Category: Світ

The Russian editor who protested Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine during a state TV news broadcast called Sunday for other Russians to speak out against the “gruesome war.” While working for Channel One television in Moscow, Marina Ovsyannikova barged onto the set of an evening newscast Monday, holding a poster reading “No War.” She was subsequently …

India is considering establishing a payment mechanism in local currencies to allow it to continue trade with Russia, which has been hit with Western sanctions in response to its invasion of Ukraine. New Delhi is proceeding with purchases of Russian crude at discounted prices despite pressure from the United States. The state-run Indian Oil Corp. …

A car slammed at high speed into carnival revelers in a small town in southern Belgium early Sunday, killing six people and leaving 10 more with life-threatening injuries. Several dozen were more lightly injured. “What should have been a great party turned into a tragedy,” said Belgian Interior Minister Annelies Verlinden. The prosecutor’s office said …

One of Europe’s biggest iron and steel works, Azovstal, has been badly damaged as Russian forces lay siege to the Ukrainian port city of Mariupol, officials said Sunday. “One of the biggest metallurgic plants in #Europe destroyed. The economic losses for #Ukraine are huge. The environment is devastated,” tweeted Ukrainian lawmaker Lesia Vasylenko. Vasylenko posted …

Three companies have lodged a complaint with the European Commission against Microsoft, accusing the U.S. technology giant of anti-competitive practices in its cloud services, sources told AFP on Saturday, confirming media reports. Microsoft is “undermining fair competition and limiting the choice of consumers” in the computing cloud services market, said one of the three, French …

Hoping to restore some normalcy after fleeing the war in Ukraine, thousands of refugees waited in lines in the Polish capital of Warsaw to receive local identification papers that will allow them to move on with their lives. The refugees started queuing by Warsaw’s National Stadium overnight …

Pope Francis released his long-awaited reform program of the Holy See bureaucracy Saturday that envisions greater decision-making roles for the laity and gives new institutional weight to efforts to fight clerical sex abuse. The 54-page text, titled Praedicate Evanglium, or Proclaiming the Gospel, replaces the founding constitution Pastor Bonus that St. John Paul II wrote …

Katya Hill tried to talk her brother out of it. She urged Jimmy Hill to postpone his trip to Ukraine as she saw reports of Russian tanks lining up at the border. But he needed to help his longtime partner, who has been suffering from progressive multiple sclerosis. “He said, ‘I don’t know what I …

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called for comprehensive peace talks with Moscow in a video address released Saturday, as Russia reported its first hypersonic missile strike on Ukrainian territory. “The time has come for a meeting, it is time to talk,” Zelenskyy said. “The time has come to restore territorial integrity and justice for Ukraine. Otherwise, …

Experts warn the war in Ukraine could increase hunger and food insecurity for some people in Africa. Most African countries import wheat and vegetable oil from Ukraine and Russia, a region now engulfed in conflict since Russia invaded its neighbor. African families are feeling the pinch as prices of essential commodities increase due to persistent …

Prime Minister Boris Johnson said Saturday that Brexit showed British people loved freedom in the same way as Ukrainians fighting Russia’s invasion, comments that were branded tasteless by opposition lawmakers and commentators. With Ukraine’s ambassador to Britain present, Johnson told a Conservative Party conference it was the instinct of British people, like Ukrainians, to choose …

Russian military officials said Saturday that they fired hypersonic missiles for the first time in Ukraine to target what they said was an underground weapons storage site in the west of the country.  Kinzhal missiles travel so fast, at Mach 9, they are meant to be able to evade detection by defense systems, and when …

All four people on board a U.S. military aircraft were killed when it crashed in a remote part of northern Norway on Friday during a NATO-led military training exercise, local police said Saturday. “As far as the police are aware, all four are of American nationality,” police said. Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere tweeted condolences …

World-famous ballet dancers from Russia and Ukraine, Argentina, Cuba, France and Japan come together Saturday for a gala to raise funds for Ukraine and send a message of peace. “We as artists have talent and we need to use this talent to say what we believe in,” Ukraine’s Ivan Putrov, co-organizer of the event to …

Pope Francis, ramping up his implicit criticism of Russia, on Friday called the war in Ukraine a “perverse abuse of power” waged for partisan interests which has condemned defenseless people to violence. The pope has not actually named Russia in his condemnations, but he has used phrases such as “unacceptable armed aggression” to get his …

President Joe Biden spoke with Chinese leader Xi Jinping for nearly two hours Friday, saying the U.S. wants Russian President Vladimir Putin to end to his war on Ukraine.  Chinese state media said Xi told Biden that Beijing does not want crisis or conflict. VOA’s Senior Diplomatic Correspondent Cindy Saine reports. …

In just three weeks, amid Russia’s invasion, an estimated 3 million people have fled Ukraine to neighboring countries, including Poland where herculean efforts are underway to feed and care for the new arrivals. VOA’s Myroslava Gongadze reports from Medyka, a Polish town along the border with Ukraine. …

Ukrainian officials said Friday that they had yet to find any casualties in the ruins of a theater hit by a Russian airstrike this week in the southern city of Mariupol, as Russian forces continued to fire on Ukrainian cities and as negotiators from both countries sought common ground. So far, 130 people have been …

When Iraqi-born American entrepreneur Emad Ballack watched footage of war breaking out in Ukraine from his office in Iraq’s northern Kurdistan region, he decided he had to act. As civilians started to pour out of the country, Ballack, who is an ethnic Kurd, began a four-day trip to Kyiv, a city he has called home …

Russian internet regulator Roskomnadzor has accused Google’s YouTube of “spreading threats against citizens of the Russian Federation” in a statement released Friday. “Earlier it became known that YouTube video hosting users are broadcasting commercials with calls to disable the railway communications of the Russian Federation and the Republic of Belarus,” the statement added. “The actions …

Several Russian missiles were targeted at a western Ukrainian area near Lviv’s airport Friday. The airport was not hit, according the Lviv Mayor Andriy Sadovy, but an aircraft repair facility was. There were no immediate reports of casualties from the attack near Lviv, which is about 80 kilometers from Ukraine’s border with Poland. A large …

Many western companies and brands have temporarily closed their locations in Russia or stopped selling products there. But officials for the some of the companies say they will continue to support their employees. Karina Bafradzhian has the story, narrated by Anna Rice. VOA footage by Artyom Kohkan. …

A sixth-year medical student at Ternopil National Medical University in Ukraine, Dominic Oru, a Nigerian, was two months from completing his medical degree when Russian forces invaded the country on Feb. 24. Oru woke up that day to news about explosions in many Ukrainian cities. And, like hundreds of other students in Ternopil, he fled …

Pallets loaded onto the Japanese Self-Defense Force cargo aircraft this month contained bulletproof vests, helmets, and other nonlethal military equipment – much different from the shoulder-fired missiles, drones, and other weapons many Western countries have sent to Ukrainians fighting Russia’s invasion. Japan’s decision to ship military equipment to Ukraine still marked a major step for …

Ukrainian and Russian officials say they have made progress in negotiations toward a cease-fire in the 3-week war. Experts detect a shift in Russia’s demands as the war has gone on much longer than it planned. But U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken says he sees no evidence Russia is serious about diplomacy. VOA’s senior …

Ottawa announced Thursday it was establishing a new immigration program that would offer Ukrainians fleeing the Russian invasion a temporary Canadian residence permit for up to three years. Canada, which has a large Ukrainian diaspora, especially in the center and west of the country, said in a statement that “Ukrainians and their immediate family members …