.

About 90% of respondents said they found it unsafe to apply for documents at Chinese diplomatic facilities. They were concerned about the risks of personal data leakage, application hindrances and potential harm to personal safety.

“A large proportion of respondents in our survey were concerned about data leaks as they would have to provide their addresses in the U.K. when extending their passports,” said Jason Chao, a director of Hongkongers in Britain, the organization behind the survey.

“Of course, the data may not be leaked elsewhere, but what would the Hong Kong and Chinese governments do after they collected the addresses? Would there be surveillance? It would be an act of state and you would not know.”

More than 80% of the survey respondents indicated that they felt safe in their residential communities, and that the crime situation was not severe. However, a fifth of the respondents mentioned experiencing verbal harassment on the streets; one tenth reported instances of a stranger insulting or shouting at them in public; and one tenth mentioned feeling physically threatened by a stranger in a public space.

Around 70% of the respondents indicated that anti-burglary measures in their neighborhoods made them feel secure, and more than half believed that their relationships with friends, colleagues and affinity groups were helpful. Two-thirds of the respondents expressed interest in participating in engagement activities organized by the local police, but 7% of respondents expressed a lack of trust in the police.

Chao, a 36-year-old activist who arrived in the U.K. in 2017 for graduate school, suggested that authorities should actively monitor suspicious behavior, such as taking photos of Hong Kong protesters during demonstrations in the U.K.

“There are two elements that are important to us under the U.K.’s new National Security Act. First, it is a criminal offense if someone assists a foreign intelligence service,” he told VOA Cantonese in an Aug. 18 telephone interview.

“Secondly, even if someone is not assisting a foreign intelligence service, if there is evidence showing that a crime, for example a hate-related assault, was instigated by a foreign country, it would be a factor for handing a heavier punishment,” he said.

The new law came into force on July 11. “Russia remains the most acute threat to the UK’s security, though we have seen interference from China including to communities here in the UK, and Iran has made concerted efforts to kill or kidnap British or UK-based individuals,” according to a government release.

Hongkongers living in the U.K. are often unaware of the new law or that the U.K. has a legal weapon to deter the Chinese, Chao said. He would like the U.K. government to promote awareness of the law.

During job searches in the U.K., potential employers may ask Hongkongers to provide a Certificate of No Criminal Conviction. There are safety concerns as they must apply for this document through the Hong Kong Police Force.

The U.K. government should consider measures to reduce the need for Hong Kong residents to rely on Chinese or Hong Kong government services, such as providing a letter for job seekers to address relevant issues with potential employers, said Chao.

The U.K. has issued more than 166,000 visas on the British National (Overseas) visa route to Hongkongers “who are making significant contributions to our economy and local communities,” said the Home Office spokesperson.

This type of British travel document was created in 1987 as a result of the Hong Kong Act of 1985, which made provisions for handing over Hong Kong to China as negotiated in 1984.

Before Hong Kong’s handover to China in July 1997, Hongkongers could apply for a BN(O) passport, which did not grant U.K. citizenship. China stopped recognizing the BN(O) passport as a valid travel document or proof of identity as of January 31, 2021.

After the enactment of the National Security Law in Hong Kong on June 30, 2020, Britain provided a “pathway to citizenship” via the BN(O) visa beginning January 31, 2021. This allows Hongkongers to live in the U.K. for up to five years before applying for permanent residency. They can apply for citizenship a year after gaining permanent residency.
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Activists warn a deal between Tunisia and Libya to share responsibility for hundreds of sub-Saharan African migrants once stranded on their shared border risks migrants’ rights and doesn’t solve the core problem. It also raises fresh concerns about Tunisia, where Black migrants have faced a surge of racist attacks. For VOA, Lisa Bryant reports from Tunis, Tunisia.
…

In a gloomy, indoor football camp on an industrial estate on the edge of Barcelona, Marta dives into tackles with the boys  without fear.  

The 11-year-old has been playing with teenagers who are older — and stronger — than herself for months, but so far has held her own. 

Her newfound passion for football meant she watched as Spain beat England 1-0 Sunday and carry away the FIFA Women’s World Cup in Sydney, Australia.  

The victory for the Spanish women’s team will have knock-on effects for the next generation of Martas who may dream of sharing the glory, said Sara Otero, Marta’s mother.  

“I think it will raise visibility of football in Spain for women. I don’t think Spain is an especially sexist country but for girls and women, football has never been a very accessible sport. Maybe they thought there was too much contact or it was dangerous,” Otero, 52, a businesswoman, told VOA. “But now there has been much more effort to make football accessible to everyone, which I think is good.”  

Events after the final whistle at the World Cup final perhaps proved there is still much work to be done off the pitch.  

Controversial kiss 

After the celebrations, attention in Spain turned to a row over alleged sexism after Luis Rubiales, the president of the Spanish Football Federation kissed female player Jenni Hermoso on the lips during the cup presentation.  

Hermoso was later recorded in the dressing room saying she “did not like it,” Reuters reported, but she later played down the incident in a statement to EFE news agency.  

At first, Rubiales said he was just celebrating the victory and derided critics as “idiots” for making so much of it. He later apologized, Reuters reported.  

The football chief came under fire from Spain’s acting equality minister Irene Montero, who tweeted, “A non-consensual kiss is a kind of sex violence we suffer all women daily, which was until now invisible, and which we cannot normalize. Consent should be at the center.” 

El Pais, a left-wing Madrid newspaper, said Monday in an editorial, “Jenni did not like the kiss, and we didn’t either,” and described it as an “intrusion, an invasion of privacy, an aggression.” 

League still young

Women’s football in Spain, as in many other countries, is still in its infancy.  

The professional league was only set up last season and there are 90,000 registered players which include women and girls, said Maria Rodrigo, a spokeswoman for La Liga Feminine in Spain told VOA.    

Professionals in La Liga are paid on average about $65,000 per year while the elite players can expect around $98,000. It is far cry from the astronomic salaries commanded by the likes of Lionel Messi, the Argentina and Inter Miami striker.   

Maria Tikas, a journalist who covers football for Sport, one of Spain’s biggest daily sport newspapers, said Rubiales’ kiss for Hermoso showed Spain still had a problem of sexism to address.    

“This is a society which has a problem of inherent machoism which is only going to go away through education, cultural changes, politics and legal means. In football this is worse because it has been the territory of men for so, so, long,” she told VOA.  

Hope for change 

But she believes that the victory of La Roja — the name given to the Spain team — may help change things.  

For one thing, there are now role models.  

“Many of the players in the (Spanish) team today did not have references (to famous female players). Now when a girl sees Alexia (Putellas, of Spain and Barcelona) win the World Cup they see that could be Alexia too. They see how it could be possible for them.”  

Dolors Ribalta Alcalde, an expert on female football at the University Ramon Llull in Barcelona who played for FC Espanyol, a team in the second Spanish league, said Spain’s triumph did not happen by “magic.” 

“This has happened firstly because of social changes. With parents seeing it as a positive thing for their daughters to play football instead of discouraging them. Girls have started to see football as something positive,” she said.  

Back at the football camp where Marta plays, there are plenty of photographs of star male players like Messi. 

But even though girls’ teams play there every week, there are no pictures – yet – of the Spanish women’s team.  

Many female players and their fans hope that will change soon. 
…

A public kitchen closes early so workers can get home on a day of heavy bombing. Police officers stuff the windows of their station with white sandbags. Every few minutes we hear the boom or thud of weapons being fired into and out of the city.

Each hit could mean a death. The Russian military is drawing closer.

In a golden-domed church on Sunday morning, Valentina, a 70-year-old singer, looks sad when she tells us she will stay in her eighth-floor apartment, despite fears that Russia once again has her city in its sights.

“This year I will plant potatoes in my garden,” she says. “I will harvest tomatoes.”

About two hours later, rockets hit a residential area a block away, burning out cars and sending 10 people to the hospital. Later that day, a nearby bridge is blown up.

In the suburbs, volunteers drive a small green bus from neighborhood to neighborhood, picking up families who want to evacuate. Many people weep as they hug loved ones or neighbors and board the bus.

“Maybe it’s silly,” says a woman in a white dress with teary, red eyes. “But I just can’t go.”

Inside the bus, passengers are eager to get moving.

“We need to get out of here as soon as possible,” says Lydia, 65, as she and her husband wait for the bus to depart.

Another woman, Tatiana, 63, is traveling alone. “We’ve been here since the war began,” she says. “During the winter we had no heat and no windows. During the occupation we had no internet and no grocery store.”

Russia occupied Kupiansk for seven months in 2022, before they were pushed out by Ukrainian forces.

“But now combat is coming closer,” says Tatiana.

Snail mail

Across town, closer to where Russian soldiers are firing off bombs from about 5 to 10 kilometers (3 to 6 miles) away, a post office is tucked behind an open-air market where vendors sell clothes, housewares and dried fish.

Every few minutes a customer comes into the post office, despite the ongoing shelling. Many come with packages to ship.

“I’m sending out my most important things, like electronics,” says Nina, 64, standing at the counter. “I’m planning to leave the city, and I’m afraid my property will be destroyed.”

Within a few days, she says, she will flee to western Ukraine, where she hopes to find her valuables waiting for her.

Other customers come in to pick up their pensions — the only income for most retirees in Kupiansk. Officials tell us they are paying out pensions three months in advance nowadays, in case they lose access to the city.

Carriers used to deliver the mail, but the last time it went out was weeks ago, and then only to the region’s most infirm people, those who couldn’t make it to the post office.

The windows are mostly filled in with plywood, but one rectangle of glass lets in light. “That’s all that’s left of our peacetime windows,” jokes one worker.

Svitlana Oleynikova, 45, the post office manager, says incoming bombs frequently hit a nearby school, but some seem to miss their mark and land outside their office.

When Russia controlled the city, the post office was closed, and it seems inevitable that workers will be forced to abandon their post again, she says.

“I am evacuating my mother this week,” she explains. “But I will keep working until the post office is closed.”

Soldiers standing by

Near a clearing in the bush alongside the Oskil River, about a dozen Ukrainian soldiers relax by the shore in various states of undress — speedos, camouflage pants, underwear. We are about 5 kilometers (3 miles) from Russian forces.

“Isn’t this a great place for a holiday?” one man asks us. The rest of the group laughs.

Two beers in cut-off water bottles are stowed under a car bumper, out of the sun. One man swims about 5 meters out to the center of the river. There is a faint smell of cigarettes. The band Måneskin’s version of the 1967 Four Seasons song “Beggin’” blares from somebody’s phone.

“Don’t be afraid of shrapnel,” says one soldier, wearing shorts and dog tags, without a shirt. “This one hit our car” he adds, grinning. He points out a hole in the roof and the side-back window, shattered and covered with lime green tape. “And we were in it.”

Inside the city, at a territorial defense post hidden on the side of the hill, Maxim, a 25-year-old soldier with a hand badly mangled from a mortar attack in the early days of war, mans a grenade launcher. He scans the horizon over the river for approaching Russians, as smoke from recent bombings rises from the forest.

So far, neither side has launched a full-scale attack, says Maxim, but they are preparing for battle.

“They’re not going to be able to take this city like they did in the early days of the war,” he says. “The city was taken without a single shot being fired. But we have a lot of forces here now.”
…

A massive wall of flames raced through forests toward a port city in northeastern Greece overnight, prompting authorities to evacuate another eight villages and a city hospital as firefighters battled dozens more wildfires across the country on Tuesday.

Gale-force winds and high summer temperatures have hampered the efforts of hundreds of firefighters backed by dozens of water-dropping aircraft as they tackle wildfires breaking out across Greece.

The fire risk level for several regions, including the wider Athens area, was listed as “extreme” for the second day Tuesday. Authorities have banned public access to mountains and forests in those regions until at least Wednesday morning and ordered military patrols.

On Monday, the blazes left two people dead and two firefighters injured in northern and central Greece.

About 65 of the more than 100 patients in the Alexandroupolis hospital in northeastern Greece were transported to a ferry boat docked in the city’s port as the country’s largest wildfire currently burning out of control entered its fourth day. Others were taken to other hospitals in northern Greece.

The flames turned the sky over the city and across the region red, hiding the sun as choking smoke and swirling flecks of ash filled the air.

A school, several homes and a cemetery were damaged in two villages near Alexandroupolis, where more than 200 firefighters were battling the flames, supported by four airplanes and three helicopters. Dozens more houses were damaged by another wildfire in the Kavala region, local authorities said, while a separate fire in the Evros border region was burning through forest in a protected national park.

The coast guard evacuated 14 people by sea overnight from a nearby coastal area to the port of Alexandroupolis.

A new fire broke out in the Aspropyrgos area on the western fringes of the Greek capital Tuesday morning, prompting authorities to issue evacuation orders for two villages in the area.

Romania sent 56 firefighters and Cyprus send two water-dropping aircraft to help fight the wildfire in Alexandroupolis, while French firefighters helped tackle a separate fire on the island of Evia.

Greece suffers destructive wildfires every summer. Its deadliest wildfire killed 104 people in 2018, at a seaside resort near Athens that residents had not been warned to evacuate. Authorities have since erred on the side of caution, issuing swift mass evacuation orders whenever inhabited areas are under threat.

Last month, a wildfire on the resort island of Rhodes forced the evacuation of some 20,000 tourists. Days later, two air force pilots were killed when their water-dropping plane crashed while diving low to tackle a blaze on Evia. Another three wildfire-related deaths have been recorded this summer.
…

Russian mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin posted his first video address since leading a short-lived mutiny in late June, appearing in a clip — possibly shot in Africa — on Telegram channels affiliated with the Wagner group on Monday. 

Prigozhin is seen standing in a desert area in camouflage and with a rifle in his hands. In the distance, there are more armed men and a pickup truck. 

Reuters was not able to geolocate or verify the date of the video, but Prigozhin’s comments and some posts in the pro-Wagner channels suggested it was filmed in Africa. 

“The temperature is +50 — everything as we like. The Wagner PMC makes Russia even greater on all continents, and Africa — more free. Justice and happiness — for the African people, we’re making life a nightmare for ISIS and al-Qaida and other bandits,” Prigozhin says in a video. 

He then says Wagner is recruiting people and the group “will fulfill the tasks that were set.” The video is accompanied by a telephone number for those who want to join the group. 

The future of Wagner and Prigozhin has been unclear since he led a short mutiny against the Russian defense establishment in late June and the Kremlin said he and some of his fighters — who have fought in some of the fiercest battles of the Ukraine war — would leave for Belarus. 

Since the mutiny, some Wagner fighters have moved to Belarus and started training the army there. In comments published in late July, Prigozhin also said Wagner was ready to further increase its presence in Africa. 
…

Ukraine’s president has described the decision by the Netherlands and Denmark to supply his country with F-16 fighter jets as “historic and inspiring.” The Western allies will supply dozens of the technically advanced jets after Washington’s approval. Henry Ridgwell reports from London.
…

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has described the decision by the Netherlands and Denmark to supply his country with F-16 fighter jets as “historic and inspiring.”

The Western allies will supply dozens of the U.S.-made jets in the coming months, after Washington gave its approval.

F-16 jets

Zelenskyy visited the Dutch city of Eindhoven on Sunday to meet Prime Minister Mark Rutte, before visiting Copenhagen on Monday. At an airfield outside the Danish capital, Zelenskyy climbed into the cockpit of an F-16, alongside Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen.

Zelenskyy later addressed the Danish parliament. “We’re here to say thank you, personally. Thank all of you for helping us in our fight, difficult fight for freedom. For helping us in this war which Russia brought to our land. And which it wants, so much, still wants to throw into homes of other nations,” Zelenskyy told Danish lawmakers.

Outside, thousands of people had gathered to show their support, as the Ukrainian president repeated his message of gratitude. “I thank you and the whole of Denmark, all the weapons you are giving to protect freedom — and for the F-16s we agreed on. Thank you so much,” he told the crowd.

News reports cite Russia’s ambassador to Denmark, Vladimir Barbin, as saying the transfer of the jets will lead to the conflict’s escalation.

Delivery

Denmark plans to provide 19 F-16s, with the training of Ukrainian pilots already under way. It’s hoped the first jets will arrive by the end of the year.

The Netherlands said it had 42 F-16s available, although a final number had yet to be agreed upon. Both allies are upgrading their fleets to more modern fifth-generation fighter jets.

The invading Russian forces currently enjoy vast air superiority, although Ukraine’s air defenses, bolstered by modern Western systems, have proven effective.

Firepower

Ukraine’s existing air force fleet is made up of aging Soviet-era aircraft. The F-16s will offer far greater firepower, helping to defend against Russian jets, missiles and drones, said defense analyst Patrick Bury, of Britain’s University of Bath.

“It can go toe to toe with (Russian) MiGs and would have a good chance against them. So, you’re talking about trying to establish, first of all, some sort of local air superiority, which the Ukrainians just don’t have at the moment. If you look at their flying ops, they’re flying one to two aircraft at really low level(s), trying to avoid the very formidable Russian air defenses and the Russian air force,” Bury told VOA.

The F-16 also offers Ukraine the ability to safely strike targets hundreds of kilometers away, deep in Russian-controlled territory. That’s vital if any ground offensive is to succeed, Bury added.

“To get any momentum on the ground, really in the old sort of blitzkrieg sense, you need to have that ground attack capability from the air — so air-to-surface attack capability. And the F-16 can do that as well. And finally — and a really important role in this as well — is the F-16 is pretty good at doing suppression or destruction of enemy air defenses,” Bury told VOA.

Western hesitation

Ukraine has been asking for F-16s since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022, but Western allies held off, fearing an escalation of the war.

It will take months for Ukrainian pilots to be trained. The delay could prove costly.

“I still think it’s coming too late to be honest with you. Politics is moving. We’ll see what happens. Whether Ukraine can come round and have these F-16s ready — enough of them, trained up and ready to go, to basically go for version two of a summer offensive next summer — if the political appetite and the fiscal appetite is there for that, we’ll see,” Bury said.

Ukrainian reaction

On the streets of Kyiv, Ukrainian citizens welcomed the Dutch and Danish decisions to supply the jets.

“Finally! Thank God, I think every Ukrainian was waiting for it for a long time,” said Larysa Shymko, who is originally from the town of Skadovsk in the Russian occupied territories. “I strongly believe and hope that this decision will help our country to achieve the long-awaited victory,” Shymko told The Associated Press.

Lawyer Yurii Lymar urged the West to act more swiftly. “It is obvious that every Ukrainian feels that Europe and the entire world could approve such decisions a little faster, because every day in this great war means lots of Ukrainian people dying,” he told the AP.

For now, Ukraine’s summer ground offensive grinds on slowly, with minimal air support. Analysts say the West’s decision to supply F-16s aims to bolster Ukraine’s longer-term capabilities to fend off Russian aggression.
…

Major wildfires were burning in Greece and on one of Spain’s Canary Islands off the northwest coast of Africa Monday, with hot, dry and windy conditions hampering the efforts of hundreds of firefighters battling the blazes, two of which have been burning for several days.

European Union officials have blamed climate change for the increasing frequency and intensity of wildfires in Europe, noting that 2022 was the second-worst year for wildfire damage on record after 2017.

In Greece, authorities ordered the evacuation of two villages in the central Viotia region, about 100 kilometers northwest of Athens, after a forest fire broke out Monday morning. The coast guard put two patrol boats and several fishing boats and private vessels on standby in case an evacuation by sea was necessary.

Authorities said the body of a man was recovered from a sheep pen in the area under evacuation, with local media reporting the man apparently died of smoke inhalation while trying to save his livestock.

In the northeast of the country near the border with Turkey, strong winds rekindled flames on several fronts in a major wildfire burning for a third day across forests and farmland near the town of Alexandroupolis.

Several homes were destroyed over the weekend. Thirteen villages were evacuated, while more than 200 firefighters, assisted by 16 water-dropping planes and seven helicopters, volunteers and the armed forces were battling the fire, government spokesman Pavlos Marinakis said.

Cyprus was sending two firefighting aircraft to help tackle the Alexandroupolis blaze, including four crew and five ground support staff.

With gale-force winds blowing in several parts of the country, authorities set the fire risk level in several regions, including that of the Greek capital, to “extreme.”

“The (firefighting) system is on alert, and we must be too. The risk of wildfires remains high,” Marinakis said.

Every summer, Greece suffers destructive wildfires, which officials say have been exacerbated by climate change.

The deadliest Greek wildfire on record killed 104 people in 2018, in a seaside resort near Athens that residents had not been warned to evacuate. Since then, authorities have erred on the side of caution, issuing swift mass evacuation orders whenever inhabited areas are under threat.

Last month a wildfire on the resort island of Rhodes forced the evacuation of some 20,000 tourists. Days later, two air force pilots were killed when their water-dropping plane crashed while diving low to tackle a blaze on the island of Evia. Another three wildfire-related deaths have been recorded this summer.

In Spain’s Canary Islands, a wildfire that police say was started deliberately last Tuesday on Tenerife continued to burn out of control, although the worst seemed to have passed. More than 12,000 people have been evacuated from their homes and nearly 13,000 hectares of pine forest and scrubland have burned.

Acting Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez was to visit the area Monday to review the damage. Canary Island regional President Fernando Clavijo told Spain’s Cadena SER radio “the worst is over,” adding that the hundreds of firefighters deployed had made some progress for the second night in a row.

The fire in the northeast of the island is not near any of the islands’ main tourist areas. The blaze has come close to some 10 municipalities, but there have been no injuries or burned homes so far.

In Portugal and Italy, two other southern European countries often plagued by wildfires in the summer months, temperatures were predicted to soar this week.

Italian authorities issued heat warnings for eight cities from Bolzano in the north to Rome in central Italy on Monday as temperatures were forecast to hit 38 degrees Celsius. Storm warnings were in effect in the southern regions of Calabria, Basilicata and Sicily.

In Portugal, temperatures were forecast to reach 44 degrees Celsius in some southern parts of the country.
…

Spaniards erupted in joy after La Roja won the Women’s World Cup on Sunday, with some following coach Jorge Vilda’s call to take to the streets and celebrate Spain’s first major soccer title in more than a decade. 

Fans in Madrid, Barcelona and around the country cheered when the final whistle blew in Australia following Spain’s 1-0 win over England to clinch the women’s world title for the first time. 

The women’s triumph came 13 years after the men’s national team won its only World Cup title in South Africa. The men’s team also won the 2008 and 2012 European Championships. 

“They made it possible for people to watch women’s soccer the same way that they watch men’s soccer,” said 20-year-old Erika Macarro at a viewing party in Madrid. “This is great for young girls who are being able to experience this. We never expected this team to get this far and they did. It shows that you always have to believe.”

The match commentator on Spanish television lauded that “the dream of an entire country became reality and, 4,788 days later, Spain is a world champion again,” adding that “The women’s team has won a star just like the men’s team in 2010.” 

Xavi, a men’s World Cup winner with Spain and Barcelona’s current coach, said he was moved by the women’s team victory. 

“They played very well, we are very happy for all of them,” he said. “They have suffered a lot to be able to play soccer and deserve a lot of credit.” 

The celebrations were not comparable to those after the men’s World Cup title, but the gatherings to support the women’s team were still significant. 

There were viewing parties organized by local officials in more than 100 cities across Spain. In Madrid, fans watched the final in bars throughout the city and at an arena where a big screen was set up for nearly 7,000 people who signed up in advance for free tickets. 

Some went out to the nearby plaza to celebrate, sporting the nation’s red-and-yellow colors, waving flags and chanting despite the high temperatures in the Spanish capital. 

“It’s a historic moment, it shows that our women also have their worth in soccer,” said fan Esther Ros. “What they’ve done is amazing.” 

Spain’s Queen Letizia was in Sydney to cheer on La Roja and received a jersey from the players after the match. 

“You are the best soccer players in the world,” Spain’s royal family said on X, formerly known as Twitter. “This is FOOTBALL and it is HISTORY!” 

After the final, Olga Carmona — who scored what turned out to be the winning goal in the first half — learned of her father’s death. The federation did not say when Carmona’s father died or give a cause of death. It also did not say exactly when Carmona was informed about the news or who told her. She had appeared to celebrate normally with her teammates after the final whistle. 

The federation said earlier that title celebrations were set to take place after the squad’s arrival in Madrid on Monday night, with a big screen and attractions set up for fans in the Spanish capital. 

Spain’s coach had said after the semifinals that the women’s team was making the entire nation proud and had called for fans to take to the streets on Sunday. 

“Now they can celebrate,” Vilda said. “I can only imagine what Spain looks like right now.” 

There was still mixed reaction about Vilda after some players rebelled against him less than a year ago. Fifteen players stepped away from the national team for their mental health and demanding a more professional environment. 

Many fans jeered Vilda at the viewing party in Madrid when his name was announced. 

“You feel that the issue hasn’t been fully resolved yet, but that doesn’t change what they’ve achieved,” Macarro said. “The credit has to go to the players, because they are the ones out there making it happen.” 

Spain’s women had never advanced past the round of 16 at a World Cup, and expectations were not too high this time following the problems involving Vilda and some of the players. 

Spain was playing in only its third Women’s World Cup. Four years ago, it advanced to the knockout rounds but lost to eventual champions the United States. 

 
…

Russian officials said Monday that Ukraine used drones in attack directed at the Moscow and Kaluga regions.

The officials said Russia’s air defenses downed the drones and that there was no reported damage.

The aerial assault temporarily disrupted operations at multiple Russian airports, but service later resumed.

Both Russia and Ukraine have employed drones to target the opposing side, with damage on the ground often caused by debris from downed aircraft.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy thanked Danish lawmakers as he addressed them Monday, a day after Denmark and the Netherlands announced they would provide Ukrainian forces with U.S.-made F-16 fighter jets.

Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen pledged 19 F-16s to Ukraine and said she hoped the first six could be delivered around the start of the 2024.

Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte did not detail how many F-16s his country would provide, nor when any deliveries might take place. He said the timing depends on how soon Ukrainian crews and infrastructure are ready.

“The F-16s will not help immediately now with the war effort. It is anyway a long-term commitment from the Netherlands,” Rutte said Sunday. “We want them to be active and operational as soon as possible. … Not for the next month, that’s impossible, but hopefully soon afterward.”

The Dutch and Danish governments are involved in a coalition that is working to train Ukrainian pilots to fly the advanced fighter jets.

The fighter jets are not likely to affect the trajectory of the war anytime soon, according to U.S. officials.

U.S. Air Force General James Hecker told reporters Friday at a virtual meeting of the Defense Writers Group that there are no prospects currently for either Ukraine or Russia to gain the upper hand in the air.

“I don’t think anyone’s going to get air superiority as long as the number of surface-to-air missiles stays high enough,” Hecker said, responding to a question from VOA.

“Both Ukraine and Russia have very good integrated air and missile defense systems,” he said. “That alone is what has prevented [Russia or Ukraine] from getting air superiority.”

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

The swimming leg of a triathlon test event ahead of next year’s Olympic Games in Paris was canceled on Sunday due to poor water quality in the River Seine, the third such decision this month. 

“Water quality tests … do not provide the necessary guarantees to properly hold the swimming event,” organizers said in a statement. 

The mixed relay triathlon test event was switched to a duathlon format as was the case on Saturday for the Para triathlon event. 

Organizers also canceled the Open Water Swimming World Cup in Paris this month after heavy rainfall caused the water quality in the river to dip below minimum health standards. 

The city has been working on clean-up efforts to make the Seine swimmable again, as it was during the 1900 Paris Olympics. 
…

The Netherlands and Denmark announced Sunday they will give F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine.

During a visit to the Netherlands, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy welcomed the “historic” announcement making Denmark and the Netherlands the first countries to donate F-16 jets to Ukraine’s counteroffensive against Russia.

“It makes me proud that Denmark, together with the Netherlands, will donate F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine’s fight for freedom against Russia and its senseless aggression,” Zelenskyy said after his visit to a Dutch air base with Prime Minister Mark Rutte.

Zelenskyy said that the F-16s will be an important motivation for his country’s forces that are embroiled in a difficult counteroffensive against Russia.

After the announcement the Ukrainian president headed to Denmark for a visit with host Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen.

Ukraine says these modern U.S. fighter jets are necessary to counter the air superiority of the Russians.

The delivery of the powerful U.S.-made fighter jets will depend on how soon Ukrainian crews and infrastructure will be ready for them, Rutte told Zelenskyy.

Zelenskyy said on his Telegram channel that Ukraine would get 42 jets, but the Netherlands and Denmark, in a joint statement announcing the deliveries, did not specify numbers.

“The F-16s will not help immediately now with the war effort. It is anyway a long-term commitment from the Netherlands,” Rutte said. “We want them to be active and operational as soon as possible. … Not for the next month, that’s impossible, but hopefully soon afterward,” he said.

The Dutch and Danish governments are also involved in a coalition that is working to train Ukrainian pilots to fly the advanced fighter jets.

Zelenskyy declined to say how many Ukrainian pilots would undergo training in Denmark and later in Romania, citing security reasons.

Denmark, however, said Friday that the training is starting this month.

Officials have previously said that Ukrainian pilots will need six to eight months of training.

The training includes technical language training in English because most technical manuals are written in English.

The fighter jets are not likely to affect the trajectory of the war anytime soon, according to U.S. officials.

U.S. Air Force General James Hecker told reporters Friday at a virtual meeting of the Defense Writers Group that there are no prospects currently for either Ukraine or Russia to gain the upper hand in the air.

“I don’t think anyone’s going to get air superiority as long as the number of surface-to-air missiles stays high enough,” Hecker said, responding to a question from VOA.

“Both Ukraine and Russia have very good integrated air and missile defense systems,” he said. “That alone is what has prevented [Russia or Ukraine] from getting air superiority.”

In a post on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, Dutch Foreign Minister Wopke Hoekstra said, “We welcome Washington’s decision to pave the way for sending F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine.”

The British defense ministry said Sunday in its daily report about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine that Ukraine is striking deep inside Russia and the leadership of Russia’s Aerospace Forces is “highly likely” being pressured to improve its defenses over western Russia.

The ministry said Russian President Vladimir Putin “almost certainly” invaded Ukraine believing that it “would have little direct effect on Russians.” Uncrewed aerial vehicles are regularly hitting Moscow, the ministry’s report said.

There have been “increasing reports” of SA-5 GAMMON missiles hitting Russia. The ministry said the 7.5-ton Soviet-era GAMMON had been retired from Ukraine’s defense inventory but has been apparently resurrected “as a ground attack ballistic missile.”

Russia’s defense ministry said Sunday it jammed a Ukrainian drone headed toward Moscow, causing it to crash. Afterward, flights at Moscow’s Vnukovo and Domodedovo airports were temporarily suspended as a precaution.

Officials say a fire broke out when a Ukrainian drone hit a train station in the Russian city of Kursk. Five people were injured in the incident. Kursk borders Ukraine.

In his daily address, Zelenskyy vowed retaliation for a deadly Russian missile attack Saturday on the historic city of Chernihiv, about 145 kilometers north of Kyiv. The attack Saturday killed seven people, including a 6-year-old, and injured 144 others.

I am sure,” the president said, “our soldiers will respond to Russia for this terrorist attack. Respond tangibly.”

The missile struck while people were heading to church to celebrate a religious holiday. Fifteen of the wounded were children and 10 were police officers, according to the interior ministry.

Zelenskyy posted a video on the Telegram messaging app showing images from the aftermath of the attack, including a body in a car surrounded by debris.

“A Russian missile hit right in the center of the city, in our Chernihiv. A square, the polytechnic university, a theater,” Zelenskyy wrote while visiting Sweden to discuss a new military aid package of more than $313 million from the Nordic country.

During his visit to Stockholm, Zelenskyy asked Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson for Swedish-made Gripen fighter jets to help Ukraine boost its air defenses.

In June, the Swedish government said it would give Ukrainian pilots the opportunity to test its Saab-made jet, but it also has said it needs all its planes to defend Swedish territory.

Zelenskyy said Saturday that Ukrainian pilots have begun training on the aircraft.

During a joint news briefing, Kristersson did not comment on the Gripens, but he condemned the Russian missile attack on Chernihiv.

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

 
…

Greek authorities Sunday evacuated another five villages near the northeastern border with Turkey where a large summer wildfire that has already destroyed several homes over the weekend drew dangerously close.

There were no reports of serious injuries to firefighters or residents from the forest blaze near the town of Alexandroupolis, that forced the evacuation of another eight villages Saturday.

Strong winds whipped on the flames, and civil protection authorities warned of an “extreme” fire risk Monday in the region around the capital, Athens, and other parts of southern Greece.

Some 200 firefighters, assisted by 16 water-dropping aircraft, volunteers and police, were battling the blaze near Alexandroupolis.

Local authorities said about half a dozen outlying houses and outbuildings were badly damaged in two of the evacuated villages, as well as a church. Sections of a major highway were closed for a second day as smoke reduced visibility, while Alexandroupolis residents were advised to keep their windows shut.

Greece’s minister for civil protection, Vassilis Kikilias, said Sunday that firefighters, police, army personnel and volunteers were “waging an intense battle” in the Alexandroupolis area, and called for extreme public vigilance throughout the country Monday.

“No outdoors work that could trigger a fire will be permitted,” he said. “We must all protect our country.”

Every summer, Greece suffers destructive wildfires which officials said have been exacerbated by climate change.

The deadliest Greek wildfire on record killed 104 people in 2018, in a seaside resort near Athens that residents had not been warned to evacuate. Since then, authorities have been erring on the side of caution, issuing swift mass evacuation orders whenever inhabited areas are under threat.

Last month a large wildfire on the resort island of Rhodes forced the evacuation of some 20,000 tourists. Days later, two air force pilots were killed when their water-dropping plane crashed while diving low to tackle a blaze on the island of Evia. Another three wildfire-related deaths have been recorded this summer.
…

It’s mid-afternoon in late summer and a fresh North Sea breeze blows through the vines at Kullabergs Vingård, a vineyard and winery at the vanguard of producers seeking to redefine what Swedish wine can be.

Scandinavia isn’t exactly what connoisseurs would define as prime wine country and commercial vineyards are still tiny compared to France, Italy or Spain. But with climate change making for warmer and longer growing seasons, and new varieties of grapes adapted to this landscape, the bouquet of Swedish wines is maturing nicely.

As drought, rising heat and other extreme weather events are forcing traditional wine-growing regions to reassess their methods, Swedish winemaking is shifting from mostly small-scale amateurs to an industry with growing ambition.

Kullabergs Vingård stretches over 14 hectares (about 34 acres) and most of the vines were planted less than a decade ago. By 2022, the winery had reached an annual output of over 30,000 bottles — mostly whites that can be found in high-end restaurants from Europe to Japan to Hong Kong and that have won multiple international prizes.

“Where vineyards in more traditional countries are suffering, we are gaining momentum,” said Felix Åhrberg, a 34-year-old oenologist and winemaker who returned to Sweden in 2017 to lead Kullabergs Vingård after working in vineyards around the world.

Grapevines can tolerate heat and drought, and farming without irrigation is traditionally practiced in parts of Europe. But the past decade has seen the planet’s hottest years on record, and more warming is expected. That can hit wine, where even minor weather variations can change grapes’ sugar, acid and tannin content.

Climate change can make areas once ideal for certain grapes more challenging. Extreme heat ripens grapes faster, leading either to earlier harvests that can diminish quality, or to stronger, less balanced wines if left to ripen too long.

In recent years, grapevines have been planted farther and farther north, with commercial vineyards appearing in Norway and Denmark and others, including in the American West, expanding into cooler zones. The United Kingdom, famous for its ales and bitter beers, expects the area under vines to double in the next 10 years fueled by demand for its sparkling wines.

“This is the new frontier of winemaking and grapes grow best on their coolest frontier,” Åhrberg said as he walked through Kullabergs Vingård’s newly built winery, an Instagram-friendly gem worthy of design magazines that was built with sustainability in mind and capacity of three times the current volume.

Temperatures in southern Sweden have increased by about 2 degrees Celsius over the past 30 years compared to the 30 years before that, according to data from the Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute. And the growing season has lengthened by about 20 days. 

The widespread adoption of new varieties of disease-resistant grapes is also credited with Swedish wine’s growth. Most vineyards have planted a grape called Solaris, developed in Germany in 1975, that is adapted to the cooler climate and more resistant to diseases. That enables most vineyards to avoid using pesticides.

“Solaris is like the national grape variety here in Sweden,” said Emma Berto, a young French oenologist and winemaker at Thora Vingård on the Bjäre peninsula, about 20 kilometers (12.4 miles) north of Kullabergs Vingård.

She and her partner, Romain Chichery, moved to Sweden shortly after finishing their viticulture studies in France, attracted by the chance to run a vineyard and winery so early in their careers. They’re intent on combining traditional winemaking with updated environmental practices like avoiding pesticides and using extensive cover crops to improve soil quality and encourage beneficial insects and biodiversity.

They say they face fewer extreme climate incidents in Sweden than in France, where warming winters can cause grape vines to produce early buds vulnerable to frost, and violent hailstorms can destroy a year of work in minutes. And Chichery said they have greater freedom to experiment in Sweden than in countries steeped in tradition and regulations, like France.

But working in cooler and damper conditions has meant learning new methods. While vineyards in hot climates would protect their grapes with more leaf canopy, here it’s the opposite. Leaves are picked from the bottom of the plant to let more sunshine reach the grapes and reduce humidity.

Attracting trained wine professionals is a hurdle, too, along with difficulty getting wine barrels and other equipment to scale up. 

Thora Vingård owners Johan and Heather Öberg said Swedish universities offer little on winemaking or viticulture, something they hope will change soon.

For now, lots of the talent comes from abroad — like Iban Tell Sabate, who comes from the wine-growing Priorat region in Spain and has spent decades in the industry.

He had read about Sweden’s wine industry but said most people he spoke to back home didn’t know of it. He’s working the season at the Kullabergs Vingård alongside colleagues from France and Austria. 

“Italy, Greece, Spain, all these countries are going to face problems. There’s not enough water, and the winters are too warm,” Sabate said.

“With global warming, Sweden’s in a good position and it’s a good wine too.”

Maarten van Aalst, director general of the Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute and a professor in climate and disaster resilience at the University of Twente, saw the optimism for growth in Swedish wine as an indicator of how quickly the world’s climate is changing. Businesses “have good feelers for that,” he said, and called it positive that “climate change is partly something we can adapt to.”

But van Aalst noted the days of torrential rains that battered Scandinavia in early August, overwhelming dams, destroying roads, forcing thousands to evacuate and causing more than $150 million in damage. Human-caused climate change is making such extreme and destructive weather events more common.

Both Kullabergs Vingård and Thora came through that storm without major damage, free to turn their attention to what businesses do — try to grow.
…

The British Defense Ministry said Sunday in its daily report about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine that Ukraine is striking deep inside Russia and the leadership of Russia’s Aerospace Forces is “highly likely” being pressured to improve its defenses over western Russia.

The ministry said Russian President Vladimir Putin “almost certainly” invaded Ukraine believing that it “would have little direct effect on Russians.”  Uncrewed aerial vehicles are regularly hitting Moscow, the ministry’s report said.

There have been “increasing reports” of SA-5 GAMMON missiles hitting Russia.  The ministry said the 7.5-ton Soviet-era GAMMON had been retired from Ukraine’s defense inventory but has been apparently resurrected “as a ground attack ballistic missile.”

In his daily address, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy vowed retaliation for the deadly attack Saturday on a historic city that killed seven people, including a child.  “I am sure,” the president said, “our soldiers will respond to Russia for this terrorist attack.  Respond tangibly.”

The Russian missile attack Saturday killed seven people, including a 6-year-old child, and injured 144 near the central square in the historic Ukrainian city of Chernihiv, about 145 kilometers north of Kyiv.

The missile struck while people were heading to church to celebrate a religious holiday. Twelve of the wounded were children and 10 were police officers, according to the interior ministry.

Zelenskyy posted a video on the Telegram messaging app showing harrowing images from the aftermath of the attack, including a body in a car surrounded by debris.

“A Russian missile hit right in the center of the city, in our Chernihiv. A square, the polytechnic university, a theater,” Zelenskyy wrote while visiting Sweden to discuss a new military aid package of more than $313 million from the Nordic country.

During his first visit to Stockholm since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Zelenskyy asked the Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson for Swedish-made Gripen fighter jets to help Ukraine boost its air defenses.

In June, the Swedish government said it would give Ukrainian pilots the opportunity to test its Saab-made jet, but it also has said it needs all its planes to defend Swedish territory.

Zelenskyy said Saturday that Ukrainian pilots have begun training on the planes.

During a joint news briefing, Kristersson did not comment on the Gripens, but -condemned the Russian missile attack on Chernihiv.

Sweden changed its long-established policy of military nonalignment to back Ukraine with weapons and other support in the war against Russia. Sweden has applied for NATO membership and is in the process of joining the alliance.

Ukrainian pilots also have begun training on U.S. F-16 fighter jets, a process that would take at least six months and possibly longer, Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov said Saturday, two days after a U.S. official said F-16s would be transferred to Ukraine once its pilots were trained.

Reznikov said in a TV interview that six months of training was considered the minimum for pilots, but it was not yet clear how long it would take to train engineers and mechanics.

Ukraine says these modern U.S. fighter jets are necessary so it can counter the air superiority of the Russian invaders.

“Therefore, to build reasonable expectations, set a minimum of six months in your mind, but do not be disappointed if it is longer,” Reznikov said.

Washington has approved sending F-16s to Ukraine from Denmark and the Netherlands to defend against Russia as soon as pilot training is completed, a U.S. official said.

Reznikov did not disclose where and when the training was taking place.

The training included technical language training because most of the technical manuals are written in English.

The fighter jets are not likely to affect the trajectory of the war anytime soon, according to U.S. officials.

U.S. Air Force General James Hecker told reporters Friday at a virtual meeting of the Defense Writers Group that there are no prospects currently for either Ukraine or Russia to gain the upper hand in the air.

“I don’t think anyone’s going to get air superiority as long as the number of surface-to-air missiles stays high enough,” Hecker said, responding to a question from VOA.

Hecker, commander of U.S. Air Forces Europe and U.S. Air Forces Africa, did note that if Ukraine runs out of its integrated air and missile defense ammunition, “then it becomes a problem.”

“Both Ukraine and Russia have very good integrated air and missile defense systems,” he said. “That alone is what has prevented [Russia or Ukraine] from getting air superiority.”

In a post on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, Dutch Foreign Minister Wopke Hoekstra said: “We welcome Washington’s decision to pave the way for sending F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine.”

Camp David

At a trilateral summit Friday, the leaders of the United States, Japan and South Korea pledged to “stand with Ukraine against Russia’s unprovoked and brutal war of aggression.”

Meeting at the U.S. presidential retreat of Camp David, President Joe Biden, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol said their countries would continue to help Ukraine.

They also pledged to continue sanctions on Russia and to accelerate their countries’ “reduction of dependency on Russian energy.”

Kishida said “the free and open international order based on the rule of law is in crisis,” and pointed the blame at Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the continuing North Korean nuclear and missile threats, and a “unilateral attempt to change the status quo by force in the East and South China Seas” — referring lastly to China.

VOA U.N. Correspondent Margaret Besheer and VOA National Security Correspondent Jeff Seldin contributed to this story. Some information for this report came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.
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Firefighters battling a vast wildfire on Tenerife are facing another difficult night after severe weather conditions worsened the blaze, forcing thousands to flee their homes on the Spanish holiday island, regional officials said. 

The huge blaze that broke out late Tuesday in a mountainous northeastern area of the island quickly morphed into the Canary Islands’ biggest-ever fire. 

“It is a devastating fire … a fire on a completely different scale, a scale that the Canary Islands has never experienced before,” said Rosa Davila, head of the government of Tenerife. 

So far the blaze, which now has a perimeter of 70 kilometers (43 miles), has burned through 8,400 hectares (20,800 acres), the equivalent of just more than 4% of Tenerife’s overall surface area of 203,400 hectares. 

In an update late Saturday, Fernando Clavijo, Canary Islands regional president, said the wildfire had so far displaced nearly 12,300 people, citing figures provided by the Guardia Civil police. 

Earlier, regional officials had given a figure twice as high, with emergency services officials saying, “provisional estimates suggest that more than 26,000 people may have been evacuated,” which government officials later clarified was a number “based on census figures” from the areas subjected to evacuation orders. 

And they did not rule out further evacuations, warning of a difficult night ahead.  

“Last night was very complicated and tonight is likely to be just as bad, if not worse,” said Clavijo of an overnight battle with “severe weather” characterized by strong winds and higher-than-expected temperatures that saw the flames spreading to the north, forcing a fresh wave of evacuations.  

“Tonight’s work is going to be very difficult but it will be vital for containing the fire,” he said. 

As the fire spread down the mountainside toward the northern town of La Matanza de Acentejo, Candelaria Bencomo Betancor, a farmer in her 70s, looked on in anguish. 

“The fire is close to our farm, we’ve got trucks, vans, chickens, everything. … It’s a business that is going well but if the fire comes, it will totally ruin us,” she told AFPTV, on the verge of tears. “They have to do something because the fire is right there.” 

So far the blaze has affected 11 municipalities on Tenerife, the largest of the seven Canary Islands.  

Pedro Martinez, who is in charge of firefighting efforts, told reporters the blaze was “behaving like a sixth-generation wildfire,” a term that refers to a mega forest fire. 

“The fire is beyond our capacity to extinguish it, maybe not in all sectors, but in a large part of them,” he admitted, saying efforts to tackle the flames were being hampered by the huge clouds of smoke and the wind. 

Maria del Pilar Rodriguez Padron, another resident of Matanza, said she was sleeping in her car by the house.  

“They offered us a place to stay but we prefer to stay in the car because we can watch the house and see whether it burns or not. Being elsewhere we just wouldn’t be able to sleep,” she told AFPTV.   

The blaze has generated a vast pillar of smoke that now stretches about 8 kilometers into the air, rising far above the summit of Mount Teide, the volcano that towers over the island. 

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez is expected to visit the island on Monday.  

Last year Spain suffered more than 500 blazes that destroyed more than 300,000 hectares, making it the worst-hit country in Europe, according to the European Forest Fire Information System (EFFIS). 

So far this year, it has had 340 fires, which have ravaged almost 76,000 hectares, EFFIS figures show.   
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