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Kyiv, Ukraine — European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said Friday she had arrived in Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, to discuss Europe’s support, winter preparedness, defense and progress on the G7 loans.

“My 8th visit to Kyiv comes as the heating season starts soon, and Russia keeps targeting energy infrastructure,” von der Leyen said on the X social network.

Von der Leyen said Thursday more than $160 million from the proceeds of frozen Russian assets would be allocated to meet Ukraine’s urgent humanitarian needs for this winter.

Russia has knocked out about 9 gigawatts (GW) of Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, which von der Leyen said was the “power equivalent of the three Baltic states.”

She also said that the EU aimed to restore 2.5 GW of power generating capacity and would increase exports to supply 2 GW of electricity to Ukraine.

Von der Leyen will meet Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and other officials.
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Brussels — The EU’s trade chief, Valdis Dombrovskis, said Thursday he had held “constructive” talks with China’s commerce minister, Wang Wentao, as Beijing seeks a deal with Brussels to avoid steep tariffs on imported electric vehicles.

The meeting was held as divisions grow in Europe over the proposed tariffs, after Spain urged the EU last week to “reconsider” plans for duties of up to 36% on Chinese electric cars, joining Germany in opposition.

“Constructive meeting with Minister of Commerce Wang Wentao. Both sides agreed to intensify efforts to find an effective, enforceable and WTO (World Trade Organization) compatible solution,” Dombrovskis said on X.

Wang also spoke to businesses in the EV sector on Wednesday in Brussels after which he said China “will certainly persevere until the final moments of the consultations,” as quoted in a statement by the Chinese Chamber of Commerce to the EU.

The European Commission in July announced plans to levy import duties on electric vehicles imported from China after an anti-subsidy investigation started last year found they were unfairly undermining European rivals.

The EU wants to protect its automobile industry, a jewel in Europe’s industrial crown, providing jobs to around 14 million people.

The commission is in charge of trade policy for the 27-country bloc.

The tariffs are currently provisional and will only become definitive for five years after a vote by member states that is expected before the end of October.

China has angrily responded to the EU’s plans, warning it would unleash a trade war. Last month China also filed an appeal with the WTO over the tariffs.

Beijing has already launched its own investigations into European brandy and some dairy and pork products imported into China.

Dombrovskis told Wang that the probes were “unwarranted, are based on questionable allegations, and lack sufficient evidence,” the EU’s trade spokesperson, Olof Gill, said.

“(He) thus called for these investigations to be terminated and informed the Chinese side that the EU will do its utmost to defend the interests of its industries,” Gill added in a statement. 
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Moscow’s decision this week to expand its military capabilities is a sign of the stress that its military is facing in the third year of its slow-moving, full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Analysts say the mobilization’s unpopularity and other factors are driving Russia to look for mercenaries from other countries. Marcus Harton narrates this report from Ricardo Marquina.
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White House — President Joe Biden will meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the White House next week (Sept 26) for talks on the ongoing Ukraine-Russia conflict, the White House announced Thursday.

A statement from Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Zelenskyy will also meet separately with Vice President Kamala Harris.

“The leaders will discuss the state of the war between Russia and Ukraine, including Ukraine’s strategic planning and U.S. support for Ukraine in its defense against Russian aggression. The President and Vice President will emphasize their unshakeable commitment to stand with Ukraine until it prevails in this war, she said

Zelenskyy has said that he has a plan for victory in Russia’s war against his country, and that he intends to present the proposal to Biden.

In a speech at the opening of the 20th Annual Yalta European Strategy Meeting in Kyiv last Friday, Zelenskyy said wars of aggression, such as the one being waged by Russia against Ukraine, can end positively by either the occupying army being pushed out on the battlefield or through diplomacy, in which the invaded country is freed from occupation and its independence is preserved.

“In both cases, Ukraine needs a strong position,” he said. “The United States can help with this. If we, along with our key partner, equally strive for victory.”

In recent weeks, Zelenskyy has expressed his frustration at not yet receiving permission from allies — specifically the United States and Britain — to use their long-range weapons against targets inside Russia.

Both nations have expressed concern about being drawn into a direct confrontation with Russia.
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For the second year in a row, specialized summer camps are being held in Ukraine’s Carpathian Mountains for teens who have witnessed traumatic events during the war. Psychologists say instead of focusing on the trauma, they are helping these kids find friends and inner strength. Omelyan Oshchudlyak visited one such camp. Videographer: Yuriy Dankevych
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Copenhagen, Denmark — Swedish authorities on Thursday charged a 52-year-old woman associated with the Islamic State group with genocide, crimes against humanity and serious war crimes against Yazidi women and children in Syria — in the first such case of a person to be tried in the Scandinavian country.

Lina Laina Ishaq, who’s a Swedish citizen, allegedly committed the crimes from August 2014 to December 2016, in Raqqa, the former de facto capital of the self-proclaimed IS caliphate and home to about 300,000 people.

The crimes “took place under IS rule in Raqqa, and this is the first time that IS attacks against the Yazidi minority have been tried in Sweden,” senior prosecutor Reena Devgun said in a statement.

In a separate statement, the Stockholm District Court said the prosecutor claims the woman detained a number of women and children belonging to the Yazidi ethnic group in her residence in Raqqa, and “allegedly exposed them to, among other things, severe suffering, torture or other inhumane treatment as well as for persecution by depriving them of fundamental rights for cultural, religious and gender reasons contrary to general international law.”

According to the indictment, the aim was “completely or partially annihilating the Yazidi ethnic group as such and were part of or otherwise related to an armed conflict,” the court said.

In 2014, IS militants stormed Yazidi towns and villages in Iraq’s Sinjar region and abducted women and children. Women were forced into sexual slavery, and boys were taken to be indoctrinated in jihadi ideology.

The woman earlier had been convicted in Sweden and was sentenced to three years in prison, for taking her 2-year-old son to Syria in 2014, in an area that was then controlled by IS. The woman had claimed that she had told the child’s father that she and the boy were only going on a holiday to Turkey. However, once in Turkey, the two crossed into Syria and the IS-run territory.

In 2017, when the Islamic State’s reign began to collapse, she fled from Raqqa and was captured by Syrian Kurdish troops. She managed to escape to Turkey where she was arrested with her son and two other children, she had given birth to in the meantime, with an IS foreign fighter from Tunisia. She was extradited from Turkey to Sweden.

Before her 2021 conviction, the woman lived in the southern town of Landskrona.

The court said the trial was planned to start Oct. 7 and last approximately two months. Large parts of the trial are to be held behind closed doors.
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OSLO, Norway — A Norwegian human rights foundation gave its annual prize on Thursday to jailed Cuban dissident leader Luis Manuel Otero Alcantara for his “fearless opposition to authoritarianism through art.”

Four past laureates of the Rafto prize — Myanmar’s Aung San Suu Kyi, East Timor’s Jose Ramos-Horta, South Korea’s Kim Dae-jung and Iran’s Shirin Ebadi — later went on to win the Nobel Peace Prize.

This year’s Peace Prize will be announced on Oct. 11 in Oslo.

“The 2024 Rafto prize aims to highlight the importance of the work of Luis Manuel Otero Alcantara and other artists in challenging power structures and defending democracy and human rights, both in Cuba and globally,” the Norwegian foundation said in a statement.

A Cuban court sentenced the artist-dissident in 2022 to five years in jail in a high-profile case that human rights groups branded a “farce” but that Cuban state media said was a fair trial over “common crimes.”

The 36-year-old artist was a prominent member of the Havana-based San Isidro Movement, an artists collective that led a number of protests over two years. Many of the group have since left Cuba, alleging government repression.

On Thursday, the Rafto foundation called on the Cuban government to release him, joining similar calls by Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International.

The laureate is awarded a diploma and prize money of $20,000.
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Islamabad/Washington — Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexei Overchuk met with Pakistani officials in Islamabad on Wednesday to deepen economic ties and expand cooperation “across multiple sectors,” as Moscow grapples with U.S. and EU economic sanctions over its war against Ukraine.

Overchuk’s visit comes after two days of meetings between John Bass, U.S. acting undersecretary of state for political affairs, and Pakistani army chief General Asim Munir and Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar in Islamabad.

During a joint press conference with his Russian counterpart Wednesday in Islamabad, Dar said discussions centered on expanding economic ties between the two countries.

Pakistan’s bilateral trade with Russia reached an unprecedented $1 billion last year. The countries are committed to expanding trade ties by addressing logistical and related issues, Dar said.

According to Dar, Pakistan and Russia are expanding ties in many fields, including liquefied natural gas (LNG) purchases. However, sanctions against Russia restrict cooperation between the two countries.

“Even today, we looked at how to expand our relationship, and overcome this constraint of the banking system, which you know are facing sanctions, which obviously constrains our relationship, the volume of our relationship could have been much bigger,” Dar said

Dar said Pakistan and the U.S. Department of State had detailed discussions in October 2023, and American officials agreed to Pakistan’s request to purchase Russian LNG, as long as a committee of U.S. trade officials determines the price.

According to Dar, Pakistan views Russia as an important player in West, South and Central Asia. He said Pakistan aims to work with Moscow toward peace and stability in Afghanistan.

Pakistan’s army media wing said in a statement on Wednesday that Russia’s Overchuk spoke with General Syed Asim Munir, chief of the army staff (COAS), in Rawalpindi.

“Both reiterated Pakistan’s commitment to fostering traditional defense ties with Russia. Both sides reaffirmed their resolve to strengthen security and defense cooperation in multiple domains,” the statement says.

Analysts say the Russian deputy prime minister’s visit and the expansion of cooperation shows Moscow is expanding its influence in the region.

“In my view, a vacuum has emerged after the U.S. exit from Afghanistan, and Russia is positioning itself to fill that void. China is also making efforts in this direction. As a result, Pakistan is working under this policy framework to improve its relations with regional countries, including Russia,” professor Manzoor Afridi, a Pakistani academic on international relations, told VOA.

Muhammad Taimur Fahad Khan, a Pakistani international affairs expert at Institute of Strategic Studies, Islamabad, told VOA, “The primary goal during this period is to enhance trade, strengthen diplomatic ties, and develop infrastructure, particularly in the energy sector. However, the United States has restricted certain aspects of Pakistan’s ballistic missile program, while tensions between Russia and Ukraine have escalated. In this context, Pakistan’s relationship with Russia holds significance.”

Pakistan received its first shipment of Russian liquefied petroleum gas in 2023. Russian President Vladimir Putin and Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif discussed the possibility of liquefied natural gas supplies earlier in July on the sidelines of a Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit at Astana, Kazakhstan.

This story originated in VOA’s Deewa service.
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AVIGNON, France — Lawyers for some of the men accused of raping an unconscious French woman who had been drugged by her husband questioned her Wednesday about her habits, personal life and sex life, and even questioned whether she was truly unconscious during the encounters.

Gisèle Pelicot’s testimony came a day after her ex-husband, Dominique Pelicot, told the court that for nearly 10 years, he drugged her and invited dozens of men to rape her as she lay defenseless. She fiercely rejected any suggestion that she was anything but an unwitting victim.

“Since I’ve arrived in this courtroom, I’ve felt humiliated. I am treated like an alcoholic, an accomplice. … I have heard it all,” she said at the start of the day’s proceedings, breaking at times with the remarkable calm and stoicism she has shown throughout the often harrowing trial that has gripped France.

Gisèle Pelicot, who was married to her husband for 50 years and shares three children with him, has become a hero to many rape victims and a symbol of the fight against sexual violence in France for waiving her anonymity in the case, letting the trial be public and appearing openly in front of the media.

Her ex-husband and the 50 other men on trial, who range in age from 26 to 74, face up to 20 years in prison if convicted.

Many of the defendants deny having raped Gisèle Pelicot. Some claim they were tricked by Dominique Pelicot, others say they believed she was consenting, and others argue that her husband’s consent was sufficient.

Gisèle Pelicot and her lawyers say the preponderance of evidence — thousands of videos and photos taken by her ex-husband of men having sex with her while she appeared to be unconscious — should be enough to prove she was a victim and was entirely unaware of what Dominique Pelicot was subjecting her to from at least 2011 until 2020.

But on Wednesday, defense lawyers focused their questions on the notion of consent and whether she was aware of what was happening at any point during some of the 90 sexual encounters that prosecutors believe were rapes.

“Don’t you have tendencies that you are not comfortable with?” one lawyer asked Gisèle Pelicot.

“I’m not even going to answer this question, which I find insulting,” she responded, her voice breaking. “I understand why victims of rape don’t press charges. We really spill everything out into the open to humiliate the victim.”

Another lawyer asked whether she was indeed unconscious during one of the encounters captured on video.

“I didn’t give my consent to Mr. Pelicot or these men behind me for one second,” she said, referring to her ex-husband’s co-defendants. “In the state I was in, I could not respond to anybody. I was in a state of coma — the videos will attest to it.”

The line of questioning upset her.

“Since when can a man decide for his wife?” she said, stressing that only one of her ex-husband’s 50 co-defendants had refused his invitation to rape her. That man met Dominique Pelicot online and invited him to rape his own wife, who was also drugged, authorities contend.

“What are these men? Are they degenerates?” she said angrily. “They have committed rapes. That’s all I have to say.”

Another questioned the time and date stamps on the videos, and whether she thought the sexual acts lasted as long as the stamps suggested. “Rape is not a question of time,” she said.

“To talk of minutes, seconds. … It does not matter how long they spent. It’s so degrading, humiliating what I am hearing in this room,” she said.

At one point, Dominique Pelicot, who already said during the trial that all of the accusations against him are true, came out in support of his ex-wife, saying, “Stop suspecting her all the time … I did many things without her knowing.”

On Tuesday, he testified that all of his co-defendants knew exactly what they were doing when he had them over, saying, “They knew everything. They can’t say otherwise.”
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state department — A senior U.S. State Department official said Wednesday that Beijing’s support for Moscow’s defense industry comes directly from the top leadership of the People’s Republic of China, or PRC. The official also pointed out that chips supplied by China have significantly bolstered Russia’s battlefield capabilities in its war against Ukraine.

For months, U.S. officials have accused the PRC of actively aiding Russia’s war effort. Washington has sanctioned Chinese firms providing crucial components to Russia’s defense industry.

On Wednesday, Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell told lawmakers that the U.S. had been slow to fully grasp the “absolute intensity of engagement” between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping.

“The most worrisome thing is that it [China’s support for Russia] comes from the very top,” Campbell said during a House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing.

He added that “chips, some design features, some capacities associated with the making of explosives” have been enhancing Russia’s battlefield operations.

“We see the role of UAVs [unmanned aerial vehicles, or drones] and other capacities that are penetrating the Ukrainian airspace. Much of that has been supported surreptitiously by China, and it raises real concerns.”

Chinese officials rejected Washington’s accusations, asserting that the U.S. should not “smear or attack the normal relations between China and Russia” or infringe upon “the legitimate rights and interests” of China and its companies.

Beijing also continues to call for peace talks between Russia and Ukraine leading to a political settlement, more than two and a half years into the war.

Some members of Congress have urged President Joe Biden’s administration to sanction Chinese banks for supporting Russia’s war on Ukraine.

“We’ve put many of their [PRC] financial institutions on watch. … We’ve got to have Europeans with us. I think we’re beginning to make headway,” said Campbell.

The State Department’s second-ranking diplomat said the challenges posed to the U.S. by the PRC exceed those of the Cold War, following a large-scale joint military exercise between China and Russia.

Dubbed “Ocean-2024,” the massive naval and air drills spanned a huge swath of ocean and involved more than 400 naval vessels, at least 120 military aircraft and upward of 90,000 troops, according to the Russian Defense Ministry.

Without naming specific countries, Chinese officials said that the military exercise between the two allies, which concluded Monday, was intended to address joint threats.

Mao Ning, a spokesperson for China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, elaborated during a recent briefing in Beijing, saying, “China and Russia [held] this joint exercise in order to deepen their mil-to-mil strategic coordination and strengthen the capacity to jointly address security threats.”
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A group of young activists in Turkey known as 1000 Youth for Palestine is posing a rare and potent challenge to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan by using social media to expose Turkey’s ongoing trade with Israel. This, despite Erdogan’s public claims that he has imposed a strict trade embargo on Israel over the war in Gaza. As Dorian Jones reports from Istanbul, the group’s message is crossing the deep political, social and religious divides of Turkey.
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