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A man drove a car into pedestrians in a popular Berlin shopping district on Wednesday, killing at at least one person and injuring at least eight others, rescue services said.

The man drove into people on a street corner at around 10:30 a.m. before getting the car back on the road and then crashing into a shop window around a block further on, police spokesman Thilo Cablitz said.

Fire service spokesman Stefan Salzwedel put the number of injured at eight. Police said more than a dozen were injured. Police said several of them were in serious condition.

The driver was apparently detained by passers-by before being arrested swiftly by a police officer who was near the scene, Cablitz said. He said police are trying to determine whether he deliberately drove into pedestrians or whether it was an accident, possibly caused by a medical emergency.

He said he didn’t have more information on the man, who was driving a small car, or on what if anything he has told police so far.

Large numbers of rescue vehicles and first responders were at the scene.

The incident happened at one end of the Kurfuerstendamm shopping boulevard and next to the Breitscheidplatz square, where an extremist carried out a vehicle attack on a Christmas market in 2016, resulting in 13 deaths.

In a 2019 incident in central Berlin, an SUV plowed into a group of pedestrians, killing four people. The driver had suffered an epileptic seizure and veered onto the sidewalk.
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For full coverage of the crisis in Ukraine, visit Flashpoint Ukraine.

The latest developments in the conflict between Russia and Ukraine. All times EDT.

3:45 a.m.: In his nightly video address, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says “whatever the occupiers plan for themselves, we must prepare for the next winter, in our state, on our land, for all citizens.”

2:30 a.m.: Norway has shipped 22 M109 self-propelled howitzers to Ukraine along with spare parts and ammunition. The Norwegian defense ministry said it conducted training sessions in Germany with Ukrainian soldiers on using the weapons.

1:30 a.m.: Britain’s defense ministry said Wednesday morning the previous 24 hours had brought little significant gains for either Russia or Ukraine in the fight for the eastern Ukrainian city of Sievierodonetsk, with Russia attacking from multiple sides but Ukraine’s defenses holding.

12:01 a.m.: The Associated Press is reporting that Angela Merkel defended her approach to Ukraine and Russia during her 16 years as Germany’s leader, saying that a much-criticized 2015 peace deal for eastern Ukraine bought Kyiv precious time. She won’t apologize for her diplomatic efforts, AP reported.

In her first substantial comments since leaving office six months ago, Merkel said there was no excuse for Russia’s brutal attack on Ukraine and it was “a big mistake on Russia’s part.”

Merkel, who dealt with Russian President Vladimir Putin throughout her chancellorship, rejected a suggestion that she and others engaged in appeasement that ultimately enabled the invasion.

“It is a matter of great sorrow that it didn’t succeed, but I don’t blame myself now for trying,” Merkel said.

Some information in this report came from The Associated Press and Reuters.
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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy praised the work of his troops in the eastern Donbas region and said Russia had not expected to meet much resistance, while Russia claimed to have assumed control of almost all of one of the provinces that makes up the Donbas.

After weeks of focusing its attacks on eastern Ukraine, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said Tuesday Russian forces now control 97% of Luhansk province.

Zelenskyy said in his nightly video address Tuesday that “the absolutely heroic defense of the Donbas continues.” He added that Russia had made no significant advances in the region during the past day.

Britain’s defense ministry gave a similar assessment Wednesday morning, saying neither side had achieved significant gains over the course of 24 hours with Russia attacking from multiple sides but Ukraine’s defenses holding. 

The Donbas region also includes Donetsk province and has been the key objective for Russia since it turned away from efforts to advance on the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, two months ago.

Fighting has been particularly intense in the key Luhansk city of Sievierodonetsk, where Russian and Ukrainian forces have been engaging in street-to-street battles.

Shoigu said Tuesday that Russian forces seized the residential areas of the city, while Luhansk Governor Serhiy Haidai said Russia controlled the industrial outskirts.

The battle for Sievierodonetsk is crucial to Moscow’s attempt to assume full domination over Luhansk province. A week ago, Russian forces had captured 70% of the city, but a Ukrainian counteroffensive pushed back Moscow’s troops before Russia mounted another advance.

Both Russia and Ukraine claim to have inflicted huge casualties on each other.

Shoigu said Russian troops were also advancing toward the town of Popasna, and he said they have taken control of Lyman and Sviatohirsk and 15 other towns in the region.

He said 6,489 Ukrainian troops have been taken prisoner since the start of the military action in Ukraine on February 24, including 126 over the past five days.

A spokesman for the U.S. Defense Department said Tuesday the United States had started training Ukrainian soldiers on the use of advanced rocket systems being sent to Ukraine as part of a $700 million aid package approved last week.

Marine Lt. Col. Anton Semelroth said the training was taking place in Germany and elsewhere in Europe for the High Mobility Artillery Rocket System, or HIMARS. The truck-mounted system can carry six rockets with a range of about 70 kilometers.

Norway said it trained Ukrainian soldiers in Germany on the use of M109 self-propelled howitzers as part of its shipment of 22 of the weapons to Ukraine. 

Norwegian Defense Minister Bjorn Arild Gram said the donation, which includes spare parts and ammunition, is a substantial contribution very much in demand by Ukraine. 

Some information for this report came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters
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The European Union’s chief executive vowed Tuesday that Poland would get no money from the bloc’s vast pandemic relief fund until the right-wing government rolls back measures deemed to limit the independence of the country’s judiciary.

Poland is line to receive nearly 36 billion euros ($38.5 billion) to help its economy recover from the impact of measures introduced to limit the spread of the coronavirus. But the EU has frozen Poland’s access to the funds amid concern about political interference with the judiciary.

The European Commission, which proposes EU laws and supervises the way they are enacted, insists that a disciplinary chamber for Polish judges be abolished, that its rulebook be rewritten and that judges sanctioned by the chamber have their cases reviewed.

“Let me be very clear. These three commitments, translated into milestones, must be fulfilled before any payment can be made,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen told EU lawmakers in Strasbourg, France.

The European Parliament has also launched action against Poland over democratic backsliding. The lawmakers have criticized von der Leyen and her commission for being too slow to act. Some are calling for a no-confidence vote on her should the commission release any funds too early.

“I know that some of you are skeptical but let me assure that no money will be disbursed until these reforms are undertaken,” von der Leyen said. “A first payment will only be possible when a new law is in force that ticks all the boxes under this contract,” she said of a plan for Poland to access the funds.

Von der Leyen added that “Poland must demonstrate by the end of 2023 that all unlawfully dismissed judges have been reinstated. If this is not the case there cannot be any further disbursement.”

Poland’s lawmakers are still working on changing Supreme Court regulations to abolish the disciplinary chamber. Only one of the dozens of suspended judges has been reinstated, but to a different section in his court, and has been ordered to go on leave.

Many EU lawmakers argued that Poland should have met the conditions before its action plan for access to the recovery fund was submitted. Even some senior members of von der Leyen’s own commission had reservations about the Polish plan.

Dutch liberal parliamentarian, Sophia In’t Veld, said the commission’s conditions are merely “a smokescreen.” Facing von der Leyen, she said: “If you make any payment to Poland without all the criteria having been fully met, you lose my confidence. It’s democracy.”

Poland’s pandemic recovery plan must still be endorsed by the other 26 EU member states before the end of the month. It would pave the way for government to eventually gain access to 23.9 billion euros ($25.4 billion) in grants and 11.5 billion euros ($11.7 billion) in loans.

EU officials have said that Poland is unlikely to win access to any of the money for several months.
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 It was a moment Pablo González’s family had been longing for: a letter from the Spanish journalist imprisoned in Poland for 100 days on accusations of spying for Russia.

“It was a thrill and a present for me and our three children,” González’s wife, Oihana Goiriena, told VOA.

The four-page letter, which arrived last week, was the first contact the family has had with González since his arrest in February.

Poland’s secret service alleges he used his role as a journalist as a cover for espionage, but officials have not publicly disclosed any supporting evidence. González denies the accusation.

The journalist’s family has links to Russia because his father moved there as a child after the Spanish Civil War. But González is not part of Russia’s secret intelligence service, his Spanish lawyer Gonzalo Boye said.

A court in Poland last month ordered González to remain in custody for a second three-month period. Under Polish law, he can be held for up to a year. If convicted, he could be jailed for 10 years.

Bartosz Rogala, a Polish lawyer appointed to González at the request of the Spanish government, said that under Polish law, he is not permitted to reveal the reasons that González is being held longer.

“The arrest hearing was part of the preparatory proceedings (for trial) and therefore remains classified,” Rogala told El Español, a Spanish online news site.

The lawyer said González will appeal the detention.

Rogala can communicate with González, but Polish authorities have denied the journalist telephone calls or visits from his Spanish lawyer. He is in a jail located about 400 km from the capital, Warsaw.

“Pablo has not been allowed any (physical) contact with his family nor his lawyer. The Spanish consul has seen him three times,” Boye told VOA. “He is being held with one other man in a cell. He is no longer in solitary confinement. He is OK, but he is missing his family.”

González was arrested on February 28 when crossing from Poland into Ukraine, where he had been reporting the start of the Russian invasion.

Ukrainian secret service officials had earlier detained González and accused him of spying for Russia, which he denied. He returned to Spain for a few days before leaving for Poland.

International rights organizations and commentators have criticized how Poland, a European Union nation, handled the case, and demanded that González be afforded due process and rights. 

In an opinion piece, Enric González, a columnist for the center-left Spanish daily newspaper El Pais, likened the treatment to that of inmates in Guantanamo Bay, where the U.S. government kept terror suspects without charges for lengthy periods. The lawyer is not related to Pablo.

In Spain, a campaign led by friends, journalists and television presenters called #FreePabloGonzález marked the 100th day of his detention on Tuesday.

More than 40,600 people signed a petition calling for the release of the experienced war reporter. 

González, 40, has covered conflicts in Ukraine and Syria for various outlets including the left-wing Spanish paper Publico and Gara, a Basque nationalist newspaper. He also provided some camera work for VOA in 2020 and 2021.

The news that he would be held for another three months was a blow to his family, who live in the Basque Country in northern Spain. But the family’s first letter from González, which arrived May 31, lifted spirits, his wife said. 

“The letter was dated April 9, so he congratulated our youngest, who is 7, for his birthday. Said he missed us all very much, and thanked his family and friends and supporters for all the help they have given him,” Goiriena said.

“Pablo said he was OK but has lost a lot of weight. He wrote a few anecdotes about his childhood and told us what he was doing. He is reading a lot, doing exercise, and things are a bit better. He says (the spying allegations) is something that will pass,” Goiriena said.

Goiriena sent a package to her husband in prison containing books on the Basque language and a National Geographic magazine but said she first must have the list of contents translated into Polish.

González has received one letter from his wife, which she sent in March. It was written in Spanish and must be translated and examined by the Polish prosecutor.

Letters from Boye must also be translated and seen by the prosecutor.

 “This is in case they have secret messages to (Russian President) Putin,” jokes Goiriena. “This is not a laughing matter, but you have to laugh or you would cry.”

 Osoigo, a Spanish campaign group, has called on lawmakers to campaign for González.

“Pablo is a Spanish journalist who has been detained and held incommunicado (while accused of spying) and cannot speak with his lawyer or his family. That is why we are campaigning,” Yolanda Llamas of Osoigo told VOA.

For those campaigning for González’s release, his treatment in Poland has been shocking.

In May, Enric González wrote in El Pais, “I ignore whether he has spied or not, (he would not be the first journalist to do so, the frontier between both jobs is clouded), or if he is innocent. But it seems to me that in the European Union, there should not be situations similar to Guantanamo (Bay).”

Amnesty International supported the campaign to free González, tweeting: “We demand that his right to a fair process and due guarantees be respected, allowing him access to a lawyer of his free choice and to communicate with his family.”

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez told parliament last month that the foreign minister had been in contact with his Polish counterpart over the case.

A spokesperson for Spain’s Foreign Ministry told VOA, “Our consul has visited him three times. We made sure that he had a local lawyer, and our ambassador in Poland is following the case carefully.”

The Spanish Defense Ministry, which has responsibility for the intelligence services, declined to comment on the matter.

VOA asked the Polish embassy in Madrid for comment but received no response.

Following González’s arrest, VOA issued a statement saying it was aware of his arrest and has removed some of the content filed by him “out of an abundance of caution.”
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Ukrainian and Russian forces engaged in intense street-to-street fighting in the eastern city of Sievierodonetsk on Monday, as Ukraine’s president said Russian troops were also intending to capture the key southeastern city of Zaporizhzhia.  

The situation in Sievierodonetsk was “changing from hour to hour,” according to the head of the city’s administration, Oleksandr Stryuk, who spoke on television.  

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Ukrainian forces had “every chance” to gain control in the city.  

His assessment came after Luhansk regional Governor Serhiy Haidai suggested Ukraine had lost ground.       

Haidai said, “Our defenders managed to undertake a counterattack for a certain time. They liberated almost half of the city. But now the situation has worsened a little for us again.”        

Both Russia and Ukraine claim to have inflicted huge casualties on each other.   

Zelenskyy told a news conference Monday that Russian troops also intended to capture Zaporizhzhia, in the southeast, to allow them to advance closer to the center of the country.  

“The enemy wants to … occupy the city of Zaporizhzhia,” Zelenskyy said. The city is an industrial hub with a prewar population of more than 700,000 people.     

The Ukrainian leader said Monday he received confirmation from British Prime Minister Boris Johnson “of a new enhanced defense support package,” and that the two discussed ways to unblock Ukrainian ports and avoid a food crisis.      

Britain announced Monday it is sending M270 multiple-launch rocket systems that can hit targets up to 80 kilometers away.    

“We cannot stand by while Russian long-range artillery flattens cities and kills innocent civilians,” Johnson said.     

Zelenskyy said in his nightly video address Monday, “I am grateful to Prime Minister Boris Johnson for the complete understanding of our demands and preparedness to provide Ukraine with exactly the weapons that it so needs to protect the lives of our people.”    

Ben Wallace, Britain’s defense secretary, said support for Ukraine must change as Russia’s tactics change, and that the new rocket systems “will enable our Ukrainian friends to better protect themselves against the brutal use of long-range artillery, which Putin’s forces have used indiscriminately to flatten cities.” Wallace was referring to Russian President Vladimir Putin.         

Putin has warned that Moscow would hit targets “we haven’t yet struck” if the West went ahead with plans to send long-range rocket systems to Ukraine.           

U.S. President Joe Biden said last week that the United States plans to send the Kyiv government $700 million in new weaponry that includes four precision-guided, medium-range rocket systems, helicopters, Javelin anti-tank weapon systems, radars, tactical vehicles, spare parts and more.    

Russia’s foreign ministry announced Monday new sanctions against 61 U.S. nationals in response to what it called “constantly expanding U.S. sanctions.” 

Those listed include Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and Netflix CEO Reed Hastings.     

Some material in this report came from Reuters and The Associated Press. 
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A Fiji court has ruled a Russian-owned superyacht be removed from the Pacific island nation by the United States because it was a waste of money for Fiji to maintain the vessel amid legal wrangling over its seizure.

The U.S. Justice Department’s Taskforce KleptoCapture has focused on seizing yachts and other luxury assets of Russian oligarchs in a bid to pressure Russian President Vladimir Putin over the war in Ukraine.

The 106-meter(350-foot) Amadea arrived in Fiji on April 13 after an 18-day voyage from Mexico. It was seized by Fiji authorities after the country’s High Court granted a U.S. warrant last month that linked the yacht to sanctioned Russian oligarch Suleiman Kerimov.

The FBI has said the $300 million luxury vessel had running costs of $25 million to $30 million per year, and the United States would pay to maintain the vessel after it was seized.

However, the Fiji government has been footing the bill while an appeal by the vessel’s registered owner, Millemarin Investments, worked its way through Fiji’s courts.

The Supreme Court ruled on Tuesday that public interest demands the yacht “sail out of Fiji waters,” because having it berthed in Fiji was “costing the Fijian Government dearly,” according to the judgment.

The vessel “sailed into Fiji waters without any permit and most probably to evade prosecution by the United States,” it added.

The United States alleges Kerimov beneficially owns the Amadea, although lawyers for the vessel have denied this and told the court it was owned by another Russian oligarch, Eduard Khudainatov, the former chief of Russian energy giant Rosneft, who has not been sanctioned.

Last month, another luxury yacht reportedly owned by Khudainatov worth some $700 million was impounded by police in Italy.

The FBI said in the seizure warrant the Amadea had tried to avoid being seized “almost immediately” after Russian troops entered Ukraine, turning off its automated tracking system on February 24.

The vessel’s lawyer, Feizal Haniff, declined to comment on the judgment.

“The decision acknowledges Fiji’s commitment to respecting international mutual assistance requests and Fiji’s international obligations,” said Fiji’s Director of Public Prosecutions, Christopher Pryde in a statement.

He said the court agreed “issues concerning money laundering and ownership” need to be decided in the originating U.S. court.

“The Amadea has been handed over to U.S. authorities and will now leave Fiji,” he added.

The U.S. embassy in Suva did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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British Prime Minister Boris Johnson survived a no-confidence vote Monday but is weakened after more than 40% of his Conservative Party voted against him remaining in office.

In a secret ballot, 148 of the 359 Conservative Party lawmakers voted against Johnson. At least 180 would have had to vote against Johnson for him to be removed.

The prime minister has been under heavy scrutiny since revelations last year that he and his staff held parties in his Downing Street office when Britain was under strict COVID-19 restrictions.

Lawmakers across the political spectrum have voiced concerns about Johnson, and he has faced anger from the public. Some in the crowd booed him when he arrived last week for a service in the queen’s honor during her Platinum Jubilee.

After Monday’s vote, Johnson called his win “convincing” and said, “What it means is that as a government, we can move on and focus on stuff that I think really matters to people.”

He has said he wants to focus on improving the economy and promoting conservative policies like cutting taxes.

Johnson said before the vote that if party members stuck with him, “I will lead you to victory again.”

Johnson became prime minister in July 2019. The next election must be held by 2024, and some Conservatives have expressed concern that the scandals will hurt the party.

However, leading Cabinet ministers have rallied around Johnson, touting his successes in implementing the country’s COVID-19 vaccination campaign and his strong support for Ukraine following Russia’s invasion.

Foreign Secretary Liz Truss, often mentioned as a possible successor to Johnson, tweeted her support of the prime minister. “Pleased that colleagues have backed the Prime Minister. I support him 100%. Now’s the time to get on with the job,” she wrote.

Some information in this report came from The Associated Press and Reuters.
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For full coverage of the crisis in Ukraine, visit Flashpoint Ukraine.

The latest developments in the conflict between Russia and Ukraine. All times EDT.

12:01 a.m.: Russia’s Foreign Ministry announced sanctions on 61 U.S. nationals, The Associated Press reported. The ministry said the move was being taken “in response to the ever-expanding U.S. sanctions against Russian political and public figures, as well as representatives of domestic business,” AP reported. The list includes U.S. officials and former and current top managers of large American companies, such as Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm, White House communications director Kate Bedingfield and Netflix CEO Reed Hastings. 
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