УКРОПИ

G7 urges Russia to accept ceasefire or face further sanctions

CHARLEVOIX, QUEBEC, CANADA — Top diplomats from the Group of Seven leading democracies urged Russia on Friday to accept a U.S.-proposed ceasefire in the Russia-Ukraine war or face the possibility of additional sanctions.
“We called for Russia to reciprocate by agreeing to a ceasefire on equal terms and implementing it fully,” the diplomats said in a joint statement from the site of their talks talks in Canada. “We discussed imposing further costs on Russia in case such a ceasefire is not agreed, including through further sanctions, caps on oil prices, as well as additional support for Ukraine, and other means.”
The statement said the G7 countries affirmed their “unwavering support for Ukraine in defending its territorial integrity and right to exist, and its freedom, sovereignty and independence.”
The statement comes as the Kremlin said that much remains to be done on a Ukraine ceasefire deal, signaling its reluctance to fully endorse the U.S. proposal.
The White House said U.S. President Donald Trump’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff, spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday.
On Friday, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters that U.S. officials would convene this weekend after Witkoff returns to Washington to closely examine Russia’s position and determine the next steps.
“Suffice to say, I think there is reason to be cautiously optimistic. But by the same token, we continue to recognize a difficult and complex situation,” Rubio told reporters following his meetings with counterparts.
On Friday, Canadian Foreign Minister Malie Joly said, “All G7 foreign ministers agree with the U.S. proposal of a ceasefire that is supported by Ukrainians,” and the focus now is on Russia’s response.
She added, “The ball is now in Russia’s court when it comes to Ukraine.”
British foreign minister David Lammy echoed this sentiment during interviews with the media, saying, “there is unity that now is the time for a ceasefire with no conditions. Ukraine has set their position out. It is now for Russia to accept it.”
Lammy also noted that a “coalition of the willing” is forming to provide Ukraine with the necessary “security architecture” and monitoring mechanisms to support the ceasefire.
The G7 joint statement comes as the Kremlin said that much remains to be done on a Ukraine ceasefire deal, signaling its reluctance to fully endorse the U.S. proposal.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said that Putin still awaits answers after raising several questions about the ceasefire’s implementation.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy dismissed Putin’s response as “deliberately” setting conditions that complicate and “drag out the process.”
“An unconditional 30-day interim ceasefire is the first crucial step that could bring us significantly closer to a just and lasting peace,” Zelenskyy wrote Wednesday in a post on the social media platform X.
The G7 talks in Charlevoix, Quebec, brought together ministers from Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States.
Position on China
Beyond Ukraine, G7 foreign ministers also discussed China’s role in global security, stability for the Indian and Pacific Ocean regions, and maritime security behind closed doors.
On Friday, G7 foreign ministers held a session focused on strategic challenges posed by China, North Korea, Iran and Russia. Many foreign policy analysts and military officials refer to these four nations as the “Axis of Upheaval,” describing their growing anti-Western collaboration.
The G7 joint statement said the group remains “concerned with China’s military build-up and the continued, rapid increase in China’s nuclear weapons arsenal.” They called on China “to engage in strategic risk reduction discussions and promote stability through transparency.”
The foreign ministers also reaffirmed their serious concerns over the situations in the East and South China Seas, strongly opposing any unilateral attempts to alter the status quo, particularly through force or coercion.
G7 members also emphasized the importance of peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait, reiterating their opposition to any unilateral attempts to change the status quo by force or coercion.
On Friday, Secretary of State Rubio told VOA during a press gaggle that he believes leaders from the U.S. and China will meet at some point.
“Whether they agree on things or not, they should communicate for the safety and well-being of the world,” Rubio said after wrapping up meetings with G7 foreign ministers.
A potential ceasefire in the Russia-Ukraine war could affect the U.S. presence in the Indo-Pacific, as officials and analysts suggest that ending the conflict would allow Washington to redirect resources toward addressing challenges in the region.
“I don’t think an endless, ongoing conflict in Europe or in Ukraine is good for the Indo-Pacific region. It diverts a lot of the world’s attention, time and resources away from areas where we continue to see growing threats,” Rubio told VOA earlier this week during a briefing aboard a military plane.
“In many ways, we could be spending even more time focused on the Indo-Pacific if somehow we could bring peace to the European continent,” the top U.S. diplomat noted.
…

Kremlin: Reasons to be optimistic about ceasefire deal

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Friday there are reasons for “cautious optimism” regarding a proposed ceasefire deal between Ukraine and Russia, following talks between a U.S. envoy and Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow.
Speaking to reporters in a telephone news briefing, Peskov referenced comments from Putin on Thursday in which he expressed qualified support for a U.S. ceasefire proposal to halt Russia’s war with Ukraine for 30 days but said some questions needed to be answered.
Peskov said that “while much remains to be done, Putin “expressed solidarity with [U.S. President Donald] Trump’s position.” He said Putin held late night talks Thursday with U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff, during which Putin “conveyed information and additional signals to President Trump.”
The Kremlin spokesperson said both sides agreed Putin and Trump should speak, adding that the timing of the conversation will be agreed upon once Witkoff has conveyed the new information to Trump.
In his nightly address to his nation Thursday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that Putin’s comments were “very manipulative” and that he thought Putin’s qualified support for the U.S. plan was an effort to lay the groundwork for rejecting it.
“He is in fact preparing a rejection at present, because Putin is, of course, scared to tell President Trump that he wants to continue this war, that he wants to kill Ukrainians,” Zelenskyy said. He noted Ukraine had accept the U.S. proposal and was ready to organize monitoring and verification.
“We are not setting conditions that complicate the process; Russia is,” Zelenskyy said.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said Friday that no discussions between Trump and Putin have been scheduled, but she said that could always change.
Referencing comments on the president’s Truth Social media account, Leavitt said Trump is pressuring the Russians to “do the right thing.” She called the talks in Moscow Thursday “a productive day for the United States of America and for the world in terms of peace.”
On Thursday at the White House, ahead of talks with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, Trump said it would be “very disappointing” if Russia ends up rejecting U.S. efforts to end the fighting.
Meanwhile, Britain’s Defense Ministry said Friday that Russia’s prioritization of funding its war with Ukraine has likely resulted in insufficient funding for average Russians’ health care, leading to shortages of medical staff and equipment.
In its defense intelligence report, the ministry said Russia reportedly closed at least 160 hospitals in 2024, including 18 maternity facilities and at least 10 children’s clinics. The report said Russia’s small towns and villages have been particularly affected.
The Defense Ministry said the 500,000 casualties Russia has sustained in the Ukraine war most certainly continue to put a strain on all levels of care in the Russian military medical system.
…

Putin says Ukrainians must ‘surrender or die’

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday that Russia had trapped the remaining Ukrainian soldiers in its western Kursk region, where they have held on for more than seven months in one of the most important battles of the war.
Putin told reporters in Moscow that the situation in Kursk was “completely under our control, and the group that invaded our territory is in isolation,” according to Reuters.
Ukraine launched a surprise incursion into Kursk last August to divert Russian forces away from the front lines and grab land to trade for its own occupied territory. Ukraine’s top commander denied this week that his men were being encircled.
Putin on Wednesday made a surprise visit to troops in Russia’s western Kursk region Wednesday, ordering soldiers to swiftly retake the region from Ukrainian forces.
“If a physical blockade occurs in the coming days, then no one will be able to leave at all, there will be only two ways — to surrender or die,” Putin said at the Thursday press conference, according to Reuters.
At the press conference, Putin also offered his qualified support for a U.S. ceasefire plan.
Putin’s comments came after Russian aerial attacks overnight killed at least two people in the southern Ukrainian region of Kherson, officials said Thursday.
Kherson Governor Oleksandr Prokudin said on Telegram that his region came under attack by Russian drones and shelling, and that one other person was injured.
In the neighboring Dnipropetrovsk region, Governor Serhiy Lysak said at least three people were hospitalized after a Russian attack hit the city of Dnipro.
Lysak said on Telegram the attack damaged multiple apartment buildings, including blowing out windows.
Officials in the Sumy region reported Thursday that Russian drones fell on a set of garages, setting about 20 of them on fire.
Ukraine’s military said Thursday it shot down 74 of the 117 drones that Russian forces launched overnight.
The intercepts took place over the Chernihiv, Dnipropetrovsk, Kharkiv, Khmelnytskyi, Kyiv, Mykolaiv, Odesa, Poltava, Sumy, Vinnytsia and Zaporizhzhia regions, the military said.
Russia’s Defense Ministry said it shot down 77 Ukrainian drones, most of them in regions located along the Russia-Ukraine border.
Vladislav Shapsha, governor of the Kaluga region, said the attacks injured one person and damaged an industrial building, a communication tower and a power line.
The Russia military said it destroyed 30 of the drones over Bryansk, while officials in the region reported no damage or casualties.
Russian air defense also shot down drones over Kursk, Voronezh, Rostov and Belgorod, the military said.
The daily aerial attacks continue amid a U.S. push to secure a cease-fire in the conflict. The U.S. has proposed a 30-day halt in fighting, which Ukraine has said it would accept.
U.S. officials are expected to discuss the plan with Russian officials in the coming days.
Some information for this report was provided by Agence France-Presse and Reuters.
…

Ukraine peace, global security top G7 agenda as diplomats convene in Canada

CHARLEVOIX, QUEBEC — Top diplomats from the Group of Seven leading industrial nations gathered Thursday in Charlevoix, Quebec, as host country Canada outlined its top agenda, focusing on achieving a “just and lasting peace in Ukraine” and strengthening security and defense partnerships as the G7 marks 50 years.
During the opening remarks, Canadian Foreign Minister Melanie Joly said, “Peace and stability is on the top of our agenda, and I look forward to discussing how we can continue to support Ukraine in the face of Russia’s illegal aggression.”
Joly also emphasized the importance of addressing maritime security challenges, citing threats such as “growing the use of growing shadow fleets, dark vessels” and “sabotage of critical undersea infrastructure.”
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said he hopes a ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine could take place within days if the Kremlin agrees. He also plans to urge G7 foreign ministers to focus on ending the Russia-Ukraine war.
The G7 talks in Quebec follow U.S.-Ukraine talks in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, where Ukraine said it is ready to accept a U.S. proposal for “an immediate, interim 30-day ceasefire.”
“Ukraine is committed to moving quickly toward peace, and we are prepared to do our part in creating all of the conditions for a reliable, durable, and decent peace,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy wrote Wednesday in a post on social media platform X.

He added that “Ukraine was ready for an air and sea ceasefire,” and “welcomed” the U.S. proposal to extend it to land.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said Thursday that Russia supports the U.S. ceasefire proposal in principle, but key details still need to be worked out.
“Ceasefire, they can’t be coming with conditions, because all these conditions just blur the picture. Either you want to end this war, or you don’t want to end this war, so we need to be very firm,” said European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas during an interview with CNN International.
“What we need to keep in mind is that Russia has invested, like over 9% of its GDP on the military, so they would want to use it,” Kallas said, adding the European nations “are massively increasing” their “defense investments.”
The G7 talks bring together ministers from Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States. 
Rubio has underscored the need for monitors if a ceasefire is implemented. He told reporters on Wednesday that “one of the things we’ll have to determine is who do both sides trust to be on the ground to sort of monitor some of the small arms fire and exchanges that could happen.”
Beyond Ukraine, G7 foreign ministers also discussed China’s role in global security, Indo-Pacific stability, and maritime security behind closed doors.
Rubio is expected to have a pull-aside meeting with Japanese Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya on Thursday.
…

Asteroid probe snaps rare images of Martian moon

PARIS — On the way to investigate the scene of a historic asteroid collision, a European spacecraft swung by Mars and captured rare images of the red planet’s mysterious small moon Deimos, the European Space Agency said Thursday.
Europe’s HERA mission is aiming to find out how much of an impact a NASA spacecraft made when it deliberately smashed into an asteroid in 2022 in the first test of our planetary defenses.
But HERA will not reach the asteroid — which is 11 million kilometers from Earth in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter — until late 2026.
On the long voyage there, the spacecraft swung around Mars on Wednesday.
The spacecraft used the planet’s gravity to get a “kick” that also changed its direction and saved fuel, mission analyst Pablo Munoz told a press conference.
For an hour, HERA flew as close as 5,600 kilometers from the Martian surface, at a speed of 33,480 kilometers an hour.
It used the opportunity to test some of its scientific instruments, snapping around 600 pictures, including rare ones of Deimos.
The lumpy, 12.5-kilometer-wide moon is the smaller and less well-known of the two moons of Mars.
Exactly how Deimos and the bigger Phobos were formed remains a matter of debate.
Some scientists believe they were once asteroids that were captured in the gravity of Mars, while others think they could have been shot from a massive impact on the surface.
The new images add “another piece of the puzzle” to efforts to determine their origin, Marcel Popescu of the Astronomical Institute of the Romanian Academy said.
There are hopes that data from HERA’s “HyperScout” and thermal infrared imagers — which observe colors beyond the limits of the human eye — will shed light on this mystery by discovering more about the moon’s composition.
Those infrared imagers are why the red planet appears blue in some of the photos.
Next, HERA will turn its focus back to the asteroid Dimorphos.
When NASA’s DART mission smashed into Dimorphos in 2022, it shortened the 160-meter-wide asteroid’s orbit around its big brother Didymos by 33 minutes.
Although Dimorphos itself posed no threat to Earth, HERA intends to discover whether this technique could be an effective way for Earth to defend itself against possibly existence-threatening asteroids in the future.
Space agencies have working to ramp up Earth’s planetary defenses, monitoring for potential threats so they can be dealt with as soon as possible.
Earlier this year, a newly discovered asteroid capable of destroying a city was briefly given a more than 3% chance of hitting Earth in 2032.
However further observations sent the chances of a direct hit back down to nearly zero.
Richard Moissl, head of the ESA’s planetary defense office, said that asteroid, 2024 YR, followed a pattern that will become more common.
As we get better at scanning the skies, “we will discover asteroids at a higher rate,” he said.
The ESA is developing a second planetary defense mission to observe the 350-metre-wide asteroid Apophis, which will fly just 32,000 kilometers from Earth on April 13, 2029.
If approved by the ESA’s ministerial council, the Ramses mission will launch in 2028, reaching the asteroid two months before it approaches Earth.
…

Belgium makes arrests in corruption probe linked to EU

BRUSSELS — Belgian federal prosecutors announced Thursday the arrests of several people as part of a corruption probe linked to the European Parliament amid reports in local media that Chinese company Huawei bribed EU lawmakers.
The arrests came as an investigation by Le Soir newspaper and other media said lobbyists working for the Chinese telecoms giant are suspected of bribing current or former European Parliament members to promote the company’s commercial policy in Europe.
About 100 federal police officers carried out 21 searches in Brussels, the Flanders and Wallonia regions, and Portugal, the federal prosecutor’s office said.
The suspects would be questioned over “alleged involvement in active corruption within the European Parliament, as well as for forgery and use of forgeries,” prosecutors said. “The offenses were allegedly committed by a criminal organization.”
Huawei public relations representatives in London did not respond to an emailed request for comment and could not be reached by phone.
The European Parliament said only that the assembly “takes note of the information” and “always cooperates fully with the judicial authorities.”
Huawei, which makes cellphones and is the biggest maker of networking gear for phone and internet carriers, has been caught in tensions between the United States and China over technology and trade.
Some European nations have followed Washington’s lead and banned Huawei’s equipment from next-generation mobile networks over allegations that it poses a security risk that could help facilitate Chinese spying. The company has repeatedly denied this.
European Commission spokesperson Thomas Regnier said the EU’s executive branch had no comment regarding the investigation, but underlined security concerns the commission has about Huawei and Europe’s fifth-generation mobile phone networks.
“The security of our 5G networks is obviously crucial for our economy,” Regnier told reporters. “Huawei represents materially higher risks than other 5G suppliers.”
EU member states should swiftly “adopt decisions to restrict or to exclude Huawei from their 5G networks,” Regnier said. “A lack of swift action would expose the EU as a whole to a clear risk.”
The federal prosecutor’s office, which did not name Huawei, said it believes there was corruption “from 2021 to the present day” in various forms, “such as remuneration for taking political positions or excessive gifts such as food and travel expenses or regular invitations to football matches.”
Prosecutors say payments might have been disguised as business expenses and in some cases may have been directed to third parties. They would also look to “detect any evidence of money laundering.”
Police seized several documents and objects during the searches. Staff at Huawei’s offices in Brussels declined to comment and turned the lights off inside to avoid photographs taken through the window.
According to Follow The Money, an investigative journalism platform, one of the main suspects in the probe is 41-year-old Valerio Ottati, a Belgian Italian lobbyist who joined Huawei in 2019.
Before becoming Huawei’s EU public affairs director, Ottati was an assistant to two Italian MEPs who were both members of a European Parliament group dealing with China policy, Follow the Money reported.
This is the second corruption case targeting the EU Parliament in less than three years. In December 2022, the legislature was shaken by a corruption scandal in which Qatari officials were accused of bribing EU officials to play down labor rights concerns ahead of the soccer World Cup.
…

Deadly Russian aerial attacks hit Ukraine’s Kherson region

Russian aerial attacks overnight killed at least two people in the southern Ukrainian region of Kherson, officials said Thursday.
Kherson Governor Oleksandr Prokudin said on Telegram his region came under attack by Russian drones and shelling, and that one other person was injured.
In the neighboring Dnipropetrovsk region, Governor Serhiy Lysak said at least three people were hospitalized after a Russian attack hit the city of Dnipro.
Lysak said on Telegram the attack damaged multiple apartment buildings, including blowing out windows.
Officials in the Sumy region reported Thursday that Russian drones fell on a set of garages, setting about 20 of them on fire.
Ukraine’s military said Thursday it shot down 74 of the 117 drones that Russian forces launched overnight.
The intercepts took place over the Chernihiv, Dnipropetrovsk, Kharkiv, Khmelnytskyi, Kyiv, Mykolaiv, Odesa, Poltava, Sumy, Vinnytsia and Zaporizhzhia regions, the military said.
Russia’s Defense Ministry said it shot down 77 Ukrainian drones, most of them in regions located along the Russia-Ukraine border.
Vladislav Shapsha, governor of the Kaluga region, said the attacks injured one person and damaged an industrial building, a communication tower and a power line.
The Russia military said it destroyed 30 of the drones over Bryansk, while officials in the region reported no damage or casualties.
Russian air defense also shot down drones over Kursk, Voronezh, Rostov and Belgorod, the military said.
The daily aerial attacks continue amid a U.S. push to secure a cease-fire in the conflict. The U.S. has proposed a 30-day halt in fighting, which Ukraine has said it would accept.
U.S. officials are expected to discuss the plan with Russian officials in the coming days.
The latest fighting came as Russian President Vladimir Putin made a surprise visit to troops in Russia’s western Kursk region Wednesday, ordering soldiers to swiftly retake the region from Ukrainian forces.
Dressed in military fatigues, Putin told the troops he was considering setting up a new buffer zone inside Ukraine’s Sumy region, adjacent to Kursk, to prevent any future Ukrainian incursions.
“Our task in the near future, in the shortest possible timeframe, is to decisively defeat the enemy entrenched in the Kursk region and still fighting here, to completely liberate the territory of the Kursk region, and to restore the situation along the line of the state border,” Putin said. “And of course, we need to think about creating a security zone along the state border.”
Some information for this report was provided by Agence France-Presse and Reuters.
…

Archaeologists find million-year-old fossil of a human ancestor

WASHINGTON — A fossil of a partial face from a human ancestor is the oldest in western Europe, archaeologists reported Wednesday.
The incomplete skull — a section of the left cheek bone and upper jaw – was found in northern Spain in 2022. The fossil is between 1.1 million and 1.4 million years old, according to research published in the journal Nature.
“The fossil is exciting,” said Eric Delson, a paleontologist at the American Museum of Natural History, who was not involved in the study. “It’s the first time we have significant remains older than 1 million years old in western Europe.”
A collection of older fossils from early human ancestors was previously found in Georgia, near the crossroads of eastern Europe and Asia. Those are estimated to be 1.8 million years old.
The Spanish fossil is the first evidence that clearly shows human ancestors “were taking excursions into Europe” at that time, said Rick Potts, director of the Smithsonian’s Human Origins Program.
But there is not yet evidence that the earliest arrivals persisted there long, he said. “They may get to a new location and then die out,” said Potts, who had no role in the study.
The partial skull bears many similarities to Homo erectus, but there are also some anatomical differences, said study co-author Rosa Huguet, an archaeologist at the Catalan Institute of Human Paleoecology and Social Evolution in Tarragona, Spain.
Homo erectus arose around 2 million years ago and moved from Africa to regions of Asia and Europe, with the last individuals dying out around 100,000 years ago, said Potts.
It can be challenging to identify which group of early humans a fossil find belongs to if there’s only a single fragment versus many bones that show a range of features, said University of Zurich paleoanthropologist Christoph Zollikofer, who was not involved in the study.
The same cave complex in Spain’s Atapuerca Mountains where the new fossil was found also previously yielded other significant clues to the ancient human past. Researchers working in the region have also found more recent fossils from Neanderthals and early Homo sapiens.
…

VOA Uzbek: EU boosts its Central Asia strategy

As the U.S. seeks to strengthen ties with resource-rich Central Asia, the European Union is also reaching out to the region. Having adopted a new strategy for Central Asia in 2019, the bloc appears to be making renewed efforts to implement it. EU Commissioner for External Relations Jozef Sikela has begun a tour of the region ahead of an EU-Central Asia summit in Uzbekistan in April.
Click here for the full story in Uzbek.
…