How 17-year-old Ukrainian Valeriia escaped a Russian re-education camp

How 17-year-old Ukrainian Valeriia escaped a Russian re-education camp

Post By World children, Russia, Russia-Ukraine invasion, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Ukraine

17-year-old Ukrainian Valeriia was abducted to a Russian re-education camp in Crimea. She tells Euronews how she made it back to Ukraine on her own.

Before the full-scale invasion, 17-year-old Valeriia lived an ordinary life as a 10th-grade student, preparing for exams and taking part in activities, including dancing and aerial gymnastics. She lived with a family member since the age of 13 following the death of her parents.

Everything changed with the Russian full-scale invasion

Valeriia had a bright future ahead of herself – everything was supposed to work out the way she wanted. When she heard about the full-scale invasion on the news, it felt surreal to her. Everything changed rapidly, and she struggled to fully understand the situation.

Russian troops soon arrived and occupied the southern Ukrainian city of Nova Kakhovka, also her hometown. During a particularly intense period of shelling, she was forced to live without food after Ukrainian supplies ran out, but the situation stabilised after supply trucks from occupied Crimea started arriving. Back then, Russian military police gradually appeared in the city, located in the Kherson Oblast. It was a quiet period – explosions didn’t shatter the air.

In October 2022, Russian troops announced an “evacuation” of children from Nova Kakhovka to occupied Crimea. Valeriia, along with other kids, had to gather in the main square surrounded by armed military. Buses took them to the Crimean border. Upon arrival, they confiscated the children’s passports and documents.

“Russia will give you everything”

After Valeriia arrived in a Crimean camp called ‘Luchystiy,’ paediatricians examined the children for lice and COVID-19. She remembers the camp resembling a retirement home, but devoid of child-centric amenities. Plus the facility was surrounded by armed police officers, constantly guarding the children. A regimented daily routine included singing the Russian National Anthem – which she refused. Authorities promoted Russian universities and lifestyles, promising them that “Russia will give you everything”.

For Valeriia, the coerced environment raised concerns about her freedom and future, but the daily schedule was unpredictable, therefore making it difficult to plan. “The camps were re-education camps”, she added. In her opinion, they served the purpose of ensuring the majority of children ended up going to Russia. The classes could therefore only be described as propaganda, she remembered, adding that learning Ukrainian at the school was not an option.

The programme at these camps is called ‘University Shift‘ and operates with the support of the Russian Ministry of Education of Russia and the Ministry of Education and Science. It aims to (re-)educate children aged 12-17 from temporarily occupied Ukrainian territories into Russian culture and history.

“The forceful deportation of Ukrainian children is a part of genocidal policy”

According to Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, human rights lawyer and Center for Civil Liberties-leader, Oleksandra Matviichuk, these camps and their aim to russify Ukrainian children is not just a war crime, but part of a broader picture. “This war has a genocidal character”, she said, “Putin openly said that Ukrainians don’t exist, that we are the same as Russians. We see these words implemented into horrible practice on the ground since 2014.”

Just like Valeriia, she also mentioned the deliberate ban on the Ukrainian language and history. “For ten years, we’ve been documenting how Russians deliberately exterminate acting locals, such as mayors, journalists, civil society actors, priests and artists, for example.”

In this regard, the forceful deportation of Ukrainian children is part of a genocide policy, because some of them are put in re-education camps where they’re told they’re Russian and Russia is their motherland, she told me. “Later, some of them are subjected to forceful adoption into Russian families to be brought up as Russians,” Matviichuk continued.

As a lawyer, she knows how difficult it is to prove this crime, especially according to the current standards. “Even if you’re not a lawyer, it’s easy to understand that if you want to partially or destroy a national group, you have several strategies, such as killing them or forcefully changing their identity,” she added.

“Forceful abduction of Ukrainian children is a part of this broader genocidal policy of the Russian state against Ukraine.” The Genocide Convention’s Article II defines genocide as the deliberate act of destroying a national, ethnic, racial, or religious group, either wholly or partially. It excludes, however, political groups and what is referred to as ‘cultural genocide’.

Valeriia decides to pursue her dream of studying medicine

In the camp, poor-quality food frequently caused stomach issues, with limited access to medical care. Very small children suffered greatly due to inadequate care and harsh conditions, remembered Valeriia. With their parents or guardians absent, they roamed unsupervised, enduring cold weather without proper clothing. Many fell ill with bronchitis. Outbreaks of diseases like chickenpox and lice were common.

Though the children were allowed to use their phones, there was hardly ever any service. Valeriia just about managed to contact a member of her family, asking to be picked up.

Ukrainians living in the occupied territories are considered “New Russians” by the Russian authorities

According to the Crimean Centre of Civil Education, Alemenda, these kinds of camps restrict the children’s return citing parental political stance. Instances of forced relocation and psychological pressure have been reported, with family members facing obstacles to reuniting with their children, especially when they are pro-Ukraine. When these children express a desire for their parents to visit them, the family members are encouraged to relocate to Russian-controlled territories. Ukrainians living in temporarily occupied territories are seen as “New Russians” by the authorities.

Her family member was therefore able to pick her up, since they lived in occupied territory. After having stayed in the camp for a total of two months, she went to occupied Henichesk in southern Ukraine.

Valeriia travels on her own to Ukraine

Having experienced this dire medical situation in the camp, Valeriia decided to pursue her childhood dream of becoming a doctor. As an orphan from an occupied territory, she leveraged her circumstances in university admissions, and had both Russian and Ukrainian passports. While staying in temporary-occupied Henichesk, she chose a university in Odesa and applied online, as she didn’t want to stay in Russian-controlled and occupied territories.

From occupied Henichesk, Valeriia started her journey by herself on a bus. Passing through various occupied Ukrainian cities, such as the destroyed Melitopol and Mariupol, then crossing into Rostov in Russia.

With a Russian passport, crossing the border was smooth. In the temporary-occupied territories, possession of a Russian passport is essential for proving property ownership and retaining access to healthcare and retirement benefits. Failure to obtain the forced new passport by July 1, as mandated by a new Russian law in occupied territories, may lead to imprisonment as a ‘foreign citizen’, risking custody loss, imprisonment, or worse.

The last border crossing

Continuing through Belgorod and the Sumy region, the journey, facilitated by efficient border crossings, took her a day to complete. At the final border in Sumy, which is still open for pedestrians but entails strict filtering by the Russian guards, Valeriia kept her Ukrainian passport hidden and used her Russian passport to pass the border. Checks were organised in groups from a bus, with passports being collected and Valeriia being questioned about travelling alone underage without a guardian.

Aware of potential risks, she strategically explained her journey, emphasising passing through Ukraine without any intent to stay. Valeriia informed the guards that her sole intention was to traverse Ukraine to pick up her aunt from Europe and bring her back to Russia. She remembered the importance of telling the officials what they needed to hear. At the border, amidst their apprehension, they scrutinised her documents and phone, such as her photos, Telegram messages and E-Mails.

Despite Valeriia’s prior composure, the situation at the border crossing was very overwhelming. Since she had hidden her Ukrainian passport, she wasn’t forced to undergo a lie detector test, and because she was a minor, she couldn’t legally sign any documents. As soldiers with machine guns deliberated among themselves, one guard proposed letting her cross. From the Russian checkpoint, she had to walk through fields to reach Ukrainian territory – and when she did and heard Ukrainian, she was overcome with emotions.

Change of plans?

Her initial plan was to go to Odesa to study medicine, but things didn’t quite go according to plan. Upon her arrival in Sumy, she was given the option to move to Kyiv due to the constant shelling in Odesa at the time. She stayed in Sumy for approximately half a week, during which she underwent thorough medical screenings and tests to ensure her well-being having survived the re-education camp and occupation.

“Throughout my stay, I was closely monitored by the juvenile police and representatives from Kyiv. Afterwards, accompanied by the juvenile police, I travelled to Kyiv, where I immediately visited the ombudsman’s office”, she told me.

She currently lives in Kyiv, initially staying in a hostel before enrolling in Kyiv Medical College. To maintain a sense of normality, she engages in several activities and attends frequent therapy sessions. “I enjoy learning about medicine and exploring the city of Kyiv. I am grateful to speak Ukrainian and the support of my guardian, Olha, who has become like a parent to me”.

She met Olha through meetings with a psychotherapist and established a strong bond.

“In her presence, I can embrace my youth and momentarily forget about the responsibilities of adulthood. I appreciate the psychological support I’ve received,” Valeriia added. She is receiving free therapy consultations provided by Voices of Children, which is helping her deal with the things she’s gone through.

What psychological effects do children go through after living in occupation?

Upon returning to Ukraine, the mental state of children is deeply influenced by their experiences during the occupation, says Yulya Tukalenko, a psychologist at the Voices of Children charity foundation.

“Factors such as the duration of their stay, living conditions, age, and the hardships they endured play significant roles”, she added. Deprivation, particularly in terms of limited social interaction and restricted movement, is a common challenge faced by children. Prolonged exposure to dangerous conditions where speaking Ukrainian or showing support could result in harm, fosters mistrust in others.

According to Tukalenko, the aftermath of such experiences often manifests in various symptoms across behavioural, emotional, and physical domains. These include emotional outbursts, sadness, self-harm, sleep disturbances, and digestive issues. Left untreated, these symptoms can evolve into more serious conditions like depression, anxiety disorders, and impaired social functioning. Therefore, a timely intervention by trained professionals is crucial to address and mitigate the long-term effects of occupation on children’s mental health.

Out of nearly 20,000 abducted and displaced children, only 400 have been returned

Since Russia’s 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine, both Ukrainian and international organisations have documented grave human rights violations against children. Reports detail children forcibly deported or displaced by Russian forces, subjected to re-education and forced adoption.

The Children of War initiative reports that over 19,500 children have been deported or displaced, with fewer than 400 returned. In response, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for President Vladimir Putin and the Children’s Rights Commissioner for the President of the Russian Federation, Maria Lvova-Belova, for child deportation.

“After 2014 and the full-scale invasion on February 24, 2022, we lost from 15 to 20% of our child population,” said Mykola Kuleba of Save Ukraine, a charitable organisation aiding families and children affected by war. These children encompass those who lost parents to Russian shelling, along with those residing in institutions or under foster care, such as Valeriia, who is an orphan. Russia alleges that these children lack parental care.

An investigation by the AP reveals Russian officials deported Ukrainian children without consent, convincing them their parents don’t want them any more, exploiting them for propaganda, and placing them with Russian families granting them citizenship.

This process is simplified if the children are already native-Russian speakers. “To resolve the issue of acquisition of Russian citizenship by Ukrainian children, they granted the right to submit a relevant application on behalf of the child to guardians, and heads of institutions for children, including educational and medical ones. The child’s opinion, of course, is not taken into account. Therefore, it is enough to enrol a Ukrainian child in an educational institution or put them in treatment, and the director or the chief doctor has the right to apply for the acquisition of Russian citizenship for the child under a simplified procedure”, explained Kuleba.

“Being in a Ukrainian city feels like a reward, and I deeply appreciate it”

Living in Kyiv means still living under frequent air-raid alerts. There were no air raid alarms, as the shelling was constant when she lived under occupation. “No one bothered to turn on the air-raid warning signal to the Ukrainians under occupation. However, there are still moments of uncertainty in Kyiv. Despite the risks, you have to continue living your life in those moments”, said Valeriia.

For the 17-year-old, a lot has changed in the past couple of years. She added she’s not in contact with any of the kids in her camp who chose Russia – even her former girlfriends and classmates. For her, “being in a Ukrainian city feels like a reward, and I deeply appreciate it.”

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“War in Ukraine is like WWI but with drones” says foreign fighter

Post By World faroe islands, Foreign Fighters, Russia-Ukraine invasion

Bjørn from the Faroe Islands used to be a fisherman, but now he is “Viking” and fighting in the Ukrainian foreign legion. He told Euronews about the training, the reality at the front, how he got injured and why he want back to continue to fight.

There are very few people with such a remarkable biography as Bjørn. Born on the remote Faroe Islands, an archipelago that sits between Norway, the UK and Iceland, Bjørn started life as a fisherman in other cold countries, including Greenland, and then worked in construction in his native Faroe islands. But that was his life before the Ukraine war. Now he sits in a bunker somewhere near the frontline in the east of Ukraine, one of the very few fighters to have made it past the intense foreign legion training that he says many even with previous military training do not pass. But how exactly did he get here?

Foreign fighter by accident

Bjorn was backpacking around Europe when he received a phone call from his cousin, who had joined the Ukrainian Foreign Legion at the very beginning of what Russia was still calling a “special military operation.”

“We were talking for over an hour. He told me about all the atrocities the Russians are doing against civilians, against P.O.W.s, from the Wagner group, and those very, very graphic videos,” Bjørn told Euronews, adding that he felt like he wasn’t doing anything useful back home, having quit his job 12 days before, with a loose plan to go back to fishing.

The Russians “are attacking civilian buildings, civilian infrastructure, first aid groups. They always trying to break the morale of the Ukrainians,” he was told. That struck a chord with Bjørn, who instantly decided to join his cousin, who is also his godson.

Despite the protests from his cousin, who tried to talk him out of it, the former fisherman travelled to Ukraine, where he was to undergo very intense training that he estimates 40% of people do not pass.

“It’s a different war. This is not like Iraq or Afghanistan or any other war. It’s like World War One all over again, except with drones. You are running through trenches. You are hiking in bunkers. Even former soldiers need to retrain,” he says shaking his head.

Despite being a civilian, Bjørn was set down a path that would see him training as a machine gunner.

The initial physical training was three to four weeks training, and Bjørn says he lost 20 kilos in five weeks. 26 trainees left halfway through the training.

“A lot of the civilians turned out better than a lot of the former soldiers.”

The whole training is two months and the fighters train in full gear, wearing ballistic vests that can weigh up to 20kg in 26 degree heat. For someone that was born in such a cold climate, this was no easy feat.

“Many guys came. They joined the Legion and after one week, they were like, you know, I have eight years of experience in the army, I’m a ranger, major, whatever,” and then abandon their training, often turning up “injured or dead,” two weeks later. Bjørn reckons that of the recruits end up at the front, 20 % leave after 2-5 missions because they realise that “war is hell.”

Some of the recruits on the Ukrainian side leave after four months, after the reality of being shelled constantly and not being able to sleep gets to them.

“It was something like ten days before I was deployed, and my first three missions were extremely hard.”

An unofficial ritual, the recruits are all given nicknames by the other soldiers when they join. Bjørn’s is “Viking,” a nod to his Nordic heritage and his tall and strong build. His best friend, who he says is as close as the brother he never had, is called Cyprus, thanks to his home country. The pair are now inseparable.

On Bjørn’s first mission, the recruits only got a couple of hundred metres before a drone dropped a grenade on the house they were in and they needed to walk three kilometres to the front, where they continued to be shelled. Without Ukrainian air support to defend the skies with fighter jets, it really does hark back to the wars of the 20th century.

“I really just wanted to go home,” Bjørn says about his first missions. But he persevered and begun to get used to the crashes and bangs of artillery, mortars, RPGs and all other types of explosions. He explained that once you can distinguish between these sounds, you become more calm, because you know how to react.

But a few missions later, Bjørn was injured.

“All hell broke loose, and these two guys were caught in the line of fire.”

Bjørn was on a recce mission, to see what Russian soldiers were up to in their bunkers. He says due to the terrain conditions, it wasn’t a case of crawling metres between trenches, but swimming. But suddenly he heard a bullet.

Ten minutes later, a very intensive firefight broke out. “It was the most RPGs I’ve seen since I joined the war.” Bjørn said.

“At one point I see my front bunker has gotten in trouble.” Bjørn was defending his teammates from the large number of RPGs, snipers and machine guns with suppressive fire, when he heard the sound of an RPG piercing his armour. He describes the rapid staccato tap of these grenades.

“They make two explosions like, ‘thun-thun.’ The first one is to break through the armour and the second one is to kill whatever is inside. And I heard the first explosion, ‘boom,’ and I thought, ‘oh damn, that’s close.’ And then the second one hit me.”

Bjørn was thrown with such force that when he hit the wall, his body left an imprint in the sandbags.

He blacked out for 10 seconds. When he came to, a cloud of dust and smoke so thick cloaked his legs. He grappled for his gun, which he managed to grab on the floor. He immediately knew something was wrong.

“I had put one of my hands all the way up to my face to see that actually I was injured and bleeding.” He was hit by pieces of shrapnel between 1mm and 1.5mm in his torso, arms and legs. His gun also didn’t survive and was showered with shrapnel.

“I couldn’t see anything.” Despite this, he still managed to run 15 metres to escape the smoke, where he tried to apply a tourniquet. Both hands were so badly injured, that he was unable to twist the material around the wound to stem the bleeding.

No one is going to Valhalla, not this time

Luckily, two of his fellow comrades, including Cyprus, came to his assistance, and managed to apply the tourniquet successfully.

However, when Bjørn looked down, he noticed a lot of blood concentrating around his groin. He feared the worst. “Cyprus, check it,” Bjørn says he screamed at Cyprus.

“No, no, Viking, I’ve got to stop the bleeding,” his comrade replied, attending to his other wounds. Bjørn was also bleeding from his side. The pair begin shouting at each other, Bjørn says, fighting about what was more urgent to attend to. After much arguing, Cyprus and another soldier who heard all the commotion stripped Bjørn down and examined the area. Time freezes until Cyprus comes back up with both thumbs and tells him the good news.

The fire fight broke out again, and Cyprus and his comrades left Bjørn and his broken gun in the tunnel to go and fight. Bjørn says he began to shout about Valhalla.

But adrenaline is one hell of a drug. Bjørn doesn’t remember any pain from the incident. It took him two days to feel the pain. He has since recovered 80% of the feeling in his arm following a nerve transplant to one of his fingers, and several months in a hospital. He will find out in three to five months if he will get back the full function and feeling.

The reality on the frontline

Bjørn says that a lot of the Russian soldiers are not just really young, but that they have no armour or helmets. Many of them are inexperienced and when sent to the front, end up getting lost before stumbling into the Ukrainian soldiers.

“They usually use these guys, send them forward, dig trenches, stuff like that. These guys usually get shot and when they’re finally finished, then the professionals will go for it.”

It’s really easy to tell the difference between paratroopers or conscripts, he says, because “conscripts are very cowardly. They start shooting from 80 to 100 meters away,” blindly firing in fear.

But paratroopers and professional soldiers with more experience are very aggressive.

Bjørn also talks about occupied territories. He revealed that in many places, including Bakhmut, Russian soldiers were holding residents as hostages to use as human shields “because they knew the Ukrainians wouldn’t shoot.”

His own battalion has found evidence of mass graves with “all signs of execution,” which he believes to have been perpetrated by the Wagner group. He says has seen videos himself (that could not be independently verified by Euronews) of women being gangraped and women and children being targeted by a tank. But he tends to avoid these graphic videos where he can.

“I am fighting for a good cause”

Bjorn says his motivation for returning to the front is his deep respect for the Ukrainian people to continue to persevere even in the face of such atrocities.

Bjørn also says that Russian soldiers “destroy everything,” including villages near the border with as few as 20 residents, because they are determined to eradicate all things Ukraine.

“If they lose, they will never be able to call themself Ukrainian and this is something Russia wants,” he says.

Bjørn adds he feels he is fighting for a just cause, “which is very rare nowadays.” He says that where he is, Ukrainians don’t consider themselves a part of Russia, which Russia often uses to justify the war, unless 250 years of genocide and occupation are considered to be a historical claim.

“It’s so weird that people still believe that Russia is fighting against Nazis. Zelenskyy is Jewish, the PM is Jewish. The defence minister is Muslim. It’s 20 ethnic groups here and 30 different languages. That’s everything except Nazism.”

Bjørn sympathises with Ukrainians and draws similarities between Ukraine and his native Faroe Islands, which only gained independence from Denmark in 1948.

War teaches you to appreciate the small things in life

Bjørn says through the war, he has learned to appreciate the small things in life.

“I hated going to a children’s theatrical play before, but I will properly enjoy them in the future. I get easily moved inside now… Before the war, I was a hardcore workaholic, but now I’m a soldier with an appreciation for the small details in life,” he laughs. When the war is over, he plans to watch an Icelandic volcano erupt with his 14-year-old son.

He vows that his battalion is determined the Russians will not break through their defence lines to the city they are defending. He is dedicated to protecting the civilians there.

But it’s not easy. He believes two wars are simultaneously being fought: the actual war and a media war. Bjorn says the Russian propaganda about Russia winning is very far from reality.

“Since Putin started this war with Ukraine to stop NATO, Russia has become surrounded by NATO.” He believes President Putin is just trying to save face. He doesn’t think the war will end anytime soon.

Putin has to be stopped

“If you don’t stop Russia here, at this front, this is right next to a European border,” he warns, pointing to Russia’s recent history including Crimea, Georgia and Chechnya.

His biggest fear is a nuclear war, but urges after the war, “everyone has to sit down and talk about these nukes and why a few countries have so many things that are going to destroy half of the world. I mean I’m, I’m 40 years old and I’ve nearly had three nuclear wars in my lifetime.”

“I wish after this war, we have 100 years of peace consolidating our universities, science, medicine… just for once. I think everybody’s just tired of war,” he laments.

But for now, Bjørn is looking forward to returning home after the war. He says the Faroe Islands are paradise.

What helps us to stay human here at the front

Bjørn says, “if it wasn’t for your support, we would not be this strong for this long.” He especially thanks private donors who helped send armoured vehicles, personal cars that they use for transport, which are very, very meaningful because the roads in Ukraine are very, very right now, muddy and bad.”

He adds: “I guess, what keeps us human at the front and not just cannon fodder, is knowing that behind us are civilian people caring about us being alright, well fed, warm in winter, that we have coffee, food, sweets… The feeling that we are appreciated and not alone.

If you want to donate you can do so here.

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#War #Ukraine #WWI #drones #foreign #fighter

Ukrainian comedian Dima Watermelon explains why Putin is not a joke

Post By World comedy, Refugees, Russia-Ukraine invasion, ukraine war

Ukrainian comedian Dima Watermelon would love nothing more than to be able to stop making jokes about Putin. But as long as the war in Ukraine goes on, he feels he has to address “the elephant in the room”.

Some believe that humour always helps but not on the 24 February 2022,when the Russian invasion of Ukraine left nothing to laugh about. Ukrainian comic Dima Watermelon said: “I don’t think any Ukrainians will ever forget the moment where they were. It’s like asking Americans about 9/11.”

Except for Ukrainians this time their whole existence as a sovereign state was under threat. Dima remembers exactly where he was that day. In Munich getting ready to fly to South Africa where his wife comes from. Dima had been living in Berlin for several years after moving from Finland as a student.

How does one switch from IT to stand-up comedy?

After finishing his studies in Berlin and starting to work in IT, Dima began doing live stand-up performances. That’s when Dima became a full time comedian and a regular in the lively Berlin stand-up comedy scene. That’s where having a surname like Watermelon helps. It is his Ukrainian surname Kabyh translated into English. We met Dima before a live show in a well-known comedy venue in Neukölln, in West Berlin.

Joking about the war is like addressing “the elephant in the room”

Originally political jokes weren’t really Dima’s thing. But circumstances, even in the world of laughter force you to adapt.

“I never wanted to be a political comedian. But because of the war I need to address it, it’s like addressing the elephant in the room. So of course I end up writing more jokes about war and about Russia and about Putin. Humour is important because this is one thing people always have. You know, you can laugh and you can feel better when you laugh.“

And some of his jokes aged better than he would have hoped for. When he first started as a comedian back in 2018, he joked that if someone asked him about his nationality, as he is from Ukraine, he first had to check the news:

During his live set, one member of the audience asks him why he’s here and not there. Dima asks the man for a one-to-one after the show to talk further about this issue. He must continue, the house is full and people have paid for the show – they want to be entertained.

We asked Dima a similar question before his comedy hour “Culturally Inappropriate aka Ukrainian Dream” began. Dima thinks it is a difficult question but says if he was conscripted and there wasn´t any other option yes, of course, he would go. He´s not sure what he really has to offer. He feels certain groups of people aren´t really fit for the army and artists fall under this category, but he did receive basic military training as a radio operator for air space systems.

Dima’s hometown is Irpin, now sadly known because of the war

And of course his comedy is in a foreign language – English. He has never really done stand-up in his native language. Although he was brought up bilingually in Ukraine, his mother spoke Ukrainian, his father Russian, he has always spoke Ukrainian.

Dima is from the eastern suburbs of Kyiv a place called Irpin which is now known as one of the places where the Russian push in Ukrainian was halted in the first months of the war. Dima didn’t even used to say he was from Irpin to people, because it was unknown, he just said Kyiv. Now it’s on the map, like so many others places in Ukraine that nobody really knew before the war. Dima hasn’t been back to Irpin since the war begun.

That was really heart breaking, I would like to, to keep those places nice in my head, in my memory. I’m not sure what the right thing to do is.“

“Take the war seriously and supply Ukraine with more weapons”

One thing Dima is sure of is that people in the West and western Europe don’t take the whole situation seriously enough.

“I just listened to Putin and Russia. They’re not playing and they’re serious. And this idea that they will stop in Ukraine and they will take Crimea and Donbas and they will stop, it’s just not true because as I said, Russia was consistent over 20 years of grabbing, of restoring, like Russian Empire, the former Soviet Union.”

According to Dima the West needs to be much more involved and realise the seriousness of the situation. “I hope, the Western world will take this war more seriously and to actually supply Ukraine with more weapons and not just supply leftovers.”

The Ukrainian community is more closely knitted than ever before

Dima feels very pessimistic about the future for Ukraine and for Europe too. He feels things can only get much worse. His hopes are that he, his family and friends will survive this ongoing nightmare.

“One thing that has changed is that Ukrainians have become much closer as a nation of people.”

Other big changes have also taken place in his life. Dima´s mother for example arrived in Berlin as a refugee. They too have become much closer than they were before the invasion.

Dima says the stereotype about people wanting to come to Germany for financial benefits is not really true. People especially older people like his mother do not want to be here. There’s no joy living in a city where it’s very difficult to find accommodation as a refugee, where the bureaucratic hurdles are so difficult many would rather return home.

He jokes that she would rather hear sirens than face German bureaucracy every day. “

Putin only has war to offer, nothing else

Dima adds that Putin can only offer Russians war and nothing else. He has no way back, no way out, even if he was offered a peace deal in his opinion. He adds ”Putin is serious about the Baltic countries.” Dima thinks they are also on Putin’s invasion list. “He hates Poland. We need to take it seriously.“

And in one of his sets he jokes, that as he is an Ukrainian comedian, the public in Western Europe and the public in Eastern Europe have very different expectations, when it comes to his material and to his jokes about Russia.

Dima knows that with inflation and the costs of living crisis, the daily quality of life has deteriorated for most, even in Western Europe: “But at least people here are not dying.

“I hope it will sort itself out magically. But yeah, let’s take it seriously, guys.“

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‘If I die it’s my choice’: Finnish soldiers on Ukraine’s front line

Post By World Finland, Foreign Fighters, Military aid, Russia-Ukraine invasion, soldier, ukraine war

This is the story of Hobbit and Mariachi, two Finns who volunteered to fight in Ukraine, where the brutal Russian invasion strikes a chord close to home.

It’s March 2022.

Russian forces have besieged the Ukrainian city of Mariupol, shelling it from warships in the Azov Sea. Kremlin troops are still dangerously close to the capital Kyiv, while the first horrific accounts of mass killings are starting to emerge from Bucha.

As the war unfolded around him, Hobbit arrived in Ukraine.

“In the beginning, it was all new to me, and I was very nervous. And I was sure after one or two months there wouldn’t be a government left.”

Hobbit – who only uses his callsign not his real name for operational security reasons – is one of the estimated hundred Finns, among hundreds of other foreign fighters, who put their lives on hold to take up arms against the Russian invaders.

For many people in Finland, the war in Ukraine has echoes of their own country’s not-so-distant past, when a Soviet false-flag operation in November 1939 saw Stalin’s forces shell a border post and blame it on the Finns as a pretext to launch a ground offensive.

Russia’s famed composer Dmitri Shostakovich was commissioned to write new music, which would be played as victorious Soviet troops marched through the streets of Helsinki to install a puppet government – a tale that chimes with reports from the current war that Russian forces had been told to pack their dress uniforms for a victory parade in Kyiv.

At the end of the short 105-day Winter War, Finland had inflicted heavy casualties on the Soviets but was ultimately forced to give up territory and pay reparations. The outcome, and the tens of thousands of internally displaced people who moved from annexed Karelia into Finland proper, makes the modern-day situation in Ukraine seem chillingly familiar to many Finns.

“To be honest I don’t know how it happened exactly but I was watching the war, and then I started to feel that maybe I should do something, and I was sitting at home enjoying the little things in life like cinnamon buns and IPA beer,” Hobbit tells Euronews.

“I thought why am I staying at home and enjoying this without any care in the world when 18-year-olds in Ukraine have to go to war without much training: This is the rifle, this is how you shoot, you are good to go. But I have training.”

Like most Finnish men, Hobbit had served his conscription in the military although he says he didn’t much enjoy it at the time, with too many rules and restrictions.

Whether nine months of basic training really prepared him for war is a different question.

“No training can be the same as war of course. But I had an advantage because the Finnish army has always trained for combat against Russia, so I was taught how to survive. That is also one of the reasons why I felt I should come because we have knowledge to share.”

Hobbit’s family was less sure he should volunteer in Ukraine. “They didn’t like it at all. But in the end we discussed, and I expressed my views. I will be disappointed in myself if I do not go. It’s my life. If I die it’s my choice.”

It’s September 2022.

Russia illegally annexes Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk and Zaporizhizhia as Vladimir Putin announces a “partial mobilisation” of 300,000 troops to fight in Ukraine. It’s a further sign that things are not going the way the Kremlin planned, and the call-up triggers a mass exodus of military-age Russian men trying to escape conscription.

Hobbit is on the front line of fighting in the small town of Petropavlivka, near Kupiansk.

Along with another Finnish volunteer, he’s assigned to fire support.

“I had a heavy machine gun stolen from a Russian tank, and my job was to move and cover the advance through the town,” he recalls.

The pair moved into position near a crossroads, where advancing Ukrainian forces would be exposed in an open area. Hobbit had just put his gun down into a makeshift firing position when they spotted a Russian BMP-2M – an infantry fighting vehicle – a few hundred metres away.

“I thought there was a slight chance to hit some critical system, to disable the BMP. Or if I hit it from the side, rounds might actually go through, so I started blasting the BMP and managed to empty three belts of ammunition into the vehicle and the dismounting infantry.”

Hobbit was firing the third belt when the bullets zinged through the air. He’d been so focused on the main target that he didn’t notice the Russian sniper. One shot hit him low in the calf, embedding deep into his foot, shattering bones and severing tendons.

Video from a body-worn camera shows the action in real time that day, and captures the moment when Hobbit is hit. He screams in agony, and swears in Finnish, a language well suited to profanities. His battle buddy calls for a medevac and soon another foreign fighter shows up in an SUV. Hobbit is unceremoniously bundled into the back, his foot bandaged, as he’s driven away.

After a month in a Ukrainian hospital, he is transferred to Finland where his family visits him for the first time since he was injured.

“They were shocked. There was not many words spoken, but many tears.”

If Hobbit was one of the first Finnish volunteers to show up in Ukraine, then Mariachi is one of the newest. He’s only been in the country a few months.

The nickname, he says, is a nod to his Latin American heritage.

Studying abroad, the 22-year-old was helping out with pro-Ukraine events on campus but knew he wanted to do more to help – a lot more.

“It was my second year at university and I could not focus on anything. I was in school, but in my head, I was browsing the news about what was happening at the front. It was the beginning of last summer I decided I wanted to go. That’s why it took me a long time to get here, I had to prepare.”

He first floated the idea of going to Ukraine with his dad five months before finally moving.

“I told him what was on my mind, but he didn’t take it that well. I told my friends about one month before. They tried to stop me, and persuade me not to go. That’s a sign you have good friends. Nobody told me it was a good idea but I wouldn’t be here if I had listened to them,” Mariachi says from his base outside Kyiv, where he’s training with a reconnaissance platoon.

Unlike the initial waves of foreign volunteers who arrived haphazardly and either served with the International Brigade or operated more independently, Mariachi is serving directly with a Ukrainian unit.

“Ukrainian commanders want good international soldiers in their units, and my commander has been actively recruiting Finnish soldiers here and reservists back in Finland.”

The advantages are that Ukrainian units get new soldiers who already have more training than Ukrainian recruits have time for. “These guys are battle-hardened, they know how to function out there in the trenches, but they’re civilians who became soldiers out of necessity, they’re not trained army men. The average Ukrainian soldier doesn’t get much training time.”

One thing Mariachi and the other Finnish fighters in Ukraine have come to rely on is the enviable network put in place back home to support them.

Kasper Kannosto from the Your Finnish Friends charity explains they’ve bought more than €350,000 of supplies since 2022, and received material donations like cars and equipment worth €100,000.

On the shopping list has been defensive equipment, night vision goggles, cold weather clothing, socks, generators, pick-up trucks, vans and tools.

“We include Finnish chocolate and coffee in the packages,” he adds.

Mariachi is waiting on a particular brand of boots he likes, which should soon arrive via the Helsinki-Kyiv supply pipeline, and describes the service as “crucial” in providing Finnish fighters with the equipment they need.

“I’m serving in a recon platoon and if you don’t have night vision goggles you’re fucked. That’s the reality here. And even a good, cheaper pair of night vision headsets can cost €4,500 or €5,000 which is three to four months of active pay,” he says.

It’s March 2023.

Bitter fighting rages in the eastern city of Bakhmut, with casualties so high it earns the grim nickname of ‘meat grinder’. Ukraine gets its first delivery of Western heavy tanks: Challengers from Britain and Leopards from Germany, as Vladimir Putin says he plans to move tactical nuclear weapons into Belarus.

Hobbit is back in Ukraine as well, although his foot is still not healed so he needs a stick to walk around, which confines him to a desk job in logistics for months at a time while he rehabs his injury to get back in fighting shape.

It takes him another six months before he’s running again, and when he can do 5km he’s deployed near Bakhmut – a ruined city where ‘success’ is measured house by house and village by village. Tiny incremental gains that do little but sap morale and increase the body count on both sides.

It’s October 2023.

On this mission, Hobbit is the squad leader of a machinegun team, assaulting south of Bakhmut. They’re in the treeline, advancing towards enemy positions when Russian artillery hones in on them.

“Our whole assault element got hit by artillery, just me and a couple of others were uninjured,” he recalls flatly.

“The assault was cancelled and we spent the next six or seven hours evacuating the wounded. When we went back for the last wounded guy we picked him up on the stretcher and artillery hit next to us.”

Hobbit was injured for the second time, shrapnel in his shoulder and arm. They couldn’t move to safety, or move the last badly injured soldier, because of the incoming Russian artillery fire. Stuck in a foxhole, they waited for hours until they were finally able to get out.

After a month in hospital, Hobbit requested a transfer to a Ukrainian unit but was assigned as temporary platoon leader in the meantime. “I lasted only three weeks in that role, not a great job. There was very little sleep and a lot of stress and responsibility at least with regards to the Bakhmut fighting.”

“I ended up just crying on my last day, that I can’t do it any more. Luckily I got some time off.”

It’s February 2024.

The conflict has largely ground to a halt, with Russian and Ukrainian forces digging into entrenched positions. The war has reached increasingly beyond Ukraine’s borders, with Russian oil refineries targeted by Kyiv’s drones, while Western countries hesitate to send more military aid which is badly needed by soldiers on the front lines.

“I feel the impact of diminishing support in the last couple of months. Germany is holding back its Taurus cruise missiles, and Europe is not giving as much aid as they should,” says Hobbit.

“In the beginning, we were so outnumbered by the Russians that when we saw observation posts and called in artillery, we didn’t have shit.”

“The Kharkiv offensive changed all that, we came level with the Russians. But in the last month it’s back the other way again, Russians hitting us with more artillery,” he says.

So how long does he plan to stay in Ukraine, risking his life for a foreign country, swerving away from death each time it approaches head-on?

“I hope I won’t be here forever. But definitely until victory.”

“The whole idea of a normal life seems impossible now. It’s hard to imagine a life after this.”

“The only thing I can imagine is a party on the day when we win. But what comes after I don’t know. It’s just a cloud.”

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Embezzlement investigation in Ukraine, Kremlin forces on the offensive

Post By World Ballistic missile, Russia-Ukraine invasion, Russia's war in Ukraine, ukraine war

The latest developments from the Ukraine war.

Ukrainian officers investigated after deadly Russian strike

Ukraine on Monday launched a criminal investigation into military officers who organised an award ceremony for troops that was hit by a Russian missile strike.

Nineteen soldiers were killed in the blast, one of the deadliest single attacks reported by Ukrainian forces since the war began.

Ukraine’s State Bureau of Investigation said will hold military officials accountable for the Rocket Forces and Artillery Day event held on Friday near the front line in Zaporizhzhia, where Russian reconnaissance drones could easily spot the crowded gathering.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy lamented that the deaths of the men in the 128th Separate Mountain-Assault Brigade of Zakarpattia was a “tragedy that could’ve been avoided.”

The carnage sparked a wave of criticism among Ukrainians on social media for planning the event so close to the battlefield.

Ukraine investigates two defense officials for embezzlement

The Ukrainian Prosecutor General’s Office announced on Monday that it had officially notified two defence officials that they were being investigated for embezzling several million euros.

The latest corruption case surrounds the purchase of poor-quality bulletproof vests, amid the Russian invasion grinding into its second winter.

The two men, who are in custody, face up to 12 years in prison. They are unnamed.

They are alleged to have ordered shoddy protective equipment from abroad, pre-paying for it in full and without respecting “the planned quality control procedure”, the State Investigation Bureau, an anti-corruption body, detailed in early October.

“As a result, the Ukrainian armed forces received poor quality bulletproof vests which cannot be used in combat without endangering lives,” it added, estimating the fraud was worth more than six million euros.

According to the Bureau of Investigation, this case is a new episode in a global embezzlement scandal worth more than 36 million euros, relating to contracts for supplying ammunition to the Ukrainian army that was insufficient.

The Ukrainian Defense Ministry has been rocked by several corruption cases since the start of the Russian invasion in February 2022, even pushing Defense Minister Oleksi Reznikov to resign last September.

The fight against corruption, an endemic evil in Ukraine, is one of the criteria set by Brussels for joining the EU, which has given Kyiv tens of billions of euros in aid since the start of the war.

Russia hits historical museum in Odesa, says Kyiv

Overnight Russian strikes on Odesa between Sunday and Monday have injured at least eight and damaged an art museum, according to Ukrainian officials.

Images released by authorities in the southern Ukrainian city showed debris and shards of glass in the Odesa Museum of Fine Arts, which had some shattered windows.

Walls are cracked and some paintings appear to have been thrown to the ground by the force of the explosion.

Ukrainian Deputy Foreign Minister Emine Djeppar said she was “deeply outraged” by the strike.

“The deliberate destruction of cultural sites is a crime against Ukrainian heritage,” she denounced, demanding “a strong international response and immediate action from UNESCO.”

The Odessa Museum of Fine Arts, an elegant pink building, was opened in the late 19th century, according to its website.

Most of the works on display had been “evacuated”, said Oleg Kiper, an official with the regional authorities.

Russians try to recapture southern village

The Ukrainian army said on Monday that Russian forces were trying to retake Robotyne, a village in the south whose liberation at the end of August had given Ukraine hope of a breakthrough in its counteroffensive, a hope that has not come to fruition.

In the south, “the enemy tried to regain its positions near Robotyne, without success”, said Andri Kovaliov, spokesperson for the Ukrainian army.

In the east of the country, Moscow’s troops are also “continuing” to attack Avdiivka, an industrial town they have been trying to encircle for several weeks, he added.

Since June, the Ukrainian army has been conducting a counteroffensive in the east and south, without succeeding in breaking through the Russian lines. In recent weeks, it has been the Russians who have gone on the attack, leading assaults in several areas.

There have been no significant developments on the front since around a year ago, when the Ukrainian army recaptured the town of Kherson.

The lack of movement is such that the commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian army, Valery Zaloujny, recently declared that the war had “reached a stalemate”.

These were unusually frank statements, but they were firmly rejected by both the Kremlin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Russia tests intercontinental ballistic missile

The Russian military on Sunday reported a successful test launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile designed to carry nuclear warheads, which was fired from a submarine.

The report comes as tensions are soaring between Russia and the West over the fighting in Ukraine.

Worsening relations, President Vladimir Putin last week signed a bill revoking Russia’s ratification of a global nuclear test ban in a move that Moscow said was needed to establish parity with the United States.

The Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement that the Imperator Alexander III strategic missile cruiser fired the Bulava missile from an underwater position in Russia’s northern White Sea. They said it hit a target in the far-eastern region of Kamchatka.

It wasn’t immediately clear from the statement when the test launch occurred.

The Imperator Alexander III is one of the new Borei-class nuclear submarines that carry 16 Bulava missiles each. They are intended to serve as the core naval component of the nation’s nuclear forces in the coming decades.

According to the Defense Ministry, launching a ballistic missile is the final test for the vessel, after which a decision should be made on its induction into the fleet.

The Russian navy currently has three Borei-class submarines in service, one more is finishing tests and three others are under construction, the Defense Ministry said.

Ukrainian missile strike on a shipyard in Crimea damages a Russian ship

The Russian military said a Ukrainian missile strike on a shipyard in annexed Crimea had damaged a Russian ship.

The Russian Defense Ministry said late Saturday that Ukrainian forces fired 15 cruise missiles at the Zaliv shipyard in Kerch, a city in the east of the Crimean Peninsula.

Air defences shot down 13 missiles but others hit the shipyard and damaged a vessel, a statement from the ministry said.

The ministry didn’t give details about the ship or the extent of the damage.

The Ukrainian air force commander, Mykola Oleshchuk, said in a statement that at the time of the attack carried out by Ukrainian tactical aviation, “one of the most modern ships of Russia’s Black Sea fleet was at the shipyard – carrier of the Kalibr cruise missiles.”

He didn’t say directly, however, that this particular ship was damaged by the strike.

The Crimean Peninsula, which Russia illegally annexed from Ukraine in 2014, has been a frequent target since Putin ordered a full-scale invasion of Ukraine 20 months ago. Crimea has served as the key hub supporting the invasion.

Ukraine has increasingly targeted naval facilities in Crimea in recent months.

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Energy crisis: Who has the priciest electricity and gas in Europe?

Post By World electricity, Energy, Inflation, Natural Gas, Russia-Ukraine invasion

The pre-tax prices of electricity and natural gas soared after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, but they’re now on the decline. Although slightly higher than the second half of 2022, the final prices for customers, including taxes, reached their peak in the first half of 2023.

Electricity and gas costs, which experienced a sharp increase after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, are now steadying in Europe, after peaking in the first half of 2023.

While pre-tax prices are decreasing, some countries have already frozen the support measures they offered households, resulting in higher consumer prices.

The EU appears to be more ready for winter this year now that it has largely replaced Russian energy, but it’s worth noting that there’s disparity between electricity and natural gas prices among individual countries both within and outside the bloc.

Which countries have the highest and lowest prices in Europe, and by how much have electricity and natural gas prices increased since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine started in February 2022?

In the first half of 2023, average household electricity prices including all taxes in the EU rose from €25.3 per 100 kWh to €28.9 per 100 kWh, compared with the same period in 2022.

Average natural gas prices also climbed from €8.6 per 100 kWh to €11.9 per 100 kWh in the same period. These are the highest prices recorded by Eurostat, the EU’s official statistical office.

Looking at the percentage changes year-over-year, the electricity prices in the EU increased by 14.5% in the first half of 2023, and gas prices rose by 37.9%. These figures are lower than the second half of 2022, when the percentage changes year-over-year reached their peak.

The figures suggest that electricity and gas prices are stabilising in the EU, according to Eurostat, even though the final consumer prices with taxes are slightly higher than in the second half of 2022: Pre-tax prices on electricity and natural gas are decreasing, yet countries are partly withdrawing their energy price support measures, explaining the increase.

In the first half of 2023, electricity prices including taxes for household consumers in the European Economic Area (EEA) ranged from €11.4 per 100 kWh in Bulgaria to €47.5 per 100 kWh in the Netherlands.

The Netherlands was followed by Belgium (€43.5), Romania (€42) and Germany (€41.3).

Electricity prices were higher in nine EU Member States than the EU average.

As France has the highest share of nuclear in its electricity mix (68.9% in 2021) in the EU, its electricity prices were significantly below the EU average, with €23.2 per 100 kWh in the first half of 2023.

This was not the case for Belgium, where the share of nuclear in its electricity production was 50.6%. Belgium came in second on the most expensive electricity price list.

EU candidate countries had the cheapest electricity

When the EU’s candidate countries are also included, Turkey recorded the cheapest electricity prices with €8.4 per 100 kWh. The six countries at the bottom were all EU candidates, with prices fluctuating little between them.

The average household gas prices in the first half of 2023 were lowest in Hungary (€3.4 per 100 kWh), Croatia (€4.1) and Slovakia (€5.7), and highest in the Netherlands (€24.8), Sweden (€21.9), and Denmark (€16.6).

The EU average was €11.9. Gas prices were higher in eight EU member states than the EU average, suggesting households in these countries paid substantially more.

Gas prices were lowest in Turkey (€2.5) when EU candidate countries are included. Contrary to electricity prices, the candidates didn’t have the cheapest gas prices, as shown by the likes of North Macedonia (€10.4) and Bosnia and Herzegovina (€5.9).

In the first half of 2023, the Netherlands had the most expensive electricity and gas prices in the EU.

Electricity and gas prices rose in almost all EU countries

Household electricity prices increased in 22 EU countries in the first half of 2023 compared with the first half of 2022, according to the Eurostat data, and gas prices climbed in 20 out of the 24 EU members.

Why did Dutch electricity prices skyrocket by almost 1000%?

The Netherlands recorded the largest increase year-over-year in electricity prices by a country mile, at 953%. According to Eurostat, this extraordinary rise is related to several factors: not only were tax relief measures from 2022 discontinued in 2023, but at the same time, household electricity taxes doubled.

However, the government is due to incorporate a price cap which will lower prices at all levels quite significantly in 2023.

The Netherlands was followed by Lithuania (88%), Romania (77%) and Latvia (74%).

On the flipside, electricity prices fell in five EU member states, with Spain recording a significant decrease of 41%, followed by Denmark at 16%.

Gas prices climbed more than 100% in some countries

Natural gas prices rose substantially in several countries across Europe, climbing more than 100% per cent in Latvia, Romania and Austria. They were followed by the Netherlands (100%), Turkey (92%) and Ireland (73%).

EU countries Italy, Estonia and Croatia saw decreases less than 1%. North Macedonia, an EU candidate, showed the largest fall overall by 14%. All these changes are based on national currencies.

EU energy imports from Russia dramatically fell

Eurostat has recorded a dramatic shift in the amount of energy the EU has imported from Russia since it launched its war against Ukraine. A huge growth in renewables, as well as gas from Norway and the US, has helped to make up for the dramatic drop in Russian energy.

The most striking change can be seen in natural gas.

EU natural gas imports from Russia made up almost 50% of the total before the war. This decreased significantly in 2022, down to 12% in October.

It remains to be seen whether the recent outbreak of the Israel Hamas war will have a similar, lasting effect on European energy supplies and prices.

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Ukraine war: Kim Jong Un continues Russia visit as Moscow refutes claims over village ‘dislodging’

Post By World Kyiv, Russia-Ukraine invasion, Russia's war in Ukraine, ukraine war, UNESCO, UNESCO Cultural Heritage List

All the latest developments from the war in Ukraine.

Kim Jong Un continues his visit to Russia

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un met with Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu on Saturday in Vladivostok in Russia’s Far East, where he reviewed advanced Russian weapons, including a hypersonic missile system.

At the Knevichi air base, Kim was welcomed by Sergei Shoigu, Russia’s Minister of Defence, who showed the North Korean a MiG-31 fighter and its Kinjal hypersonic missile system, according to Russian state-owned news agency TASS.

The North Korean leader was also said to have reviewed Тu-160, Tu-95MS and Тu-22М3 bombers.

“These aircraft constitute the air component of Russia’s strategic nuclear forces,” the Defence Ministry said in a statement.

According to images released by Moscow, Kim listened attentively to senior representatives of the Russian army.

On Wednesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin met the North Korean at the Vostochny cosmodrome, nearly 8,000 kilometres east of Moscow.

Kim invited Putin to visit North Korea soon, but no agreement has been signed between the two countries, according to Russian presidential spokesperson Dmitry Peskov.

Westerners suspect Moscow of wanting to buy weapons from Pyongyang for the conflict in Ukraine. North Korea, for its part, is suspected of wanting to acquire technologies for its nuclear and missile programs.

Displaying their apparent closeness, Kim Jong Un commented that rapprochement with Moscow was an “absolute priority” of foreign policy, while Putin praised the “strengthening” of their cooperation.

Washington has expressed its “concern” about the possible purchase of North Korean munitions, while Seoul has “firmly warned” against any transaction of this type.

After turning to Iran to deliver hundreds of explosive drones, there are concerns that Russia could find useful resources in Pyongyang, which has large stockpiles of Soviet equipment and mass produces weapons.

Russian army refutes claims over “dislodging” from Andriïvka village

The Russian army maintained on Saturday that it had not been “dislodged” from the village of Andriïvka in Ukraine, south of the devastated town of Bakhmut on the eastern front. That statement contradicts an announcement made on Friday by Ukrainian authorities.

“In the Donetsk sector, the enemy (…) continued to carry out assault operations (…), trying in vain to dislodge Russian troops from the localities of Klichtchiïvka and Andriïvka,” the Russian Defence ministry said as part of its daily bulletin.

On Friday, though, the Ukrainian army said it had “liberated Andriïvka, in the Donetsk region”.

Kyiv claimed that their troops had inflicted, during “offensive operations”, “significant losses on the enemy in terms of manpower and equipment”.

The Russian denial sows seeds of confusion as to the real situation in the very small village.

In a video published on Telegram on Saturday by Oleksandr Borodin, spokesperson for a brigade engaged fighting in the region, the capture of Andriïvka by the Ukrainian army is supposedly shown.

The fierce and bloody battle for Bakhmut, just north of the tiny village, has been raging for over a year.

Since the beginning of June, the Ukrainian army has been leading a slow counter-offensive intended to push back Russian forces in the East and South, but it faces powerful defensive lines made up of trenches, minefields and anti-tank traps.

This operation has, so far, only allowed the capture of a handful of villages, but the Ukrainian push has intensified in recent weeks, particularly on the southern front.

UNESCO puts 2 locations in war-ravaged Ukraine on its list of historic sites in danger

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

The iconic St Sophia’s Cathedral in the capital, Kyiv, as well as the mediaeval centre of the western city of Lviv, are UNESCO World Heritage Sites central to Ukraine’s culture and history.

The decision 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.

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, adding, “so it’s very much important that the whole world community will join us also”.

The gold-domed St Sophia’s 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 – which 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 metres.

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 centre 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.

Lviv is more than 500 kilometres from Kyiv and even further from any front lines, but it hasn’t been spared entirely. 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 claims 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.

Russia may have stockpiled ALCMs – British Ministry of Defence

Between October 2022 and March 2023, Russia focused long-range strikes against Ukraine’s national energy infrastructure.

Air launched cruise missiles (ALCMs), especially the modern AS-23a KODIAK, were at the heart of most of these strike missions. Russia uses strategic bomber aircraft to release these munitions from deep within Russian territory.

Open source reports suggest that since April 2023, ALCM expenditure rates have reduced, while Russian leaders have highlighted efforts to increase the rate of cruise missile production.

Russia is therefore likely able to generate a significant stockpile of ALCMs. There is now said to be a realistic possibility Russia will again focus these weapons against Ukrainian infrastructure targets over the winter.

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Putin claims ‘invincibility’, new drone strikes in Russia

Post By World Black sea, drones, Russia-Ukraine invasion, ukraine war

All the latest developments from the war in Ukraine.

Putin tells children Russia is ‘invincible’

Russia is as “invincible” today as it was during the Second World War, Vladimir Putin said on Friday during a meeting with teenagers to mark the start of the new school year.

“I understood why we won the Great Patriotic War: it’s impossible to defeat a people with that kind of mindset. We were absolutely invincible and, today, we still are”, said the Russian president, in remarks broadcast on television.

Putin regularly draws parallels between the war against Nazi Germany and the offensive he has unleashed in Ukraine.

Russia claimed on Friday to have seized “key positions on high ground” near the town of Kupiansk in eastern Ukraine, a sector of the front on which its troops have been on the offensive for several weeks.

Russia has deployed major resources to regain control of the Kupiansk sector, which was recaptured by Ukraine last year, and according to Ilia Yevlach, spokesman for the Ukrainian army’s Eastern Command, 45,000 of its soldiers are massed there.

Ukrainian drones hit Kursk as Moscow repels attack

Ukrainian forces targeted Russia’s Kursk region with two drones early on Friday, damaging residential and administrative buildings, local authorities said.

Two buildings were damaged, which emergency services were still assessing, the region’s governor Roman Starovoit wrote on Telegram.

Russian forces downed another drone bound for Moscow on Friday morning, the capital’s mayor Sergei Sobyanin said.

The drone was shot down just 20 kilometres southeast of central Moscow, Sobyanin wrote on Telegram, without disclosing further details.

Moscow’s three major airports had to reschedule and cancel flights after an unidentified flying object was detected by air defences, the Russian state-run news agency TASS reported.

Sobyanin has been vocal about expanding the Russian capital’s air defence capabilities, after repeated attacks in recent months – one even striking the Kremlin building in May.

Anger over Russian ambassador’s Nobel invitation

The invitation extended to the Russian ambassador to Sweden to attend the forthcoming Nobel Prize gala dinner caused controversy on Friday, with the Swedish prime minister openly expressing his disagreement.

“The Nobel Foundation of course invites whoever it wants. But like many others, I was very surprised to learn that Russia had been invited,” said Ulf Kristersson in a statement to AFP.

“I wouldn’t have done it if I had to deal with invitations to a prize-giving ceremony, and I understand that this upsets people in Sweden and Ukraine,” he added.

The Nobel Foundation, which organises the award ceremony and gala dinner in Stockholm, announced on Thursday that this year it would invite all the ambassadors of the countries present in Sweden and Norway.

In 2022, the Foundation decided not to invite the Russian and Belarusian ambassadors because of the war in Ukraine, and the Iranian ambassador because of the repression of the protest movement. These three representatives have been invited this year.

“It is clear that the world is becoming increasingly divided into spheres and that dialogue between divergent points of view is becoming increasingly limited”, said Vidar Helgesen, the Foundation’s Director, in a press release.

“To reverse this trend, we are extending our invitation to celebrate and understand the Nobel Prize and the importance of free science, free culture and free and peaceful societies”, he added.

A number of Swedish politicians, including environmental, centre and left-wing leaders, have said they will boycott the gala dinner because of the Russian ambassador’s invitation.

UK defence firm to speed up arms supply to Ukraine

UK arms giant BAE Systems has set up a legal body in Ukraine to speed up supplies of arms and equipment to the war-torn nation.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy met with the firm’s chief executive Charles Woodburn on Thursday to iron out the details of the new agreement.

“The development of our own weapons production is a top priority,” Zelenskyy wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter, following Thursday’s meeting.

He said Ukraine will be able to deploy BAE-manufactured artillery L119 and M777 systems and armoured vehicle robust CV90.

BAE has been a large contributor to the UK’s defence supplies to Kyiv following the start of the invasion in February 2022. It is, by value, Europe’s biggest defence contractor operating in more than 40 countries across the globe.

The defence firm, however, has not yet decided on setting up a physical office in Ukraine, despite Zelenskyy’s previous claims that Kyiv was in negotiation to do so.

Russia unhappy with Black Sea grain deal proposal

Russia wants the West to follow “a list of actions” in addition to the United Nations chief’s new Black Sea grain proposal, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Thursday.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres had sent a new letter addressing Lavrov, hoping to revive the deal that lifted a Russian blockade and allowed Ukraine to ship almost 33,000 tons of grain at a time of growing global hunger.

But Moscow wasn’t satisfied with the letter, Lavrov hinted after a meeting with Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, whose country helped broker the deal.

“As soon as talks turn into concrete decisions, we’ll be ready to resume the Ukrainian part of the grain package that same day,” Lavrov said.

Describing the grain deal as “quite a complicated and laborious job,” Turkey’s Fidan said when Erdogan and Putin get together they “will take a more strategic and political view.”

Guterres told UN reporters on Thursday he had written a letter to Lavrov with “a set of concrete proposals, allowing to create the conditions for the renewal of the Black Sea initiative.”

The United Nations and Turkey brokered the deal in July 2022 that allowed Ukraine to ship grain and other foodstuffs from three Black Sea ports.

A separate memorandum between the UN and Russia, following the start of the invasion, pledged to overcome obstacles to Moscow’s shipment of food and fertilizer to world markets.

Russia suspended the Black Sea grain initiative in July, calling it a lop-sided deal, repeatedly alleging Ukraine of fostering its wealthy allies in the West.

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War in Ukraine: Drones strike deep in Russian territory, Moscow says

Post By World Russia-Ukraine invasion, Russia's war in Ukraine, ukraine war

Ukraine sent waves of drones deep into western Russia in more than four hours of nighttime attacks that struck military assets, Russian officials and media reports said Wednesday.

The drones hit an airport near Russia’s border with Estonia and Latvia, causing a huge blaze and damaging four Il-76 military transport planes, the Russian state news agency Tass reported, citing emergency officials.

With at least six regions targeted, the barrage appeared to be the most extensive Ukrainian drone attack on Russian soil since the war began 18 months ago, although no injuries were reported. The Kremlin has repeatedly accused Ukraine of cross-border incursions on the Belgorod region of Russia and of launching drones toward Moscow.

There was no immediate comment from Ukrainian officials, who usually don’t claim attacks inside Russia. The Kremlin’s forces, meanwhile, hit Kyiv with drones and missiles during the night in what Ukrainian officials called a “massive, combined attack” that killed two people.

Aerial attacks on Russia have escalated recently as Ukraine pursues a counteroffensive. Kyiv increasingly targets Russia’s military assets behind the front lines in eastern and southern Ukraine.

Ukraine has also claimed to have used naval drones against Russian ships in the Black Sea. Ukrainian media said Kyiv saboteurs used drones last week to hit bomber aircraft parked at air bases deep inside Russia.

The airport in the Pskov region, about 700 kilometres north of the Ukrainian border and 700 kilometres west of Moscow, suffered the most damage in the overnight attacks.

Smoke from a massive fire billowed over the city of Pskov, the region’s namesake capital, according to social media posts, including video of loud bangs and flashes, along with the crackle of air defense systems and tracers in the night sky.

Pskov Gov. Mikhail Vedernikov ordered all flights to and from the airport cancelled for the day to assess damage, which he later said was not major, adding that normal operations would resume Thursday.

Other regions hit were Oryol, 400 kilometres south of Moscow, as well as Ryazan and Kaluga, which are both 200 kilometres south of the capital. Also hit was Bryansk, which borders Ukraine, according to the Russia Defense Ministry.

Three main Moscow airports – Sheremetyevo, Vnukovo and Domodedovo – temporarily halted incoming and outgoing flights.

The Associated Press was unable to confirm whether the drones were launched from Ukraine or inside Russia.

Mykhailo Fedorov, Ukraine’s minister of digital transformation, said his country has drones with a range of up to 500 kilometres, although he did not take responsibility for any attacks in Russia or Crimea, the peninsula that Russia illegally annexed from Ukraine in 2014.

“If you look carefully at the news recently, in general, every day there are news about long-range drones that hit various targets both in occupied Crimea and in the territory of Russia,” Fedorov told AP recently.

“So in this regard, let’s say, that more or less a mass production of these drones has appeared.”

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the Russian military would undoubtedly analyse “how this was done in order to take appropriate measures to prevent these situations in the future.”

Firing at distant Russian targets could reflect a Ukrainian tactic of stretching the Kremlin’s military resources as Moscow scrambles to buttress its air defences, Douglas Barrie said, a senior fellow for military aerospace at the International Institute for Strategic Studies.

“Putting air defence systems there means you can’t put them somewhere else,” he told AP. “This draws on Russian capability.”

Russia’s Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said Ukraine was relying on foreign help because the drones “simply would not be able to fly such a distance without carefully researched information from Western satellites.”

Russian state TV largely ignored the strikes, aside from a brief mention of the Pskov fire. But Russia 1’s popular political talk show “60 Minutes” opened with the attacks. It showed videos of the Pskov fire and blasts in Bryansk that had flooded social media, along with a soundtrack of sinister music.

Russia, meanwhile, also used drones as well as missiles in its biggest bombardment of Kyiv in months, Ukrainian authorities said.

Two security guards, aged 26 and 36, were killed and another person was injured by falling debris, said Serhiy Popko, head of Kyiv’s military administration, posting on Telegram.

Russia launched Iranian-made Shahed exploding drones at the capital from various directions, followed by air-launched missiles, Popko said. It was unclear how many were fired, but Popko called it the biggest attack on the capital since spring.

Also on Wednesday, Russia-installed officials in Crimea reported repelling an attack of drones targeting Sevastopol’s harbor. Past drone attacks have hit fuel depots and airfields in Crimea or Russian-held areas of Ukraine.

Late that same day, the Kremlin-appointed leader of Crimea claimed that a Ukrainian cruise missile was downed over the peninsula’s eastern part, with falling debris damaging a power line. Regional officials in Russia’s Bryansk province also claimed that nine drones were brought down on over its territory on Wednesday.

In Ukraine, explosions were reported in the southern city of Odesa and the Cherkasy region.

Ukraine’s air defences destroyed 28 cruise missiles and 15 of 16 Shahed drones targeting Kyiv and multiple regions across the country overnight, the air force said in its daily Telegram update.

The White House, meanwhile, said it has new intelligence that shows Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un have swapped letters as Moscow looks to Pyongyang for munitions for the war.

National Security Council spokesman John Kirby detailed the finding just weeks after the White House said it determined that Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, during a recent visit to Pyongyang, called on North Korea to increase munitions sales to Moscow. Russia wants additional artillery shells and other basic materiel, Kirby said.

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Ukraine war: New German anti-aircraft systems, Google fined

Post By World Armed Forces of Ukraine, Russia-Ukraine invasion, Russia's war in Ukraine, ukraine war

The latest developments from the war in Ukraine.

New anti-aircraft systems

Ukraine announced on Thursday that it had received new German Iris-T anti-aircraft systems to protect its skies, at a time when its southern and eastern regions are increasingly being targeted by distant Russian strikes.

“A big thank you to our partners for the Iris-Ts”, the head of Ukraine’s presidential administration, Andriï Iermak, praised on X, formerly Twitter.

He added that with these short-range air defence systems, “Our skies will be more protected.”

According to data updated on Thursday on the German government’s website, Berlin has delivered “two Iris-T SLS launchers” to Kyiv.

Since the start of the Russian invasion in February 2022, Ukraine has tirelessly asked its Western allies to help it protect its skies, which are largely dominated in the air by the Russian army.

Google fined

A Russian court on Thursday imposed a 3-million-ruble (€29,000) fine on Google for failing to delete allegedly false information about the conflict in Ukraine.

The move by a magistrate’s court follows similar actions in early August against Apple and the Wikimedia Foundation, which hosts Wikipedia.

According to Russian news reports, the court found that the YouTube video service, which is owned by Google, was guilty of not deleting videos with incorrect information about the conflict.

Google was also found guilty of not removing videos that suggested ways of gaining entry to facilities which are not open to minors, news agencies said, without specifying what kind of facilities were involved.

In Russia, a magistrate’s court typically handles administrative violations and low-level criminal cases.

Google declined to comment. However, there’s little that Moscow can do to collect the fine.

The US tech giant’s Russia business was effectively shut down last year after the conflict began. The company has said that it filed for bankruptcy in Russia after its bank account was seized by the authorities, leaving it unable to pay staff and suppliers.

Election monitoring group leader investigated

The Russian authorities have opened a criminal investigation into one of the leaders of a prominent independent election monitoring group, the target’s lawyer said Thursday.

The case against Grigory Melkonyants, co-chair of Russia’s leading election watchdog Golos, is the latest step in the months-long crackdown on Kremlin critics and rights activists that the government ratcheted up after sending troops into Ukraine.

Melkonyants’ lawyer, Mikhail Biryukov, said his client is facing charges of “organising activities” of an “undesirable” group, a criminal offence punishable by up to six years in prison.

Golos itself has not been formally deemed “undesirable”, a label that under a 2015 law makes involvement with such organisations a criminal offence. But it was once a member of the European Network of Election Monitoring Organisations, a group that was declared “undesirable” in Russia in 2021.

Police raided the homes of a further 14 Golos members on Thursday in eight different cities, Russia’s state news agency RIA Novosti reported. Melkonyants’ apartment in Moscow was also raided, and he was taken in for questioning.

In an interview on Thursday, David Kankiya, a governing council member at Golos, linked the pressure on the group to the upcoming regional elections in Russia in September and the presidential election that is expected to take place in the spring of 2024.

“We see this as a form of political pressure and an attempt to stifle our activities in Russia,” he said.

Ukrainian official vows to retake Crimea

Ukraine’s counteroffensive against invading Russian forces will continue “no matter how long it takes” until the whole of the country, including Crimea, is liberated, according to the country’s foreign minister.

“Our objective is victory, victory in the form of the liberation of our territories within the 1991 borders. And it doesn’t matter how long it takes,” said Dmytro Kuleba in an interview with AFP news agency.

“As long as the Ukrainian people share this objective, the Ukrainian government will move forward hand in hand with its people”, he added.

The 1991 borders are those of the independent Ukraine that emerged at the fall of the USSR. They include Crimea, a peninsula illegally annexed by Russia in 2014.

Kuleba’s comments were published after senior NATO official suggested at an event this week that Ukraine could give up territory to Russia in exchange for NATO membership and an end to the war.

Stian Jenssen, the chief of staff to the NATO secretary general Jens Stoltenberg, has since apologised for the comments.

Sarkozy intervention condemned

Former French president Nicolas Sarkozy’s plea in the newspaper Le Figaro for a “neutral” Ukraine and a referendum to “ratify” the annexation of Crimea is “a terrible mistake”, according to French MP Julien Bayou, who said the former premier “must be regarded as [an agent of] Russian influence”.

The former head of state’s wide-ranging interview, ahead of the publication of a new volume of his memoirs, stunned Mr Bayou, who said on LCI that “a former president should not say that”.

By “going against the French position on the annexation of Crimea” and “sweeping aside the war crimes of which the Russians and (Vladimir) Putin are accused”, the former president has committed “a terrible mistake”, insisted Mr Bayou.

UK confident of Ukraine’s fuel reserves

The UK’s Ministry of Defence says it is confident Ukraine will have sufficient fuel reserves to get through winter despite Russian attacks on the country’s infrastructure.

In its latest defence intelligence update, it says Ukraine has managed to mobilise its mining sector to ensure a continuous supply of coal is available, with gas stocks providing a further reserve.

Man tried to set fire to military centre

A man in his twenties has been sentenced to 10 years in prison in Russia for attempting to set fire to a military enlistment centre.

According to information from non-governmental organisation OVD-info, which reports on politically motivated trials in Russia, Andrei Petrauskas was convicted of throwing two Molotov cocktails at a military police station in Krasnoyarsk, Siberia, in October 2022.

A small fire broke out, and was quickly brought under control by police officers. The man, born in 1998, was on trial for “terrorist acts”, a particularly serious charge.

Since the start of the conflict in Ukraine, several people have been convicted of attempting to set fire to military recruitment centres or administrative buildings. These attempts have become more frequent since a partial mobilisation of reservists in September 2022.

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