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Video published by Ukraine purports to show North Korean soldiers in Russia

kyiv, ukraine — A video purporting to show dozens of North Korean recruits lining up to collect Russian military fatigues and gear aims to intimidate Ukrainian forces and marks a new chapter in the 2 1/2-year war with the introduction of another country into the battlefield, Ukrainian officials said. 

The video, which was obtained by Ukraine’s Center for Strategic Communications and Information Security, which operates under the Culture and Information Ministry, is said to show North Korean soldiers standing in line to pick up bags, clothes and other apparel from Russian servicemen. The Associated Press could not verify the video independently. 

“We received this video from our own sources. We cannot provide additional verification from the sources who provided it to us due to security concerns,” said Ihor Solovey, head of the center. 

“The video clearly shows North Korean citizens being given Russian uniforms under the direction of the Russian military,” he said. “For Ukraine, this video is important because it is the first video evidence that shows North Korea participating in the war on the side of Russia. Now not only with weapons and shells but also with personnel.” 

The center claims the footage was shot by a Russian soldier in recent days. The location is unknown. 

It comes after the head of Ukrainian military intelligence, Kyrylo Budanov, said in local media reports that about 11,000 North Korean infantrymen were currently training in eastern Russia. He predicted they would be ready to join the fighting by November. At least 2,600 would be sent to Russia’s Kursk region, where Ukraine launched an incursion in August, he was quoted as saying. 

“The emergence of any number of new soldiers is a problem because we will simply need new, additional weapons to destroy them all,” Solovey told AP. “The dissemination of this video is important as a signal to the world community that with two countries officially at war against Ukraine, we will need more support to repel this aggression.” 

The presence of North Korean soldiers in Ukraine, if true, would be another proof of intensified military ties between Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. Last summer, they signed a strategic partnership treaty that commits both countries to provide military assistance. North Korean weapons have already been used in the Ukraine war. 
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North Korean troops in Ukraine would be escalation, France warns

KYIV, UKRAINE — The involvement of North Korean regular troops to support Russia’s invasion of Ukraine would be a serious escalation of the war, France and Ukraine’s foreign ministers said at a joint press conference in Kyiv on Saturday.

France’s Jean-Noel Barrot, who was making his first trip to Ukraine since becoming foreign minister in September, is also set to visit the east of the country, where France will finance new two new centers for the protection of children affected by the war, on Sunday.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy accused North Korea on Thursday of deploying officers alongside Russia and of preparing to send 10,000 soldiers to help Moscow’s war effort, although NATO chief Mark Rutte said there was no evidence of Pyongyang’s presence at this stage.

“It would be serious and push the conflict into a new stage, an additional escalatory stage,” Barrot said in Kyiv, adding that such a move would signal that Moscow was struggling in the war.

His Ukrainian counterpart, Andrii Sybiha, said the risk of escalation from the move was “huge.”

“This is a huge threat of further escalation of Russian aggression against Ukraine. There is a big risk of it growing out of its current scale and borders,” he said.

Earlier this week, Zelenskyy presented his victory plan, which he said would enable Ukraine to end the war no later than next year. The first step of this plan was unconditional NATO membership for Ukraine.

France’s foreign minister said that Paris was open to the idea of an immediate invitation for Ukraine to join NATO, but that talks would continue on the subject with allies.

“Regarding the invitation for Ukraine to join NATO, we are open to it and it’s a discussion that we are having with our partners,” Barrot said.
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Court halts Italy’s contested migrant centers in Albania

ROME — Human rights groups and some analysts call Italy’s opening this week of migrant processing centers in Albania controversial and illegal. The Italian government is now appealing a court ruling against its flagship project to move migrant facilities offshore.

Italy’s right-wing prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, hailed her country’s deal — signed in November 2023 but enacted this week — with neighboring Albania to process migrant asylum claims there as “courageous,” in remarks this week to Parliament.

Under the five-year deal, up to 3,000 migrants rescued by the Italian coast guard in international waters each month will be transferred to Albania. An initial screening occurs on the ships before the migrants are sent to Albania for further screening.

“Italy has set a good example by signing the Italy-Albania protocol to process a final phase on Albanian territory but under Italian and European jurisdiction,” Meloni said.

Meloni’s government argues that diverting asylum seekers to migrant centers it set up under the agreement in Albania will help fight human trafficking and permit those with a genuine right entry to the European Union.

A special immigration court in Rome ruled on Friday that it was unlawful for the government to send this first batch of 12 Egyptian and Bangladeshi migrants to Albania for processing. The court said they had to be returned to Italy because their countries of origin could not be considered safe if they were repatriated.

Kelly Petillo of the European Council on Foreign Relations told VOA there was political dissension over the controversial issue.

“There is a different push-and-pull factor in domestic legislation, and I expect the same in other countries that will look to implement these agreements,” Petillo said. “After all the political and financial investment that went into implementing this scheme, the result is that the migrants have been returned. So, I have major doubts that the implementation will be successful in any way.

“All these countries are watching and, so far, they cannot see good results.”

Petillo also referred to Britain backing away from its controversial and expensive plan to send asylum seekers to Rwanda as ultimately unworkable. Italy’s center-left opposition quickly called for an end to the Albania plan, saying the court ruling proves its illegality.

Meloni’s government is undaunted, though, and plans to appeal. She called the court decision “prejudiced,” suggesting she would draft new rules to rectify the issue.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen earlier said the EU could “draw lessons” from Italy’s new migrant processing centers in Albania.

Meeting in Brussels Thursday, many EU leaders agreed to enact urgent and stricter laws to curb irregular migration and speed up migrant returns. They fear the extreme right in Europe is using the contentious migrant issue to gain political ground in elections and see outsourcing the problem as one solution.

However, activists and analysts question the traditional EU values and the legality of such mechanisms.

Elisa DePieri of Amnesty International told VOA that the Italy-Albania plan forces refugees and migrants to face longer sea journeys to Albania, where they face potentially prolonged detention and may experience an end to their right to seek asylum.

“We are very concerned that the whole system rests on automatic detention from the very beginning,” she said. “Automatic detention is arbitrary and unlawful under international law. The default position is for the respect of the right of liberty for the individual and any exception should be validated by a judge on the basis of an individual assessment.”

Davide Colombi, a researcher at the Brussels-based Center for European Policy Studies, speaking to Euronews, pointed to additional legal hurdles.

“This is extremely problematic,” he said. “The right to asylum is a fundamental right that cannot be suspended even in times of legally declared crisis. It is protected under EU law, under international law, which shows that this not a migration issue alone, but it is a broader rule-of-law issue.”
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King’s visit rekindles Australia’s debate on ending ties to the British monarchy

MELBOURNE, Australia — King Charles III and Queen Camilla arrived in Sydney on Friday for the first Australian visit by a reigning monarch in more than a decade, a trip that has rekindled debate about the nation’s constitutional links to Britain.

The Sydney Opera House’s iconic sails were illuminated with images of previous royal visits to welcome the couple, whose six-day trip will be brief by royal standards. Charles, 75, is being treated for cancer, which led to the scaled-down itinerary.

Charles and Camilla were welcomed in light rain at Sydney Airport by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, New South Wales state Premier Chris Minns and the king’s representative in Australia, Governor-General Sam Mostyln.

Charles is only the second reigning British monarch to visit Australia. His mother, Queen Elizabeth II, became the first 70 years ago.

While the welcome has been warm, Australia’s national and state leaders want the royals removed from their constitution.

Monarchists expect the visit will strengthen Australians’ connection to their sovereign. Opponents hope for a rejection of the concept that someone from the other side of the world is Australia’s head of state.

The Australian Republic Movement, which campaigns for an Australian citizen to replace the British monarch as head of state, likens the royal visit to a touring act in the entertainment industry.

The ARM this week launched what it calls a campaign to “Wave Goodbye to Royal Reign with Monarchy: The Farewell Oz Tour!”

ARM co-chair Esther Anatolitis said royal visits to Australia were “something of a show that comes to town.”

“Unfortunately, it is a reminder that Australia’s head of state isn’t full-time, isn’t Australian. It’s a part-time person based overseas who’s the head of state of numerous places,” Anatolitis told the AP.

“We say to Charles and Camilla: ‘Welcome, we hope you’re enjoying our country and good health and good spirits.’ But we also look forward to this being the final tour of a sitting Australian monarch and that when they come back to visit soon, we look forward to welcoming them as visiting dignitaries,” she added.

Philip Benwell, national chair of the Australian Monarchist League, which campaigns for Australia’s constitutional links to Britain to be maintained, expects reaction to the royal couple will be overwhelmingly positive.

“Something like the royal visit brings the king closer in the minds of people, because we have an absent monarchy,” Benwell told the AP.

“The visit by the king brings it home that Australia is a constitutional monarchy and it has a king,” he added.

Benwell is critical of the premiers of all six states, who have declined invitations to attend a reception for Charles in the national capital, Canberra.

The premiers each explained that they had more pressing engagements on the day such as cabinet meetings and overseas travel.

“It would be virtually incumbent upon the premiers to be in Canberra to meet him and pay their respects,” Benwell said. “To not attend can be considered to be a snub, because this is not a normal visit. This is the first visit of a king ever to Australia.”

Charles was drawn into Australia’s republic debate months before his visit.

The Australian Republic Movement wrote to Charles in December last year requesting a meeting in Australia and for the king to advocate their cause. Buckingham Palace politely wrote back in March to say the king’s meetings would be decided upon by the Australian government. A meeting with the ARM does not appear on the official itinerary.

“Whether Australia becomes a republic is … a matter for the Australian public to decide,” said the letter from Buckingham Palace.

The Associated Press has seen copies of both letters.

Australians decided in a referendum in 1999 to retain Queen Elizabeth II as head of state. That result is widely regarded as a consequence of disagreement about how a president should be chosen rather than majority support for a monarch.

After visiting Sydney and Canberra, which are 250 kilometers, Charles will then travel to Samoa to open the annual Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting.

When his mother made the last of her 16 journeys to Australia in 2011 at the age of 85, she visited Canberra, Brisbane and Melbourne on the east coast before opening the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in the west coast city of Perth.

Elizabeth’s first grueling Australian tour at the age of 27 took in scores of far-flung Outback towns; an estimated 75% of the nation’s population turned out to see her.

Australia then had a racially discriminatory policy that favored British immigrants. Immigration policy has been non-discriminatory since 1973.

Anatolitis noted that Australia is far more multicultural now, with most of the population either born overseas or with a overseas-born parent.

“In the ’50s, we didn’t have that global interconnectedness that we have now,” she said. 
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G7 defense summit convenes as conflicts rage

NAPLES, ITALY — G7 defense ministers started talks on Saturday against a backdrop of escalation in the Middle East and mounting pressure on Ukraine as it faces another winter of fighting.

Italy, holding the rotating presidency of the Group of Seven countries, organized the body’s first ministerial meeting dedicated to defense, staged in Naples, the southern city that is also home to a NATO base.

Italian Defense Minister Guido Crosetto welcomed each of the attendees, including NATO chief Mark Rutte and the EU’s foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell.

“I believe that our presence today … sends a strong message to those who try to hinder our democratic systems,” Crosetto said as he opened the event.

“The brutal Russian aggressions in Ukraine and the indeed critical situation in the Middle East, combined with the profound instability of sub-Saharan Africa and the increasing tension in the Indo-Pacific region highlight a deteriorated security framework with forecasts for the near future that cannot be positive,” he said.

“Ample space” would be given to discussing the escalating Middle East conflict during the one-day summit, Crosetto said a day earlier in Brussels.

Also on the summit agenda is the war in Ukraine, development and security in Africa and the situation in the Asia-Pacific.

Middle East

The meeting comes two days after Israel announced it killed Hamas chief Yahya Sinwar, mastermind of the October 7, 2023, attacks on Israel that triggered the devastating retaliatory war in Gaza.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sinwar’s death in the Palestinian territory signaled “the beginning of the end” of the war against Hamas, while U.S. President Joe Biden said it opened the door to “a path to peace.”

Italy’s prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, was in Lebanon on Friday, where Israel is also at war with Hamas ally Hezbollah.

Speaking in Beirut, Meloni slammed attacks on U.N. peacekeepers in Lebanon as “unacceptable” after the U.N. force accused Israel of targeting their positions.

Italy has around 1,000 troops in the U.N. peacekeeping force in Lebanon, which has soldiers from more than 50 countries.

Ukraine

On Ukraine, the ministers will contemplate Kyiv entering a third winter at war, battlefield losses in the east — and the prospect of reduced U.S. military support should Donald Trump be elected to the White House next month.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, under mounting pressure from Western allies to forge a winning strategy against Russia, on Thursday presented what he called a victory plan to the European Union and NATO.

Its main thrust is a call for immediate NATO membership, deemed unfeasible by alliance members.

It also demands the ability to strike military targets inside Russia with long-range weapons, and an undefined “nonnuclear strategic deterrence package” on Ukrainian territory.

Under discussion will also likely be reports, based on South Korean intelligence, that North Korea is deploying large numbers of troops to support Moscow’s war against Ukraine.

NATO was not as yet able to confirm that intelligence, Rutte said on Friday.
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Russia, Ukraine each bring home 95 prisoners of war in swap brokered by UAE

Russia and Ukraine carried out a new exchange of prisoners of war on Friday, each side bringing home 95 prisoners in an agreement in which the United Arab Emirates acted as mediator.

Russia’s Defense Ministry, in a post on the Telegram messaging app, said the returning Russian service members were undergoing medical checks in Belarus, one of Russia’s closest allies in the more than 2-1/2-year-old war.

Video posted on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s Telegram account showed men, some wrapped in the blue and yellow Ukrainian flag, getting off a bus well after dark and being embraced by loved ones.

A Russian military video showed smiling soldiers boarding buses.

“Every time Ukraine rescues its people from Russian captivity, we get closer to the day when freedom will be returned to all who are in Russian captivity,” Zelenskyy wrote.

The president said the freed prisoners had served on various fronts, including some who had defended the port city of Mariupol for nearly three months in 2022.

Ukrainian news reports said the returnees included Ukrainian journalist and rights advocate Maksym Butkevych, convicted by a Russian court of shooting at Russian forces.

The body coordinating the affairs of prisoners of war said 48 of the returnees had been handed sentences by the Russian judicial system.

Dmytro Lubinets, the Ukrainian parliament’s commissioner for human rights, said the release was the 58th since the beginning of the war and brought to 3,767 the total number of prisoners returned home.

A private Russian group that says it looks after the interests of prisoners of war published a list of returnees and said most of them were captured in the Kursk region, where Ukrainian forces staged an incursion in August.

In his remarks, Zelenskyy again referred to soldiers in that operation who “replenish the exchange fund,” meaning the capture of Russian prisoners to be used as a bargaining chip in exchanges.

Ukrainian forces remain in Kursk, though Russia’s military says its forces have clawed back some of the captured territory.

A statement from the UAE’s Foreign Ministry, reported by state media, said it was the Gulf state’s ninth instance of mediation in the war. It described the exchange as “a reflection of the cooperative and friendly relations between the UAE and both countries.”

The last known prisoner swap — involving 103 prisoners from each side — took place in September. 
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Biden in Germany for quick visit focused on Middle East, Ukraine

US President Joe Biden met with European counterparts on Friday, in a brief trip to Germany where leaders discussed the war in Ukraine and the widening conflict in the Middle East. White House correspondent Anita Powell reports from Berlin.
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Days of torrential rain bring major flooding to central France

paris — France’s prime minister said Friday that firefighters and other rescuers have been involved in about 2,300 operations, some of them lifesaving, in what appears to be the biggest flooding in 40 years in central France.

Michel Barnier visited French authorities’ crisis center in Paris and said there hadn’t been such violent rain in many people’s memory. Over 1,000 people were evacuated. Most of them were able to go home Friday.

Barnier also praised an alert system, used for the first time, that sent text messages urging people in the concerned areas to delay or cancel their planned trips and stay in a safe place.

French weather agency Meteo France said as much as 700 millimeters (27.5 inches) of rain fell in in 48 hours in some local areas in the regions of Ardeche and Lozere.

National railway operator SNCF halted regional trains between the cities of Lyon and Saint-Etienne on Thursday, saying the tracks were impassable. Local train services will remain disrupted for several days, it said.

The massive floods caused serious damage and power outages Friday in parts of France’s mountainous southeast region. There were no immediate reports of casualties.

Several French news stations showed cars, cattle and traffic signs being swept away by the floods. The A47, a main highway near Lyon, was temporarily transformed into a giant stream of water and remained closed Friday.

Meteo France lifted its red alert for bad weather Friday morning but still warned of potential heavy rain and floods in southwestern France.

Some information for this story came from Reuters. 
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Ukraine media outlets, businesses targeted with false bomb threats

Emails threatening terror attacks led to the evacuation of hundreds of businesses, media outlets and foreign embassies in Ukraine this week.

Ukrainian national police searched dozens of properties targeted by the threat, including the Kyiv office of VOA sister network Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, according to reports. Police said the searches did not find evidence of explosives.

The country’s Foreign Ministry said that about 60 of its foreign diplomatic missions also received the threatening emails, leading some of them to suspend services.

The email, which appeared linked to an anti-Ukraine Telegram group, mentioned the names of three journalists with RFE/RL’s Schemes investigative news desk.

The journalists recently reported on how Russian intelligence recruits individuals to carry out arson attacks on vehicles belonging to military personnel or conscription center workers.

RFE/RL President Stephen Capus said the network is working with authorities in their investigations.

“We will not be intimidated and stand behind our reporters who will continue to bring news to Ukrainian audiences without fear or favor,” said Capus in a statement.

At least four other media outlets were targeted, including the Kyiv Independent, Ukrainska Pravda, Liga.net and the public broadcaster Suspilne.

The Kyiv Independent reported that the email it received claimed that explosives had been planted in their office, as well as at the RFE/RL office and the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv.

“I have planted several explosive devices in your building, and very soon it will explode,” the email read.

A police search of the Kyiv Independent found no evidence of explosives, the media outlet reported.

Police have examined more than 2,000 threatening messages, which they said appear to come from a Russian IP address. A criminal case has been opened for “knowingly false reports of threat to the safety of citizens.”

The messages are described as matching “the style of Russian intelligence services,” a police statement said, adding that Russia is “waging a hybrid war against Ukraine, trying to cause mass panic and exhaust the system of state and law enforcement agencies.”

The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists denounced the intimidation of RFE/RL’s reporters and called for an investigation.

“Ukrainian authorities must ensure the safety of the journalists and hold the perpetrators to account,” said Gulnoza Said, the CPJ Europe and Central Asia Program coordinator. “Journalists must be able to work safely, without fear of retaliation.”

According to RFE/RL Schemes, the group that claimed responsibility for the alleged planting of explosives has been using social media to spread messages that offer money in exchange for damaging Ukrainian military vehicles.

A spokesperson for the Security Service of Ukraine said Russia was trying to make it look like arson attacks are being carried out by Ukrainians instead of being instigated by Moscow.
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Acik Radyo falls silent as Turkish media regulator revokes license

ISTANBUL — With a farewell song of “Good Vibrations” by the Beach Boys, a Turkish radio station fell silent this week after nearly 30 years of broadcasts.

The final Acik Radyo broadcast on Wednesday came as a court upheld the Turkish media regulator’s order to revoke the Istanbul-based station’s license over the mention of “Armenian genocide” on air.

Following the court ruling on October 8, the Radio and Television Supreme Council, known as RTUK, informed Acik Radyo that it must stop broadcasting within five days.

The order to revoke the license silenced the independent radio station for the first time since it began terrestrial broadcasting in 1995.

“We are finishing now; thank you to all Acik Radyo listeners and supporters. Acik Radyo will remain open to all the sounds, colors and vibrations of the universe,” Omer Madra, the editor-in-chief, said on air before the last song played.

The license revocation is related to comments made on air by journalist Cengiz Aktar on April 24. Aktar said the day was “the 109th anniversary, the anniversary of the massacres of Armenians, that is, the deportations and massacres that took place in the Ottoman lands, the massacres that are termed genocide.”

“This year, the commemoration of the Armenian genocide was also banned, you know,” Aktar said.

In a statement to VOA’s Turkish Service, the RTUK said “the terms ‘genocide’ and ‘massacre’ were used for the 1915 Events, and the program moderator made no attempt to correct this.”

The term “1915 Events” is how Turkish officials usually refer to the killing of an estimated 1.5 million Armenians in the final years of the Ottoman Empire. Turkey denies the deaths constituted genocide, saying that the toll has been inflated and that those killed were victims of civil war and unrest.

April 24 is recognized as a commemoration day of the beginning of what many historians and countries, including the United States, Canada and France, recognize as the Armenian genocide.

Broadcasts cut

Turkey’s media regulator first imposed an administrative fine and five-day suspension on Acik Radyo in May over the guest’s statements.

RTUK said the broadcast violated the law by inciting public hatred and enmity by making distinctions “based on race, language, religion, gender, class, region and religious order.”

On July 3, the regulator moved to revoke the license, saying that Acik Radyo had failed to comply with the suspension.

In a statement, the radio station said that it had intended to comply and had paid the first installment of the administrative fine. It added that the failure to implement the suspension was a result of “technical inconvenience.”

An RTUK official told VOA that according to the law, if a media provider continues to broadcast after a suspension “the Supreme Council shall decide on revoking its broadcasting license.”

“As can be seen, the legislator did not grant the Supreme Board any discretion in this matter and made it mandatory to cancel the license in case the sanction is not applied,” the RTUK official told VOA.

Acik Radyo defended the guest’s statement as being in “the scope of freedom of expression.”

When Acik Radyo appealed the fine and suspension, a court in July ruled in the station’s favor.

But RTUK objected to the court ruling and, on October 8, the court ruled in favor of the regulator.

Umit Altas, Acik Radyo’s lawyer, called RTUK’s move “excessive intervention.”

“RTUK’s decision to revoke the license, which is the most severe penalty, is against all precedents. This has exceeded the proportionality criteria of both Turkey’s Constitutional Court and the European Court of Human Rights. License cancellation is the most severe decision. We think that it is not lawful to make such a decision,” Altas told VOA Turkish.

The station has appealed the most recent court decision, and its lawyer expects a verdict within a month.

Acik Radyo’s broadcast coordinator, Didem Gencturk, told VOA Turkish that the station is evaluating its options. She said that RTUK also requires internet broadcasters to obtain a license.

“We have the right to apply for different license forms as broadcasters. We hope to continue our broadcasts with one of these, even if not on a terrestrial [land-based] medium,” Gencturk said.

Supporters gather

On Wednesday evening, Acik Radyo’s listeners and supporters gathered in front of the outlet’s studios in Istanbul to show their solidarity.

Madra read a statement and called the license withdrawal “an attempt to silence the public voice.”

Madra added that the station is evaluating its options for continuing its broadcasts.

“There is no way that Acik Radyo will be silenced or be forgotten after the RTUK’s decision. Let me even say that we may be able to take [the license] back,” Madra told VOA Turkish.

Some of those who gathered outside the station had contributed to programming over the years.

“We are not giving in to despair. We will bring our broadcasts to our listeners and supporters as soon as possible,” said Yesim Burul, who produces “Sinefil,” a show on cinema, for Acik Radyo.

Murat Meric, who produces several music shows, called for solidarity and said he is preparing to continue his show.

Turkish actor Tulin Ozen told VOA Turkish she grew up with the station.

“I think the silencing of Acik Radyo is a shame for Turkey. I am here because I am against censorship in general. I am here because I am against being silenced,” Ozen said.

This story originated in VOA’s Turkish Service.
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Britain, China strike conciliatory note during top diplomat’s visit

BEIJING/LONDON — China and Britain took steps toward further reconciliation on Friday, with Beijing heralding the new Labour government’s plan to develop “pragmatic” bilateral ties as a “new starting point.”

British Foreign Secretary David Lammy is only the second top U.K. diplomat to visit China in six years, and his trip seeks to demonstrate that Britain is taking a strategic approach to building ties with Beijing, despite areas of sharp disagreement.

“China-Britain relations … now stand at a new starting point,” Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said during a meeting with his counterpart at Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing.

“Competition among major powers should not be the backdrop of this era.”

Lammy mentioned openings for “mutually beneficial cooperation” in areas such as climate, energy, science, trade and tech, while cautioning that Britain would “always put its national interests and national security first.”

Beijing and London should “show that countries such as ours with different histories and outlooks still find pragmatic solutions to complex challenges,” he said.

The Labour government, elected in July, wants to show it is serious about engaging with China, balancing a desire to cooperate on economic and global matters with challenging Beijing on issues like its support for Russia’s war in Ukraine.

Wang added that Beijing judged Labour’s new model for developing relations as “positive” because it “conforms to … the current needs of the bilateral relationship.”

Lammy will meet his Chinese counterpart Wang and Vice Premier Ding Xuexiang, who is responsible for science and technology, in Beijing on Friday, before traveling to Shanghai to meet British businesses operating in China on Saturday.

Speaking before the visit, Lammy said engagement with China was “necessary to support U.K. and global interests” and added that he hoped to raise Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the global green transition with his counterpart.

Lammy’s visit is not expected to yield major diplomatic agreements. Mao Ning, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson, said the talks would focus on improving cooperation in various fields.

Britain’s relations with China under the previous government were soured by clashes over human rights, Hong Kong and allegations of Chinese espionage.

Earlier this year, Britain said it was extremely concerned after Reuters reported Russia has established a weapons program in China to develop and produce long-range attack drones for use in the war against Ukraine.

Britain has made major shifts in its approach toward China in the past decade, moving from saying it wanted to be China’s greatest supporter in Europe to being one of its fiercest critics, and now again trying to improve relations under the new Labour government.

The Labour administration has commissioned an all-government audit of the U.K.-China relationship and has said it would be “clear-eyed” when it comes to China, given allegations of Chinese cyberhacking as well as espionage on British soil.

Meanwhile China faces worsening relations with the European Union over various trade defense measures, as well as fractious ties with the United States.

China is Britain’s sixth-largest trading partner, accounting for 5% of total trade, British government figures show.
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Biden hits Germany with lightning-quick visit focused on Middle East, Ukraine

Berlin — President Joe Biden made a lightning-fast, pomp-filled visit to Germany Friday, making an in-person push for transatlantic unity and scooping up Germany’s highest civilian honor.  

Biden also met in Berlin with Chancellor Olaf Scholz of Germany, President Emmanuel Macron of France, and Prime Minister Keir Starmer of the United Kingdom, to discuss a range of issues behind closed doors – including how to continue to support Ukraine against Russian aggression, and the rapidly changing situation in the Middle East.  

“They talked about President [Volodymyr] Zelenskyy’s victory plan and how we can all work together to try to see if we can’t get to a just peace that President Zelensky and the Ukrainian people will approve of,” said John Kirby, White House national security spokesperson. “And of course, you know, can implement.”

And the brutal conflict in Gaza injected itself into Friday’s state visit, with news that Israeli forces had killed the leader of the U.S.-designated terror group Hamas, who was the mastermind behind the October 7, 2023, attack that triggered the war. 

Standing on the tarmac minutes after landing in Germany late Thursday, Biden addressed the killing of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar by Israeli troops, calling it a “good day for the world.”

“Now’s the time to move on,” he said. “Move on, move toward a cease-fire in Gaza, make sure that we move in a direction that we’re able to make things better for the whole world. It’s time for this war to end and bring these hostages home.”

Biden said he would dispatch Secretary of State Anthony Blinken to Israel to discuss plans for the day after.

Kirby said the administration’s priority is freeing the remaining hostages held by Hamas.

“The president believes that, certainly, with Sinwar’s killing yesterday, that there’s a unique opportunity here for us all to kind of grab hold of, to see what we can do to end the war and to get a cease-fire. And we still believe that a cease-fire actually in the north, too, but we still believe a cease-fire is important for Gaza to get those hostages home.”

For Germany, this frenzied one-day visit – which included a brief meeting with a 102-year-old Holocaust survivor, Margot Friedlander – was suffused with meaning and history.

German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier — who awarded Biden the nation’s highest honor, Germany’s Grand Cross special class of the Order of Merit — began his reflection of the significance of Biden’s visit with an anecdote from the early 1980s, when a young U.S. senator visited Bonn, then the capital of the divided nation.  

In true German style, Steinmeier joked, the bureaucrat accompanying the 40-year-old senator made copious notes, saying he was “keenly interested” in Germany, and concluded that the young senator might have a “significant political future.” 

“What a remarkable understatement,” said Steinmeier before he pinned the 8-pointed golden star to Biden’s suit lapel. “Today, you are the 46th president of the United States – and under your leadership, the transatlantic alliance is stronger, and our partnership is closer than ever.” 

Steinmeier continued, “Maybe the most precious service to democracy, the most joyful and reassuring thing for people is to know that even this most powerful man in the world is – in the end – a fundamentally decent human being.” 

VOA asked White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan if part of Biden’s mission in Germany was to shield foreign policy against a possible Donald Trump presidency.

“What the president is trying to do is to make our commitment to Ukraine sustainable and institutionalized for the long term,” Sullivan replied. “And every other ally agreed that that was the responsible thing to do.”  
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Ukraine evacuates thousands from embattled Kharkiv town

Kyiv, Ukraine — Ukraine on Friday said it was evacuating thousands of people from an embattled northeastern town that Kyiv retook from Russia about six months after Moscow launched its invasion in 2022.

Kupiansk, a key rail hub in the northeastern Kharkiv region, has suffered deadly shelling attacks in recent months as Moscow’s forces get within a few kilometers of the town.

The region’s governor had warned on Tuesday that authorities were no longer able to guarantee electricity and water to residents due to “constant shelling” and ordered all civilians in Kupiansk and three nearby communities to leave.

“In total, about 10,000 people need to be evacuated. The pace of evacuation is increasing every day,” Governor Oleg Sinegubov said in a video on his Telegram account published Friday.

Kupiansk was seized by Moscow shortly after it invaded Ukraine in February 2022 and Ukrainian forces retook it around six months later.

It was home to just under 30,000 people before the war. Repeated Russian artillery strikes have badly damaged many of its buildings and left dozens of civilians dead.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy unveiled an ambitious “victory plan” this week setting out his vision to end the war with Russia.

Russia has been pushing ahead in eastern Ukraine for months, capturing tens of small towns and villages as Kyiv’s overstretched troops grapple with exhaustion and manpower shortages. 
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