washington — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Sunday will visit the U.S. ammunition factory that is producing one of the most critically needed munitions for Ukraine’s fight to fend off Russian ground forces. 

Zelenskyy is expected to go to the Scranton Army Ammunition Plant in the state of Pennsylvania to kick off a busy week in the United States shoring up support for Ukraine in the war, according to two U.S. officials and a third familiar with Zelenskyy’s schedule who spoke on the condition of anonymity to provide details that were not yet public.

The Ukrainian leader also will address the United Nations General Assembly annual gathering in New York and travel to Washington for talks on Thursday with President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris. 

The Scranton plant is one of the few facilities in the country to manufacture 155 mm artillery shells. They are used in howitzer systems, which are towed large guns with long barrels that can fire at various angles. Howitzers can strike targets up to 15- 20 miles (24-32 kilometers) away and are highly valued by ground forces to take out enemy targets from a protected distance. 

Ukraine has already received more than 3 million of the 155 mm shells from the U.S. 

Still pushing for permission

With the war now well into its third year, Zelenskyy has been pushing the U.S. for permission to use longer range missile systems to fire deeper inside of Russia. 

So far he has not persuaded the Pentagon or White House to loosen those restrictions. The Defense Department has emphasized that Ukraine can already hit Moscow with Ukrainian-produced drones, and there is hesitation on the strategic implications of a U.S.-made missile potentially striking the Russian capital. 

Russian President Vladimir Putin has warned that Russia would be “at war” with the United States and its NATO allies if they allow Ukraine to use the long-range weapons. 

At one point in the war, Ukraine was firing between 6,000 and 8,000 of the 155 mm shells per day. That rate started to deplete U.S. stockpiles and drew concern that the level on hand was not enough to sustain U.S. military needs if another major conventional war broke out, such as a potential conflict over Taiwan. 

In response, the U.S. has invested in restarting production lines and is now manufacturing more than 40,000 155 mm rounds a month, with plans to hit 100,000 rounds a month. During his visit, Zelenskyy is expected meet and thank workers who have increased production of the 155 mm rounds over the past year. 

Two of the Pentagon leaders who have pushed that increased production through — Doug Bush, assistant secretary of the Army for acquisition, logistics and technology, and Bill LaPlante, the Pentagon’s top weapons buyer — are also expected to join Zelenskyy at the plant, as is Josh Shapiro, the governor of Pennsylvania.

US largest donor of aid

The 155 mm rounds are among the scores of ammunition, missile, air defense and advanced weapons systems the U.S. has provided Ukraine — everything from small arms bullets to advanced F-16 fighter jets. The U.S. has been the largest donor to Ukraine, providing more than $56 billion of the more than $106 billion NATO and partner countries have collected to aid in its defense. 

Even though Ukraine is not a member of NATO, commitment to its defense is seen by many European nations as a must to keep Putin from further military aggression that could threaten bordering NATO-member countries and result in a much larger conflict. 
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KYIV, Ukraine — A blaze tore through a Russian arms depot inside the country, triggering explosions and the closure of a major highway, after Ukraine launched over 100 drones at Russia and occupied Crimea overnight, Russian news reports and the Defense Ministry said.

The depot appeared to be just kilometers from another that was struck by Ukrainian drones early Wednesday, injuring 13 people and also causing a huge fire.

Russian authorities on Saturday closed a 100-kilometer stretch of a highway and evacuated passengers from a nearby rail station after the fire caused a series of explosions.

Posts on the messaging app Telegram said a missile depot was struck near the town of Toropets, in Russia’s Tver region, about 380 kilometers northwest of Moscow and about 500 kilometers from the Ukrainian border.

Unverified images circulating on Telegram showed a large ball of flame rising into the night sky and dozens of smoke trails from detonations.

An ammunition depot and missile arsenal in southwestern Russia also caught fire in a separate attack Saturday in the Krasnodar region, triggering evacuations after the blaze caused a series of blasts. Videos on social media showed bright orange clouds rising over the horizon, as dull thuds of detonations sounded almost continuously.

Russia’s Defense Ministry early on Saturday claimed that its forces overnight shot down 101 Ukrainian drones over Russian territory and occupied Crimea. There were no immediate reports of casualties in either Russian region.
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Kyiv, Ukraine — An overnight Russian missile strike on the central Ukrainian city of Kryvyi Rih killed a 12-year-old boy and two elderly women, regional governor Serhiy Lysak said Saturday.

“Again, a terrifying enemy attack on Kryvyi Rih. In the middle of the night, when the city slept,” Lysak wrote on Telegram.

He said three more people were injured and were taken to a hospital with injuries of medium severity.

The two women killed by the attack were 75 and 79 years old. Lysak also said two buildings were destroyed and 20 more damaged.

Kryvyi Rih, a major steel-producing city, is near Russian-occupied territory. It is regularly hit by air strikes.
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KYIV — Ukraine’s “victory plan” in the war against Russia depends on quick decisions being taken by allies this year, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Friday during a visit by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.

Zelenskyy told a joint press conference with von der Leyen that Ukraine planned to use a proposed multi-billion dollar European Union loan for air defense, energy and domestic weapons purchases.

Zelenskyy singled out the importance of U.S. President Joe Biden to the victory plan, which he said the two leaders will discuss when they meet. The Ukrainian leader is travelling to the United States next week.

“Most of the decisions from the plan depend specifically on him [Biden]. On other allies too, but there are certain points which depend on the goodwill and support of the United States,” Zelenskyy said.

Zelenskyy has provided regular updates on the plan’s preparation but has given few clues to the contents, indicating only that it aims to create terms acceptable to Ukraine after more than 2-1/2 years of war following Russia’s full-scale invasion.

“The entire plan is predicated upon quick decisions from our partners. The plan is predicated upon decisions which should take place from October to December, and not delaying these processes,” he told the press conference alongside von der Leyen.

 
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Kyiv, Ukraine — European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said Friday she had arrived in Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, to discuss Europe’s support, winter preparedness, defense and progress on the G7 loans.

“My 8th visit to Kyiv comes as the heating season starts soon, and Russia keeps targeting energy infrastructure,” von der Leyen said on the X social network.

Von der Leyen said Thursday more than $160 million from the proceeds of frozen Russian assets would be allocated to meet Ukraine’s urgent humanitarian needs for this winter.

Russia has knocked out about 9 gigawatts (GW) of Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, which von der Leyen said was the “power equivalent of the three Baltic states.”

She also said that the EU aimed to restore 2.5 GW of power generating capacity and would increase exports to supply 2 GW of electricity to Ukraine.

Von der Leyen will meet Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and other officials.
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Brussels — The EU’s trade chief, Valdis Dombrovskis, said Thursday he had held “constructive” talks with China’s commerce minister, Wang Wentao, as Beijing seeks a deal with Brussels to avoid steep tariffs on imported electric vehicles.

The meeting was held as divisions grow in Europe over the proposed tariffs, after Spain urged the EU last week to “reconsider” plans for duties of up to 36% on Chinese electric cars, joining Germany in opposition.

“Constructive meeting with Minister of Commerce Wang Wentao. Both sides agreed to intensify efforts to find an effective, enforceable and WTO (World Trade Organization) compatible solution,” Dombrovskis said on X.

Wang also spoke to businesses in the EV sector on Wednesday in Brussels after which he said China “will certainly persevere until the final moments of the consultations,” as quoted in a statement by the Chinese Chamber of Commerce to the EU.

The European Commission in July announced plans to levy import duties on electric vehicles imported from China after an anti-subsidy investigation started last year found they were unfairly undermining European rivals.

The EU wants to protect its automobile industry, a jewel in Europe’s industrial crown, providing jobs to around 14 million people.

The commission is in charge of trade policy for the 27-country bloc.

The tariffs are currently provisional and will only become definitive for five years after a vote by member states that is expected before the end of October.

China has angrily responded to the EU’s plans, warning it would unleash a trade war. Last month China also filed an appeal with the WTO over the tariffs.

Beijing has already launched its own investigations into European brandy and some dairy and pork products imported into China.

Dombrovskis told Wang that the probes were “unwarranted, are based on questionable allegations, and lack sufficient evidence,” the EU’s trade spokesperson, Olof Gill, said.

“(He) thus called for these investigations to be terminated and informed the Chinese side that the EU will do its utmost to defend the interests of its industries,” Gill added in a statement. 
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Moscow’s decision this week to expand its military capabilities is a sign of the stress that its military is facing in the third year of its slow-moving, full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Analysts say the mobilization’s unpopularity and other factors are driving Russia to look for mercenaries from other countries. Marcus Harton narrates this report from Ricardo Marquina.
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For the second year in a row, specialized summer camps are being held in Ukraine’s Carpathian Mountains for teens who have witnessed traumatic events during the war. Psychologists say instead of focusing on the trauma, they are helping these kids find friends and inner strength. Omelyan Oshchudlyak visited one such camp. Videographer: Yuriy Dankevych
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Copenhagen, Denmark — Swedish authorities on Thursday charged a 52-year-old woman associated with the Islamic State group with genocide, crimes against humanity and serious war crimes against Yazidi women and children in Syria — in the first such case of a person to be tried in the Scandinavian country.

Lina Laina Ishaq, who’s a Swedish citizen, allegedly committed the crimes from August 2014 to December 2016, in Raqqa, the former de facto capital of the self-proclaimed IS caliphate and home to about 300,000 people.

The crimes “took place under IS rule in Raqqa, and this is the first time that IS attacks against the Yazidi minority have been tried in Sweden,” senior prosecutor Reena Devgun said in a statement.

In a separate statement, the Stockholm District Court said the prosecutor claims the woman detained a number of women and children belonging to the Yazidi ethnic group in her residence in Raqqa, and “allegedly exposed them to, among other things, severe suffering, torture or other inhumane treatment as well as for persecution by depriving them of fundamental rights for cultural, religious and gender reasons contrary to general international law.”

According to the indictment, the aim was “completely or partially annihilating the Yazidi ethnic group as such and were part of or otherwise related to an armed conflict,” the court said.

In 2014, IS militants stormed Yazidi towns and villages in Iraq’s Sinjar region and abducted women and children. Women were forced into sexual slavery, and boys were taken to be indoctrinated in jihadi ideology.

The woman earlier had been convicted in Sweden and was sentenced to three years in prison, for taking her 2-year-old son to Syria in 2014, in an area that was then controlled by IS. The woman had claimed that she had told the child’s father that she and the boy were only going on a holiday to Turkey. However, once in Turkey, the two crossed into Syria and the IS-run territory.

In 2017, when the Islamic State’s reign began to collapse, she fled from Raqqa and was captured by Syrian Kurdish troops. She managed to escape to Turkey where she was arrested with her son and two other children, she had given birth to in the meantime, with an IS foreign fighter from Tunisia. She was extradited from Turkey to Sweden.

Before her 2021 conviction, the woman lived in the southern town of Landskrona.

The court said the trial was planned to start Oct. 7 and last approximately two months. Large parts of the trial are to be held behind closed doors.
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AVIGNON, France — Lawyers for some of the men accused of raping an unconscious French woman who had been drugged by her husband questioned her Wednesday about her habits, personal life and sex life, and even questioned whether she was truly unconscious during the encounters.

Gisèle Pelicot’s testimony came a day after her ex-husband, Dominique Pelicot, told the court that for nearly 10 years, he drugged her and invited dozens of men to rape her as she lay defenseless. She fiercely rejected any suggestion that she was anything but an unwitting victim.

“Since I’ve arrived in this courtroom, I’ve felt humiliated. I am treated like an alcoholic, an accomplice. … I have heard it all,” she said at the start of the day’s proceedings, breaking at times with the remarkable calm and stoicism she has shown throughout the often harrowing trial that has gripped France.

Gisèle Pelicot, who was married to her husband for 50 years and shares three children with him, has become a hero to many rape victims and a symbol of the fight against sexual violence in France for waiving her anonymity in the case, letting the trial be public and appearing openly in front of the media.

Her ex-husband and the 50 other men on trial, who range in age from 26 to 74, face up to 20 years in prison if convicted.

Many of the defendants deny having raped Gisèle Pelicot. Some claim they were tricked by Dominique Pelicot, others say they believed she was consenting, and others argue that her husband’s consent was sufficient.

Gisèle Pelicot and her lawyers say the preponderance of evidence — thousands of videos and photos taken by her ex-husband of men having sex with her while she appeared to be unconscious — should be enough to prove she was a victim and was entirely unaware of what Dominique Pelicot was subjecting her to from at least 2011 until 2020.

But on Wednesday, defense lawyers focused their questions on the notion of consent and whether she was aware of what was happening at any point during some of the 90 sexual encounters that prosecutors believe were rapes.

“Don’t you have tendencies that you are not comfortable with?” one lawyer asked Gisèle Pelicot.

“I’m not even going to answer this question, which I find insulting,” she responded, her voice breaking. “I understand why victims of rape don’t press charges. We really spill everything out into the open to humiliate the victim.”

Another lawyer asked whether she was indeed unconscious during one of the encounters captured on video.

“I didn’t give my consent to Mr. Pelicot or these men behind me for one second,” she said, referring to her ex-husband’s co-defendants. “In the state I was in, I could not respond to anybody. I was in a state of coma — the videos will attest to it.”

The line of questioning upset her.

“Since when can a man decide for his wife?” she said, stressing that only one of her ex-husband’s 50 co-defendants had refused his invitation to rape her. That man met Dominique Pelicot online and invited him to rape his own wife, who was also drugged, authorities contend.

“What are these men? Are they degenerates?” she said angrily. “They have committed rapes. That’s all I have to say.”

Another questioned the time and date stamps on the videos, and whether she thought the sexual acts lasted as long as the stamps suggested. “Rape is not a question of time,” she said.

“To talk of minutes, seconds. … It does not matter how long they spent. It’s so degrading, humiliating what I am hearing in this room,” she said.

At one point, Dominique Pelicot, who already said during the trial that all of the accusations against him are true, came out in support of his ex-wife, saying, “Stop suspecting her all the time … I did many things without her knowing.”

On Tuesday, he testified that all of his co-defendants knew exactly what they were doing when he had them over, saying, “They knew everything. They can’t say otherwise.”
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Islamabad/Washington — Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexei Overchuk met with Pakistani officials in Islamabad on Wednesday to deepen economic ties and expand cooperation “across multiple sectors,” as Moscow grapples with U.S. and EU economic sanctions over its war against Ukraine.

Overchuk’s visit comes after two days of meetings between John Bass, U.S. acting undersecretary of state for political affairs, and Pakistani army chief General Asim Munir and Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar in Islamabad.

During a joint press conference with his Russian counterpart Wednesday in Islamabad, Dar said discussions centered on expanding economic ties between the two countries.

Pakistan’s bilateral trade with Russia reached an unprecedented $1 billion last year. The countries are committed to expanding trade ties by addressing logistical and related issues, Dar said.

According to Dar, Pakistan and Russia are expanding ties in many fields, including liquefied natural gas (LNG) purchases. However, sanctions against Russia restrict cooperation between the two countries.

“Even today, we looked at how to expand our relationship, and overcome this constraint of the banking system, which you know are facing sanctions, which obviously constrains our relationship, the volume of our relationship could have been much bigger,” Dar said

Dar said Pakistan and the U.S. Department of State had detailed discussions in October 2023, and American officials agreed to Pakistan’s request to purchase Russian LNG, as long as a committee of U.S. trade officials determines the price.

According to Dar, Pakistan views Russia as an important player in West, South and Central Asia. He said Pakistan aims to work with Moscow toward peace and stability in Afghanistan.

Pakistan’s army media wing said in a statement on Wednesday that Russia’s Overchuk spoke with General Syed Asim Munir, chief of the army staff (COAS), in Rawalpindi.

“Both reiterated Pakistan’s commitment to fostering traditional defense ties with Russia. Both sides reaffirmed their resolve to strengthen security and defense cooperation in multiple domains,” the statement says.

Analysts say the Russian deputy prime minister’s visit and the expansion of cooperation shows Moscow is expanding its influence in the region.

“In my view, a vacuum has emerged after the U.S. exit from Afghanistan, and Russia is positioning itself to fill that void. China is also making efforts in this direction. As a result, Pakistan is working under this policy framework to improve its relations with regional countries, including Russia,” professor Manzoor Afridi, a Pakistani academic on international relations, told VOA.

Muhammad Taimur Fahad Khan, a Pakistani international affairs expert at Institute of Strategic Studies, Islamabad, told VOA, “The primary goal during this period is to enhance trade, strengthen diplomatic ties, and develop infrastructure, particularly in the energy sector. However, the United States has restricted certain aspects of Pakistan’s ballistic missile program, while tensions between Russia and Ukraine have escalated. In this context, Pakistan’s relationship with Russia holds significance.”

Pakistan received its first shipment of Russian liquefied petroleum gas in 2023. Russian President Vladimir Putin and Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif discussed the possibility of liquefied natural gas supplies earlier in July on the sidelines of a Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit at Astana, Kazakhstan.

This story originated in VOA’s Deewa service.
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islamabad — Russia expressed support Wednesday for Pakistan’s entry into the BRICS intergovernmental group of major emerging economies from the Global South.

Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexei Overchuk made the pledge after holding delegation-level talks in Islamabad with Pakistani Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar, who is also the deputy prime minister.

Pakistan announced last November that it had formally requested to join BRICS, which stands for Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.

“We are happy that Pakistan has applied … and we would be supportive of that,” said the Russian deputy prime minister during a joint news conference with Dar when asked about Moscow’s position on Pakistan’s bid to join BRICS.

“At the same time, there is a consensus that needs to be built within the organization to make those decisions,” Overchuk said, noting that “we have shared a very good relationship with Pakistan.”

Moscow initially launched BRICS in 2009 to provide members with a conduit for challenging the world order dominated by the U.S. and its Western allies. South Africa joined in 2010, and the group expanded this year with new members from the Middle East and Africa.

The Russian deputy prime minister said Wednesday that the organization acts as a platform for discussions “based on quality, mutual respect and consensus” among member countries. “It’s actually what is attracting many countries from throughout the world to BRICS,” he stated.

Russia will host the 2024 BRICS Summit in Kazan on October 22-24.  

Overchuk said that Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin would attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, or SCO, heads of government meeting in the Pakistani capital next month. 

The SCO is a security, political and economic grouping launched by China, Russia and Central Asian states in 2001 as a counterweight to Western alliances. It expanded to nine countries after archrivals Pakistan and India joined in 2017 and Iran in 2023.

In a post-talks statement Wednesday, the Pakistan Foreign Ministry quoted Dar as conveying to Overchuk Islamabad’s “desire to intensify bilateral, political, economic and defense dialogue” with Moscow.

The statement said the two sides “agreed to pursue robust dialogue and cooperation” in trade, industry, energy, connectivity, science, technology and education. 
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London — Britain is facing growing pressure to address the issue of reparations for the transatlantic slave trade and other atrocities, as the former colonial power and many of its former colonies prepare to gather for the biennial Commonwealth heads of government meeting next month.

The Commonwealth emerged from the ashes of Britain’s empire after World War II. The vast majority of its 56 members are former British colonies.

The organization is set to choose a new secretary-general at its heads of government meeting October 21-25 in Samoa, as the term of incumbent Patricia Scotland comes to an end.

All three candidates vying for the job — all of whom are from Africa — voiced strong support for reparations at a recent event at London’s Chatham House.

Ghanaian Foreign Minister Shirley Botchwey said reparations could take various forms.

“Financial reparations is good. However, the conversation is now moving to other reparations in kind. And so, either way it’s fine, but I stand for reparations,” she said.

“Whether or not the Commonwealth has a role to play will depend on the heads of government who will give the secretary-general her marching orders: that we want you involved in the conversation of reparations, we want you to put forward a common voice on behalf of all Commonwealth countries,” Botchwey added.

Joshua Setipa, a candidate from Lesotho, said the Commonwealth was the right forum to address the issue. “I support the idea of reparative justice, and I would not wait to be asked to participate,” said Setipa, a former trade minister. “More than half of the members around the table are calling for this to be addressed.”

Mamadou Tangara, Gambia’s candidate for Commonwealth secretary-general who is currently serving as the country’s foreign minister, agreed. “I am fully in support of reparatory justice. But this is a cause, a noble cause, that has to be championed by member states. And the Commonwealth can use its convenient power to facilitate the dialogue and make it happen,” he said.

At the last Commonwealth summit, in Rwanda in 2022, Britain’s then-Prince Charles — who is now king and therefore head of the Commonwealth — spoke of his deep sorrow over the slave trade.

“I want to acknowledge that the roots of our contemporary association run deep into the most painful period of our history,” Charles told delegates in Kigali. “I cannot describe the depths of my personal sorrow at the suffering of so many as I continue to deepen my own understanding of slavery’s enduring impact.”

Britain, however, has rejected any form of reparations.

The issue can no longer be dismissed, said Kingsley Abbott, director of the Institute of Commonwealth Studies at the University of London.

“In my view, sitting here in 2024, the fact of transatlantic slavery, the harm it caused, the harm it continues to cause, and the need for this to be addressed in some way meaningfully, can’t really be ignored any longer. And these expressions of support from the candidates I think mirror the fact that the global movement for reparations is growing,” Abbott said.

“Reparations doesn’t just equal monetary compensation under international law. It can take many forms, like restitution and compensation and rehabilitation and satisfaction, things like meaningful apologies, public acknowledgement, memorialization and things like that,” Abbott told VOA.

“And so, therefore, of course the Commonwealth has a role to play. What the Commonwealth can benefit from is the tremendous amount of very important, thoughtful work that’s been done by people, including from Commonwealth states, on this very issue.”

Former British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak argued in 2023 that “trying to unpick our history is not the right way forward.” His successor, Keir Starmer, is yet to make his position on reparations clear.

The pressure will likely grow, as officials from Britain and many of its former colonies gather, as equals, at the Commonwealth summit next month.
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