Month: February 2023

While most of the world is focused on the battles still to come in Ukraine, the Czech Republic’s chief envoy in Washington says his country is already at work on the massive task of rebuilding. “We’re sending generators to provide electricity, we have a constant flow of delegations traveling to Ukraine, to identify what is …

Russia’s blunders on the battlefield in Ukraine are scaring away longtime partners and other countries that have come to depend on Moscow for weapons systems, munitions and maintenance, according to a key State Department official. Far from solidifying Russia’s preeminence as a world power and a choice weapons provider, Assistant Secretary of State for Political-Military …

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Friday his nation will be victorious against Russia as the war with the neighboring country entered its second year with no apparent end in sight. “We endured.  We were not defeated. And we will do everything to gain victory this year,” Zelenskyy said in a statement released on social media. …

Fresh from a meeting with China’s top diplomat and a U.N. Security Council session regarding Ukraine, Secretary of State Antony Blinken will travel to Central and South Asia next week for international talks that will put him in the same room as his Chinese and Russian counterparts. The State Department announced late Thursday that Blinken …

Ukrainians living in South Africa are marking one year since Russia’s invasion with a dance production titled ‘We Stand for Freedom.’ The performance, supported by the Desmond and Leah Tutu Legacy Foundation, draws parallels between racial oppression under apartheid and Moscow’s war on Ukraine. Vicky Stark meets some Ukrainians who fled the war in this …

The extensive sanctions imposed on Russia after its invasion of Ukraine one year ago have not led to the decimation of the Russian economy, as many experts had predicted. As recently as last fall, according to new polling data, many Russians actually believed they were better off economically than they had been before the war …

There are fears of a new global nuclear arms race after Russia’s president announced this week that he would suspend the country’s participation in the New START treaty, which limits the number of warheads deployed by Russia and the United States. Henry Ridgwell reports. …

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine one year ago has sparked a long-term transformation across European defenses, a top U.S. general told VOA, as the Pentagon warns that Moscow has “already lost” its fight to control Ukraine. “The security environment here in Europe has been changed for decades,” Lieutenant General John Kolasheski, commander general of V Corps …

There are more than 8 million Ukrainian refugees in Europe, according to the U.N., and Natalia Rovitska is one of them. Before the war, she was the principal of one of the best schools in Mariupol. After the Russian army destroyed her school and apartment, she managed to flee to Poland, where she works in …

In Syria’s rebel-controlled Idlib province, February’s deadly earthquakes on the Turkish-Syrian border devastated a medical system already weakened from years of civil war. Rebel leaders warn of medicines running out as many quake survivors face disease and infections. Dorian Jones reports for VOA from Istanbul. Camera — Mouneb Taim, Moawia Atrash, Ahmad Fallaha …

U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said Thursday that Washington is seeking to strengthen sanctions against Russia and called for more support for Ukraine as it resists Moscow’s invasion. She was speaking in India’s technology hub of Bengaluru, where finance leaders of the Group of 20 leading economies have gathered to discuss challenges such as high …

As Russian tanks rolled into eastern Ukraine a year ago, millions of Ukrainians fled to Poland. Many came by foot through the Medyka border crossing – where aid agencies mounted a huge emergency response. Twelve months on, VOA’s Henry Ridgwell returned to Medyka to see what has changed – and how authorities are preparing for …