Ukrainian President Zelensky announced on Friday that he and Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte had signed a security agreement to provide $2.2 billion in military aid to Kyiv this year. Zelensky announced details of the plan on his social media account after the two leaders met and held talks in Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second city. Kharkiv … Read more
white house – U.S. President Joe Biden met with Italian Prime Minister Giorgio Meloni at the White House on Friday as he faces challenges in maintaining support for Ukraine’s defense against Russian aggression. The meeting, their second face-to-face meeting in seven months, will focus primarily on Italy’s G7 presidency, with Meloni leading an agenda consistent … Read more
Washington — Analysts say Beijing is unlikely to help Washington undermine military cooperation between North Korea and Russia because it sees the move as undermining itself while supporting U.S. goals in Europe and Asia. “Given U.S. Asia policy and Washington’s ongoing efforts to curb China’s influence in the region, Beijing has no reason to compromise … Read more
Washington — Civil liberties around the world will decline for the 18th consecutive year by 2023, with conflict and flawed elections the biggest factors, a new report finds. The nonprofit Freedom House found that political rights and civil liberties have deteriorated for more than a fifth of the population. Of the 210 countries and territories … Read more
Washington—— U.S. security officials are bracing for an onslaught of fast-paced influence operations from a wide range of adversaries aimed at influencing the country’s upcoming presidential election. In the latest warning for U.S. voters who will decide who to support when they go to the polls in November, FBI Director Christopher Wray told a meeting … Read more
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Wednesday that Europe’s path for generations is now being decided by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. “We have seen in the past how others have tried to decide the fate of other countries. This has happened in the Balkans, Eastern Europe and all other parts of Europe. Now [Russian President … Read more
Verbovets, Ukraine — Verbovets, a few kilometers from the Hungarian border, is one of the few areas of Ukraine that has not been targeted by Russian missiles. Although far removed from the fighting, Verbovits – like many villages in Ukraine’s remote Transcarpathia region – is largely empty. Houses were boarded up, businesses permanently closed and … Read more
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky held a meeting with regional leaders in Albania on Wednesday to seek more support for Ukraine’s defense against a Russian invasion. Zelensky said he would discuss “defense and political cooperation” as well as Ukraine’s peace plan in talks with Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama. “I will propose supporting Ukraine’s efforts to … Read more
Moscow- Veteran human rights activist Oleg Orlov was sentenced to two and a half years in prison by a Moscow court on Tuesday after he was found guilty of defaming Russia’s armed forces in a trial that international observers condemned as politically motivated. Orlov, 70, has served for more than two decades as one of … Read more
Washington — Analysts say a North Korean missile found in Ukraine has more than 200 components from U.S. and European companies, exposing loopholes that North Korea uses to evade sanctions. South Korean Defense Minister Shin Won-sik said at a news conference on Monday that North Korea is operating its arms factories at full capacity to … Read more
U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said on Tuesday that the G7, a group of seven major industrialized countries, is “urgent” to seize about $285 billion worth of Russian frozen assets and move the funds to Ukraine. There is growing pressure on the United States and Europe to use these funds. While Yellen said there was … Read more
The United States and Britain on Tuesday sanctioned a deputy commander of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and a Houthi militant, linking them to missile attacks targeting Red Sea shipping from Yemen. Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthis have targeted shipping in the Red Sea region for months, rarely attacking ships but forcing shippers of threatened cargo to … Read more