1UA TV

Badly needed food and medicines were delivered to Azerbaijan’s breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh on Monday along two roads simultaneously, a step that could ease mounting tension between Azerbaijan and Armenia.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said it had sent trucks via the Lachin corridor leading from Armenia into the mountain enclave from the southwest, and the Aghdam road from Azerbaijani government-held territory to the northeast.

“We are extremely relieved that many people reliant on humanitarian aid will finally receive much-needed support in the coming days,” said Ariane Bauer, ICRC’s regional director for Europe and Central Asia.

“People are queuing hours for bread,” she said, adding that she hoped aid convoys would continue “not just today but in the weeks to come, so that we can regularly get aid to those who need it.”

She said the deliveries had been made possible by agreement between the rival authorities.

Azerbaijan had virtually cut traffic from Armenia since December, alleging it was being used to smuggle arms. That triggered food shortages in Karabakh and aggravated tensions with Yerevan.

In a statement on Facebook, the Karabakh administration said around 23 tons of flour as well as medical and hygiene products had arrived in the region.

Azerbaijan’s foreign ministry said in a statement that it had agreed to the ICRC shipments, and that it was ready to ensure the parallel use of the two roads.

Karabakh is internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan, but has an overwhelmingly ethnic Armenian population that broke from Baku’s control in the early 1990s after a war, relying on support from Armenia through the Lachin corridor.

In another war in late 2020, Azerbaijan recaptured swathes of land in and around Nagorno-Karabakh, establishing effective control over the corridor.

Baku has insisted that Karabakh must reopen an access route from Azerbaijani territory that has been blocked since 1988, and earlier this month a single Russian aid truck entered Karabakh along that road.

Monday’s delivery fulfilled the other side of an agreement between Yerevan and Baku, but wider tensions remain.

The two countries frequently exchange fire along their closed and heavily fortified border and Armenia has in recent weeks repeatedly accused Azerbaijan of massing troops around Karabakh, an allegation Azerbaijan has denied.

The Armenian state news agency Armenpress said on Sunday that one person in Karabakh had been wounded by firing from Azerbaijani positions. Azerbaijan accused Karabakh forces of building fortifications near the front line and said it had taken “urgent measures” to stop them from doing so.
…

Two cargo ships arrived at one of Ukraine’s ports over the weekend, using a temporary Black Sea corridor established by Kyiv following Russia’s withdrawal from a wartime agreement designed to ensure safe grain exports from the invaded country’s ports.

Two Palau-flagged bulk carriers, Aroyat and Resilient Africa, docked Saturday at the seaport of Chornomorsk in the southern Odesa region, according to an online statement by the Ukrainian Sea Ports Authority. The vessels are the first civilian cargo ships to reach one of the Odesa ports since Russia exited the grain deal.

Oleksandr Kubrakov, Ukraine’s deputy prime minister, said in an online statement Saturday that the two ships will be delivering some 20,000 tons of wheat to countries in Africa and Asia.

For months, Ukraine, whose economy is heavily dependent on farming, was able to safely export its grain from Black Sea ports under a deal brokered by the United Nations and Turkey to ensure safe shipments. But Russia withdrew from the deal on July 17, with Kremlin officials arguing their demands for the facilitation of Russian food and fertilizer shipments had not been met.

Following the withdrawal, the Russian defense ministry said it would regard any vessels in the Black Sea headed to Ukrainian ports as military targets.

Since then, Kyiv has sought to reroute transport through the Danube River, and road and rail links into Europe. But transport costs that way are much higher. Some European countries have balked at the consequential local grain prices, and the Danube ports can’t handle the same volume as seaports.

The interim corridor in the Black Sea, which Kyiv has asked the International Maritime Organization to ratify, was opened on Aug. 10 as United States and Ukrainian officials warned of possible Russian attacks on civilian vessels. Sea mines also make the voyage risky, and ship insurance costs are likely to be high for operators.

Ukrainian officials said the corridor will be primarily used to evacuate ships stuck in the Ukrainian ports of Chornomorsk, Odesa and Pivdennyi since the war broke out. Kubrakov said Saturday that five vessels have since used the corridor to leave Ukrainian ports.

After tearing up the grain deal, Russia intensified attacks on the southern Odesa region, targeting its port infrastructure and grain silos with missiles and drones.

On Sunday, Ukraine’s Air Force Command reported another attack overnight in which the Odesa region was the main target. Russian forces fired 10 cruise missiles and six Iranian-made Shahed drones, the statement said. All drones and six missiles were downed, while the rest hit an agricultural facility in the Odesa region.
…

Chechen strongman Ramzan Kadyrov on Sunday released new video footage in which he smiled and recommended everyone practice sport, in an apparent move to quash speculation about his ill health.

Speculation has swirled for months that the hugely influential 46-year-old head of Chechnya accused by rights groups of running a “totalitarian regime” might be ill. 

On Sunday, two videos appeared on Kadyrov’s Telegram channel.

Wearing a raincoat, he was seen in the first video strolling in an unidentified location. He smiled but his face appeared puffy.

In the second video he was heard speaking Chechen and then saying in Russian, “Practice sport.”

“I strongly recommend that everyone who cannot distinguish the truth from lies on the internet go for a walk, get some fresh air and put their thoughts in order,” said the words accompanying the videos. “The rain can be wonderfully invigorating.”

It was not possible to immediately establish when the videos were recorded but the footage was published following unconfirmed reports on social media that the Chechen leader was in a coma.

Kadyrov has been one of the most enthusiastic supporters of Moscow’s offensive in Ukraine and his battalions have fought alongside regular Russian forces there.

The former rebel warlord turned Kremlin ally has long referred to himself as Vladimir Putin’s “footsoldier.”

Elected president of Chechnya in 2007, Kadyrov has ruled majority-Muslim Chechnya with widespread evidence of extra-judicial killings and torture of his opponents.
…

Climate activists sprayed orange and yellow paint on the columns of Berlin’s landmark Brandenburg Gate on Sunday to push demands for a stop to the use of fossil fuels by 2030.  

“Members of the so-called ‘Last Generation’ sprayed the columns on the east side of the Brandenburg Gate with orange paint from fire extinguishers during the morning,” Berlin police said on X, formerly known as Twitter.

It added that police officers noticed a hydraulic lift was being operated at the gate and they kept the protesters from scaling the landmark building. They arrested all 14 protesters at the site and launched an investigation into property damage.

The Last Generation, a Germany-based group within the Europe-wide A22 network that includes Britain’s Just Stop Oil, has made headlines in Germany with hundreds of road blocks by protesters who glued themselves to the tarmac.

Their action has triggered a law-enforcement crackdown by Germany’s federal states.  

The Last Generation posted pictures of the spray-painting on X.  

“We will not stop our protest unless a pivot is initiated. We have to exit oil, natural gas and coal by 2030 at the latest,” it said.  

Germany aims to reach net-zero emissions by 2045, but it missed annual targets for the last two years.
…

European Union Commision President Ursula von de Leyen and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni toured a migrant center Sunday on the small Italian island of Lampedusa.

The center was recently overwhelmed with almost 7,000 migrants in a 24-hour period, a total that is nearly equivalent to the number of people who live on the island.

Residents of Italy’s southernmost island say they are frustrated with the steady stream of arrivals on their tiny island.

The island has struggled for years to manage the arrivals.

Lampedusa is less than 160 kilometers from Tunisia, making it a logical first stop for the migrants who are looking for a better life in Europe and elsewhere.

Many make the journey in rickety boats and they are often rescued by the coast guard.  Many do not survive the journey.  The latest victim was a 5-month-old baby, officials say.

Meloni, who was elected last year, promised to end the mass migrations.

Television footage of the politicians’ trip to the island showed them talking to residents.

Italy’s right-wing government recently allocated close to $50 million to help Lampedusa manage the massive influx of migrants. Some residents say that sum is not enough.
…

Farmers say extreme temperatures caused a huge drop in the output of olive oil in Spain, the world’s largest producer, triggering a big jump in world olive oil prices. Elizabeth Cherneff narrates this report from Alfonso Beato in Barcelona, who says Europe’s leadership is blaming climate change.
…

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un discussed practical issues in stepping up military cooperation with Russia’s defense minister, state KCNA news agency said Sunday.

During his visit to Russia, Kim inspected Russian nuclear-capable strategic bombers, hypersonic missiles and warships Saturday, accompanied by Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu.

Kim’s trip comes at a time when “a fresh heyday of friendship and solidarity and cooperation is being opened up in the history of the development of the relations between the DPRK and Russia,” KCNA said, using North Korea’s official name.

Kim met Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday and discussed military matters, the war in Ukraine and deepening cooperation.

Kim and Shoigu “exchanged their constructive opinions on the practical issues arising in further strengthening the strategic and tactical coordination, cooperation and mutual exchange between the armed forces of the two countries and in the fields of their national defense and security,” KCNA reported.

Shoigu told Russian media earlier that Moscow is discussing joint military exercises with North Korea.

On Friday, South Korea and the U.S. said military cooperation between North Korea and Russia would violate U.N. sanctions against Pyongyang and that the allies would ensure there was a price to pay.

Russia has gone out of its way to publicize the visit and to drop repeated hints about the prospect of military cooperation with North Korea, which was formed in 1948 with the backing of the Soviet Union.

Kim also toured Russia’s Pacific Sea Fleet equipped with strategic nuclear submarines among other military vessels, KCNA said, quoting him as praising the fleet for its contribution to peace in the region.

Earlier this month, North Korea launched its first operational “tactical nuclear attack submarine.”  
…

Ukrainian forces made progress Saturday in their offensive against Russian troops in the east and south, a military spokesperson said, as the two militaries disputed who controlled the village of Andriivka. 

General Oleksandr Syrskyi, commander of Ukraine’s land forces, posted a video to Telegram showing a scorched, desolate landscape that he said proved his forces had captured the village.  

Andriivka is unrecognizable, a correspondent for Ukraine’s Hromadske radio said. It is “so badly destroyed that soldiers do not even know where to place the pole with the Ukrainian flag,” Yanina Lvutina said on the radio’s website. 

Ukraine considers Andriivka crucial to regaining the nearby, also-destroyed city of Bakhmut. 

Russia’s Defense Ministry disputed Ukraine’s claim to Andriivka. Reuters was unable to verify either battlefield report. 

Meanwhile, airstrike alarms sounded at midday throughout Ukraine as the country’s military warned of the threat of ballistic attacks on population centers, including Kyiv, Chernihiv, Kharkiv, and the Zaporizhzhia, and Odesa regions.  

A series of blasts were reported in the Kharkiv region, although information on casualties or damage was not immediately available.  

Also Saturday, Digital Transformation Minister Mykhailo Fedorov told Reuters that Ukraine’s drone production has increased by more than 100 times since last year.   

Ukraine is also testing artificial intelligence systems, he said, that can detect targets kilometers away, as well as guide drones despite disruptions from electronic warfare measures. 

“There will be more drones, more attacks, and fewer Russian ships. That’s for sure,” he said, noting the recent attacks on Russian naval targets in the Black Sea. 

‘We’ve made significant progress’

In his nightly video address on Saturday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy thanked his nation’s allies for their continued support in the fight against the Russian invasion. 

“This week, we’ve made significant progress in implementing existing defense agreements and other support packages,” he said. 

“Denmark, thank you for the new defense package, which is already the 12th package. Equipment, ammunition, and missiles for our air defense,” he said. “Germany, thank you for the new batch of military aid. Belgium, your participation in our pilot training is approved. Thank you! Norway, your decision to provide additional funding for Ukraine’s recovery. It’s crucial. Thank you!”   

He also singled out the United States and South Korea for their support. 

President Joe Biden will host Zelenskyy in Washington on Thursday in their third meeting at the White House.  

British warn of cruise missiles

Finally, in its daily intelligence update Saturday, the British Defense Ministry warned of the “realistic possibility” that Russia will resume using air-launched cruise missiles against Ukrainian infrastructure targets in the winter.   

The ministry said Russia has likely created a “significant stockpile” of the missiles, since open-source reports indicate that Russia began reducing its use of the missiles in April. 

The report also said the missiles “were at the heart” of most strike missions that Russia launched against Ukraine’s national energy infrastructure between last October and March. They allowed Russia to release munitions “from deep within Russian territory.”  

Some information in this article came from Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters. 
…

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen will travel to Lampedusa on Sunday, an official said, as dozens of the Italian island’s citizens protested over a recent surge in migrant arrivals.  

Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni called on Friday for the European Union to act jointly “with a naval mission if necessary” to prevent migrants from North Africa crossing the Mediterranean. 

Nearly 126,000 migrants have arrived in Italy so far this year, almost twice the number by the same date in 2022. Lampedusa has recently borne the brunt of the arrivals, with thousands of landings this week, more than the island’s permanent population.  

“President Von der Leyen will be traveling to Lampedusa tomorrow on the invitation of Italian PM Meloni,” EU Commission spokesman Eric Mamer said in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter.  

French President Emmanuel Macron spoke with Meloni on Saturday and reiterated France’s support for Italy in facing the surge in migrant arrivals, the French presidency said. 

France’s interior minister, Gerald Darmanin, will visit Italy in the coming days to meet his counterpart, the Elysee added. 

The French and Italian ministers also spoke Saturday by phone with their German counterpart and EU representatives, Darmanin said in a post on X.  

Germany has decided to keep taking in migrants and refugees arriving in Italy, Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said on Friday, two days after it announced the suspension of an agreement with Rome to receive new arrivals. 

Dozens of Lampedusa residents held protests on Saturday against a plan to build new tent camps to host migrants.  

“I have two children at home. In the past years, I did not care about this issue. But now I have an instinct of protection for my children because I don’t know what will happen to Lampedusa in the future,” one of the protesters said.  

“Lampedusa says stop! We don’t want tent camps. This message is for Europe and for the Italian government. Lampedusa residents are tired,” another protester said. 

An image showed three women blocking a Red Cross truck carrying food for migrants.  

Italian media reported that about 1,000 migrants had arrived in Lampedusa on Saturday.  

The Italian Coast Guard found the body of a newborn baby on a boat carrying about 40 migrants to Lampedusa, ANSA news agency reported on Saturday, adding the baby was born during the trip and died soon after birth.  

Earlier this week, a 5-month-old baby boy drowned off Lampedusa after a boat carrying migrants across the sea from North Africa capsized.
…

A Belgian court on Friday sentenced five men to prison terms ranging from 20 years to life on charges of terrorist murder in connection with 2016 suicide bombings that killed 32 people and wounded hundreds at Brussels airport and a busy subway station, the country’s deadliest peacetime attack. 

A chief suspect, Salah Abdeslam, had previously been given a 20-year sentence for involvement in a shootout days before the March 22, 2016, attacks and received no further jail time. The shootout happened after police discovered him and another suspect by accident when they inspected what they thought was an empty apartment. Four officers were hurt. 

Abdeslam is serving a life sentence without parole in France over his part in attacks that hit Paris cafes, the Bataclan theater and France’s national stadium in 2015. Both the Paris and Brussels attacks were linked to the same Islamic State group network. 

Taking the stand at a high security court in Brussels on Monday before the jury and magistrates, Abdeslam implored them for leniency, insisting that he did not take part in the suicide bombings in Belgium — two at the city’s airport and one on a subway train during the morning rush hour — and was not aware of the plot. 

“I have been demonized. You’ve condemned someone who doesn’t deserve it,” the 34-year-old Frenchman said, according to Belgian daily Le Soir. “I ask you to be fair with this last decision” on sentencing. 

In total, 10 defendants were involved in what has been the biggest trial in Belgium’s judicial history. Two brothers were acquitted of all charges. The other eight were convicted of participating in activities of a terrorist group; six of those eight also were convicted of terrorist murder. 

Abdeslam was the only survivor among the Islamic State extremists who struck Paris in November 2015. After months on the run, he was captured in Brussels on March 18, 2016. His arrest may have prompted other members of the IS cell to rush ahead with attack plans on the Belgian capital. 

Also convicted of terrorist murder at the trial was Mohamed Abrini, a childhood friend of Abdeslam and a Brussels native who walked away from Zaventem Airport — Belgium’s main air hub — after his explosives failed to detonate. He was sentenced to life in prison. 

Two others accused of playing a role in the suicide bombing plot — Osama Krayem and Bilal El Makhoukhi — were sentenced to life in prison, while a third, Ali El Haddad Asufi, received a 20-year term. 

Oussama Atar, identified as a possible organizer of the deadly attacks on both Paris and Brussels, was convicted of terrorist murder in absentia. He is believed to have died in the Islamic State group’s final months of fighting in Iraq and Syria but was also sentenced to life in prison. 
…

Hundreds gathered in central London on Saturday to mark the anniversary of the death of Mahsa Amini, the 22-year-old Kurdish-Iranian woman who died in police custody in Iran last year, sparking worldwide protests of the country’s conservative Islamic theocracy.

Chanting “Women! Life! Freedom!,” the crowds held her portrait and rallied around the memory of a young woman who died on September 16, 2022, after she was arrested for allegedly violating Iran’s mandatory headscarf law. Similar protests took place in Italy, Germany and France.

“We’re calling on everyone to remember those killed, but also continue the fight, because this fight has to go to the end. Mahsa Jina Amini and the many others cannot have died in vain,″ said Maryam Namazie, an Iranian human rights activist in the U.K.

“We have to have a better society as the result of this huge, Herculean fight.″

In Iran, authorities sought to prevent the anniversary from reigniting the protests that gripped the country last year. Amini’s father was detained outside his home after the family indicated that they planned to gather at her grave for a traditional service of commemoration, the Kurdish rights group Hengaw said. People in downtown Tehran reported a heavy security presence, and security forces were seen in western Iran, where the Kurdish minority staged large protests last year.

Hengaw reported a widespread general strike in Kurdish areas on Saturday, circulating video and photos that appeared to show streets largely empty and shops shuttered. Human Rights Activists in Iran, another group that closely follows events within the country, also reported the general strike. There was no acknowledgement of the strike in state media.

Videos on social media purported to show tear gas being fired in Mashhad and Karaj, a satellite city of Tehran. The New York-based Center for Human Rights in Iran also reported the tear gas being used. Iranian state media did not acknowledge any such incidents.

Amini, a Kurdish-Iranian woman from the western region, died three days after she was arrested by morality police, allegedly for violating laws that require women to cover their hair in public. While authorities said that she suffered a heart attack, Amini’s supporters said she was beaten by police and died as a result of her injuries.

Her death triggered protests that spread across the country and rapidly escalated into calls for the overthrow of Iran’s four-decade-old Islamic theocracy.

Authorities responded with a violent crackdown in which more than 500 people were killed and upwards of 22,000 others were detained, according to rights groups. The demonstrations largely died down early this year, but there are still widespread signs of discontent. For several months, women could be seen openly flaunting the headscarf rule in Tehran and other cities, prompting a renewed crackdown over the summer.

Activists around the world sought to renew the protests on the anniversary of Amini’s death.

On Saturday, about 100 protesters gathered in front of the Iranian Embassy in Rome under the “Women, life, freedom,” banner.

“Now it is important that all the world start again to demonstrate in the streets, because what we want is to isolate this regime and, in particular, we want to push all the states not to have political and economic agreements with Iran,” protester Lucia Massi said.

In Paris, Mayor Anne Hidalgo announced that a garden in the French capital now carried Amini’s name. The mayor called Amini an Iranian resistance hero and said Paris “honors her memory and her battle, as well as those of women who fight for their freedom in Iran and elsewhere.”

The Villemin Garden that now also bears Amini’s name is in Paris’ 10th district, next to a canal with popular boat tours for tourists.

Iran blamed last year’s protests on the United States and other foreign powers, without providing evidence, and has since tried to downplay the unrest even as it moves to prevent any resurgence.

The protests were partly fueled by the widespread economic pain Iranians have suffered since then-President Donald Trump withdrew from a nuclear deal with world powers and reimposed crippling sanctions on Iran. But that suffering also may have made it difficult to sustain prolonged demonstrations, as many Iranians struggle to make ends meet.

President Joe Biden issued a lengthy statement on Friday acknowledging the anniversary of Amini’s death, and the United States announced new sanctions on Iranian officials and entities. U.K. Foreign Secretary James Cleverly also noted the anniversary and imposed new sanctions on Iranian officials.

Soheila Sokhanvari, an Iranian-British artist, moved to the U.K. to study a year before the 1979 revolution that brought Iran’s conservative Islamic leaders to power. She was in London preparing for a solo exhibition on pre-revolutionary feminist icons last year when she heard about Amini’s death.

The protests that followed marked the first time the world has seen “a revolution which is instigated by women,” she told The Associated Press earlier this month.

“But I think what’s really important about this protest is that Iranian men, for the first time in the history of Iran, they’re actually standing with women and they’re supporting the women and they’re showing respect for the women,” she said. “That’s very original, and it’s never happened in the history of Iran.”
…

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un inspected Russian nuclear-capable strategic bombers and other warplanes Saturday from Russia’s Pacific fleet.

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and other leading military officials gave Kim a tour of the bombers and warplanes after the North Korean leader’s arrival in the Far Eastern Russian city of Artyom.

The items the Russians showed Kim are weapons that Russia has used in its invasion of Ukraine.

Later Saturday, Kim and Shoigu traveled to Vladivostok to inspect more inventory, including a weapons-laden frigate.

Kim’s trip to Russia has included more than four hours of talks with President Vladimir Putin and raised alarms about what the two countries want from each other and what kinds of deals the two will strike.
…

A Ukrainian minister told Reuters that the future of Ukraine’s battle against Russia holds “more drones, more attacks and fewer Russian ships.”  

Digital Transformation Minister Mykhailo Fedorov said Ukraine’s drone production has increased by more than 100 times since last year.   

Fedorov also told the news agency that Ukraine is testing artificial intelligence systems that can detect targets kilometers away, as well as guide drones despite disruptions from electronic warfare measures.  

Meanwhile, the British Defense Ministry, in its daily intelligence update on Ukraine, said there is a “realistic possibility” that Russia will resume using air-launched cruise missiles against Ukrainian infrastructure targets in the winter.   

The ministry’s update said that Russia has likely created a “significant stockpile” of the missiles, since open-source reports indicate that Russia began reducing its use of the missiles in April. 

“Russian leaders have highlighted efforts to increase the rate of cruise missile production,” the ministry said.  

The report also said the missiles “were at the heart” of most strike missions that Russia launched against Ukraine’s national energy infrastructure between last October and March. They allowed Russia to release munitions “from deep within Russian territory.”  

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock spoke Friday in Washington, and both reiterated their long-term support for Ukraine in its war against Russia. 

Speaking to reporters following their talks, Blinken said Germany and the U.S., along with dozens of other nations around the world, are committed to providing military, economic and humanitarian aid to Ukraine. He said they also discussed Ukraine’s long-term ability not only to survive but to thrive following Russia’s invasion. 

Baerbock echoed Blinken’s remarks, saying support for Ukraine goes beyond arms deliveries to include humanitarian issues and repairing infrastructure. She said she discussed with Blinken how the U.S. and Germany can coordinate their assistance to Ukraine even more closely. 

The two top diplomats were asked about Ukraine’s ongoing requests for long-range missile systems that could reach deep into Russia and the West’s reluctance to provide them.  

Baerbock said Germany and other NATO allies have told Ukraine from the beginning of Russia’s invasion that arms supplies would be limited to Ukraine’s self-defense and reclaiming territory within Ukraine.  

The German foreign minister has been in the United States much of this week. She traveled to Texas on Tuesday and Wednesday, visiting an air base where German pilots are trained. She met Thursday with U.S. lawmakers to discuss their continued support for Ukraine.

Ukraine grain shipments 

Blinken said he and Baerbock also discussed the Black Sea Grain Initiative, which Russia ended in July, and alternatives to getting grain out of Ukraine and to developing nations that need it.  

Following a meeting on Friday in Bucharest with Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Oleksandr Kubrakov, Romanian Transport Minister Sorin Grindeanu said the nation planned to double the monthly transit capacity for Ukrainian grain through its Constanta port to 4 million metric tons in the coming months.  

Speaking at a joint news conference, Kubrakov said they hope to double the port’s capacity by the beginning of October, which could help Ukraine solve at least 50% of its export issues. 

Ukraine military advances 

Ukraine’s military said Friday it has recaptured the village of Andriivka, about 10 kilometers (6 miles) south of the key front-line, Russian-occupied city of Bakhmut, following intense battles with Russian troops. 

The latest victory in Ukraine’s protracted, multipronged counteroffensive comes just days ahead of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s expected visit to Washington. 

Also Friday, Britain’s Defense Ministry confirmed that a missile strike targeting the naval headquarters of Russia’s Black Sea fleet in Crimea earlier this week delivered a blow that may have crippled portions of the facility for weeks or possibly months to come. 

The landing ship Minsk and the Kilo 636.3 class submarine Rostov-on-Don were undergoing maintenance at the Sevmorzavod shipyard in the base’s dry docks when the missiles hit during a predawn strike Wednesday. 

Open-source evidence, the ministry said, “indicates the Minsk has almost certainly been functionally destroyed, while the Rostov has likely suffered catastrophic damage.”

According to the ministry’s report, any effort to get the submarine up and running would likely take many years and cost hundreds of millions of dollars. 

In addition, the British ministry said there is also “a realistic possibility” that the intricate task of removing the damaged vessels from the dry docks could put the docks out of commission for months and present Russia “with a significant challenge in sustaining fleet maintenance.” 

According to the British ministry, the Rostov was one of the four Black Sea fleet’s cruise-missile capable submarines that “have played a major role in striking Ukraine and projecting Russian power across the Black Sea and Eastern Mediterranean.” 

Zelenskyy White House visit 

Friday’s developments precede Zelenskyy’s anticipated arrival in Washington next week as the U.S. Congress continues to debate $21 billion more in aid to Ukraine to support its fight against Russia. 

U.S. lawmakers are increasingly divided over whether to provide Ukraine with more aid. President Joe Biden is seeking $13 billion in military aid and $8 billion in humanitarian aid, but some Republican lawmakers oppose sending more aid to Ukraine. 

Zelenskyy is expected to meet with Biden next week at the White House after the U.N. General Assembly meeting in New York. 

Although Ukraine’s counteroffensive push against the Russian invasion has been slower than expected, Zelenskyy celebrated Thursday what he described as Ukraine’s destruction of a Russian air defense system on the annexed Crimean Peninsula. 

“A special mention should be made to the entire personnel of the Security Service of Ukraine as well as our naval forces,” Zelenskyy said in his nightly video message. “The invaders’ air defense system was destroyed. Very significant, well done!” 

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

The U.N.’s World Heritage Committee on Friday placed two major historical sites in Ukraine on its list of such sites that it considers to be in danger.

The iconic St. Sophia Cathedral in the capital, Kyiv, and the medieval center of the western city of Lviv, are UNESCO World Heritage Sites central to Ukraine’s culture and history. The decision Friday to put those two on the body’s list of sites “in danger” has no enforcement mechanism but could help deter Russian attacks.

Neither site has been directly targeted since Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, and Lviv has largely been spared from the fighting. But Russia has unleashed waves of strikes on Kyiv and other cities, hitting residential areas and critical infrastructure with Iranian-made attack drones.

The decision was made at the 45th session of the World Heritage Committee, which is being held in Saudi Arabia. The committee maintains UNESCO’s World Heritage List and oversees conservation of the sites.

A Ukrainian government official welcomed the move.

“We are very happy to have a very rich history and culture of our country, and we would like to say that it has been over thousands of years, and we try to preserve it for our future generations,” Deputy Culture Minister Anastasia Bondar said. “So it’s very much important that the whole world community will join us also.”

The gold-domed St. Sophia Cathedral, located in the heart of Kyiv, was built in the 11th century and designed to rival the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul. The monument to Byzantine art contains the biggest collection of mosaics and frescoes from that period, and is surrounded by monastic buildings dating back to the 17th century.

The Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra, also known as the Monastery of the Caves, is a sprawling complex of monasteries and churches — some underground — that were built from the 11th to the 19th century. Some of the churches are connected by a labyrinthine complex of caves spanning more than 600 meters.

The two sites on the Dnipro River, a 15-minute drive from one another, are “a masterpiece of human creative genius,” according to UNESCO.

The other site is the historic center of Lviv, near the Polish border. A fifth-century castle overlooks streets and squares built between the 13th and 17th centuries. The site includes a synagogue as well as Orthodox, Armenian and Catholic religious buildings, reflecting the city’s diversity.

“In its urban fabric and its architecture, Lviv is an outstanding example of the fusion of the architectural and artistic traditions of Eastern Europe with those of Italy and Germany,” UNESCO said. “The political and commercial role of Lviv attracted to it a number of ethnic groups with different cultural and religious traditions.”

Lviv is more than 500 kilometers from Kyiv and even further from any front lines, but it hasn’t been spared. Russian cruise missiles slammed into an apartment building in the city in July, killing at least six people and wounding dozens.

UNESCO added Ukraine’s Black Sea port city of Odesa to its list of endangered heritage sites in January. Russian forces have launched multiple attacks on the city, a cultural hub known for its 19th-century architecture. Russia says that it only strikes military targets.

Under the 1972 UNESCO convention, ratified by both Ukraine and Russia, signatories undertake to “assist in the protection of the listed sites” and are “obliged to refrain from taking any deliberate measures” which might damage World Heritage sites.

Inclusion on the List of World Heritage in Danger is meant to rally urgent international support for conservation efforts. The list includes more than 50 sites around the world.
…

The war in Ukraine is likely to be the big topic for a second year when leaders gather at the U.N. General Assembly next week, but many developing countries are hoping to shine a light on issues important to them, including development, the economy and climate.

This year’s general assembly will take place after Asian countries met in Indonesia for the ASEAN summit, G20 leaders gathered in India, and developing countries in the Group of 77 plus China met in Cuba. After a busy September, several high-profile leaders are skipping New York, but more than 140 heads of state and government are attending.

With the world literally on fire in places, there will be plenty to talk about.

“We will be gathering at a time when humanity faces huge challenges – from the worsening climate emergency to escalating conflicts, the global cost-of-living crisis, soaring inequalities and dramatic technological disruptions,” U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told reporters ahead of the high-level week. “People are looking to their leaders for a way out of this mess.”

War in Ukraine

Guterres said the war in Ukraine is aggravating geopolitical divisions.

“And so, the solution — a peace in Ukraine, in line with [the] U.N. Charter, and in line with international law — would be very important to allow for geopolitical divisions to be reduced,” he said. “But those geopolitical divisions have other dimensions. And one of my main concerns is that we see the risk of fragmentation.”

The war is certain to be a feature during the week, with media attention on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who is scheduled to attend the U.N. General Assembly in person for the first time since Russia invaded his country in February 2022. Last year a special exception was made for him to address the gathering in a prerecorded video because he could not travel to New York.

In addition to his General Assembly speech Tuesday, he is expected to attend a high-level U.N. Security Council meeting the next day on Ukraine. Zelenskyy has previously only briefed the council remotely since the war started. There is also potential for some diplomatic drama, if Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov represents his country at the meeting and the two leaders come face-to-face in the same room.

Richard Gowan, U.N. director at the International Crisis Group, says Zelenskyy is likely to get a lot of press attention, but he should be careful not to overshadow the priorities of other leaders, especially from the developing world.

“I think this is a great opportunity for Zelenskyy to talk to the wider world about Ukraine’s situation and try and push back against some of the Russian propaganda about the war,” he told VOA. “However, Zelenskyy has to be conscious that there are a lot of leaders from developing countries who have problems of their own – such as debt and poor economic growth – and they want to talk about those topics, and not just the war between Russia and Ukraine.”

Push for SDGs

What leaders from developing nations are hoping for is real action on sustainable development, climate mitigation and adaptation, and pandemic prevention and preparedness. There will be separate summits on all those issues during the week.

Guterres will kick off the high-level week with a two-day summit on Sustainable Development Goals, or SDGs.

In 2015, leaders pledged to work toward progress on 17 goals that aim to end hunger and extreme poverty. Now at the half-way point to the 2030 deadline, only 15% of the SDGs are on track. The rest are either making too little progress or backsliding to pre-2015 levels.

“This is in part due to the lingering drag of the COVID-19 pandemic, the highest level of armed conflict globally since 1945, and climate-related disasters, as well as inflation and the rising cost of living,” said Astra Bonini, U.N. senior sustainable development officer.

The number of people living in extreme poverty rose for the first time in a generation with the onset of the pandemic. The U.N. says if present trends continue, a staggering 575 million people will remain trapped in extreme poverty by the end of this decade and 600 million will be facing hunger.

Guterres told reporters that getting the SDGs back on track is his main objective during the week. A big part of that is financing, and he hopes to secure an ambitious commitment of $500 billion a year from nations to help “rescue” the SDGs.

“I’m very hopeful that the SDG Summit will indeed represent a quantum leap in the response to the dramatic failures that we have witnessed until now in relation to the implementation of the SDGs,” he said.

Leaders are expected to adopt a political declaration at the start of Monday’s summit committing “to bold, ambitious, accelerated, just and transformative actions” to meet the targets by the end of this decade.

On Wednesday, the secretary-general is convening a climate ambition summit, bringing together government leaders with representatives from business and civil society. He has repeatedly warned that time is running out to prevent a climate catastrophe.

On the health front, leaders will discuss lessons learned from COVID-19 during the pandemic prevention, preparedness and response meeting, also on Wednesday. In addition to focusing on elements like vaccination programs and supporting healthcare systems, the meeting will look at the health inequalities and inequities among countries that need attention.

“If COVID-19 taught us nothing else, it’s that when health is at risk, everything is at risk,” said Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, World Health Organization director-general, of the social, economic and political impacts of the pandemic.

Out of the spotlight

“The gathering itself isn’t the game, the game is what happens on the sidelines and behind-the-scenes that matters when everyone is in town,” said Richard Goldberg of the Washington-based research group Foundation for Defense of Democracies.

To that point, there will be hundreds of meetings on the sidelines of the General Assembly. There will be bilateral meetings between leaders – Secretary-General Guterres usually has more than a hundred of those himself. Smaller meetings on pressing issues will also take place. Look for the humanitarian situation in Sudan, the security crisis in Haiti, and how to help Rohingya Muslim refugees in Bangladesh to be a focus in smaller format sessions.

There will also be a ministerial meeting Monday hosted by the European Union, Saudi Arabia and the Arab League to see what’s possible on relaunching the stalled Middle East peace process. Israel and the Palestinians have not been invited.

U.S. President Joe Biden is the only leader from the five U.N. Security Council powers attending this year’s General Assembly. The British prime minister and the French, Russian and Chinese presidents are sitting out the gathering for various reasons.

“That’s a missed opportunity for the U.S.,” FDD’s Goldberg says.

President Biden will speak Tuesday morning, laying out U.S. priorities.

“He will address the General Assembly, where he will reaffirm our country’s leadership in countering threats to international peace and security, protecting human rights, and advancing global prosperity and development,” U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Linda Thomas-Greenfield told reporters Thursday.

She said the United States will also reaffirm its commitments to the SDGs and discuss how they are working to meet them.

With a packed week and much on the line, the world’s citizens will be looking to leaders to take action to improve their daily lives and safeguard their future.
…

Ukrainian business magnate Ihor Kolomoisky has been served with notice of a third set of allegations following his detention on suspicion of fraud and money laundering, the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) said Friday.

A new court hearing on the case in Kyiv on Friday also significantly raised the bail demanded from Kolomoisky, who made his first court appearance earlier this month.

News reports from the court said the judge agreed to raise the bail to be posted to the equivalent of $105 million — from an original amount equivalent to under $14 million.

Kolomoisky’s lawyers had previously said they would appeal his detention and would post no bail.

The new allegations against one of Ukraine’s richest men were first reported on Thursday by Serhiy Leshchenko, a former investigative journalist and parliamentarian who now works as an adviser in President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s office.

The SBU, acting with Ukraine’s Economic Security Bureau and the prosecutor general’s office, said Kolomoisky was suspected of receiving 5.8 billion hryvnias from an alleged scheme to embezzle funds from PrivatBank, which he founded and was a shareholder of.

The sum, currently worth $157 million, was the equivalent of more than $700 million at the time, the SBU said.

Kolomoisky is suspected of setting up an organized group of bank employees to obtain the funds from 2013 to 2014, it said.

Reuters could not immediately reach Kolomoisky or his lawyers for comment on the new allegations. Kolomoisky has in the past denied any wrongdoing.

Kolomoisky is among the tycoons who built their fortunes in the ashes of the Soviet Union and amassed political power in Ukraine’s fragile democracy. He is under U.S. sanctions and was once a backer of Zelenskyy, whose election he supported in 2019.

Kolomoisky is a former owner of PrivatBank, which was nationalized in late 2016 as part of a cleanup of the Ukrainian banking system.

He was first served notice of suspicion of fraud and money laundering this month and ordered to be held in custody until the end of October.

Within days, Kolomoisky was identified by the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) as one of six people suspected of embezzling 9.2 billion hryvnias ($250 million) from PrivatBank.

Zelenskyy is trying to root out corruption and restrict the influence of business magnates as Ukraine strives for membership in the European Union.  
…