London — Germany’s likely next chancellor has warned that the United States cares little about Europe’s fate and has called for the continent to urgently organize its own defense capabilities, marking a profound shift in approach from Europe’s biggest economy.

“I would never have thought that I would have to say something like this in a TV show. But after Donald Trump’s remarks last week, it is clear that the Americans — or in any case, the Americans in this administration — do not care much about the fate of Europe,” Friedrich Merz said in a post-election televised debate after his Christian Democrats, or CDU Party, won 28.5% of the vote in Sunday’s election, 8% ahead of the second place Alternative for Germany Party, or AfD.

“My absolute priority will be to strengthen Europe as quickly as possible so that step by step, we can really achieve independence from the USA,” added Merz.

He said the NATO summit in June could be a defining moment, adding that it’s unknown whether allies “would still be talking about NATO in its current form or whether we will have to establish an independent European defense capability much more quickly.”

Ukraine support

Until now, Germany has been the second-biggest donor of military aid to Ukraine, after the United States. Merz may seek to boost that support, according to Liana Fix of the Washington-based Council on Foreign Relations.

“Friedrich Merz has spoken in favor of Ukraine’s victory. In general, he has adopted a more hawkish position than [outgoing Chancellor] Olaf Scholz had. He advocated for German long-range missile deliveries to Ukraine, the Taurus. He made clear that support for Ukraine will have to continue, even if a ceasefire deal is reached,” Fix told VOA.

Merz’s election victory came on the eve of the third anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

The Brandenburg Gate, once the frontier between east and west Berlin during the Cold War, was lit up Monday in the Ukrainian national colors to mark the anniversary.

The potential threat from Moscow loomed heavy over the German election. Berlin resident Juergen Harke, who was among those attending a pro-Ukrainian demonstration outside the Russian Embassy, said it was vital that Merz remains true to his word.

“I hope that the new government will continue to supply weapons to Ukraine, that it will work together with the European states to develop a major counterweight to Russia — and now also to Trump,” Harke told Reuters.

Shifts in US policy

Trump has engineered a dramatic change in U.S. policy toward Ukraine and its defense against the Russian invasion. Last week, he falsely blamed Kyiv for starting the war and labeled Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy a “dictator.”

On Monday, the U.S. joined Russia in voting against a European-backed resolution at the United Nations Security Council which blamed Moscow for the war and called for an immediate withdrawal of Russian troops from Ukraine.

Monday on his social media platform Truth Social, Trump congratulated Merz on his victory.

“Looks like the conservative party in Germany has won the very big and highly anticipated election. Much like the USA, the people of Germany got tired of the no common sense agenda, especially on energy and immigration that has prevailed for so many years,” Trump wrote, using all capital letters.

Russia, meanwhile, said it would wait to see how relations with the new German chancellor play out.

“Each time we want to hope for a more sober approach to reality, for a more sober approach to what could be issues of mutual interest [between Russia and Germany] and mutual benefits. But let’s see how it will be in reality,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Monday.

Europe defense

The sudden reversal in U.S. foreign policy has shocked Europe, said analyst Mattia Nelles, founder of the German-Ukrainian Bureau, a policy consultancy based in Dusseldorf.

“We are, as Germany, shocked and utterly unprepared for the end of the Pax Americana, the end of America providing security for Europe. And we now find ourselves in a difficult position to organize the transition away from U.S. being the leading provider of security to a more European-driven approach — not just to Ukraine, but to organizing our own self-defense,” Nelles told VOA.

“And that’s a huge effort. It’s going to require a lot of political will,” he said. “But Merz has said he’s willing to lead on that, and let’s see whether we are able to step up.”

Can Europe afford to pay for its own defense?

“Merz can agree to joint debt on the European level, which the conservatives always hated,” Fix of the Council on Foreign Relations said.

Europe is currently holding around $200 billion of Russian state assets, which were frozen following the invasion.

Merz “can agree to seizing Russian frozen assets, which has not been done so far but should be done soon before Hungary vetoes. He has talked about the U.K. and France having to extend the nuclear umbrella to Germany as a possible pathway,” Fix added.

German debt

In the election campaign, Merz supported maintaining Germany’s so-called “debt brake,” which limits annual government borrowing to only 0.35% of the country’s gross domestic product.

Germany’s budget deficit is among the lowest in the G7 group of nations, although critics say the policy blocks critical investment. Merz has hinted that the debt brake may be eased to boost defense spending.

“Given the challenges at hand, we’re looking at the reform of the so-called debt brake, and that requires constitutional amendments, for which there is not a majority of the centrist parties in parliament,” Nelles noted.

The Christian Democrats are well short of a majority, but Merz has ruled out forming a coalition with the far-right AfD.

Far-right firewall

The so-called “firewall” around the AfD, whereby German centrist parties have refused to rely on parliamentary votes or to enter any coalition with the far right, has been strongly criticized by Washington.

Alice Weidel, co-leader of the AfD, echoed those concerns.

“We consider this blockade to be undemocratic. You cannot exclude millions of voters per se,” she told supporters on Monday.

Instead, Merz plans to begin coalition talks with the Social Democrats of outgoing Chancellor Olaf Scholz.

“The conservatives now have to negotiate and change the tone and find constructive agreement with the Social Democrats on the difficult issues ranging from migration to debt reform in Germany, public financing, rebooting the German economic model and of course, on Ukraine,” Nelles said.

Merz said Monday that he hoped a coalition government would be formed by Easter at the latest.

“There’s optimism that there is a reenergized focus now — with Germany soon having a functioning government again and a majority in parliament — reenergizing and joining this coalition of the willing, to rally more support for Ukraine and more support for European defense,” Nelles added.
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VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis, who is in critical condition in a hospital battling double pneumonia, rested well throughout the night, the Vatican said on Tuesday.

The 88-year-old pope was admitted to Rome’s Gemelli hospital on Feb. 14.

“The pope rested well all night,” the Vatican said in a one-sentence statement.

On Monday, the Vatican said the pontiff’s condition remained critical but had shown a “slight improvement,” adding that the “mild kidney insufficiency,” first reported at the weekend, was not a cause for concern.

Double pneumonia is a serious infection that can inflame and scar both lungs, making it difficult to breathe. The Vatican has described the pope’s infection as “complex,” and said it was caused by two or more microorganisms.

Francis, who has been pope since 2013, has suffered bouts of ill health over the past two years. He is particularly prone to lung infections because he developed pleurisy as a young adult and had part of one lung removed.

Thousands of people gathered in St. Peter’s Square on Monday evening to pray for the pope’s recovery.

His friend, the Honduran cardinal Oscar Rodriguez Maradiaga, told La Repubblica newspaper: “I think…it’s not time for him to go to heaven yet.”

The pope signaled in early February that he had a bad cold, which meant he could not read out his speeches. Despite this, he continued to work, with multiple daily meetings and even taking part in open-air Masses, despite the chill.

Some well-wishers have said he should have taken better care of himself, but Maradiaga defended his work ethic.

“He is aware that he has a mission he must carry out, and nothing stops him. The pope explained that he did not accept his election (as pontiff) in order to rest,” he said.

In Monday’s statement, the Vatican said Francis had resumed working in his self-contained apartment within the Gemelli hospital, and had called the Catholic parish in Gaza, which the pope has done frequently during the Israel-Hamas war.
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The U.N. General Assembly marked the third anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine by narrowly approving competing resolutions on ending the war, one drafted by Kyiv with the European Union, and a second from the United States.

“Russia believed Ukraine would surrender. Russia believed we would fall in three days. Russia believed our government would flee. However, Russia miscalculated gravely,” Mariana Betsa, Ukraine’s deputy foreign minister, told the gathering, saying Ukrainians continue to stand firm and resist.

In the weeks leading up to the meeting, there was only the Ukrainian draft resolution, which reflected previous ones adopted by the 193-member body. That resolution included a reference to Russia’s “full-scale invasion of Ukraine” and called for a “comprehensive, just and lasting peace” in line with the United Nations Charter and “within its internationally recognized borders.”

Then late Friday afternoon, the United States put forward its own brief text, titled: “The Path to Peace,” which called for “a swift end to the conflict and further urges a lasting peace between Ukraine and the Russian Federation.” It did not mention Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Russia’s U.N. ambassador called the U.S. draft “a good move.”

“This is our opportunity to build real momentum toward peace,” U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a statement Friday.

European diplomats met through the weekend to find a way to prevent the U.S. draft from undermining international support for Ukraine at a critical moment in the war. On Monday, they proposed three amendments to the U.S. text, all of which were adopted by the General Assembly.

They added language to the U.S. text that included replacing the wording “the Russia-Ukraine conflict” with “the full-scale invasion of Ukraine by the Russian Federation.” A paragraph was inserted that said: “Reaffirming its commitment to the sovereignty, independence, unity and territorial integrity of Ukraine within its internationally recognized borders, extending to its territorial waters.” The paragraph also included language on supporting the U.N. Charter and the principles of sovereignty and territorial integrity of states.

When the amended U.S. text was put to a vote, Washington abstained on its own resolution. It was adopted with 93 states in favor, 8 against and 73 abstentions.

“These amendments pursue a war of words rather than an end to the war,” U.S. envoy Dorothy Shea said. “The attempt to add this language detracts from what we are trying to achieve with this forward-looking resolution: A firm consensus from the members of this body to unite behind a resolution calling for the end to this conflict.”

Russia also voted against the U.S. draft, because their attempt to amend it with language to address what it says are the root causes of the conflict was rejected by the Assembly.

“The essence of it has become completely distorted,” Russian ambassador Vassily Nebenzia said, but he welcomed the U.S. move and said he hoped it would be followed by other new initiatives.

“I think that today, our American colleagues have seen for themselves that the road to peace in Ukraine will not be an easy one, and there will be many who will try to make sure the peace does not come for as long as possible,” Nebenzia said.

The Ukrainian resolution was approved to loud applause with 93 states in favor, 18 against and 65 abstentions. It was the weakest support Ukraine has had over the course of the last three years in the Assembly.

The United States voted against the Ukrainian text as did Russia, its allies Belarus and North Korea, several African states, European Union outlier Hungary, and Israel.

General Assembly resolutions are not legally binding, but they do carry the moral weight of the international community.

The United States is expected to still bring its original draft resolution to the U.N. Security Council later Monday for a vote. It would need the support of at least nine of the 15 members and no veto from any permanent member — Britain, China, France, Russia or the United States.

The Europeans have said they will bring their three amendments to the council for a vote as well. A senior State Department official said Monday that Washington would veto any amendments — European or Russian — to its original text.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres was in Geneva on Monday, where he said countries “must spare no effort to bring an end to this conflict and achieve a just and lasting peace in line with the U.N. Charter, international law and General Assembly resolutions.”

Macron in Washington

The diplomatic drama at the United Nations was taking place as French President Emmanuel Macron was at the White House for a meeting and lunch with President Donald Trump that included discussions about the war in Ukraine.

Macron said last week that he planned to tell Trump the U.S. leader “cannot be weak” in the face of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer is due to visit Washington later this week for similar talks, and like Macron has emphasized the need for Ukraine’s sovereignty to be at the center of any peace effort.

A group of leaders including European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, European Council President Antonio Costa, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Denmark’s Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen and Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez visited Kyiv on Monday in a show of support for Ukraine.

“We are in Kyiv today, because Ukraine is Europe,” von der Leyen said on X. “In this fight for survival, it is not only the destiny of Ukraine that is at stake. It’s Europe’s destiny.”

New EU sanctions on Moscow

European Union foreign ministers on Monday approved a new round of sanctions against Russia, which EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said include measures against ships that work to evade restrictions on transporting certain goods, banks that circumvent sanctions and equipment used to pilot drones.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov called the new sanctions “entirely predictable,” and said the European nations seemed to want the war to continue.

Fighting continued Monday with Russia saying it shot down 23 Ukrainian drones overnight, including 16 over the Oryol region.

Some information for this story was provided by The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.
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MARSEILLE, France — Two projectiles were thrown at the perimeter wall of Russia’s consulate in the southern French port city of Marseille on Monday, one of which exploded, a French security source said.

It was not immediately clear if the projectiles cleared the wall. BFM TV said the projectiles were Molotov cocktails and that they landed in the consulate’s garden.

Russia demanded a full French investigation and said the incident looked like an act of terrorism, state news agency TASS reported.

No one was injured, the security source said. Consulate staff were kept indoors and police set up a security perimeter around the consulate.

The incident in the southern French city took place on the third anniversary of the Russia-Ukraine war.

“The explosions on the territory of the Russian Consulate General in Marseille have all the hallmarks of a terrorist attack,” TASS quoted Russia’s Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova as saying.
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Brussels — Estonia has launched a new push to get fellow EU members to agree to seize frozen Russian assets and use them to help Ukraine, dismissing a Russian idea on how the money could be used as part of a peace deal.

The Baltic country has sent a discussion paper on the issue to European Union partners and will raise it at a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels on Monday, officials said.

Some 210 billion euros ($219.62 billion) in Russian assets are immobilized in the EU by sanctions as part of an international crackdown on Moscow for its 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

Last year, the G7 group of nations – including the EU – agreed to use profits from frozen Russian assets to fund a $50 billion loan for Ukraine. But the assets themselves remain untouched.

“The decision to use the windfall profits was a step in the right direction. I see that the time is ripe now to take the next step,” Estonian Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna told Reuters.

On Friday, Reuters reported that Moscow could agree to allow Russian assets frozen in Europe to be used for reconstruction in Ukraine but would insist part of the money is spent on the part of the country controlled by its forces.

Tsahkna dismissed that idea.

“Giving Russia some of the assets to use in the occupied areas means accepting Russia’s occupation of some parts of Ukraine,” he said.

The EU has insisted Ukraine’s territorial integrity must be respected in any peace deal.

Several EU countries, including Baltic states and Poland, have said they are ready to consider seizing the assets. But Germany, France, Belgium and the European Central Bank have been wary, warning of legal challenges and undermining the euro as a reserve currency.

Belgium-based clearing house Euroclear holds most of the Russian assets frozen in Europe.

But the issue has resurfaced on the political agenda, particularly as the Trump administration has said it expects Europe to take on a larger share of support for Ukraine.

The Estonian paper, seen by Reuters, tries to address its partners’ concerns. It says asset seizure can be justified under international law, as a countermeasure to Moscow’s war and because “Russia refuses to engage in reparations.”

It also says joint action by the EU and international partners could mitigate any risk to the euro as a reserve currency.
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LONDON/PARIS — French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer will travel to Washington next week amid alarm in Europe over U.S. President Donald Trump’s hardening stance toward Ukraine and overtures to Moscow on the three-year conflict.

The leaders of Europe’s two nuclear powers, who will be traveling separately, are expected to try to persuade Trump not to rush into a ceasefire deal with Vladimir Putin at any cost, keep Europe involved and discuss military guarantees to Ukraine.

Macron, who is trying to capitalize on a relationship with Trump built during their first presidential terms, has said agreeing to a bad deal that would amount to a capitulation of Ukraine would signal weakness to the United States’ foes, including China and Iran.

“I will tell him: deep down you cannot be weak in the face of President (Putin). It’s not you, it’s not what you’re made of and it’s not in your interests,” he said in an hourlong question and answer session on social media ahead of Monday’s visit to the White House.

The visits come amid a rift between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, whom Trump described as a “dictator.” That has alarmed Kyiv’s European allies, already reeling from a more aggressive U.S. posture on trade, diplomacy and even domestic European politics.

Philip Golub, a professor in international relations at the American University in Paris, said Trump’s rapid-fire moves in his first weeks in office, as well as the rhetoric from other U.S. officials, had been a major shock for the Europeans.

“They could not have expected that somehow within the United States would emerge this ultra-nationalist coalition of forces that would actually challenge Europe’s voice in world affairs in such a stark and strong way,” he told Reuters.

He said Macron believed he had a “historic role to play” in going to Washington to ensure Europe can weigh in on the ultimate negotiations on Ukraine. “Whether he can actually achieve something, however, in this visit is an entirely different matter,” he added.

Starmer, who has also warned the end of the war cannot be a “temporary pause before Putin attacks again,” will be in Washington on Thursday.

Speaking on a Fox News podcast on Friday, Trump said Macron and Starmer had not “done anything” to end the war. “No meetings with Russia!” he said, although he described Macron as “a friend of mine” and Starmer as “a very nice guy.”

However, the two countries are keen to show Trump they are ready to take on a bigger burden for European security.

Britain and France are firming up ideas with allies for military guarantees for Ukraine and their two leaders will seek to persuade Trump to provide U.S. assurances in any post ceasefire deal, Western officials said.

Their respective militaries began initial planning last summer for the post-war scenario, but the discussions accelerated in November after Trump secured the U.S. presidency, a French military official and two diplomats said.

They have also been supported in putting together an array of options by countries like Denmark and the Baltic states as Europeans discuss what they would be ready to do should there be an accord and peacekeepers required, officials said.

While both Britain and France have ruled out sending troops to Ukraine immediately, the plans, still in concept stage, center around providing air, maritime, land and cyber support that would aim to deter Russia from launching any future attacks, Western officials said.

Air and sea assets could be based in Poland or Romania, restoring safe international air space and ensuring the Black Sea remained safe for international shipping, the official said.

Part of the British and French talks center around the possibility of sending European peacekeepers. While U.S. boots on the ground may not be necessary, deterrence in the form of U.S. medium-range missiles and ultimately nuclear weapons will remain crucial.

The options being discussed would center not on providing troops for the frontline or the 2,000-kilometer border which would remain secured by Ukrainian forces, but further to the West, three European diplomats and the military official said.

Those troops could be tasked with protecting key Ukrainian infrastructure such as ports or nuclear facilities to reassure the Ukrainian population. However, Russia has made it clear it would oppose a European presence in Ukraine.

A French military official said there was little sense in talking numbers at this stage because it would depend on what was finally agreed, what international mandate was given and whether non-European troops would also be involved.

“It’s not about the numbers of troops in Ukraine. It’s the ability to mobilize and the ability to arrange everything into a package of interoperability units,” the French official said.

A Western official said that even 30,000 troops could be on the “high side.” 
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ROME — The Vatican carried on with its Holy Year celebrations without the pope Saturday, as Pope Francis battled pneumonia and a complex respiratory infection that doctors say remains touch-and-go and will keep him hospitalized for at least another week.

Francis slept well overnight, Vatican spokesperson Matteo Bruni said in a brief early update Saturday.

But doctors have warned that the main threat facing the 88-year-old Francis would be the onset of sepsis, a serious infection of the blood that can occur as a complication of pneumonia. As of Friday, there was no evidence of any sepsis, and Francis was responding to the various drugs he is taking, the pope’s medical team said in their first in-depth update on the pope’s condition.

“He is not out of danger,” said his personal physician, Dr. Luigi Carbone. “So, like all fragile patients, I say they are always on the golden scale: In other words, it takes very little to become unbalanced.”

Francis, who has chronic lung disease, was admitted to Gemelli hospital on Feb. 14 after a weeklong bout of bronchitis worsened.

Doctors first diagnosed the complex viral, bacterial and fungal respiratory tract infection and then the onset of pneumonia in both lungs. They prescribed “absolute rest” and a combination of cortisone and antibiotics, along with supplemental oxygen when he needs it.

Carbone, who along with Francis’ personal nurse, Massimiliano Strappetti, organized care for him at the Vatican, acknowledged he had insisted on staying at the Vatican to work even after he was sick “because of institutional and private commitments.” He was cared for by a cardiologist and infectious specialist in addition to his personal medical team before being hospitalized.

Dr. Sergio Alfieri, the head of medicine and surgery at Rome’s Gemelli hospital, said the biggest threat facing Francis was that some of the germs that are currently located in his respiratory system pass into the bloodstream, causing sepsis. Sepsis can lead to organ failure and death.

“Sepsis, with his respiratory problems and his age, would be really difficult to get out of,” Alfieri told a press conference Friday at Gemelli. “The English say, ‘knock on wood,’ we say ‘touch iron.’ Everyone touch what they want,” he said as he tapped the microphone.

“But this is the real risk in these cases: that these germs pass to the bloodstream.”

“He knows he’s in danger,” Alfieri said. “And he told us to relay that.”

Deacons, meanwhile, were gathering at the Vatican for their special Jubilee weekend. Francis got sick at the start of the Vatican’s Holy Year, the once-every-quarter-century celebration of Catholicism. This weekend, Francis was supposed to have celebrated deacons, a ministry in the church that precedes ordination to the priesthood.

In his place, the Holy Year organizer will celebrate Sunday’s Mass, the Vatican said. And for the second weekend in a row, Francis was expected to skip his traditional Sunday noon blessing, which he could have delivered from Gemelli if he were up to it.

“Look, even though he’s not [physically] here, we know he’s here,” said Luis Arnaldo Lopez Quirindongo, a deacon from Ponce, Puerto Rico who was at the Vatican on Saturday for the Jubilee celebration. “He’s recovering, but he’s in our hearts and is accompanying us because our prayers and his go together.”

Beyond that, doctors have said that Francis’ recovery will take time and that, regardless, he will have to live with his chronic respiratory problems back at the Vatican.

“He has to get over this infection, and we all hope he gets over it,” said Alfieri. “But the fact is, all doors are open.”
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Pope Francis’ medical team said Friday that his medical condition was not life-threatening, but that the pontiff was not out of danger.

“If the question is, ‘Is he out of danger?’ the answer is, ‘No,’ ” Sergio Alfieri, the head of the team of doctors at Rome’s Gemelli Hospital taking care of the pope, said. “But if you then ask us if, at this moment, his life is in danger, the answer is [also], ‘No.'”

The doctors said Francis was in good spirits and had maintained his sense of humor. Alfieri said when he greeted the pope Friday in the pope’s hospital suite as “Holy Father,” the pope returned the greeting with “Holy Son.”

Francis, the leader of the world’s Roman Catholics, was admitted to the hospital last week after a case of bronchitis worsened. At the hospital, he was diagnosed with double pneumonia and a complex bacterial, viral and fungal infection, and doctors placed Francis on a strengthened drug therapy.

Francis also has been receiving supplements of oxygen when needed, his doctors said Friday. Alfieri said Francis was not on a ventilator.

Alfieri said there was a possibility that germs from Francis’ respiratory tract could enter his bloodstream, causing sepsis, but there was currently no evidence that it had happened. Sepsis is a complication of an infection that can lead to organ failure and death.

The 88-year-old pontiff has been able to get out of bed and do some work, according to his doctors. They said Francis would remain in the hospital “at least” through next week.

With his hospitalization, there has been speculation about Francis stepping down from his duties as head of the Roman Catholic Church, a post he has held since 2013. His immediate predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI, was the first pope in 600 years to resign.

In a recent memoir, Francis addressed the possibility of his own resignation if he became incapacitated. He said such a move would be a “distant possibility,” justified only if he were facing “a serious physical impediment.”

However, in 2022, Francis confirmed he wrote a resignation letter not long after becoming pope. He said it was written in case medical issues prevented him from executing his papal duties.

The Catholic faithful around the world have been encouraged to pray for Francis’ rapid recovery. On Friday in the Philippines, a hourlong prayer was held for Francis at the Manila Cathedral. Francis celebrated Mass in a Manila park in 2015, drawing a record-breaking crowd of 6 million, according to official estimates.

Saturday is the Feast of the Chair of St. Peter, a day commemorating the authority Jesus gave to the pope. Catholics are set to gather outside Gemelli Hospital to pray for Francis’ health, according to the Catholic News Agency.

Some information for this article came from Reuters and The Associated Press.
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RFE/RL   — Iya Rashevskaya was told her husband — a member of the country’s armed forces – had gone missing in the frontline in the eastern Donetsk region, in April 2023. 

The news of Serhiy Skotarenko’s disappearance came just a month after he had joined the military, having given up his job abroad. 

Rashevskaya soon found out that her husband, a native of Ukraine’s southeastern Zaporizhzhya region, was alive and being held captive in Chechnya along with several other Ukrainian prisoners of war. 

A Ukrainian soldier who was released in a prisoner swap in June 2023 told Rashevskaya that he and Skotarenko had been held in the same jail in Chechnya. 

Rashevskaya recalls getting an unexpected, brief video call from her husband in August 2023. 

“My husband asked about me and our children. He also asked me to help him to return home, saying we were his only hope,” Rashevskaya said. “He looked awful, he has lost a lot of weight.” 

Ukrainian captives in Chechnya “were being held in a basement and survived on instant noodles, bread, and water,” according to Rashevskaya. 

Ukrainian authorities estimate that more than 150 Ukrainian POWs are currently being held in Chechnya, a Russian region ruled by authoritarian leader Ramzan Kadyrov. 

Kadyrov says the soldiers were captured by Chechen military units fighting alongside other Russian forces in Ukraine. 

But Ukraine’s Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of POWs has claimed that Chechnya also often “buys” Ukrainian captives from various Russian military units to use them as a bargaining chip in negotiations. 

RFE/RL cannot independently verify the claim. 

Some of the Ukrainian captives were exchanged with Chechen fighters seized by Ukrainian forces. 

Kadyrov, a vocal supporter of Russian President Vladimir Putin, has sent thousands of Chechen fighters to Ukraine since the invasion began three years ago. 

In December 2024, Kadyrov threatened to use Ukrainian captives as human shields to protect strategically important buildings in Grozny from Ukrainian drone attacks. He said he would place them on the rooftops of buildings. 

He made the statement after Ukrainian drones reportedly hit a police campus in the Chechen capital. 

In January 2024, Kadyrov offered to release 20 Ukrainian captives in exchange for the removal of U.S. sanctions against his relatives and horses. 

Kadyrov, 48, and several of his family members, including his mother, Aymani Kadyrova, have been sanctioned by the United States and the European Union in recent years. 

Kadyrova, 71, is the head of the Kadyrov Foundation, which runs reeducation programs for Ukrainian children abducted by Russian forces from occupied territories. Washington imposed sanctions on Kadyrova and the Foundation in August 2023. 

Kadyrov was sanctioned by Washington in 2017 and 2020 over accusations of human rights abuses. 

PR campaign for Kadyrov 

Chechen human rights lawyer Abubakar Yangulbaev says Kadyrov directly controls any prisoner swaps involving the Ukrainians captives in Chechnya. 

“While the Chechens fighting in Ukraine are part of Russian troops, Chechnya also has its own interests. It’s important for Kadyrov to secure the release of the Chechens captured in Ukraine to protect his own reputation before his people, whom he constantly calls to go to fight in Ukraine,” Yangulbaev told RFE/RL. 

“It is a PR campaign for Kadyrov,” he added. 

Chechnya has never released the exact number or Ukrainian POWs it holds. 

According to Maria Klimik, a reporter for the Ukraine-based monitor, Media Initiative for Human Rights, in some cases the Ukrainian and Chechen sides have swapped captured soldiers “informally” in the battlefields in Ukraine without involving a third party. 

Klimik told RFE/RL that Ukrainian POWs in Chechnya are usually held in dark, windowless basements of buildings – presumably police stations. Prisoners sleep on utility shelves as there are no beds in the basements, Klimik said citing accounts of former POWs. 

RFE/RL cannot independently verify the claims. 

In his New Year address, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that 3,956 Ukrainian soldiers had been freed in prisoners’ exchanges between Kyiv and Moscow since the beginning of the invasion. 

There has been no public mention of any direct prisoner exchanges between Ukraine and Chechnya, as the families of the captives in Grozny call for their release. 
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Azerbaijan’s government has ordered the suspension of the Azerbaijani operation of BBC News, the British news agency confirmed Thursday.

In a statement, the BBC said it had made the “reluctant decision” to close its office in the country after receiving a verbal instruction from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

“We deeply regret this restrictive move against press freedom, which will hinder our ability to report to and from Azerbaijan for our audiences inside and outside the country,” a BBC spokesperson said in a statement.

The suspension comes after Azerbaijani state-run media last week reported that the Azerbaijani government wanted to reduce the number of BBC staff working in the country to one.

The BBC said it has received nothing in writing about the suspension from the Azerbaijani government. While the news agency seeks clarification, its team of journalists in the country have stopped their journalistic activities, according to the BBC.

Neither Azerbaijan’s Foreign Ministry nor its Washington embassy immediately responded to VOA’s emails seeking comment.

The BBC has operated in Azerbaijan since 1994. The news agency says its Azerbaijani service reached an average of 1 million people every week.

The BBC suspension marks the continuation of a harsh crackdown on independent media that the Azerbaijani government has engaged in for years.

Azerbaijan is among the worst jailers of journalists in the world. As of last week, at least 23 journalists were jailed in the former Soviet country in retaliation for their work, according to the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists.

Many of the journalists jailed in Azerbaijan are accused of foreign currency smuggling, which media watchdogs have rejected as a sham charge.

Among those jailed is Farid Mehralizada, an economist and journalist with the Azerbaijani Service of VOA’s sister outlet Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.

Jailed since May 2024, Mehralizada faces charges of conspiring to smuggle foreign currency and “illegal entrepreneurship, money laundering, tax evasion and document forgery.” He and his employer reject the charges, which carry a combined sentence of up to 12 years behind bars.
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BRUSSELS — The European Commission said Thursday it had approved 920 million-euro of German state aid, or $960 million, to Infineon Technologies for the construction of a new semiconductor manufacturing plant in Dresden.

The measure will allow Infineon to complete the MEGAFAB-DD project, which will be able to produce a wide range of different types of computer chips, the Commission said.

Chipmakers across the globe are pouring billions of dollars into new plants, as they take advantage of generous subsidies from the United States and the EU to keep the West ahead of China in developing cutting-edge semiconductor technology.

The European Commission has earmarked 15 billion euros for public and private semiconductor projects by 2030.

“This new manufacturing plant will bring flexible production capacity to the EU and thereby strengthen Europe’s security of supply, resilience and technological autonomy in semiconductor technologies, in line with the objectives set out in the European Chips Act,” the Commission said in a statement.

The Commission said the plant — which is slated to reach full capacity in 2031 — will be a front-end facility, covering wafer processing, testing and separation, adding that its chips will be used in industrial, automotive and consumer applications.

The aid will take the form of a direct grant of up to 920 million euros to Infineon to support its overall investment, amounting to 3.5 billion euros. Infineon, Germany’s largest semiconductor manufacturer, which was spun off from Siemens 25 years ago, has said the plant will be the largest single investment in its history.

Infineon has agreed with the EU to ensure the project will bring wider positive effects to the EU semiconductor value chain and invest in the research and development of the next generation of chips in Europe, the Commission said.

It will also contribute to crisis preparedness by committing to implement priority-rated orders in the case of a supply shortage, in line with the European Chips Act. 
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President Donald Trump on Wednesday repeated a claim that the United States has spent $350 billion on Ukraine’s war — a figure that far eclipses the amount recorded by the Department of Defense and the interagency oversight group that tracks U.S. appropriations to Ukraine.

Since Russia’s illegal invasion in February 2022, the U.S. Congress has appropriated about $183 billion for Ukraine, according to the interagency oversight group that is charged with presenting reports to Congress.

Of that, the Pentagon confirmed to VOA that the U.S. has sent $65.9 billion in military aid to Ukraine, and an additional $3.9 billion that Congress has authorized in military aid to Kyiv remains unspent.

About $58 billion of the $183 billion in total aid for Ukraine was spent in the U.S., going directly toward boosting the U.S. defense industry, either by replacing old U.S. weapons given to Kyiv with new American-made weapons, by procuring new U.S.-made weapons for Kyiv or by making direct industrial investments.

VOA asked the White House to clarify Trump’s comments, specifically seeking any documentation for the mathematical discrepancy. The White House replied by referring VOA back to the president’s comments.

In a post Wednesday on his social media site Truth Social, Trump said, “Think of it, a modestly successful comedian, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, talked the United States of America into spending $350 Billion Dollars, to go into a War that couldn’t be won, that never had to start, but a War that he, without the U.S. and ‘TRUMP,’ will never be able to settle.”

Zelenskyy on Wednesday told Ukrainian reporters the total cost of the war since February 2022 was about $320 billion.

“One hundred and twenty billion of that comes from us, the people of Ukraine, the taxpayers, and $200 billion from the United States and the European Union,” Zelensky said. “This is the cost of weapons. This is the weapons package — $320 billion.”

Trump, who has mentioned the $350 billion figure several times, also said in his Wednesday social media post: “The United States has spent $200 Billion Dollars more than Europe, and Europe’s money is guaranteed, while the United States will get nothing back.”

The Kiel Institute for the World Economy, a Germany-based nonprofit that tracks military, financial and humanitarian support to Ukraine, says European nations —specifically the EU, United Kingdom, Iceland, Norway and Switzerland — have allocated about $140 billion in total in aid for Ukraine, while the United States has allocated about $120 billion in total aid. Total aid includes military, humanitarian and financial aid to Ukraine.

The U.S. has provided about $2 billion more than Europe in military aid for Ukraine, but “European donors have been the main source of [total] aid to Ukraine since 2022, especially when it comes to financial and humanitarian aid,” the institute said in its latest report last week.

The aid to Ukraine constitutes a very small amount of GDP for several nations. For example, the U.S., Germany and the U.K. have mobilized less than 0.2% of their GDP per year to support Kyiv, while contributions from France, Italy and Spain to Ukraine have amounted to about 0.1% of their annual GDP. 

U.S. government math is complex, and spending is massive in scale. A live tracker of U.S. government spending says that the U.S. government has spent about $2.4 trillion in the early part of the 2025 fiscal year. The previous year’s spending was $6.75 trillion. 

Still, scholars were quick to dismiss the accuracy of Trump’s numbers.

“This figure is not true,” said Liana Fix, fellow for Europe at the Council on Foreign Relations. “It’s possible to track how much the United States has spent for Ukraine.” 
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