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In Ukraine, more than 200 libraries have been destroyed and about 400 damaged since Russia launched its war, say Ukrainian officials. Lesia Bakalets reports from Kyiv on how librarians are trying to ensure libraries survive the war. Camera: Vladyslav Smilianets



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Ukraine has appealed for its European allies to urgently step up weapons supplies as it struggles to hold ground against invading Russian forces. As Henry Ridgwell reports, Germany has called for allies to provide more air defense systems, as Russian drones and missiles rain down on Ukrainian cities.
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london — European nations are struggling to agree on providing urgently needed weapons to Ukraine as Kyiv’s forces struggle to hold ground against invading Russian forces.

Ukrainian cities and critical infrastructure faced waves of drone and missile attacks from Russia again on Friday, with at least eight people killed, including two children, in an attack in the central Dnipropetrovsk region. An attack on the city of Chernihiv on Wednesday killed at least 13 people.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz called for NATO allies to provide more U.S.-made Patriot air defense systems to Ukraine following this week’s two-day European Union Special Council meeting in Brussels.

“NATO has made it very clear that of the systems that are available in the NATO states, several could make a decision like ours — to hand over another system so that better protection is possible against the many attacks currently happening against Ukraine,” Scholz told reporters Thursday. “I would like to take this opportunity to emphasize this appeal once again. We have heard that there should be seven more, one of which is ours. And we hope that six more will be found in the NATO context.”

On the eastern frontlines, Ukraine’s forces say they are outgunned by Moscow’s troops and are slowly losing ground in several areas. Kyiv has made repeated urgent appeals to the West for more military aid, but the Western hesitancy has only encouraged Moscow, said security analyst Amanda Paul of the Brussels-based European Policy Center.

“The Russians have taken advantage of the failure of the West to give Ukraine sufficient military assistance, including air defense systems, to strike their infrastructure,” she said.

Individual European states have sent significant volumes of military aid to Ukraine. In March, the European Union boosted its bloc-wide fund to provide weapons for Kyiv by $5 billion.

A Czech-led initiative aims to supply Kyiv with up to 1.5 million artillery shells over the coming year and is set to deliver the first batch of 180,000 in the coming months.

However, Russian military production appears to be outpacing both Western military aid and Ukraine’s own ability to manufacture weapons.

Meanwhile, several EU states have stopped short of providing the longer-range weapons that Ukraine says it needs to target Russian supply lines. Germany has ruled out supplying its Taurus long-range missiles.

Analyst Paul said that while we’re now seeing some stronger statements from the German Chancellor or from French President Emmanuel Macron, there are still alot of words and not much action, which adds to the problem.

“It’s only when the situation on the battlefield has become quite hot that Europeans have changed their narrative or began to supply Ukraine with more weapons, or at least make commitments,” Paul said. “Some countries have been concerned about the ramifications from Russia. We saw that for a very long period of time: ‘We don’t want to escalate with the Kremlin.’ These sorts of narratives seem to disappear, at least vocally.”

Despite the battlefield struggles, Ukraine’s military continues to strike back at Russia. Its forces claimed to have downed a TU-22 strategic bomber over Russian airspace Friday, some 300 kilometers from its border. Kyiv said the plane had earlier taken part in the bomb attack on Dnipropetrovsk.

In a potentially major boost to Ukraine’s capabilities, its air force is set to receive the first of dozens of F-16 fighter jets from Denmark, the Netherlands and the United States in the coming months. A further three Dutch F-16s arrived at a Ukrainian training facility in Romania Wednesday. Several other NATO states, including Norway, Greece, and Belgium, have committed to supplying Ukraine with F-16s over the coming year.

Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said on March 27 that the jets should appear over Ukraine in mid-summer.

“So far, everything is going according to plan,” Kuleba told reports in an online briefing.
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“War up Close” is a 360-degree virtual reality exhibition in Los Angeles that takes visitors through the streets of Ukraine and lets them see the devastation inflicted by the war. Angelina Bagdasaryan has the story, narrated by Anna Rice. 
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CORTE, CORSICA   — The colorful graffiti sprinkled across this mountain town offers one clue about some political sentiments here.

“Liberty for Stephanu Ori,” is plastered on one peeling wall, referring to a Corsican militant arrested last month. Another pays tribute to nationalist Yvan Colonna, killed in jail where he was serving time for the assassination of a top French official.

Still others offer the shorthand call — AFF — for French to leave the island.

Perched on a hill of rugged northern Corsica, Corte is the undisputed cultural and political heart of this French Mediterranean island, which has long fought for greater self-rule from Paris. Today, some some are hopeful that could happen following an agreement last month to insert language in France’s constitution recognizing “an autonomous status” for Corsica.

Top Corsican official Gilles Simeoni called the March agreement — since approved by Corsica’s legislature — a “decisive step,” but cautioned it was just a beginning.

The measure still needs to be approved by both France’s lower house and Senate, where right-wing lawmakers fiercely oppose it. Even if the measure is approved, it is unclear just how much of a difference it will make.

“It’s a step, not necessarily a big one,” said Andre Fazi, a political scientist at the University of Corte. “it could end up making no real change, with the central power retaining the final say when it comes to Corsican national assembly decisions.”

“What is clear is nobody is thrilled about this reform,” he added of the mixed reaction. “Those who support a strong French state will be against this reform. Those who support Corsican independence will say it doesn’t go far enough.”

Even some Corsicans, fiercely proud of their identity, are worried about giving local authorities too much say on some matters.

“I am for Corsican autonomy, but I have real questions about the competence of those managing Corsica today,” said Dominique, a Corsican retiree and former senior French public servant. He declined to give his last name because of the sensitive topic. “If they can’t manage basic things like garbage, why give them more power?”

Paoli’s legacy

The fleeting years when Corsican did have self rule — more than two centuries ago — are cemented in Corte’s history. Dominating a central town square is the statue of 18th century independence leader Pascal Paoli. A key figure in first ousting Genoa then briefly France from the island, Paoli created the Anglo-Corsican kingdom, with its capital based here. He helped usher in schools and a university — and drafted a constitution that inspired that of the United States — before going into exile and dying in Britain, in 1807.

By that time, Corsica was firmly back in France’s orbit, under the rule of another Corsican — Napoleon Bonaparte.

At Corte’s Pascal Paoli University, a few minutes’ walk from Paoli’s statue, graduate student Andrea Nanglard said she is not interested in politics, but supports more autonomy for the island.

“I consider myself more Corsican than French,” said Nanglard, who was born on the French continent but moved to Corsica as a teenager, and speaks the Corsican language. “But I’m not sure if greater autonomy would really change things.”

Another Corsican student, Julien Preziose, also backs inserting a Corsican autonomy reference in the French constitution.

“I think it’s important to fight for the Corsican identity, because otherwise it could disappear,” said Preziose, who is studying ancient Corsican history and archeology. “But it’s not like we think about being Corsican all the time. It’s when we leave Corsica, when that happens.”

In the 19th and 20th centuries, many Corsicans did leave in search of work. Some headed to the Americas; others to French colonies or the mainland. Today, some are coming back to retire, and a few to rediscover their roots. New schools have opened teaching the Corsican language to youngsters.

But among Corsica’s 350,000 residents, many are also French retirees from the mainland. Foreign tourists are similarly flooding in, lured by the island’s beauty. Their arrival has notched up real estate prices and stirred tensions.

“Corsicans are no longer speaking Corsican, they’re losing their roots, their history,” said Dominique, the retired public servant. In the village where he now lives, he said, young people can no longer afford to buy property. “Corsicans are forced to sell their land because they can no longer make ends meet.”

Growing divide

Calls for independence resurfaced in the 1970s, with the creation of the National Liberation Front of Corsica, or FLNC, which staged attacks against symbols of French governance. The most spectacular was the 1998 assassination of French prefect Claude Erignac, the island’s top French state official. The FLNC formally laid down its arms in 2014, although the nationalist movement remains active — especially in Corte. Corsican crime families are also anchored into the landscape.

While nationalist bombings and other attacks have largely ended, tensions still simmer. The 2022 killing by a fellow prisoner of Yvan Colonna, serving a life sentence over Erignac’s killing, sparked protests and rioting in Corte and elsewhere on the island.

Meanwhile, Fazi, the political scientist, believes the fracture between Corsicans and mainland French has grown bigger in recent years. Common memories that bound the two populations a few decades ago — military service, World War II or serving in former French colonies — have now faded.

“There are a lot of Corsican youth today who don’t feel themselves to be at all French,” he said. “And there’s been a lot of immigration to Corsica by people who do feel themselves to be French. And that kind of psychological rupture between the two could be a worry for the state.”

Even so, France’s highly centralized government has loosened up modestly in recent years, including granting Corsica greater political say through a series of small steps. In 2015, Corsican nationalists came to power in regional elections for the first time. The island’s legislature is today dominated by autonomists, like Simeoni, who want more local powers but not a full split with France.

If France’s parliament greenlights this new autonomy measure, the island’s registered voters — both Corsican and French — also will have their say, said President Emmanuel Macron. The majority of both groups, said analyst Fazi, would likely support the measure — one key element bringing the two groups together.

“Autonomy has become mainstream — it’s not subversive like it was 40 years ago,” he said. Still, Fazi added, if the autonomy measure amounts to little more than constitutional language with no substance, Corsica could see new tensions.

“The more the reform is timid, the more it could reinforce the contestation” against the French state, he said. “We may not see a big resurgence of attacks, but more and more violent protests.”
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Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan travels to Iraq next week for the first time in 12 years. Erdogan is looking for Iraqi support in his war on Kurdish rebels based in Iraq and as Dorian Jones reports from Istanbul, the visit also aims to counter Iran’s influence.
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LONDON — Right-wing politicians in Europe called for an end to Western support for Ukraine in its war against Russian invaders, as hundreds of people gathered in Brussels this week for the European National Conservatism Conference, which ended Wednesday.

An effort by the Brussels mayor to shut down the conference on security grounds prompted accusations of an assault on the right to free speech.

Orban speech

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban topped the list of speakers at the event. In his sights were familiar foes: the European Union, immigration and multiculturalism.

“I think that nations have the right to decide about their own future. So, if somebody would like to make an attempt to create a mixed society, a Christian-based with Muslim community, and as a liberal thing that the outcome will be something good  — do it, it is your fate, your future — but don’t force us to do so,” Orban told the conference. “We think that mixture of two civilizations will not result in good things.”  

Ukraine aid

Just hours before attending a special meeting of EU heads of state at the nearby European Council, the Hungarian leader criticized Western support for Ukraine in its fight against Russian invaders and said his country would maintain ties with Moscow.

“Ukraine is now just the protectorate of the West. So, without getting the money and weapons from the European Union and United States, Ukraine as a state would cease to exist,” he said Wednesday, largely echoing Kremlin talking points. “So, it is not a sovereign state anymore.”

‘Right-wing playbook’

Orban has become the figurehead leader of the European right, according to Georgios Samaras, a political analyst and expert on the European far right at Kings College London.

“Viktor Orban can be perhaps the one strongman that unites the far right — as right-wing forces and central right-wing forces follow his lead because he’s highly successful in pushing an authoritarian practice and authoritarian regime in his own country. I believe that the far right is right now trying to use the same playbook,” Samaras told VOA.

“The far-right danger is here,” Samaras added. “But it was always here and now it’s openly normalized by the elites who are willing to collaborate with those political actors and entities in order to govern and probably abuse democratic institutions.”

EU elections

Despite widespread criticism from both European and American allies, Orban denies undermining democratic institutions in Hungary.

The conservative conference was staged ahead of European Parliament elections scheduled in June. “This is the consolidation of different manifestos into one. And usually when these conferences take place, they’re trying to agree on ideological pledges for the next few years,” Samaras said.

Police action

The conference was almost cancelled when Belgian police blocked access to the venue Tuesday after Mayor Emir Kir issued an order to shut it down over public security concerns.

An emergency court ruling on Tuesday evening, however, overturned the mayor’s order. Nigel Farage, a former member of the European parliament and campaigner for Britain’s EU exit who was speaking at the conference, said the mayor’s actions were an example of what they labelled left-wing “cancel culture.”

“We can see that legally held opinions from people who are going to win national elections is no longer acceptable here, in Brussels, the home of globalism, because if you don’t agree with ever closer union, you must be a bad dude,” Farage told reporters Tuesday.

The effort to close the conference was criticized by politicians from across the political spectrum, including Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo, who described the move as “unacceptable.”

Polls suggest center-right and far-right parties are set to gain seats at the June European elections. An EU survey published this week   suggests that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and European defense and security, are high on the list of voter priorities.
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BERLIN — Two German-Russian men have been arrested in Germany on suspicion of espionage, one of them accused of agreeing to carry out attacks on potential targets including U.S. military facilities in hopes of sabotaging aid for Ukraine, prosecutors said Thursday.

The two, identified only as Dieter S. and Alexander J. in line with German privacy rules, were arrested Wednesday in the Bavarian city of Bayreuth, federal prosecutors said.

Prosecutors allege Dieter S. had been discussing possible acts of sabotage in Germany with a person linked to Russian intelligence since October, and that the main aim was to undermine military support given by Germany to Ukraine.

The suspect declared himself willing to carry out bombing and arson attacks on infrastructure used by the military and industrial sites in Germany, prosecutors said in a statement. They added that he gathered information on potential targets, including U.S. military facilities.

Alexander J. allegedly helped him to do so starting in March at the latest, while Dieter S. scouted out some of the sites, took photos and videos of military goods and passed the information to his intelligence contact.

A judge on Wednesday ordered Dieter S. kept in custody pending a possible indictment, and Alexander J. was ordered held on Thursday.

Dieter S. also faces separate accusations of belonging to an armed unit of pro-Russian separatist forces in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine between December 2014 and September 2016.

Germany has become the second-biggest supplier of weapons to Ukraine after the United States since Russia started its full-scale invasion of Ukraine more than two years ago. The U.S. has a large military presence in Germany, including in Bavaria.

Prosecutors did not name any specific locations in the suspects’ sights. German news agency dpa and magazine Der Spiegel reported, without citing sources, that the locations allegedly snooped on include the U.S. Grafenwoehr military base.

Germany’s top security official, Interior Minister Nancy Faeser, said Russia’s ambassador was summoned to the Foreign Ministry in Berlin.

She vowed that Germany will continue to thwart any such Russian threats. “We will continue to give Ukraine massive support and will not let ourselves be intimidated,” she said.

Faeser wouldn’t comment on details of the investigation. She said that Germany has increased its security measures since Russia sent its troops into Ukraine in 2022 and will keep evaluating them.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said he couldn’t comment on the reported arrests, saying that he doesn’t have “any information on this matter.”

European officials have recently warned of Russia-linked interference networks trying to undermine European support for Ukraine in its war against Russia.
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