Month: April 2022

Medyka, Poland, is one of the busiest border crossings for people fleeing the war. Everyday refugees stream across the border form Ukraine, and at the same time volunteers are arriving to help. For VOA News, Julia Riera has the story.
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The United States said Monday it wants the U.N. General Assembly to remove Russia from the U.N. Human Rights Council, citing allegations of war crimes committed in Ukraine.

“Russia’s participation on the Human Rights Council is a farce,” said Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield. “And it is wrong, which is why we believe it is time the U.N. General Assembly vote to remove them.”

Thomas-Greenfield based her call for Russia’s removal on allegations by Ukraine that Russian troops killed dozens of civilians in the town of Bucha.

Ukraine said it is investigating the killings, and Russia has denied any involvement.

A two-thirds vote by the 193-member assembly is required to remove Russia from the council.

The council, which is based in Geneva, is largely symbolic, but it can authorize investigations into human rights violations.

Russia is in its second year of a three-year stint on the 47-member council.

It has yet to comment on calls for its removal.

Since Russia’s February 24 invasion of Ukraine, the General Assembly has passed two resolutions condemning the country’s actions.

Some information in this report comes from Reuters.
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The European Union said Monday it will hold discussions about a new round of sanctions on Russia, following the reported atrocities in Ukrainian towns that have been occupied by Russian forces.

EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said in a statement that the EU “will advance, as a matter of urgency, work on further sanctions against Russia.”

Borrell said, “The massacres in the town of Bucha and other Ukrainian towns will be inscribed in the list of atrocities committed on European soil.”

The sanctions are to be discussed this week. EU foreign ministers will be able to read over them on the sidelines of a NATO meeting later this week or at their regular meeting next week.

Borrell’s statement said the EU will offer assistance to Ukrainian prosecutors who are collecting and preserving “the [evidence] of the war crimes.”

The EU is also in support of the investigations into the crimes by the International Criminal Court and the United Nations human rights commissioner, the statement said.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken sharply condemned Russia Sunday, accusing it of committing war atrocities in Ukraine as the world saw its first glimpse of the bodies of dead Ukrainians left behind in the streets of the Kyiv suburb of Bucha after Russian troops departed the area.

“You can’t help but feel a punch to the gut,” the top U.S. diplomat told CNN’s “State of the Union” show. “We cannot become numb to this. We cannot normalize this.

Blinken is traveling to Brussels for meetings this week with other NATO foreign ministers, looking to highlight the military alliance’s resolve to hold Russia responsible for continued fighting in Ukraine.

Blinken said the United States would be “looking hard to document” Russian war crimes throughout Ukraine even as Ukraine claims it has retaken control of the north-central region around the capital. Moscow’s troops have pulled back from the Kyiv territory to concentrate new attacks in southern Ukrainian cities along the Black Sea and in the contested Donbas region in eastern Ukraine.

Reflecting on the bodies found in the streets, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told CBS’s “Face the Nation” show, “Indeed. This is genocide.” He said Ukraine is being “destroyed and exterminated” by Russian forces.

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg told CNN, “It is a brutality against citizens we have not seen in decades” in Europe. “It is [Russian] President [Vladimir] Putin’s responsibility to end the war.”

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Twitter, “I am deeply shocked by the images of civilians killed in Bucha, Ukraine. It is essential that an independent investigation leads to effective accountability.”

French President Emmanuel Macron said Monday that the EU must be prepared to put more sanctions on Russia in response to the reported killing of civilians.

Ukraine’s chief prosecutor said Sunday that authorities have found 410 bodies in and around Kyiv, during an investigation concerning possible war crimes committed by Russia. Prosecutor General Iryna Venedyktova, said, however, that witnesses would have to be interviewed later because they are too traumatized by what they saw to speak now, according to a Reuters report.

Meanwhile, Human Rights Watch’s director of Europe and Central Asia said, in a statement that “The cases we documented amount to unspeakable, deliberate cruelty and violence against Ukrainian civilians.” Hugh Williamson said, “Rape, murder, and other violent acts against people in the Russian forces’ custody should be investigated as war crimes.”

In a surprise videotaped appearance at the Grammys, the annual ceremony in the U.S. honoring the year’s top musicians, President Zelenskyy asked the gathering for help.

“Support us in any way you can. Any, but not silence,” he said. “Our musicians wear body armor instead of tuxedos, they sing to the wounded, in hospitals, even to those who can’t hear them.”

Russia’s Defense Ministry contended in a statement Sunday that it had not killed civilians in Bucha and claimed that video footage and photographs showing the dead were “yet another provocation” by the West. Russia asked the U.N. Security Council to convene a meeting Monday to discuss the actions of “Ukrainian radicals” in Bucha.

However, Britain, which chairs the Security Council this month, said there would be no meeting Monday and that the issue could be discussed at the meeting on Ukraine already scheduled for Tuesday.

Some information in this report came from Agence France-Presse.
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An early official count of Serbia’s national election on Monday confirmed the landslide victory of President Aleksandar Vucic and his populist party – important allies of Russia in the volatile Balkans and in Europe.

Vucic scored an outright victory in Sunday’s presidential vote with the backing of some 60% of the voters, while his Serbian Progressive Party gained 43% of ballots, according to a near-complete tally of the state election authorities.

The results mean that no runoff vote is needed in the presidential election and that Vucic’s party will be able to form the next Serbian government in a coalition with junior partners in the 250-member assembly.

The main opposition group, United for Serbia’s Victory, trailed the populists in the parliamentary election with some 13% of the votes. The group’s presidential candidate Zdravko Ponos gained 17%, the official results showed.

Despite being so far behind nationally, the opposition groups appeared to be in a tight race with the populists in the capital, Belgrade, where ballots are still being counted.

Both the opposition groups and independent observers have listed a series of irregularities and incidents, including violent ones. Ruling populists have denied vote manipulation or pressuring voters.

Since the party came to power in 2012, Vucic has gradually clamped down on mainstream media and institutions, assuming complete control over the years. A former ultranationalist, Vucic has served as defense minister, prime minister and president.

Portraying himself as a guarantor of peace and stability amid the war in Ukraine, Vucic has refused to join Western sanctions against Russia despite formally seeking membership in the European Union for Serbia.

After declaring victory on Sunday evening, he said the new government will face tough decisions but will seek to maintain friendly relations with historically close Slavic ally Russia.

Most of the parties running in the election were right leaning, reflecting the predominantly conservative sentiments among Serbia’s 6.5 million voters. For the first time, however, a green-left coalition made it into the parliament, reflecting rising public interest in neglected environmental problems in the Balkan country.

Turnout was nearly 60%, which is higher than recent votes.  

  
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Four million people have fled Ukraine since the start of Russia’s invasion, according to U.N. data. The vast majority are women and children – populations that are especially vulnerable to human trafficking. Lesia Bakalets has the story, narrated by Anna Rice. VOA footage by Andrey Degtyarev.
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Grandmothers, mothers and children account for most of those fleeing Russia’s war on Ukraine. Each refugee has a story as well as hopes for the future. VOA’s Celia Mendoza reports from Medyka, Poland. Julia Riera contributed.
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Ukraine’s president has called Russia’s ongoing and unprovoked war a “genocide” while Western officials have condemned what they call atrocities committed by Russian forces in a Kyiv suburb. The U.S. secretary of state travels to Europe this week to meet with NATO allies. VOA’s Arash Arabasadi has more. GRAPHIC CONTENT WARNING: The following video contains content which some people may find disturbing.
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U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken sharply condemned Russia on Sunday, accusing it of committing war atrocities in Ukraine as the world saw its first glimpse of the bodies of dead Ukrainians left behind like trash in the streets of the Kyiv suburb of Bucha after Russian troops departed the area.

“You can’t help but feel a punch to the gut,” the top U.S. diplomat told CNN’s “State of the Union” show. “We cannot become numb to this. We cannot normalize this.”

Blinken said the United States would be “looking hard to document” Russian war crimes throughout Ukraine even as Ukraine is claiming it has retaken control of the north-central region around the capital. Moscow’s troops have pulled back from the Kyiv territory to concentrate new attacks in southern Ukrainian cities along the Black Sea and in the contested Donbas region in eastern Ukraine.

Reflecting on the bodies found in the streets, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told CBS’s “Face the Nation” show, “Indeed. This is genocide.” He said Ukraine is being “destroyed and exterminated” by Russian forces.

Watch related video by Arash Arabasadi:

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg told CNN, “It is a brutality against citizens we have not seen in decades” in Europe. “It is [Russian] President [Vladimir] Putin’s responsibility to end the war.”

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Twitter, “I am deeply shocked by the images of civilians killed in Bucha, Ukraine. It is essential that an independent investigation leads to effective accountability.”

Russia’s Defense Ministry contended in a statement Sunday that it had not killed civilians in Bucha and claimed that video footage and photographs showing the dead were “yet another provocation” by the West.

Both Blinken and Stoltenberg voiced skepticism about the immediate implications of the Russian military pullback from fighting near Kyiv, which Moscow once appeared to think might be captured within days of launching its Feb. 24 invasion of eastern Ukraine and aerial bombardment of numerous targets.

“They could be regrouping and then coming back to Kyiv,” Blinken said, but added that the resistance of the Ukrainian fighters over the last five-plus weeks has shown that “the will of the Ukrainian people will not be subjected to occupation” by Russia.

Stoltenberg said, “This is not a real withdrawal but a shift in strategy to the east and south.”

Blinken said Western economic sanctions are taking a toll on Russia and predicted its economy would shrink 10% this year compared to a projected 3% year-over-year U.S. advance. He said the U.S. and its allies are looking to tighten sanctions they have already imposed on Russia and add more.

Blinken is traveling to Brussels for meetings this week with other NATO foreign ministers, looking to highlight the military alliance’s resolve to hold Russia responsible for continued fighting in Ukraine.

The Reuters news agency reports that Ukraine has “retaken more than 30 towns and villages around Kyiv.”

Zelenskyy, however, warned that what Russia has left behind in Kyiv and its nearby areas is a “complete disaster,” a territory with mined land, houses and equipment. The president claimed even the bodies of the dead have been mined.

Zelenskyy said Saturday in his nightly address, “We should not cherish empty hopes that” the Russians “will simply leave our land.” He said peace could only be gained through “hard battles,” “negotiations” and “daily vigorous work.”

Reports from Odesa, on Ukraine’s Black Sea coast, say a Russian missile strike on an oil refinery there has destroyed the facility. The Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement, “This morning, high-precision sea- and air-based missiles destroyed an oil refinery and three storage facilities for fuel and lubricants near the city of Odesa, from which fuel was supplied to a group of Ukrainian troops.”

British military intelligence said Sunday that reported mines in the Black Sea are a serious risk to maritime activity. The agency said that the origin of the mines is disputed and unclear but is likely to be due to Russian military activity.

Ukraine’s chief negotiator has indicated, however, that talks between Zelenskyy and Putin could be possible after “Moscow’s negotiators informally agreed to most of a draft proposal discussed during face-to-face talks in Istanbul” last week, according to an Associated Press news report.

In the besieged southeastern port city of Mariupol Sunday, residents continued to wait for an International Committee of the Red Cross humanitarian convoy designed to evacuate residents and bring humanitarian aid. The Associated Press reports that as many as 100,000 people are thought to be trapped in the city that has been surrounded by Russian troops for more than a month.
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Media watchdog groups are expressing concern over the fate of journalists who have disappeared in Ukraine after a Ukrainian photojournalist was found dead Saturday.

Maks Levin, a Ukrainian photographer who had been missing for more than two weeks, was found dead near the capital, Kyiv.

“He went missing in the conflict area on March 13 in the Kyiv region. His body was found near the village of Huta-Mezhyhirska on April 1,” presidential aide Andriy Yermak said Saturday in a post on Telegram.

The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) condemned Levin’s death, calling on both sides of the conflict to investigate the killing.

Russian and Ukrainian authorities must “ensure that those responsible are held accountable and guarantee the safety of journalists covering the war from the ground,” CPJ Program Director Carlos Martinez de la Serna said in a statement Saturday.

The Washington-based National Press Club said Levin was killed by Russian forces while working north of Kyiv. It added that Levin is the ninth journalist to have been killed covering the Russian invasion of Ukraine which began February 24.

“We ask that his death be investigated as a war crime. Targeting of civilians, including journalists, is a war crime,” Jen Judson, President of the National Press Club and Gil Klein, President of the National Press Club Journalism Institute, said in a joint statement Sunday.

Russia is denying the targeting of civilians or journalists, saying such reports are “fake news.”

A Lithuanian filmmaker, Mantas Kvedaravicius, was killed Saturday in the Ukrainian city of Mariupol, according to the Ukrainian military. Mariupol, in southeast Ukraine, is besieged by Russian forces.

Since the beginning of the conflict, several journalists have also been wounded in attacks by Russian forces.

Ukrainian journalist Andriy Tsaplienko, a correspondent for the 1+1 news channel, was hit by shrapnel March 25, when he was covering a humanitarian corridor near the northern city of Chernihiv.

Several other Ukrainian journalists have been reported missing in recent days.

The CPJ reported Friday that Ukrainian journalist Konstantin Ryzhenko has been missing since March 30. On the same day, Russian soldiers searched in the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson for Ryzhenko, and since then his family has lost contact with him.

Kherson is currently under the control of Russian forces, according to media reports.

A day after his disappearance, a note appeared on Ryzhenko’s Telegram account, saying “if you are reading this text, it means that something has happened.”

The post apparently explained that Ryzhenko, who works as the chief editor of the Kherson Newscity local news website, had scheduled that post for publication in case he had been detained or lost access to his phone or to the internet.

Ryzhenko’s “disappearance adds to a growing list of Ukrainian journalists who have gone missing since the beginning of the Russian invasion,” Gulnoza Said, CPJ Europe and Central Asia program coordinator, said in a statement Friday.

Another Ukrainian journalist, Iryna Dubchenko, was detained March 26 by Russian forces and taken to the eastern city of Donetsk, according to the Ukrainian National Union of Journalists, and members of her family.

Donetsk is controlled by Russian-backed separatists.

Dubchenko, who has worked for several Ukrainian outlets including the news website Depo.Zaporizhzhia, newspaper Subota and the UNIAN news agency, was reportedly arrested in the town of Rozivka, where she was caring for her grandmother.

Her sister, Oleksandra, told the Ukrainian journalists’ union that when Russian soldiers searched her home March 26, they said they “knew everything about [Dubchenko’s] journalistic activities.”
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Russia faced mounting international condemnation amid reports of possible war crimes committed by Russian forces in the Kyiv suburb of Bucha and other parts of Ukraine.

In a post on Twitter on April 3, European Council President Charles Michel said Moscow will face “further EU sanctions.”

Michel said he was “shocked by haunting images of atrocities committed by Russian army in Kyiv liberated region.”

U.K. Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said in a statement that her government has seen “increasing evidence of appalling acts by the invading forces in towns such as Irpin and Bucha.”

Bucha Mayor Anatoly Fedoruk said on April 2 that some 300 local civilians had been shot during the time the town was occupied by Russian forces. About 280 were allegedly dumped in a mass grave, while the rest were left in the streets.

Moving and graphic images of the bodies have been distributed on social media.

“These are the consequences of Russian occupation,” Fedoruk was quoted as saying.

GRAPHIC CONTENT WARNING – The following tweet contains sensitive content which some people may find offensive or disturbing.

Russia has not responded to the reports.

Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko told Germany’s Bild newspaper that “what happened in Bucha and other suburbs of Kyiv can only be described as genocide.” He said Russian President Vladimir Putin bore responsibility.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dymtro Kuleba said the “Bucha massacre was deliberate.”

“I demand new, devastating G7 sanctions NOW,” Kuleba wrote in an April 3 post on Twitter, referring to the Group of Seven leading economies.

The accusations of alleged atrocities have emerged as Russian forces pull back from positions around Kyiv and the northern cities of Chernihiv and Kharkiv.

The New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) said on April 3 that it had “documented several cases of Russian military forces committing laws-of-war violations against civilians in occupied areas of Chernihiv, Kharkiv, and Kyiv regions of Ukraine.”

The NGO said that, on March 4, Russian forces in Bucha shot at least one man in the back of the head.

Truss said on April 2 that she was “appalled by atrocities in Bucha and other towns in Ukraine” and promised that perpetrators would be prosecuted.

In his post on Twitter, Michel said the European Union was assisting Ukraine “in gathering of necessary evidence for pursuit in international courts.”

The International Criminal Court had earlier opened an investigation into alleged war crimes committed by Russian forces in Ukraine.

The Human Rights Watch report included several allegations of rapes, two cases of summary executions involving seven victims, and other instances of threats and violence against civilians.

“The cases we documented amount to unspeakable, deliberate cruelty and violence against Ukrainian civilians,” Hugh Williamson, HRW’s Europe and Central Asia director, was quoted as saying.
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Polls opened across Hungary early Sunday as voters in the Central European country faced a choice: take a chance on a diverse, Western-looking coalition of opposition parties, or grant nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orban a renewed mandate with a fourth consecutive term in office.

The contest is expected to be the closest since Orban took power in 2010, thanks to Hungary’s six main opposition parties putting aside ideological differences to form a united front against his right-wing Fidesz party.

Recent polls suggest a tight race but give Fidesz a slight lead, making it likely that undecided voters will determine the victor in Sunday’s vote.

Opposition parties and international observers have pointed out structural impediments to defeating Orban by electoral means, highlighting pervasive pro-government bias in the public media, domination of commercial news outlets by Orban allies and a heavily gerrymandered electoral map.

Yet despite what it calls an uneven playing field, the six-party opposition coalition, United For Hungary, has asked voters to support its efforts to introduce a new political culture in Hungary based on pluralistic governance and mended alliances with the EU and NATO.

The coalition’s candidate for prime minister, Peter Marki-Zay, has promised to bring an end to what he alleges is rampant government corruption, and to raise living standards by increasing funding to Hungary’s ailing health care and education systems.

After voting along with his family in his hometown of Hodmezovasarhely, where he serves as mayor, Marki-Zay on Sunday called the election an “uphill battle” due to Fidesz’s superior economic resources and advantage in the media, “but if everybody will vote, we still know that there are more people that want change in Hungary.”

“There is still a chance that we can defeat our 1,000-year-old history’s most corrupt government,” Marki-Zay said.

Orban – a fierce critic of immigration, LGBTQ rights and “EU bureaucrats” – has garnered the admiration of right-wing nationalists across Europe and North America.

Fox News host Tucker Carlson broadcast from Budapest for a week last summer, where he extolled Orban’s hardline approach to immigration and the razor wire fence he erected along Hungary’s southern border.

A proponent of what he calls “illiberal democracy,” Orban has taken many of Hungary’s democratic institutions under his control, and depicted himself as a defender of European Christendom against Muslim migrants, progressivism and the “LGBTQ lobby.”

In his frequent battles with the EU, of which Hungary is a member, he has portrayed the 27-member bloc as an oppressive regime reminiscent of the Soviet occupiers that dominated Hungary for more than 40 years in the 20th century, and has bucked attempts to draw some of his policies into line with EU rules.

Those policies, including what critics view as violations of the rights of LGBTQ people, misuse of EU funds and exerting undue control over Hungary’s media, have put him at odds with Brussels and resulted in billions of euros in EU funding being withheld from his government.

While Orban had earlier campaigned on divisive social and cultural issues, he dramatically shifted the tone of his campaign after Russia’s invasion of neighboring Ukraine in February, and has portrayed the election as a choice between peace and stability or war and chaos.

While the opposition called for Hungary to support its embattled neighbor and act in lockstep with its EU and NATO partners, Orban, a longtime ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, has insisted that Hungary must remain neutral and maintain its close economic ties with Moscow, including continuing to import Russian gas and oil.

At his final campaign rally on Friday, Orban told a crowd of supporters that supplying Ukraine with weapons – something that Hungary, alone among Ukraine’s EU neighbors, has refused to do — would make the country a military target, and that sanctioning Russian energy imports would cripple the economy.

“This isn’t our war, we have to stay out of it,” Orban said.

But Marki-Zay said on Sunday that the stakes of the election were about even more than the immediate conflict next door, and that he and his movement were “fighting for decency, we are fighting for the independence of the judiciary and the rule of law in Hungary.”

“We are fighting for the whole world. We want to show that this model that Orban has … introduced here in Hungary is not acceptable for any decent, honest man,” Marki-Zay said.
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Ukraine said Saturday it is in control of the capital city of Kyiv and its surrounding areas, as Russian troops have withdrawn.

U.S. and other Western defense and intelligence officials have warned that Moscow is repositioning its forces in preparation for what the Kremlin has said will be a renewed focus on the Donbas region in eastern Ukraine.

Reuters reports that Ukraine has “retaken more than 30 towns and villages around Kyiv.”

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has warned that what Russia has left behind in Kyiv and its nearby areas is a “complete disaster,” a territory with mined land, houses and equipment. The president claimed even dead bodies have been mined.

Zelenskyy said Saturday in his nightly address, “We should not cherish empty hopes that” the Russians “will simply leave our land.” He said peace could only be gained through “hard battles,” “negotiations” and “daily vigorous work.”

Reports from Odesa, on Ukraine’s Black Sea coast, say a Russian missile strike on an Odesa oil refinery has destroyed the facility. The Russian defense ministry said in a statement, “This morning, high-precision sea and air-based missiles destroyed an oil refinery and three storage facilities for fuel and lubricants near the city of Odessa, from which fuel was supplied to a group of Ukrainian troops.”

British military intelligence said Sunday that reported mines in the Black Sea are a serious risk to maritime activity. The agency said that the origin of the mines is disputed and unclear but is likely to be due to Russian military activity.

Ukraine’s chief negotiator has indicated, however, that talks between Zelenskyy and Russian President Valdimir Puttin could be possible after “Moscow’s negotiators informally agreed to most of a draft proposal discussed during face-to-face talks in Istanbul” last week, according to an Associated Press report.

Sunday, in the besieged southeastern port city of Mariupol, residents continue to wait for an International Committee of the Red Cross humanitarian convoy that is designed to evacuate residents and bring humanitarian aid. The Associated Press reports that as many as 100,000 people are thought trapped in the city that has been surrounded by Russian troops for more than a month.

Pope Francis said Saturday in an address in Malta, without directly mentioning Ukraine or Puttin: “We had thought that invasions of other countries, savage street fighting and atomic threats were grim memories of a distant past.” The pope said, “However, the icy winds of war, which bring only death, destruction and hatred in their wake, have swept down powerfully upon the lives of many people and affected us all.”
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A group of Russians and Ukrainians who have immigrated to the U.S. and live in Los Angeles have flown to Hungary to help Ukrainian refugees there. Marina Ratina, ex-producer of the popular cartoon series “Masha and the Bear,” is among them. Angelina Bagdasaryan has the story, narrated by Anna Rice. Camera – Vazgen Varzhabetian.
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French President Emmanuel Macron held his first big rally Saturday in his race for reelection, promising the French more “progress” and “solidarity” over the next five years, but his campaign has hit a speed bump.

It’s been dubbed “the McKinsey Affair,” named after an American consulting company hired to advise the French government on its COVID-19 vaccination campaign and other policies. A new French Senate report questions the government’s use of private consultants and accuses McKinsey of tax dodging. The issue is energizing Macron’s rivals and dogging him at campaign stops ahead of France’s April 10 first-round presidential vote.

Macron, a centrist who has been in the forefront of diplomatic efforts to end the war in Ukraine, has a comfortable lead in polls so far over far-right leader Marine Le Pen and other challengers.

“We are here to make possible a project of progress, of independence, for the future, for our France,” Macron told a crowd of about 30,000 at a stadium that usually hosts rugby matches. “I see difficulties to make ends meet, situations of insecurity … and so much more to accomplish to turn back extremism.”

Inflation, bonuses, pensions

Speaking to those who see “all their salary go into gasoline, bills, rent” as the war in Ukraine is driving up food and energy prices, Macron promised to let companies give a tax-free bonus to employees of up to 6,000 euros ($6,627) as soon as this summer.

He also promised to raise the minimum pension to 1,100 euros ($1,214) a month for those who have worked full time — up from about 700 euros now. The retirement age will need to be progressively raised from 62 to 65 to finance the plan, he said.

Supporters welcomed him, chanting “Macron, president!” “One, two, five more years!” and waved the French tricolor flag.

McKinsey

But for those trying to unseat Macron, the word “McKinsey” is becoming a rallying cry.

Critics describe the French government’s 1 billion euros spent on consulting firms like McKinsey last year as privatization and Americanization of French politics and are demanding more transparency.

The French Senate, where opposition conservatives hold a majority, published a report last month investigating the government’s use of private consulting firms. The report found that state spending on such contracts has doubled in the past three years despite mixed results, and warned they could pose conflicts of interest. Dozens of private companies are involved in the consulting, including giants like Ireland-based multinational Accenture and French group Capgemini.

Most damningly, the report says McKinsey hasn’t paid corporate profit taxes in France since at least 2011, but instead used a system of “tax optimization” through its Delaware-based parent company.

McKinsey issued a statement saying it “respects French tax rules that apply to it” and defending its work in France.

McKinsey notably advised the French government on its COVID-19 vaccination campaign, which got off to a halting start but eventually became among the world’s most comprehensive. Outside consultants have also advised Macron’s government on housing reform, asylum policy and other measures.

Macron’s defense

The Senate report found that such firms earn smaller revenues in France than in Britain or Germany, and noted that spending on outside consultants was higher under conservative former President Nicolas Sarkozy than under Macron.

Budget Minister Olivier Dussopt said the state money spent on consultants was about 0.3% of what the government spent on public servants’ salaries last year and that McKinsey earned only a tiny fraction of it. He accused campaign rivals of inflating the affair to boost their own ratings.

The affair is hurting Macron nonetheless.

A former investment banker once accused of being “president of the rich,” Macron saw his ratings surge when his government spent massively to protect workers and businesses early in the pandemic, vowing to do “whatever it takes” to cushion the blow. But his rivals say the McKinsey affair rekindles concerns that Macron and his government are beholden to private interests and out of touch with ordinary voters.

Everywhere Macron goes now, he’s asked about it.

“The last few days, I heard a lot speaking about tax evasion, an American company,” Macron said at Saturday’s rally. “I want to remind those who show outrage that they used them (consulting firms)” in local government as well.

He also pointed to his government’s fight to make sure corporations pay their fair share of taxes.

“The minimum tax in Europe, we fought for it, we did it,” he said.

France is pushing for quick implementation in the 27-nation European Union of the minimum corporate tax of 15%, on which more than 130 countries agreed last October.
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The Muslim holy month of Ramadan — when the faithful fast from dawn to dusk — began at sunrise Saturday in much of the Middle East, where Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has sent energy and food prices soaring.

The conflict cast a pall over Ramadan, when large gatherings over meals and family celebrations are a tradition. Many in the Southeast Asian nation of Indonesia planned to start observing Sunday, and some Shiites in Lebanon, Iran and Iraq were also marking the start of Ramadan a day later.

Muslims follow a lunar calendar, and a moon-sighting methodology can lead to different countries declaring the start of Ramadan a day or two apart.

Muslim-majority nations including Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Syria, Sudan and the United Arab Emirates had declared the month would begin Saturday morning.

A Saudi statement Friday was broadcast on the kingdom’s state-run Saudi TV and Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the crown prince of Abu Dhabi and de facto leader of the United Arab Emirates, congratulated Muslims on Ramadan’s arrival.

Jordan, a predominantly Sunni country, also said the first day of Ramadan would be on Sunday, in a break from following Saudi Arabia. The kingdom said the Islamic religious authority was unable to spot the crescent moon indicating the beginning of the month.

Indonesia’s second-largest Islamic group, Muhammadiyah, which counts more than 60 million members, said that according to its astronomical calculations Ramadan begins Saturday. But the country’s religious affairs minister had announced Friday that Ramadan would start on Sunday, after Islamic astronomers in the country failed to sight the new moon.

It wasn’t the first time the Muhammadiyah has offered a differing opinion on the matter, but most Indonesians — Muslims comprise nearly 90% of the country’s 270 million people — are expected to follow the government’s official date.

Many had hoped for a more cheerful Ramadan after the coronavirus pandemic blocked the world’s 2 billion Muslims from many rituals the past two years.

With Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, however, millions of people in the Middle East are now wondering where their next meals will come from. The skyrocketing prices are affecting people whose lives were already upended by conflict, displacement and poverty from Lebanon, Iraq and Syria to Sudan and Yemen.

Ukraine and Russia account for a third of global wheat and barley exports, which Middle East countries rely on to feed millions of people who subsist on subsidized bread and bargain noodles. They are also top exporters of other grains and sunflower seed oil used for cooking.

Egypt, the world’s largest wheat importer, has received most of its wheat from Russia and Ukraine in recent years. Its currency has now also taken a dive, adding to other pressures driving up prices.

Shoppers in the capital, Cairo, turned out earlier this week to stock up on groceries and festive decorations, but many had to buy less than last year because of the prices.

Ramadan tradition calls for colorful lanterns and lights strung throughout Cairo’s narrow alleys and around mosques. Some people with the means to do so set up tables on the streets to dish up free post-fast Iftar meals for the poor. The practice is known in the Islamic world as Tables of the Compassionate.

“This could help in this situation,” said Rabei Hassan, the muezzin of a mosque in Giza as he bought vegetables and other food from a nearby market. “People are tired of the prices.”

Worshippers attended mosque for hours of evening prayers, or tarawih. On Friday evening, thousands of people packed the al-Azhar Mosque after attendance was banned for the past two years to stem the pandemic.

“They were difficult (times) … Ramadan without tarawih at the mosque is not Ramadan,” said Saeed Abdel-Rahman, a 64-year-old retired teacher as he entered al-Azhar for prayers.

Higher prices also exacerbated the woes of Lebanese already facing a major economic crisis. Over the past two years, the currency collapsed and the country’s middle class was plunged into poverty. The meltdown has also brought on severe shortages in electricity, fuel and medicine.

In the Gaza Strip, few people were shopping on Friday in markets usually packed at this time of year. Merchants said Russia’s war on Ukraine has sent prices skyrocketing, alongside the usual challenges, putting a damper on the festive atmosphere that Ramadan usually creates.

The living conditions of the 2.3 million Palestinians in the impoverished coastal territory are tough, compounded by a crippling Israeli-Egyptian blockade since 2007.

Toward the end of Ramadan last year, a deadly 11-day war between Gaza’s Hamas rulers and Israel cast a cloud over festivities, including the Eid al-Fitr holiday that follows the holy month. It was the fourth bruising war with Israel in just over a decade.

In Iraq, the start of Ramadan highlighted widespread frustration over a meteoric rise in food prices, exacerbated in the past month by the war in Ukraine.

Suhaila Assam, a 62-year-old retired teacher and women’s rights activist, said she and her retired husband are struggling to survive on their combined pension of $1,000 a month, with prices of cooking oil, flour and other essentials having more than doubled.

“We, as Iraqis, use cooking oil and flour a lot. Almost in every meal. So how can a family of five members survive?” she asked.

Akeel Sabah, 38, is a flour distributor in the Jamila wholesale market, which supplies all of Baghdad’s Rasafa district on the eastern side of the Tigris River with food. He said flour and almost all other foodstuffs are imported, which means distributors have to pay for them in dollars. A ton of flour used to cost $390.

“Today I bought the ton for $625,” he said.

“The currency devaluation a year ago already led to an increase in prices, but with the ongoing (Ukraine) crisis, prices are skyrocketing. Distributors lost millions,” he said.

In Istanbul, Muslims held the first Ramadan prayers in 88 years in the Hagia Sophia, nearly two years after the iconic former cathedral was converted into a mosque.

Worshippers filled the 6th-century building and the square outside Friday night for tarawih prayers led by Ali Erbas, the government head of religious affairs. Although converted for Islamic use and renamed the Grand Hagia Sophia Mosque in July 2020, COVID-19 restrictions had limited worship at the site.

“After 88 years of separation, the Hagia Sophia Mosque has regained the tarawih prayer,” Erbas said, according to the state-run Anadolu Agency. 
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The friendship of Ukrainian musician Valeriya Sholokhova and Russian musician Nikita Morozov transcends the fighting between their countries. For VOA News, Iacopo Luzi has the story.
Camera: Iacopo Luzi
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This is Radio Ukraine calling.

A new Prague-based internet radio station has started to broadcast news, information and music tailored to the day-to-day concerns of some 300,000 Ukrainian refugees who have arrived in the Czech Republic since Russia launched its military assault against Ukraine.

In a studio at the heart of the Czech capital, radio veterans work together with absolute beginners to provide the refugees with what they need to know to settle as smoothly as possible in a new country.

The staff of 10 combines people who have fled Ukraine in recent weeks with those who have been living abroad for years. No matter who they are, their common goal is to help fellow Ukrainians and their homeland facing the brutal Russian invasion.

Natalia Churikova, an experienced journalist with Prague-based Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, said she couldn’t say no to an offer to become the broadcaster’s editor-in-chief.

“It was for my people. For people who really needed help, who really needed support, something that would help them start a new life or restart their lives here after they have lived through very bad things trying to escape from Ukraine,” Churikova said.

Staffer Sofia Tatomyr is one of those who left to escape the war. The 22-year-old from the western town of Kalush was making plans to move to another city in Ukraine when a friend called one morning: “Sofia, the war has just begun.”

Her parents and older brother opted to stay home, but they wanted her to join her aunt in Prague.

“It happened all of a sudden,” she said. She boarded a bus alone in Chernivtsi and arrived 28 hours later in the Czech capital, a city she’d never visited.

“When I was already abroad, I remember the moment that I was crying and I was trying to buy a ticket and I couldn’t spell what ticket I need. It was really difficult,” she said.

Tatomyr worked as graphic designer and singer in Ukraine after getting a degree as a publisher and media editor. Radio broadcasting was part of her university training. To her surprise, her aunt’s brother found an announcement about jobs for a new Ukrainian radio station.

She said she needed “some time to understand that not everybody can be at the front line at the war and everybody has to do what he or she can do the best.”

“So this is how I’m cheering myself up: That I’m doing my profession, that I’m doing what I can do the best, and this is the best way I can help our people, I can help Ukraine,” she said.

Safe in Prague, she was still trying to come to terms with the invasion of her homeland.

“It’s horrible,” she said. “I can’t still find any logical explanation for what they’re doing and why they’re doing it. In the 21st century, a war? Why? We were a peaceful nation.”

Another announcer, Marharyta Golobrodska, was working as a copywriter for a software company when she received a call from Churikova, whom she knew from an internship at Radio Free Europe.

“I used to consider those who get up early to be ready to work from 6 a.m. crazy, but that’s what I do now and I thoroughly enjoy it,” Golobrodska said. “That’s what I always wanted to do, to be helpful for my country, even though I live so far away.”

For 12 hours each weekday — and 11 hours on weekends — Radio Ukraine plays Ukrainian and western music while presenting news of Ukraine and the Czech Republic together with information for refugees every 15 minutes. It includes details about where they can get the documents they need from local authorities, how to get a job or medical treatment, or how to find a place for children at schools. Children can also listen to Ukrainian fairy tales.

A native of the southern city of Mykolaiv, Golobrodska has lived in the Czech Republic for eight-and-a-half years. After the invasion, she traveled to western Ukraine to meet her mother and 9-year-old sister and drive them to safety. In Prague, she got them involved in her broadcast.

“My mum, for example, told me she’d like to hear what she’s not supposed to do here. For example, that she can’t park the car anywhere she wants to, like in Ukraine,” she said.

Bohemia Media, which operates several radio stations in the Czech Republic, came up with the idea to launch the station. It provided a studio and its people cooperated with the Ukrainian embassy, the local Ukrainian community and others to make it reality in just three weeks. It also covers the salaries.

Lukas Nadvornik, the director of the project, said the plan is for the station to remain on air as long as it’s needed. The key task for now is to let as many potential listeners as possible know about its existence.

One of them is Sophia Medvedeva. The 23-year-old web designer couldn’t hold back tears as she talked about the recent six-day drive with her mother and younger brother from Mykolaiv to Krakow, Poland.

But in Prague, she joined her fiancé and Radio Ukraine helped her adapt to a new life.

“I’m so amazed about the chance to listen to Ukrainian music when I’m not in my homeland. I feel that I’m not alone,” she said. Her only recommendation for it is to invite a psychologist to “advise Ukrainian refugees about how to fight the survivor syndrome and how to fight depression.”
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