VILNIUS, LITHUANIA — Three Baltic states on Saturday cut ties with Russia’s power grid to join the European Union’s network, the culmination of a years-long process that gained urgency with Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.

Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania — all former Soviet republics now in the European Union and NATO — had wanted to block Russia’s ability to geopolitically blackmail them via the electricity system.

“We have removed any theoretical possibility of Russia using energy (grid) control as a weapon,” Lithuania’s Energy Minister Zygimantas Vaiciunas told AFP on Saturday.

EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas — Estonia’s former prime minister — had on Friday hailed the grid switch as “a victory for freedom and European unity.”

Vaiciunas said the Baltic states had completed the disconnection process at 9:09 local time (0709 GMT) on Saturday.

“We have been waiting for this moment for a long time,” he told reporters, after speaking with his Estonian and Latvian counterparts.

“The energy system of the Baltic states is finally in our own hands. We are in control,” he added of the “historic” moment.

He said the Baltics were now operating in so-called “isolated mode,” before they integrate with the European grid on Sunday.

Official celebrations are planned across the Baltics, and authorities were on guard for any potential cyber-attacks linked to the grid switch.

Latvia will physically cut a power line to Russia later Saturday and European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen is to attend a ceremony with Baltic leaders in Vilnius on Sunday.

The Baltics have long prepared to integrate with the European grid but faced technological and financial issues.

The switch became more urgent after Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, spooking the Baltic states into thinking they could be targeted.

They stopped purchasing Russian gas and electricity after the invasion, but their power grids remained connected to Russia and Belarus, controlled from Moscow.

This left them dependent on Moscow for a stable electricity flow, which is crucial for factories and facilities requiring a reliable power supply.

‘Possible provocations’

The Baltic states will operate in “isolated mode” for about 24 hours to test their frequency, or power levels, according to Lithuania’s state-run grid operator Litgrid.

“We need to carry out some tests to assure Europe that we are a stable energy system,” Litgrid head Rokas Masiulis had said last month.

“We’ll switch power stations on and off, observe how the frequency fluctuates and assess our ability to control it.”

The states will then integrate into the European power grid via Poland.

Authorities have warned of potential risks linked to the change.

“Various short-term risks are possible, such as kinetic operations against critical infrastructure, cyber-attacks and disinformation campaigns,” Lithuania’s state security department told AFP.

Poland’s power grid operator PSE had said it would use helicopters and drones to patrol the connection with Lithuania.

Latvian President Edgars Rinkevics told LTV1 the countries could not “rule out possible provocations.”

In Estonia, police and volunteer defense corps will man critical electrical infrastructure until next weekend because of the risk of sabotage.

Several undersea telecom and power cables have been severed in the Baltic Sea in recent months. Some experts and politicians have accused Russia of waging a hybrid war, an allegation Moscow denies.

‘People won’t feel it’

A total of $1.7 billion — mostly EU funds — has been invested in the synchronization project across the Baltic states and Poland.

Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda was sure the switch would go smoothly, telling reporters: “People won’t feel it, either in terms of their bills or any inconvenience.”

Estonia’s climate ministry urged everyone to carry on as usual as “the more regular and predictable the behavior … the easier it is to manage the power grid.”

But some consumers worried about power cuts and home improvement stores in Estonia had noted a sharp increase in sales of generators.

After the Baltic decoupling, the energy system in the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad will lose its grid connection to mainland Russia.

Kaliningrad has been building up power generation capacity for years and Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov dismissed all concerns.

Asked about the cut-off last week, he said: “We have taken all measures to ensure the uninterrupted reliable operation of our unified energy system.”
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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has not confirmed that he will meet with U.S. President Donald Trump next week but said the coming weeks may be “very intensive in diplomacy.”

Trump said on Feb. 7 that he is likely to meet with Zelenskyy next week. The site of the meeting “could be Washington,” he said, adding that he would not be going to Kyiv.

He also said he would “probably” be speaking with Russian President Vladimir Putin soon but did not give a time frame. Zelenskyy said it is important that he and Trump meet in person before the U.S. president meets with Putin.

Zelenskyy did not confirm a meeting with Trump but said diplomacy would be ramping up.

“The coming weeks may be very intensive in diplomacy, and we will do what’s needed to make this time effective and productive. We always appreciate working with President Trump,” he said shortly after Trump spoke.

“Weʼre also planning meetings and talks at the teams level. Right now Ukrainian and American teams are working out the details. A solid, lasting peace shall become closer.”

In his comments earlier at the White House, the U.S. president reiterated that he is interested in tying continued military aid to access to Ukraine’s raw materials.

“One of the things we’re looking at with President Zelenskyy is having the security of their assets. They have assets underground, rare earth and other things, but primarily rare earth,” he said.

“We’re looking to do a deal with Ukraine where they’re going to secure what we’re giving them with their rare earths and other things,” Trump said on Feb. 3.

He said on Feb. 7 that the United States wants “an equal amount of something” in exchange for U.S. support. “We would like them to equalize,” Trump said.

More than four dozen minerals, including several types of rare earths, nickel and lithium, are considered critical to the U.S. economy and national defense. Ukraine has large deposits of uranium, lithium and titanium.

Ukraine floated the idea of opening its critical minerals to investment by allies last year when it presented its plan to end the war and now suggests it could be open to a deal.

“If we are talking about a deal, then let’s do a deal. We are only for it,” Zelenskyy said on Feb. 7, emphasizing Ukraine’s need for security guarantees from its allies as part of any settlement of the war.

“Strong security always has many elements, and each one matters,” he said on X. “Ukraine possesses some of the largest strategic resource reserves in Europe, and protecting Ukraine also means protecting these resources.”

Less than 20% of Ukraine’s mineral resources, including about half its rare earth deposits, are under Russian occupation, Zelenskyy said in an interview with Reuters published on Feb. 7. Moscow could open those resources to North Korea and Iran if it maintains its hold on the territories.

“We need to stop Putin and protect what we have — a very rich Dnipro region, central Ukraine,” he told Reuters.

Zelenskyy is likely to further discuss the idea with allies next week at the Munich Security Conference.

Trump’s special envoy for Ukraine and Russia, Keith Kellogg, said this week he plans to attend the conference but denied a report that he will present Trump’s plan for ending the war in Ukraine at the gathering, which starts Feb. 14.

Andriy Yermak, Zelenskyy’s chief of staff, said he had spoken to Kellogg about the battlefield situation, the safety of Ukrainian civilians and meetings at the annual security conference. He also said Ukraine is looking forward to Kellogg’s visit later this month.

Some information for this report came from Reuters and dpa.
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Sweden said Friday it wants to tighten its gun laws, following a lone gunman’s mass shooting of 10 people Tuesday with his licensed firearms at an education center in Orebro, about 200 kilometers west of Stockholm.

After killing seven women and three men between the ages of 28 and 68, the attacker apparently killed himself with one of his weapons.

The coalition government said in a statement that it has come to an agreement on a proposal restricting access to semiautomatic weapons, specifically citing the AR-15 rifle, which has been used in several U.S. shootings. It is “an example of a weapon that is compatible with large magazines and can cause a lot of damage in a short time,” the statement said.

“There are certain types of weapons that are so dangerous that they should only be possessed for civilian purposes as an exception,” the government said.

While it is not immediately clear what weapons were used in Tuesday’s shooting, Justice Minister Gunnar Strommer told Reuters a ban on the AR-15 would be a “preventative measure.”

Sweden’s government also called for a reassessment of the requirements for hunting licenses that would allow Swedes to possess an AR-15, which could then be used, with some adjustments, in a mass shooting.

AR-15 rifles have been allowed in Sweden for hunting since 2023, Reuters reported and since then 3,500 licenses have been issued.

Police have not revealed what weapons were used in this week’s incident but have said that three rifles found near the suspect’s body were licensed to him. Police have seized a fourth gun also licensed to the suspect.

Police say they have not determined a motive for the shootings. However, Broadcaster TV4 has shown a video shot by a student hiding in a bathroom during the ordeal.  Someone can be heard in the video shouting, “You will leave Europe.”

The police have not released the nationalities of the victims, nor have they released the identity of the shooter.

The Swedish press, however, has identified the suspect as 35-year-old Rickard Andersson, whom they describe as a recluse with mental health issues.  
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VOA Russian spoke to U.S. experts who outline how a mix of U.S. sanctions, export controls and other methods of applying pressure on the Russian economy can help President Donald Trump’s administration to force Moscow to stop the war in Ukraine. Experts agree that if Russian President Vladimir Putin does not engage in negotiations, the U.S. should expand punitive economic measures to hurt the Russian economy, so Moscow simply won’t have resources to continue the war. 

Click here for the full story in Russian.

 
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While Russia is still controlling Central Asian countries politically and economically, those states are also looking for new partners, especially with China, to help ensure their own development. And according to the regional experts, even if the U.S. starts a tough policy against Beijing, it will not have a serious impact on Central Asia, and they will not stop their economic relations with China. 

Click here for the full story in Uzbek. 
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The U.S. special envoy to Russia and Ukraine said Thursday the U.S. plans to significantly step up pressure on Russia through sanctions to end the war in Ukraine. 

In an exclusive interview with the New York Post, Special Envoy Keith Kellogg said there is a lot of room to increase sanctions on Russia, particularly in Russia’s energy sector. He characterized sanctions enforcement on Russia as “only about a 3” on a scale of 1 to 10 on “how painful the economic pressure can be.” 

Kellogg told the Post he understands that both Moscow and Kyiv will have to make concessions to end what he called the “industrial-sized” killing in the war. 

In the interview, Kellogg also was critical of the approach by the administration of former President Joe Biden of “supporting Ukraine as long as it takes,” calling it “a bumper sticker, not a strategy.” 

Kellogg said the Trump administration is focused on a “holistic approach” to ending the war, combining support for Ukraine with increased pressure on Russia. 

Kellogg’s Chief of Staff Ludovic Hood echoed those sentiments when he told the GLOBSEC Transatlantic Forum in Washington on Thursday, “Nothing’s off the table at this stage” as far as negotiations for a peace deal. 

Meanwhile, Ukraine’s presidential website reported the U.S. special envoy also spoke Thursday with Ukraine’s head of the office of the president, Andriy Yermak. In a statement, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s office said the two discussed Kellogg’s upcoming visit to Ukraine, as well as the situation on the front lines and security issues for Ukrainian civilians.  

The statement said the two gave “special attention” in their conversation to the upcoming Munich Security Conference, scheduled to begin in one week. 

In a separate interview with the Associated Press on Thursday, Yermak stressed the importance of “active engagement” between Ukraine and the Trump administration, particularly as any peace negotiations. 

Yermak emphasized the importance of keeping the Trump White House up to date and providing accurate information about the battlefield situation. He said direct communication with U.S. partners is crucial for establishing a shared position, because it is impossible to form any peace plans without Ukraine. 

Meanwhile, in the latest reports from the battlefield, Ukraine’s air force reported Friday – from its Telegram social media account – Russian attacks across multiple Ukrainian regions killed at least three civilians and injured five over the past 24 hours.  

The report said Ukrainian air defenses shot down 81 of 112 Shahed combat drones and decoy drones Russia launched over nine oblasts, or regions, while 31 other drones were lost without causing damage.

From his Telegram account, Kherson Governor Oleksandr Prokudin said Russian shelling killed one person and wounded five others, and two high-rise buildings and six private houses were damaged. 

The regional administration in Sumy Oblast says two people were killed when Russian shelling destroyed a two-story apartment building. The report said the victims’ bodies were found in the rubble as rescue crews cleared the area and there are fears more bodies could be found.  

 
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WASHINGTON — U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday authorized economic and travel sanctions targeting people who work on International Criminal Court investigations of U.S. citizens or U.S. allies such as Israel, repeating action he took during his first term.  

The move coincides with a visit to Washington by Israel’s Prime Minister Benajmin Netanyahu, who — along with his former defense minister and a leader of Palestinian militant group Hamas — is wanted by the ICC over the war in the Gaza Strip.  

It was unclear how quickly the U.S. would announce names of people sanctioned. During the first Trump administration in 2020, Washington imposed sanctions on then-prosecutor Fatou Bensouda and one of her top aides over the ICC’s investigation into alleged war crimes by American troops in Afghanistan. 

The ICC did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The sanctions include freezing any U.S. assets of those designated and barring them and their families from visiting the United States. 

The 125-member ICC is a permanent court that can prosecute individuals for war crimes, crimes against humanity, genocide and the crime of aggression against the territory of member states or by their nationals. The United States, China, Russia and Israel are not members.  

Trump signed the executive order after U.S. Senate Democrats last week blocked a Republican-led effort to pass legislation setting up a sanctions regime targeting the war crimes court.  

The court has taken measures to shield staff from possible U.S. sanctions, paying salaries three months in advance, as it braced for financial restrictions that could cripple the war crimes tribunal, sources told Reuters last month. 

In December, the court’s president, judge Tomoko Akane, warned that sanctions would “rapidly undermine the Court’s operations in all situations and cases, and jeopardize its very existence.”

Russia has also taken aim at the court. In 2023, the ICC issued an arrest warrant for President Vladimir Putin, accusing him of the war crime of illegally deporting hundreds of children from Ukraine. Russia has banned entry to ICC chief prosecutor Karim Khan and placed him and two ICC judges on its wanted list. 
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Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy paid tribute to the country’s “warriors” in the Kursk operation in an address Thursday marking the six-month anniversary of the operation in Russia.

“With our active operation on Russian territory, we have brought the war home to Russia, and it is there that they must feel what war is.  And they do,” Zelenskyy said in his daily address.

He said Ukrainian soldiers have shown that, even with limited resources, Ukraine can “act decisively, unexpectedly, and effectively.”

“We are exposing Russia’s bluff for what it is – a bluff,” he said.

In its description of the operation, the Institute for the Study of War, a Washington-based research and advocacy organization, cited the ability of a small group of Ukrainian troops in Kursk oblast to complicate Russian efforts to advance in Ukraine and undermine the Russian military to launch or renew offensive operations in what it called “low-priority areas of the front line.”

“The war in Ukraine, in other words, is not permanently stalemated. Either side can potentially restore, maneuver and begin to gain or regain significant territory. Russia will be able to do so if the West reduces or cuts off aid. Ukraine may be able to do so if Western support continues to empower Ukrainian innovation,” the Institute said in a Thursday news release.

Ukrainian officials reported damage Thursday at a market in the northeastern city of Kharkiv after the latest round of overnight Russian drone attacks targeting multiple parts of the country.

Kharkiv Governor Oleh Syniehubov said on Telegram that debris from a downed drone damaged power lines in the city.

Ukraine’s military said its air defenses shot down 56 of the 77 total drones deployed by Russian forces.

The intercepts took place over the Cherkasy, Chernihiv, Dnipropetrovsk, Kharkiv, Kyiv, Odesa, Poltava, Sumy, Vinnytsia, Zaporizhzhia and Zhytomyr regions, according to the military.

Dnipropetrovsk Governor Serhiy Lysask said on Telegram that Russian drone attacks and shelling damaged more than 10 houses in his region.

Russia’s Defense Ministry said Thursday it destroyed 28 Ukrainian drones overnight.

About half of the drones were shot down over the Sea of Azov, the ministry said, while Russian forces destroyed the others of the Rostov, Krasnodar and Astrakhan regions.

Belgorod Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said a drone struck a car in the village of Logachyovka, killing three people.

Some information for this report came from Agence France-Presse and Reuters.
…

Azerbaijani authorities detained two more journalists this week, bringing the number held in the past year to nearly two dozen.

Police on Wednesday arrested Shamshad Agha, of the news website Argument, and Shahnaz Beylargizi of Toplum TV. A court in the capital, Baku, on Thursday ordered the journalists to be held in pretrial detention for two months and one day, and three months and 15 days respectively, according to their lawyers.

The journalists are charged with smuggling — a charge used in several other cases since November 2023, as authorities detained at least 23 journalists.

Many of those currently detained had worked for the independent outlets Abzas Media and Meydan TV.

All the journalists being investigated since November 2023 have denied wrongdoing, and media watchdogs say they believe the cases are designed to silence media.

The Committee to Protect Journalists, or CPJ, said that Agha’s arrest “underscores a grim intent by Azerbaijani authorities to silence and further restrict the country’s small and embattled independent media community.”

“Azerbaijan’s government should immediately reverse its unprecedented media crackdown and release Agha along with all other unjustly jailed journalists,” said a statement from CPJ’s Gulnoza Said.

Bashir Suleymanli, who is head of the Baku-based legal assistance group known as the Institute of Civil Rights, believes that the arrests are an attempt by authorities to stifle free speech.

“It seems that the process will continue until the complete elimination of independent journalism in the country,” he told VOA.

Lawmaker Bahruz Maharramov, however, says the arrests are not a press freedom issue.

“Law enforcement agencies have taken relevant measures based on facts and irrefutable evidence, the authenticity of which is beyond doubt,” he told VOA. “Of course, since such media organizations are formed more as instruments of influence of the West, the legal and judicial measures taken against them are observed with inadequate reactions from the West.”

Based in Azerbaijan, human rights activist Samir Kazimli says that independent media and news outlets critical of the government are undergoing a difficult period.

“If this policy of repression does not stop, independent media in Azerbaijan may be completely destroyed,” he told VOA.

Kazimli said that the international community, including rights groups, politicians and U.S. and European officials “must take steps using urgent and effective mechanisms to stop the Azerbaijani authorities’ attacks on civil society and independent media.”

One of the journalists detained this week had recently spoken out about concerns for the future of independent media in Azerbaijan.

“The lives of all independent journalists are in danger,” Agha told VOA in January.

The editor of Argument, a news website covering democracy, corruption and human rights, said he has been banned from leaving the country since July.

The research organization Freedom House describes Azerbaijan as an “authoritarian regime” and states that authorities have “carried out an extensive crackdown on civil liberties in recent years.”

Elshan Hasanov of the Political Prisoners Monitoring Center told VOA that the total number of detainees documented by the Azeri nonprofit is 331.

Azerbaijani authorities reject criticism on detainees as biased.

Parliamentarian Maharramov told VOA that media in the country are free and that conditions for providing everyone with information, including diversity of opinion and freedom of action in the media sector as a whole, are fully ensured.

Azerbaijan is among the worst jailers of journalists in the world, according to data by the CPJ. The country ranks 164 out of 180 on the Press Freedom Index, where 1 shows the best environment for media. 

This story originated in VOA’s Azeri Service.
…

Police in Sweden investigating the nation’s worst mass shooting said at a news briefing Thursday that the scene at an adult learning center was an “inferno” of smoke, with injured and dead victims.

The attack on Tuesday left 10 people dead, including the suspected shooter, at Campus Risbergska in the city of Orebro, about 200 kilometers west of Stockholm. The facility offers adult courses, including Swedish language classes for immigrants. Law enforcement officials say the shooter, who Swedish media have identified as 35-year-old Rickard Andersson, may have been a student at the center.

Law enforcement officials have not officially identified the suspect, whose cause of death remains unclear.

Orebro police Chief Lars Wiren said at the news conference Thursday that about 130 officers arrived at the scene within 10 minutes of an alarm, where they found “dead people, injured people, screams and smoke.”

As officers entered the building, they reported it was partially filled with smoke, making it difficult for them to see. They reported gunfire that they believed was directed at them but reportedly did not return fire.

Police said the smoke was not caused by fire but by “some sort of pyrotechnics.” Several officers had to seek medical treatment for smoke inhalation.

Chief investigator Anna Bergkvist said Thursday that the suspect had a license for four guns, all of which have been confiscated.

“Three of those weapons were next to him when police secured him inside the building,” she said.

Bergkvist said investigators have not determined a motive for the mass shooting, telling Agence France-Presse that “multiple nationalities, different genders and different ages” were among those who were killed.

Some information for this report came from The Associated Press, Reuters and Agence France-Presse.
…

VILNIUS, LITHUANIA — Nearly 3 1/2 decades after leaving the Soviet Union, the Baltic countries of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania this weekend will flip a switch to end electricity-grid connections to neighboring Russia and Belarus — and turn to their European Union allies.

The severing of electricity ties to oil- and gas-rich Russia is steeped in geopolitical and symbolic significance. Work toward it sped up after Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered his troops to invade Ukraine three years ago, battering Moscow’s EU relations.

“This is physical disconnection from the last remaining element of our reliance on the Russian and Belarusian energy system,” Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda told The Associated Press in a recent interview.

EU chief Ursula von der Leyen and other dignitaries are expected at a ceremony on Sunday as a specially-made 9-meter-tall clock in downtown Vilnius counts down the final seconds of the Baltic states’ electricity ties to Russia.

Chilly ties since the fall of the Soviet Union

The Baltic countries, which are all NATO members, have often had chilly ties with Russia since declaring independence from the USSR in 1990 — and relations soured further over Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

Sixteen power lines that used to connect the three Baltic states with Russia and Belarus were dismantled over the years as a new grid linking them with the rest of the EU was created, including underwater cables in the Baltic Sea.

On Saturday, all remaining transmission lines between them and Russia, Belarus and Russia’s Kaliningrad — a Russian exclave wedged between EU members Poland and Lithuania and the sea — will be switched off one by one.

Then, for 24 hours, the Baltic Power System will operate solo in an “island operation mode.” The next day, the power system is set to merge with the Continental European and Nordic grids through several links with Finland, Sweden and Poland.

The Kaliningrad region, which has no land ties to mainland Russia, already relies on its own power generation, according to Litgrid, Lithuania’s electricity transmission system operator.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said that the disconnection plan was announced in advance by the Baltic countries and the Russian energy sector had taken preparatory steps to ensure smooth operation on its side.

“Those plans were announced a long time ago, and they required certain actions by our and their electric companies,” Peskov told reporters. “We have taken all necessary measures to ensure reliable and uninterrupted operation of our unified energy system.”

Risks of troublemaking?

The three Baltic countries, which together share a 1,633-kilometer-long border with Russia and Belarus, officially informed Moscow and Minsk of the disconnection plan in July. Their national transmission system operators credited 1.2 billion euros, or $1.25 billion, in EU and other support, to help the countries synchronize with the Continental Europe Synchronous Area.

“Lithuania has done a lot in the last 30 years to disconnect, to become independent,” Nausėda said. Three years ago, “we stopped buying any kind of energy resources from Russia. It was our response to the war in Ukraine.”

Despite the advance notice, the Baltic nations are still on watch for a possible response from their former Soviet partners.

“The risk of cyberattacks remains substantial,” Litgrid said last week, adding that continued vigilance, collaboration, defensive steps and “robust” cybersecurity measures were needed to effectively mitigate potential threats.

Latvian Prime Minister Evika Siliņa warned Wednesday of possible provocations, but said Latvia was well-prepared and services including the armed forces and national guard were stepping up their vigilance and security measures.

“Clearly there are risks, we understand that very well. But the risks are identified and there is a contingency plan in case these risks materialize,” Siliņa said.

After the disconnection plans were announced, propaganda campaigns cropped up on social media and in printed leaflets in city streets that issued fake-news warnings about blackouts, severe energy shortages and sky-high energy bills for consumers.

“We heard those rumors, but we are used to such things already,” said Jolanta Karavaitiene, a retired teacher, in central Vilnius. “Of course, we must disconnect from them. Given the geopolitical situation, I see no reason for us to be there (in the Russian grid).”

Still, some in the region were taking precautionary measures.

Estonia’s public broadcaster ERR has reported surging sales of generators. Home appliance chain Bauhof sold dozens more generators last month compared to January a year ago, and rival Ehituse ABC had to limit their purchases the report said.

A long road toward energy independence

The Baltic countries’ steps toward energy independence have been decades in the making.

In 2003, prior to joining the EU, Lithuania decided to shut down the Soviet-built Ignalina nuclear power plant in response to concerns in Brussels over its safety. It was decommissioned in 2009.

Lithuania built an offshore oil terminal in the Baltic Sea in 1999. Seven years later, it became the country’s sole crude oil import point after Russia’s surprise move to halt supplies of oil to Lithuania through Russia’s vast Druzhba pipeline network.

Rokas Masiulis, the CEO of Litgrid, said Lithuania has “suffered a great deal” because of Russian actions in the past, such as through halting oil supplies and jacking up prices for gas that his country once depended on.

He said Lithuania today has “much more than we need” in terms of electricity capacity, from both fossil fuels but also increasingly solar and wind. “So we are safe,” he said.

The disconnection with Russia “is neither bad for them, (nor) bad for us,” Masiulis said. “We were sort of interconnected and interdependent on each other. Now we will just part our ways.”

The three Baltic countries have rebuilt power lines and launched a vast construction and reconstruction program to turn their networks away from Russia and toward the West, the Litgrid CEO added, calling it a technological feat.

“Actions by Russia — by them being aggressive and pushing their neighbors — has really helped us,” Masiulis said. “Maybe we’ve suffered a little with oil prices, with gas prices, but we were forced to act. So we built alternative routes.”

“Now we’re in much better state than we were before,” he added. “So maybe they wished us ill, but ultimately everything worked very well for us.” 
…

Ukrainian officials reported damage Thursday at a market in the northeastern city of Kharkiv after the latest round of overnight Russian drone attacks targeting multiple parts of the country.

Kharkiv Governor Oleh Syniehubov said on Telegram that debris from a downed drone damaged power lines in the city.

Ukraine’s military said its air defenses shot down 56 of the 77 total drones deployed by Russian forces.

The intercepts took place over the Cherkasy, Chernihiv, Dnipropetrovsk, Kharkiv, Kyiv, Odesa, Poltava, Sumy, Vinnytsia, Zaporizhzhia and Zhytomyr regions, according to the military.

Dnipropetrovsk Governor Serhiy Lysask said on Telegram that Russian drone attacks and shelling damaged more than 10 houses in his region.

Russia’s Defense Ministry said Thursday it destroyed 28 Ukrainian drones overnight.

About half of the drones were shot down over the Sea of Azov, the ministry said, while Russian forces destroyed the others of the Rostov, Krasnodar and Astrakhan regions.

Belgorod Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said a drone struck a car in the village of Logachyovka, killing three people. 

Some information for this report came from Agence France-Presse and Reuters.
…

WASHINGTON — U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday stopped U.S. engagement with the U.N. Human Rights Council, extended a halt to funding for the Palestinian relief agency UNRWA and ordered a review of the U.N. cultural agency UNESCO.

“It’s got great potential and based on the potential we’ll continue to go along with it, but they got to get their act together,” Trump told reporters. “It’s not being well run, to be honest and they’re not doing the job.

“A lot of these conflicts that we’re working on should be settled, or at least we should have some help in settling them. We never seem to get help. That should be the primary purpose of the United Nations,” the U.S. president said.

U.N. spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said, “From day one, U.S. support for the United Nations has saved countless lives and advanced global security.”

“The secretary-general looks forward to continuing his productive relationship with President Trump and the U.S. government to strengthen that relationship in today’s turbulent world.”

Trump said that he was not looking to take away money from the 193-member world body, though he complained that Washington had to pay a disproportionate amount.

Washington is the U.N.’s largest contributor – followed by China – accounting for 22% of the core U.N. budget and 27% of the peacekeeping budget. The U.N. has said the U.S. currently owes a total of $2.8 billion, of which $1.5 billion is for the regular budget. These payments are not voluntary.

UNRWA

Trump’s order on Tuesday was largely symbolic and mirrored moves he made during his first term in office, from 2017-2021.

Since taking office for a second term on Jan. 20, Trump has ordered the U.S. to withdraw from the World Health Organization and from the Paris climate agreement – also steps he took during his first term in office.

The U.S. was UNRWA’s biggest donor – providing $300 million-$400 million a year – but former President Joe Biden paused funding in January 2024 after Israel accused about a dozen UNRWA staff of taking part in the deadly Oct. 7, 2023, attack by Palestinian militants Hamas that triggered the war in Gaza.

The U.S. Congress then formally suspended contributions to UNRWA until at least March 2025. UNRWA provides aid, health and education services to millions of Palestinians in Gaza, the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, Syria, Lebanon and Jordan.

The United Nations has said that nine UNRWA staff may have been involved in the Oct. 7, 2023, attack and were fired. A Hamas commander in Lebanon – killed in September by Israel – was also found to have had a UNRWA job. The U.N. has vowed to investigate all accusations made and repeatedly asked Israel for evidence, which it says has not been provided.

Human Rights Council

The first Trump administration also quit the 47-member Human Rights Council halfway through a three-year term over what it called chronic bias against Israel and a lack of reform. The U.S. is not currently a member of the Geneva-based body. Under Biden, the U.S. was re-elected and served a 2022-2024 term.

A council working group is due to review the U.S. human rights record later this year, a process all countries undergo every few years. While the council has no legally binding power, its debates carry political weight and criticism can raise global pressure on governments to change course.

Trump’s executive order on Tuesday also asks Secretary of State Marco Rubio to review and report back to him on international organizations, conventions, or treaties that “promote radical or anti-American sentiment.”

He specified that the U.N. Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) should be reviewed first because Washington had previously accused it of anti-Israel bias.
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Santorini, Greece — More Greek islands closed schools Tuesday as hundreds of earthquakes rattled the Aegean Sea, while a handful of hardy tourists enjoyed having Santorini’s stunning views to themselves.

Thousands of residents and seasonal workers have left the Cycladic Islands as hundreds of quakes up to magnitude 5 were recorded in the volcanic region since Friday. Ferry and commercial flight operators added services to accommodate departures.

The quakes have caused cracks in some older buildings but no injuries have been reported so far. On Tuesday, schools were shut on 13 islands, up from four the previous day. Santorini earlier canceled public events, restricted travel to the island and banned construction work in certain areas.

Efthimios Lekkas, head of the state-run Earthquake Planning and Protection Organization, said that the epicenter of earthquakes in the Aegean Sea was moving northward away from Santorini, emphasizing that there was no connection to the area’s dormant volcanoes.

“This may last several days or several weeks. We are not able to predict the evolution of the sequence in time,” Lekkas told state-run television.

In Santorini’s main town, Fira, the narrow, whitewashed streets along the island’s clifftops were deserted — a rare sight even in the offseason — except for small pockets of tour groups, many from Asian countries.

Joseph Liu, from Guangzhou in southern China, said that he had wanted to visit Santorini for years after seeing it in a documentary. He joined family and tour group members on a balcony deck typically used for high-end wedding receptions.

“This place is amazing, really beautiful. Just like I saw in the program: the mystery, the scenery,” he said. “The [group] leader told us about the earthquakes before we came so it was not a surprise.”

Retired police officer and ship worker Panagiotis Hatzigeorgiou, who has lived on Santorini for more than three decades, said that he has turned down offers to stay with relatives in Athens.

“Older residents are used to the earthquakes … But it’s different this time. It’s not the same to have earthquakes every 2-3 minutes. The main thing is not to worry,” he said, adding with a laugh: “Now we can listen to music alone and have coffee by ourselves.”

In Athens, government officials are continuing to hold daily high-level planning and assessment meetings with briefings from island officials.
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French President Emmanuel Macron has asked the United Nations to consider sending a peacekeeping force to Haiti.  The suggestion was made in a letter Macron sent to the U.N. after meeting with Leslie Voltaire, resident of Haiti’s Transitional Presidential Council at the Elysee Palace in Paris.

Click here for the full story in Creole.
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BRUSSELS — European Union leaders agreed Monday to do more to bolster their defenses against Russia and other threats by hiking spending and filling gaps in their military capabilities.

“A lot has been done already but we need to do more. We need to do it better, stronger, faster – and we need to do it together,” Antonio Costa, the president of the European Council of EU leaders, said after a one-day summit on defense in Brussels.

However, the leaders left largely unanswered the question of how their planned surge in defense spending would be paid for.

European countries have already ramped up defense spending in recent years, in response to Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine and a growing view that they cannot rely so much on the United States to protect the continent in years to come.

Their efforts have been fueled by questions about U.S. President Donald Trump’s commitment to the NATO security alliance and by his demands for European nations to spend more on the continent’s defenses.

The start of the EU summit was overshadowed by Trump declaring at the weekend that he will soon impose tariffs on imports from the EU, having ordered similar measures on goods from Canada and Mexico – which were paused on Monday – and from China.

The EU leaders agreed to focus on filling critical gaps in their defenses such as air and missile defense, missiles, ammunition and military transport, Costa told reporters.

The leaders discussed how such priorities could be funded but did not reach a detailed agreement. The European Commission, however, agreed to look for flexibility in rules it oversees on EU countries’ public finances to make defense spending easier.

“Europe needs, basically, a surge in defense. And for that, our defense industrial base must be strengthened,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen told reporters after the summit.

“For many, many years, we have under-invested in defense. Thus, there’s a great urgency to increase the defense spending with a big magnitude,” she said.

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer also took part in the Brussels talks.

Spending hike

Last year, EU countries spent an average of 1.9% of GDP on defense, or about $334.5 billion – a 30% increase on 2021, according to EU estimates.

But many EU leaders have said they will need to spend even more. The Commission, the EU’s executive body, has estimated the bloc may need to spend an extra $510 billion over the next decade to fill the critical gaps in European defenses.

Trump has said NATO’s European members should spend 5% of GDP on defense – a figure no member of the alliance including the United States currently reaches.

Von der Leyen and Costa said the EU had several potential defense-financing options, including national spending, an expanded role for the EU’s European Investment Bank and private capital.

Leaders avoided directly addressing in public the politically sensitive question of whether the EU should issue joint debt to pay for defense spending.

Diplomats say borrowing to finance loans rather than grants for military projects may be a possible compromise.
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A Russian missile attack Tuesday killed at least four people in the Kharkiv region in eastern Ukraine, officials said.

Kharkiv Governor Oleh Syniehubov said on Telegram the missile hit the central part of the city of Izyum and also injured 20 people.

Syniehubov said the attack damaged a five-story residential building as well as multiple administrative buildings.

Earlier Tuesday, Ukrainian officials said Russian drone attacks overnight damaged houses and other buildings in multiple regions. 

Ukraine’s military said its air defenses shot down 37 of the 65 drones that Russian forces launched in the attacks, with intercepts taking place in the Cherkasy, Chernihiv, Kyiv, Poltava and Sumy regions.

The Sumy Regional Military Administration said the attacks damaged eight houses and a school in the region.

Cherkasy Governor Ihor Taburets said on Telegram that debris from destroyed drones caused fires at three businesses.

In Kyiv, officials said falling drone debris damaged several schools and a clinic.

Russia’s Defense Ministry said Tuesday its air defenses destroyed a Ukrainian guided missile over the Sea of Azov.

Rare earth minerals

U.S. President Donald Trump said Monday he possibly would be interested in continuing U.S. aid to Ukraine in exchange for access to Ukraine’s rare earth minerals.

“We’re putting in hundreds of billions of dollars. They have great rare earth. And I want security of the rare earth, and they’re willing to do it,” Trump told reporters at the White House.

Rare earth minerals like those in Ukraine include lithium and titanium. They are essential for an array of modern high-tech products.

In his daily address Monday, before Trump’s announcement, Ukraine’s president reiterated the country’s need to defend itself against Russia’s ongoing attacks. He said Russia is “focusing primarily” on Ukraine’s energy sector.

“They continue their attacks, constantly adjusting their strikes to the capabilities of our defense, making them more difficult to repel,” Volodymyr Zelenskyy said.

“There is a constant rapid evolution of electronic warfare,” the president said and urged Ukraine to “be much faster” in adjusting to the continuous changes.

The supply of air defense systems for Ukraine is another issue for the Eastern European country. Zelenskyy said that the supplies of the systems for Ukraine are “critical and must not stop.”

“We must constantly search worldwide for ways to strengthen defense, increase production of necessary equipment in Ukraine, expand localization of production and obtain licenses from our partners,” the president said. “This is a huge undertaking, and much of Ukraine’s future depends on it.”

Some information for this story was provided by The Associated Press and Reuters.
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