US, Ukraine to sign security agreement
U.S. President Joe Biden and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy are set to sign a long-term defense and security agreement Thursday at the Group of Seven summit in Italy. Signing the agreement, said White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan, notifies…
US expands sanctions against Russia
The United States widened sanctions on Russia Wednesday, targeting more than 300 new entities and people “whose products and services enable Russia to sustain its war effort and evade sanctions.” A U.S. Treasury Department statement said the list includes dozens…
Despite war, surrogacy in Ukraine keeps flourishing
Before Russia’s invasion, Ukraine was an international surrogacy hub. Relatively low cost and a favorable legal framework led to thousands of babies born every year thanks to Ukrainian surrogate mothers, many of them for overseas parents. Despite the war and…
EU to hit Chinese electric vehicles with increased tariffs
The European Commission said Wednesday it plans to impose increased duties of up to 38% on imported Chinese electric vehicles starting in July, escalating a trade dispute that Brussels sees as part of an effort to protect EU-bloc manufacturers. The…
Ukraine Recovery Conference: UN sounds alarm over humanitarian funding
Speaking on behalf of Secretary-General António Guterres, UNDP Administrator Achim Steiner said the UN and partners were continuing to deliver “critical humanitarian assistance”, focusing on communities on the frontlines, but there is “growing concern about the decrease in humanitarian funding…
Russian officials report deadly Ukrainian attack on Belgorod, while Russia attacks Kyiv
Officials in Russia’s Belgorod region said Wednesday that Ukrainian shelling killed at least one person and wounded three others. Vyacheslav Gladkov, the regional governor, said on Telegram the attack hit the town of Shebekino, which is located close to the…
Zelenskyy declares Europe ‘must be a continent without war’
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy delivered an emotional address Tuesday to lawmakers at Germany’s Bundestag, speaking about Europe’s long history of war that has denied peace to generations of Europeans. “That is why the dream of a Europe that must be…
For a Ukrainian former POW, recovery is slow and painful
Russia says it is holding more than 6,000 Ukrainian prisoners of war. For many of those released, liberation is the start of a painful process of recovery. From Kyiv, Lesia Bakalets brings the story of one former prisoner of war….
Water shortage caused by dam breach hits southern Ukraine
The destruction of the Kakhovka dam a year ago [June 2023] in southern Ukraine put the water supply of hundreds of thousands of people at risk, including residents of Kushuhum in the Zaporizhzhia region. With the region now in Ukrainian…
UNDP supports innovative solution to ‘war waste’ in Ukraine
The war has affected more than a quarter of Ukraine’s territory, according to the authorities, and caused large-scale destruction to buildings that has left thousands of tonnes of debris, creating a huge problem that will take decades to resolve. In…