New England Men’s Soccer Shirt Causes Stir With Recolored Flag

LONDON — England’s new men’s soccer team shirt is causing a bit of a stir. It’s not just the price that’s vexing some.

The decision by Nike to change the color of the St. George’s Cross on the shirt from the traditional red and white has even prompted the prime minister and the man who is favored to succeed him to make their displeasure known.

A petition on Change.org calling for a design change attracted more than 22,000 signatures by early afternoon Friday.

The new Nike-designed shirt, which has been modeled by England captain Harry Kane, is being rolled out in the run-up to the European Championship in Germany. The altered cross on the back of the shirt collar has purple and blue horizontal stripes.

Nike says it’s a “playful update” to the shirt and harks to the training kit England wore at the 1966 World Cup, the only major tournament won by the men’s team. England will be starting Euro 2024 this summer as one of the favorites.

Keir Starmer, leader of the main opposition Labour Party and a fan of English Premier League leader Arsenal, said he believed the flag, which is marked by an image of the St. George’s Cross, was a “unifier” and Nike needed to “reconsider” its decision to modify it.

“It doesn’t need to be changed,” he told the Sun newspaper. “We just need to be proud of it.”

Conservative Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, on a visit to the north of England, was also asked about the altered cross.

“I prefer the original and my general view is that when it comes to our national flags, we shouldn’t mess with them because they are a source of pride, identity, who we are and they’re perfect as they are,” said Sunak, who supports Southampton, which is vying for promotion back to the Premier League.

Nike and the English Football Association have indicated they are not going to change tack.

Despite the criticism, the FA defended the design, saying it was “not the first time” different colored St. George’s Cross-inspired designs have appeared on England shirts and it was “very proud” of the traditional cross.

“The new England 2024 home kit has a number of design elements which were meant as a tribute to the 1966 World Cup-winning team,” a spokesperson said. “The colored trim on the cuffs is inspired by the training gear worn by England’s 1966 heroes, and the same colors also feature on the design on the back of the collar.”

England coach Gareth Southgate said the furor has “not been high on my list of priorities” this week as he prepares to lead the team into friendly matches against Brazil on Saturday and Belgium on Tuesday.

“It’s a hard question to answer really because it is presumably some artistic take which I am not creative enough to understand,” Southgate said when asked about his thoughts on the new design.

“What you are really asking,” he said, “is should we be tampering with the cross of St. George? In my head, if it is not a red cross and a white background, then it isn’t a cross of St. George anyway.”

Southgate added that, for him, it was more important that the symbol of the three lions stayed on the shirt than the St. George’s Cross.

“It’s our iconic symbol — it is what distinguishes us not only from football teams around the world but from England rugby and England cricket,” he said of the three lions.

John Barnes, one of England’s best players, said he could not understand what all the fuss was about.

“It’s a much ado about nothing,” the 60-year-old former winger said.

For most people, the problem will be less the color of the flag and more its price tag. An “authentic” version for adults will cost 125 pounds ($155) and 120 pounds for children. That’s quite an outlay at a time when household budgets have been stretched as a result of one of the most acute cost-of-living crises in decades.

The Football Supporters’ Association has long bemoaned the high cost of replica shirts and suggested that a “sell-by” date should be put on kits so buyers know how long it will be in use before a newer version is released.

“An unwitting parent could easily buy a kit for Christmas or a birthday to find it’s ‘old’ within a matter of months,” a spokesperson for the group said.

UN: Belarus Runs Campaign of Violence, Repression to Crush Dissent

GENEVA — A report by the Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights accuses the government of Belarus of running a campaign of violence and repression to crush political dissent and maintain its grip on power.

“Considering the range of human rights violations committed against the population of real or perceived political opponents in discriminatory fashion, the office’s report describes reasonable grounds to believe that the crime against humanity of persecution may have been committed,” said Christian Salazar Volkmann, director of the field operations and technical cooperation division at the OHCHR.

The report Volkmann presented to the United Nations Human Rights Council Wednesday examines all alleged human rights violations committed in Belarus related to the run-up to the 2020 presidential elections and its aftermath.

The report is based on information and evidence from first-hand interviews with 657 people supported by more than 5,400 items, as well as 229 written submissions from victims, witnesses and nongovernmental organizations.

Volkmann said information gathered last year “substantiates the scale and patterns of the violations” identified in previous reports and finds that since May 1, 2020, Belarus has “effectively deprived people in Belarus of their ability to exercise” their civic rights.

The 2020 election of incumbent Alexander Lukashenko to a sixth term in office was decried by international monitors as “neither free nor fair.” Lukashenko denied this.

In his presentation to the council, Volkmann said that opposition parties had been barred from participating in last month’s parliamentary elections, putting into question their ability to participate in next year’s presidential elections.

He said laws adopted or amended by Belarus since 2021 have been used “to oppress and punish real or perceived opponents.”

“In the course of 2023, several prominent human rights defenders, journalists and trade unionists were sentenced to long prison terms,” he said, noting that thousands of people continue to be arbitrarily arrested and detained for “having exercised their freedom of expression and/or assembly.”

“Since 2020, thousands of Belarusians have been subjected to cruel, inhumane, or degrading treatment or punishment in detention facilities across Belarus,” he said.

The report documents cases in which torture has resulted in severe injuries and instances of sexual and gender-based violence, adding that “death and rape threats were widespread.”

It describes the horrific, punitive treatment and conditions under which political prisoners are subjected in state-run penal colonies.

Authors of the report say, “Information gathered regarding the lack of adequate medical care in the penal colonies is particularly alarming,” adding that at least two people died “in the custody of Belarusian authorities in 2023 due to medical negligence” and two additional prisoners have died this year.

The U.N. human rights office found widespread arbitrary arrests of children took place in 2020 and 2021, resulting in more than 50 politically motivated criminal trials in which the children lacked protections guaranteed under international law.

“OHCHR also found instances of ill-treatment and possibly torture of children,” it said.

Volkmann told the U.N. council that Belarusian authorities have removed children in supposedly “dangerous situations” from their parents in ways that seemed more focused on “pressuring and punishing parents than safeguarding the best interest of the child.”

He said children sometimes were left without care, taken to orphanages, or “parents were forced under duress to transfer the custody of their children to a relative or friend.”

He said the campaign of violence and repression has driven an estimated 300,000 Belarusians into exile since May 2020.

“It is currently not safe for those in exile to return to Belarus,” Volkmann said. “I therefore recommend that other member states continue to facilitate access to international refugee protection.”

He called on the government of Belarus “to immediately release all individuals arbitrarily detained and sentenced on politically motivated grounds.”

To that, Belarus Ambassador to the U.N. in Geneva Larysa Belskaya indignantly responded that “there are no political prisoners in Belarus.”

“Persons serving sentences have been convicted of specific crimes, including against national security,” she said. “The Belarus lawbreakers are treated equally regardless of whether they are favorites of foreign politicians or act in their interests.”

The ambassador accused Western governments of supporting activists who “fled the country, who failed to undermine the Belarusian state through an attempt at a covert revolution and participated in illegal anti-government actions and clashes with law enforcement officers in 2020.”

“Now, they broadcast extremist calls and plans to overthrow the legitimate authorities in an armed conflict in Belarus,” she said.

“The real situation in Belarus is radically different from the false picture painted by the report of the so-called group of OHCHR experts,” she said. “The focus of the state policy of Belarus will always be the strengthening of the well-being of the people and the protection of the interest of the Belarus state.”

Volkmann ended his presentation by calling for “prompt, effective, transparent and independent investigations into all past violations of international law occurring since May 2020” and for an end to impunity and accountability for perpetrators of crimes in Belarus.

Australia Signs Security Accord with Britain  

Sydney — Australia and the United Kingdom signed a new defense and security cooperation agreement Thursday that deepens the strategic relationship between the two nations, makes it easier for their defense forces to operate together in each other’s countries, and boosts a fledgling nuclear-powered submarine program with the United States.

Australia has said the new security and defense treaty updates its longstanding relationship with Britain “to meet contemporary challenges.”

Australia Defense Minister Richard Marles said in a statement that as “the world becomes more complex and uncertain, we must modernize our most important relationships.”

The new accord signed Thursday builds on the 2021 AUKUS alliance, which is designed to allow Australia to build a new multibillion-dollar fleet of nuclear-powered submarines with help from the United States and Britain.

Marles later told reporters in Canberra that a far-reaching pact with Britain was fundamental to Australia’s national security.

“It does reflect a relationship that has become much more strategic, a relationship which has a much bigger national security dimension,” he said. “To that end, the U.K. has a much greater presence in the Indo-Pacific than we have seen in a very long time. We also spoke today about AUKUS, which is, perhaps, at the heart of the contemporary strategic relationship between our two countries.”

Britain’s defense minister, Grant Shapps, is in Australia for the annual Australia-U.K. Ministerial (AUKMIN) meetings, which were first held in 2006. Officials said bilateral talks would also include support for Ukraine, peace in the Middle East, gender-based violence in the Pacific, climate change and trade.

The defense treaty signed Thursday includes provisions to make it easier for Australian and British forces to work together in each other’s countries, much like the joint training of Ukrainian troops in Britain. There will also be closer collaboration on undersea warfare, intelligence and military exercises.

Shapps told a news conference in Canberra that the treaty would enhance global efforts to maintain peace.

“We stand shoulder-to-shoulder in all of these many, many different ways, and the thing which has struck me most in my first few hours with you here today is the extent to which distance is absolutely no object to us at all because we stand united in our view of the world and what needs to be done and we are proactive nations that are prepared to stand up and make sure that we do maintain the world order,” he said.

The announcement of the new defense accord between Canberra and London comes a day after Australia hosted a visit by China’s most senior diplomat, the foreign minister Wang Yi.

Analysts have said that China’s increasing assertiveness is a key motivation behind the trilateral AUKUS agreement, but China has accused Australia, Britain and the United States of a “Cold War mentality,” saying the alliance was embarking on a “path of error and danger.”

Thursday, the Canberra government has also announced a new multi-million-dollar deal to send army vehicles to Germany. In one of the biggest defense export deals in Australian history, 100 Boxer armored vehicles will be sent to the German army.

Ukrainians See Putin’s Reelection as Another Sign War Won’t End Soon

Like many people around the world, Ukrainians were not surprised by what was reported as President Vladimir Putin’s landslide victory in the Russian elections. Many see the outcome as another sign the war in Ukraine will not end anytime soon. For VOA, Anna Chernikova reports from Kyiv. Videography: Vladyslav Smilianets.

Russia Donates Fertilizer, Grain to Zimbabwe

Harare, Zimbabwe — Russia donated 25,000 tons of grain and 23,000 tons of fertilizer to Zimbabwe to help combat the effects of El Nino-induced drought, which has dwindled crop yields in most parts of Southern Africa. 

President Emmerson Mnangagwa accepted the donation Wednesday, saying it would help alleviate the drought Zimbabwe is coping with and the targeted sanctions which the government has long blamed for the country’s economic doldrums. 

“Zimbabwe and the Russian Federation continue to be subjected to the heinous and illegal sanctions imposed by the hegemonic powers of the West,” he said. “Throughout the 23 years of sanctions against Zimbabwe, the Russian Federation has been a true, trusted and dependable ally of the people of this country.” 

The president added that it should be no surprise that two countries who are the subject of sanctions talk to each other and try to work together. 

Western countries slapped travel and financial sanctions on Zimbabwe’s leadership and affiliated companies in the early 2000s for alleged election rigging and human rights abuses.  

The U.S. recently removed sanctions on most Zimbabweans, but a few prominent figures — including Mnangagwa — remain on the list. 

Meanwhile, Russia and its president Vladimir Putin were hit with sanctions following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine two years ago. 

On Wednesday, the Russian ambassador to Harare, Nikolai Krasilnikov, said the donated fertilizers would aid Zimbabwe’s agricultural production. 

“It is a commitment made by Russia to continue to support states and regions in need to do its utmost to prevent a global food crisis through participation in establishing a more equitable system for the distribution of resources,” Krasilnikov said. “And let us not forget that food security cannot [be achieved] without fertilizers, as they ensure growth, resilience and productivity of agricultural crops.”  

However, the fertilizers may not work in Zimbabwe’s current growing season, as most crops have been dried out by a lack of rain. 

In an interview, Alexander Rusero, an international relations professor at Africa University, said he was not surprised by Russia’s donations to Zimbabwe. 

“Zimbabwe does not have an ambivalent foreign policy with regards to Russia,” Rusero said. “Its position in terms of its interaction with Russia [is] very clear. Zimbabwe is on the side of Russia at whatever cost so it is not surprising. I wouldn’t know why it looks like a surprise that Zimbabwe has received some gift from Russia. And remember, these are fulfillments of pledges already made some time ago.” 

Zimbabwe’s electoral commission sent a mission to Moscow to observe the Russian elections this week in which Putin won another six-year term. At a press conference in Moscow, commission chair Priscilla Chigumba declared the elections to be credible. 

“We found the general atmosphere to be conducive for elections, the mood was relaxed and cheerful as people were exercising their right to vote,” Chigumba said. “It is our view that this is a clear sign of mature democracy in which elections are not perceived as life and death activity.”

The remarks drew wide criticism in Zimbabwe, given the way the electoral commission ran the country’s 2023 elections, which were plagued by irregularities and delays and were condemned by several observer missions, including from the Southern African Development Community.

Berlin Summons Iran Ambassador Over 2022 Synagogue Plot

BERLIN — Germany on Wednesday said it had summoned the Iranian ambassador over an attempted arson attack on a synagogue in 2022 that Berlin believes was planned with the help of Tehran. 

A German Iranian national was sentenced in December to two years and nine months in prison in the plot to attack a synagogue in the western German city of Bochum. 

The 36-year-old, identified only as Babak J., had planned to target the synagogue but ended up throwing an incendiary device at an adjacent school building. No one was injured. 

In handing down the verdict, the Duesseldorf court said the attack had been planned with the help of “Iranian state agencies.” 

The foreign ministry on Wednesday said in a post on X, formerly Twitter, that it had summoned the Iranian envoy after receiving a written justification of the judgment. 

“We will now immediately share the judgment with our European partners and the EU institutions and examine further steps,” the ministry said. 

Germany also summoned Iran’s charge d’affaires in December over the plot. 

A summoning is a way for a nation to show high-level disapproval with another country. 

Germany has grown increasingly alarmed in recent years about rising anti-Jewish sentiment nearly eight decades after the end of the Holocaust. 

Anti-Semitic acts have increased sharply in the country amid the latest turmoil in the Middle East, according to the Federal Association of Research and Information Centers on Anti-Semitism. 

Spanish Court Grants Bail to Soccer Star Dani Alves While Appealing Rape Conviction 

BARCELONA, Spain — A Spanish court decided Wednesday that Brazilian soccer star Dani Alves could leave prison if he pays a bail of one million euros ($1.1 million) and hands over his passports while awaiting the appeal of his conviction for raping a woman in Barcelona.

Alves was found guilty of having raped the woman in a nightclub in 2022 and sentenced to four years and six months in prison. He denied wrongdoing during the three-day trial.

He has been behind bars since being arrested in January 2023. His prior requests to be released on bail were denied because the court deemed him a flight risk. Brazil does not extradite its own citizens when they are sentenced in other countries.

To now go free, in addition to the bail money, the 40-year-old Alves is also required to hand over his Brazilian and Spanish passports and is prohibited from leaving the country. He also cannot come within 1,000 meters (3,280 feet) of the victim or try to communicate with her and must make weekly check-ins at the courthouse. He still has a residence near the city.

The decision came a day after a hearing where Alves told the court via video conference from prison that he had no intention of fleeing the country, according to his lawyer, Inés Guardiola.

Guardiola and the state prosecutor have appealed the conviction. His defense is seeking his acquittal while the prosecutor wants his prison sentence increased to nine years. The victim’s lawyer wants him put away for 12 years. There is no date yet for the new trial at a higher court in Barcelona. After that, it can then go to the Supreme Court in Madrid.

The panel of judges at the Provincial Court in Barcelona was split on the decision, two to one. The judges in favor of granting Alves bail said that they believed the flight risk had lowered, adding that they considered the fact that Alves responded to police summons when he was arrested while visiting Spain. The other judge disagreed, saying he was still able to flee despite the restrictions placed on him.

Another factor cited by the two judges was that according to Spanish law a person cannot be kept in preventative detention for more than half the period of his or her prison sentence while awaiting an appeal. In Alves’ case that leaves him just over a year before he would reach the mid-way mark of two years, three months, while the appeals could easily take longer. Once his appeals are exhausted, and if his conviction is maintained, then depending on the final sentence he could go back to prison.

As part of his conviction, the court ordered Alves to pay 150,000 euros ($162,000) in compensation to the victim, banned him from approaching the victim’s home or place of work, and from communicating with her by any means for nine years.

He was with Mexican club Pumas when he was arrested. Pumas terminated his contract immediately.

Alves won dozens of titles with elite clubs including Barcelona. He helped Brazil win two Copa Americas and an Olympic gold medal. He played for Barcelona from 2008-16, helping to win three Champions Leagues, and briefly rejoined the club in 2022.

Alves is being held at Brians 2 prison about 45 minutes northwest of Barcelona.

Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar to Step Down

LONDON — Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar, who made history as his country’s first gay and first biracial leader, announced Wednesday that he will step down within weeks once a successor is chosen.

Varadkar announced Wednesday he is quitting immediately as head of the center-right Fine Gael party, part of Ireland’s coalition government. He’ll be replaced as prime minister in April after a party leadership contest. 

He said his reasons were “both personal and political” and he had no firm future plans. He said he plans to remain in parliament as a backbench lawmaker. 

Varadkar, 45, has had two spells as taoiseach, or prime minister — between 2017 and 2020, and again since December 2022 as part of a job-share with Micheál Martin, head of coalition partner Fianna Fáil. 

He was the country’s youngest-ever leader when first elected, as well as Ireland’s first openly gay prime minister. Varadkar, whose mother is Irish and father is Indian, was also Ireland’s first biracial taoiseach. 

He played a leading role in campaigns to legalize same-sex marriage, approved in a 2015 referendum, and to repeal a ban on abortion, which passed in a vote in 2018. 

“I’m proud that we have made the country a more equal and more modern place,” Varadkar said in a resignation statement in Dublin. 

Varadkar recently returned from Washington, where he met President Joe Biden and other political leaders as part of the Irish prime minister’s traditional St. Patrick’s Day visit to the United States. 

Varadkar has faced discontent within Fine Gael. Ten of the party’s lawmakers, almost a third of the total, have announced they will not run for reelection. 

Earlier this month, voters rejected the government’s position in referendums on two constitutional amendments. Changes backed by Varadkar that would have broadened the definition of family and removed language about a woman’s role in the home were resoundingly defeated. The result sparked criticism that the pro-change campaign had been lackluster and confusing. 

Even so, his resignation was not widely expected. Martin, the current deputy prime minister, said he’d been “surprised, obviously, when I heard what he was going to do.” 

“But I want to take the opportunity to thank him sincerely,” Martin said. “We got on very well.” 

Martin said Varadkar’s resignation should not trigger an early election, and the three-party coalition government that also includes the Green Party would continue. 

Varadkar said he knew his departure would “come as a surprise to many people and a disappointment to some.” 

“I know that others will, how shall I put it, cope with the news just fine – that is the great thing about living in a democracy,” he said. “There’s never a right time to resign high office. However, this is as good a time as any.”

China, Not Russia, Still Tops List of Threats to US

WASHINGTON — Russia’s war in Ukraine — portrayed by top U.S. officials as posing a danger to the United States itself — still trails China when it comes to long-term threats to America’s security, according to a top Pentagon official.

The warning from Ely Ratner, the Defense Department’s assistant secretary for Indo-Pacific security affairs, comes in testimony prepared for a hearing Wednesday by the House Armed Services Committee on security challenges in the Indo-Pacific region.

“The PRC [People’s Republic of China] continues to present the most comprehensive and serious challenge to our national security,” Ratner is set to tell lawmakers, according to a copy his opening statement obtained by VOA.

“The PRC remains the only country with the will and increasingly the capability to dominate the Indo-Pacific region and displace the United States,” Ratner warns, adding, “the PRC is pursuing its revisionist goals with increasingly coercive activities in the Taiwan Strait, the South and East China seas, along the Line of Actual Control with India, and beyond.”

This is not the first time Ratner has addressed the growing threat from Beijing.

In October he called out China’s military for what he described as a “sharp increase” in risky behavior in the East and South China seas.

Ratner also cautioned, separately, that China’s leaders were “increasingly turning to the PLA [People’s Liberation Army] as an instrument of coercion.”

Additionally, the Pentagon’s annual China Military Power report said that China’s nuclear arsenal has been growing faster than expected, while Beijing is building out the infrastructure needed for a further expansion of its nuclear forces.

China has responded to such allegations by accusing the U.S. of “hyping up” the threat.

On Tuesday, U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin issued a warning of his own, emphasizing the threat from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

“The United States stands by Ukraine because it’s the right thing to do,” Austin told a meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group in Ramstein, Germany. “But we also stand by Ukraine because it’s crucial to our own security.”

“The United States would face grave new perils in a world where aggression and autocracy are on the march and where tyrants are emboldened and where dictators think that they can wipe out democracy off the map,” he said.

U.S. intelligence officials argued recently that the threats from Russia and China are linked, and that Russia’s war has served to embolden China’s leadership.

Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines told lawmakers earlier this month that Beijing has managed to get long-sought concessions from Moscow in exchange for support for Russia’s war in Ukraine.

And CIA Director William Burns said Russian success in Ukraine could “stoke the ambitions of the Chinese leadership in contingencies ranging from Taiwan to the South China Sea.”

Ratner is set to tell U.S. lawmakers Wednesday that the Defense Department is working to strengthen key alliances in the Indo-Pacific and develop what he calls a “regional force posture” including Japan, South Korea, the Philippines and Australia.

He is also set to testify that the Pentagon’s proposed 2025 budget is placing a priority on investments in air, sea and undersea power, as well as in modernizing U.S. nuclear forces with an eye toward Beijing’s own military modernization efforts.

 

Secretary of Defense: ‘United States Will Not Let Ukraine Fail’

Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin says the United States remains determined to provide Ukraine with the resources to fight Russian aggression, even as the U.S. Congress has failed to pass supplemental aid for Ukraine. VOA Pentagon correspondent Carla Babb traveled to Ramstein Air Base in Germany with the secretary.

Ukrainian Drone Strikes Hit Russia’s Oil Revenues

London — A recent series of Ukrainian drone and missile strikes targeting Russian oil refineries has significantly hurt Moscow’s processing capacity, according to analysts.

The strikes, which come as Kyiv and its allies aim to deprive Russia of a main source of revenue for funding its invasion of Ukraine, have reduced Moscow’s overall oil processing capacity by 370,500 barrels per day, or 7% of its total output, according to calculations by Reuters.

The Ryazan oil refinery was set on fire after a drone attack March 13, forcing the shutdown of two damaged primary oil refining units. The plant, which is located south of Moscow, produces around 317,000 barrels per day, or 5.8% of Russia’s total refined crude oil.

Video footage posted online showed a Ukrainian drone flying through a smoke-filled sky above the refinery, before circling and crashing into the plant, causing a loud explosion.

Another drone attack on March 12 targeted the NORSI refinery near the city of Nizhny Novgorod, some 430 kilometers east of Moscow, knocking out half of the plant’s refining capacity, according to sources quoted by Reuters.

Kyiv claims to have targeted at least seven different refineries. Several are in the region bordering Ukraine. 

“Wars take huge amounts of diesel fuel for tanks, for trucks and so forth. And so that region is directly responsible for diesel for the war,” noted Thomas O’Donnell, an energy and geopolitics analyst with the Hertie School of Governance in Berlin.

The attacks on refineries further to the north of Russia are also aimed at reducing Moscow’s revenue from hydrocarbon exports.

“By hitting refineries up there, what happens is the diesel that they export — they were exporting almost as much diesel before as oil — that’s being destroyed, and they have to shift it to oil if they want to make money on that,” O’Donnell told VOA.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy praised the military’s growing drone capabilities in the wake of last week’s attacks.

“In recent weeks, many have already seen that the Russian war machine has vulnerabilities and that we can exploit these vulnerabilities with our weapons,” Zelenskyy said in his nightly video address on March 16. “What our own drones can do is truly a long-range Ukrainian capability. Ukraine will now always have its own striking force in the sky.”

The Ukrainian strikes combined with the Western price cap of $60 per barrel on Russian oil could add to the pressure the Kremlin is facing. Buyers who do not adhere to the cap are prevented from using Western services like insurance and shipping. Since November, Western nations have toughened their monitoring of compliance with the measures.

Russia has used a fleet of “shadow” tankers to move its oil around the world, with much of it travelling through the Baltic Sea or the Arctic. That presents an opportunity for Ukraine’s allies, says analyst O’Donnell.

“The tankers themselves are very old and rather sketchy. They could be stopped in the straits, in the territorial waters between Denmark and Sweden, and be inspected, legally,” he told VOA. “And the inspectors could say, ‘this isn’t good enough insurance,’ or ‘these ships aren’t of proper quality to be carrying this oil,’ and make them turn around. That would be a dramatic intervention.”

Austin: US, Free World ‘Will Not Let Ukraine Fail’ 

Ramstein, Germany   — Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin says the United States remains determined to provide Ukraine with the resources it needs to fight Russian aggression, even as a U.S. Congress has yet to approve new funding for Ukraine.

“The United States will not let Ukraine fail. This coalition will not let Ukraine fail, and the free world will not let Ukraine fail,” Austin said at the start of this month’s Ukraine Defense Contact Group meeting in Germany.

This is Austin’s first international trip since he was hospitalized on January 1 due to complications from surgery to treat his prostate cancer in late December. The Ukraine Defense Contact Group (UDCG) brings together officials from more than 50 nations to coordinate their Ukraine efforts.

The U.S. has contributed about $44 billion in security assistance to Ukraine since Russia’s invasion in February 2022, with allies and partners also committing more than $44 billion in that time frame.

But the U.S. military has run out of congressionally approved funds for replenishing its weapons stockpiles sent to Ukraine, and leadership in the Republican-controlled U.S. House of Representatives has so far refused to bring new aid for Ukraine up for a vote.

“There isn’t a way that our allies can really combine forces to make up for the lack of U.S. support,” according to a senior defense official, who spoke to reporters on the condition of anonymity ahead of the UDCG.

Not only is the U.S. military out of funds for Ukraine, the Defense Department has a funding shortfall from its efforts to provide military support to Ukraine that will grow to least $12 billion by the end of the fiscal year without additional funding from Congress, according to officials. The Pentagon previously acknowledged a funding shortfall of about $10 billion for U.S. military weapons needed to replace those already sent to Ukraine.

In addition to the $10 billion shortage for weapons replenishment, U.S. Army Europe and Africa currently has overspent its budget by about $500 million as it continues to pay for the training of Ukrainians and other Ukraine support mission necessities out of pocket, Col. Martin O’Donnell, the public affairs director for the Army’s forces across those two continents, told VOA.

That shortfall will grow to at least $2 billion by the end of the fiscal year without supplemental funding from Congress, he added.

Ukrainian forces have continued to fight back against Russian forces in the east while inflicting considerable damage to Russian forces in the Black Sea and downing Russian warplanes. However, Moscow— with the help of North Korea and Iran — has drastically ramped up its defense production capacity, forcing Ukraine to retreat from some battles due to ammunition shortages, the senior defense official added.

“Ukraine is heavily outgunned on the battlefield. We’ve received reports of Ukrainian troops rationing or even running out of ammunition on the front lines,” said the official.

Austin on Tuesday thanked members of the group for digging deeper to get vital security assistance to Ukraine, praising the Czech Republic for recently procuring 800,000 artillery shells for Kyiv. He also highlighted Germany, France, Denmark and Sweden for their new contributions.

Last week, the United States announced its first new round of military aid for Ukraine since late December, in what defense officials called an “ad hoc” package made possible through U.S. Army procurement savings.

The military assistance package is valued at up to $300 million and will provide Ukraine with immediate air defense, artillery and anti-tank capabilities, along with more ammunition for HIMARS rocket launchers and 155-mm artillery rounds. But officials say it is unclear if there will be future procurement savings to produce another extraordinary package of aid.

“This is not a sustainable solution for Ukraine. We urgently need congressional approval of a national security supplemental,” the senior defense official said.

The emphasis on ammunition and air defense will likely be as strong as ever during this UDCG meeting. Officials say Ukraine’s forces need interceptors for a variety of their air defense systems, which they have been running out of as they try to defend against wave upon wave of attacks from Russia.

Coalition leadership group

To better organize how the UDCG provides Kyiv with military weapons and equipment, the group’s members have formed capability coalitions to identify ways to increase Kyiv’s efficiency and cut costs.

Defense officials say Secretary Austin will convene a meeting of the leads and co-leads of all the capability coalitions for the first time on Tuesday during a special coalition leadership group session.

Air Force capability is co-led by the United States, Denmark and the Netherlands. The armor capability is co-led by Poland and Italy. The artillery capability is co-led by France and the United States. De-mining is co-led by Lithuania and Iceland. Drone capability is co-led by Latvia and the United Kingdom. Information technology is co-led by Estonia and Luxembourg. Integrated air and missile defense capabilities are co-led by Germany and France, and maritime security is co-led by the United Kingdom and Norway.

Critics like Sean McFate, a professor at Syracuse University and author of “The New Rules of War,” told VOA the international community is putting its money into expensive military aid that falls short in modern warfare.

“It’s not conventional warfare that beat back Russia’s blitz. It was Ukrainian guerrilla warfare,” he said. “Ukraine was winning the unconventional fight. But then in fall of 2022, they decided to go conventional against Russia, which was strategically silly.”

McFate added that giving Ukraine more conventional war weapons was, in his view, “the strategic definition of insanity.”

Instead, he said Ukraine and its allies needed to think about unconventional ways where they can leverage their power to defeat Russia, such as guerilla operations and more direct actions deep inside Russia to build on the Russian population’s unfavorable opinions of the war.

“Use your conventional forces to hold the line, but don’t invest them to create an offensive which requires a lot more resources,” McFate told VOA.

“M1A1 Abram tanks and F-16 fighter jets … will win tactical victories on the battlefield, but we all know that you can win every battle, yet lose the war, because wars are won on the strategic level, not at the tactical level of warfare,” he said.

US Says NKorea Shipped 10,000 Containers of Munitions to Russia

Jung Pak, the U.S. Senior Official for the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, told VOA on Monday that there have been at least 10 instances where North Korean missiles have been used on the battlefield in Ukraine. Pak told VOA’s Nike Ching that the U.S. still assesses North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is not currently planning an imminent attack on Washington’s allies, South Korea and Japan.

VOA Interview | US Says NKorea Shipped 10,000 Containers of Munitions to Russia

STATE DEPARTMENT — The United States disclosed Monday that North Korea has dispatched at least 10,000 containers loaded with military munitions to Russia in support of its war in Ukraine. This number surpasses the 7,000 containers estimated by the South Korean defense chief earlier in the day.

Jung Pak, the U.S. Senior Official for the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), told VOA on Monday that there have been at least 10 instances where North Korean missiles have been used on the battlefield in Ukraine.

She expressed deep concern about the increasing ties between Russia, a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council, and the DPRK.

Earlier on Monday, North Korea launched several ballistic missiles into the sea for the first time in two months, as U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited Seoul for the Summit for Democracy hosted by South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol.

Despite these “unfortunate” and “concerning” developments, Pak told VOA the U.S. still assesses North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is not currently planning an imminent attack on Washington’s allies, South Korea and Japan.

The following has been edited for brevity and clarity.

VOA: North Korea has fired several ballistic missiles at a time when South Korea is hosting the Summit for Democracy, and a few days after the U.S. and South Korea finished their military exercises. Do you still believe that a direct attack from North Korea against Japan and South Korea is not imminent?

Jung Pak, U.S. Senior Official for the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea: I still do. Ballistic missile launches are something that the DPRK has been doing: 69 in 2022, several dozen last year. And this is their latest set of launches. And it was unfortunate that they did it when the secretary was in Seoul for the Summit for Democracy.

We still assess that DPRK’s leader, Kim Jong Un, is not looking at an imminent attack or near-term attack. I think Kim Jong Un probably knows what that would likely mean in response. But we are very concerned about the level of activity, weapons advancements, and the increasing alignment with Russia over the past couple of years.

VOA: Just to clarify, does the U.S. not see any signs of North Korea planning some form of lethal military action against South Korea in the coming months?

Pak: We’re always on the lookout for any kind of dangerous activities. But I’ll also point out that these ballistic missile tests, various cruise missile tests, and this hostile rhetoric coming out of the DPRK, are of great concern to us. Regardless, we’re going to keep trying to see where we can engage with the DPRK, because diplomacy is the only way that we can get a sustained peace on the peninsula and discuss the issue of denuclearization.

VOA: Also on Monday, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un congratulated Russian President Vladimir Putin for his reelection. Meanwhile, South Korea’s defense chief says North Korea has supplied 7,000 containers filled with munitions to Russia. Can you talk about the closer ties between Moscow and Pyongyang?

Pak: It’s been a very concerning development to have a permanent member of the U.N. Security Council openly flout the Security Council resolutions that it signed up to, along with the rest of the international community, and that they’re engaging in weapons transfers. We know that there have been at least 10,000 containers that have gone from DPRK to Russia. And DPRK is not doing this for free. There are almost certainly things that DPRK wants in return. And we’re concerned about what might be going to the other side.

We also worry about what the DPRK could be learning from Russia’s use of these weapons and ballistic missiles on the battlefield, and how that might embolden and/or help the DPRK even further advance their weapons program. So, this is a really dangerous time.

VOA: Does the U.S. see new evidence that more ballistic missiles provided by North Korea to Russia have been fired at targets in Ukraine since 2024?

Pak: Yes, this is of course concerning to us, that we have a known proliferator in the DPRK selling weapons to Russia, and to be able to conduct their unlawful brutal attack on Ukraine, killing Ukrainian people, destroying Ukraine infrastructure, and just destroying lives. And so, we’re very much concerned about that.

There have been at least 10 instances where the DPRK missiles have been used on the battlefield. So, we’re absolutely concerned about what that means for proliferation going forward, and how this exacerbates the situation.

VOA: Does the U.S. see further evidence that Russia has agreed to and is helping North Korea with nuclear-capable missiles?

Pak: We think the DPRK is probably looking for ballistic missile technologies, or other advanced technologies, or surface-to-air missiles, or armored vehicles. We’ve observed a significant increase in exchanges across military, leadership, economic, and cultural levels. So, it’s pretty apparent that the two sides are getting closer and closer together.

VOA: You have said there would have to be interim steps toward ultimate denuclearization. Can you please elaborate on that? Is having “interim steps” to denuclearizing North Korea an official U.S. government policy?

Pak: Our policy is the same since we rolled out our policy review back in the spring of 2021, which is that we are absolutely looking for the complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. And so that goal has not wavered for us at all.

When we talk about “interim steps,” we’re making explicit what has always been implicit: which is a complete denuclearization will not occur overnight. So, there are valuable discussions that we can have with the DPRK on reducing the potential for military risk, and other substantive discussions as we work toward complete denuclearization.

VOA: Isn’t it a departure from seeking complete denuclearization?

Pak: It is not a departure. As I mentioned, this is not something that’s going to happen overnight. There are going to have to be substantial discussions that will need to take place.