This content originally appeared on Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and was authored by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.
This post was originally published on Radio Free.
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Parliamentary elections in Belarus are being viewed as a dress rehearsal for the presidential election that is scheduled to take place next year in which the country’s authoritarian leader, Alyaksandr Lukashenka, is expected to be the only viable candidate.
Lukashenka’s pledge to run again — repeated on February 25 after he cast his ballot — was not seen as an off-the-cuff comment.
“Tell them (the opposition) I’ll [run],” Lukashenka said in response to a question about the 2025 presidential election, according to BelTA, adding that there could be pressure from the opposition to hold elections sooner, but voters should not worry because the elections will be carried out “the way it is necessary for Belarus.”
The expectation is that there will be no real opposition candidates in the race, and if there is an alternative to Lukashenka, it will be only a nominal one. Lukashenka has been in power since 1994, and under his rule, Belarus has become an increasingly repressive state, being called by some Western diplomats “Europe’s last dictatorship.”
Election authorities in Belarus said earlier that all 110 mandates of the lower parliament chamber had been occupied following the tightly controlled parliamentary elections held on February 25, which were held under heavy securityamid calls for a boycott by the country’s beleaguered opposition.
The Central Election Commission said that voter turnout was nearly 74 percent amid reports of people being intimidated into going to polling stations against their will.
The vote was criticized by the U.S. State Department, which called it a “sham” election held amid a “climate of fear.”
Only four parties, all of which support Lukashenka’s policies, were officially registered to compete in the polls — Belaya Rus, the Communist Party, the Liberal Democratic Party, and the Party of Labor and Justice. About a dozen parties were denied registration last year.
The Crisis In Belarus
Read our coverage as Belarusian strongman Alyaksandr Lukashenka continues his brutal crackdown on NGOs, activists, and independent media following the August 2020 presidential election.
Belarusian opposition leader Svyatlana Tsikhanouskaya, who has claimed her victory over Lukashenka in the 2020 presidential election was stolen, described the elections as a “farce” and called for a boycott, saying the regime had only allowed “puppets” onto the ballot.
Tsikhanouskaya on February 26 took part in a meeting of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, reminding the council that the situation in Belarus remains serious and that thousands of political prisoners suffer in prisons in inhumane conditions.
The international community’s response to the crisis in Belarus and similar repressive regimes should be decisive and unwavering, she said, and any actions taken against these regimes should have a real impact on the ground.
The general elections were the first to be held in Belarus since the 2020 presidential election, which handed Lukashenka a sixth term in office. More than 35,000 people were arrested in the monthslong mass protests that followed the controversial election.
Ahead of the voting in parliamentary and local council elections, the country’s Central Election Commission announced a record amount of early voting, which began on February 20. Nearly 48 percent of registered voters had already voted by February 24, according to the commission, eclipsing the nearly 42 percent of early voting recorded for the contentious 2020 presidential election.
Early voting is widely seen by observers as a mechanism employed by the Belarusian authorities to falsify elections. The Belarusian opposition has said the early voting process allows for voting manipulation, with ballot boxes unprotected for a five-day period.
The Vyasna Human Rights Center alleged that many voters were forced to participate in early voting, including students, soldiers, teachers, and other civil servants.
“Authorities are using all available means to ensure the result they need — from airing TV propaganda to forcing voters to cast ballots early,” said Vyasna representative Paval Sapelka. “Detentions, arrests and searches are taking place during the vote.”
The Belarusian authorities stepped up security on the streets and at polling stations around the country, with Interior Ministry police conducting drills on how to deal with voters who might try to violate restrictive rules imposed for the elections.
For the first time, curtains were removed from voting booths, and voters were barred from taking pictures of their ballots — a practice encouraged by activists in previous elections in an effort to prevent authorities from manipulating vote counts.
Polling stations were guarded by police, along with members of a youth law enforcement organization and retired security personnel. Armed rapid-response teams were also formed to deal with potential disturbances.
Lukashenka this week alleged without offering proof that Western countries were considering ways to stage a coup and ordered police to boost armed patrols across the country in order to ensure “law and order.”
For the first time, election observers from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) were denied access to monitor the vote in OSCE-member Belarus.
This content originally appeared on News – Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty and was authored by News – Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty.This post was originally published on Radio Free.
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Polls have closed for Belarus’s tightly controlled parliamentary elections, which were held under heavy security at polling stations and amid calls for a boycott by the country’s beleaguered opposition.
The February 25 elections were widely expected to solidify the position of the country’s authoritarian leader, Alyaksandr Lukashenka. Only four parties, all of which support Lukashenka’s policies, were officially registered to compete in the polls — Belaya Rus, the Communist Party, the Liberal Democratic Party, and the Party of Labor and Justice. About a dozen parties were denied registration last year.
Polls opened for the general elections at 8 a.m. local time and closed at 8 p.m.
According to the Central Election Commission, as of 6 p.m., voter turnout was 70.3 percent.
Results are expected to be announced on February 26, the commission said.
Belarusian opposition leader Svyatlana Tsikhanouskaya, who has claimed her victory over Lukashenka in the 2020 presidential election was stolen, described the elections as a “farce” and called for a boycott.
“There are no people on the ballot who would offer real changes because the regime only has allowed puppets convenient for it to take part,” Tsikhanouskaya said in a video statement from her exile in Lithuania, where she moved following a brutal crackdown on protests against the 2020 election results. “We are calling to boycott this senseless farce, to ignore this election without choice.”
In a separate message posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, Tsikhanouskaya said on February 25 that her video address to the Belarusian people about the elections and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine had been displayed on 2,000 screens in public spaces throughout Belarus. The action, she said, was organized by a coalition of former police and security forces officers.
The U.S. State Department blasted what it called a “sham” election, held amid a “climate of fear.”
“The United States condemns the Lukashenka regime’s sham parliamentary and local elections that concluded today in Belarus,” it said in a statement.
“The elections were held in a climate of fear under which no electoral processes could be called democratic. The regime continues to hold more than 1,400 political prisoners. All independent political figures have either been detained or exiled. All independent political parties were denied registration.”
“The Belarusian people deserve better,” it said.
The general elections were the first to be held in Belarus since the 2020 presidential election, which handed Lukashenka a sixth term in office. More than 35,000 people were arrested in the monthslong mass protests that followed the controversial election.
Belarusian opposition leader Svyatlana Tsikhanouskaya called on people to “boycott this senseless farce, to ignore this election without choice.” On the occasion, Lukashenka told journalists after voting that he plans to run again for president in 2025.
“Tell them (the exiled opposition) that I’ll run,” the state news agency BelTa quoted Lukashenka as saying.
Ahead of the voting in parliamentary and local council elections, the country’s Central Election Commission (CEC) announced a record amount of early voting, which began on February 20. Nearly 48 percent of registered voters had already voted by February 24, according to the CEC, eclipsing the nearly 42 percent of early voting recorded for the contentious 2020 presidential election.
Early voting is widely seen by observers as a mechanism employed by the Belarusian authorities to falsify elections. The Belarusian opposition has said the early voting process allows for voting manipulation, with ballot boxes unprotected for a five-day period.
The Vyasna Human Rights Center alleged that many voters were forced to participate in early voting, including students, soldiers, teachers, and other civil servants.
“Authorities are using all available means to ensure the result they need — from airing TV propaganda to forcing voters to cast ballots early,” said Vyasna representative Pavel Sapelka. “Detentions, arrests, and searches are taking place during the vote.”
The Belarusian authorities stepped up security on the streets and at polling stations around the country, with Interior Ministry police conducting drills on how to deal with voters who might try to violate restrictive rules imposed for the elections.
For the first time, curtains were removed from voting booths, and voters were barred from taking pictures of their ballots — a practice encouraged by activists in previous elections in an effort to prevent authorities from manipulating vote counts.
Polling stations were guarded by police, along with members of a youth law-enforcement organization and retired security personnel. Armed rapid-response teams were also formed to deal with potential disturbances.
Lukashenka this week alleged without offering proof that Western countries were considering ways to stage a coup and ordered police to boost armed patrols across the country in order to ensure “law and order.”
For the first time, election observers from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe were denied access to monitor the vote in OSCE-member Belarus.
In the run-up to the vote, rights organizations uncovered violations pertaining to how local election committees were formed. An expert mission organized by the Belarusian Helsinki Committee and Viasna said in late January that the lower number of local election committees and their compositions could indicate higher control by the authorities over the election process and an effort to stack the committees with government loyalists.
Following the vote, Belarus is expected to form a new, 1,200-seat All-Belarus Popular Assembly that will have broad powers to appoint judges and election officials and to consider amendments to the constitution. The new body will include elected local legislators, as well as top officials, union members, and pro-government activists.
This content originally appeared on News – Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty and was authored by News – Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty.This post was originally published on Radio Free.
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Women have borne the brunt of the Taliban’s repressive laws in Afghanistan, where the extremist group has imposed constraints on their appearances, freedom of movement, and right to work and study.
But women who are unmarried or do not have a “mahram,” or male guardian, face even tougher restrictions and have been cut off from access to health care, banned from traveling long distances, and pressured to quit their jobs.
The Taliban’s mahram rules prohibit women from leaving their home without a male chaperone, often a husband or a close relative such as a father, brother, or uncle.
Single and unaccompanied women, including an estimated 2 million widows, say they are essentially prisoners in their homes and unable to carry out the even the most basic of tasks.
Among them is Nadia, a divorced woman from the northern province of Kunduz. The mother of four has no surviving male relatives.
“These restrictions are stifling for women who now cannot do the simple things independently,” Nadia told RFE/RL’s Radio Azadi.
The 35-year-old said women also need to have a male escort to visit a doctor, go to government offices, or even rent a house.
She said she had to pay a man to be her chaperone in order to meet a realtor and sign a rental agreement.
An Afghan girl stands among widows clad in burqas. Nadia also paid a man in her neighborhood around 1,000 afghanis, or $15, to accompany her to the local passport office. But the Taliban refused her passport application and ordered her to return with her father, who died years ago.
“Even visiting the doctor is becoming impossible,” she said. “We can only plead [with the Taliban] or pray. All doors are closed to us.”
Mahram Crackdown
Women who violate the Taliban’s mahram requirements have been detained or arrested and are often released only after signing a pledge that they will not break the rules again in the future.
In its latest report, the UN mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) said the Taliban’s notorious religious police was enforcing the rules by carrying out inspections in public spaces, offices, and education facilities as well as setting up checkpoints in cities.
Released on January 22, the report said three female health-care workers were detained in October because they were traveling to work without a mahram.
In December, women without male chaperones were stopped from accessing health-care facilities in the southeastern province of Paktia, the report said.
And in the southern province of Kandahar, the Taliban visited a bus terminal and checked if women were traveling with a male relative, the report said.
In late 2021, the Taliban said women seeking to travel more than 72 kilometers should not be offered transport unless they were accompanied by a close male relative.
In another incident, the Taliban advised a woman to get married if she wanted to keep her job at a health-care facility, saying it was inappropriate for a single woman to work, the report said.
In a report issued on January 18, the United Nations Development Fund (UNDP) said the Taliban’s restrictions on single and unaccompanied women has ensured that female-led households receive less income and food.
“Their share of employment has nearly halved, decreasing from 11 percent in 2022 to 6 percent” in 2023, the report said.
The report noted that female-headed households typically care for more children and get paid less for their work and consume lower quantities of food.
“Female-headed households have greater needs for humanitarian assistance and yet report more restrictions to accessing such assistance,” the report said.
“Unaccompanied access by women to public places such as health facilities, water points, and markets has declined in the past two years,” the report added.
‘Deeply Insulting’
Parisa, an unmarried woman, takes care of her elderly parents in the northeastern province of Takhar.
With her father bedridden and her two brothers working in neighboring Iran, she has been forced to take care of the family’s needs.
But she said she has been repeatedly harassed by the Taliban while trying to buy groceries in the local market, located some 10 kilometers away from her house.
Afghan women wait to receive aid packages that include food, clothes, and sanitary materials, distributed by a local charity foundation in Herat, on January 15. “What can women do when men in their families are forced to leave the country for work?” she told Radio Azadi, giving only her first name for security reasons.
“I have no choice but to look after my family’s basic needs. The Taliban’s attitude is deeply insulting and extremely aggressive.”
Parisa said she has pleaded with local Taliban leaders to relax the mahram requirements. But she said her efforts have been in vain.
“They start abusing and threatening us whenever we try to tell them that we have to leave our houses to meet our basic needs,” she said.
Parasto, a resident of Kabul, said the Taliban’s restrictions are preventing single women from seeking the limited health care that is available.
“The doctors in the hospitals and clinics are reluctant to see unaccompanied women,” she told Radio Azadi.
Parasto said the Taliban’s mounting restrictions on women, especially those who are unmarried or do not have a male guardian, have made life unbearable.
“Single women are trying to survive without rights and opportunities,” she said.
Written by Abubakar Siddique in Prague based on reporting by Naqiba Barakzai, Abida Spozhmai, and Khujasta Kabiri of RFE/RL’s Radio Azadi
This content originally appeared on News – Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty and was authored by News – Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty.This post was originally published on Radio Free.
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This content originally appeared on Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and was authored by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.This post was originally published on Radio Free.
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Polls have closed for Belarus’s tightly controlled parliamentary elections, which were held under heavy security at polling stations and amid calls for a boycott by the country’s beleaguered opposition.
The February 25 elections were widely expected to solidify the position of the country’s authoritarian leader, Alyaksandr Lukashenka. Only four parties, all of which support Lukashenka’s policies, were officially registered to compete in the polls — Belaya Rus, the Communist Party, the Liberal Democratic Party, and the Party of Labor and Justice. About a dozen parties were denied registration last year.
Polls opened for the general elections at 8 a.m. local time and closed at 8 p.m.
According to the Central Election Commission, as of 6 p.m., voter turnout was 70.3 percent.
Results are expected to be announced on February 26, the commission said.
Belarusian opposition leader Svyatlana Tsikhanouskaya, who has claimed her victory over Lukashenka in the 2020 presidential election was stolen, described the elections as a “farce” and called for a boycott.
“There are no people on the ballot who would offer real changes because the regime only has allowed puppets convenient for it to take part,” Tsikhanouskaya said in a video statement from her exile in Lithuania, where she moved following a brutal crackdown on protests against the 2020 election results. “We are calling to boycott this senseless farce, to ignore this election without choice.”
In a separate message posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, Tsikhanouskaya said on February 25 that her video address to the Belarusian people about the elections and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine had been displayed on 2,000 screens in public spaces throughout Belarus. The action, she said, was organized by a coalition of former police and security forces officers.
The U.S. State Department blasted what it called a “sham” election, held amid a “climate of fear.”
“The United States condemns the Lukashenka regime’s sham parliamentary and local elections that concluded today in Belarus,” it said in a statement.
“The elections were held in a climate of fear under which no electoral processes could be called democratic. The regime continues to hold more than 1,400 political prisoners. All independent political figures have either been detained or exiled. All independent political parties were denied registration.”
“The Belarusian people deserve better,” it said.
The general elections were the first to be held in Belarus since the 2020 presidential election, which handed Lukashenka a sixth term in office. More than 35,000 people were arrested in the monthslong mass protests that followed the controversial election.
Belarusian opposition leader Svyatlana Tsikhanouskaya called on people to “boycott this senseless farce, to ignore this election without choice.” On the occasion, Lukashenka told journalists after voting that he plans to run again for president in 2025.
“Tell them (the exiled opposition) that I’ll run,” the state news agency BelTa quoted Lukashenka as saying.
Ahead of the voting in parliamentary and local council elections, the country’s Central Election Commission (CEC) announced a record amount of early voting, which began on February 20. Nearly 48 percent of registered voters had already voted by February 24, according to the CEC, eclipsing the nearly 42 percent of early voting recorded for the contentious 2020 presidential election.
Early voting is widely seen by observers as a mechanism employed by the Belarusian authorities to falsify elections. The Belarusian opposition has said the early voting process allows for voting manipulation, with ballot boxes unprotected for a five-day period.
The Vyasna Human Rights Center alleged that many voters were forced to participate in early voting, including students, soldiers, teachers, and other civil servants.
“Authorities are using all available means to ensure the result they need — from airing TV propaganda to forcing voters to cast ballots early,” said Vyasna representative Pavel Sapelka. “Detentions, arrests, and searches are taking place during the vote.”
The Belarusian authorities stepped up security on the streets and at polling stations around the country, with Interior Ministry police conducting drills on how to deal with voters who might try to violate restrictive rules imposed for the elections.
For the first time, curtains were removed from voting booths, and voters were barred from taking pictures of their ballots — a practice encouraged by activists in previous elections in an effort to prevent authorities from manipulating vote counts.
Polling stations were guarded by police, along with members of a youth law-enforcement organization and retired security personnel. Armed rapid-response teams were also formed to deal with potential disturbances.
Lukashenka this week alleged without offering proof that Western countries were considering ways to stage a coup and ordered police to boost armed patrols across the country in order to ensure “law and order.”
For the first time, election observers from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe were denied access to monitor the vote in OSCE-member Belarus.
In the run-up to the vote, rights organizations uncovered violations pertaining to how local election committees were formed. An expert mission organized by the Belarusian Helsinki Committee and Viasna said in late January that the lower number of local election committees and their compositions could indicate higher control by the authorities over the election process and an effort to stack the committees with government loyalists.
Following the vote, Belarus is expected to form a new, 1,200-seat All-Belarus Popular Assembly that will have broad powers to appoint judges and election officials and to consider amendments to the constitution. The new body will include elected local legislators, as well as top officials, union members, and pro-government activists.
This content originally appeared on News – Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty and was authored by News – Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty.This post was originally published on Radio Free.
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Polls have closed for Belarus’s tightly controlled parliamentary elections, which were held under heavy security at polling stations and amid calls for a boycott by the country’s beleaguered opposition.
The February 25 elections were widely expected to solidify the position of the country’s authoritarian leader, Alyaksandr Lukashenka. Only four parties, all of which support Lukashenka’s policies, were officially registered to compete in the polls — Belaya Rus, the Communist Party, the Liberal Democratic Party, and the Party of Labor and Justice. About a dozen parties were denied registration last year.
Polls opened for the general elections at 8 a.m. local time and closed at 8 p.m.
According to the Central Election Commission, as of 6 p.m., voter turnout was 70.3 percent.
Results are expected to be announced on February 26, the commission said.
Belarusian opposition leader Svyatlana Tsikhanouskaya, who has claimed her victory over Lukashenka in the 2020 presidential election was stolen, described the elections as a “farce” and called for a boycott.
“There are no people on the ballot who would offer real changes because the regime only has allowed puppets convenient for it to take part,” Tsikhanouskaya said in a video statement from her exile in Lithuania, where she moved following a brutal crackdown on protests against the 2020 election results. “We are calling to boycott this senseless farce, to ignore this election without choice.”
In a separate message posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, Tsikhanouskaya said on February 25 that her video address to the Belarusian people about the elections and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine had been displayed on 2,000 screens in public spaces throughout Belarus. The action, she said, was organized by a coalition of former police and security forces officers.
The U.S. State Department blasted what it called a “sham” election, held amid a “climate of fear.”
“The United States condemns the Lukashenka regime’s sham parliamentary and local elections that concluded today in Belarus,” it said in a statement.
“The elections were held in a climate of fear under which no electoral processes could be called democratic. The regime continues to hold more than 1,400 political prisoners. All independent political figures have either been detained or exiled. All independent political parties were denied registration.”
“The Belarusian people deserve better,” it said.
The general elections were the first to be held in Belarus since the 2020 presidential election, which handed Lukashenka a sixth term in office. More than 35,000 people were arrested in the monthslong mass protests that followed the controversial election.
Belarusian opposition leader Svyatlana Tsikhanouskaya called on people to “boycott this senseless farce, to ignore this election without choice.” On the occasion, Lukashenka told journalists after voting that he plans to run again for president in 2025.
“Tell them (the exiled opposition) that I’ll run,” the state news agency BelTa quoted Lukashenka as saying.
Ahead of the voting in parliamentary and local council elections, the country’s Central Election Commission (CEC) announced a record amount of early voting, which began on February 20. Nearly 48 percent of registered voters had already voted by February 24, according to the CEC, eclipsing the nearly 42 percent of early voting recorded for the contentious 2020 presidential election.
Early voting is widely seen by observers as a mechanism employed by the Belarusian authorities to falsify elections. The Belarusian opposition has said the early voting process allows for voting manipulation, with ballot boxes unprotected for a five-day period.
The Vyasna Human Rights Center alleged that many voters were forced to participate in early voting, including students, soldiers, teachers, and other civil servants.
“Authorities are using all available means to ensure the result they need — from airing TV propaganda to forcing voters to cast ballots early,” said Vyasna representative Pavel Sapelka. “Detentions, arrests, and searches are taking place during the vote.”
The Belarusian authorities stepped up security on the streets and at polling stations around the country, with Interior Ministry police conducting drills on how to deal with voters who might try to violate restrictive rules imposed for the elections.
For the first time, curtains were removed from voting booths, and voters were barred from taking pictures of their ballots — a practice encouraged by activists in previous elections in an effort to prevent authorities from manipulating vote counts.
Polling stations were guarded by police, along with members of a youth law-enforcement organization and retired security personnel. Armed rapid-response teams were also formed to deal with potential disturbances.
Lukashenka this week alleged without offering proof that Western countries were considering ways to stage a coup and ordered police to boost armed patrols across the country in order to ensure “law and order.”
For the first time, election observers from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe were denied access to monitor the vote in OSCE-member Belarus.
In the run-up to the vote, rights organizations uncovered violations pertaining to how local election committees were formed. An expert mission organized by the Belarusian Helsinki Committee and Viasna said in late January that the lower number of local election committees and their compositions could indicate higher control by the authorities over the election process and an effort to stack the committees with government loyalists.
Following the vote, Belarus is expected to form a new, 1,200-seat All-Belarus Popular Assembly that will have broad powers to appoint judges and election officials and to consider amendments to the constitution. The new body will include elected local legislators, as well as top officials, union members, and pro-government activists.
This content originally appeared on News – Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty and was authored by News – Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty.This post was originally published on Radio Free.
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Women have borne the brunt of the Taliban’s repressive laws in Afghanistan, where the extremist group has imposed constraints on their appearances, freedom of movement, and right to work and study.
But women who are unmarried or do not have a “mahram,” or male guardian, face even tougher restrictions and have been cut off from access to health care, banned from traveling long distances, and pressured to quit their jobs.
The Taliban’s mahram rules prohibit women from leaving their home without a male chaperone, often a husband or a close relative such as a father, brother, or uncle.
Single and unaccompanied women, including an estimated 2 million widows, say they are essentially prisoners in their homes and unable to carry out the even the most basic of tasks.
Among them is Nadia, a divorced woman from the northern province of Kunduz. The mother of four has no surviving male relatives.
“These restrictions are stifling for women who now cannot do the simple things independently,” Nadia told RFE/RL’s Radio Azadi.
The 35-year-old said women also need to have a male escort to visit a doctor, go to government offices, or even rent a house.
She said she had to pay a man to be her chaperone in order to meet a realtor and sign a rental agreement.
An Afghan girl stands among widows clad in burqas. Nadia also paid a man in her neighborhood around 1,000 afghanis, or $15, to accompany her to the local passport office. But the Taliban refused her passport application and ordered her to return with her father, who died years ago.
“Even visiting the doctor is becoming impossible,” she said. “We can only plead [with the Taliban] or pray. All doors are closed to us.”
Mahram Crackdown
Women who violate the Taliban’s mahram requirements have been detained or arrested and are often released only after signing a pledge that they will not break the rules again in the future.
In its latest report, the UN mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) said the Taliban’s notorious religious police was enforcing the rules by carrying out inspections in public spaces, offices, and education facilities as well as setting up checkpoints in cities.
Released on January 22, the report said three female health-care workers were detained in October because they were traveling to work without a mahram.
In December, women without male chaperones were stopped from accessing health-care facilities in the southeastern province of Paktia, the report said.
And in the southern province of Kandahar, the Taliban visited a bus terminal and checked if women were traveling with a male relative, the report said.
In late 2021, the Taliban said women seeking to travel more than 72 kilometers should not be offered transport unless they were accompanied by a close male relative.
In another incident, the Taliban advised a woman to get married if she wanted to keep her job at a health-care facility, saying it was inappropriate for a single woman to work, the report said.
In a report issued on January 18, the United Nations Development Fund (UNDP) said the Taliban’s restrictions on single and unaccompanied women has ensured that female-led households receive less income and food.
“Their share of employment has nearly halved, decreasing from 11 percent in 2022 to 6 percent” in 2023, the report said.
The report noted that female-headed households typically care for more children and get paid less for their work and consume lower quantities of food.
“Female-headed households have greater needs for humanitarian assistance and yet report more restrictions to accessing such assistance,” the report said.
“Unaccompanied access by women to public places such as health facilities, water points, and markets has declined in the past two years,” the report added.
‘Deeply Insulting’
Parisa, an unmarried woman, takes care of her elderly parents in the northeastern province of Takhar.
With her father bedridden and her two brothers working in neighboring Iran, she has been forced to take care of the family’s needs.
But she said she has been repeatedly harassed by the Taliban while trying to buy groceries in the local market, located some 10 kilometers away from her house.
Afghan women wait to receive aid packages that include food, clothes, and sanitary materials, distributed by a local charity foundation in Herat, on January 15. “What can women do when men in their families are forced to leave the country for work?” she told Radio Azadi, giving only her first name for security reasons.
“I have no choice but to look after my family’s basic needs. The Taliban’s attitude is deeply insulting and extremely aggressive.”
Parisa said she has pleaded with local Taliban leaders to relax the mahram requirements. But she said her efforts have been in vain.
“They start abusing and threatening us whenever we try to tell them that we have to leave our houses to meet our basic needs,” she said.
Parasto, a resident of Kabul, said the Taliban’s restrictions are preventing single women from seeking the limited health care that is available.
“The doctors in the hospitals and clinics are reluctant to see unaccompanied women,” she told Radio Azadi.
Parasto said the Taliban’s mounting restrictions on women, especially those who are unmarried or do not have a male guardian, have made life unbearable.
“Single women are trying to survive without rights and opportunities,” she said.
Written by Abubakar Siddique in Prague based on reporting by Naqiba Barakzai, Abida Spozhmai, and Khujasta Kabiri of RFE/RL’s Radio Azadi
This content originally appeared on News – Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty and was authored by News – Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty.This post was originally published on Radio Free.
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EU and other Western leaders and dignitaries arrived in Kyiv early on February 24 eager to send a defiant message on the second anniversary of Russia’s launch of its all-out invasion of Ukraine, while Moscow sought to capitalize on its recent gains by announcing a visit by Russia’s defense minister to occupied Ukrainian territory.
Meanwhile, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zeleinskiy told his countrymen in a recorded video address from a Kyiv-area airport that was a scene of intense fighting early in the invasion that two years of bitter fighting means “we are 730 days closer to victory.”
Live Briefing: Russia’s Invasion Of Ukraine
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“Two years ago, we met an enemy landing force here with fire,” Zelenskiy said, before adding in a reference to the array of foreign leaders in Ukraine and at Hostomel Airport to mark the anniversary that “two years later, we meet here our friends, our partners.”
He added that it was important that the war end “on our terms.”
European Commission President Von der Leyen reportedly traveled to the Ukrainian capital from Poland by train along with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, and Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo, whose country currently holds the rotating EU Presidency.
Meloni is scheduled to host a videoconference involving Group of Seven (G7) democracy leaders during which Zelenskiy is expected to encourage ongoing support to beat back Europe’s first full-scale military invasion since World War II.
On her arrival, von der Leyen said alongside a photo of herself on a train platform in Kyiv that she was there to mark the grim anniversary “and to celebrate the extraordinary resistance of the Ukrainian people.”
“More than ever, we stand firmly by Ukraine,” she said, “Financially, economically, militarily, morally…[u]ntil the country is finally free.”
Before arriving in Ukraine, Trudeau shared his Foreign Minister Melanie Joly’s sentiment via X, formerly Twitter, that Canada and its allies were “sending a clear message to [Russia]: Ukraine will not be defeated in the face of Putin’s illegal war.”
Words of support have been pouring in from Western leaders.
U.S. President Joe Biden praised the determination of Ukrainians and said “the unprecedented 50-nation global coalition in support of Ukraine, led by the United States, remains committed to providing critical assistance to Ukraine and holding Russia accountable for its aggression.”
“The American people and people around the world understand that the stakes of this fight extend far beyond Ukraine,” he said.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz urged Germans and all Europeans to “do even more — so that we can defend ourselves effectively.”
Scholz said that Germany was completely fulfilling its NATO target of 2 percent investment of total economic output into its military for the first time in decades.
Recently installed Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk cited “Two years of Ukrainian heroism. Two years of Russian barbarism. Two years of disgrace of those who remain indifferent.”
Maia Sandu, the president of Ukraine’s neighbor Moldova, where concerns are high and a long-standing contingent of Russian troops has refused to depart, thanked “Ukrainians for their tireless fight for freedom and for protecting peace in Moldova too.”
“In these two years, the free world has shown unprecedented solidarity, yet the war persists; our support must endure fiercely,” she said on X.
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said “We must renew our determination…on this grim anniversary. This is the moment to show that tyranny will never triumph and to say once again that we will stand with Ukraine today and tomorrow.”
The anniversary falls one day after the United States and European Union announced new rounds of hundreds of sanctions targeting Russia and officials responsible for the war, but with Ukrainian officials desperately pleading with the international community to avoid cutoffs in support or a “depletion of empathy.”
Ukrainians have battled fiercely since a Russian invasion of hundreds of thousands of troops began on February 24, 2022, after Russian President Vladimir Putin tried to cast doubt on Ukrainian nationhood and eventually said Moscow’s goal was the “denazification” and demilitarization of Ukraine’s government.
It was a new phase in a land grab that had begun eight years earlier in 2014, when Russia covertly invaded and then annexed Crimea from Ukraine and began intensive support of armed Ukrainian separatists in eastern Ukraine.
The United Nations has overwhelmingly voted to back Ukrainian territorial integrity and sovereignty.
WATCH: Current Time correspondents Borys Sachalko, Andriy Kuzakov, and Oleksiy Prodayvod reflect on their wartime experiences together with the cameramen and drivers who form a critical part of their reporting teams.
But a massive assistance package proposed by U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration has been blocked primarily by Republicans in Congress.
The European Union managed to pass its own $54 billion aid package for Ukraine earlier this month despite reluctance from member Hungary and talk of Ukraine fatigue.
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said in a recorded statement for the anniversary that “the situation on the battlefield remains extremely serious” and “President Putin’s aim to dominate Ukraine has not changed, and there are no indications that he is preparing for peace. But we must not lose heart.”
Earlier this week, Stoltenberg told RFE/RL’s Ukrainian Service that the alliance was an advantage that neither Russia nor China could match.
At the UN General Assembly on February 23, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said “Russia’s aim is to destroy Ukraine and they are quite outspoken about it,” adding that “The only reason for this war has been and remains Russia’s denial of Ukraine’s right to exist and its continued colonial conquest.”
Russian forces last week captured the mostly destroyed eastern city of Avdiyivka as remaining Ukrainian troops withdrew amid reported ammunition shortages to hand Moscow its first significant gain of territory in nearly a year.
The Russian military said on February 24 that Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu visited troops in occupied Ukraine in a clear effort to send a message to Ukraine and its defenders, as well as to a Russian public subjected to heavy censorship and punishments for anti-war dissenters as the “special military operation” has ground on.
“Today, in terms of the ratio of forces, the advantage is on our side,” officials quoted Shoigu as telling troops at a Russian command center.
The Russian military further said its troops were on the offensive after having taken Avdiyivka, in the Donetsk region.
Zelenskiy used an interview on the conservative Fox News channel this week to urge the U.S. Congress to pass a $60 billion aid package to help his country defend itself, saying it is cheaper than the consequences of a Russian victory.
Zelenskiy echoed warnings among Russia’s other neighbors that Putin will push further into Eastern Europe if he conquers Ukraine.
“Will Ukraine survive without Congress’s support? Of course. But not all of us,” Zelenskiy said.
On February 24, senior Zelenskiy aide Mykhaylo Podolyak said Ukraine was auditing its “available resources” and said it’s impossible to predict when the war might end without a good idea of the amount of weapons and ammunition Kyiv will have at its disposal.
He also suggested the Ukrainian president’s office is not currently in favor of peace talks with Russia as it would mean the “gradual death of Ukraine.”
Separately, Swiss President Viola Amherd was quoted as telling the Neue Zuercher Zeitung newspaper that Russia was unlikely to participate at the start of a senior-level peace conference that neutral Switzerland hopes to host in the next few months.
The remarks followed Swiss Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis telling the United Nations that the idea was broached in January and Bern hoped for such a conference “by this summer.”
Russia currently is thought to control around one-fifth of Ukraine’s territory.
The Ukrainian military said it had destroyed a Russian A-50 surveillance aircraft after a new round of Russian drone and missile strikes on several Ukrainian regions on February 23, which if confirmed would mark the loss of the second A-50 in just over a month.
The general appointed recently by Zelenskiy as commander in chief of Ukraine’s armed forces, Oleksandr Syrskiy, said on February 24 that he is “convinced that unity is our victory.”
“And it will definitely happen,” he said, “because light always conquers darkness!”
Noting the two-year mark in the invasion, Ukraine’s General Staff asserted that Russia had suffered troop casualties of around 409,000 since February 24, 2022.
Both sides classify casualty figures, and RFE/RL cannot confirm the accuracy of accounts by either side of battlefield developments in areas of heavy fighting or of casualty claims.
With reporting by dpa, AFP, and Reuters
This content originally appeared on News – Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty and was authored by News – Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty.This post was originally published on Radio Free.
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EU and other Western leaders and dignitaries arrived in Kyiv early on February 24 eager to send a defiant message on the second anniversary of Russia’s launch of its all-out invasion of Ukraine, while Moscow sought to capitalize on its recent gains by announcing a visit by Russia’s defense minister to occupied Ukrainian territory.
Meanwhile, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zeleinskiy told his countrymen in a recorded video address from a Kyiv-area airport that was a scene of intense fighting early in the invasion that two years of bitter fighting means “we are 730 days closer to victory.”
Live Briefing: Russia’s Invasion Of Ukraine
RFE/RL’s Live Briefing gives you all of the latest developments on Russia’s full-scale invasion, Kyiv’s counteroffensive, Western military aid, global reaction, and the plight of civilians. For all of RFE/RL’s coverage of the war in Ukraine, click here.
“Two years ago, we met an enemy landing force here with fire,” Zelenskiy said, before adding in a reference to the array of foreign leaders in Ukraine and at Hostomel Airport to mark the anniversary that “two years later, we meet here our friends, our partners.”
He added that it was important that the war end “on our terms.”
European Commission President Von der Leyen reportedly traveled to the Ukrainian capital from Poland by train along with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, and Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo, whose country currently holds the rotating EU Presidency.
Meloni is scheduled to host a videoconference involving Group of Seven (G7) democracy leaders during which Zelenskiy is expected to encourage ongoing support to beat back Europe’s first full-scale military invasion since World War II.
On her arrival, von der Leyen said alongside a photo of herself on a train platform in Kyiv that she was there to mark the grim anniversary “and to celebrate the extraordinary resistance of the Ukrainian people.”
“More than ever, we stand firmly by Ukraine,” she said, “Financially, economically, militarily, morally…[u]ntil the country is finally free.”
Before arriving in Ukraine, Trudeau shared his Foreign Minister Melanie Joly’s sentiment via X, formerly Twitter, that Canada and its allies were “sending a clear message to [Russia]: Ukraine will not be defeated in the face of Putin’s illegal war.”
Words of support have been pouring in from Western leaders.
U.S. President Joe Biden praised the determination of Ukrainians and said “the unprecedented 50-nation global coalition in support of Ukraine, led by the United States, remains committed to providing critical assistance to Ukraine and holding Russia accountable for its aggression.”
“The American people and people around the world understand that the stakes of this fight extend far beyond Ukraine,” he said.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz urged Germans and all Europeans to “do even more — so that we can defend ourselves effectively.”
Scholz said that Germany was completely fulfilling its NATO target of 2 percent investment of total economic output into its military for the first time in decades.
Recently installed Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk cited “Two years of Ukrainian heroism. Two years of Russian barbarism. Two years of disgrace of those who remain indifferent.”
Maia Sandu, the president of Ukraine’s neighbor Moldova, where concerns are high and a long-standing contingent of Russian troops has refused to depart, thanked “Ukrainians for their tireless fight for freedom and for protecting peace in Moldova too.”
“In these two years, the free world has shown unprecedented solidarity, yet the war persists; our support must endure fiercely,” she said on X.
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said “We must renew our determination…on this grim anniversary. This is the moment to show that tyranny will never triumph and to say once again that we will stand with Ukraine today and tomorrow.”
The anniversary falls one day after the United States and European Union announced new rounds of hundreds of sanctions targeting Russia and officials responsible for the war, but with Ukrainian officials desperately pleading with the international community to avoid cutoffs in support or a “depletion of empathy.”
Ukrainians have battled fiercely since a Russian invasion of hundreds of thousands of troops began on February 24, 2022, after Russian President Vladimir Putin tried to cast doubt on Ukrainian nationhood and eventually said Moscow’s goal was the “denazification” and demilitarization of Ukraine’s government.
It was a new phase in a land grab that had begun eight years earlier in 2014, when Russia covertly invaded and then annexed Crimea from Ukraine and began intensive support of armed Ukrainian separatists in eastern Ukraine.
The United Nations has overwhelmingly voted to back Ukrainian territorial integrity and sovereignty.
WATCH: Current Time correspondents Borys Sachalko, Andriy Kuzakov, and Oleksiy Prodayvod reflect on their wartime experiences together with the cameramen and drivers who form a critical part of their reporting teams.
But a massive assistance package proposed by U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration has been blocked primarily by Republicans in Congress.
The European Union managed to pass its own $54 billion aid package for Ukraine earlier this month despite reluctance from member Hungary and talk of Ukraine fatigue.
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said in a recorded statement for the anniversary that “the situation on the battlefield remains extremely serious” and “President Putin’s aim to dominate Ukraine has not changed, and there are no indications that he is preparing for peace. But we must not lose heart.”
Earlier this week, Stoltenberg told RFE/RL’s Ukrainian Service that the alliance was an advantage that neither Russia nor China could match.
At the UN General Assembly on February 23, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said “Russia’s aim is to destroy Ukraine and they are quite outspoken about it,” adding that “The only reason for this war has been and remains Russia’s denial of Ukraine’s right to exist and its continued colonial conquest.”
Russian forces last week captured the mostly destroyed eastern city of Avdiyivka as remaining Ukrainian troops withdrew amid reported ammunition shortages to hand Moscow its first significant gain of territory in nearly a year.
The Russian military said on February 24 that Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu visited troops in occupied Ukraine in a clear effort to send a message to Ukraine and its defenders, as well as to a Russian public subjected to heavy censorship and punishments for anti-war dissenters as the “special military operation” has ground on.
“Today, in terms of the ratio of forces, the advantage is on our side,” officials quoted Shoigu as telling troops at a Russian command center.
The Russian military further said its troops were on the offensive after having taken Avdiyivka, in the Donetsk region.
Zelenskiy used an interview on the conservative Fox News channel this week to urge the U.S. Congress to pass a $60 billion aid package to help his country defend itself, saying it is cheaper than the consequences of a Russian victory.
Zelenskiy echoed warnings among Russia’s other neighbors that Putin will push further into Eastern Europe if he conquers Ukraine.
“Will Ukraine survive without Congress’s support? Of course. But not all of us,” Zelenskiy said.
On February 24, senior Zelenskiy aide Mykhaylo Podolyak said Ukraine was auditing its “available resources” and said it’s impossible to predict when the war might end without a good idea of the amount of weapons and ammunition Kyiv will have at its disposal.
He also suggested the Ukrainian president’s office is not currently in favor of peace talks with Russia as it would mean the “gradual death of Ukraine.”
Separately, Swiss President Viola Amherd was quoted as telling the Neue Zuercher Zeitung newspaper that Russia was unlikely to participate at the start of a senior-level peace conference that neutral Switzerland hopes to host in the next few months.
The remarks followed Swiss Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis telling the United Nations that the idea was broached in January and Bern hoped for such a conference “by this summer.”
Russia currently is thought to control around one-fifth of Ukraine’s territory.
The Ukrainian military said it had destroyed a Russian A-50 surveillance aircraft after a new round of Russian drone and missile strikes on several Ukrainian regions on February 23, which if confirmed would mark the loss of the second A-50 in just over a month.
The general appointed recently by Zelenskiy as commander in chief of Ukraine’s armed forces, Oleksandr Syrskiy, said on February 24 that he is “convinced that unity is our victory.”
“And it will definitely happen,” he said, “because light always conquers darkness!”
Noting the two-year mark in the invasion, Ukraine’s General Staff asserted that Russia had suffered troop casualties of around 409,000 since February 24, 2022.
Both sides classify casualty figures, and RFE/RL cannot confirm the accuracy of accounts by either side of battlefield developments in areas of heavy fighting or of casualty claims.
With reporting by dpa, AFP, and Reuters
This content originally appeared on News – Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty and was authored by News – Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty.This post was originally published on Radio Free.
-
EU and other Western leaders and dignitaries arrived in Kyiv early on February 24 eager to send a defiant message on the second anniversary of Russia’s launch of its all-out invasion of Ukraine, while Moscow sought to capitalize on its recent gains by announcing a visit by Russia’s defense minister to occupied Ukrainian territory.
Meanwhile, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zeleinskiy told his countrymen in a recorded video address from a Kyiv-area airport that was a scene of intense fighting early in the invasion that two years of bitter fighting means “we are 730 days closer to victory.”
Live Briefing: Russia’s Invasion Of Ukraine
RFE/RL’s Live Briefing gives you all of the latest developments on Russia’s full-scale invasion, Kyiv’s counteroffensive, Western military aid, global reaction, and the plight of civilians. For all of RFE/RL’s coverage of the war in Ukraine, click here.
“Two years ago, we met an enemy landing force here with fire,” Zelenskiy said, before adding in a reference to the array of foreign leaders in Ukraine and at Hostomel Airport to mark the anniversary that “two years later, we meet here our friends, our partners.”
He added that it was important that the war end “on our terms.”
European Commission President Von der Leyen reportedly traveled to the Ukrainian capital from Poland by train along with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, and Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo, whose country currently holds the rotating EU Presidency.
Meloni is scheduled to host a videoconference involving Group of Seven (G7) democracy leaders during which Zelenskiy is expected to encourage ongoing support to beat back Europe’s first full-scale military invasion since World War II.
On her arrival, von der Leyen said alongside a photo of herself on a train platform in Kyiv that she was there to mark the grim anniversary “and to celebrate the extraordinary resistance of the Ukrainian people.”
“More than ever, we stand firmly by Ukraine,” she said, “Financially, economically, militarily, morally…[u]ntil the country is finally free.”
Before arriving in Ukraine, Trudeau shared his Foreign Minister Melanie Joly’s sentiment via X, formerly Twitter, that Canada and its allies were “sending a clear message to [Russia]: Ukraine will not be defeated in the face of Putin’s illegal war.”
Words of support have been pouring in from Western leaders.
U.S. President Joe Biden praised the determination of Ukrainians and said “the unprecedented 50-nation global coalition in support of Ukraine, led by the United States, remains committed to providing critical assistance to Ukraine and holding Russia accountable for its aggression.”
“The American people and people around the world understand that the stakes of this fight extend far beyond Ukraine,” he said.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz urged Germans and all Europeans to “do even more — so that we can defend ourselves effectively.”
Scholz said that Germany was completely fulfilling its NATO target of 2 percent investment of total economic output into its military for the first time in decades.
Recently installed Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk cited “Two years of Ukrainian heroism. Two years of Russian barbarism. Two years of disgrace of those who remain indifferent.”
Maia Sandu, the president of Ukraine’s neighbor Moldova, where concerns are high and a long-standing contingent of Russian troops has refused to depart, thanked “Ukrainians for their tireless fight for freedom and for protecting peace in Moldova too.”
“In these two years, the free world has shown unprecedented solidarity, yet the war persists; our support must endure fiercely,” she said on X.
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said “We must renew our determination…on this grim anniversary. This is the moment to show that tyranny will never triumph and to say once again that we will stand with Ukraine today and tomorrow.”
The anniversary falls one day after the United States and European Union announced new rounds of hundreds of sanctions targeting Russia and officials responsible for the war, but with Ukrainian officials desperately pleading with the international community to avoid cutoffs in support or a “depletion of empathy.”
Ukrainians have battled fiercely since a Russian invasion of hundreds of thousands of troops began on February 24, 2022, after Russian President Vladimir Putin tried to cast doubt on Ukrainian nationhood and eventually said Moscow’s goal was the “denazification” and demilitarization of Ukraine’s government.
It was a new phase in a land grab that had begun eight years earlier in 2014, when Russia covertly invaded and then annexed Crimea from Ukraine and began intensive support of armed Ukrainian separatists in eastern Ukraine.
The United Nations has overwhelmingly voted to back Ukrainian territorial integrity and sovereignty.
WATCH: Current Time correspondents Borys Sachalko, Andriy Kuzakov, and Oleksiy Prodayvod reflect on their wartime experiences together with the cameramen and drivers who form a critical part of their reporting teams.
But a massive assistance package proposed by U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration has been blocked primarily by Republicans in Congress.
The European Union managed to pass its own $54 billion aid package for Ukraine earlier this month despite reluctance from member Hungary and talk of Ukraine fatigue.
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said in a recorded statement for the anniversary that “the situation on the battlefield remains extremely serious” and “President Putin’s aim to dominate Ukraine has not changed, and there are no indications that he is preparing for peace. But we must not lose heart.”
Earlier this week, Stoltenberg told RFE/RL’s Ukrainian Service that the alliance was an advantage that neither Russia nor China could match.
At the UN General Assembly on February 23, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said “Russia’s aim is to destroy Ukraine and they are quite outspoken about it,” adding that “The only reason for this war has been and remains Russia’s denial of Ukraine’s right to exist and its continued colonial conquest.”
Russian forces last week captured the mostly destroyed eastern city of Avdiyivka as remaining Ukrainian troops withdrew amid reported ammunition shortages to hand Moscow its first significant gain of territory in nearly a year.
The Russian military said on February 24 that Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu visited troops in occupied Ukraine in a clear effort to send a message to Ukraine and its defenders, as well as to a Russian public subjected to heavy censorship and punishments for anti-war dissenters as the “special military operation” has ground on.
“Today, in terms of the ratio of forces, the advantage is on our side,” officials quoted Shoigu as telling troops at a Russian command center.
The Russian military further said its troops were on the offensive after having taken Avdiyivka, in the Donetsk region.
Zelenskiy used an interview on the conservative Fox News channel this week to urge the U.S. Congress to pass a $60 billion aid package to help his country defend itself, saying it is cheaper than the consequences of a Russian victory.
Zelenskiy echoed warnings among Russia’s other neighbors that Putin will push further into Eastern Europe if he conquers Ukraine.
“Will Ukraine survive without Congress’s support? Of course. But not all of us,” Zelenskiy said.
On February 24, senior Zelenskiy aide Mykhaylo Podolyak said Ukraine was auditing its “available resources” and said it’s impossible to predict when the war might end without a good idea of the amount of weapons and ammunition Kyiv will have at its disposal.
He also suggested the Ukrainian president’s office is not currently in favor of peace talks with Russia as it would mean the “gradual death of Ukraine.”
Separately, Swiss President Viola Amherd was quoted as telling the Neue Zuercher Zeitung newspaper that Russia was unlikely to participate at the start of a senior-level peace conference that neutral Switzerland hopes to host in the next few months.
The remarks followed Swiss Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis telling the United Nations that the idea was broached in January and Bern hoped for such a conference “by this summer.”
Russia currently is thought to control around one-fifth of Ukraine’s territory.
The Ukrainian military said it had destroyed a Russian A-50 surveillance aircraft after a new round of Russian drone and missile strikes on several Ukrainian regions on February 23, which if confirmed would mark the loss of the second A-50 in just over a month.
The general appointed recently by Zelenskiy as commander in chief of Ukraine’s armed forces, Oleksandr Syrskiy, said on February 24 that he is “convinced that unity is our victory.”
“And it will definitely happen,” he said, “because light always conquers darkness!”
Noting the two-year mark in the invasion, Ukraine’s General Staff asserted that Russia had suffered troop casualties of around 409,000 since February 24, 2022.
Both sides classify casualty figures, and RFE/RL cannot confirm the accuracy of accounts by either side of battlefield developments in areas of heavy fighting or of casualty claims.
With reporting by dpa, AFP, and Reuters
This content originally appeared on News – Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty and was authored by News – Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty.This post was originally published on Radio Free.
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Iran’s so-called axis of resistance is a loose network of proxies, Tehran-backed militant groups, and an allied state actor.
The network is a key element of Tehran’s strategy of deterrence against perceived threats from the United States, regional rivals, and primarily Israel.
Active in the Palestinian Occupied Territories, Lebanon, Iraq, Syria, and Yemen, the axis gives Iran the ability to hit its enemies outside its own borders while allowing it to maintain a position of plausible deniability, experts say.
Since the Islamic Revolution in 1979, Iran has played a key role in establishing some of the groups in the axis. Other members have been co-opted by Tehran over the years.
Iran has maintained that around dozen separate groups that comprise the axis act independently.
Tehran’s level of influence over each member varies. But the goals pursued by each group broadly align with Iran’s own strategic aims, which makes direct control unnecessary, according to experts.
Lebanon’s Hizballah
Hizballah was established in 1982 in response to Israel’s invasion that year of Lebanon, which was embroiled in a devastating civil war.
The Shi’ite political and military organization was created by the Quds Force, the overseas arm of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), the elite branch of the country’s armed forces.
Danny Citrinowicz, a research fellow at the Iran Program at the Israel-based Institute for National Security Studies, said Tehran’s aim was to unite Lebanon’s various Shi’ite political organizations and militias under one organization.
Since it was formed, Hizballah has received significant financial and political assistance from Iran, a Shi’a-majority country. That backing has made the group a major political and military force in Lebanon.
A Hizballah supporter holds up portraits of Hizballah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah and Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in Beirut in 2018. “Iran sees the organization as the main factor that will deter Israel or the U.S. from going to war against Iran and works tirelessly to build the organization’s power,” Citrinowicz said.
Hizballah has around 40,000 fighters, according to the office of the U.S. Director of National Intelligence. The State Department said Iran has armed and trained Hizballah fighters and injected hundreds of millions of dollars in the group.
The State Department in 2010 described Hizballah as “the most technically capable terrorist group in the world.”
Citrinowicz said Iran may not dictate orders to the organization but Tehran “profoundly influences” its decision-making process.
He described Hizballah, which is considered a terrorist organization by the United States and the European Union, not as a proxy but “an Iranian partner managing Tehran’s Middle East strategy.”
Led by Hassan Nasrallah, Hizballah has developed close ties with other Iranian proxies and Tehran-backed militant groups, helping to train and arm their fighters.
Citrinowicz said Tehran “almost depends” on the Lebanese group to oversee its relations with other groups in the axis of resistance.
Hamas
Hamas, designated a terrorist organization by the United States and the European Union, has had a complex relationship with Iran.
Founded in 1987 during the first Palestinian Intifada, or uprising, Hamas is an offshoot of the Palestinian arm of the Muslim Brotherhood, an Islamist political organization established in Egypt in the 1920s.
Hamas’s political chief is Ismail Haniyeh, who lives in Qatar. Its military wing, the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, is commanded by Yahya Sinwar, who is believed to be based in the Gaza Strip. Hamas is estimated to have around 20,000 fighters.
For years, Iran provided limited material support to Hamas, a Sunni militant group. Tehran ramped up its financial and military support to the Palestinian group after it gained power in the Gaza Strip in 2007.
Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi (right) greets the leader of Hamas, Ismail Haniyeh, in Tehran on June 20, 2023. But Tehran reduced its support to Hamas after a major disagreement over the civil war in Syria. When the conflict broke out in 2011, Iran backed the government of President Bashar al-Assad. Hamas, however, supported the rebels seeking to oust Assad.
Nevertheless, experts said the sides overcame their differences because, ultimately, they seek the same goal: Israel’s destruction.
“[But] this does not mean that Iran is deeply aware of all the actions of Hamas,” Citrinowicz said.
After Hamas militants launched a multipronged attack on Israel in October that killed around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, Iran denied it was involved in planning the assault. U.S. intelligence has indicated that Iranian leaders were surprised by Hamas’s attack.
Seyed Ali Alavi, a lecturer in Middle Eastern and Iranian Studies at SOAS University of London, said Iran’s support to Hamas is largely “confined to rhetorical and moral support and limited financial aid.” He said Qatar and Turkey, Hamas’s “organic” allies, have provided significantly more financial help to the Palestinian group.
Palestinian Islamic Jihad
With around 1,000 members, the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) is the smaller of the two main militant groups based in the Gaza Strip and the closest to Iran.
Founded in 1981, the Sunni militant group’s creation was inspired by Iran’s Islamic Revolution two years earlier. Given Tehran’s ambition of establishing a foothold in the Palestinian Occupied Territories, Iran has provided the group with substantial financial backing and arms, experts say.
The PIJ, led by Ziyad al-Nakhalah, is designated as a terrorist organization by the United States and the European Union.
“Today, there is no Palestinian terrorist organization that is closer to Iran than this organization,” Citrinowicz said. “In fact, it relies mainly on Iran.”
Citrinowicz said there is no doubt that Tehran’s “ability to influence [the PIJ] is very significant.”
Iraqi Shi’ite Militias
Iran supports a host of Shi’ite militias in neighboring Iraq, some of which were founded by the IRGC and “defer to Iranian instructions,” said Gregory Brew, a U.S.-based Iran analyst with the Eurasia Group.
But Tehran’s influence over the militias has waned since the U.S. assassination in 2020 of Quds Force commander Qassem Soleimani, who was seen as the architect of the axis of resistance and held great influence over its members.
“The dynamic within these militias, particularly regarding their relationship with Iran, underwent a notable shift following the assassination of Qassem Soleimani,” said Hamidreza Azizi, a fellow at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs.
The U.S. drone strike that targeted Soleimani also killed Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, the deputy head of the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), an umbrella organization of mostly Shi’ite Iran-backed armed groups that has been a part of the Iraqi Army since 2016.
Muhandis was also the leader of Kata’ib Hizballah, which was established in 2007 and is one of the most powerful members of the PMF. Other prominent groups in the umbrella include Asa’ib Ahl al-Haq, Harakat al-Nujaba, Kata’ib Seyyed al-Shuhada, and the Badr Organization. Kata’ib Hizballah has been designated as a terrorist entity by the United States.
Following the deaths of Soleimani and al-Muhandis, Kata’ib Hizballah and other militias “began to assert more autonomy, at times acting in ways that could potentially compromise Iran’s interests,” said Azizi.
Many of the Iran-backed groups that form the PMF are also part of the so-called Islamic Resistance in Iraq, which rose to prominence in November 2023. The group has been responsible for launching scores of attacks on U.S. troops in Iraq and Syria since Israel launched its war against Hamas in Gaza.
“It’s important to note that while several militias within the PMF operate as Iran’s proxies, this is not a universal trait across the board,” Azizi said.
Azizi said the extent of Iran’s control over the PMF can fluctuate based on the political conditions in Iraq and the individual dynamics within each militia.
The strength of each group within the PMF varies widely, with some containing as few as 100 members and others, such as Kata’ib Hizballah, boasting around 10,000 fighters.
Syrian State And Pro-Government Militias
Besides Iran, Syria is the only state that is a member of the axis of resistance.
“The relationship between Iran and the Assad regime in Syria is a strategic alliance where Iran’s influence is substantial but not absolute, indicating a balance between dependency and partnership,” said Azizi.
The decades-long alliance stems from Damascus’s support for Tehran during the devastating 1980-88 Iran-Iraq War.
When Assad’s rule was challenged during the Syrian civil war, the IRGC entered the fray in 2013 to ensure he held on to power.
Khamenei greets Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in Tehran in 2019. Hundreds of IRGC commander and officers, who Iran refers to as “military advisers,” are believed to be present in Syria. Tehran has also built up a large network of militias, consisting mostly of Afghans and Pakistanis, in Syria.
Azizi said these militias have given Iran “a profound influence on the country’s affairs,” although not outright control over Syria.
“The Assad regime maintains its strategic independence, making decisions that serve its national interests and those of its allies,” he said.
The Fatemiyun Brigade, comprised of Afghan fighters, and the Zainabiyun Brigade, which is made up of Pakistani fighters, make up the bulk of Iran’s proxies in Syria.
“They are essentially units in the IRGC, under direct control,” said Brew.
The Afghan and Pakistani militias played a key role in fighting rebel groups opposed to Assad during the civil war. There have been reports that Iran has not only granted citizenship to Afghan fighters and their families but also facilitated Syrian citizenship for them.
The Fatemiyun Brigade, the larger of the two, is believed to have several thousand fighters in Syria. The Zainabiyun Brigade is estimated to have less than 1,000 fighters.
Yemen’s Huthi Rebels
The Huthis first emerged as a movement in the 1980s in response to the growing religious influence of neighboring Saudi Arabia, a Sunni kingdom.
In 2015, the Shi’ite militia toppled the internationally recognized, Saudi-backed government of Yemen. That triggered a brutal, yearslong Saudi-led war against the rebels.
With an estimated 200,000 fighters, the Huthis control most of the northwest of the country, including the capital, Sanaa, and are in charge of much of the Red Sea coast.
A Huthi militant stands by a poster of Iraqi militia commander Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis and Iranian military commander Qassem Soleimani during a rally by Huthi supporters to denounce the U.S. killing of both commanders, in Sanaa, Yemen, in 2020. The Huthis’ disdain for Saudi Arabia, Iran’s regional foe, and Israel made it a natural ally of Tehran, experts say. But it was only around 2015 that Iran began providing the group with training through the Quds Force and Hizballah. Tehran has also supplied weapons to the group, though shipments are regularly intercepted by the United States.
“The Huthis…appear to have considerable autonomy and Tehran exercises only limited control, though there does appear to be [a] clear alignment of interests,” said Brew.
Since Israel launched its war in Gaza, the Huthis have attacked international commercial vessels in the Red Sea and fired ballistic missiles at several U.S. warships.
In response, the United States and its allies have launched air strikes against the Huthis’ military infrastructure. Washington has also re-designated the Huthis as a terrorist organization.
This content originally appeared on News – Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty and was authored by News – Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty.This post was originally published on Radio Free.
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EU and other Western leaders and dignitaries arrived in Kyiv early on February 24 eager to send a defiant message on the second anniversary of Russia’s launch of its all-out invasion of Ukraine, while Moscow sought to capitalize on its recent gains by announcing a visit by Russia’s defense minister to occupied Ukrainian territory.
Meanwhile, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zeleinskiy told his countrymen in a recorded video address from a Kyiv-area airport that was a scene of intense fighting early in the invasion that two years of bitter fighting means “we are 730 days closer to victory.”
Live Briefing: Russia’s Invasion Of Ukraine
RFE/RL’s Live Briefing gives you all of the latest developments on Russia’s full-scale invasion, Kyiv’s counteroffensive, Western military aid, global reaction, and the plight of civilians. For all of RFE/RL’s coverage of the war in Ukraine, click here.
“Two years ago, we met an enemy landing force here with fire,” Zelenskiy said, before adding in a reference to the array of foreign leaders in Ukraine and at Hostomel Airport to mark the anniversary that “two years later, we meet here our friends, our partners.”
He added that it was important that the war end “on our terms.”
European Commission President Von der Leyen reportedly traveled to the Ukrainian capital from Poland by train along with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, and Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo, whose country currently holds the rotating EU Presidency.
Meloni is scheduled to host a videoconference involving Group of Seven (G7) democracy leaders during which Zelenskiy is expected to encourage ongoing support to beat back Europe’s first full-scale military invasion since World War II.
On her arrival, von der Leyen said alongside a photo of herself on a train platform in Kyiv that she was there to mark the grim anniversary “and to celebrate the extraordinary resistance of the Ukrainian people.”
“More than ever, we stand firmly by Ukraine,” she said, “Financially, economically, militarily, morally…[u]ntil the country is finally free.”
Before arriving in Ukraine, Trudeau shared his Foreign Minister Melanie Joly’s sentiment via X, formerly Twitter, that Canada and its allies were “sending a clear message to [Russia]: Ukraine will not be defeated in the face of Putin’s illegal war.”
Words of support have been pouring in from Western leaders.
U.S. President Joe Biden praised the determination of Ukrainians and said “the unprecedented 50-nation global coalition in support of Ukraine, led by the United States, remains committed to providing critical assistance to Ukraine and holding Russia accountable for its aggression.”
“The American people and people around the world understand that the stakes of this fight extend far beyond Ukraine,” he said.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz urged Germans and all Europeans to “do even more — so that we can defend ourselves effectively.”
Scholz said that Germany was completely fulfilling its NATO target of 2 percent investment of total economic output into its military for the first time in decades.
Recently installed Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk cited “Two years of Ukrainian heroism. Two years of Russian barbarism. Two years of disgrace of those who remain indifferent.”
Maia Sandu, the president of Ukraine’s neighbor Moldova, where concerns are high and a long-standing contingent of Russian troops has refused to depart, thanked “Ukrainians for their tireless fight for freedom and for protecting peace in Moldova too.”
“In these two years, the free world has shown unprecedented solidarity, yet the war persists; our support must endure fiercely,” she said on X.
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said “We must renew our determination…on this grim anniversary. This is the moment to show that tyranny will never triumph and to say once again that we will stand with Ukraine today and tomorrow.”
The anniversary falls one day after the United States and European Union announced new rounds of hundreds of sanctions targeting Russia and officials responsible for the war, but with Ukrainian officials desperately pleading with the international community to avoid cutoffs in support or a “depletion of empathy.”
Ukrainians have battled fiercely since a Russian invasion of hundreds of thousands of troops began on February 24, 2022, after Russian President Vladimir Putin tried to cast doubt on Ukrainian nationhood and eventually said Moscow’s goal was the “denazification” and demilitarization of Ukraine’s government.
It was a new phase in a land grab that had begun eight years earlier in 2014, when Russia covertly invaded and then annexed Crimea from Ukraine and began intensive support of armed Ukrainian separatists in eastern Ukraine.
The United Nations has overwhelmingly voted to back Ukrainian territorial integrity and sovereignty.
WATCH: Current Time correspondents Borys Sachalko, Andriy Kuzakov, and Oleksiy Prodayvod reflect on their wartime experiences together with the cameramen and drivers who form a critical part of their reporting teams.
But a massive assistance package proposed by U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration has been blocked primarily by Republicans in Congress.
The European Union managed to pass its own $54 billion aid package for Ukraine earlier this month despite reluctance from member Hungary and talk of Ukraine fatigue.
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said in a recorded statement for the anniversary that “the situation on the battlefield remains extremely serious” and “President Putin’s aim to dominate Ukraine has not changed, and there are no indications that he is preparing for peace. But we must not lose heart.”
Earlier this week, Stoltenberg told RFE/RL’s Ukrainian Service that the alliance was an advantage that neither Russia nor China could match.
At the UN General Assembly on February 23, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said “Russia’s aim is to destroy Ukraine and they are quite outspoken about it,” adding that “The only reason for this war has been and remains Russia’s denial of Ukraine’s right to exist and its continued colonial conquest.”
Russian forces last week captured the mostly destroyed eastern city of Avdiyivka as remaining Ukrainian troops withdrew amid reported ammunition shortages to hand Moscow its first significant gain of territory in nearly a year.
The Russian military said on February 24 that Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu visited troops in occupied Ukraine in a clear effort to send a message to Ukraine and its defenders, as well as to a Russian public subjected to heavy censorship and punishments for anti-war dissenters as the “special military operation” has ground on.
“Today, in terms of the ratio of forces, the advantage is on our side,” officials quoted Shoigu as telling troops at a Russian command center.
The Russian military further said its troops were on the offensive after having taken Avdiyivka, in the Donetsk region.
Zelenskiy used an interview on the conservative Fox News channel this week to urge the U.S. Congress to pass a $60 billion aid package to help his country defend itself, saying it is cheaper than the consequences of a Russian victory.
Zelenskiy echoed warnings among Russia’s other neighbors that Putin will push further into Eastern Europe if he conquers Ukraine.
“Will Ukraine survive without Congress’s support? Of course. But not all of us,” Zelenskiy said.
On February 24, senior Zelenskiy aide Mykhaylo Podolyak said Ukraine was auditing its “available resources” and said it’s impossible to predict when the war might end without a good idea of the amount of weapons and ammunition Kyiv will have at its disposal.
He also suggested the Ukrainian president’s office is not currently in favor of peace talks with Russia as it would mean the “gradual death of Ukraine.”
Separately, Swiss President Viola Amherd was quoted as telling the Neue Zuercher Zeitung newspaper that Russia was unlikely to participate at the start of a senior-level peace conference that neutral Switzerland hopes to host in the next few months.
The remarks followed Swiss Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis telling the United Nations that the idea was broached in January and Bern hoped for such a conference “by this summer.”
Russia currently is thought to control around one-fifth of Ukraine’s territory.
The Ukrainian military said it had destroyed a Russian A-50 surveillance aircraft after a new round of Russian drone and missile strikes on several Ukrainian regions on February 23, which if confirmed would mark the loss of the second A-50 in just over a month.
The general appointed recently by Zelenskiy as commander in chief of Ukraine’s armed forces, Oleksandr Syrskiy, said on February 24 that he is “convinced that unity is our victory.”
“And it will definitely happen,” he said, “because light always conquers darkness!”
Noting the two-year mark in the invasion, Ukraine’s General Staff asserted that Russia had suffered troop casualties of around 409,000 since February 24, 2022.
Both sides classify casualty figures, and RFE/RL cannot confirm the accuracy of accounts by either side of battlefield developments in areas of heavy fighting or of casualty claims.
With reporting by dpa, AFP, and Reuters
This content originally appeared on News – Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty and was authored by News – Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty.This post was originally published on Radio Free.
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EU and other Western leaders and dignitaries arrived in Kyiv early on February 24 eager to send a defiant message on the second anniversary of Russia’s launch of its all-out invasion of Ukraine, while Moscow sought to capitalize on its recent gains by announcing a visit by Russia’s defense minister to occupied Ukrainian territory.
Meanwhile, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zeleinskiy told his countrymen in a recorded video address from a Kyiv-area airport that was a scene of intense fighting early in the invasion that two years of bitter fighting means “we are 730 days closer to victory.”
Live Briefing: Russia’s Invasion Of Ukraine
RFE/RL’s Live Briefing gives you all of the latest developments on Russia’s full-scale invasion, Kyiv’s counteroffensive, Western military aid, global reaction, and the plight of civilians. For all of RFE/RL’s coverage of the war in Ukraine, click here.
“Two years ago, we met an enemy landing force here with fire,” Zelenskiy said, before adding in a reference to the array of foreign leaders in Ukraine and at Hostomel Airport to mark the anniversary that “two years later, we meet here our friends, our partners.”
He added that it was important that the war end “on our terms.”
European Commission President Von der Leyen reportedly traveled to the Ukrainian capital from Poland by train along with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, and Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo, whose country currently holds the rotating EU Presidency.
Meloni is scheduled to host a videoconference involving Group of Seven (G7) democracy leaders during which Zelenskiy is expected to encourage ongoing support to beat back Europe’s first full-scale military invasion since World War II.
On her arrival, von der Leyen said alongside a photo of herself on a train platform in Kyiv that she was there to mark the grim anniversary “and to celebrate the extraordinary resistance of the Ukrainian people.”
“More than ever, we stand firmly by Ukraine,” she said, “Financially, economically, militarily, morally…[u]ntil the country is finally free.”
Before arriving in Ukraine, Trudeau shared his Foreign Minister Melanie Joly’s sentiment via X, formerly Twitter, that Canada and its allies were “sending a clear message to [Russia]: Ukraine will not be defeated in the face of Putin’s illegal war.”
Words of support have been pouring in from Western leaders.
U.S. President Joe Biden praised the determination of Ukrainians and said “the unprecedented 50-nation global coalition in support of Ukraine, led by the United States, remains committed to providing critical assistance to Ukraine and holding Russia accountable for its aggression.”
“The American people and people around the world understand that the stakes of this fight extend far beyond Ukraine,” he said.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz urged Germans and all Europeans to “do even more — so that we can defend ourselves effectively.”
Scholz said that Germany was completely fulfilling its NATO target of 2 percent investment of total economic output into its military for the first time in decades.
Recently installed Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk cited “Two years of Ukrainian heroism. Two years of Russian barbarism. Two years of disgrace of those who remain indifferent.”
Maia Sandu, the president of Ukraine’s neighbor Moldova, where concerns are high and a long-standing contingent of Russian troops has refused to depart, thanked “Ukrainians for their tireless fight for freedom and for protecting peace in Moldova too.”
“In these two years, the free world has shown unprecedented solidarity, yet the war persists; our support must endure fiercely,” she said on X.
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said “We must renew our determination…on this grim anniversary. This is the moment to show that tyranny will never triumph and to say once again that we will stand with Ukraine today and tomorrow.”
The anniversary falls one day after the United States and European Union announced new rounds of hundreds of sanctions targeting Russia and officials responsible for the war, but with Ukrainian officials desperately pleading with the international community to avoid cutoffs in support or a “depletion of empathy.”
Ukrainians have battled fiercely since a Russian invasion of hundreds of thousands of troops began on February 24, 2022, after Russian President Vladimir Putin tried to cast doubt on Ukrainian nationhood and eventually said Moscow’s goal was the “denazification” and demilitarization of Ukraine’s government.
It was a new phase in a land grab that had begun eight years earlier in 2014, when Russia covertly invaded and then annexed Crimea from Ukraine and began intensive support of armed Ukrainian separatists in eastern Ukraine.
The United Nations has overwhelmingly voted to back Ukrainian territorial integrity and sovereignty.
WATCH: Current Time correspondents Borys Sachalko, Andriy Kuzakov, and Oleksiy Prodayvod reflect on their wartime experiences together with the cameramen and drivers who form a critical part of their reporting teams.
But a massive assistance package proposed by U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration has been blocked primarily by Republicans in Congress.
The European Union managed to pass its own $54 billion aid package for Ukraine earlier this month despite reluctance from member Hungary and talk of Ukraine fatigue.
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said in a recorded statement for the anniversary that “the situation on the battlefield remains extremely serious” and “President Putin’s aim to dominate Ukraine has not changed, and there are no indications that he is preparing for peace. But we must not lose heart.”
Earlier this week, Stoltenberg told RFE/RL’s Ukrainian Service that the alliance was an advantage that neither Russia nor China could match.
At the UN General Assembly on February 23, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said “Russia’s aim is to destroy Ukraine and they are quite outspoken about it,” adding that “The only reason for this war has been and remains Russia’s denial of Ukraine’s right to exist and its continued colonial conquest.”
Russian forces last week captured the mostly destroyed eastern city of Avdiyivka as remaining Ukrainian troops withdrew amid reported ammunition shortages to hand Moscow its first significant gain of territory in nearly a year.
The Russian military said on February 24 that Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu visited troops in occupied Ukraine in a clear effort to send a message to Ukraine and its defenders, as well as to a Russian public subjected to heavy censorship and punishments for anti-war dissenters as the “special military operation” has ground on.
“Today, in terms of the ratio of forces, the advantage is on our side,” officials quoted Shoigu as telling troops at a Russian command center.
The Russian military further said its troops were on the offensive after having taken Avdiyivka, in the Donetsk region.
Zelenskiy used an interview on the conservative Fox News channel this week to urge the U.S. Congress to pass a $60 billion aid package to help his country defend itself, saying it is cheaper than the consequences of a Russian victory.
Zelenskiy echoed warnings among Russia’s other neighbors that Putin will push further into Eastern Europe if he conquers Ukraine.
“Will Ukraine survive without Congress’s support? Of course. But not all of us,” Zelenskiy said.
On February 24, senior Zelenskiy aide Mykhaylo Podolyak said Ukraine was auditing its “available resources” and said it’s impossible to predict when the war might end without a good idea of the amount of weapons and ammunition Kyiv will have at its disposal.
He also suggested the Ukrainian president’s office is not currently in favor of peace talks with Russia as it would mean the “gradual death of Ukraine.”
Separately, Swiss President Viola Amherd was quoted as telling the Neue Zuercher Zeitung newspaper that Russia was unlikely to participate at the start of a senior-level peace conference that neutral Switzerland hopes to host in the next few months.
The remarks followed Swiss Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis telling the United Nations that the idea was broached in January and Bern hoped for such a conference “by this summer.”
Russia currently is thought to control around one-fifth of Ukraine’s territory.
The Ukrainian military said it had destroyed a Russian A-50 surveillance aircraft after a new round of Russian drone and missile strikes on several Ukrainian regions on February 23, which if confirmed would mark the loss of the second A-50 in just over a month.
The general appointed recently by Zelenskiy as commander in chief of Ukraine’s armed forces, Oleksandr Syrskiy, said on February 24 that he is “convinced that unity is our victory.”
“And it will definitely happen,” he said, “because light always conquers darkness!”
Noting the two-year mark in the invasion, Ukraine’s General Staff asserted that Russia had suffered troop casualties of around 409,000 since February 24, 2022.
Both sides classify casualty figures, and RFE/RL cannot confirm the accuracy of accounts by either side of battlefield developments in areas of heavy fighting or of casualty claims.
With reporting by dpa, AFP, and Reuters
This content originally appeared on News – Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty and was authored by News – Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty.This post was originally published on Radio Free.
-
EU and other Western leaders and dignitaries arrived in Kyiv early on February 24 eager to send a defiant message on the second anniversary of Russia’s launch of its all-out invasion of Ukraine, while Moscow sought to capitalize on its recent gains by announcing a visit by Russia’s defense minister to occupied Ukrainian territory.
Meanwhile, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zeleinskiy told his countrymen in a recorded video address from a Kyiv-area airport that was a scene of intense fighting early in the invasion that two years of bitter fighting means “we are 730 days closer to victory.”
Live Briefing: Russia’s Invasion Of Ukraine
RFE/RL’s Live Briefing gives you all of the latest developments on Russia’s full-scale invasion, Kyiv’s counteroffensive, Western military aid, global reaction, and the plight of civilians. For all of RFE/RL’s coverage of the war in Ukraine, click here.
“Two years ago, we met an enemy landing force here with fire,” Zelenskiy said, before adding in a reference to the array of foreign leaders in Ukraine and at Hostomel Airport to mark the anniversary that “two years later, we meet here our friends, our partners.”
He added that it was important that the war end “on our terms.”
European Commission President Von der Leyen reportedly traveled to the Ukrainian capital from Poland by train along with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, and Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo, whose country currently holds the rotating EU Presidency.
Meloni is scheduled to host a videoconference involving Group of Seven (G7) democracy leaders during which Zelenskiy is expected to encourage ongoing support to beat back Europe’s first full-scale military invasion since World War II.
On her arrival, von der Leyen said alongside a photo of herself on a train platform in Kyiv that she was there to mark the grim anniversary “and to celebrate the extraordinary resistance of the Ukrainian people.”
“More than ever, we stand firmly by Ukraine,” she said, “Financially, economically, militarily, morally…[u]ntil the country is finally free.”
Before arriving in Ukraine, Trudeau shared his Foreign Minister Melanie Joly’s sentiment via X, formerly Twitter, that Canada and its allies were “sending a clear message to [Russia]: Ukraine will not be defeated in the face of Putin’s illegal war.”
Words of support have been pouring in from Western leaders.
U.S. President Joe Biden praised the determination of Ukrainians and said “the unprecedented 50-nation global coalition in support of Ukraine, led by the United States, remains committed to providing critical assistance to Ukraine and holding Russia accountable for its aggression.”
“The American people and people around the world understand that the stakes of this fight extend far beyond Ukraine,” he said.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz urged Germans and all Europeans to “do even more — so that we can defend ourselves effectively.”
Scholz said that Germany was completely fulfilling its NATO target of 2 percent investment of total economic output into its military for the first time in decades.
Recently installed Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk cited “Two years of Ukrainian heroism. Two years of Russian barbarism. Two years of disgrace of those who remain indifferent.”
Maia Sandu, the president of Ukraine’s neighbor Moldova, where concerns are high and a long-standing contingent of Russian troops has refused to depart, thanked “Ukrainians for their tireless fight for freedom and for protecting peace in Moldova too.”
“In these two years, the free world has shown unprecedented solidarity, yet the war persists; our support must endure fiercely,” she said on X.
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said “We must renew our determination…on this grim anniversary. This is the moment to show that tyranny will never triumph and to say once again that we will stand with Ukraine today and tomorrow.”
The anniversary falls one day after the United States and European Union announced new rounds of hundreds of sanctions targeting Russia and officials responsible for the war, but with Ukrainian officials desperately pleading with the international community to avoid cutoffs in support or a “depletion of empathy.”
Ukrainians have battled fiercely since a Russian invasion of hundreds of thousands of troops began on February 24, 2022, after Russian President Vladimir Putin tried to cast doubt on Ukrainian nationhood and eventually said Moscow’s goal was the “denazification” and demilitarization of Ukraine’s government.
It was a new phase in a land grab that had begun eight years earlier in 2014, when Russia covertly invaded and then annexed Crimea from Ukraine and began intensive support of armed Ukrainian separatists in eastern Ukraine.
The United Nations has overwhelmingly voted to back Ukrainian territorial integrity and sovereignty.
WATCH: Current Time correspondents Borys Sachalko, Andriy Kuzakov, and Oleksiy Prodayvod reflect on their wartime experiences together with the cameramen and drivers who form a critical part of their reporting teams.
But a massive assistance package proposed by U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration has been blocked primarily by Republicans in Congress.
The European Union managed to pass its own $54 billion aid package for Ukraine earlier this month despite reluctance from member Hungary and talk of Ukraine fatigue.
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said in a recorded statement for the anniversary that “the situation on the battlefield remains extremely serious” and “President Putin’s aim to dominate Ukraine has not changed, and there are no indications that he is preparing for peace. But we must not lose heart.”
Earlier this week, Stoltenberg told RFE/RL’s Ukrainian Service that the alliance was an advantage that neither Russia nor China could match.
At the UN General Assembly on February 23, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said “Russia’s aim is to destroy Ukraine and they are quite outspoken about it,” adding that “The only reason for this war has been and remains Russia’s denial of Ukraine’s right to exist and its continued colonial conquest.”
Russian forces last week captured the mostly destroyed eastern city of Avdiyivka as remaining Ukrainian troops withdrew amid reported ammunition shortages to hand Moscow its first significant gain of territory in nearly a year.
The Russian military said on February 24 that Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu visited troops in occupied Ukraine in a clear effort to send a message to Ukraine and its defenders, as well as to a Russian public subjected to heavy censorship and punishments for anti-war dissenters as the “special military operation” has ground on.
“Today, in terms of the ratio of forces, the advantage is on our side,” officials quoted Shoigu as telling troops at a Russian command center.
The Russian military further said its troops were on the offensive after having taken Avdiyivka, in the Donetsk region.
Zelenskiy used an interview on the conservative Fox News channel this week to urge the U.S. Congress to pass a $60 billion aid package to help his country defend itself, saying it is cheaper than the consequences of a Russian victory.
Zelenskiy echoed warnings among Russia’s other neighbors that Putin will push further into Eastern Europe if he conquers Ukraine.
“Will Ukraine survive without Congress’s support? Of course. But not all of us,” Zelenskiy said.
On February 24, senior Zelenskiy aide Mykhaylo Podolyak said Ukraine was auditing its “available resources” and said it’s impossible to predict when the war might end without a good idea of the amount of weapons and ammunition Kyiv will have at its disposal.
He also suggested the Ukrainian president’s office is not currently in favor of peace talks with Russia as it would mean the “gradual death of Ukraine.”
Separately, Swiss President Viola Amherd was quoted as telling the Neue Zuercher Zeitung newspaper that Russia was unlikely to participate at the start of a senior-level peace conference that neutral Switzerland hopes to host in the next few months.
The remarks followed Swiss Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis telling the United Nations that the idea was broached in January and Bern hoped for such a conference “by this summer.”
Russia currently is thought to control around one-fifth of Ukraine’s territory.
The Ukrainian military said it had destroyed a Russian A-50 surveillance aircraft after a new round of Russian drone and missile strikes on several Ukrainian regions on February 23, which if confirmed would mark the loss of the second A-50 in just over a month.
The general appointed recently by Zelenskiy as commander in chief of Ukraine’s armed forces, Oleksandr Syrskiy, said on February 24 that he is “convinced that unity is our victory.”
“And it will definitely happen,” he said, “because light always conquers darkness!”
Noting the two-year mark in the invasion, Ukraine’s General Staff asserted that Russia had suffered troop casualties of around 409,000 since February 24, 2022.
Both sides classify casualty figures, and RFE/RL cannot confirm the accuracy of accounts by either side of battlefield developments in areas of heavy fighting or of casualty claims.
With reporting by dpa, AFP, and Reuters
This content originally appeared on News – Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty and was authored by News – Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty.This post was originally published on Radio Free.
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This content originally appeared on Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and was authored by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.This post was originally published on Radio Free.
-
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg says NATO allies are committed to doing more to ensure that Ukraine “prevails” in its battle to repel invading Russian forces, with the alliance having “significantly changed” its stance on providing more advanced weapons to Kyiv.
Speaking in an interview with RFE/RL to mark the second anniversary of Russia launching its full-scale invasion of its neighbor, the NATO chief said solidarity with Ukraine was not only correct, it’s also “in our own security interests.”
“We can expect that the NATO allies will do more to ensure that Ukraine prevails, because this has been so clearly stated by NATO allies,” Stoltenberg said.
Live Briefing: Russia’s Invasion Of Ukraine
RFE/RL’s Live Briefing gives you all of the latest developments on Russia’s full-scale invasion, Kyiv’s counteroffensive, Western military aid, global reaction, and the plight of civilians. For all of RFE/RL’s coverage of the war in Ukraine, click here.
“I always stress that this is not charity. This is an investment in our own security and and that our support makes a difference on the battlefield every day,” he added.
Ukraine is in desperate need of financial and military assistance amid signs of political fatigue in the West as the war kicked off by Russia’s unprovoked invasion nears the two-year mark on February 24.
In excerpts from the interview released earlier in the week, Stoltenberg said the death of Russian opposition leader Aleksei Navalny and the first Russian gains on the battlefield in months should help focus the attention of NATO and its allies on the urgent need to support Ukraine.
The death of Navalny in an Arctic prison on February 16 under suspicious circumstances — authorities say it will be another two weeks before the body may be released to the family — adds to the need to ensure Russian President Vladimir Putin’s authoritarian rule does not go unchecked.
“I strongly believe that the best way to honor the memory of Aleksei Navalny is to ensure that President Putin doesn’t win on the battlefield, but that Ukraine prevails,” Stoltenberg said.
Stoltenberg said the withdrawal of Ukrainian forces from the city of Avdiyivka last week after months of intense fighting demonstrated the need for more military aid, “to ensure that Russia doesn’t make further gains.”
“We don’t believe that the fact that the Ukrainian forces have withdrawn from Avdiyivka in in itself will significantly change the strategic situation,” he said.
“But it reminds us of that Russia is willing to sacrifice a lot of soldiers. It also just makes minor territorial gains and also that Russia has received significant military support supplies from Iran, from North Korea and have been able to ramp up their own production.”
Ukraine’s allies have been focused on a $61 billion U.S. military aid package, but while that remains stalled in the House of Representatives, other countries, including Sweden, Canada, and Japan, have stepped up their aid.
“Of course, we are focused on the United States, but we also see how other allies are really stepping up and delivering significant support to Ukraine,” Stoltenberg said in the interview.
On the question of when Ukraine will be able to deploy F-16 fighter jets, Stoltenberg said it was not possible to say. He reiterated that Ukraine’s allies all want them to be there as early as possible but said the effect of the F-16s will be stronger if pilots are well trained and maintenance crews and other support personnel are well-prepared.
“So, I think we have to listen to the military experts exactly when we will be ready to or when allies will be ready to start sending and to delivering the F-16s,” he said. “The sooner the better.”
Ukraine has actively sought U.S.-made F-16 fighter jets to help it counter Russian air superiority. The United States in August approved sending F-16s to Ukraine from Denmark and the Netherlands as soon as pilot training is completed.
It will be up to each ally to decide whether to deliver F-16s to Ukraine, and allies have different policies, Stoltenberg said. But at the same time the war in Ukraine is a war of aggression, and Ukraine has the right to self-defense, including striking legitimate Russian military targets outside Ukraine.
Asked about the prospect of former President Donald Trump returning to the White House, Stoltenberg said that regardless of the outcome of the U.S. elections this year, the United States will remain a committed NATO ally because it is in the security interest of the United States.
Trump, the current front-runner in the race to become the Republican Party’s presidential nominee, drew sharp rebukes from President Joe Biden, European leaders, and NATO after suggesting at a campaign rally on February 10 that the United States might not defend alliance members from a potential Russian invasion if they don’t pay enough toward their own defense.
Stoltenberg said the United States was safer and stronger together with more than 30 allies — something that neither China nor Russia has.
The criticism of NATO has been aimed at allies underspending on defense, he said.
But Stoltenberg said new data shows that more and more NATO allies are meeting the target of spending 2 percent of GDP on defense, and this demonstrates that the alliance has come a long way since it pledged in 2014 to meet the target.
At that time three members of NATO spent 2 percent of GDP on defense. Now it’s 18, he said.
“If you add together what all European allies do and compare that to the GDP in total in Europe, it’s actually 2 percent today,” he said. “That’s good, but it’s not enough because we want [each NATO member] to spend 2 percent. And we also make sure that 2 percent is a minimum.”
This content originally appeared on News – Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty and was authored by News – Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty.This post was originally published on Radio Free.
-
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg says NATO allies are committed to doing more to ensure that Ukraine “prevails” in its battle to repel invading Russian forces, with the alliance having “significantly changed” its stance on providing more advanced weapons to Kyiv.
Speaking in an interview with RFE/RL to mark the second anniversary of Russia launching its full-scale invasion of its neighbor, the NATO chief said solidarity with Ukraine was not only correct, it’s also “in our own security interests.”
“We can expect that the NATO allies will do more to ensure that Ukraine prevails, because this has been so clearly stated by NATO allies,” Stoltenberg said.
Live Briefing: Russia’s Invasion Of Ukraine
RFE/RL’s Live Briefing gives you all of the latest developments on Russia’s full-scale invasion, Kyiv’s counteroffensive, Western military aid, global reaction, and the plight of civilians. For all of RFE/RL’s coverage of the war in Ukraine, click here.
“I always stress that this is not charity. This is an investment in our own security and and that our support makes a difference on the battlefield every day,” he added.
Ukraine is in desperate need of financial and military assistance amid signs of political fatigue in the West as the war kicked off by Russia’s unprovoked invasion nears the two-year mark on February 24.
In excerpts from the interview released earlier in the week, Stoltenberg said the death of Russian opposition leader Aleksei Navalny and the first Russian gains on the battlefield in months should help focus the attention of NATO and its allies on the urgent need to support Ukraine.
The death of Navalny in an Arctic prison on February 16 under suspicious circumstances — authorities say it will be another two weeks before the body may be released to the family — adds to the need to ensure Russian President Vladimir Putin’s authoritarian rule does not go unchecked.
“I strongly believe that the best way to honor the memory of Aleksei Navalny is to ensure that President Putin doesn’t win on the battlefield, but that Ukraine prevails,” Stoltenberg said.
Stoltenberg said the withdrawal of Ukrainian forces from the city of Avdiyivka last week after months of intense fighting demonstrated the need for more military aid, “to ensure that Russia doesn’t make further gains.”
“We don’t believe that the fact that the Ukrainian forces have withdrawn from Avdiyivka in in itself will significantly change the strategic situation,” he said.
“But it reminds us of that Russia is willing to sacrifice a lot of soldiers. It also just makes minor territorial gains and also that Russia has received significant military support supplies from Iran, from North Korea and have been able to ramp up their own production.”
Ukraine’s allies have been focused on a $61 billion U.S. military aid package, but while that remains stalled in the House of Representatives, other countries, including Sweden, Canada, and Japan, have stepped up their aid.
“Of course, we are focused on the United States, but we also see how other allies are really stepping up and delivering significant support to Ukraine,” Stoltenberg said in the interview.
On the question of when Ukraine will be able to deploy F-16 fighter jets, Stoltenberg said it was not possible to say. He reiterated that Ukraine’s allies all want them to be there as early as possible but said the effect of the F-16s will be stronger if pilots are well trained and maintenance crews and other support personnel are well-prepared.
“So, I think we have to listen to the military experts exactly when we will be ready to or when allies will be ready to start sending and to delivering the F-16s,” he said. “The sooner the better.”
Ukraine has actively sought U.S.-made F-16 fighter jets to help it counter Russian air superiority. The United States in August approved sending F-16s to Ukraine from Denmark and the Netherlands as soon as pilot training is completed.
It will be up to each ally to decide whether to deliver F-16s to Ukraine, and allies have different policies, Stoltenberg said. But at the same time the war in Ukraine is a war of aggression, and Ukraine has the right to self-defense, including striking legitimate Russian military targets outside Ukraine.
Asked about the prospect of former President Donald Trump returning to the White House, Stoltenberg said that regardless of the outcome of the U.S. elections this year, the United States will remain a committed NATO ally because it is in the security interest of the United States.
Trump, the current front-runner in the race to become the Republican Party’s presidential nominee, drew sharp rebukes from President Joe Biden, European leaders, and NATO after suggesting at a campaign rally on February 10 that the United States might not defend alliance members from a potential Russian invasion if they don’t pay enough toward their own defense.
Stoltenberg said the United States was safer and stronger together with more than 30 allies — something that neither China nor Russia has.
The criticism of NATO has been aimed at allies underspending on defense, he said.
But Stoltenberg said new data shows that more and more NATO allies are meeting the target of spending 2 percent of GDP on defense, and this demonstrates that the alliance has come a long way since it pledged in 2014 to meet the target.
At that time three members of NATO spent 2 percent of GDP on defense. Now it’s 18, he said.
“If you add together what all European allies do and compare that to the GDP in total in Europe, it’s actually 2 percent today,” he said. “That’s good, but it’s not enough because we want [each NATO member] to spend 2 percent. And we also make sure that 2 percent is a minimum.”
This content originally appeared on News – Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty and was authored by News – Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty.This post was originally published on Radio Free.
-
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg says NATO allies are committed to doing more to ensure that Ukraine “prevails” in its battle to repel invading Russian forces, with the alliance having “significantly changed” its stance on providing more advanced weapons to Kyiv.
Speaking in an interview with RFE/RL to mark the second anniversary of Russia launching its full-scale invasion of its neighbor, the NATO chief said solidarity with Ukraine was not only correct, it’s also “in our own security interests.”
“We can expect that the NATO allies will do more to ensure that Ukraine prevails, because this has been so clearly stated by NATO allies,” Stoltenberg said.
Live Briefing: Russia’s Invasion Of Ukraine
RFE/RL’s Live Briefing gives you all of the latest developments on Russia’s full-scale invasion, Kyiv’s counteroffensive, Western military aid, global reaction, and the plight of civilians. For all of RFE/RL’s coverage of the war in Ukraine, click here.
“I always stress that this is not charity. This is an investment in our own security and and that our support makes a difference on the battlefield every day,” he added.
Ukraine is in desperate need of financial and military assistance amid signs of political fatigue in the West as the war kicked off by Russia’s unprovoked invasion nears the two-year mark on February 24.
In excerpts from the interview released earlier in the week, Stoltenberg said the death of Russian opposition leader Aleksei Navalny and the first Russian gains on the battlefield in months should help focus the attention of NATO and its allies on the urgent need to support Ukraine.
The death of Navalny in an Arctic prison on February 16 under suspicious circumstances — authorities say it will be another two weeks before the body may be released to the family — adds to the need to ensure Russian President Vladimir Putin’s authoritarian rule does not go unchecked.
“I strongly believe that the best way to honor the memory of Aleksei Navalny is to ensure that President Putin doesn’t win on the battlefield, but that Ukraine prevails,” Stoltenberg said.
Stoltenberg said the withdrawal of Ukrainian forces from the city of Avdiyivka last week after months of intense fighting demonstrated the need for more military aid, “to ensure that Russia doesn’t make further gains.”
“We don’t believe that the fact that the Ukrainian forces have withdrawn from Avdiyivka in in itself will significantly change the strategic situation,” he said.
“But it reminds us of that Russia is willing to sacrifice a lot of soldiers. It also just makes minor territorial gains and also that Russia has received significant military support supplies from Iran, from North Korea and have been able to ramp up their own production.”
Ukraine’s allies have been focused on a $61 billion U.S. military aid package, but while that remains stalled in the House of Representatives, other countries, including Sweden, Canada, and Japan, have stepped up their aid.
“Of course, we are focused on the United States, but we also see how other allies are really stepping up and delivering significant support to Ukraine,” Stoltenberg said in the interview.
On the question of when Ukraine will be able to deploy F-16 fighter jets, Stoltenberg said it was not possible to say. He reiterated that Ukraine’s allies all want them to be there as early as possible but said the effect of the F-16s will be stronger if pilots are well trained and maintenance crews and other support personnel are well-prepared.
“So, I think we have to listen to the military experts exactly when we will be ready to or when allies will be ready to start sending and to delivering the F-16s,” he said. “The sooner the better.”
Ukraine has actively sought U.S.-made F-16 fighter jets to help it counter Russian air superiority. The United States in August approved sending F-16s to Ukraine from Denmark and the Netherlands as soon as pilot training is completed.
It will be up to each ally to decide whether to deliver F-16s to Ukraine, and allies have different policies, Stoltenberg said. But at the same time the war in Ukraine is a war of aggression, and Ukraine has the right to self-defense, including striking legitimate Russian military targets outside Ukraine.
Asked about the prospect of former President Donald Trump returning to the White House, Stoltenberg said that regardless of the outcome of the U.S. elections this year, the United States will remain a committed NATO ally because it is in the security interest of the United States.
Trump, the current front-runner in the race to become the Republican Party’s presidential nominee, drew sharp rebukes from President Joe Biden, European leaders, and NATO after suggesting at a campaign rally on February 10 that the United States might not defend alliance members from a potential Russian invasion if they don’t pay enough toward their own defense.
Stoltenberg said the United States was safer and stronger together with more than 30 allies — something that neither China nor Russia has.
The criticism of NATO has been aimed at allies underspending on defense, he said.
But Stoltenberg said new data shows that more and more NATO allies are meeting the target of spending 2 percent of GDP on defense, and this demonstrates that the alliance has come a long way since it pledged in 2014 to meet the target.
At that time three members of NATO spent 2 percent of GDP on defense. Now it’s 18, he said.
“If you add together what all European allies do and compare that to the GDP in total in Europe, it’s actually 2 percent today,” he said. “That’s good, but it’s not enough because we want [each NATO member] to spend 2 percent. And we also make sure that 2 percent is a minimum.”
This content originally appeared on News – Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty and was authored by News – Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty.This post was originally published on Radio Free.
-
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg says NATO allies are committed to doing more to ensure that Ukraine “prevails” in its battle to repel invading Russian forces, with the alliance having “significantly changed” its stance on providing more advanced weapons to Kyiv.
Speaking in an interview with RFE/RL to mark the second anniversary of Russia launching its full-scale invasion of its neighbor, the NATO chief said solidarity with Ukraine was not only correct, it’s also “in our own security interests.”
“We can expect that the NATO allies will do more to ensure that Ukraine prevails, because this has been so clearly stated by NATO allies,” Stoltenberg said.
Live Briefing: Russia’s Invasion Of Ukraine
RFE/RL’s Live Briefing gives you all of the latest developments on Russia’s full-scale invasion, Kyiv’s counteroffensive, Western military aid, global reaction, and the plight of civilians. For all of RFE/RL’s coverage of the war in Ukraine, click here.
“I always stress that this is not charity. This is an investment in our own security and and that our support makes a difference on the battlefield every day,” he added.
Ukraine is in desperate need of financial and military assistance amid signs of political fatigue in the West as the war kicked off by Russia’s unprovoked invasion nears the two-year mark on February 24.
In excerpts from the interview released earlier in the week, Stoltenberg said the death of Russian opposition leader Aleksei Navalny and the first Russian gains on the battlefield in months should help focus the attention of NATO and its allies on the urgent need to support Ukraine.
The death of Navalny in an Arctic prison on February 16 under suspicious circumstances — authorities say it will be another two weeks before the body may be released to the family — adds to the need to ensure Russian President Vladimir Putin’s authoritarian rule does not go unchecked.
“I strongly believe that the best way to honor the memory of Aleksei Navalny is to ensure that President Putin doesn’t win on the battlefield, but that Ukraine prevails,” Stoltenberg said.
Stoltenberg said the withdrawal of Ukrainian forces from the city of Avdiyivka last week after months of intense fighting demonstrated the need for more military aid, “to ensure that Russia doesn’t make further gains.”
“We don’t believe that the fact that the Ukrainian forces have withdrawn from Avdiyivka in in itself will significantly change the strategic situation,” he said.
“But it reminds us of that Russia is willing to sacrifice a lot of soldiers. It also just makes minor territorial gains and also that Russia has received significant military support supplies from Iran, from North Korea and have been able to ramp up their own production.”
Ukraine’s allies have been focused on a $61 billion U.S. military aid package, but while that remains stalled in the House of Representatives, other countries, including Sweden, Canada, and Japan, have stepped up their aid.
“Of course, we are focused on the United States, but we also see how other allies are really stepping up and delivering significant support to Ukraine,” Stoltenberg said in the interview.
On the question of when Ukraine will be able to deploy F-16 fighter jets, Stoltenberg said it was not possible to say. He reiterated that Ukraine’s allies all want them to be there as early as possible but said the effect of the F-16s will be stronger if pilots are well trained and maintenance crews and other support personnel are well-prepared.
“So, I think we have to listen to the military experts exactly when we will be ready to or when allies will be ready to start sending and to delivering the F-16s,” he said. “The sooner the better.”
Ukraine has actively sought U.S.-made F-16 fighter jets to help it counter Russian air superiority. The United States in August approved sending F-16s to Ukraine from Denmark and the Netherlands as soon as pilot training is completed.
It will be up to each ally to decide whether to deliver F-16s to Ukraine, and allies have different policies, Stoltenberg said. But at the same time the war in Ukraine is a war of aggression, and Ukraine has the right to self-defense, including striking legitimate Russian military targets outside Ukraine.
Asked about the prospect of former President Donald Trump returning to the White House, Stoltenberg said that regardless of the outcome of the U.S. elections this year, the United States will remain a committed NATO ally because it is in the security interest of the United States.
Trump, the current front-runner in the race to become the Republican Party’s presidential nominee, drew sharp rebukes from President Joe Biden, European leaders, and NATO after suggesting at a campaign rally on February 10 that the United States might not defend alliance members from a potential Russian invasion if they don’t pay enough toward their own defense.
Stoltenberg said the United States was safer and stronger together with more than 30 allies — something that neither China nor Russia has.
The criticism of NATO has been aimed at allies underspending on defense, he said.
But Stoltenberg said new data shows that more and more NATO allies are meeting the target of spending 2 percent of GDP on defense, and this demonstrates that the alliance has come a long way since it pledged in 2014 to meet the target.
At that time three members of NATO spent 2 percent of GDP on defense. Now it’s 18, he said.
“If you add together what all European allies do and compare that to the GDP in total in Europe, it’s actually 2 percent today,” he said. “That’s good, but it’s not enough because we want [each NATO member] to spend 2 percent. And we also make sure that 2 percent is a minimum.”
This content originally appeared on News – Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty and was authored by News – Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty.This post was originally published on Radio Free.
-
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg says NATO allies are committed to doing more to ensure that Ukraine “prevails” in its battle to repel invading Russian forces, with the alliance having “significantly changed” its stance on providing more advanced weapons to Kyiv.
Speaking in an interview with RFE/RL to mark the second anniversary of Russia launching its full-scale invasion of its neighbor, the NATO chief said solidarity with Ukraine was not only correct, it’s also “in our own security interests.”
“We can expect that the NATO allies will do more to ensure that Ukraine prevails, because this has been so clearly stated by NATO allies,” Stoltenberg said.
Live Briefing: Russia’s Invasion Of Ukraine
RFE/RL’s Live Briefing gives you all of the latest developments on Russia’s full-scale invasion, Kyiv’s counteroffensive, Western military aid, global reaction, and the plight of civilians. For all of RFE/RL’s coverage of the war in Ukraine, click here.
“I always stress that this is not charity. This is an investment in our own security and and that our support makes a difference on the battlefield every day,” he added.
Ukraine is in desperate need of financial and military assistance amid signs of political fatigue in the West as the war kicked off by Russia’s unprovoked invasion nears the two-year mark on February 24.
In excerpts from the interview released earlier in the week, Stoltenberg said the death of Russian opposition leader Aleksei Navalny and the first Russian gains on the battlefield in months should help focus the attention of NATO and its allies on the urgent need to support Ukraine.
The death of Navalny in an Arctic prison on February 16 under suspicious circumstances — authorities say it will be another two weeks before the body may be released to the family — adds to the need to ensure Russian President Vladimir Putin’s authoritarian rule does not go unchecked.
“I strongly believe that the best way to honor the memory of Aleksei Navalny is to ensure that President Putin doesn’t win on the battlefield, but that Ukraine prevails,” Stoltenberg said.
Stoltenberg said the withdrawal of Ukrainian forces from the city of Avdiyivka last week after months of intense fighting demonstrated the need for more military aid, “to ensure that Russia doesn’t make further gains.”
“We don’t believe that the fact that the Ukrainian forces have withdrawn from Avdiyivka in in itself will significantly change the strategic situation,” he said.
“But it reminds us of that Russia is willing to sacrifice a lot of soldiers. It also just makes minor territorial gains and also that Russia has received significant military support supplies from Iran, from North Korea and have been able to ramp up their own production.”
Ukraine’s allies have been focused on a $61 billion U.S. military aid package, but while that remains stalled in the House of Representatives, other countries, including Sweden, Canada, and Japan, have stepped up their aid.
“Of course, we are focused on the United States, but we also see how other allies are really stepping up and delivering significant support to Ukraine,” Stoltenberg said in the interview.
On the question of when Ukraine will be able to deploy F-16 fighter jets, Stoltenberg said it was not possible to say. He reiterated that Ukraine’s allies all want them to be there as early as possible but said the effect of the F-16s will be stronger if pilots are well trained and maintenance crews and other support personnel are well-prepared.
“So, I think we have to listen to the military experts exactly when we will be ready to or when allies will be ready to start sending and to delivering the F-16s,” he said. “The sooner the better.”
Ukraine has actively sought U.S.-made F-16 fighter jets to help it counter Russian air superiority. The United States in August approved sending F-16s to Ukraine from Denmark and the Netherlands as soon as pilot training is completed.
It will be up to each ally to decide whether to deliver F-16s to Ukraine, and allies have different policies, Stoltenberg said. But at the same time the war in Ukraine is a war of aggression, and Ukraine has the right to self-defense, including striking legitimate Russian military targets outside Ukraine.
Asked about the prospect of former President Donald Trump returning to the White House, Stoltenberg said that regardless of the outcome of the U.S. elections this year, the United States will remain a committed NATO ally because it is in the security interest of the United States.
Trump, the current front-runner in the race to become the Republican Party’s presidential nominee, drew sharp rebukes from President Joe Biden, European leaders, and NATO after suggesting at a campaign rally on February 10 that the United States might not defend alliance members from a potential Russian invasion if they don’t pay enough toward their own defense.
Stoltenberg said the United States was safer and stronger together with more than 30 allies — something that neither China nor Russia has.
The criticism of NATO has been aimed at allies underspending on defense, he said.
But Stoltenberg said new data shows that more and more NATO allies are meeting the target of spending 2 percent of GDP on defense, and this demonstrates that the alliance has come a long way since it pledged in 2014 to meet the target.
At that time three members of NATO spent 2 percent of GDP on defense. Now it’s 18, he said.
“If you add together what all European allies do and compare that to the GDP in total in Europe, it’s actually 2 percent today,” he said. “That’s good, but it’s not enough because we want [each NATO member] to spend 2 percent. And we also make sure that 2 percent is a minimum.”
This content originally appeared on News – Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty and was authored by News – Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty.This post was originally published on Radio Free.
-
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg says NATO allies are committed to doing more to ensure that Ukraine “prevails” in its battle to repel invading Russian forces, with the alliance having “significantly changed” its stance on providing more advanced weapons to Kyiv.
Speaking in an interview with RFE/RL to mark the second anniversary of Russia launching its full-scale invasion of its neighbor, the NATO chief said solidarity with Ukraine was not only correct, it’s also “in our own security interests.”
“We can expect that the NATO allies will do more to ensure that Ukraine prevails, because this has been so clearly stated by NATO allies,” Stoltenberg said.
Live Briefing: Russia’s Invasion Of Ukraine
RFE/RL’s Live Briefing gives you all of the latest developments on Russia’s full-scale invasion, Kyiv’s counteroffensive, Western military aid, global reaction, and the plight of civilians. For all of RFE/RL’s coverage of the war in Ukraine, click here.
“I always stress that this is not charity. This is an investment in our own security and and that our support makes a difference on the battlefield every day,” he added.
Ukraine is in desperate need of financial and military assistance amid signs of political fatigue in the West as the war kicked off by Russia’s unprovoked invasion nears the two-year mark on February 24.
In excerpts from the interview released earlier in the week, Stoltenberg said the death of Russian opposition leader Aleksei Navalny and the first Russian gains on the battlefield in months should help focus the attention of NATO and its allies on the urgent need to support Ukraine.
The death of Navalny in an Arctic prison on February 16 under suspicious circumstances — authorities say it will be another two weeks before the body may be released to the family — adds to the need to ensure Russian President Vladimir Putin’s authoritarian rule does not go unchecked.
“I strongly believe that the best way to honor the memory of Aleksei Navalny is to ensure that President Putin doesn’t win on the battlefield, but that Ukraine prevails,” Stoltenberg said.
Stoltenberg said the withdrawal of Ukrainian forces from the city of Avdiyivka last week after months of intense fighting demonstrated the need for more military aid, “to ensure that Russia doesn’t make further gains.”
“We don’t believe that the fact that the Ukrainian forces have withdrawn from Avdiyivka in in itself will significantly change the strategic situation,” he said.
“But it reminds us of that Russia is willing to sacrifice a lot of soldiers. It also just makes minor territorial gains and also that Russia has received significant military support supplies from Iran, from North Korea and have been able to ramp up their own production.”
Ukraine’s allies have been focused on a $61 billion U.S. military aid package, but while that remains stalled in the House of Representatives, other countries, including Sweden, Canada, and Japan, have stepped up their aid.
“Of course, we are focused on the United States, but we also see how other allies are really stepping up and delivering significant support to Ukraine,” Stoltenberg said in the interview.
On the question of when Ukraine will be able to deploy F-16 fighter jets, Stoltenberg said it was not possible to say. He reiterated that Ukraine’s allies all want them to be there as early as possible but said the effect of the F-16s will be stronger if pilots are well trained and maintenance crews and other support personnel are well-prepared.
“So, I think we have to listen to the military experts exactly when we will be ready to or when allies will be ready to start sending and to delivering the F-16s,” he said. “The sooner the better.”
Ukraine has actively sought U.S.-made F-16 fighter jets to help it counter Russian air superiority. The United States in August approved sending F-16s to Ukraine from Denmark and the Netherlands as soon as pilot training is completed.
It will be up to each ally to decide whether to deliver F-16s to Ukraine, and allies have different policies, Stoltenberg said. But at the same time the war in Ukraine is a war of aggression, and Ukraine has the right to self-defense, including striking legitimate Russian military targets outside Ukraine.
Asked about the prospect of former President Donald Trump returning to the White House, Stoltenberg said that regardless of the outcome of the U.S. elections this year, the United States will remain a committed NATO ally because it is in the security interest of the United States.
Trump, the current front-runner in the race to become the Republican Party’s presidential nominee, drew sharp rebukes from President Joe Biden, European leaders, and NATO after suggesting at a campaign rally on February 10 that the United States might not defend alliance members from a potential Russian invasion if they don’t pay enough toward their own defense.
Stoltenberg said the United States was safer and stronger together with more than 30 allies — something that neither China nor Russia has.
The criticism of NATO has been aimed at allies underspending on defense, he said.
But Stoltenberg said new data shows that more and more NATO allies are meeting the target of spending 2 percent of GDP on defense, and this demonstrates that the alliance has come a long way since it pledged in 2014 to meet the target.
At that time three members of NATO spent 2 percent of GDP on defense. Now it’s 18, he said.
“If you add together what all European allies do and compare that to the GDP in total in Europe, it’s actually 2 percent today,” he said. “That’s good, but it’s not enough because we want [each NATO member] to spend 2 percent. And we also make sure that 2 percent is a minimum.”
This content originally appeared on News – Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty and was authored by News – Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty.This post was originally published on Radio Free.
-
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg says NATO allies are committed to doing more to ensure that Ukraine “prevails” in its battle to repel invading Russian forces, with the alliance having “significantly changed” its stance on providing more advanced weapons to Kyiv.
Speaking in an interview with RFE/RL to mark the second anniversary of Russia launching its full-scale invasion of its neighbor, the NATO chief said solidarity with Ukraine was not only correct, it’s also “in our own security interests.”
“We can expect that the NATO allies will do more to ensure that Ukraine prevails, because this has been so clearly stated by NATO allies,” Stoltenberg said.
Live Briefing: Russia’s Invasion Of Ukraine
RFE/RL’s Live Briefing gives you all of the latest developments on Russia’s full-scale invasion, Kyiv’s counteroffensive, Western military aid, global reaction, and the plight of civilians. For all of RFE/RL’s coverage of the war in Ukraine, click here.
“I always stress that this is not charity. This is an investment in our own security and and that our support makes a difference on the battlefield every day,” he added.
Ukraine is in desperate need of financial and military assistance amid signs of political fatigue in the West as the war kicked off by Russia’s unprovoked invasion nears the two-year mark on February 24.
In excerpts from the interview released earlier in the week, Stoltenberg said the death of Russian opposition leader Aleksei Navalny and the first Russian gains on the battlefield in months should help focus the attention of NATO and its allies on the urgent need to support Ukraine.
The death of Navalny in an Arctic prison on February 16 under suspicious circumstances — authorities say it will be another two weeks before the body may be released to the family — adds to the need to ensure Russian President Vladimir Putin’s authoritarian rule does not go unchecked.
“I strongly believe that the best way to honor the memory of Aleksei Navalny is to ensure that President Putin doesn’t win on the battlefield, but that Ukraine prevails,” Stoltenberg said.
Stoltenberg said the withdrawal of Ukrainian forces from the city of Avdiyivka last week after months of intense fighting demonstrated the need for more military aid, “to ensure that Russia doesn’t make further gains.”
“We don’t believe that the fact that the Ukrainian forces have withdrawn from Avdiyivka in in itself will significantly change the strategic situation,” he said.
“But it reminds us of that Russia is willing to sacrifice a lot of soldiers. It also just makes minor territorial gains and also that Russia has received significant military support supplies from Iran, from North Korea and have been able to ramp up their own production.”
Ukraine’s allies have been focused on a $61 billion U.S. military aid package, but while that remains stalled in the House of Representatives, other countries, including Sweden, Canada, and Japan, have stepped up their aid.
“Of course, we are focused on the United States, but we also see how other allies are really stepping up and delivering significant support to Ukraine,” Stoltenberg said in the interview.
On the question of when Ukraine will be able to deploy F-16 fighter jets, Stoltenberg said it was not possible to say. He reiterated that Ukraine’s allies all want them to be there as early as possible but said the effect of the F-16s will be stronger if pilots are well trained and maintenance crews and other support personnel are well-prepared.
“So, I think we have to listen to the military experts exactly when we will be ready to or when allies will be ready to start sending and to delivering the F-16s,” he said. “The sooner the better.”
Ukraine has actively sought U.S.-made F-16 fighter jets to help it counter Russian air superiority. The United States in August approved sending F-16s to Ukraine from Denmark and the Netherlands as soon as pilot training is completed.
It will be up to each ally to decide whether to deliver F-16s to Ukraine, and allies have different policies, Stoltenberg said. But at the same time the war in Ukraine is a war of aggression, and Ukraine has the right to self-defense, including striking legitimate Russian military targets outside Ukraine.
Asked about the prospect of former President Donald Trump returning to the White House, Stoltenberg said that regardless of the outcome of the U.S. elections this year, the United States will remain a committed NATO ally because it is in the security interest of the United States.
Trump, the current front-runner in the race to become the Republican Party’s presidential nominee, drew sharp rebukes from President Joe Biden, European leaders, and NATO after suggesting at a campaign rally on February 10 that the United States might not defend alliance members from a potential Russian invasion if they don’t pay enough toward their own defense.
Stoltenberg said the United States was safer and stronger together with more than 30 allies — something that neither China nor Russia has.
The criticism of NATO has been aimed at allies underspending on defense, he said.
But Stoltenberg said new data shows that more and more NATO allies are meeting the target of spending 2 percent of GDP on defense, and this demonstrates that the alliance has come a long way since it pledged in 2014 to meet the target.
At that time three members of NATO spent 2 percent of GDP on defense. Now it’s 18, he said.
“If you add together what all European allies do and compare that to the GDP in total in Europe, it’s actually 2 percent today,” he said. “That’s good, but it’s not enough because we want [each NATO member] to spend 2 percent. And we also make sure that 2 percent is a minimum.”
This content originally appeared on News – Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty and was authored by News – Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty.This post was originally published on Radio Free.
-
This content originally appeared on Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and was authored by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.This post was originally published on Radio Free.
-
This content originally appeared on Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and was authored by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.This post was originally published on Radio Free.
-
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg says NATO allies are committed to doing more to ensure that Ukraine “prevails” in its battle to repel invading Russian forces, with the alliance having “significantly changed” its stance on providing more advanced weapons to Kyiv.
Speaking in an interview with RFE/RL to mark the second anniversary of Russia launching its full-scale invasion of its neighbor, the NATO chief said solidarity with Ukraine was not only correct, it’s also “in our own security interests.”
“We can expect that the NATO allies will do more to ensure that Ukraine prevails, because this has been so clearly stated by NATO allies,” Stoltenberg said.
Live Briefing: Russia’s Invasion Of Ukraine
RFE/RL’s Live Briefing gives you all of the latest developments on Russia’s full-scale invasion, Kyiv’s counteroffensive, Western military aid, global reaction, and the plight of civilians. For all of RFE/RL’s coverage of the war in Ukraine, click here.
“I always stress that this is not charity. This is an investment in our own security and and that our support makes a difference on the battlefield every day,” he added.
Ukraine is in desperate need of financial and military assistance amid signs of political fatigue in the West as the war kicked off by Russia’s unprovoked invasion nears the two-year mark on February 24.
In excerpts from the interview released earlier in the week, Stoltenberg said the death of Russian opposition leader Aleksei Navalny and the first Russian gains on the battlefield in months should help focus the attention of NATO and its allies on the urgent need to support Ukraine.
The death of Navalny in an Arctic prison on February 16 under suspicious circumstances — authorities say it will be another two weeks before the body may be released to the family — adds to the need to ensure Russian President Vladimir Putin’s authoritarian rule does not go unchecked.
“I strongly believe that the best way to honor the memory of Aleksei Navalny is to ensure that President Putin doesn’t win on the battlefield, but that Ukraine prevails,” Stoltenberg said.
Stoltenberg said the withdrawal of Ukrainian forces from the city of Avdiyivka last week after months of intense fighting demonstrated the need for more military aid, “to ensure that Russia doesn’t make further gains.”
“We don’t believe that the fact that the Ukrainian forces have withdrawn from Avdiyivka in in itself will significantly change the strategic situation,” he said.
“But it reminds us of that Russia is willing to sacrifice a lot of soldiers. It also just makes minor territorial gains and also that Russia has received significant military support supplies from Iran, from North Korea and have been able to ramp up their own production.”
Ukraine’s allies have been focused on a $61 billion U.S. military aid package, but while that remains stalled in the House of Representatives, other countries, including Sweden, Canada, and Japan, have stepped up their aid.
“Of course, we are focused on the United States, but we also see how other allies are really stepping up and delivering significant support to Ukraine,” Stoltenberg said in the interview.
On the question of when Ukraine will be able to deploy F-16 fighter jets, Stoltenberg said it was not possible to say. He reiterated that Ukraine’s allies all want them to be there as early as possible but said the effect of the F-16s will be stronger if pilots are well trained and maintenance crews and other support personnel are well-prepared.
“So, I think we have to listen to the military experts exactly when we will be ready to or when allies will be ready to start sending and to delivering the F-16s,” he said. “The sooner the better.”
Ukraine has actively sought U.S.-made F-16 fighter jets to help it counter Russian air superiority. The United States in August approved sending F-16s to Ukraine from Denmark and the Netherlands as soon as pilot training is completed.
It will be up to each ally to decide whether to deliver F-16s to Ukraine, and allies have different policies, Stoltenberg said. But at the same time the war in Ukraine is a war of aggression, and Ukraine has the right to self-defense, including striking legitimate Russian military targets outside Ukraine.
Asked about the prospect of former President Donald Trump returning to the White House, Stoltenberg said that regardless of the outcome of the U.S. elections this year, the United States will remain a committed NATO ally because it is in the security interest of the United States.
Trump, the current front-runner in the race to become the Republican Party’s presidential nominee, drew sharp rebukes from President Joe Biden, European leaders, and NATO after suggesting at a campaign rally on February 10 that the United States might not defend alliance members from a potential Russian invasion if they don’t pay enough toward their own defense.
Stoltenberg said the United States was safer and stronger together with more than 30 allies — something that neither China nor Russia has.
The criticism of NATO has been aimed at allies underspending on defense, he said.
But Stoltenberg said new data shows that more and more NATO allies are meeting the target of spending 2 percent of GDP on defense, and this demonstrates that the alliance has come a long way since it pledged in 2014 to meet the target.
At that time three members of NATO spent 2 percent of GDP on defense. Now it’s 18, he said.
“If you add together what all European allies do and compare that to the GDP in total in Europe, it’s actually 2 percent today,” he said. “That’s good, but it’s not enough because we want [each NATO member] to spend 2 percent. And we also make sure that 2 percent is a minimum.”
This content originally appeared on News – Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty and was authored by News – Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty.This post was originally published on Radio Free.
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This content originally appeared on Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and was authored by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.This post was originally published on Radio Free.
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NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg says NATO allies are committed to doing more to ensure that Ukraine “prevails” in its battle to repel invading Russian forces, with the alliance having “significantly changed” its stance on providing more advanced weapons to Kyiv.
Speaking in an interview with RFE/RL to mark the second anniversary of Russia launching its full-scale invasion of its neighbor, the NATO chief said solidarity with Ukraine was not only correct, it’s also “in our own security interests.”
“We can expect that the NATO allies will do more to ensure that Ukraine prevails, because this has been so clearly stated by NATO allies,” Stoltenberg said.
Live Briefing: Russia’s Invasion Of Ukraine
RFE/RL’s Live Briefing gives you all of the latest developments on Russia’s full-scale invasion, Kyiv’s counteroffensive, Western military aid, global reaction, and the plight of civilians. For all of RFE/RL’s coverage of the war in Ukraine, click here.
“I always stress that this is not charity. This is an investment in our own security and and that our support makes a difference on the battlefield every day,” he added.
Ukraine is in desperate need of financial and military assistance amid signs of political fatigue in the West as the war kicked off by Russia’s unprovoked invasion nears the two-year mark on February 24.
In excerpts from the interview released earlier in the week, Stoltenberg said the death of Russian opposition leader Aleksei Navalny and the first Russian gains on the battlefield in months should help focus the attention of NATO and its allies on the urgent need to support Ukraine.
The death of Navalny in an Arctic prison on February 16 under suspicious circumstances — authorities say it will be another two weeks before the body may be released to the family — adds to the need to ensure Russian President Vladimir Putin’s authoritarian rule does not go unchecked.
“I strongly believe that the best way to honor the memory of Aleksei Navalny is to ensure that President Putin doesn’t win on the battlefield, but that Ukraine prevails,” Stoltenberg said.
Stoltenberg said the withdrawal of Ukrainian forces from the city of Avdiyivka last week after months of intense fighting demonstrated the need for more military aid, “to ensure that Russia doesn’t make further gains.”
“We don’t believe that the fact that the Ukrainian forces have withdrawn from Avdiyivka in in itself will significantly change the strategic situation,” he said.
“But it reminds us of that Russia is willing to sacrifice a lot of soldiers. It also just makes minor territorial gains and also that Russia has received significant military support supplies from Iran, from North Korea and have been able to ramp up their own production.”
Ukraine’s allies have been focused on a $61 billion U.S. military aid package, but while that remains stalled in the House of Representatives, other countries, including Sweden, Canada, and Japan, have stepped up their aid.
“Of course, we are focused on the United States, but we also see how other allies are really stepping up and delivering significant support to Ukraine,” Stoltenberg said in the interview.
On the question of when Ukraine will be able to deploy F-16 fighter jets, Stoltenberg said it was not possible to say. He reiterated that Ukraine’s allies all want them to be there as early as possible but said the effect of the F-16s will be stronger if pilots are well trained and maintenance crews and other support personnel are well-prepared.
“So, I think we have to listen to the military experts exactly when we will be ready to or when allies will be ready to start sending and to delivering the F-16s,” he said. “The sooner the better.”
Ukraine has actively sought U.S.-made F-16 fighter jets to help it counter Russian air superiority. The United States in August approved sending F-16s to Ukraine from Denmark and the Netherlands as soon as pilot training is completed.
It will be up to each ally to decide whether to deliver F-16s to Ukraine, and allies have different policies, Stoltenberg said. But at the same time the war in Ukraine is a war of aggression, and Ukraine has the right to self-defense, including striking legitimate Russian military targets outside Ukraine.
Asked about the prospect of former President Donald Trump returning to the White House, Stoltenberg said that regardless of the outcome of the U.S. elections this year, the United States will remain a committed NATO ally because it is in the security interest of the United States.
Trump, the current front-runner in the race to become the Republican Party’s presidential nominee, drew sharp rebukes from President Joe Biden, European leaders, and NATO after suggesting at a campaign rally on February 10 that the United States might not defend alliance members from a potential Russian invasion if they don’t pay enough toward their own defense.
Stoltenberg said the United States was safer and stronger together with more than 30 allies — something that neither China nor Russia has.
The criticism of NATO has been aimed at allies underspending on defense, he said.
But Stoltenberg said new data shows that more and more NATO allies are meeting the target of spending 2 percent of GDP on defense, and this demonstrates that the alliance has come a long way since it pledged in 2014 to meet the target.
At that time three members of NATO spent 2 percent of GDP on defense. Now it’s 18, he said.
“If you add together what all European allies do and compare that to the GDP in total in Europe, it’s actually 2 percent today,” he said. “That’s good, but it’s not enough because we want [each NATO member] to spend 2 percent. And we also make sure that 2 percent is a minimum.”
This content originally appeared on News – Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty and was authored by News – Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty.This post was originally published on Radio Free.
-
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg says NATO allies are committed to doing more to ensure that Ukraine “prevails” in its battle to repel invading Russian forces, with the alliance having “significantly changed” its stance on providing more advanced weapons to Kyiv.
Speaking in an interview with RFE/RL to mark the second anniversary of Russia launching its full-scale invasion of its neighbor, the NATO chief said solidarity with Ukraine was not only correct, it’s also “in our own security interests.”
“We can expect that the NATO allies will do more to ensure that Ukraine prevails, because this has been so clearly stated by NATO allies,” Stoltenberg said.
Live Briefing: Russia’s Invasion Of Ukraine
RFE/RL’s Live Briefing gives you all of the latest developments on Russia’s full-scale invasion, Kyiv’s counteroffensive, Western military aid, global reaction, and the plight of civilians. For all of RFE/RL’s coverage of the war in Ukraine, click here.
“I always stress that this is not charity. This is an investment in our own security and and that our support makes a difference on the battlefield every day,” he added.
Ukraine is in desperate need of financial and military assistance amid signs of political fatigue in the West as the war kicked off by Russia’s unprovoked invasion nears the two-year mark on February 24.
In excerpts from the interview released earlier in the week, Stoltenberg said the death of Russian opposition leader Aleksei Navalny and the first Russian gains on the battlefield in months should help focus the attention of NATO and its allies on the urgent need to support Ukraine.
The death of Navalny in an Arctic prison on February 16 under suspicious circumstances — authorities say it will be another two weeks before the body may be released to the family — adds to the need to ensure Russian President Vladimir Putin’s authoritarian rule does not go unchecked.
“I strongly believe that the best way to honor the memory of Aleksei Navalny is to ensure that President Putin doesn’t win on the battlefield, but that Ukraine prevails,” Stoltenberg said.
Stoltenberg said the withdrawal of Ukrainian forces from the city of Avdiyivka last week after months of intense fighting demonstrated the need for more military aid, “to ensure that Russia doesn’t make further gains.”
“We don’t believe that the fact that the Ukrainian forces have withdrawn from Avdiyivka in in itself will significantly change the strategic situation,” he said.
“But it reminds us of that Russia is willing to sacrifice a lot of soldiers. It also just makes minor territorial gains and also that Russia has received significant military support supplies from Iran, from North Korea and have been able to ramp up their own production.”
Ukraine’s allies have been focused on a $61 billion U.S. military aid package, but while that remains stalled in the House of Representatives, other countries, including Sweden, Canada, and Japan, have stepped up their aid.
“Of course, we are focused on the United States, but we also see how other allies are really stepping up and delivering significant support to Ukraine,” Stoltenberg said in the interview.
On the question of when Ukraine will be able to deploy F-16 fighter jets, Stoltenberg said it was not possible to say. He reiterated that Ukraine’s allies all want them to be there as early as possible but said the effect of the F-16s will be stronger if pilots are well trained and maintenance crews and other support personnel are well-prepared.
“So, I think we have to listen to the military experts exactly when we will be ready to or when allies will be ready to start sending and to delivering the F-16s,” he said. “The sooner the better.”
Ukraine has actively sought U.S.-made F-16 fighter jets to help it counter Russian air superiority. The United States in August approved sending F-16s to Ukraine from Denmark and the Netherlands as soon as pilot training is completed.
It will be up to each ally to decide whether to deliver F-16s to Ukraine, and allies have different policies, Stoltenberg said. But at the same time the war in Ukraine is a war of aggression, and Ukraine has the right to self-defense, including striking legitimate Russian military targets outside Ukraine.
Asked about the prospect of former President Donald Trump returning to the White House, Stoltenberg said that regardless of the outcome of the U.S. elections this year, the United States will remain a committed NATO ally because it is in the security interest of the United States.
Trump, the current front-runner in the race to become the Republican Party’s presidential nominee, drew sharp rebukes from President Joe Biden, European leaders, and NATO after suggesting at a campaign rally on February 10 that the United States might not defend alliance members from a potential Russian invasion if they don’t pay enough toward their own defense.
Stoltenberg said the United States was safer and stronger together with more than 30 allies — something that neither China nor Russia has.
The criticism of NATO has been aimed at allies underspending on defense, he said.
But Stoltenberg said new data shows that more and more NATO allies are meeting the target of spending 2 percent of GDP on defense, and this demonstrates that the alliance has come a long way since it pledged in 2014 to meet the target.
At that time three members of NATO spent 2 percent of GDP on defense. Now it’s 18, he said.
“If you add together what all European allies do and compare that to the GDP in total in Europe, it’s actually 2 percent today,” he said. “That’s good, but it’s not enough because we want [each NATO member] to spend 2 percent. And we also make sure that 2 percent is a minimum.”
This content originally appeared on News – Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty and was authored by News – Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty.This post was originally published on Radio Free.
-
This content originally appeared on Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and was authored by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.This post was originally published on Radio Free.