KYIV, UKRAINE — For weeks, Ukrainian troops braced for an unfamiliar enemy: North Korean soldiers sent to bolster Moscow’s forces after Ukraine launched a lightning-fast incursion and seized territory in Russia’s Kursk region over the summer.

Their arrival marked a new and alarming phase in the war. And while initially inexperienced on the battlefield, North Korean troops have adapted quickly — a development that could have far-reaching consequences as they gain combat knowledge in the war against Ukraine.

Unlike the Russian troops Ukraine has been battling for nearly three years, Kyiv’s forces were uncertain about what to expect from this new adversary, drawn into the war after Moscow and Pyongyang signed an agreement pledging military assistance using “all means” if either were attacked.

One Ukrainian soldier who has witnessed North Koreans in battle described them as disciplined and highly methodical, saying they were more professional than their Russian counterparts. The soldier spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the sensitive military issue.

However, other soldiers, including Ukrainian special forces, have shared battlefield drone footage on the Telegram messaging app mocking their tactics as outdated.

Nevertheless, there is consensus among Ukrainian soldiers, military intelligence and others monitoring developments on the ground: While Pyongyang’s troops lacked battlefield experience when they arrived, that has been changing quickly.

With 1.2 million troops, North Korea’s military ranks among the largest standing armies globally. But its post-Korean War foreign engagements have been limited, leaving them inexperienced with modern warfare technologies like drones.

“For the first time in decades, the North Korean army is gaining real military experience,” said Andrii Yusov, spokesperson for Ukraine’s military intelligence agency. “This is a global challenge — not just for Ukraine and Europe, but for the entire world.”

Identifying the presence of North Korean troops

Despite Ukrainian, U.S. and South Korean assertions that Pyongyang has sent 10,000-12,000 troops to fight alongside Russia in the Kursk border region, Moscow has never publicly acknowledged the North Korean forces.

While reports of their presence first emerged in October, Ukrainian troops only confirmed engagement on the ground in December.

Analysts say that without the influx of North Korean troops, Russia would have struggled to pursue its strategy of overwhelming Ukraine by throwing large numbers of soldiers into the battle for Kursk.

While Moscow’s counterattack in Kursk has inflicted thousands of Ukrainian casualties, Kyiv’s overstretched forces have managed to hold on to about half of the 984 square kilometers seized in August, though the situation remains dynamic. Besides the symbolic impact of Ukraine’s success capturing Russian territory, control of Kursk could also be a bargaining chip in any ceasefire negotiations.

According to Ukraine’s intelligence agency, the North Korean soldiers are operating alongside Russian units, with the latter providing reconnaissance and electronic warfare support.

The North Koreans wear Russian military uniforms with fake military IDs in their pockets, according to a report by a Ukrainian military unit that has observed them on the battlefield, and they could easily be mistaken for Russian soldiers.

The subterfuge means Moscow and “its representatives at the U.N. can deny the facts,” said Yusov, the Ukrainian military intelligence spokesperson.

Among the things proving their presence is that they have been heard speaking Korean with North Korean accents in intercepted communications, Yusov said.

He said the North Korean troops are using their own weapons and equipment and have learned to cope with the improvised explosives-laden drones that have become emblematic of the war, first-hand experience even some NATO-member countries don’t have.

“This is a new level of threat,” Yusov said. “Regional countries must prepare for what this means in the future.”

North Koreans gain invaluable experience on the battlefield

The North Koreans’ early missteps were largely caused by inexperience, such as moving in large groups in open terrain, making them easy targets for drones and artillery strikes.

According to the Ukrainian military unit’s report, the North Korean soldiers were spotted easily as they moved in single-file columns through forest in groups of three, with 3 to 5 meters between soldiers. On open terrain, they moved in dispersed formations of five to 15 soldiers, making them vulnerable and leading to heavy losses.

However, during night operations, their movements were swift and units oriented themselves using red flashlights along routes, the report said.

“They’re fast, physically well-prepared, and act strictly according to their algorithms,” said the Ukrainian soldier who spoke to the AP. “If you drill the same routines for years, to the point where they can be executed blindfolded, it will yield results.”

Despite their discipline, their lack of combat experience hindered their effectiveness. The Ukrainian military reported that North Korean troops often sustained heavy losses, with many killed by drones.

On Thursday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy put the number of killed or wounded North Koreans at 4,000, though U.S. estimates are lower, at around 1,200.

“Much of their military doctrine and training is based on strategies and experiences from over half a century ago,” said Glib Voloskyi, a military analyst with the Ukrainian think tank CBA Initiatives Center.

The large-group formations date to when artillery accuracy was significantly lower, and observing troop movements much more difficult. Today, reconnaissance and so-called first-person view drones, or FPVs, that transmit video allowing soldiers to strike targets in real time have made the battlefield highly transparent, and anyone stepping onto it without cover, let alone moving in groups, is immediately spotted.

“But it is only a matter of time before they acquire the necessary skills to improve their combat effectiveness, which, combined with their discipline and training, could make them a significant military force,” Voloskyi said.

No surrender policy means few North Korean POWs

After weeks of fighting, Ukrainian soldiers have taken only two prisoners of war. In announcing the capture Saturday, Zelenskyy said taking them alive “was not easy” because of efforts to conceal the North Koreans’ presence and avoid their interrogation by Ukraine.

North Korean soldiers avoid surrendering at all costs, Zelenskyy said.

This may stem from North Korean internal propaganda that portrays capture as the ultimate disgrace, analysts said.

“To be captured alive is considered a betrayal of the country, the leader and everything they stand for,” said Seongmin Lee of the New York-based Human Rights Foundation, who defected from North Korea in 2009.

This belief is instilled from a young age and reinforced throughout military training, he said. “Because of the disgrace associated with the capitulation, heroic soldiers are supposed to save the last of their bullets to kill themselves,” Lee said.

Lee said he shared photos of dead North Korean soldiers with contacts back home. “Most North Koreans don’t even know what is going on,” he said.

Dorothy Camille Shea, the deputy U.S. ambassador to the U.N., warned of the dangers posed by the rapidly improving battlefield skills the North Korean troops are gaining fighting in Kursk.

North Korea “is significantly benefiting from receiving Russian military equipment, technology and experience, rendering it more capable of waging war against its neighbors,” Shea told the 15-member U.N. Security Council on Wednesday.

As an added potential benefit, she said, North Korea “will likely be eager to leverage these improvements to promote weapons sales and military training contracts globally.”
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RIESA, GERMANY — The far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party set out a radical program Saturday at a party congress ahead of next month’s snap general election as thousands of protesters took to the streets to voice their opposition to the party. 

Demonstrators shouting “No to Nazis” outside the venue in the eastern town of Riesa succeeded in delaying the start of the congress by around two hours. 

Once it got underway just after 12 p.m. local time (1100 GMT) the party’s 600-odd delegates approved co-leader Alice Weidel as candidate for chancellor by acclamation ahead of the general election on February 23. 

In a fiery speech to the hall afterward, Weidel condemned the protestors outside as “a left-wing mob” and “red-painted Nazis” before going on to present her “plan for the future” for Germany. 

She said the first 100 days of a government containing the AfD would see the “total closing of Germany’s borders and the turning back anyone traveling without documents” as well as “large-scale repatriations.” 

“I say to you quite honestly, if this must be called remigration, then let it be called remigration,” she said. 

Turning to energy policy, Weidel advocated a return to nuclear energy and more coal power stations, as well as relaunching the Nord Stream pipelines for Russian gas. 

In keeping with the AfD’s denial of climate science, Weidel also attacked efforts to promote renewable energy. 

She branded wind turbines “windmills of shame” and promised to tear them all down. 

The AfD is currently in second place in opinion polls, averaging 20%, although one survey Saturday eagerly seized on by the party gave them 22%. 

The conservative CDU/CSU is leading at 31% while Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s Social Democrats are fighting it out for third place with their Green coalition partners on 15% and 14% respectively. 

Weidel in her speech bashed the CDU/CSU, branding them a “party of cheats” and saying her goal was to overtake them. 

The congress caps an eventful week for Weidel, who on Thursday was hosted by Elon Musk, the world’s richest man and a key Donald Trump ally, for a wide-ranging livestream on his X social media platform. 

Musk also boosted the livestream of Saturday’s congress by sharing it on his own X account, helping it gain a worldwide audience of more than 4 million as of the early evening. 

The AfD has also been buoyed by events in Austria in recent days, where the far-right Freedom Party (FPOe) has been invited to try to form a government with the conservative People’s Party (OeVP). 

So far all of Germany’s other parties, including the CSU/CDU, have ruled out working with the AfD. 

Outside the congress venue, protestors braved the cold to shout slogans such as “No to Nazis.” 

Police said they numbered at least 8,000 while organizers put the number at more than 12,000. 

Among them was Julia, who declined to give her last name but said she wanted to turn out to oppose a party that represented “exclusion, discrimination and hatred.” 

“We want to show very clearly that we are the majority, that we are in favor of open borders and solidarity in society,” she told AFP. 

Dorothea, part of the Omas Gegen Rechts (“Grannies Against The Far-Right”) protest movement, called the AfD a “merciless downfall for Germany.” 

While doubting she and her fellow protestors could reach “those in the AfD bubble,” she hoped they could get through to “nonvoters and the undecided.” 

Earlier Saturday, demonstrators tried to breach police cordons with protest organizers accusing the police of using violence and pepper spray. 

Police said that six officers had suffered minor injuries. 

The far-left Die Linke party complained that one of its regional members of Parliament who was observing the protests was knocked unconscious by a blow to the face from police. 

The head of the region’s police force apologized for the incident and said it was being investigated. 

Observers are expecting heated debates over some points of AfD’s program as the party congress continues Sunday. 

Those include party leadership plans to replace its Junge Alternative (“Young Alternative”) youth wing, which has been classified as an extremist group by intelligence services.  
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PARIS — France starts 2025 with a further drawdown of its military presence in its former African colonies, and fresh tensions ignited this week with controversial remarks by French President Emmanuel Macron.

Chad, Senegal and now Ivory Coast have followed Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso in asking France to withdraw its troops from their soil. The reasons vary — from growing anti-French sentiment to calls for greater sovereignty and strengthening ties with other foreign powers. But the impact is the same.

“There is a clear collapse of French policy in Africa,” said Thierry Vircoulon, a researcher at the French Institute for International Relations’ Africa Center. “The withdrawal of the French troops and basically the end of the French military presence in Africa is a symbol of that collapse.”

French-African relations haven’t improved in recent days. On Monday, Macron suggested some Sahel countries had forgotten to thank French troops for spearheading a decadelong fight against Islamist insurgencies.

That drew sharp criticism from leaders in Chad and Senegal. French authorities say Macron’s remarks were taken out of context.

Jean-Pierre Maulny, deputy director of the French Institute for International and Strategic Affairs think tank, said he believes France needs to be less focused on the immediate fallout and instead concentrate on longer-term ties with francophone African countries.

France should think more about development and sharing the future of Africa’s security, he said, and less about adopting a big brother attitude.

Macron’s government announced plans last year to reduce its military presence on the continent — where it also has troops in Gabon and Djibouti — and make it more responsive to countries’ demands.

France has also expanded ties beyond francophone Africa. Its two biggest trading partners, for example, are Nigeria and South Africa.

But analyst Vircoulon predicts France’s long-term influence in Africa will remain limited, at best.

“There’s very little that the French government can do, and it’s playing in favor of Russia and other countries that are not Western,” he said.

He said he believes France’s strategic priorities will shift to potential conflicts in Europe.
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ISTANBUL — A delegation from one of Turkey’s biggest pro-Kurdish political parties met a leading figure of the Kurdish movement in prison Saturday, the latest step in a tentative process to end the country’s 40-year conflict, the party said. 

Three senior figures from the Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party (DEM) met the party’s former co-chairperson, Selahattin Demirtas, at Edirne prison near the Greek border. 

The meeting with Demirtas — jailed in 2016 on terrorism charges that most observers, including the European Court of Human Rights, have labelled politically motivated — took place two weeks after DEM members met Abdullah Ocalan, the imprisoned head of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). 

While the PKK has led an armed insurgency against the Turkish state since the 1980s, the DEM is the latest party representing left-leaning Kurdish nationalism. Both DEM and its predecessors have faced state measures largely condemned as repression, including the jailing of elected officials and the banning of parties. 

In a statement released on social media after the meeting, Demirtas called on all sides to “focus on a common future where everyone, all of us, will win.” 

Demirtas credited Ocalan with raising the chance that the PKK could lay down its arms. Ocalan has been jailed on Imrali island in the Sea of Marmara since 1999 for treason over his leadership of the PKK, considered a terrorist organization by Turkey and most Western states. 

Demirtas led the DEM between 2014 and 2018, when it was known as the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) and he is still widely admired. He said that despite “good intentions,” it was necessary for “concrete steps that inspire confidence … to be taken quickly.” 

One of the DEM delegation, Ahmet Turk, said: “I believe that Turks need Kurds and Kurds need Turks. Our wish is for Turkey to come to a point where it can build democracy in the Middle East.” 

The armed conflict between the PKK and the Turkish state, which started in August 1984 and has claimed tens of thousands of lives, has seen several failed attempts at peace. 

Despite being imprisoned for a quarter of a century, Ocalan remains central to any chance of success due to his ongoing popularity among many of Turkey’s Kurds. In a statement released on December 29, he signaled his willingness to “contribute positively” to renewed efforts. 

Meanwhile, in an address Saturday to ruling party supporters in Diyarbakir, the largest city in the Kurdish-majority southeast, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called for the disbandment of the PKK and the surrender of its weapons. 

This would allow DEM “the opportunity to develop itself, strengthening our internal front against the increasing conflicts in our region, in short, closing the half-century-old separatist terror bracket and consigning it to history … forever,” he said in televised comments. 

The latest drive for peace came when Devlet Bahceli, leader of the far-right Nationalist Movement Party and a close ally of Erdogan, surprised everyone in October when he suggested that Ocalan could be granted parole if he renounced violence and disbanded the PKK. 

Erdogan offered tacit support for Bahceli’s suggestion a week later, and Ocalan said he was ready to work for peace, in a message conveyed by his nephew. 
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MOSCOW — Ukraine launched drone attacks across several regions of Russia, striking two residential houses in the Tambov region and injuring at least three people, Russia said on Saturday.

The regional head, Evgeny Pervyshov, said on the Telegram messaging app people were treated for injuries resulting from shattered windows as drones hit two houses in the town of Kotovsk, about 480 kilometers southeast of Moscow.

He said the buildings were only slightly damaged, the inhabitants were offered temporary housing, and an evacuation was not required.

“Three (people) had cuts from fragments of broken windows, another four complained of high blood pressure,” he said.

Separately, Russia’s defense ministry said it intercepted and destroyed 85 Ukrainian drones overnight in several regions of the country, including 31 drones over the Black Sea, 16 each in the Voronezh and Krasnodar regions and 14 over the Azov Sea.

Russia’s aviation watchdog Rosaviatsia said airports in the cities of Kazan, Nizhnekamsk and Ulyanovsk in the Volga River regions temporarily suspended flights.

A flight suspension in the city of Saratov was also later declared to ensure safety.

Kyiv’s air force said in a statement early on Saturday that Russia launched 74 drones at Ukraine overnight, adding it had downed 47 of them, while 27 others disappeared from radars without reaching their targets.

Both sides in the Ukraine conflict have turned cheap commercial drones into deadly weapons and also increased their production.

Russian and Ukrainian soldiers alike have reported a visceral fear of drones, and both sides have used video footage of fatal drone strikes in their propaganda.

On Friday, Russia accused Ukraine of carrying out a missile strike on a supermarket in the Russian-controlled city of Donetsk in eastern Ukraine. 
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BERLIN — Germany was racing Saturday to secure a heavily loaded tanker stranded off its northern coast, towing the stricken ship it said was part of Russia’s sanctions-busting “shadow fleet” away from shore to avert an oil spill.

The 274-meter-long Eventin was sailing from Russia to Egypt with almost 100,000 tons of oil on board when its engine failed and it lost the ability to maneuver, according to Germany’s Central Command for Maritime Emergencies.

As the vessel drifted in coastal waters Friday, Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock slammed Russia’s use of “dilapidated oil tankers” to avoid sanctions on its oil exports, calling it a threat to European security.

Three tugs have linked up with the Eventin and are attempting to steer it northeast, away from the coast and toward a “safer” area where there is “more sea space,” the command said.

It said it had taken “safety measures” due to rough seas, with 2.5-meter-high waves and strengthening wind gusts.

The ship was intercepted off the island of Ruegen, having come within 14 kilometers of the coast.

No oil leaks were detected by several surveillance overflights, authorities said Friday, and responders have passed radios and flashlights to the stranded crew.

It will take around eight hours to pull the Eventin roughly 25 kilometers to safer waters northeast of Cape Arkona, the command said early Saturday, adding they expected it to arrive by mid-morning.

‘Rusty tankers’

Although the tanker was navigating under the Panamanian flag, the German foreign ministry linked it to Russia’s sanctions-busting “shadow fleet.”

Baerbock said that “by ruthlessly deploying a fleet of rusty tankers, (Russian President Vladimir) Putin is not only circumventing the sanctions, but is also willingly accepting that tourism on the Baltic Sea will come to a standstill” in the event of an accident.

Following Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, Western countries have hit Russia’s oil industry with an embargo and banned the provision of services to ships carrying oil by sea.

In response, Russia has relied on tankers with opaque ownership or without proper insurance to continue lucrative oil exports.

The number of ships in the “shadow fleet” has exploded since the start of the war in Ukraine, according to U.S. think tank the Atlantic Council.

In addition to direct action against Russia’s oil industry, Western countries have moved to sanction individual ships thought to be in the shadow fleet.

The European Union has so far sanctioned over 70 ships thought to be ferrying Russian oil.

The United States and Britain on Friday moved to impose restrictions on around 180 more ships in the shadow fleet. 
…

Russia accused Ukraine of conducting a deadly missile strike Friday on a supermarket in the Moscow-controlled city of Donetsk, while Kyiv reported a massive wave of Russian drone attacks on several regions and fierce fighting near the strategic logistics hub of Pokrovsk in eastern Ukraine.

The fighting on Friday came a day after the Ukraine Defense Contact Group meeting in Ramstein, Germany, where Kyiv’s allies vowed no letup in aid to bolster Ukraine’s air defenses amid Moscow’s relentless assaults, including attacks on civilian and infrastructure sites.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who traveled to Rome following the Ramstein gathering, also praised new actions by the United States and Britain to sanction Russia’s oil producers, a major liquefied natural gas project, and more than 100 tankers in its “shadow fleet” as the West looks to deprive Moscow of funds needed to carry on its war.

Russian state RIA news agency said investigators were looking into the supermarket attack early Friday, claiming a U.S.-supplied HIMARS missile hit the supermarket, killing two people, in the occupied city.

Video on social media, which has been verified by RFE/RL, appears to show a massive explosion in an area where a small market is located.

Ukrainian officials have not commented on the Russian accusation.

The Ukrainian Air Force, meanwhile, said Russia attacked Ukraine with 72 Shahed-type strike drones in the Poltava, Sumy, Kharkiv, Cherkasy, Chernihiv, Kyiv, Dnipropetrovsk, Zaporizhzhia, Khmelnytskiy, Vinnytsia and Kherson regions.

In Kyiv, bright flashes and explosions were seen as defense systems intercepted several drones in the sky. No deaths were reported, though some damage from debris was seen at a high-rise residential building, military officials said.

The Ukrainian General Staff said several small towns east of Pokrovsk and an important highway a few kilometers south of the area had been the site of intense battles on Friday.

Pokrovsk has been the target of Russia’s brutal drive in recent months, mainly destroying the city with a prewar population of about 64,000 people.

As intense attacks and fighting on the front lines continue, diplomatic efforts to stop the conflict appear to be picking up momentum.

Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry said on Friday that it expects Kyiv to have high-level talks with the White House once President-elect Donald Trump takes office.

“We are waiting for a meeting between our presidents because for us the main thing is to work together with America. … We are preparing for contacts at the highest and high levels immediately after the inauguration,” ministry spokesperson Heorhiy Tykhiy said.

The Kremlin said it remains willing to meet with Trump and that there has been progress in setting up a meeting after the new president is inaugurated on Jan. 20.

“No conditions are required for this, just a mutual desire and political will to conduct a dialogue and resolve existing problems through dialogue is required,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters in Moscow a day after Trump said a meeting was being set up between him and President Vladimir Putin, though he laid out no timeline.

At Ramstein, hundreds of millions of dollars in military aid was pledged — including $500 million from Washington as part of the outgoing President Joe Biden’s goal of sending as much support as possible before Trump returns to office.

Zelenskyy, meanwhile, thanked Washington and London for their “synchronized action” in sanctioning Russian energy firms and ships operating the Kremlin’s so-called “shadow fleet” of sanctions-busting vessels in the Baltic Sea — which are also suspected of sabotaging communications and electrical cables in the body of water. 
…

GENEVA — The World Meteorlogical Organization says that preventive action cannot avert natural disasters such as the wildfires raging across Los Angeles, but that it can help save lives and mitigate loss of property.

“Land management and prevention, regular clearing of underbrush play a key role in fire management, and evacuation plans are important in saving lives,” the WMO said Friday. “These are all part of effective early warning systems.”

In a briefing to journalists in Geneva, Claire Nullis, a WMO spokesperson, stressed the importance of preparing adequate evacuation plans and early warning systems to prevent some of the worst impacts from a natural disaster.

While acknowledging the staggering losses from the devastating wildfires sweeping across parts of Los Angeles in the United States this week, she said “The early warnings have, in this instance, been very, very good.

“You know, people have been evacuated. It has been impossible to save houses, and the loss of life is still too high, but it has been kept to a relative minimum,” she said.

Media reports say at least 10 people have been killed in this week’s Southern California wildfires, although more bodies are expected to be found once the fires have been contained and searchers can go through the debris.

More than 10,000 structures reportedly have burned, and 180,000 people are under evacuation orders.

While California is no stranger to wildfires, the WMO calls this catastrophic event “extraordinary” in that it is affecting one of the largest cities in the United States.

The WMO said that last year’s rainy season for the Los Angeles area as a whole was slightly above normal, but so far, this year it has been dry.

“The big compounding factor in this context is the winds. … They cause temperatures to rise, and they cause very low humidity, drying out the ground and vegetation,” Nullis said.

The WMO said destructive wildfires have been made worse by climate change.

“Climate change, including increased heat, extended drought and a thirsty atmosphere, has been a key driver in increasing the risk and extent of wildfires in the western United States during the last decades,” it said, citing data from the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

The WMO said wildfires require the alignment of a number of factors, including temperature, humidity and the lack of moisture in fuels such as trees, shrubs, grasses and forest debris.

“All these factors have strong direct or indirect ties to climate variability and climate change,” it said.

“Obviously, not every single weather-related disaster is due to climate change,” WMO spokesperson Nullis said. “Nobody would say that. But we get quite clear signals that climate change is exacerbating some of these disasters.”

In addition to the loss of life and destruction of homes and other infrastructure that could total billions of dollars in insured losses, the World Health Organization warns that wildfires can have a significant impact on human morbidity and mortality.

“Wildfire smoke, which is a mixture of air pollutants, of which particulate matter is of major concern as it can be full of PM 2.5. This is a very small particulate matter that gets right down into the lungs, and there certainly is a lot of it.” said Dr. Margaret Harris, a WHO spokesperson.

“A lot of it is associated with premature death in the general population,” she said. “It can cause and exacerbate diseases of lung, heart, brain, the nervous system” and other illnesses.

“It has been shown to lead to cognitive impairment and actually damage your intellectual capacity and lead to memory loss,” she said, adding that firefighters and emergency response workers “are most at risk from exposure to smoke.”

The WHO estimates 4.2 million deaths globally are linked to ambient or outdoor air pollution, with 99% of the global population exposed to air pollution levels that exceed the WHO guideline level for fine particulate matter (PM 2.5).

Harris said more research is needed to understand the long-term health effects of wildfire exposure on vulnerable populations, particularly children, older people, pregnant women and the chronically ill.

“We expect that we will see this over and over again if we do not get what we are doing to the planet under control,” she said.

Meanwhile, the World Meteorological Organization has officially confirmed that 2024 was the hottest year on record, “with a global mean temperature of more than 1.5 degrees above the 1850-1900 average.”

“We have just endured the hottest decade on record, with 2024 topping the list,” U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said, noting that “blazing temperatures in 2024 require trailblazing climate action in 2025.”

“There is still time to avoid the worst of climate catastrophe. But leaders must act now,” he said.
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The U.S. and Japan Friday imposed new sanctions on Russia, in moves designed to constrain Russia’s ability to continue funding its war on Ukraine.

The U.S. sanctions, imposed through the Treasury Department and announced simultaneously through the State Department and the White House, are aimed at reducing Russia’s revenue from energy production, and target two of Russia’s largest oil producers, Gazprom Neft and Surgutneftegas.

Those sanctioned include more than 200 entities and individuals involved in Russia’s energy sector, including traders of Russian oil, Russia-based oilfield service providers, and Russian energy officials. The U.S. also designated 180 oil-carrying vessels as “blocked property.” Many are part of Russia’s “shadow fleet,” used to covertly transport Russian oil around the world.

In a statement issued by the White House, deputy national security adviser Daleep Singh said, “These measures will collectively drain billions of dollars per month from the Kremlin’s war chest and, in doing so, intensify the costs and risks for Moscow to continue its senseless war.”

Likewise, Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi announced Friday that Tokyo is freezing the assets of 33 organizations and 12 individuals, including a North Korean national, under the country’s foreign exchange and foreign trade law.

An additional 53 organizations from Russia, China and other countries became subject to export bans and other measures. The cabinet secretary said Japan was taking the actions in response to North Korea’s support for the Russian war effort and Russia’s use of third nations to avoid previous sanctions.

From his X social media account, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy expressed his gratitude and called both measures “a significant blow” to Russia’s ability to wage war.

He said Japan’s measures will help “limit Russia’s access to critical microelectronics and [creates] additional obstacles for the production of missiles and drones.” Zelenskyy said the U.S. sanctions on Russia’s oil producing sector will disrupt Russia’s entire supply chain.

“Such actions send a clear message: Criminals must pay for their crimes,” Zelenskyy said. “The less revenue Russia earns from oil and other energy resources, the sooner peace will be restored.”

Moscow, naturally, had a different reaction. During a telephone news briefing Friday, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters that through the sanctions, the outgoing Biden administration is trying “to leave behind the most toxic legacy possible when it comes to bilateral relations” between Russia and the United States.

Peskov, referring to a new round of military aid approved by the U.S. and its European allies in the Ukraine Defense Contact Group on Thursday, also accused the outgoing Biden administration of trying to perpetuate the war in Ukraine before U.S. President-elect Donald Trump takes office.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced Thursday that the United States will provide an additional $500 million in military aid to Ukraine.

Some information for this report was provided by The Associated Press, Reuters and Agence France-Presse.
…

London — Britain’s Treasury chief is travelling to China this weekend to discuss economic and financial cooperation between the countries, as the U.K.’s Labour government seeks to reset strained ties with Beijing.

The Treasury said Friday that Rachel Reeves will travel to Beijing and Shanghai and will meet with her Chinese government counterpart, Vice Premier He Lifeng.

Reeves’ trip is expected to revive the China-U.K. Economic and Financial Dialogue — annual bilateral talks that have been suspended since 2019 due to the COVID-19 pandemic and deteriorating relations in recent years.

A series of spying allegations from both sides, China’s support for Russia in the Ukraine war and a crackdown on civil liberties in Hong Kong, a former British colony, have soured ties.

Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey and the U.K. Financial Conduct Authority’s chief executive, Nikhil Rathi, are also in the delegation, according to the Treasury. Representatives from some of Britain’s biggest financial services firms will join the trip.

Officials did not provide details, but media reports have said senior executives from HSBC Holdings and Standard Chartered were included.

Reeves’ visit comes after Foreign Secretary David Lammy travelled to China in October and Prime Minister Keir Starmer met with Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Brazil in November.

The meetings form part of a bid by Starmer, who was elected as leader in July, to strengthen political and economic ties with China, the U.K.’s fifth-largest trading partner.

Officials said Starmer wanted a “pragmatic” approach to working with Beijing on global stability, climate change and the transition to clean energy.

But some in the opposition Conservative Party have criticized his stance and said trade ties should not come at the expense of national security and human rights concerns.

British political leaders and intelligence chiefs have warned repeatedly of the security threats that China poses. Calls to tackle the challenge grew louder last month when it emerged that an alleged Chinese spy had cultivated close ties with Prince Andrew and carried out “covert and deceptive activity” for China’s ruling Communist Party, according to officials.

Nevertheless, Lammy told reporters in London on Thursday that “there are many areas of trade that don’t impact on national security.”

He said Reeves “will repeat many of the messages that I took to China.”

“What we’ve said is in this complex relationship with a global superpower, we are guided by three Cs”: challenge, compete and cooperate, for example in areas including health and climate challenges, Lammy added.
…

Russia says it is closely watching the situation with Greenland, following US President-elect Donald Trump’s refusal to rule out military or economic measures to take control of the territory from Denmark. As Henry Ridgwell reports, geopolitical tensions are growing in the Arctic region amid rapid global warming.
Camera: Henry Ridgwell
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COPENHAGEN, DENMARK — Denmark acknowledged Thursday that it had long neglected the defense of Greenland, a vast and strategically important Arctic island – and one that U.S. President-elect Donald Trump has called vital for U.S. security.

Trump, who takes office Jan. 20, said this week that U.S. control of Greenland – a sovereign Danish territory – was an “absolute necessity,” and he did not rule out using military or economic action against Denmark to make it happen.

“We have neglected for many years to make the necessary investments in ships and in aircraft that will help monitor our kingdom, and that is what we are now trying to do something about,” Danish Defense Minister Troels Lund Poulsen told journalists.

The U.S. Embassy in Copenhagen said earlier Thursday that the United States had no plans to increase its military presence in Greenland.

“There are no plans to increase the United States’ current military footprint in Greenland,” the spokesperson told Reuters. “We will continue to work closely with Copenhagen and Nuuk [Greenland’s capital] to ensure any proposals meet our common security needs.”

Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said late Thursday that she had asked for a meeting with Trump but did not expect one to happen ahead of his inauguration.

US military presence

Greenland has been controlled by Denmark for centuries, though its 57,000 people now govern their own domestic affairs. Its security and foreign affairs, however, are still handled by Copenhagen.

The U.S. military maintains a permanent presence at the Pituffik Space Base in Greenland’s northwest.

Greenland is crucial for the U.S. military and its ballistic missile early-warning system, since the shortest route from Europe to North America runs via the island.

“I think that the Americans are quite concerned that Russia could actually launch or initiate a major attack against the United States, and that could be done from the Russian side,” Jens Wenzel at Nordic Defense Analysis told Reuters.

“There is no real monitoring of the airspace in Greenland. It is largely a free-for-all,” he said.

Greenland is already covered by U.S. security guarantees via Denmark’s membership in NATO.

Frederiksen said this week that she could not imagine the United States would use military intervention in Greenland and said it was up to the people of Greenland to decide what they want.

‘Tightrope’

Frederiksen summoned leaders of Denmark’s political parties to a meeting Thursday for a briefing about Trump’s renewed interest. She rebuffed an offer from him in 2019 to buy Greenland.

On Wednesday, Frederiksen hosted Greenland’s leader, Mute Egede, for talks in Copenhagen. Egede favors independence for his homeland and has said it is not for sale.

Egede discussed trade and other issues with the outgoing U.S. ambassador in Copenhagen on Wednesday, the embassy said.

Last month, Trump said he had picked Ken Howery as the new U.S. envoy to Denmark. As a co-founder of PayPal, Howery is considered a member of the group of former workers and executives at the digital finance firm that includes prominent Trump supporters Peter Thiel and Elon Musk.

“They’re walking a tightrope,” said Lin Alexandra Mortensgaard, a Greenland expert at the Danish Institute for International Studies, referring to the Danish and Greenland prime ministers.

“It’s a balance between representing an autonomous territory and representing a sovereign state while still taking the requirements of Denmark’s closest ally seriously,” she said.

Denmark’s European allies France and Germany have responded to Trump’s comments by stressing the inviolability of borders.

British Foreign Minister David Lammy said Thursday that he believed Trump recognized Greenland was part of Denmark and that concerns about Russian and Chinese activity in the Arctic lay behind the U.S. president-elect’s remarks.

The Kremlin said Thursday that Moscow was following closely the “dramatic development” on Greenland and that the Arctic fell within Russia’s zone of strategic national interests.

In Greenland, opinions on the island’s future appear divided, with some warmly welcoming Trump’s remarks and others responding skeptically.

Danish lawmakers across the political spectrum have urged Frederiksen, a Social Democrat, to firmly reject any attempt by foreign powers to undermine Greenland’s status.

“The U.S. wants to take over Denmark’s role in Greenland, and the Danish government must say a clear and unequivocal no to that,” former conservative minister Rasmus Jarlov said on X.

Meanwhile, the screenwriter of the hit Danish TV drama series “Borgen,” Adam Price, joked on Instagram that it was becoming “increasingly difficult to write political fiction when real-life politics are becoming more and more extreme.”

“All that’s left is to get some popcorn,” he added.
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WASHINGTON — Russia’s efforts to obtain China’s help in enhancing artificial intelligence is seen as a bid to challenge America’s lead in the field even as the outgoing Biden administration is expected to impose new export control measures to further curb Beijing’s access to AI chips.

As the new year began, Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the country’s state-owned Sberbank, to work with China in researching and developing AI technology, according to the Kremlin.

“The Russian president sees his country in global competition for AI with the United States and has positioned the state resources to try and compete with the U.S. in information and cyberspace – two areas where artificial intelligence is supposed to aid Russia in what they see as Western narratives and influence,” said Samuel Bendett, adjunct senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security.

Moscow views Beijing’s success in AI as an example to follow, and its “cooperation with China is viewed as a necessary step towards acquiring artificial intelligence-related skill sets, knowledge and technology,” Bendett told VOA in written comments.

The U.S. currently leads in AI innovation, followed by China, which is falling behind by wide margins, according to a November report by the Stanford Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence. Russia ranks 31st out of 83 countries in AI implementation, innovation and investment, according to U.K.-based Tortoise Media’s Global AI Index.

Response to sanctions

Western sanctions imposed on Russia since its invasion of Ukraine in 2022 have limited the country’s AI development, and Moscow has turned to Beijing to offset the restriction, according to Bendett in his report “The Role of AI in Russia’s Confrontation with the West.”

Sberbank, which Putin instructed to collaborate with China, is under Western sanctions.

It is Russia’s largest bank and leads the country’s AI development efforts.

The outgoing Biden administration is expected to impose a new set of export control measures aimed at further limiting China’s ability to access chips that support AI technology. The new measures could come as early as Friday, according to Bloomberg.

Sberbank CEO German Gref said in 2023 that Russia cannot obtain graphics processing units, microchips needed to support AI development, according to Reuters.

But the bank’s first deputy CEO, Alexander Vedyakhin, said in December that despite Western sanctions, Russia can improve its AI ranking by 2030 through its own development.

Another key area where Russia has sought to further apply AI help from China is in the military.

“There already have been top level meetings between Russia and Chinese militaries in 2024,” and “ongoing dialogue” between the defense ministries of the two countries is likely so they can understand “how AI could aid in a large-scale conventional conflict, like the one unfolding in Ukraine,” Bendett said.

Russian and Chinese officials met in Beijing early last year to discuss military application of AI, especially in developing autonomous weapons, according to Russia’s Foreign Ministry.

AI-powered weapons

In December, Ukraine said Russia began using AI-powered strike drones with improved capabilities that can evade air defenses, identify key targets and operate offline.

James Lewis, director of the Strategic Technologies Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said Russia is likely to use AI technology on enhancing drones as well as in making weapons with improved target detection and attack speed.

The China-Russia AI partnership “creates new risk for the U.S.,” but military application of “AI won’t compensate for bad strategy” in the battlefield, he said.

Attending an AI conference in Moscow last month, Song Haitao, president of the Shanghai Artificial Intelligence Research Institute, said China plans to sign an agreement with Russia’s Sberbank to promote bilateral cooperation on AI development.

Speaking at the conference, Putin applauded China for “making great strides” in advancing AI technology and its application, including in building “smart cities” and conducting “modern governance.”

Sam Bresnick, research fellow at Georgetown University’s Center for Security and Emerging Technology, said although it is not entirely clear how Beijing might benefit from helping Moscow in developing AI, China might want some military technologies and wartime data from Russia in return.

“Russia is very good at making submarines, and there’s been a speculation in the past that China could benefit from acquiring that kind of technology. Another one is helicopter technology,” Bresnick said.

“The war in Ukraine has generated an astonishing amount of data,” Bresnick continued. “China would probably be interested in getting its hands on them because having more militarily relevant data from Russia would help China develop its own AI systems for military.”

Liu Pengyu, a spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy in Washington, told VOA on Thursday that “in terms of the application of artificial intelligence, China actively advocates the principles of ‘people-oriented’ and ‘intelligent for good,’ ensuring that artificial intelligence is safe, reliable and controllable, better enabling global sustainable development, and enhancing the common well-being of all mankind.” 
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london — Russia has said it is closely watching the situation with Greenland, following U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s refusal to rule out military or economic measures to take control of the territory from Denmark.

“We are observing this rather dramatic development of the situation, but so far, thank God, [it remains] at the level of statements,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Thursday.

“The Arctic zone is a zone of our national and strategic interests. We are present in the Arctic zone, and we will continue to be there,” Peskov added.

The vast territory of Greenland — most of which lies above the Arctic Circle — has been officially part of the Kingdom of Denmark since 1953, although the island has its own government.

National security

Questioned at a news conference in Florida on Tuesday, Trump said the United States needs Greenland for security purposes, and he refused to rule out using economic or military means to achieve that goal.

“People really don’t even know if Denmark has any legal right to it. But if they do, they should give it up because we need it for national security. That’s for the free world. I’m talking about protecting the free world,” Trump said.

“You have Chinese ships all over the place. You have Russian ships all over the place. We’re not letting that happen,” he added.

Like much of the Arctic, Greenland is rapidly warming. That is changing the geopolitics of the region, said analyst Liana Fix of the Council on Foreign Relations.

“The Arctic is increasingly becoming a zone of a great power competition and rivalry. And the United States is concerned it is losing this game,” Fix said.

“The Arctic becomes much more accessible, both for trading goods but also for critical minerals, especially for rare earth [minerals],” Fix said. “And also it becomes increasingly a militarized zone,” she added, noting that Russia is cooperating with the Chinese coast guard in the region.

Not for sale

Denmark has made it clear that Greenland is not for sale. Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen rejected the suggestion that Trump’s comments presented a foreign policy crisis for his government.

“I see a president who is on his way into the White House, who has a heightened focus on the Arctic, and I can understand that he has that. We also have that from the Danish side, and we also have that within NATO,” Rasmussen said Wednesday.

Denmark faces a dilemma, said analyst Fix.

“It is very clear for Denmark, too, that increased cooperation with the United States both on investments in Greenland but also on military cooperation would be actually in the interest of everyone,” Fix told VOA.

Several European leaders rejected Trump’s comments, although most stopped short of directly criticizing the incoming U.S. president.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said basic Western values were at stake.

“The principle of inviolability of borders applies to every country, regardless of whether it is to the east or west of us,” he said.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot was more direct. “It is out of the question for the European Union to let any nation in the world, whichever it is — and let me say starting with Russia — define its sovereign borders,” he said Wednesday.

Greenland independence

Greenland’s government, meanwhile, is pushing for a referendum on full independence and has said that only the people will decide Greenland’s future.

“Greenland is on its way into a new era and a new year in which Greenland has been at the center of world attention. The Greenlandic people are one people, regardless of where they live. And as people in the times we live in, we must be united in order to be ready for a new future that our country is on its way to,” Prime Minister Mute Egede said during a trip to Copenhagen on Thursday.
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ROME — Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani is traveling to Syria on Friday to encourage the country’s transition following the ouster of President Bashar Assad by Islamist insurgents, and said Europe should review its sanctions on Damascus now that the political situation has changed. 

Tajani presided Thursday over a meeting in Rome of foreign ministry officials from five countries — Britain, France, Germany, Italy and the United States — and spoke earlier by telephone with his counterparts from Turkey and Saudi Arabia. The aim, he said, is to coordinate the various post-Assad initiatives, with Italy prepared to make proposals on private investments in health care for the Syrian population. 

Going into the meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and their European counterparts, Tajani said it was critical that all Syrians be recognized with equal rights. It was a reference to concerns about the rights of Christians and other minorities under Syria’s new de facto authorities of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, or HTS, an Islamic militant group that the U.S. and United Nations have long designated as a terrorist organization. 

“The first messages from Damascus have been positive. That’s why I’m going there tomorrow, to encourage this new phase that will help stabilize the international situation,” said Tajani. 

Speaking to reporters, he said the European Union should discuss possible changes to the sanctions regime on Syria. “It’s an issue that should be discussed because Assad isn’t there anymore, it’s a new situation, and I think that the encouraging signals that are arriving should be further encouraged,” he said. 

Syria has been under deeply isolating sanctions by the United States, the European Union and others for years as a result of Assad’s brutal response to what began as peaceful anti-government protests in 2011 and spiraled into civil war. 

HTS led a lightning insurgency that ousted Assad on December 8 and ended his family’s decades-long rule. From 2011 until Assad’s downfall, Syria’s uprising and civil war killed an estimated 500,000 people. 

The U.S. has gradually lifted some penalties since Assad departed Syria for protection in Russia. The Biden administration in December decided to drop a $10 million bounty it had offered for the capture of a Syrian rebel leader whose forces led the ouster of Assad last month. 

Syria’s new leaders also have been urged to respect the rights of minorities and women. Many Syrian Christians, who made up 10% of the population before Syria’s civil war, either fled the country or supported Assad out of fear of Islamist insurgents. 
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In an exclusive interview with VOA, former U.K. Prime Minister Liz Truss issued a stark warning against China’s authoritarian ambitions and called for the West to adopt a tougher stance to protect global freedom. Truss laid out her vision for an “economic NATO” to deter Beijing, criticized the Labour government’s soft approach to China, and defended her controversial lobbying for a defense export license involving China.

Click here to read the full story in Mandarin.
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Beijing — China said Thursday that an investigation had found the European Union imposed unfair “trade and investment barriers” on Beijing, marking the latest salvo in long-running commercial tensions between the two economic powers. 

Officials announced the probe in July after Brussels began looking into whether Chinese government subsidies were undermining European competition. 

Beijing has consistently denied its industrial policies are unfair and has threatened to take action against the EU to protect Chinese companies’ legal rights and interests. 

The commerce ministry said Thursday that the implementation of the EU’s Foreign Subsidies Regulation (FSR) discriminated against Chinese firms and “constitutes trade and investment barriers.” 

However, it did not mention whether Beijing planned to take action in response. 

The two are major trade partners but are locked in a wide-ranging standoff, notably over Beijing’s support for its renewables and electric-vehicle sectors. 

EU actions against Chinese firms have come as the 27-nation bloc seeks to expand renewable energy use to meet its target of net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. 

But Brussels also wants to pivot away from what it views as an overreliance on Chinese technology at a time when many Western governments increasingly consider Beijing a potential national security threat. 

When announcing the probe, the ministry said its national chamber of commerce for importing and exporting machinery and electronics had filed a complaint over the FSR measures. 

The 20-page document detailing the ministry’s conclusions said their “selective enforcement” resulted in “Chinese products being treated more unfavorably during the process of export to the EU than products from third countries.” 

It added that the FSR had “vague” criteria for investigating foreign subsidies, placed a “severe burden” on the targeted companies and had opaque procedures that created “huge uncertainty.” 

EU measures such as surprise inspections “clearly exceeded the necessary limits,” while investigators were “subjective and arbitrary” on issues like market distortion, according to the ministry. 

Companies deemed not to have complied with probes also faced “severe penalties,” which placed “huge pressure” on Chinese firms, it said. 

The European Commission on Thursday defended the FSR, saying it was “fully compliant with all applicable EU and World Trade Organization rules.” 

“All companies, regardless of their seat or nationality, are subject to the rules,” a commission spokesperson said in a statement. 

“This is also the case when applying State aid or antitrust rules.”   

Projects curtailed 

The Chinese commerce ministry said FSR investigations had forced Chinese companies to abandon or curtail projects, causing losses of more than $2.05 billion. 

The measures had “damaged the competitiveness of Chinese enterprises and products in the EU market,” it said, adding that they also hindered the development of European national economies and undermined trade cooperation between Beijing and Brussels. 

The EU’s first probe under the FSR in February targeted a subsidiary of Chinese rail giant CRRC, but closed after the company withdrew from a tender in Bulgaria to supply electric trains. 

A second probe targets Chinese-owned solar panel manufacturers seeking to build and operate a photovoltaic park in Romania, partly financed by European funds. 

In October, Brussels imposed extra tariffs on Chinese-made electric cars after an anti-subsidy investigation under a different set of rules concluded Beijing’s state support was unfairly undercutting European automakers. 

Beijing in response announced provisional tariffs on brandy imported from the EU, and later imposed “temporary anti-dumping measures” on the liquor. 

Last month, China said it would extend the brandy investigation, citing the case’s “complexity.” 

Separately, a report by the European Union Chamber of Commerce in China warned that firms were being forced to drastically localize their operations to suit China’s regulations, driving up costs and reducing efficiency. 

Heightened trade tensions and Beijing’s “self-reliance policies” were causing many multinationals “to separate certain China-based functions, or even entire operations, from those in the rest of the world,” it said. 

It added that governance rules increasingly dominated by national security concerns had heightened uncertainties for local entities in engaging with European clients. 

Some customers are therefore choosing to “err on the side of caution and not take a risk by buying from a foreign service provider,” Chamber head Jens Eskelund said at a media event on Thursday.           
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LONDON — Britain will create a new sanctions regime to target the leaders of networks that smuggle tens of thousands of people into Britain each year, as well as the often-Chinese makers of the boats and motors they use, the government said Wednesday.

Under huge political pressure to cut the numbers arriving in small boats from France, the government said the laws would complement other reforms.

“We will target those profiting off putting lives at risk, and disrupt the gangs’ finances,” interior minister Yvette Cooper said in a statement.

The policy was due to be the centerpiece of a speech by foreign minister David Lammy on Thursday, seeking to demonstrate coordination between the foreign and interior ministries.

Lammy said Britain would pursue the makers of the boats used by migrant smugglers.

He told Times Radio many of the manufacturers were from China. Asked by the BBC whether the government would sanction those businesses, Lammy said: “Absolutely, because when you look at those boats, where do the engines come from? Where does the rubber come from?”

The Chinese Embassy did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The government said the sanctions would be in place by the end of the year and enable authorities to ban those linked to people-smuggling from entering Britain, punish those trying to do business with them, and freeze assets.

Labour Prime Minister Keir Starmer was elected in July and immediately ditched the previous, Conservative government’s plan to deport illegal migrants to Rwanda as a deterrent, instead switching focus to breaking up the gangs that organize crossings.

Migrants from North Africa, the Middle East, Europe and elsewhere pay thousands of pounds to traffickers for places in small inflatable boats that then try to cross one of the world’s busiest shipping channels to reach the English coast.

Over 36,800 people made the crossing in 2024, 25% more than the previous year, according to government data, while dozens have died in the attempt. 
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U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin held bilateral meetings Thursday with his Ukrainian and British counterparts Wednesday before hosting the Ukraine Defense Contact Group one last time. VOA Pentagon correspondent Carla Babb is traveling with Austin as the U.S. is expected to announce its final military aid package for Kyiv under the Biden administration.
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RAMSTEIN AIR BASE, GERMANY — The United States is providing Ukraine with $500 million in additional weapons and equipment from its existing military stockpiles, in what officials told VOA will be the final military aid package before President Joe Biden leaves office.

The officials were speaking to VOA on condition of anonymity ahead of the announcement, which is expected Thursday when U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin’s hosts the Ukraine Defense Contact Group in Ramstein, Germany, for the last time.

“Our focus will be on maintaining momentum, delivering results, and sending a clear message: The international community stands resolute in its support for Ukraine,” Austin said.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced that he will join Austin at the 25th meeting of the group, which comprises about 50 nations that came together under Austin’s leadership to coordinate security assistance following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

“They [Ukrainians] continue to survive, but they do that with the support of the U.S. and other allied countries and coalitions through the Ukraine Defense Contact Group. And I think it’s pretty clear that the Ukraine Defense Contact Group is, it’s more than just a common understanding. It’s a common cause,” Deputy Pentagon Press Secretary Sabrina Singh said Wednesday.

As Ukrainians fight to survive, that common cause to support their fight is shrouded in uncertainty. President-elect Donald Trump has not indicated whether he will continue America’s leadership of the group when President Biden leaves office on Jan. 20, and current administration officials and defense analysts warn that could prove catastrophic for Kyiv.

Bradley Bowman, senior director of the Center on Military and Political Power at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, said that Trump, who has been very critical of the Biden administration’s handling of Afghanistan, would not want to see a similar humanitarian crisis “on his record.”

“If you have a major curtailment or end of U.S. support for Ukraine, then you could have a major disaster in Ukraine,” he told VOA.

Rather than cut Kyiv’s lifeline, Bowman said, the U.S. should surge support to Ukraine in the first months of the new administration “to put Ukraine in the strongest possible position” ahead of any peace negotiations.

There is still $3.8 billion in approved funds for Ukraine that was passed by Congress in April, but the Pentagon says it can’t send that aid at this time because it needs additional funds from Congress to restock its own supplies.

While analysts point to the Ukraine Defense Contact Group as a high point of Austin’s legacy, funding delays from Congress and deliberations within the Biden administration on what weapons to give Kyiv have hampered Ukraine’s fight.

Bowman says that too often, when Ukraine asked for something, the Biden administration told them “no,” then “maybe,” before finally saying, “yes.”

“During that time period, we saw Russians advancing, Ukrainians dying and the delay being costly,” he said.

Since Russia’s invasion in 2022, the group of about 50 nations has provided Kyiv with more than $126 billion in weapons, training and equipment. The U.S. has provided about $66 billion, slightly more than half of the group’s aid.

Officials said the administration hoped the latest aid package, along with other commitments from the Ukraine Defense Contact Group, could put Kyiv in a stronger negotiating position. They also told reporters that at least 80% of the American weapons and equipment promised to Kyiv from U.S. stockpiles would reach Ukraine before Biden left office. One notable exception, a senior defense official said, was a group of military vehicles that were still being refurbished to be used on the battlefield.

VOA National Security Correspondent Jeff Seldin contributed to this report.
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With the overthrow of Bashar al-Assad, Turkey sees an opportunity to send home up to 4 million Syrians who came there during Syria’s civil war, amid growing public hostility toward the refugees. Many of those interviewed in Istanbul, however, have built new lives in Turkey and say that with no guarantees of safety or livelihood, they are not ready to return. Dorian Jones reports.
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A Russian missile attack on the southern Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia killed at least 13 people Wednesday and injured dozens more, Ukrainian authorities reported.

The attack came minutes after regional Governor Ivan Fedorov warned that “high-speed missiles” and “glide bombs” were heading toward the Zaporizhzhia region.

Bodies of the victims and people injured in the attack were strewn across a road and adjacent paved areas next to damaged public transportation facilities. The debris hit a tram and a bus with passengers inside, Ukraine’s prosecutor general’s office said.

High-rise apartment blocks, an industrial facility and other infrastructure were damaged in the attack. Emergency workers were trying to resuscitate a man while raging flames, smoke and burned cars could be seen in the background.

Russian troops used two guided bombs to hit a residential area, Fedorov told reporters. He said at least four of the injured were rushed to a hospital in serious condition. Fedorov said Thursday would be an official day of mourning.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on X, “There is nothing more cruel than launching aerial bombs on a city, knowing that ordinary civilians will suffer.”

As he often has, Zelenskyy urged Ukraine’s Western allies to step up pressure on Russia.

Russia regularly carries out airstrikes on the Zaporizhzhia region, which its forces partially occupy. Moscow claims to have annexed the Ukrainian region along with four others, including Crimea, which it unilaterally seized in 2014.

Ukraine hits fuel depot

Earlier Wednesday, the Ukrainian military said it struck a fuel storage depot deep inside Russia near Engels in the Saratov region about 600 kilometers east of the Ukrainian border. The attack caused a huge fire at the facility, which supplies an important Russian air base.

Ukraine’s General Staff said, “The damage to the oil base creates serious logistical problems for the strategic aviation of the Russian occupiers and significantly reduces their ability to strike peaceful Ukrainian cities and civilian objects. To be continued.”

Russian officials acknowledged a major drone attack in the area and said authorities had set up an emergency command center to fight the fire.

Ukraine’s General Staff said the attack hit the depot that supplied a nearby airfield used by aircraft that launch missiles across the border into Ukraine, a statement on Facebook said.

Ukraine has been developing its own arsenal of domestically produced long-range missiles and drones capable of reaching deep behind the front line as it faces restrictions on the range that its military can fire its Western-supplied missiles into Russia.

Zelenskyy said last year that his country has developed a weapon that could hit a target 700 kilometers away. Some Ukrainian drone attacks have hit targets more than 1,000 kilometers away.

Meanwhile on Wednesday, outgoing U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said any future deal to end the war in Ukraine would need to build into it deterrence to prevent Russia from once again attacking Ukraine.

Speaking in Paris, Blinken warned that Russian President Vladimir Putin would try to use any ceasefire in Ukraine to refit Russian forces and eventually attack Ukraine again.

Some information for this report came from The Associated Press and Reuters.
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