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France has banned an upcoming Iranian opposition rally over the risk of an attack, according to a letter sent to the organizers and seen by Reuters, after the release of an Iranian diplomat convicted of masterminding a plot to bomb the group in 2018. 

The ban comes as Western powers seek to defuse tensions with Iran and a few weeks after Tehran released several Europeans from prison, including two French nationals. French President Emmanuel Macron held a 90-minute call with Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi on June 10. 

The Paris-based National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), political arm of the People’s Mujahideen Organization of Iran (PMOI), has held frequent rallies in the French capital over the years, often attended by high-profile former U.S., European and Arab officials critical of the Islamic Republic. 

In February, the NCRI attracted several thousand people to an event in central Paris, and plans its annual rally on July 1. 

However, given a recent spate of mass anti-government protests in Iran over the death of a 22-year-old woman while in morality police custody, a “tense context” had developed posing “very significant security risks” to NCRI gatherings, said the document, a letter from Paris police chief Laurent Nunez. 

Therefore, “this meeting, organized every year since 2008, cannot be held…” read the letter, sent to the NCRI rally’s organizing committee. 

In response to an inquiry, Paris police issued a statement to Reuters confirming that they had informed the committee of the decision to ban the rally as it could “generate disturbances to public order due to the geopolitical context.” 

“Moreover, given the terrorist risk cannot be neglected, the holding of such an event would make its security but also the security of sensitive guests extremely complex,” said the statement. 

A senior NCRI official condemned the decision when asked about it by Reuters, before the police confirmation. 

“If French authorities take such a stance, it will represent a brazen disregard for democratic principles, caving in to the ruling religious tyranny’s blackmail and hostage-taking,” said Shahin Gobadi, a member of the NCRI’s Foreign Affairs Committee.  

Foreign support for Iran unrest 

Mahsa Amini’s death in custody sparked months of nationwide protests, prompting Tehran to accuse the United States, its Western allies and Israel of exploiting the unrest to try to destabilize the Islamic Republic. 

Thousands of supportive rallies have been held around the world since her death in September, although the nationwide unrest has subsided after Iranian security police clamped down on it. 

To dampen rising tensions, the United States has been holding talks with Iran to sketch out steps that could limit the disputed Iranian nuclear program, release some detained U.S. citizens and unfreeze some Iranian assets abroad, according to Iranian and Western officials. 

Abortive plot 

Nunez’s letter put the July 1 NCRI rally in the context of the abortive plot led by Vienna-based Iranian diplomat Assadolah Assadi in October 2018 and three others. 

Assadi, who French officials said was running an Iranian state intelligence network and was acting on orders from Tehran, was sentenced in Belgium to a 20-year prison term in 2021. He was exchanged in May for four Europeans held in Iran. 

“This attempted attack, which underlines the operational capacities for attacking the PMOI, falls into a series of violent and lethal operations in France and Europe, in the form of assassinations and kidnappings of Iranian opposition figures,” the letter said, without providing details. 

“Partner countries have in this regard recently mentioned many planned violent attacks, potentially targeting Iranian opposition figures.” 

Nunez also said in his letter to the NCRI that given the group’s rally would attract several hundred important foreign dignitaries and PMOI members coming from overseas, “securing the event would be particularly complicated.” 

There have been three attacks on an NCRI building in a Paris suburb since the end of May, the letter said, and these were under investigation. Two sources close to the investigation said gunshots, petrol bombs and other incendiary devices had been used to target the building. It was unclear who was responsible. 

The letter said there was also an elevated risk of conflict between the NCRI and rival Iranian opposition groups at the rally, although there had been no incidents at past rallies. 

Tehran has long called for a crackdown on NCRI activities in Paris, Washington and the Saudi capital Riyadh. The group, whose sources of funding and support are unclear, is regularly lambasted by Iranian state media. 
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Imprisoned Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny went on trial Monday on new charges of extremism that could keep him behind bars for decades.

The trial opened at a maximum security penal colony in Melekhovo, 250 kilometers (150 miles) east of Moscow, where Navalny, 47, is serving a nine-year sentence for fraud and contempt of court — charges he says are politically motivated.

Navalny, who exposed official corruption and organized major anti-Kremlin protests, was arrested in January 2021 upon returning to Moscow after recuperating in Germany from nerve agent poisoning that he blamed on the Kremlin.

Navalny, wearing his prison garb, looked gaunt at the session but spoke emphatically about the weakness of the state’s case and gestured energetically.

Navalny has said the new extremism charges, which he rejected as “absurd,” could keep him in prison for another 30 years. He said an investigator told him that he would also face a separate military trial on terrorism charges that could potentially carry a life sentence.

Monday’s trial came amid a sweeping Russian crackdown on dissent amid the fighting in Ukraine, which Navalny has harshly criticized.

The Moscow City Court, which opened the hearing at Penal Colony No. 6, didn’t allow reporters in the courtroom and they watched the proceedings via video feed from a separate building. Navalny’s parents also were denied access to the court and followed the hearing remotely.

Navalny and his lawyers urged the judge to hold an open trial, arguing that authorities are eager to suppress details of the proceedings to cover up the weakness of the case.

“The investigators, the prosecutors and the authorities in general don’t want the public to know about the trial,” Navalny said.

Prosecutor Nadezhda Tikhonova asked the judge to conduct the trial behind closed doors, citing security concerns.

The feed from the session to media room was then cut, but it wasn’t immediately clear if it was because the judge decided to close the trial or if it was for another reason.

The new charges relate to the activities of Navalny’s anti-corruption foundation and statements by his top associates. His allies said the charges retroactively criminalize all the activities of Navalny’s foundation since its creation in 2011.

One of Navalny’s associates, Daniel Kholodny, was relocated from a different prison to face trial alongside him.

Navalny has spent months in a tiny one-person cell, also called a “punishment cell,” for purported disciplinary violations such as an alleged failure to properly button his prison clothes, properly introduce himself to a guard or to wash his face at a specified time.

Navalny’s associates and supporters have accused prison authorities of failing to provide him with proper medical assistance and voiced concern about his health.

The German government criticized the trial and reiterated its call for Navalny’s immediate release.

“In case of the opposition politician Alexei Navalny, the Russian authorities keep looking for new excuses to extend his imprisonment,” government spokesman Wolfgang Buechner told reporters in Berlin.

“The German government continues to demand of the Russian authorities that they release Navalny without delay,” he added. “Navalny’s imprisonment is based on a politically motivated verdict, as the European Court of Human Rights concluded back in 2017.”

Asked whether Germany could provide any assistance to Navalny or observe the trial, Foreign Ministry spokesman Christian Wagner said German officials were doing what they could “on the few channels that we have,” but acknowledged it was “very difficult at the moment” given the current state of relations with Russia.

 
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Military and civilian aircraft streaked across the sky as the Paris Air Show returned Monday after a four-year COVID-induced hiatus, with a big crowd including Ukrainian military officials and the French president.

Organizers have billed the biennial event as the “recovery airshow” after the coronavirus ravaged the sector and the event was cancelled in 2021.

This year’s airshow has a new focus on defense following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, along with the industry’s efforts to reduce its carbon footprint, with French President Emmanuel Macron arriving in a helicopter partly using sustainable aviation fuel (SAF).

Huge traffic jams around Le Bourget airport outside Paris were testament to the interest in this year’s show, as aircraft makers field hundreds of orders and airlines brace for a near-record number of passengers this year.

The Ukraine conflict has also prompted countries to step up military spending, which could benefit aerospace defense firms.

While Russia has been excluded from the event, Ukrainian military officials toured the huge exhibition space at Paris-Le Bourget airport, some taking photos of missiles on display.

Le Bourget offers a forum to announce deals with some 2,500 firms lining up to show off their latest planes, drones, helicopters and prototypes such as flying taxis.

Airbus chief executive Guillaume Faury, who heads France’s aerospace industry association GIFAS, called it “the return of the good old times of the excitement of the show.”

Macron was welcomed as he opened the event with an aerial display including Airbus’ latest A321 XLR airliner, civilian and military helicopters and a jet fighter.

Businesspeople and uniformed military visitors from around the world watched the action or headed into the guarded private spaces of the major firms’ stands.

With 125,000 square meters of exhibition space — the equivalent of nearly 18 soccer pitches — around 320,000 visitors are expected during the week-long event.

Big deals

Along with the Farnborough airshow in England, which takes place in even numbered years, Le Bourget is a key sales event for the civil and defense industries.

Airbus and rival Boeing compete fiercely in announcing orders for aircraft running into the billions of dollars.

Both industry heavyweights are also battling to solidify supply chains as they increase production to meet growing demand.

At least 158 planes, helicopters and drones are on display, from the latest long-haul commercial jets to the F-35, a U.S. stealth fighter.

The United States has a strong presence with 425 exhibitors, bolstered by renewed interest in military equipment in the aftermath of the Ukraine war.

Firms from 46 other nations are present.

China, which lifted COVID restrictions only at the beginning of this year, is also represented.

However, Beijing is not displaying its first homegrown medium-haul passenger jet, the C919, built to compete with the Airbus A320neo and Boeing 737 MAX.

Flying taxis

The airshow also hopes to open a window into the future as projects for flying taxis and other vertical takeoff aircraft abound.

Several prototypes will be on display as part of a “Paris Air Mobility” exhibition to showcase the latest innovations that developers hope will change how people travel.

Engine maker Safran announced early Monday that it would open four production lines in France and Britain making electric motors for small planes.

For his part, Macron arrived aboard Airbus’ latest helicopter, the H160, in a flight fueled with 30% SAF before visiting the European group’s stand laying out its net-zero-by-2050 plan.

Macron had on Friday announced $2.2 billion to help develop technologies to reduce aircraft emissions.

Air travel accounts for nearly 3% percent of global CO2 emissions but serves only a small minority of the world population.

With the industry targeting net zero emissions by mid-century, firms are turbocharging efforts to achieve it.

The initial focus is on SAF, made from sources such as municipal waste, leftovers from the agricultural and forestry industry, crops and plants, and even hydrogen.

But companies are also working to develop battery- and hydrogen-powered aircraft.
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Multinational companies — including Amazon, Marriott and Hilton — pledged Monday to hire more than 13,000 refugees, including Ukrainian women who have fled the war with Russia, over the next three years in Europe.

Just ahead of World Refugee Day on Tuesday, more than 40 corporations say they will hire, connect to work, or train 250,000 refugees, with 13,680 of them getting jobs directly in those companies.

“Every number is a story of an individual family who left everything, seeking safety, seeking protection and wanting to be able to rebuild as quickly as possible,” said Kelly Clements, United Nations deputy high commissioner for refugees. “So the commitments that businesses are going to make on Monday are absolutely essential.”

She said 110 million people have been displaced worldwide, with an estimated 12 million from Ukraine, nearly half of whom are living in Europe after the continent’s largest movement of refugees since World War II.

The hiring push in Europe was organized by the Tent Partnership for Refugees, a nonprofit founded by Chobani CEO Hamdi Ulukaya that connects businesses and refugees, and is being unveiled at a gathering in Paris. The group’s first summit in the U.S. last year led to commitments to hire 22,725 refugees.

In the new round, Amazon leads the pack, vowing to hire at least 5,000 refugees over the next three years in Europe, followed by Marriott and Hilton with 1,500 each, Starbucks and ISS with 1,000 each, and smaller commitments from brands such as Adidas, Starbucks, L’Oreal, PepsiCo and Hyatt.

“This is good for us as a company because the opportunity to add diversity to our workforce will continue to make us a stronger company,” said Ofori Agboka, Amazon vice president overseeing human resources. “With diversity brings innovation, creativity, different insights.”

He said the vast majority of jobs will be hourly roles at fulfillment and storage centers and in transport and delivery.

Amazon announced 27,000 job cuts earlier this year, part of a wave of layoffs after tech companies ramped up hiring during the COVID-19 pandemic. Those layoffs primarily affected salaried office jobs, Agboka said.

Daria Sedihi-Volchenko fled Kyiv last year and now works in Warsaw, Poland, as a senior program manager for an Amazon Web Services program providing free tech training for Ukrainians. She says about 40% of those in the program have no tech background.

“I went through the same way as many of our learners … are going through,” she said. “I had to learn, and I took a commitment on my interview. I said that ‘OK, if we can agree and I can start working for you, I promise to learn Polish and I promise to learn technical skills.'”

A year ago, Sedihi-Volchenko woke up to explosions from Russia’s invasion.

“I was terrified. I was so scared for Ukraine, for the nation, for the future, for my own life,” she said. “But also that was a shocking moment when I understood that everything in my life is changing.”

She began living in basements but left as Russian forces approached Kyiv. She drove 40 hours to reach Moldova, thankful that she “didn’t drive on a single land mine and nobody shot into my car.”

She went to Poland to find work, embarking on an IT path after working as a project manager for government ministries and as an economist in Ukraine.

Companies are hoping refugees can fill staffing needs after the economy bounced back from the pandemic. In Europe, unemployment is at its lowest since the euro currency was introduced in 1999.

“We’re seeing record levels of demand for our properties across many markets here in Europe,” Marriott International CEO Anthony Capuano said. “And so we are hiring aggressively to make sure we can accommodate our guests as demand ramps up.”

Marriott’s jobs will largely be hourly positions such as housekeepers, kitchen staff and front desk attendants.

European nations have welcomed Ukrainians, and while Clements applauded opening schools, workplaces and other opportunities to them, she said the same should be offered to others fleeing conflict and crises in places like Syria, Sudan and Afghanistan.

Sedihi-Volchenko knows the challenges ahead for refugees, even as some companies offer help with language skills, counseling and training. Job listings can be difficult to decipher, and like her, they may have difficulty securing a stable internet connection or work clothes.

“It’s important to give a refugee just time to learn the language, but the person can start working because if you bring experience with IT systems or finance or project management or any other area, naturally, you understand, it’s not so much about the language. You understand the flow of work,” she said.

She said 110 million people have been displaced worldwide, with an estimated 12 million from Ukraine, nearly half of whom are living in Europe after the continent’s largest movement of refugees since World War II.

A year ago, Sedihi-Volchenko woke up to explosions from Russia’s invasion.
…

Latest developments:

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says Russia "will lose the occupied territories."
The European Union is stepping up efforts to deliver arms and ammunition to Ukraine, EU industry chief Thierry Breton said Sunday in an interview with French daily Le Parisien. "We are preparing for the war to last several more months, or even longer," he said.

Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar said Monday that Ukraine’s forces have retaken eight settlements during the past two weeks, including Piatykhatky in the Zaporizhzhia region.

Since the start of Ukraine’s counteroffensive aimed at reclaiming control of areas seized by Russian forces, Maliar said Ukraine had freed 113 square kilometers of territory.

Russian officials said Monday that shelling in Russia’s Belgorod region, located next to the border with Ukraine, injured seven civilians.

Belgorod Region Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov posted on Telegram that the strikes hit several residential buildings.

Another Russian official said Ukrainian shelling hit two villages in the Kursk region.

Britain’s defense ministry said in its latest assessment Monday that Russia has “highly likely” redeployed thousands of troops from the eastern banks of the Dnipro River to serve as reinforcements to Russian forces in the Bakhmut and Zaporizhzhia areas. The British defense ministry said the move “likely reflects Russia’s perception that a major Ukrainian attack across the Dnipro is now less likely following the collapse of the Kakhovka Dam and the resulting flooding.”

Kakhovka dam

The United Nations said Sunday that Moscow has declined its requests to help residents of Russian-controlled areas of southern Ukraine affected by the Kakhovka dam collapse and pledged to continue engaging to seek the necessary access.

“We urge the Russian authorities to act in accordance with their obligations under international humanitarian law,” U.N. humanitarian coordinator for Ukraine Denise Brown said Sunday in statement.

“Aid cannot be denied to people who need it. The U.N. will continue to do all it can to reach all people — including those suffering as a result of the recent dam destruction — who urgently need life-saving assistance, no matter where they are,” she noted.

So far, more than a dozen people have died while 31 are still missing after the floods caused by the dam’s destruction, Ukraine’s interior ministry said. Almost 900 homes remain under water and more than 3,600 people have been evacuated. The collapse of the dam on a hydroelectric station has flooded vast areas and created difficult conditions for thousands made homeless or without vital services.

“The most likely cause of the collapse” of Ukraine’s Kakhovka dam, according to a New York Times report, was the placement of an explosive in the structure’s passageway or gallery, that the publication said, “runs through the concrete heart of the structure.”

The Times’ assessment was based on the expertise of “two American engineers, an expert in explosives and a Ukrainian engineer with extensive experience with the dam’s operations.”

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

California photographer Jason Perry has been volunteering for Ukraine since the start of Russia’s invasion, collecting donations and clothes for civilians and medications for combat teams. During one trip, he brought more than $200,000 in humanitarian aid. Anna Kosstutschenko spoke with Perry. Camera – Pavel Suhodolskiy.
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A Belgium regional official for Brussels, Pascal Smet, resigned on Sunday after sparking a furor by hosting an Iranian delegation led by the mayor of Tehran.  

Smet’s exit came three days after Belgian Foreign Minister Hadja Lahbib accused him of “sullying the image” of the capital by allowing the Iranians and a Russian delegation to attend the Brussels Urban Summit, a congress of mayors from major cities around the world.  

Smet, Brussels’ state secretary for urbanism, announced in a news conference that he was stepping down.  

He said he felt obliged to do so after an email from his office came to light stating that the city’s regional government was paying the accommodation costs during the conference of Tehran mayor Alireza Zakani, and that of two Russian officials.  

Smet insisted he “didn’t commit a personal error”, saying one of his staff members made the accommodation commitment without him knowing.  

Relations between Belgium and Iran are fraught.  

Belgium last month freed an Iranian diplomat imprisoned on terrorism charges for plotting to blow up an Iranian opposition rally outside Paris in 2018, in exchange for Tehran releasing a Belgian aid worker and three other Europeans it had taken prisoner.

Zakani is aligned with the theocratic national rulers of Iran and closely linked with Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, having previously headed its Basij militia unit.

Lahbib said Smet had insisted on visas for Zakani and the 13 other members of the Iranian delegation despite objections from her foreign ministry.

The two Russians also given visas to attend the urbanism gathering were the deputy mayor of the western Russian city of Kazan and an official in a Russian organization federating big cities.
…

A Swedish parliament defense committee report said a Russian military attack against Sweden cannot be ruled out, Swedish public service broadcaster SVT said on Sunday, citing sources.

Sweden has been scrambling to bolster its defenses and applied to join NATO last year following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Sweden was invited to apply but Turkey and Hungary are yet to ratify the application.

The parliamentary report, due to be published on Monday, said that although Russian ground forces were tied up in Ukraine, other types of military attacks against Sweden could not be ruled out, SVT said, citing sources who worked on the report.

“Russia has also further lowered its threshold for the use of military force and exhibits a high political and military risk appetite. Russia’s ability to carry out operations with air forces, naval forces, long-range weapons or nuclear weapons against Sweden remains intact,” SVT said, citing the report.

The chairman of the parliament defense committee did not immediately reply to a request for comment. SVT said the report outlined a new defense doctrine for Sweden, based on membership in NATO rather than the previous doctrine that relied on cooperation with fellow Nordic states and the European Union.

Like most Western states, Sweden scaled down its defense following the end of the Cold War but has ramped up defense spending and is due to meet NATO’s threshold of 2% GDP in 2026.
…

Two days after being discharged from the hospital, Pope Francis resumed his cherished Sunday custom of greeting the public in St. Peter’s Square, expressing thanks for the comfort he received after surgery and thanking the crowd shouting “Long live the pope!”

Before launching into prepared remarks, Francis expressed gratitude for “affection, attention and friendship” and the assurance of “the support of prayer” during his hospitalization for June 7 abdominal surgery at a Rome hospital to repair a hernia and remove increasingly painful scarring around his intestines.

“This human and spiritual closeness for me was a great help and comfort,” Francis told some 15,000 people in the square. “Thanks to all, thanks to you, thanks from the heart.”

The 86-year-old pontiff sounded a bit breathless and hoarse at times, but he gestured frequently with his hands for emphasis, adlibbed at times from the prepared speech, and clearly looked delighted to be back to his routine.

While the thousands of Romans, tourists and pilgrims who regularly turn out for the weekly noon appearance of the pope at a window of the Apostolic Palace usually applaud when they catch sight of the pope at the window, this time the public’s applause seemed louder than usual. The three-hour surgery under general anesthesia had forced Francis to skip the Sunday appearance on June 11.

While his mood seemed uplifted to see the crowd below, including flag-waving nuns and tourists in sun hats on the hot, humid day, Francis turned somber as he noted that Tuesday marks World Refugee Day, an occasion promoted by the United Nations.

“With great sadness and so much sorrow I think of the victims of the very grave shipwreck that happened in recent days off the coast of Greece,” Francis said. He was referring to the smugglers’ overcrowded fishing boat, filled with hundreds of migrants, that sank in the Mediterranean Sea last week.

“It seems that the sea was calm,” Francis said, seemingly expressing perplexity that such a grave tragedy could happen in those conditions.

“I renew my prayer for all those who lost their life, and I implore that, always, everything possible is done to prevent similar tragedies,” the pontiff said.

Some of the 104 survivors said as many as 750 were aboard, leaving the possibility that hundreds perished. Greek rescuers recovered 78 bodies. Questions persist whether the Greek coast guard could have intervened in time to prevent the capsizing.

He also prayed for the young students “victims of the brutal attack” on a school in western Uganda. The attack by suspected rebels on a school in Uganda killed 42 people, including 38 students in their dormitories. Several were abducted near the border with Congo.

Francis lamented “this struggle, this war all over the place. Let us pray for peace.”

He also urged people to remember the “martyred people in Ukraine,” following Russia’s invasion last year.

As he wrapped up his remarks and was about to leave the window, cries of “Long live the pope” in Italian rose from the crowd, and the pope quickly responded, “Thanks.”

The pope’s doctors have urged him to take it easy as much as possible even as he resumes his Vatican workload. Francis will receive Brazil’s president on Wednesday afternoon, the Vatican has announced. But to ensure his convalescence can proceed well, Francis won’t conduct the Wednesday general audience in St. Peter’s Square.

In early August, Francis will make a pilgrimage to Portugal for a youth jamboree. At the end of that month, he flies to Mongolia for a visit that will see him be the first pontiff to go to that Asian country.
…

The British defense ministry said Sunday in its daily intelligence report about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine that both sides are experiencing “high casualties” in the south, “with Russian losses likely the highest since the peak of the battle for Bakhmut in March.”
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Saturday there seems to be “no chance” of extending the United Nations-brokered Black Sea Grain Initiative that allows Ukraine to export grain safely through Russian-controlled waters.
The European Union is stepping up efforts to deliver arms and ammunition to Ukraine EU industry chief Thierry Breton said Sunday in an interview with French daily Le Parisien. “We are preparing for the war to last several more months, or even longer,” he said.

Russia and Ukraine are reporting heavy fighting and high numbers of military casualties, according to reports from British intelligence Sunday.

Ukrainian fighters are trying to repel Russian forces from occupied areas British officials said Sunday. Russian attrition is probably at its highest levels since the peak of the battle for Bakhmut in March, U.K. military officials said in their regular assessment.

According to British intelligence, the fiercest battles are centered on the southeastern Zaporizhzhia province, around Bakhmut and farther west in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk province. According to the update, Ukraine had “made small advances,” but Russian forces were conducting “relatively effective defensive operations” in Ukraine’s south.

The Ukrainian military said in a regular update Sunday morning that during the last 24 hours Russia had carried out 43 airstrikes, four missile strikes and 51 attacks from multiple rocket launchers.

Ukrainian Air Force spokesman Yurii Ihnat said Sunday that Ukrainian forces hit the Russian ammunition depot in the village of Partyzany in southern Kherson Oblast. Partyzany lies close to the administrative border with neighboring Zaporizhzhia Oblast, 45 kilometers (28 miles) west of Russian-occupied Melitopol.

Peace initiative

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg warned that any peace talks between Ukraine and Russia must be “just,” to be sustainable. “Peace cannot mean freezing the conflict and accepting a deal dictated by Russia,” Stoltenberg told German newspaper Welt am Sontag Sunday. The NATO chief made these comments after South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said in Kyiv, “Peace has to be achieved through diplomacy as soon as possible.”

Stoltenberg also said, “Only Ukraine alone can define the acceptable conditions” for peace. “We need to make sure that when this war ends, there are credible agreements for Ukraine’s security so that Russia cannot rearm and attack again and the cycle of Russian aggression is broken,” Stoltenberg said.

Leaders from seven African countries visited Ukraine and Russia last week to propose a peace initiative. However, they left empty-handed. Both Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Russian President Vladimir Putin rejected the peace plan.

Putin refused a plan based on the acceptance of Ukraine’s internationally recognized borders while Zelenskyy said any peace talks would presuppose the withdrawal of Moscow’s forces from occupied Ukrainian territory.

After their visit in Kyiv Friday, the African delegation met with Putin and told him that the war is harming the entire world. The African delegation included representatives from the Comoros, the Republic of Congo, Egypt, Senegal, South Africa, Uganda and Zambia.

Russia has recently indicated it would not renew the Black See Grain Initiative brokered by the United Nations and Turkey last July. He said the West had gone back on its promises to ease Russia’s ability to export its agricultural products.

Kakhovka dam

The death toll from flooding after the collapse of the Kakhovka dam has risen to 16 in Ukrainian-held territory, Ukraine’s interior ministry said late Saturday, while Russian officials said 29 people died in flooded territories controlled by Moscow.

Thousands of people lost their homes and vital farmland was flooded as a result of the dam’s collapse.

“The most likely cause of the collapse” of Ukraine’s Kakhovka dam, according to a New York Times report, was the placement of an explosive in the structure’s passageway or gallery, that the publication said, “runs through the concrete heart of the structure.”

The Times’ assessment was based on the expertise of “two American engineers, an expert in explosives and a Ukrainian engineer with extensive experience with the dam’s operations.”

In his nightly video address Saturday, Zelenskyy thanked everyone who helped Ukraine overcome “the consequences of the Russian terrorist attack on the Kakhovka HPP.” And he thanked Ukraine’s Western allies for the military and humanitarian support they are providing in its fight against Russia.

Zelenskyy also thanked Luxemburg for officially recognizing the Holodomor famine of the 1930s as a genocide against the Ukrainian people. Luxemburg is the 26th country to officially do so.

Additionally, the Ukrainian president thanked Poland for supporting Ukraine’s efforts to join NATO.

Ukraine – NATO membership

U.S. President Joe Biden said Saturday his administration would not “make it easy” for Ukraine to join NATO. Last week he had indicated he was open to waiving the requirement that Ukraine make the same military and democratic reforms all candidates must meet before being considered for NATO membership.

But when asked Saturday whether Ukraine’s path to joining the transatlantic alliance would be eased, Biden said no. “Because they’ve got to meet the same standards. So, we’re not going to make it easy,” he said.

Putin warned Friday that there is a “serious danger” the NATO military alliance could be pulled further into Russia’s war on Ukraine. He made the comment at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, where he promoted Russia’s economy despite heavy international sanctions imposed because of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

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

Swiss voters voted on Sunday to introduce a global minimum tax on businesses and a climate law that aims to cut fossil fuel use and reach zero emissions by 2050, public broadcaster SRF reported.

The results showed 79% of those who voted in Sunday’s national referendum backed raising the country’s business tax to the 15% global minimum rate from the current average minimum of 11%, while 59% supported the climate law.

In 2021, Switzerland joined almost 140 countries that signed up to an Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) deal to set a minimum tax rate for big companies, a move aimed at limiting the practice of shifting profits to low tax countries.

Even with the increase, Switzerland will still have one of the lowest corporate tax levels in the world, and the proposal, estimated to bring 2.5 billion Swiss francs ($2.80 billion) per year in additional revenue, has been backed by business groups, most political parties, and the general public.

The climate law, brought back in a modified form after it was rejected in 2021 as too costly, has stirred up more debate with those campaigning against it gaining traction in recent weeks.

Proponents say the law is the minimum the wealthy country needs to do to prove its commitment to fighting climate change while opponents from the right wing People’s Party say it will jeopardise energy security.

In Sunday’s referendum, voters also approved to extend some provisions of the country’s emergency COVID-19 law, required under Switzerland’s system of direct democracy, where legislation is put to the public vote.

Switzerland is home to the offices and headquarters of around 2,000 foreign companies, including Google GOOGL.O as well as 200 Swiss multinationals, such as Nestle NESN.S. While all would be affected, business groups have welcomed the greater degree of certainty that the new tax would bring, even if Switzerland lost some of its low-tax allure.

“No other country is going to have lower taxes either. We want the additional tax revenue to stay in the country, and be used to improve its attractiveness for businesses,” said Christian Frey, from Economiesuisse, a lobby group.

 
…

Two days after being discharged from the hospital, Pope Francis resumed his cherished Sunday custom of greeting the public in St. Peter’s Square, expressing thanks for the comfort he received after surgery and thanking the crowd shouting “Long live the pope!”

Before launching into prepared remarks, Francis expressed gratitude for “affection, attention and friendship” and the assurance of “the support of prayer” during his hospitalization for June 7 abdominal surgery at a Rome hospital to repair a hernia and remove increasingly painful scarring around his intestines.

“This human and spiritual closeness for me was a great help and comfort,” Francis told some 15,000 people in the square. ”Thanks to all, thanks to you, thanks from the heart.”

The 86-year-old pontiff sounded a bit breathless and hoarse at times, but he gestured frequently with his hands for emphasis, adlibbed at times from the prepared speech, and clearly looked delighted to be back to his routine.

While the thousands of Romans, tourists and pilgrims who regularly turn out for the weekly noon appearance of the pope at a window of the Apostolic Palace usually applaud when they catch sight of the pope at the window, this time the public’s applause seemed louder than usual. The three-hour surgery under general anesthesia had forced Francis to skip the Sunday appearance on June 11.

While his mood seemed uplifted to see the crowd below, including flag-waving nuns and tourists in sun hats on the hot, humid day, Francis turned somber as he noted that Tuesday marks World Refugee Day, an occasion promoted by the United Nations.

“With great sadness and so much sorrow I think of the victims of the very grave shipwreck that happened in recent days off the coast of Greece,” Francis said. He was referring to the smugglers’ overcrowded fishing boat, filled with hundreds of migrants, that sank in the Mediterranean Sea last week.

“It seems that the sea was calm,” Francis said, seemingly expressing perplexity that such a grave tragedy could happen in those conditions.

“I renew my prayer for all those who lost their life, and I implore that, always, everything possible is done to prevent similar tragedies,” the pontiff said.

Some of the 104 survivors said as many as 750 were aboard, leaving the possibilities that hundreds perished. Greek rescuers recovered 78 bodies. Questions persist whether the Greek coast guard could have intervened in time to prevent the capsizing.

He also prayed for the young students “victims of the brutal attack” on a school in western Uganda. The attack by suspected rebels on a school in Uganda killed 42 people, including 38 students in their dormitories. Several were abducted near the border with Congo.

Francis lamented “this struggle, this war all over the place. Let us pray for peace.”

He also urged people to remember the “martyred people in Ukraine,” following Russia’s invasion last year.

As he wrapped up his remarks and was about to leave the window, cries of “Long live the pope” in Italian rose from the crowd, and the pope quickly responded, “Thanks.”

The pope’s doctors have urged him to take it easy as much as possible even as he resumes his Vatican workload. Francis will receive Brazil’s president on Wednesday afternoon, the Vatican has announced. But to ensure his convalescence can proceed well, Francis won’t conduct the Wednesday general audience in St. Peter’s Square.

In early August, Francis will make a pilgrimage to Portugal for a youth jamboree. At the end of that month, he flies to Mongolia for a visit that will see him be the first pontiff to go to that Asian country.
…

“The long history of my family and the long history of my country is imprinted in every house of this small, sunny, warm and cozy city,” says Ukrainian journalist Yelizaveta Honcharova.

On the first day of the full-scale invasion, she left Bakhmut for Kyiv, realizing that if Russians occupied the city, they would likely arrest her. Honcharova’s family had lived in Bakhmut since the early 20th century.

“Russia uprooted us. We were pulled out like a tree from the ground and thrown away. Bakhmut was a fertile ground for generations to live there.”

More than 300 years of history

Bakhmut is one of the oldest cities in eastern Ukraine. Historians still debate its origin.

According to some, Zaporizhian Cossacks founded it as a fortress in the Zaporizhzhia Sich in the 1680s-90s. Sich was a semi-autonomous polity and proto-state of Cossacks, ancestors of modern Ukrainians.

Others believe that Bakhmut was founded as a border fortress in 1571 by the Moscow authorities in the areas populated by Ukrainian ancestors.

“We don’t have competitors here. Nearby Donetsk is only 100 years old,” says Volodymyr Berezin, a local historian and civil activist. He left the region in mid-March 2022 for western Ukraine.

The city grew and developed through the extraction of salt and trade.

“In our area, salt came to the surface. Our Bakhmut River is salty; salt lakes are nearby. We have salt in the air, and below us is a colossal layer of salt,” Berezin says.

Tsarina Catherine II of Russia ordered the destruction of Zaporizhzhyan Sich in 1775, and its territories were incorporated into the Russian Empire.

“The city was a big cultural, spiritual and trade center. We had merchants. We had two Roman Catholic churches. We had a large Jewish center and several synagogues. There was an Orthodox cathedral and a mosque,” Berezin says.

In 1924-2016, the city was called Artemivsk in honor of Bolshevik Fedor Sergeev-Artem, a close friend of Josef Stalin’s. Bakhmutians, like millions of Ukrainians, became the victims of Soviet repression.

“My two great-grandfathers were imprisoned. I lived near the prison, where they were most likely executed,” says Honcharova.

A large Jewish community resided in the city. During WWII, Nazi forces occupied the town.

“Approximately 3,000 residents of Bakhmut were brought to the dolomite mines, mostly Jews but also Gypsies and Red Army soldiers, and walled up alive. We opened the tunnels when the Germans were driven out and saw this horror — how a mother died there with a baby in her arms,” Berezin says.

In Bakhmut, there was also the winery, which produced sparkling wine, known throughout the former Soviet Union.

“Our sparkling wine was the best in the Soviet Union. For many is hard to pick a souvenir, but not for me. I take a bottle of sparkling wine and salt,” says Berezin.

Not a typical Donetsk region town

Former Bakhmut residents who spoke to VOA emphasized how different Bakhmut was from other cities of the Donetsk region, which usually grew from working settlements around mines and metallurgical enterprises.

Sergiy Maslichenko is Kosovo’s European Bank for Reconstruction and Development mission head. He spent his childhood in the 70-80s in Bakhmut.

“It had no heavy industry, metallurgical or chemical plants. It is a city of light industry. There were many bakeries, a sewing factory and well-developed trade. It had a machine-building, non-ferrous metals plant, and mining equipment-building plant,” Maslichenko says.

The city was home to several institutions of higher education and research. Before 2022, the city preserved many old buildings and architectural monuments.

Maslichenko remembers the parks and sports grounds where he spent his childhood, and the music school, founded in 1903.

“Bakhmut was a musical city. It had a well-developed musical education and a large music school.” The world-famous composer Sergei Prokofiev was born near Bakhmut in 1891.

Svitlana Kravchenko, a local activist, remembers how sunny this city was.

“Bakhmut is a very warm city because many buildings are made of red bricks, the terracotta color, produced in Bakhmut. The city is very sunny because Donetsk region is in the south.”

Kravchenko stayed in Bakhmut until August 2022, when heavy fighting was under way. She currently lives in Dnipro.

Ukrainian Bakhmut

Like the rest of Ukraine, Bakhmut was subjected to systematic forced Russification as a part of the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union — a change in the ethnic composition of the population due to the arrival of workers from Russia, suppression of political and cultural Ukrainian life and restrictions on the use of the Ukrainian language. However, the city remained Ukrainian.

“My grandfather lived in Bakhmut and spoke Ukrainian. I have preserved my grandfather’s letters to my grandmother. He confessed his love in the Ukrainian language, in calligraphic, beautiful handwriting and refined style,” Kravchenko says.

After the declaration of the short-lived independent Ukrainian People’s Republic in November 1917, the Ukrainian military raised a blue and yellow Ukrainian flag for the first time in the Donetsk region. At the referendum of 1991, the overwhelming majority of Bakhmut residents voted for Ukraine’s independence.

However, in 2014, some in Bakhmut supported the Russian-backed separatist movement.

Kravchenko says that motivated her to start helping the Ukrainian military and to study and popularize local Ukrainian culture. They restored clothes worn in the Donetsk region based on old photos and took their collection on the road.

“I decided that this was my fight. We opened the Donetsk region to the Greater Ukraine,” she says.

The models were ordinary people connected with the Ukrainian army.

“It was always the same when women were getting dressed. Everyone would say, ‘I’m too fat or too thin, or my arms are too long or too short!’ Then, when a woman puts on traditional clothes, everyone says, ‘I feel like a queen. I feel my world and Ukraine are standing behind me,'” she says.

Does Bakhmut have a future?

Kravchenko is confident that her city will be restored, and she will return.

“I will kiss the soil covered with the blood of our best soldiers.”

Maslichenko, who works for the organization that plans to take an active part in the reconstruction of the country, hopes to participate in it professionally and one day bring his children to the city where he grew up.

Berezin is also confident that the city will come back to life and offers ideas for its restoration. One of them is to invite the best artists to create an art center.

“Only artists can artistically recreate today’s events. For some, this city has become the Garden of Gethsemane, a city of betrayal. And for many of our guys who died here, this is Golgotha.”

Honcharova believes that Bakhmut will be restored, but it will be a completely different city. In some sense, she says, it fulfilled its mission.

“The city began as a fortress to protect the borders. So, Bakhmut fulfilled this karmic mission. It became a fortress.”

In 2017, nearly 76,000 people lived in Bakhmut.
…

Latest developments:

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Saturday there seems to be "no chance" of extending the U.N.-brokered Black Sea Grain Initiative that allows Ukraine to export grain safely through Russian-controlled waters.
Two volunteers, a man and a woman, were killed Saturday by a Russian missile strike on the Kharkiv region in eastern Ukraine, said regional governor Oleh Syniehubov on the Telegram messaging app.
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak will ask entrepreneurs and businesses, at a conference next week, to bolster investment in Ukraine’s private sector and help it rebuild and recover after Russia's invasion.  

Russian President Vladimir Putin rejected a peace initiative brought to St. Petersburg on Saturday by a delegation of African leaders hoping to see an end to Russia’s war on Ukraine.

The leaders from seven African countries told Putin war is harming the entire world. The delegation met with Putin a day after they met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Both leaders indicated the plan was unworkable.

Putin opened Saturday’s talks with representatives from Comoros, Congo Republic, Egypt, Senegal, South Africa, Uganda and Zambia in a palace near St. Petersburg by stressing Russia’s commitment to the continent.

But the Russian president rejected the delegation’s peace plan based on the acceptance of Ukraine’s internationally recognized borders. He repeated his position that Ukraine and its Western allies were responsible for the conflict long before Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022.

Putin also said the West was responsible for a sharp rise in global food prices early last year that has hit Africa especially hard. He told the delegation that Ukrainian grain exports from Black Sea ports were doing nothing to alleviate Africa’s difficulties with high food prices because they had largely gone to wealthy countries.

Russia has recently indicated it would not renew the Black See Grain Initiative brokered by the United Nations and Turkey last July. Putin said the West had gone back on its promises to ease Russia’s ability to export its agricultural products.

The delegation’s peace initiative had been rejected a day earlier in Kyiv.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that any peace talks would presuppose the withdrawal of Moscow’s forces from occupied Ukrainian territory, something Russia has said is not negotiable.

In his nightly video address Saturday, Zelenskyy thanked Ukraine’s Western allies for the military and humanitarian support they are providing in its fight against Russia’s invasion.  Zelenskyy also thanked everyone who helped Ukraine overcome “the consequences of the Russian terrorist attack on the Kakhovka HPP.”

Zelenskyy also thanked Luxemburg for officially recognizing Holodomor as a genocide against the Ukrainian people. Luxemburg is the 26th country to officially do so.

He also thanked Poland for supporting Ukraine’s membership to NATO.

President Joe Biden said Saturday his administration would not “make it easy” for Ukraine to join NATO. Last week he had indicated he was open to waiving the requirement that Ukraine make the same military and democratic reforms all candidates must meet before it being considered for NATO membership.

But when he was asked Saturday whether Ukraine’s path to joining the transatlantic alliance would be eased, he said no. “Because they’ve got to meet the same standards. So, we’re not going to make it easy,” he said.

Putin warned Friday that there is a “serious danger” the NATO military alliance could be pulled further into Russia’s war on Ukraine. He made the comment at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, where he promoted Russia’s economy despite heavy international sanctions imposed because of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Nuclear weapons

Putin confirmed that Russia’s deployment of tactical nuclear weapons to Belarus has begun, reminding the West that it could not inflict a strategic defeat on Russia.

“The first nuclear warheads were delivered to the territory of Belarus. But only the first ones, the first part. But we will do this job completely by the end of the summer or by the end of the year,” he said.

Speaking Friday at Russia’s economic forum in St. Petersburg, Putin emphasized that he saw no need for Russia to resort to nuclear weapons, for now. He said delivering shorter-range nuclear weapons to Belarus, which could be used on the battlefield, was intended as a warning to the West about arming and supporting Ukraine.

The White House denounced Putin’s comments and said the U.S. had made no adjustments to its nuclear position in response to the rhetoric.

US humanitarian assistance

The United States on Friday announced additional humanitarian assistance of $205 million for Ukraine that will provide critical support such as food, safe water, accessible shelter and more for Ukraine.

“The U.S. response is advancing Ukraine’s overall security, economic recovery, energy security and capacity to cope with the humanitarian crisis created by Russia’s war.  We welcome the contributions of other donors toward this crisis response and urge yet more donors to generously support the serious humanitarian needs in Ukraine and the region,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken said.

The U.S. aid package brings the total humanitarian assistance for Ukraine to more than $605 million during fiscal year 2023. Since February 2022, the United States has provided more than $2.1 billion in humanitarian assistance for Ukraine.

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

The United States ambassador held a U.S. flag high as he marched in the yearly Pride parade in Warsaw Saturday, a clear message of Washington’s opposition to discrimination in a country where LGBTQ+ people are facing an uphill struggle.

“America embraces equality,” Ambassador Mark Brzezinski said, as he marched with more than 30 members of the U.S. Embassy and alongside representatives from Canada, Austria and other Western countries in the Equality Parade.

In recent years Western governments have been alarmed as the conservative government in Warsaw depicted gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgender people as threats to the nation and its children.

The participation of the U.S. ambassador sent a clear message to the government of Poland, a NATO member on the alliance’s eastern flank where the United States has increased its military presence since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine last year.

Day of celebration

Poland has for decades considered Washington its key guarantor of security, but the importance of U.S. protection has only grown with the war playing out across its border in Ukraine.

The U.S. is also seen as a guarantor of protection to the LGBTQ+ community, which a few years ago was fighting for the right of same-sex union or marriage, but recently has been more concerned about a climate of hostility from the government and Catholic Church.

The colorful and joyful parade was a moment of celebration and relief for a community that has been criticized by elected leaders as a threat to the nation’s traditional Catholic identity.

LGBTQ+ members have been especially worried because of elections this fall. The conservative nationalist ruling party, Law and Justice, has openly criticized the community ahead of past elections, in an attempt to mobilize its conservative base.

Brzezinski told The Associated Press that his embassy “has heard disturbing reports of an organized campaign targeting Poland’s LGBTQ+ community with hate, lies, and slander in an attempt to divide Polish society. These attempts to sow divisions only strengthen the hand of those who seek to weaken democracy.”

“We hope these reports are not true. We hope disagreement does not devolve into discrimination or worse,” Brzezinski said. “Words matter. Hate masquerading as morality can play no productive role in our societies.”

Influence with government

Some participants in the parade that numbered many thousands said they were not aware that the ambassador took part. A couple noted that the U.S., which is seeing a backlash against transgender rights in some states, also doesn’t have a perfect record. But a handful interviewed said they appreciated the support.

“The fact that he supports basic human rights — that’s a great thing,” said Aleksandra Jarmolinska, 33. She added that the ambassador is probably one of the few people able to pressure Polish politicians.

As Polish President Andrzej Duda campaigned for reelection in 2020, he called the promotion of LGBTQ+ rights an “ideology” more destructive than communism. The education minister, who oversees schools, was appointed to that job after saying LGBTQ+ members are not equal to “normal people.”

Last summer, the ruling party leader, Jaroslaw Kaczynski, mocked transgender people, saying “we must protect ourselves from madness.”

And this spring, Poland’s commissioner for children’s rights ordered an inspection of schools that were ranked as the most LGBTQ-friendly in the country, saying he wanted to make sure principals were checking their employees against a pedophile registry.
…

Latest developments:

The British Defense Ministry said in its daily intelligence update about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine that it is “likely" that Russia has “gained a temporary advantage “in southern Ukraine because of its attack helicopters “employing longer-range missiles against ground targets.” The update said that 20 extra Russian helicopters have been deployed to Berdyansk Airport since the start of Ukraine’s counter offensive in southern Ukraine.
The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Rafael Grossi, is expected to visit Moscow next week, the Interfax news agency reports, citing the head of Russia's nuclear state company Rosatom. Grossi visited the Russian-controlled Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in southern Ukraine Thursday, after last week’s collapse of the Kakhovka dam, whose reservoir feeds the nuclear facility's cooling ponds.
Russia's Foreign Affairs Ministry said Friday it had summoned the Australian ambassador after Canberra canceled the lease of a land plot where a new Russian embassy complex was being built. "The Russian side intends to use all necessary mechanisms to protect its interests, including possible retaliatory measures," the ministry said.

Russia said Saturday it repelled Ukrainian drones overnight over an oil refinery in the southern border region of Bryansk.  

Alexander Bogomaz, governor of the Bryansk region, said, “Russian air defense systems repelled an overnight attack by the Ukrainian armed forces on the ‘Druzhba’ oil refinery in the district of Novozybkov.” He said three drones were destroyed.   

A delegation of African leaders is set to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday in St. Petersburg to possibly broker a deal to end the Ukraine-Russia conflict.

The group met Friday with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Members of the delegation include South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, Senegalese President Macky Sall, Zambian President Hakainde Hichilema and Comoros President Azali Assoumani, who currently leads the African Union.

Three other African presidents were set to participate in the peace mission, but instead sent their representatives from Congo, Egypt and Uganda.

Their meeting with Zelenskyy was marred by blaring defense sirens as they began their meeting.

Putin has confirmed that Russia’s deployment of tactical nuclear weapons to Belarus has already happened, reminding the West that it could not inflict a strategic defeat on Russia.

“The first nuclear warheads were delivered to the territory of Belarus. But only the first ones, the first part. But we will do this job completely by the end of the summer or by the end of the year,” he said.

Speaking Friday at Russia’s economic forum in St. Petersburg, Putin stressed he saw no need for Russia to resort to nuclear weapons, for now. His move delivering shorter-range nuclear weapons to Belarus, which could be used on the battlefield, was intended as a warning to the West about arming and supporting Ukraine, the Russian leader said.

The White House denounced Putin’s comments and said the United States had made no adjustments to its nuclear position in response to the rhetoric.

Putin warned Friday there is a “serious danger” that the NATO military alliance could be pulled further into Russia’s war on Ukraine. He made those comments during a plenary session of Russia’s flagship St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, where he touted Russia’s economy despite heavy international sanctions imposed because of the war in Ukraine. Western journalists were banned from the event.

Putin also alleged that Ukraine is running out of its own military equipment, making it totally dependent on military hardware supplied by the West. “Everything on which they fight and everything that they use is brought in from the outside. Well, you can’t fight like that for long,” he said.

Additionally, he asserted that Ukraine had failed to make progress in its counteroffensive, adding its army had “no chance” against Russia’s.

Independent military analysts say Ukraine has outperformed Russia’s much larger army in the nearly 16 months of the war, forcing it to retreat around the cities of Kyiv, Kharkiv and Kherson.

US humanitarian assistance

The United States on Friday announced additional humanitarian assistance of $205 million for Ukraine that will provide critical support such as food, safe water, accessible shelter and more for Ukraine.

“The U.S. response is advancing Ukraine’s overall security, economic recovery, energy security and capacity to cope with the humanitarian crisis created by Russia’s war. We welcome the contributions of other donors toward this crisis response and urge yet more donors to generously support the serious humanitarian needs in Ukraine and the region,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken said.

The U.S. aid package brings the total humanitarian assistance for Ukraine to more than $605 million during fiscal year 2023. Since February 2022, the United States has provided more than $2.1 billion in humanitarian assistance for Ukraine.

The European Commission will propose additional funding to support Ukraine in the coming years. This year, the EU is providing $19.8 billion but aims at a longer-term solution to provide Kyiv with financing certainty as it repels Russia’s invasion.

“The EU is ready to provide Ukraine with sustainable and predictable financial support beyond 2023 to maintain both macro-financial stability and support reconstruction,” European Commission Executive Vice President Valdis Dombrovskis said Friday.

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

King Charles III rode on horseback Saturday to take part in his first Trooping the Color ceremony as U.K. monarch, inspecting hundreds of soldiers and horses in a spectacular annual military display at central London’s Horse Guards Parade.

Charles, 74, the colonel in chief, received the royal salute and watched as the most prestigious regiments in the U.K. army paraded to mark his official birthday.

It was the first time in more than 30 years that a U.K. monarch has taken part in the pomp-filled ceremony on horseback.

Earlier, Charles’ eldest son, Prince William, and the king’s siblings, Prince Edward and Princess Anne, also rode on horseback in procession from Buckingham Palace. All the royals were dressed in red and gold tunics and tall black bearskin hats, matching the uniforms worn by many of the 1,400 soldiers taking part.

Others in the royal family, including Queen Camilla, Kate, the Princess of Wales, and her three young children, rode in horse-drawn carriages as thousands of people thronged the Mall, the grand avenue outside Buckingham Palace, to watch the pageantry.

Here are some things to know about the colorful spectacle:

Birthday parade

Trooping the Color is essentially a grand birthday parade to honor the reigning monarch. The annual ceremony is a tradition that dates back more than 260 years.

Huge crowds turn out each June to watch the display, which begins with a procession involving horses, musicians and hundreds of soldiers in ceremonial uniform from Buckingham Palace. The monarch then inspects their troops, including both foot guards and horse guards. Gun salutes and a crowd-pleasing military flyby over the palace typically round out the celebrations.

Charles’ actual birthday is November 14, 1948. But U.K. monarchs have traditionally celebrated two birthdays — their real one and an official one — to ensure that public celebrations can take place in warm summer weather.

Charles’ late mother, Queen Elizabeth II, always held the Trooping the Color birthday parade in June, while she celebrated her actual April birthday privately with family.

The Color

The central part of the parade features a battle flag — or the “Color” — being displayed and marched past troops and the monarch.

This is a ceremonial reenactment of the way regimental flags were once displayed for soldiers on the battlefield to provide a crucial rallying point if they became disoriented or separated from their unit.

The flags were traditionally described as “Colors” because they displayed the uniform colors and insignia worn by soldiers of different units.

A different flag is trooped each year. This year the “Color” was the King’s Color of the 1st Battalion Welsh Guards. 

King on horseback

Saturday was the first time a monarch has ridden on horseback at the event since Elizabeth did so in 1986.

The queen rode her favorite horse, called Burmese, to 18 Trooping the Color ceremonies until the black mare retired in 1986. After that she decided to use a carriage for the event instead.

Charles also rode on horseback for the spectacle last year, when as heir to the throne he inspected the troops on behalf of his mother. Elizabeth died last September at the age of 96.

Bonus military flyby

The birthday parade typically reaches its climax when, at the end of the military procession, the royal family lines up on Buckingham Palace’s balcony to watch a spectacular flyby.

The Royal Air Force’s aerobatic team, the Red Arrows, usually wows the crowds as they fly in formation leaving plumes of red, white and blue vapor trails.

This year, the flyby was even more impressive, because a similar display on Charles’ coronation day in May had to be scaled back because of bad weather. Around 70 aircraft took part Saturday, including Spitfire and Hurricane fighters from the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight.

Eighteen Typhoon fighter jets flying in precise formation spelt out “CR” — “Charles Rex” — in the sky as the royal family and thousands of spectators cheered.
…

Latest developments:

The British Defense Ministry said in its daily intelligence update about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine that it is “likely" that Russia has “gained a temporary advantage “in southern Ukraine because of its attack helicopters “employing longer-range missiles against ground targets.”  The update said that 20 extra Russian helicopters have been deployed to Berdyansk Airport since the start of Ukraine’s counter offensive in southern Ukraine.
The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Rafael Grossi, is expected to visit Moscow next week, the Interfax news agency reports, citing the head of Russia's nuclear state company Rosatom. Grossi visited the Russian-controlled Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in southern Ukraine Thursday, after last week’s collapse of the Kakhovka dam, whose reservoir feeds the nuclear facility's cooling ponds.
Russia's Foreign Affairs Ministry said Friday it had summoned the Australian ambassador after Canberra canceled the lease of a land plot where a new Russian embassy complex was being built. "The Russian side intends to use all necessary mechanisms to protect its interests, including possible retaliatory measures," the ministry said.

A delegation of African leaders is set to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday in St. Petersburg to possibly broker a deal to end the Ukraine-Russia conflict.

The group met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy Friday.

Members of the delegation include South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, Senegalese President Macky Sall, Zambian President Hakainde Hichilema and Comoros President Azali Assoumani, who currently leads the African Union.

Three other African presidents were set to participate in the peace mission, but instead sent their representatives from Congo, Egypt and Uganda.

Their meeting with Zelensky was marred by blaring defense sirens as they began their meeting.

Putin has confirmed that Russia’s deployment of tactical nuclear weapons to Belarus has already happened, reminding the West that it could not inflict a strategic defeat on Russia.

“The first nuclear warheads were delivered to the territory of Belarus. But only the first ones, the first part. But we will do this job completely by the end of the summer or by the end of the year,” he said.

Speaking Friday at Russia’s economic forum in St. Petersburg, Putin stressed he saw no need for Russia to resort to nuclear weapons, for now. His move delivering shorter-range nuclear weapons to Belarus, which could be used on the battlefield, was intended as a warning to the West about arming and supporting Ukraine, the Russian leader said.

The White House denounced Putin’s comments and said the United States had made no adjustments to its nuclear position in response to the rhetoric.

Putin warned Friday there is a “serious danger” that the NATO military alliance could be pulled further into Russia’s war on Ukraine. He made those comments during a plenary session of Russia’s flagship St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, where he touted Russia’s economy despite heavy international sanctions imposed because of the war in Ukraine. Western journalists were banned from the event.

Putin also alleged that Ukraine is running out of its own military equipment, making it totally dependent on military hardware supplied by the West. “Everything on which they fight and everything that they use is brought in from the outside. Well, you can’t fight like that for long,” he said.

Additionally, he asserted that Ukraine had failed to make progress in its counteroffensive, adding its army had “no chance” against Russia’s.

Independent military analysts say Ukraine has outperformed Russia’s much larger army in the nearly 16 months of the war, forcing it to retreat around the cities of Kyiv, Kharkiv and Kherson.

US humanitarian assistance

The United States on Friday announced additional humanitarian assistance of $205 million for Ukraine that will provide critical support such as food, safe water, accessible shelter and more for Ukraine.

“The U.S. response is advancing Ukraine’s overall security, economic recovery, energy security and capacity to cope with the humanitarian crisis created by Russia’s war.  We welcome the contributions of other donors toward this crisis response and urge yet more donors to generously support the serious humanitarian needs in Ukraine and the region,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken said.

The U.S. aid package brings the total humanitarian assistance for Ukraine to more than $605 million during fiscal year 2023. Since February 2022, the United States has provided more than $2.1 billion in humanitarian assistance for Ukraine.

The European Commission will propose additional funding to support Ukraine in the coming years. This year, the EU is providing $19.8 billion but aims at a longer-term solution to provide Kyiv with financing certainty as it repels Russia’s invasion.

“The EU is ready to provide Ukraine with sustainable and predictable financial support beyond 2023 to maintain both macro-financial stability and support reconstruction,” European Commission Executive Vice President Valdis Dombrovskis said Friday.

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

New harmful illicit drugs are inundating a flourishing market for traffickers amid violence and corruption hurting local communities across Europe, the EU’s agency monitoring drugs and addiction said Friday.

The grim finding was part of the agency’s annual report. It also said that drug users in Europe are now exposed to a wider range of substances of high purity as drug trafficking and use across the region have quickly returned to pre-COVID 19 pandemic levels.

Cannabis remains the most-used illicit substance in Europe, the agency found, with some 22.6 million Europeans over the age of 15 having used it in the last year. Cocaine seizures are “historically high” and new synthetic drugs whose effects on health are not well documented are worrying officials.

In 2022, 41 new drugs were reported for the first time by the agency.

“I summarize this with the phrase: ‘everywhere, everything, everyone,'” said European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction Director Alexis Goosdeel.

“Established illicit drugs are now widely accessible and potent new substances continue to emerge,” Goosdeel added. “Almost everything with psychoactive properties can appear on the drug market.”

Among the new popular substances, ketamine and nitrous oxide — so-called laughing gas — are raising concern over reported cases of bladder problems, nerve damage and lung injuries associated with users. Alongside the high availability of heroin on the continent, synthetic opioids are on the rise and have been linked to deaths by overdose in Baltic countries.

The report said the opioids situation in Europe is not comparable with the dramatic picture in North America, where overdoses caused by fentanyl and other opioids have fueled a drug crisis. But the agency warned that this group of drugs is a threat for the future, with a total of 74 new synthetic opioids identified on the market since 2009.

“We must make sure America’s present does not become Europe’s future,” said Ylva Johansson, the European Commissioner for Home Affairs.

New cannabis products such as the cannabinoid HHC produce strong psychoactive effects and pose another source of concern, especially since they can be found legally in several countries from the 27-nation bloc due to legislation loopholes. France, for instance, only added it to the list of prohibited substances earlier this week.

Meanwhile, record amounts of cocaine are being seized in Europe, with 303 tons stopped by EU member countries in 2021. According to the report, 75% of that quantity was seized in Belgium, the Netherlands and Spain, with the ports of Antwerp and Rotterdam now the main gateways for Latin American cocaine cartels into the continent.

The EMCDDA said the quantity of cocaine seized in Antwerp, Europe’s second largest seaport, rose to 110 tons from 91 in 2021, according to preliminary data.

In addition, EU countries reported the destruction of 34 cocaine labs as well as large seizures of a precursor necessary to produce cocaine, confirming that “large-scale cocaine production steps take place in the European Union.”

The expansion of the cocaine market has been accompanied by a rise in violence and corruption in the EU, with fierce competition between traffickers leading to a rise in homicides and intimidation.

In Belgium, federal authorities say drug trafficking is penetrating society at quick speed as foreign criminal organizations have built deep roots in the country, bringing along their violent and ruthless operations.

“Criminals use the profits from drug trafficking to buy people, buy police officers, and to buy murder,” Johansson said. “Violence is growing in scale and brutality. In the past, criminals shot people in the leg as a warning, now they shoot them in the head.”

In the Netherlands, killings hit ever more prominent people, while trafficking in Antwerp has led to a surge of violence in recent years, with gun battles and grenade attacks taking place regularly. In Brussels, the justice minister was put under strict protection last year following the arrest of four alleged drug criminals suspected of taking part in a plot to kidnap him.

“It’s time to realize organized crime is as big a threat towards our society as terrorism,” Johansson said.
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Russia confirmed Friday that it had started exporting oil to Pakistan and had agreed to accept Chinese currency as payment, clarifying that the South Asian country did not receive any exclusive discounts on the purchase deal. 

 

Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif announced Sunday that the first “Russian discounted crude oil cargo” had arrived and offloaded at the port in the southern city of Karachi.

Sharif touted the shipment as “the beginning of a new relationship” between Islamabad and Moscow. His petroleum minister later revealed Pakistan had paid in yuan for the first government-to-government Russian crude oil import. 

Russian Energy Minister Nikolai Shulginov said there was no reduced pricing for Pakistan.

“Oil deliveries to Pakistan have begun. There is no special discount; for Pakistan, it is the same as for other buyers,” Russian state media quoted Shulginov as telling reporters on the sidelines of an international economic conference in St. Petersburg.

His remarks raised questions about official Pakistani assertions that Moscow had agreed to supply oil to Islamabad at a discounted price under a deal the two sides negotiated earlier this year.  

 

“We agreed that the payment would be made in the currencies of friendly countries,” Shulginov said when asked for a response to Pakistani assertions that the trade is taking place in Chinese currency. He also confirmed that the issue of barter supplies was also discussed, “but no decision has been made yet.”

Cash-strapped Pakistan earlier this month allowed its state and private entities to open barter trade with several countries, including Russia, in an attempt to ease pressure on Islamabad’s rapidly depleting foreign exchange reserves.  

 

Shulginov said that the two countries had not yet reached an understanding on prices for the export of liquefied natural gas to Pakistan. He noted that “the discussion is about long-term contracts, but so far, we are talking about spot supplies, and spot gas prices are now high.” 

 

Pakistan has purchased 100,000 metric tons of Russian crude oil, of which 45,000 tons arrived earlier this week, said Petroleum Minister Musadik Malik. He told the media on Monday that the payment was made in Chinese yuan and said that there would be a reduction in local oil prices in a few weeks. But Malik did not disclose details such as pricing or the discount Islamabad received, as claimed by Sharif.

 

However, the deal in yuan marked a significant shift in the U.S. dollar-dominated export payments policy as Pakistan faces a cash crunch and default on external debt.

Energy imports make up the majority of the country’s external payments. The foreign exchange reserves held by the central bank have dipped to around $4 billion, barely enough to cover a month of controlled imports.
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Italy’s government said on Friday it had taken steps to limit the influence of Chinese investor Sinochem on tiremaker Pirelli, including a mandatory qualified majority for strategic decisions made by the company’s board. 

Rome’s decision comes after Sinochem, Pirelli’s largest shareholder with a 37% stake, notified the Italian government in March of plans to update an existing shareholder pact with Camfin, the holding company of Pirelli CEO Marco Tronchetti Provera. 

Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s administration scrutinized the pact under “Golden Power” rules aimed at protecting assets deemed strategic for the country, at a time when relations between China and Western countries have entered a tenser phase. 

Sinochem, a Chinese state-owned conglomerate, was not immediately available for comment, while Pirelli declined to comment. 

Sources had previously told Reuters that the government was concerned about Sinochem’s growing influence on Pirelli, as the proposed pact would have allowed the Chinese group to appoint more board members and potentially choose Pirelli’s future CEOs. 

On Friday, Rome said it had imposed prescriptions aimed at shielding “the autonomy of Pirelli,” including a requirement that “some” strategic decisions by its board of directors should require approval by at least 80% of directors. 

The government, saying it had accepted some proposals made by Sinochem to address its concerns, also mentioned specific measures to protect cyber sensor technology that can be incorporated into Pirelli tires. 

“The relevance of such a technology can be identified in a variety of sectors: industrial automation, machine-to-machine communication, machine learning, advanced manufacturing, artificial intelligence, critical sensor and actuator technologies, Big Data and Analytics,” the government said. 

Founded in 1872, Pirelli is one of Italy’s most storied companies. It specializes in high-end tires for premium carmakers like Ferrari, Porsche and BMW and is the sole supplier for Formula One cars. 

Changes needed 

Meloni’s government refrained from imposing even tougher conditions on Sinochem, including blocking its voting rights in Pirelli. Its requirements will nevertheless force Sinochem and Camfin to amend their shareholders’ pact. 

The Chinese group earlier this year confirmed its plans to remain a long-term investor in Pirelli. 

The Italian company is due to appoint a new board at a shareholders meeting on July 31, with current Deputy CEO Giorgio Bruno set to become the new CEO and Tronchetti Provera staying as executive vice chairman. 

Provera has been in charge of Pirelli since 1992.  

The Italian government’s move to limit Sinochem’s grip on the tiremaker comes ahead of another key decision on whether to renew Rome’s partnership with Beijing on the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). 

Italy in 2019 became the first, and so far only, G7 nation to join China’s hugely ambitious BRI initiative, which critics said could enable Beijing to gain control of sensitive technologies and vital infrastructure. 

The BRI envisions rebuilding the old Silk Road with large infrastructure spending to connect China with Europe. 
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NATO launched a new center Friday for protecting undersea pipelines and cables following the still-unsolved apparent attack on the Nord Stream pipelines and amid concern Russia is mapping vital Western infrastructure for energy and the internet in waters around Europe.

“The threat is developing,” Lt. Gen. Hans-Werner Wiermann, who heads a special cell focused on the challenge, said after NATO defense ministers gave the greenlight for the new center, located in Northwood, northwest London.

“Russian ships have actively mapped our critical undersea infrastructure. There are heightened concerns that Russia may target undersea cables and other critical infrastructure in an effort to disrupt Western life,” he told reporters at NATO headquarters in Brussels.

NATO was spurred into action after an apparent attack on two Baltic Sea gas pipelines in September.

The suspected attacks on the Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 pipelines, which were built to carry Russian natural gas to Germany, are still being investigated. No blame has been officially attributed, but NATO has boosted its presence in the Baltic and North Seas since then, with dozens of ships, supported by maritime patrol aircraft and undersea equipment like drones.

About 8,000 kilometers of oil and gas pipelines crisscross the North Sea alone, and systems, networks and grids are impossible to watch 24/7. About 100 cable cutting incidents are reported every year around the world, and it is often hard to tell whether they are deliberate.

“There’s no way that we can have NATO presence along also these thousands of kilometers of undersea infrastructure,” NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg told reporters after chairing the meeting.

“But we can be better at collecting … intelligence, sharing information, connecting the dots, because also in the private sector there is a lot of information” about ship movements and maritime surveillance, he added.

Rather than trying to watch it all, the new center and NATO allies are focusing on high-risk areas. Pipelines in shallow waters that can easily be reached by divers are considerably vulnerable. Potential damage to data cables can be mitigated more easily by simply dropping in more cables.

Whatever the target, NATO believes it’s important to catch saboteurs as they prepare for their attacks.

“To support the center, allies have decided to set up a critical undersea infrastructure network, bringing together NATO, allies and private sector actors. This will help to improve information sharing about evolving risks and threats,” Wiermann said.
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Flooding caused by Kakhovka dam explosion in Ukraine earlier this month could be felt as far away as the Mykolaiv region some 50 kilometers away. The Inhulets River spilled over and flooded a number of villages, Vasylivka among them. Today, locals are starting to come back to their homes.  Yelyzaveta Krotyk has the story, narrated by Anna Rice.
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More than 1,500 explosives scattered around 10 hectares – this is what Halo Trust mine sweepers found in just a week in Ukraine’s Mykolaiv region. This humanitarian NGO whose task is to clear landmines and other explosive devices has been working in Ukraine since 2015. Today, they mainly work in the Kharkiv and Mykolaiv regions. Anna Kosstutschenko has the story. Video: Pavel Suhodolskiy  
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