Month: March 2022

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, long friendly with Moscow, took pains Thursday to explain to his ruling party and government why his administration joined dozens of other countries in co-sponsoring this week’s U.N. resolution condemning Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

“We do not support the use of force and readiness to use force or the threatened use of force,” he said in an audio message that also expressed the hope that Russia would “understand” his decision.

He said that Cambodia could not remain silent as Russia countered the Southeast Asian nation’s own policies and “the situation in Ukraine worsens,” according to a transcript of the message released to the public by the office of the spokesperson of the Royal Government of Cambodia on Thursday night.

Hun Sen also said his government was working to address the crisis within the framework of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, of which Cambodia is chair this year.

“We are in discussions with other ASEAN members to issue a statement calling for a cease-fire, because without a cease-fire, human life and property will continue to die and be destroyed, making negotiations impossible,” he said. “We must, therefore, decide to call for a cease-fire, which is desirable for negotiations to find a solution. This is on behalf of ASEAN.”

Hun Sen said that Cambodia needed to act within the framework of Cambodia’s own policies, as well as those of ASEAN.

Nearly 100 countries co-sponsored the resolution, which was introduced in the General Assembly after Russia vetoed a similar motion at the U.N. Security Council last week.

Of the 193 U.N. member states, 181 countries voted on the resolution Wednesday. Among them, 141 countries supported the resolution condemning Moscow. Five countries — Russia and its allies Belarus, Syria, North Korea and Eritrea — opposed it. Thirty-five countries abstained, including China, a close ally of Cambodia’s; India; and ASEAN members Vietnam and Laos.

Russian troops invaded Ukraine on February 24, bringing the capital, Kyiv, and other cities under siege. More than 1 million Ukrainians have fled to neighboring countries, and if the conflict does not end soon, millions more will be forced to flee Ukraine, according to Filippo Grandi, the U.N. high commissioner for refugees.

Hun Sen, who has been prime minister since 1985, said that many countries were condemning the war in Ukraine, and Cambodia needed to take a clear position. He added that at the request of Japan, France, Germany and the United States, Cambodia decided to co-sponsor the resolution with other countries as a matter of necessity.

Hun Sen added that while he understood the move would anger Russia, Cambodia, as a sovereign state, has the right to act and must “protect the truth.” It also has a responsibility as a U.N. member.

“Hopefully, our Russian friend will understand, because what has been done in the past is contrary to our Cambodian policy on foreign policy, in which we do not support the separation of a state. This is the first point,” Hun Sen said. “Second, we do not support the use of force and readiness to use force or the threatened use of force.”

The U.S. Embassy in Phnom Penh welcomed the statement. “The United States is pleased to see Cambodia and Singapore join us and other nations in co-sponsoring a resolution deploring Russian aggression and demanding an end to its unprovoked war against Ukraine,” it said.

“The resolution was supported by most ASEAN nations. The world is taking action to hold Russia accountable.”

Singaporean Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan on Monday imposed rare unilateral sanctions on Russia, describing the attack on Ukraine as “an unprovoked military invasion of a sovereign state.” Singapore is also an ASEAN member.

The Cambodia National Rescue Party, the exiled opposition party, also condemned the Russian aggression.

“I believe that whenever we see one country invading another, we cannot take a middle position,” CNRP acting President Sam Rainsy told VOA Khmer late Wednesday. “We must condemn the country that invaded” and “help protect” the affected country if possible. 

Sam Rainsy also called on democratic countries to stand up for the protection of democracy. He praised the spirit of the Ukrainian people fighting to protect the freedom and sovereignty of the country.
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“We’re publishing this text while there’s still time,” independent Russian media site Meduza said.

“Within a few days, maybe even today, it is possible that there will be no independent media left in Russia,” read the statement published to Meduza’s website Thursday.

The independent media outlet said that Moscow’s regulator, Roskomnadzor, has ordered journalists to refer to Russia’s invasion as a “special military operation.”

Roskomnadzor has warned more than a dozen media outlets, including VOA’s Russian language website, that they will be fined or blocked unless they remove content Russia deems illegal or that details military information.

VOA Acting Director Yolanda Lopez said Wednesday that the network could not comply with the order, adding, “The Russian people deserve unfettered access to a free press.”

Renowned Russian outlets including Ekho Moskvy closed this week, citing warnings over their coverage of the war, and journalists from Russia and Ukraine have been forced to flee or relocate.

Russian state media have also come under pressure, with the EU banning broadcasts and RT America announcing Thursday that it would cease operations in the U.S.

Two prominent Russian independent outlets were forced off the air this week, and access to RFE/RL’s Current Time and Crimea.Realities was blocked.

The board of iconic liberal radio station Ekho Moskvy on Thursday voted to liquidate the station and website.

Ekho Moskvy was taken off the airwaves Tuesday along with Dozhd TV after they failed to comply with orders from the regulator over their coverage.

In its decision, the prosecutor cited the station’s sharing “of information calling for extremist activities, violence and deliberately false information about the actions of Russian forces as part of a special operation” in Ukraine.

Editor-in-chief Alexei Venediktov told Reuters at the time, “Our editorial policies won’t change.”

Several staff members from Dozhd TV have left Russia, citing censorship and safety concerns.

With access to the website blocked and reports of harassment, “it is obvious that the personal safety of some of us is under threat,” Editor-in-chief Tikhon Dzyadko told reporters.

“No matter how black and nasty it is now, and no matter how happy some are with our decision, we will still win. This is inevitable, because the truth ultimately wins,” he added.

International reaction

The U.S. and the European Union have condemned Russian censorship over coverage of its war in Ukraine.

White House spokesperson Jen Psaki said Thursday that Moscow “is engaged in a full assault on media freedom and the truth.”

Psaki cited the media regulator threats to Ekho Moskvy, Dozhd and VOA’s Russian Service, bans on terms used to describe the war, and restrictions on social media platforms.

“What they are trying to do is block any information about what they are doing to invade a sovereign country, and they’re taking severe steps to do exactly that,” she said.

State Department spokesperson Ned Price said late Wednesday that Russia’s efforts to “mislead and suppress the truth” about the country’s invasion of Ukraine were intensifying, and that the Russian people deserved to know the truth about what’s happening.

U.S. Representative Michael McCaul, the lead Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, told VOA that Moscow’s “manipulation and censorship of the media is appalling.”

“The Russian people deserve access to the truth about Russia’s unprovoked war of aggression and instead are being fed lies by the Putin regime,” said McCaul. “The U.S. must continue to robustly support independent media to counter Russian propaganda and disinformation.”

The EU has also condemned censorship and disinformation. Member states on Wednesday voted to block transmissions of Russian-backed state media, including Sputnik and RT.

RT America on Thursday announced it would cease operations immediately, citing moves by providers that dropped its broadcasts this week.

Broadcaster Holland Cooke, who hosted a weekly show on RT America, said on a news website that management called a meeting Thursday and announced the U.S. division would cease operations because of condemnation over Russia’s invasion in Ukraine.

A memo sent to staff said production would stop “due to unforeseen business interruption events,” CNN reported.

Media support

Moscow’s independent journalists are standing in solidarity with their colleagues. More than 200 signed an open letter protesting Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Novaya Gazeta, the renowned Russian outlet run by Nobel Peace laureate Dmitry Muratov, on Tuesday said it would offer space to Ekho Moskvy and other media on its site.

Across Europe, media are also offering help and assistance to journalists forced to flee.

Kosovo on Wednesday allocated 150,000 euros or $165,000 toward six months of living costs, wages and shelter for up to 20 Ukrainian journalists.

Priority will be given to female reporters recommended by the European Federation of Journalists and European Center for Press and Media Freedom, Reuters reported.

The London-based media trade magazine The Fix, which focuses on media in Europe, has also offered practical support, setting up partnerships with newsrooms to provide tech and relocation support, and regional hubs so journalists can keep reporting.

“In peaceful times, The Fix is a trade publication and knowledge hub that covers media management in Europe,” Zakhar Protsiuk, the outlet’s managing editor, told VOA via email. “[But] in the first hours of the Russian invasion, we reorganized our work to support Ukrainian media.”

The Fix, which has strong Ukrainian ties, said it was connecting European outlets such as the Polish daily Gazeta Wyborcza, Germany’s Axel Springer and others with journalists in need of equipment and support in Ukraine or help setting up hubs across Europe so they can keep publishing.

Protsiuk said they were working with independent media in Ukraine and partners in a nongovernmental organization, the Media Development Foundation.

“The Fix team has a lot of experience in working in difficult environments,” Protsiuk said. “My colleagues have been providing help for media working in eastern Ukraine; we are working with many Belarus independent media who had to flee the country.”

Members of the Council of Europe Platform to Promote Journalist Safety released a joint statement to demand the safety of news crews.

“We emphasize that journalists are considered civilians under international humanitarian law and are not legitimate targets,” the statement said.

The platform called for “urgent and practical international assistance and support” for those covering the conflict, saying independent news is essential in conflict situations.

“Their work helps keep people safe and ensures that the international community can understand the full consequences of this invasion and its appalling impact on human lives,” the statement added.
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Few countries are more conflicted by the latest war in Europe than Pakistan, which purchases military tanks from Ukraine and has just agreed to import 2 million tons of wheat from Russia.

A key non-NATO ally of the United States, Pakistan abstained from voting Wednesday on the U.N. General Assembly’s resolution condemning Russia’s invasion of its neighbor. So did 34 other countries, including three in South Asia: India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.

Pakistani U.N. representative Munir Akram said Pakistan abstained because the resolution did not address some of Russia’s security concerns.

Pakistan’s abstention was all but assured when Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan visited the Kremlin last week to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin on the day Russia invaded Ukraine.

Khan avoided condemning Russia in a televised address on Monday, instead defending the highly criticized trip to Moscow and promising the nation that Pakistan would acquire 2 million tons of wheat from Russia. Khan avoided discussing his country’s defense and commercial agreements with Ukraine.

In a news conference the next day, Ukraine’s ambassador in Islamabad, Markian Chchuk, reminded Pakistan it had imported 1.3 million tons of wheat from Ukraine the previous year. He noted the Ukrainian wheat helped Pakistan’s food security.

“We hope that our Pakistani partners will take a proactive stance in condemning the war and make decisive steps urging Russians to de-escalate tension and stop its aggression,” the Ukrainian ambassador said.

Beyond grain, Pakistan has a great deal of trade with Ukraine, a defense partner since the late 1990s. Neither Khan nor Chchuk mentioned that in his remarks.

Since late 1997, Pakistan has been a major recipient of Ukraine’s advanced T-80UD tanks. According to Jane’s, a leading publication on global defense matters, some 320 Ukrainian tanks have been deployed in Pakistan’s tank force since then.

In an interview with Voice of America’s Deewa Service, retired Pakistani Air Marshal Shahid Latif said, “Before the Soviet Union’s collapse, Ukraine’s technology was the best in the bloc. Pakistan had gotten tanks from China, but Ukraine-made tanks are best in its capabilities.”

Last year, Jane’s reported that Pakistan had agreed to pay Ukraine $85.6 million for the repair and maintenance of 320 Ukrainian T-80US tanks in 2021. The tanks make up a significant portion of the Pakistan armored corps’ non-Chinese tank fleet.

Amjad Shoaib, a retired lieutenant general in the Pakistan army, told VOA, “We have Al-Zarrar and T-80UD tanks. We also have modern Chinese tanks, but you can say the T-80UD tanks are our main battle tanks.”

While Pakistan’s government and military do not disclose the exact number or cost of weapons imported, a report by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, a watchdog for arms control, armaments and disarmament, put the value of the Ukraine-Pakistan defense contracts at $1.6 billion from 1991 to 2020.

The bilateral defense agreements between the two countries are not one-sided. In May 2021, Pakistan’s army chief, General Qamar Javed Bajwa, was greeted with an honor guard by a Ukrainian military force in Kyiv.

The two countries had agreed to improve military-to-military ties, particularly in defense production, according to a statement issued later by the Pakistan army. Later, Bajwa toured military sites in Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, which currently is under Russian siege and is the country’s tank-manufacturing heartland.

Pakistan signed a deal with Ukraine in September 2021 for the maintenance of its Ilyushin IL-78 refueling tankers, according to the Ukrainian newspaper Kyiv Post. The value of the deal had not been disclosed by Kyiv authorities, according to the newspaper, although the Ukrainian foreign arms trade agency had mentioned the two countries signed 12 working contracts for a total of $150 million.

Without praising Russia, which was once an opponent for Pakistan in the 1980s, Khan has expressed remorse for Pakistan’s support for the U.S. in the “war on terror” in Afghanistan during the first two decades of the 21st century.

“The most embarrassing part was that a country was fighting in support of a country that was bombing it,” Khan said in his address to the nation, referring to the hundreds of drone attacks in Pakistan against militants in the Afghanistan-Pakistan border regions.

The drone campaign and targeted operations killed a number of top terrorists in Pakistan, including al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden.

This story originated in VOA’s Deewa Service, with contributions by Malik Waqar Ahmad from Islamabad, Pakistan.
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It’s unclear if Russian President Vladimir Putin expected the sanctions that followed his invasion of Ukraine. But their severity could have far-reaching economic consequences for Russia. Oksana Bedratenko has the story, narrated by Anna Rice.
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Following moves by tech companies and the EU to reduce the visibility of Russian state media site RT, the network says it will begin streaming its content on a YouTube-like platform called Rumble.

“RT gets ready to… Rumble: After a multitude of platforms have moved to knock out our broadcast and limit social media…,” RT wrote in a Thursday tweet.

According to a statement on the Rumble website, the company “was built on the belief that all creators should have the opportunity to freely express themselves and reach their followers without censorship or restrictions.”

As of Thursday, the RT livestream in English was still functioning on YouTube in the United States.

On February 27, the European Union announced it was “banning Russia Today and Sputnik from broadcasting in the Union.” YouTube reportedly also blocked RT in the EU.

Twitter announced Monday that it will start labeling and making it harder for users to see tweets about the invasion of Ukraine that contain information from Russian state media like RT and Sputnik.

Facebook has similar measures.

A popular streaming service called Roku removed the RT channel from its channel store in Europe, Reuters reported.

Some information in this report came from Reuters.
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Turkey says it has locked Russian warships out of the Black Sea ahead of an expected assault on Ukrainian cities. At the same time Ukraine says it is getting more Turkish drones, despite warnings from Moscow. Turkish-Russian ties are facing a critical test.

Ankara claims four Russian warships have withdrawn their request to enter the Black Sea through Turkish waterways. The announcement follows Turkey’s curtailing of Russian naval vessels’ use of Istanbul’s Bosporus waterway, the only access to the Black Sea.

Under the 1936 Montreux Convention, Ankara can stop Russian naval ships from using the waterway after it declared on Sunday that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine was a “war.”

Mesut Casin, an advisor to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, says Turkey intends to strictly enforce naval access to the Black Sea under the convention.

“We will very clearly, very sensitively, and objectively apply the Montreux regime. Russians should be thinking about this. Why? We showed this position in World War II; we stopped the German ships, the Italian ships even the Soviet-armed ships,” he said.

Ankara’s strict enforcement of the convention appears to have denied any wiggle room for Moscow to access its waiting destroyers and a frigate. Among them is one of Russia’s most advanced and modern warships that carries cruise missiles.

The ships were expected to join a fleet of warships already massed outside the Ukrainian city of Odessa, ahead of an expected assault. In addition, Kyiv’s announcement Wednesday that Turkish-made armed drones will be delivered is likely to irk Moscow further. Turkish defense analyst Arda Mevlutoglu says the drones pose a threat to Russian forces.

“A single armed drone equipped with a couple of bombs may destroy a whole air defuse battery or a very expensive electronic warfare system or take out some armed vehicles etc.,” he said.

The Ukrainian Defense Ministry has posted videos of Turkish-made drones targeting Russian forces. Last week, Moscow warned countries supplying Ukraine with weapons they would be held responsible for losses. Ankara has not commented on Ukrainian claims of a new drone delivery.

Turkey, while a NATO member, has close ties with Russia. But Erdogan has strongly criticized Russia’s Ukraine invasion. Asli Aydintasbas, a senior fellow at the Council of Europe, says the diplomatic stakes are high for Turkish diplomacy.

“This will be a balancing act for Turkey,” she said. “Clearly, the defense aid may happen but not at the level that would irritate Russia, So Turkey will push it enough but stop when it becomes existentially important to Russia. In order to prevent them from retaliating in Syria or with natural gas.”

Turkey imports more than 90% of its energy and Russia is one of its main suppliers. At the same time, analysts say Ankara is pressing Moscow to use its influence to keep Damascus from moving in on the last rebel holdouts in Idlib, along Syria’s border with Turkey — an action that could trigger a new flow of refugees into Turkish territory.
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U.S Secretary of State Antony Blinken left Thursday for eastern Europe to hold meetings with NATO allies and other European leaders in an effort to find a diplomatic solution to the situation in Ukraine.

In a release, State Department spokesman Ned Price said Blinken will first travel to Brussels for a NATO Foreign Ministerial, as well as meet with his European Union counterparts for the G-7 Ministerial Meeting.  

Blinken travels to Poland on Saturday for meetings with Polish leaders, including Foreign Minister Zbigniew Rau, “to discuss further security assistance in the face of Russia’s continued aggression.”   

Price said the secretary of state also will thank Poland for generously welcoming hundreds of thousands of displaced persons from Ukraine and discuss how the United States can augment humanitarian assistance efforts for those fleeing Putin’s war.

Later Saturday, Blinken is scheduled to travel to Moldova to meet with President Maia Sandu, Prime Minister Natalia Gavrilita, and Foreign Minister Nicu Popescu to discuss   Moldova’s efforts to receive and assist refugees, and underscore U.S. support for that effort.

From March 6 through March 8, Blinken travels to Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia to meet with leaders in those countries to discuss joint efforts to support Ukraine, strengthen NATO’s deterrence and defense, and promote democracy and human rights.

At a news briefing Wednesday, Blinken said intensive diplomacy with allies and partners continues with the aim of ending the crisis in Ukraine.   

He said, “If there are diplomatic steps that we can take that the Ukrainian government believes would be helpful, we’re prepared to take them — even as we continue to support Ukraine’s ability to defend itself.”

 
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The parent company of Swedish furniture maker IKEA announced Thursday it will temporarily close its stores in Russia and cease sourcing supplies from Russia and Belarus over the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

“The devastating war in Ukraine is a human tragedy, and our deepest empathy and concerns are with the millions of people impacted,” brand owner Inter IKEA Holding and Ingka Group said in a joint statement.

“The war has both a huge human impact and is resulting in serious disruptions to supply chain and trading conditions, which is why the company groups have decided to temporarily pause IKEA operations in Russia,” they said.

The move will impact about 15,000 workers and 17 retail outlets.

“The company groups will secure employment and income stability and provide support to them and their families in the region,” IKEA said.

Fourteen Ingka Group malls in Russia will continue to operate “to ensure that the many people in Russia have access to their daily needs and essentials such as food, groceries and pharmacies,” the company said in a statement.

IKEA has already said it will have to increase its prices by 12% on average due to inflation and supply chain problems, Reuters reported.

IKEA’s move comes amid a wave of companies such as Boeing, Apple, Honda and many others announcing they will stop or limit activities in Russia because of the invasion.

Some information in this report comes from Reuters.
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The United Nations’ high commissioner for refugees said Thursday that one million people have fled Ukraine in the past week alone, one of the fastest and largest mass exoduses of people in conflict situations in decades.  

“Hour by hour, minute by minute, more people are fleeing the terrifying reality of violence. Countless have been displaced inside the country,” Filippo Grandi said in a statement. “And unless there is an immediate end to the conflict, millions more are likely to be forced to flee Ukraine.”

Intensification of the Russian offensive has seen multiple cities across the country come under air and ground attack in the past week. Russian tanks and armored vehicles are continuing to roll through the country threatening several large cities.

Grandi told the U.N. Security Council on Monday that he had not seen “such an incredibly fast-rising exodus of people – the largest, surely, within Europe, since the Balkan wars.”

He said unless there is an immediate halt to the conflict, people will continue to flee.

“We are currently planning – repeat: planning – for up to four million refugees in the coming days and weeks,” Grandi said Monday.

When he briefed the council on Monday, he said more than 280,000 people had fled to Poland alone. As of Wednesday, UNHCR said the number had nearly doubled to 547,982 people.

Numbers of refugees are also rising quickly in Hungary, Moldova, Slovakia, Romania and other European countries. Nearly 50,000 people, primarily from eastern Ukraine, have also sought refuge in Russia.

The U.N. Children’s agency, UNICEF, says half of those fleeing the country are children.

The U.N. appealed Tuesday for $1.7 billion to meet emergency needs inside and in neighboring countries for the next three months. Nations stepped up immediately with $1.5 billion in pledges. UNHCR hopes to assist 2.4 million refugees and asylum-seekers with money from the appeal.

The United States announced $54 million in new humanitarian funding last week for Ukrainians.  

“They are fleeing increasingly violent and widespread strikes by Russian forces against residential areas and infrastructure – from the shelling of hospitals and kindergartens to rockets targeting central city squares,” U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield said in a statement. “The human toll of Russia’s unprovoked and unjustifiable attack against its sovereign neighbor is growing exponentially each day.”
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Russian and Belarusian athletes were barred on Thursday from the Winter Paralympics in Beijing on the eve of the Games following threats of boycotts by other teams over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) said.

Belarus has been a key staging area for the invasion, which was launched a week ago.

The decision comes a day after the IPC gave athletes from the two countries the green light to participate as neutrals, saying that the governing body had followed its rules and that “athletes were not the aggressors.”

But that decision led to an outcry and threats from other countries’ National Paralympic Committees (NPC) to boycott the Games, IPC President Andrew Parsons told a news conference in Beijing.

“They told us that if we do not reconsider our decision, it is now likely to have grave consequences for the Winter Games,” Parsons said.

“Multiple NPCs, some of which have been contacted by their governments, teams and athletes, are threatening not to compete.”

Parsons said it was clear the situation put his organization in a “unique and impossible position” so close to the start of the Games, adding that an overwhelming number of members had been in touch and been forthright in their objections to Russia and Belarus taking part.

A 71-member Russian contingent and 12-member team from Belarus are already in Beijing for the Games, which begin on Friday.

Parsons said the Russian and Belarusian athletes were victims of the actions of their governments.

“Athlete welfare will always be a priority for us,” he said.

“If Russian and Belarusian athletes stayed in Beijing, nations were likely to withdraw, and a viable Games would not have been possible.

“The atmosphere in the Games village is not pleasant. The situation there is escalating and has now become untenable … The Games are not only about gold, silver and bronze, but also about sending a strong message of inclusion.”

Parsons said the IPC was likely to face legal consequences but was confident that the right decision had been made.

The IPC said earlier in a statement that following a specially convened meeting, its Governing Board has decided not to allow athletes from Russia and Belarus to take part.
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Ukraine marked one week since Russia invaded the country Thursday, as Russian forces shelled major cities and the number of refugees who have fled Ukraine exceeded 1 million people.

Despite Russian assaults on Kharkiv, Chernihiv and Mariupol, Britain’s Defense Ministry said Thursday they all remained in Ukrainian hands. Unclear was the status of Kherson, with Russian troops present in the city amid disputed claims of who was in control.

“We are a people who in a week have destroyed the plans of the enemy,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a video address early Thursday. “They will have no peace here. They will have no food. They will have here not one quiet moment.”

Ukraine’s Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov cited expectations ahead of the invasion that Russia would quickly overtake Ukraine, writing on Facebook, “No one, neither in Russia nor in the West, believed that we would last a week.” He added that while there are challenges ahead, Ukraine has “every reason to be confident.”

Thursday also brought the expectation of a second round of peace talks between the two sides, though there has been little sign of a potential breakthrough. An initial meeting Monday yielded only plans for further talks.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told reporters Thursday Russian forces will continue their effort to destroy Ukraine’s military infrastructure and will not allow its neighbor to represent a military threat to Russia.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the United States remains open to finding a diplomatic solution to the situation, but that Russia must first de-escalate.

“It’s much more difficult for diplomacy to succeed when guns are firing and tanks are rolling,” he told reporters Wednesday.

Blinken is traveling to Europe on Thursday for a series of meetings with NATO and other allies about their response to the Russian invasion. NATO foreign ministers are holding an extraordinary meeting Friday in Brussels, and on Saturday Blinken travels on to Poland to discuss further security and humanitarian assistance to help refugees who have fled Ukraine.

Poland has taken in half of the more than 1 million refugees who have fled Ukraine in the past week, according to the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees. The U.N. body has said it expects 4 million people could leave Ukraine due to the conflict.

Ukraine’s emergency agency said Wednesday Russia’s attacks have killed more than 2,000 people across the country.

Russia’s Defense Ministry put out its first casualties report, saying 498 of its troops were killed in Ukraine, while more than 1,500 others were wounded.

A senior U.S. defense official told reporters Wednesday Russian forces trying to take the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, were “stalled outside the city center.”

The forces, including a massive Russian convoy, have made “no appreciable movement,” the official said, adding Russian advances on other key cities, such as Chernihiv and Kharkiv had also stalled.

Meanwhile, shipments of defensive aid for Ukraine continued to arrive, according to U.S. officials.

The Pentagon on Wednesday also expressed concerns that Russian forces are getting more aggressive in their targeting, putting civilians and civilian infrastructure in greater danger.

The senior defense official said the U.S. believes that since the invasion began last Thursday, Russia has launched more than 450 missiles, but that Ukraine’s air and missile defense systems remain viable.

The official said the lack of Russian progress around Kyiv, despite its superior firepower, could be attributed to factors including shortages of fuel and food, and a spirited defense by Ukrainian forces.

“It has slowed because of resistance from the Ukrainians that has been effective and quite creative,” the official said. “They have marshaled their assets quite well. … The will to fight is very strong, in terms of their armed forces but also in terms of their civilian population.”

“We also believe they [Russia] have had morale problems that has led to less than effective operational success,” the official added, cautioning that U.S. intelligence expects Russian forces will adapt in order to continue with the massive assault.

The Pentagon also announced that it is postponing a nuclear missile test launch scheduled for this week. The decision comes days after Russian President Vladimir Putin’s decision to put his nuclear forces on higher alert.

Pentagon press secretary John Kirby said the decision to delay the test of a Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile was made by Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin. Kirby added that the United States would like to see Moscow reciprocate by “taking the temperature down” in the crisis over Ukraine.

Another factor that may be helping the Ukrainians is continued support from NATO and the United States.

Blinken said Wednesday the United States is imposing sweeping sanctions on Russia’s defense sector.

“In total, 22 Russian defense-related entities will be designated, including companies that make combat aircraft, infantry fighting vehicles, missiles, unmanned aerial vehicles, electronic warfare systems – the very systems now being used to assault the Ukrainian people, abuse human rights, violate international humanitarian law,” Blinken said during a news conference.

Blinken said the United States would also “choke off Belarus’ ability to import key technologies” by imposing export controls on Belarus “to hold the Lukashenka regime accountable for being a co-belligerent in President [Vladimir] Putin’s war of choice.”

As part of European Union sanctions imposed against Russia in order to pressure Putin to halt the invasion, the French government said Thursday it seized a superyacht belonging to Putin confidant Igor Sechin, who serves as chief executive of the Russian energy company Rosneft. Authorities in Germany said earlier they have seized Russian billionaire Alisher Usmanov’s $600m superyacht, according to Forbes.

VOA State Department Bureau Chief Nike Ching, national security correspondent Jeff Seldin, Pentagon correspondent Carla Babb, Istanbul Foreign Correspondent Heather Murdock and White House correspondent Anita Powell contributed to this report.

Some information for this report came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.
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North Korean authorities waited days to tell the nation about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, first informing only members of the ruling Korean Workers’ Party in private meetings, who later spread the word, government officials told RFA.

In North Korea’s one-party state, membership in the Workers’ Party is reserved for the privileged or for exemplary soldiers who complete long mandatory stints in the armed forces.

The Russian military began its large-scale invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, but it wasn’t until two days later that Pyongyang told the party members.

“Yesterday, each regional party committee in the province informed all the party members that our strong ally Russia was at war,” an official from the northwestern province of North Pyongan told RFA’s Korean Service on Feb. 27.

“International relations are strained with Russia at war, so the regional party committee demanded that everyone be ready to be mobilized at all times,” the source said.

The Soviet Union helped establish North Korea in 1948 after occupying the northern half of the Korean peninsula following Japan’s defeat in World War II, installing as leader the grandfather of current leader Kim Jong Un. Under Vladimir Putin, Russia moved in 2000 to revitalize ties with Pyongyang that had fallen off with the USSR’s collapse.

The central party leaders delivered the Ukraine news to each provincial party committee, ordering them to tell party members at their weekly meeting, where they confess political errors and reaffirm their commitment to be loyal to the country and its leaders.

“The news came privately during self-criticism on Saturday,” said the source. “The party members were told to be ready to mobilize at any time.”

The party members were not surprised, but still wondered why the authorities were keeping news of the invasion private, according to the source.

“The party members, of course, already knew from their Chinese acquaintances … that war had begun, but they were more interested in what caused Russia to invade Ukraine,” the source said.

After the news was broken to party members in the northeastern province of North Hamgyong, it began spreading rapidly among the public, a resident there told RFA.

“They not only stated that Russia is at war, they also ordered us to be prepared to enter into war immediately under any circumstances,” said the second source.

“In response, some residents showed a radical reaction, saying they wish that war would break out and this disgusting system we are living under would come to an end,” the second source said.

The second source said that some residents recognize the hypocrisy of the government siding with Russia while it invades an independent country.

“The authorities are always quick to criticize the United States as an aggressor, repeatedly asserting the independence of Korea, and the U.S.’ interference in our internal affairs,” the second source said, referring to Washington’s military presence in South Korea, which North Korea considers to be an occupation of its sovereign territory.

“That is why they are watching the government’s stance on the Russian invasion of Ukraine.”

The state-run Korea Central News Agency reported Monday that a spokesperson for North Korea’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs blamed the U.S. and other Western countries for war breaking out in Ukraine.

“The U.S. and the West, in defiance of Russia’s reasonable and just demand to provide it with legal guarantee for security, have systematically undermined the security environment of Europe by becoming more blatant in their attempts to deploy attack weapon system [sic] while defiantly pursuing NATO’s eastward expansion,” the spokesperson said according to KCNA’s English version of the report.

“Having devastated Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya, [they] are mouthing phrases about ‘respect for sovereignty’ and ‘territorial integrity’ over the Ukrainian situation which was detonated by themselves. That does not stand to reason at all,” the spokesperson said.

Though it was the first official statement on Ukraine by Pyongyang, two days earlier a commentary published on the website of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs blamed Washington and its allies for “high-handedness and arbitrariness that are shaking international peace and stability at the basis,” as rendered in the English version of the commentary.

Penned by researcher Ri Ji Song, it said that the U.S. was disregarding Russia’s demands for security and “unilaterally” expanding NATO to cause an imbalance of military power in Europe.

“The U.S embellishes its own interference in internal affairs of others as ‘righteous’ for peace and stability of the world, but it denounces for no good reason self-defensive measures taken by other countries to ensure their own national security as ‘injustice’ and ‘provocation,’” wrote Ri.
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One week into the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Russian forces continue their push despite condemnation from the United Nations General Assembly, which voted overwhelmingly to reprimand Russia for invading Ukraine. VOA Pentagon correspondent Carla Babb has the latest.
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Full developments of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine   
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The United States on Wednesday announced a comprehensive effort to identify and seize the assets of wealthy Russians who have supported the regime of Russian President Vladmir Putin, as part of its response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

The new initiative, led by the Justice Department, is called Operation KleptoCapture and was hinted at by President Joe Biden on Tuesday in his State of the Union address.

“Tonight, I say to the Russian oligarchs and the corrupt leaders who bilked billions of dollars off this violent regime: No more,” Biden said. “The United States Department of Justice is assembling a dedicated task force to go after the crimes of the Russian oligarchs. We are joining with our European allies to find and seize your yachts, your luxury apartments, your private jets. We are coming for your ill-begotten gains.”

On Wednesday morning, Attorney General Merrick B. Garland announced the formation of the new task force, noting that its aim would be to enforce the punishing array of economic sanctions that have been levied against Russia since its invasion of Ukraine last week.

“The Justice Department will use all of its authorities to seize the assets of individuals and entities who violate these sanctions,” Garland said. “We will leave no stone unturned in our efforts to investigate, arrest and prosecute those whose criminal acts enable the Russian government to continue this unjust war. Let me be clear: If you violate our laws, we will hold you accountable.”

Familiar tools

Experts say the work of tracking and seizing the assets will rely on a combination of intelligence-gathering, data analysis and cooperation with international partners, which is common in criminal investigations.

“We’ve seen asset seizures in the past. We have seen yachts and apartments and stuff taken,” said Daniel P. Ahn, a global fellow at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars and a former chief economist for the Department of State. “This is a difference of scale, rather than a difference of instrument.”

Ahn said that identifying the real owners of some assets will be a “sticky intelligence problem.” Assets owned by extremely wealthy individuals are often controlled by a complex web of shell companies and other entities that disguise what law enforcement officials refer to as the “beneficial owner.”

Yachts on the move

Since the countries of the European Union, the United Kingdom, the U.S. and other allies began leveling sanctions on Russian banks and wealthy supporters of Putin, mega yachts owned, or believed to be owned, by Russian oligarchs have been tracked leaving ports in countries that have joined in the sanctions.

Several have sailed to the Republic of Maldives, an island chain in the Indian Ocean that does not have an extradition treaty with the United States.

On Wednesday, the oligarch Roman Abramovich, who owns the highly successful London-based football club Chelsea, announced that he had put the club up for sale, in the process writing off some $2 billion in loans he has made to it. On Tuesday, a member of the British Parliament said in a speech to the House of Commons that Abramovich was also trying to sell off a number of luxury properties in London.

Unloading obvious assets

Experts say they believe the oligarchs may try to dispose of assets that can be most easily linked to them in the hope that their seizure will satisfy Western governments.

“If I’m a kleptocrat, and I don’t want them to get the bulk of my stuff, I’m going to throw away the stuff that everybody knows about, and then they’ll hopefully leave me alone,” Jim Richards, founder and principal of RegTech Consulting, told VOA.

Richards, who was the director of financial crimes risk management for Wells Fargo & Company for a dozen years, said Abramovich and other oligarchs will have been careful to have large amounts of wealth hidden in complex holdings that will be difficult or impossible for law enforcement agencies to detect.

“I mean, the last thing these guys want is for their girlfriends, their kids and themselves to all end up in some apartment in Moscow,” he said.

Aim of sanctions

As Western nations continue to pile sanctions on the Russian economy, their ultimate objective could be questioned.

Ahn said there are three aims when it comes to sanctions, which may or may not overlap. The first is to inflict economic damage on the target. The second is to deter or reverse specific behaviors. The third is to express disapproval of specific actions by the party being sanctioned and/or solidarity with a victim of those actions.

Ahn said that to the degree the sanctions imposed on Russia are aimed at doing economic damage, they have been a “qualified success” so far. Time will likely worsen the effects on the Russian economy. But when it comes to preventing or reversing Russia’s aggression against Ukraine, the sanctions have plainly failed, at least so far.

The symbolic success of sanctions regimes is typically greater the more multilateral they are, Ahn said. On that score, the actions taken against Russia have been quite successful, doing significant reputational damage to Putin’s government.
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Ukrainian staff maintaining the decommissioned nuclear power plant at the site of the 1986 nuclear accident are hungry, exhausted and at increased risk of making errors while under the control of Russian military occupiers, officials with Ukraine’s main nuclear regulatory agency say.

A relative of one of the workers tells VOA that the staff, who have now been manning the facility for a week without relief, are without clean clothes and blankets and are provided only one meal a day. The Russian soldiers guarding them are also short of supplies and have been scavenging in local villages for food, according to a woman who has been in contact with a relative inside the nuclear plant.

The facility, just 16 kilometers from the Belarusian border, was one of the first sites to fall to Russian forces, who invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24 and quickly disarmed a nuclear plant security force of 150 national guard troops. No deaths were reported.

Russian media quoted the defense ministry two days later saying an agreement had been reached on joint security at the plant by Russian airborne forces and the Ukrainian national guard.

But the regulatory authority, known as the State Nuclear Regulatory Inspectorate of Ukraine, said in a letter to VOA that that the guard troops were taken prisoner and remain inside the facility.

Also inside are the 95 night shift workers on duty when the Russians arrived, the medical staff of the nearby Slavutych City Hospital, firefighters, and four sightseers who had asked for shelter, the inspectorate said. Altogether, about 300 Ukrainians are trapped inside.

The inspectorate’s letter said the members of the night crew, who normally work in 12-hour shifts, have not been relieved since the takeover. They have now worked more than 14 consecutive shifts.

“Operational personnel are physically and morally exhausted and can perform only a limited number of priority measures to maintain security and monitoring. This state of staff, despite the high level of professionalism, can cause staff errors,” the letter said.

A woman whose relative works inside said that she could communicate by mobile phone until digital communications were cut off Saturday, but that she is still receiving word of conditions in the plant, where rations have been cut to one meal a day. She asked that only her first name, Natalia, be used for fear of retaliation against her relative.

“Before that, two meals — at noon and midnight. Staff walked around the station searching for remaining candies and biscuits in offices and lockers,” Natalia said.

She said the Russian soldiers who seized the station didn’t have supplies, so they went to the nearby villages, asking for food. The soldiers are treating the staff “with respect” and have not mistreated anyone, she said, but conditions are difficult because of the cold.

“My relative sleeps on the table, dressed in several layers of sweatshirts,” Natalia said. “In this situation, you can’t sleep much because they have to keep track of everything that happens.”

Radiation concerns

The Chernobyl power plant’s management painted a more reassuring picture of the situation in a public statement posted to its Facebook page on Tuesday, saying that there was no shortage of food inside the facility and everyone was still healthy.

“Under ‘no-rotation’ conditions, the ChNPP [Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant] staff has been demonstrating high spirit and solidarity with each other, as well as huge responsibility for their duties. Luckily, all of them are safe and sound. The plant’s systems operate without any faults. The stock of food is currently enough,” says the statement.

The Nuclear Regulatory Inspectorate, however, said in its letter to VOA that the Russian soldiers do not comply with the “sanitary regime” involving standard precautions to protect against the escape of radioactive materials. This “will inevitably lead to the spread of radiation pollution from areas with higher levels of pollution to less contaminated areas and premises,” it said.

The letter noted that the recorded gamma radiation levels were 5-15 times higher than the average for 2021. “One of the reasons may be the disturbance of the upper layer of radiation-contaminated soil as a result of the movement of heavy military equipment,” the letter said, adding that as a result, radioactive particles were lifted along with the dust.

The current levels of gamma radiation do not pose a threat to human health outside the exclusion zone, which extends about 30 kilometers in all directions from the plant, the agency said. But it cautioned that it is no longer receiving data from the plant and cannot detect “the dynamics of gamma radiation levels.”

The Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant is the site of what is considered the world’s worst nuclear disaster. On April 26, 1986, its Number 4 reactor suffered a core meltdown followed by a series of explosions. The reactor was eventually shut down and encased in a steel and concrete containment structure.

Three other reactors remained in operation after the disaster, but all were shut down by 2000 and still are in the process of being fully decommissioned. The site cleanup is not expected to be completed until 2065.

Ukrainian authorities are keeping the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) informed about developments at the Chernobyl facility and another 15 nuclear reactors at four stations, which provide about half of the country’s total electricity production.

In a statement to the IAEA Board of Governors on Wednesday, IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi said that he had received a letter from the inspectorate asking for “immediate assistance to ensure the safety of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant and other nuclear facilities in the country.” Grossi said his agency had begun consultations on the request.

Grossi also called for “restraint from all measures or actions that could jeopardize the security of nuclear and other radioactive material, and the safe operation of any nuclear facilities in Ukraine, because any such incident could have severe consequences, aggravating human suffering and causing environmental harm.”

“It is of utmost importance that the staff working at the Specialized Enterprise Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant are able to do their job safely and effectively and that their personal well-being is guaranteed by those who have taken control,” Grossi said.

He advised the board that Ukraine’s nuclear plants were operating normally despite the circumstances, but that grave danger remained.

“It is the first time a military conflict is happening amidst the facilities of a large established nuclear power program, which in this case also include the site of the 1986 accident at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant,” he said.

War-related dangers

Richard Weitz, director of the Center for Political-Military Analysis at the Hudson Institute in Washington, told VOA the most significant danger at the Chernobyl plant comes from possible damage to the confinement structure due to hostilities. He said the reactors elsewhere in Ukraine, which do not have confinement structures, are vulnerable to being hit by missiles.

“This is the first time we’ve had a war between two countries that have large civilian nuclear power complexes. And that, I think, is even a greater risk than Chernobyl that something’s going to happen to disrupt the shielding and safety of one of those reactors,” Weitz said.

Chary Rangacharyulu, a physics and engineering professor at the University of Saskatchewan in Canada, said the Russians may try to use the nuclear plants for political leverage, but he doubts they are “so foolish to destroy those facilities and let out radioactivities into the atmosphere.”

“However, if they make mistakes and blow up a facility or two, the harm will not be limited to Ukraine. It will go beyond. Russia and Belarus are the neighboring countries that will be very much affected. Let us hope and pray that the Russian government is not that insane to cause harm to its own people,” he said in a written response to questions from VOA.

Wade Allison, a professor of physics and a fellow at Keble College at Oxford University in England, said he saw no threat posed by the Chernobyl situation because “there have been no active nuclear reactors at Chernobyl since 2000. Spent fuel is not a problem.”
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