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Zelenskyy meets with Biden, Harris amid Republican allegation of election interference

White House — U.S. President Joe Biden is hosting President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the White House Thursday, where the Ukrainian leader is set to discuss his plans for winning the war against Russia, as Republicans accuse him of “election interference.”

Zelenskyy is scheduled to meet separately with Democratic presidential nominee and Vice President Kamala Harris following his meeting with Biden. However, no plans have been announced for a meeting with Republican presidential nominee and former President Donald Trump, who has in recent days increased his criticism that the U.S. continues to “give billions of dollars to a man who refuses to make a deal” to end the war.

Meanwhile, Congressional Republicans are demanding that the Ukrainian leader fire his ambassador to the U.S., Oksana Markarova, for organizing Zelenskyy’s visit Monday to an ammunition factory in Pennsylvania, a hotly contested battleground state in the November presidential election.

In a letter to Zelenskyy, Republican House of Representatives Speaker Mike Johnson said the visit to the factory that made munitions for Ukraine was a “partisan campaign event designed to help Democrats” that amounts to “election interference.”

“Support for ending Russia’s war against Ukraine continues to be bipartisan, but our relationship is unnecessarily tested and needlessly tarnished when the candidates at the top of the Republican presidential ticket are targeted in the media by officials in your government,” Johnson said.

On Wednesday Trump suggested that Biden and Harris are at fault for prolonging the war that followed Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

“Biden and Kamala allowed this to happen by feeding Zelenskyy money and munitions like no country has ever seen before,” Trump said. He argued that Kyiv should have made concessions to Moscow before Russian troops attacked, asserting that Ukraine is now “in rubble” and in no position to negotiate the war’s end.

“Any deal — the worst deal — would’ve been better than what we have now,” Trump said.

New aid announced

Ahead of Zelenskyy’s visit, the U.S. administration announced $8 billion in new aid for Ukraine. In a statement, Biden said the aid includes a Patriot missile battery and missiles, as well as air-to-ground munitions and a precision-guided glide bomb with a range of up to 130 kilometers.

The administration is also expanding training for Ukrainian F-16 pilots to include an additional 18 pilots next year.

“For nearly three years, the United States has rallied the world to stand with the people of Ukraine as they defend their freedom from Russian aggression, and it has been a top priority of my administration to provide Ukraine with the support it needs to prevail,” Biden said.

Zelenskyy thanked the U.S., saying the new aid included “the items that are most critical to protecting our people.”

“We will use this assistance in the most efficient and transparent manner to achieve our major common goal: victory for Ukraine, just and lasting peace, and transatlantic security,” Zelenskyy said on social media platform X.

The pair spoke briefly on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York, during which Zelenskyy thanked Biden for U.S. support for Ukraine and gave an update on the situation on the front lines.

Among the expected topics to be discussed by the leaders Thursday include Ukraine’s request for weapons donors to allow Ukrainian forces to use the weapons to strike targets deeper inside Russia. Ukrainian leaders say such strikes are needed to degrade Russia’s ability to carry out its daily missile and drone attacks.
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Ukraine shoots down 66 of 78 Russian drones

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Pope Francis heads for Luxembourg and Belgium on a trip to a dwindling flock

VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis is traveling to once-strong bastions of Christianity in the heart of Europe to try to reinvigorate a Catholic flock that is dwindling in the face of secular trends and abuse scandals that have largely emptied the continent’s magnificent cathedrals and village churches.

Francis stops first Thursday in Luxembourg, the European Union’s second-smallest country, with a population of some 650,000 people, and its richest per capita. Torrential downpours are expected, days after the 87-year-old pope canceled his audiences because of a slight flu.

He seemed in fine form at the Vatican on Wednesday, during his general audience on the eve of the trip, but his respiratory health is a constant concern and his medical team will be on hand.

After meeting with Luxembourg’s political leaders, Francis will speak to the country’s Catholic priests and nuns. The venue is the late-Gothic Cathedral of Notre Dame, which was built in the early 1600s by Francis’ own Jesuit order and stands as a monument to Christianity’s long and central place in European history.

Francis is likely to dwell on Europe’s role past, present and future — particularly as war rages on European soil — during his visits to Luxembourg and Belgium, where he arrives later Thursday and stays through the weekend.

The trip is a much-truncated version of the 10-day, 1985 tour St. John Paul II made through Luxembourg, Belgium and the Netherlands, during which the Polish pope delivered 59 speeches or homilies and was greeted by hundreds of thousands of adoring faithful.

In Luxembourg alone, John Paul drew a crowd of some 45,000 people to his Mass, or some 10% of the then-population, and officials had predicted a million people would welcome him in Belgium, according to news reports at the time.

But then as now, the head of the Catholic Church faced indifference and even hostility to core Vatican teachings on contraception and sexual morals, opposition that has only increased in the ensuing generation. Those secular trends and the crisis over clergy abuse have helped lead to the decline of the church in the region, with monthly Mass attendance in the single digits and plummeting ordinations of new priests.

Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni said that by traveling to the two countries, Francis will likely want to offer “a word to the heart of Europe, of its history, the role it wants to play in the world in the future.”

Immigration, climate change and peace are likely to be themes during the four-day visit, which was organized primarily to mark the 600th anniversary of the founding of Belgium’s two main Catholic universities.

In Luxembourg, Francis has a top ally and friend in the lone cardinal from the country, Jean-Claude Hollerich, a Jesuit like the Argentine pope.

Hollerich, whom Francis made a cardinal in 2019, has taken on a leading role in the pope’s multi-year church reform effort as the “general rapporteur” of his big synod, or meeting, on the future of the Catholic Church.

In that capacity, Hollerich has helped oversee local, national and continental-wide consultations of rank-and-file Catholics and synthesized their views into working papers for bishops and other delegates to discuss at their Vatican meetings, the second session of which opens next week.

Last year, in another sign of his esteem for the progressive cardinal, Francis appointed Hollerich to serve on his kitchen cabinet, known as the Council of Cardinals. The group of nine prelates from around the globe meet several times a year at the Vatican to help Francis govern.
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Zelenskyy to discuss plan for winning war in White House talks

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UK foreign secretary: ‘We stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the Ukrainians’

NEW YORK — Among the issues on the agenda for world leaders who gathered this week for the United Nations General Assembly is Russia’s war against Ukraine. In an interview in New York with VOA’s Ukrainian Service, U.K. Foreign Secretary David Lammy said his nation stands “shoulder-to-shoulder with the Ukrainians” and will provide Ukraine with military aid for “as long as it takes” to help it “stand off this aggression.” He also cited intelligence findings that Russian President Vladimir Putin is facing mounting problems, with a deteriorating economy and mounting battlefield losses.

The following has been edited for length and clarity.

VOA: Have you had the chance to discuss with your counterparts in other countries, including U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, the issue of lifting restrictions on Ukraine using long-range Western missiles against targets inside Russia?

U.K. Foreign Secretary David Lammy: It was very important for me to be with Secretary Blinken in Ukraine just two weeks ago to see for ourselves, to discuss with [Ukrainian] President [Volodymyr] Zelenskyy … also to discuss Ukraine’s needs as they head out of the autumn into the winter, and that we continue as allies to put Ukraine in the strongest possible position to stand off this aggression that we’re seeing from Vladimir Putin.

That was why I also went to the White House with [U.K.] Prime Minister [Keir] Starmer. We remain in the U.K. absolutely clear that we stand shoulder to shoulder with the Ukrainians. It’s important that Ukraine has the finances and the money, the military aid, as well as the political, diplomatic and humanitarian aid, to get through 2025. And of course, here at the U.N. General Assembly, I will meet with Zelenskyy once again today.

But, also, it’s hugely important that we rally the Global South to ensure that they’re not falling into the trap of Russian propaganda … and efforts to destabilize [and distract] the international community … when in fact what they are doing is taking ballistic missiles from Iran to use against [Ukrainian] men, women and children.

VOA: You’ve already mentioned this meeting between Prime Minister Keir Starmer and U.S. President Joe Biden in Washington. Can you share the details of the conversation?

Lammy: I do think it is very important for us in the U.K. and Europe, and of course in the United States, to understand more the details of President Zelenskyy’s “victory plan.” And over the coming days, he will present that in detail to close allies. And of course, I’m not going to speculate what’s in the papers … because I don’t want to give any advantage to Vladimir Putin.

But I am really clear that this is a time for Western allies to show nerve and guts, because Vladimir Putin thinks that we’ll get distracted. He thinks that we haven’t got the attention span to stand with our Ukrainian friends. That’s why we in the U.K. have found 3 billion pounds for Ukraine to buy and have the military equipment it needs, not just this year, [but] for every year as long as it takes. And that’s what I said to my G7 allies last night when I met with them. That’s the position we’ve got to ensure Ukraine is in.

VOA: When do you think this crucial decision could be made?

Lammy: We meet here in the U.N. General Assembly. I know that President Zelenskyy is meeting with President Biden a little bit later in the week also in Washington. We will head on to the G20 [summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, November 18-19, 2024] as well. So, over the coming days and weeks, I expect us to be in a very strong position to ensure that Ukraine is in the best position it can be as we head into that tough winter in 2025.

And let’s just be clear about what I mean by that. All of our intelligence actually suggests things are going to get a lot tougher for Vladimir Putin as he comes out of next year. His economy is in trouble. He’s going to find it very problematic with the amount of losses and casualties that he’s taking. And actually, when you look at what Ukraine is doing —  their ability to take back half the ground that’s been lost, their ability to repel him from the Black Sea, their ability to advance in Kursk and hopefully keep the ground — this is a time for Western countries to show their nerve and to be absolutely committed as we head out of the autumn into the winter period.

VOA: What do you say to people, including leaders, who warn that allowing Ukraine to use long-range weapons to strike inside Russia could lead to a third world war?

Lammy: Well, we’re really clear that under the U.N. Charter and under Article 51, Ukraine has the right to defend itself, to defend itself against the horrendous attacks that are coming from Russia, and we will do all we can within international law and the rules of engagement to support Ukraine to defend itself.

VOA: You said that the war between Russia and Ukraine is likely to continue for at least another two years. Will Ukraine and the West will have enough to stand so long?

Lammy: Let’s be clear: The war could end tomorrow if Putin left. That’s how it ends: Leave Ukraine. But in the absence of Putin showing any desire to negotiate, we have to continue to stand with Ukraine, because the cost of not standing with Ukraine would actually be financially far greater.

You know, defense spending would rise substantially across all Western allies, and indeed, there will be a very vulnerable Baltic frontier in relation to Putin’s threats. So, that is why we stand with Ukraine for as long as it takes. And I’m quite sure that … this war will only be settled in the end politically, of course. That also gets into the security guarantees that Ukraine needs. And we’ve always believed in the U.K. that that path to Ukraine joining NATO is a very important dimension of that security guarantee. 
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Crises in Ukraine, Mideast and Sudan dominate UN General Assembly meetings

The war in Ukraine, Sudan’s humanitarian crisis, and an escalation between Israel and Hezbollah dominated the second day of the United Nations General Assembly meetings. VOA U.N. Correspondent Margaret Besheer reports.
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OECD sees global economy ‘turning corner’ toward growth

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Zoo in Finland with financial woes to return giant pandas to China

HELSINKI — A zoo in Finland has agreed with Chinese authorities to return two loaned giant pandas to China more than eight years ahead of schedule because they have become too expensive for the facility to maintain as the number of visitors has declined.

The private Ahtari Zoo in central Finland some 330 kilometers north of Helsinki said Wednesday on its Facebook page that the female panda Lumi, Finnish for “snow,” and the male panda Pyry, meaning “snowfall,” will return “prematurely” to China later this year.

The panda pair was China’s gift to mark the Nordic nation’s 100 years of independence in 2017, and they were supposed to be on loan until 2033.

But since then, the zoo has experienced several challenges, including a decline in visitors due to the 2020 coronavirus pandemic and Russia’s war against Ukraine, as well as an increase in inflation and interest rates, the facility said in a statement.

The panda deal between Helsinki and Beijing, a 15-year loan agreement, had been finalized in April 2017 when Chinese President Xi Jinping visited Finland for talks with then-Finnish President Sauli Niinisto. The pandas arrived in Finland in January 2018.

The Ahtari Zoo, which specializes in typical northern European animals such as bears, lynxes and wolverines, built a special annex at a cost of about $9 million in hopes of luring more tourists to the remote nature reserve.

The upkeep of Lumi and Pyry, including a preservation fee to China, cost the zoo $1.7 million annually. The bamboo that giant pandas eat was flown in from the Netherlands.

The Chinese Embassy in Helsinki noted to Finnish media that Beijing had tried to help Ahtari solve its financial difficulties by urging Chinese companies operating in Finland to make donations to the zoo and supporting its debt arrangements.

However, declining visitor numbers combined with drastic changes in the economic environment proved too high a burden for the smallish Finnish zoo. The panda pair will enter a monthlong quarantine in late October before being shipped back to China.

Finland, a country of 5.6 million people, was among the first Western nations to establish political ties with China, doing so in 1950. China has presented giant pandas to countries as a sign of goodwill and closer political ties, and Finland was the first Nordic nation to receive them.
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Pope expels bishop, 9 others from Peru movement over ‘sadistic’ abuses

VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis took the unusual decision Wednesday to expel 10 people — a bishop, priests and laypeople — from a troubled Catholic movement in Peru after a Vatican investigation uncovered “sadistic” abuses of power, authority and spirituality.

The move against the leadership of the Sodalitium Christianae Vitae, or Sodalitium of Christian Life, followed Francis’ decision last month to expel the group’s founder, Luis Figari, after he was found to have sodomized his recruits.

The decision was announced by the Peruvian Bishops Conference, which posted a statement from the Vatican embassy on its website.

The statement was astonishing because it listed the abuses uncovered by the Vatican investigation that have rarely been punished canonically with such measures, and the people responsible. According to the statement, the Vatican investigators uncovered physical abuses “including with sadism and violence,” sect-like abuses of conscience, spiritual abuse, abuses of authority, economic abuses in administering church money and the “abuse in the exercise of the apostolate of journalism.”

The latter was presumably aimed at a Sodalitium-linked journalist who has attacked critics of the movement on social media.

Figari founded the movement in 1971 as a lay community to recruit “soldiers for God,” one of several Catholic societies born as a conservative reaction to the left-leaning liberation theology movement that swept through Latin America, starting in the 1960s. At its height, the group counted about 20,000 members across South America and the United States. It was enormously influential in Peru.

Victims of Figari’s abuses complained to the Lima archdiocese in 2011, although other claims against him reportedly date to 2000. But neither the local church nor the Holy See took concrete action until one of the victims, Pedro Salinas, wrote a book along with journalist Paola Ugaz detailing the twisted practices of the Sodalitium in 2015, entitled “Half Monks, Half Soldiers.”

An outside investigation ordered by Sodalitium determined that Figari was “narcissistic, paranoid, demeaning, vulgar, vindictive, manipulative, racist, sexist, elitist and obsessed with sexual issues and the sexual orientation” of Sodalitium’s members.

The investigation, published in 2017, found that Figari sodomized his recruits and forced them to fondle him and one another. He liked to watch them “experience pain, discomfort and fear” and humiliated them in front of others to enhance his control over them, the report found.

Still, the Holy See declined to expel Figari from the movement in 2017 and merely ordered him to live apart from the Sodalitium community in Rome and cease all contact with it. The Vatican was seemingly tied in knots by canon law that did not foresee such punishments for founders of religious communities who weren’t priests.

But according to the findings of the latest Vatican investigation, the abuses went beyond Figari and included harassing and hacking the communications of their victims all the while covering up crimes committed as part of their official duties.

The highest-ranking person ordered expelled was Archbishop Jose Antonio Eguren, whom Francis already forced to resign as bishop of Piura in April over his record, after he sued Salinas and Ugaz for their reporting.

The Vatican, in the statement, said the Peruvian bishops join Pope Francis in “seeking the forgiveness of the victims” while calling on the troubled movement to initiate a journey of justice and reparation.
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Volunteer group locates some 2,000 bodies in Ukraine’s Donetsk

A volunteer group is searching for the remains of people killed in the conflict with Russia in Ukraine’s Donetsk region. The group Platsdarm says it has recovered around 2,000 bodies since 2014. Yaroslava Movchan has the story, narrated by Anna Rice. Videographer: Dmytro Hlushko
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Finland zoo returns giant pandas to China over cost

HELSINKI — Finland will return two giant pandas to China in November, more than eight years ahead of time, as the zoo where they live can no longer afford their upkeep, the chair of the zoo’s board told Reuters on Tuesday. 

The pandas, named Lumi and Pyry, were brought to Finland in January 2018, months after Chinese President Xi Jinping visited the Nordic country and signed a joint agreement on protecting the animals. 

Since its founding in 1949, the People’s Republic of China has sent pandas to foreign zoos to strengthen trading ties, cement foreign relations and boost its international image. 

The Finnish agreement was for a stay of 15 years, but instead the pandas will soon go into a month-long quarantine before they are shipped back to China, according to Ahtari Zoo, the pandas’ current home. 

The zoo, a private company, had invested over 8 million euros ($8.92 million) in the facility where the animals live and faced annual costs of 1.5 million euros for their upkeep, including a preservation fee paid to China, Ahtari Chair Risto Sivonen said. 

The zoo had hoped the pandas would attract visitors to the central Finland location but last year said it had instead accumulated mounting debts as the pandemic curbed travel, and that it was discussing a return. 

Rising inflation had added to the costs, the zoo said, and Finland’s government in 2023 rejected pleas for state funding. 

In all, negotiations to return the animals had lasted three years, Sivonen said. 

“Now we reached a point where the Chinese said it could be done,” Sivonen said. 

The return of the pandas was a business decision made by the zoo which did not involve Finland’s government and should not impact relations between the two countries, a spokesperson for Finland’s foreign ministry said. 

Despite efforts by China to aid the zoo, the two countries in the end jointly concluded after friendly consultations to return the pandas, the Chinese embassy in Helsinki said in a statement to Reuters. 
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Environmentalists value peat, smear Finland’s parliament in red paint 

Helsinki — Environmental activists sprayed red paint on Finland’s parliament building on Wednesday to protest against the peat industry, sparking strong criticism from politicians.  

Activists from Extinction Rebellion Finland and Swedish organization Aterstall Vatmarker (Restore Wetlands) smeared several granite columns at the building’s main entrance in red paint resembling blood.   

They told AFP they were protesting against the Finnish state-owned company Neova mining peat in Swedish wetlands. 

Peat extracted from wetlands is often used as an energy source or for farming purposes, emitting large amounts of carbon dioxide. 

In their natural state, peatlands store large amounts of carbon dioxide. 

“We have painted the columns with this easily washable paint to show that Finland is actively involved in accelerating the climate crisis,” said Valpuri Nykanen, an activist from Extinction Rebellion Finland standing outside the building.  

“Finland is mining peat in Sweden, while we know that we must phase out oil, gas and all fossil fuels and peat is very fossil,” added Lior Tell-Stefansson from Aterstall Vatmarker.  

Police arrived at the scene after 8:00 am (0500 GMT) and removed 10 protesters sitting on the stairs with signs in their hands.  

The incident was investigated as aggravated damage to property, the police said in a statement. 

Several Finnish politicians immediately condemned the act.  

Newspaper Helsingin Sanomat quoted Prime Minister Petteri Orpo as saying it was “completely incomprehensible and unacceptable vandalism.” 

“Finland is a free democracy. We have the right to demonstrate and influence things, but we have civilized ways of doing it,” Orpo said.  
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Ukraine shoots down 28 drones, four missiles

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