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The National
11-07-2025
- Business
- The National
UAE to foster women's businesses and support children in Ukraine
The UAE has signed a declaration supporting women-led small businesses and improving access to education for children affected by the war in Ukraine. The commitment was made at the Ukraine Recovery Conference in Rome, where the UAE delegation was led by Reem Al Hashimy, Minister of State for International Co-operation. UN High Commissioner for Refugees representative Karolina Lindholm Billing told the conference the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022 forced almost 10 million people to flee their homes, with about 3.8 million displaced within the country and 5.6 million abroad, but most of them want to stay close to their homes. The conference is expected to finalise individual deals of guarantees and grants to unlock more than 10 billion euros ($12 billion) in investments. Ms Al Hashimy met Olena Zelenska, the wife of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and the UAE signed a new set of collaborative programmes with the Olena Zelenska Foundation. These initiatives will enhance psychosocial services, expand access to education, and create safe spaces for children affected by the conflict. The UAE also concluded a trilateral declaration with Italy and Ukraine aimed at strengthening Ukraine's institutional capacities and fostering women-led small businesses. The declaration establishes joint technical co-operation in digital transformation, vocational training and governance, while ensuring that women's economic empowerment remains a priority. It was developed in co-ordination with Ukraine's Deputy Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko and Italian Deputy Foreign Minister Edmondo Cirielli. Separately, the UAE and Italy signed a declaration to widen support for children, adolescents, and young adults in Ukraine. The initiative focuses on educational and psychosocial assistance and the renovation of protective shelters, delivered in partnership with the Olena Zelenska Foundation and other humanitarian groups. 'To us, recovery is not simply about rebuilding but about supporting the conditions for long-term stability,' said Ms Al Hashimy. 'That includes restoring trust, dignity, and local agency.' As participants in the fourth Ukraine Recovery Conference gathered on Thursday and Friday, European leaders urged private business and equity to invest in rebuilding Ukraine now, even as Russia accelerates its war effort. Ms Lindholm Billing said UNHCR is working with Ukraine's government on a 'winter response plan,' which will include cash assistance for vulnerable families to pay for firewood, coal and briquettes to warm homes in front line areas where energy systems are damaged. 'At the moment, most who are newly displaced remain within the country and that's what most people prefer to do as well – to stay as close as possible to their home regions,' she said. The UNHCR representative said that every day the organisation and its local partners help people who are victims of aerial attacks, including recent strikes on Kyiv and Kharkiv. 'People evacuating from front line areas need support. But at the same time, we have to continue helping Ukraine's immediate recovery, so that people who want to stay in Ukraine can actually do that,' Ms Lindholm Billing said. June brought the highest monthly civilian casualties of the past three years, with 232 people killed and 1,343 wounded. Russia launched 10 times more drones and missiles in June than in the same month last year, the UN human rights mission in Ukraine said. Fatigue over the war in Ukraine and US-led foreign aid cuts are jeopardising efforts to support people fleeing hardship, the head of the UN migration agency warned. 'It's three-and-a-half years into the conflict. I think it's fair to say that everybody is tired, and we hear that even from Ukrainians who've been experiencing the ongoing attacks in their cities and often have been displaced multiple times,' she told Reuters. Amy Pope, director general of the UN's International Organisation for Migration, said: 'The response to it, though, has to be peace, because ultimately, without peace, there won't be an end, not only to the funding request, but also to the support for the Ukrainian people.'
The Guardian
11-07-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
The Guardian view on Ukraine's future: Putin may be gaining ground, but he is not winning
European leaders gathered in Rome on Thursday for a conference on Ukrainian recovery, but endurance remains the priority. Russia has intensified its assault with punishing strikes far beyond the frontline – including a record 728 drones and 13 missiles one day before the conference. The UN said that civilian casualties last month were at their highest for three years, with at least 232 people killed and 1,343 injured. Russia's brutal offensive aims to break Ukraine's spirit and European solidarity. Even Donald Trump appears to be realising, with encouragement, that Moscow is not interested in peace. For Mr Trump, maximalism is a negotiating tactic; he does not recognise that for Vladimir Putin it reflects a fixation. Yet this week he acknowledged: 'We get a lot of bullshit thrown at us by Putin … He's very nice all the time, but it turns out to be meaningless.' War is exhausting. Olena Zelenska, Ukraine's first lady, reminded the conference that Ukrainians are living in a chronic state of stress and emotional pain. At the same time, there is a growing awareness of the gap between those fighting on the frontline and those making decisions in Kyiv – even if the latter have repeatedly rushed for shelters this week. But Ukraine is fighting to remain a viable, independent state; Russia to ensure that it does not. The finding by the European court of human rights of Russian abuses 'on a massive scale'in Ukraine from 2014 onwards, including extrajudicial killings, sexual violence and forced labour, is a potent encapsulation of why resolve endures. No one should count on Mr Trump remaining aggrieved by Russia for long, still less on that producing significant action. Though the US has resumed weapons shipments after a pause, the deliveries authorised by Joe Biden will soon reach their end and the US no longer sees this as its war. The long-awaited bipartisan sanctions bill promoted by the Republican senator Lindsey Graham appears to be finally making progress. But the president will not approve it unless it gives him plenty of wiggle room on actually imposing measures. European obeisance to 'Daddy' may be emetic, but aims to ensure that allies can buy the arms that Ukraine needs, and that the US keeps supplying intelligence. The future lies in European self-reliance. For now, the hope is not of decisively defeating Moscow but preventing it from winning. If victory is measured by the metre, Russia continues to grind out an advance – but slowly and at growing cost. And as Prof Sir Lawrence Freedman, the military strategy expert, wrote recently: 'The question to ask is not whether Russia can keep going but whether it can meet its political objectives … For the foreseeable future, it can't.' Andriy Zagorodnyuk, a former Ukrainian defence minister, has suggested that Kyiv should pursue 'strategic neutralisation'. It would seek to prevent Russia achieving its military goals, shifting 'from a contest of exhaustion to a contest of operational irrelevance in which Russia may still fight, but cannot win'. This would require sharp focus and continued military innovation and should help to preserve personnel. Mr Zagorodnyuk cited Ukraine's success in the Black Sea; it did not destroy the Russian fleet, but ensured that shipping could resume. This more limited approach may not be an inspiring prospect for a battered nation. But, with Moscow intent on subjugation and the US keeping its distance, it may be a pragmatic one. Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here.
The Guardian
10-07-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
The Guardian view on Ukraine's future: Putin may be gaining ground, but he is not winning
European leaders gathered in Rome on Thursday for a conference on Ukrainian recovery, but endurance remains the priority. Russia has intensified its assault with punishing strikes far beyond the frontline – including a record 728 drones and 13 missiles one day before the conference. The UN said that civilian casualties last month were at their highest for three years, with at least 232 people killed and 1,343 injured. Russia's brutal offensive aims to break Ukraine's spirit and European solidarity. Even Donald Trump appears to be realising, with encouragement, that Moscow is not interested in peace. For Mr Trump, maximalism is a negotiating tactic; he does not recognise that for Vladimir Putin it reflects a fixation. Yet this week he acknowledged: 'We get a lot of bullshit thrown at us by Putin … He's very nice all the time, but it turns out to be meaningless.' War is exhausting. Olena Zelenska, Ukraine's first lady, reminded the conference that Ukrainians are living in a chronic state of stress and emotional pain. At the same time, there is a growing awareness of the gap between those fighting on the frontline and those making decisions in Kyiv – even if the latter have repeatedly rushed for shelters this week. But Ukraine is fighting to remain a viable, independent state; Russia to ensure that it does not. The finding by the European court of human rights of Russian abuses 'on a massive scale'in Ukraine from 2014 onwards, including extrajudicial killings, sexual violence and forced labour, is a potent encapsulation of why resolve endures. No one should count on Mr Trump remaining aggrieved by Russia for long, still less on that producing significant action. Though the US has resumed weapons shipments after a pause, the deliveries authorised by Joe Biden will soon reach their end and the US no longer sees this as its war. The long-awaited bipartisan sanctions bill promoted by the Republican senator Lindsey Graham appears to be finally making progress. But the president will not approve it unless it gives him plenty of wiggle room on actually imposing measures. European obeisance to 'Daddy' may be emetic, but aims to ensure that allies can buy the arms that Ukraine needs, and that the US keeps supplying intelligence. The future lies in European self-reliance. For now, the hope is not of decisively defeating Moscow but preventing it from winning. If victory is measured by the metre, Russia continues to grind out an advance – but slowly and at growing cost. And as Prof Sir Lawrence Freedman, the military strategy expert, wrote recently: 'The question to ask is not whether Russia can keep going but whether it can meet its political objectives … For the foreseeable future, it can't.' Andriy Zagorodnyuk, a former Ukrainian defence minister, has suggested that Kyiv should pursue 'strategic neutralisation'. It would seek to prevent Russia achieving its military goals, shifting 'from a contest of exhaustion to a contest of operational irrelevance in which Russia may still fight, but cannot win'. This would require sharp focus and continued military innovation and should help to preserve personnel. Mr Zagorodnyuk cited Ukraine's success in the Black Sea; it did not destroy the Russian fleet, but ensured that shipping could resume. This more limited approach may not be an inspiring prospect for a battered nation. But, with Moscow intent on subjugation and the US keeping its distance, it may be a pragmatic one. Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here.
Sinar Daily
02-07-2025
- Politics
- Sinar Daily
US stops delivery of certain weapons to Ukraine
The White House did not confirm any details when asked. 02 Jul 2025 11:28am This handout photograph taken and released by the State Emergency Service of Ukraine on June 29, 2025, shows firefighters working at a site of a Russian attack in the city of Smila, Cherkasy region amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. (Photo by Handout / Ukrainian State Emergency Service / AFP) WASHINGTON - The United States (US) is halting the delivery of some previously promised weapons to Ukraine, including missiles and ammunition, on concerns that the US does not have enough, German Press Agency (dpa) reported. The website Politico and broadcaster NBC News reported on Tuesday, citing individuals familiar with the matter including defence officials and members of the US Congress, that a review of stockpiles had been conducted beforehand. This handout picture taken and released by Ukrainian presidential press-service on June 28, 2025 shows Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky (C), his wife Olena Zelenska (L) and Poland's President Andrzej Duda walking to lay flowers to the Memorial Wall of Fallen Defenders of Ukraine in the Russian-Ukrainian War outside Saint Michael's Golden-domes Cathedral in Kyiv. (Photo by Handout / Ukrainian Presidential Press-Service / AFP) The White House did not confirm any details when asked. The weapons in question include missiles for Patriot air defence systems, precision artillery rounds, Hellfire and other missiles that Ukraine launches from its F-16 fighters, and drones, according to the reports. However, deputy White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly said in a statement that "this decision was made to prioritise America's interests after the Department of Defence reviewed our nation's military support and assistance to other countries around the world." Kelly said the strength of the US armed forces remains unquestioned. The US Department of Defence did not immediately comment when approached. The weapons in question were reportedly promised to Ukraine under US President Donald Trump's predecessor, Joe Biden. Ukraine has been defending itself against a full-scale Russian attack for more than three years. In recent weeks, Russia has significantly intensified its attacks on its neighbour. - BERNAMA-dpa More Like This
CTV News
16-06-2025
- Politics
- CTV News
Ukraine's Zelenskyy visits Austria for first time since Russia's full-scale invasion of his country
VIENNA — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is visiting Austria on Monday in his first trip to the European Union member country since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Austria is famously neutral -- a stance it declared in 1955 after World War II -- and Vienna has come under heavy criticism since the start of the Russia-Ukraine war for maintaining ties with Moscow. Ukraine's air force said Russia fired 138 strike and decoy drones at Ukraine overnight, mainly at the eastern Donetsk region. Of those, 125 were either intercepted or jammed, while 10 reached their targets. Eight others caused damage as falling debris. Zelenskyy was meeting with Austrian President Alexander Van der Bellen and was set to meet later with Chancellor Christian Stocker. The two presidents were expected to hold a news conference later Monday. This is Stocker's first high-profile visit from a foreign dignitary since he took office in March at the head of a previously untried three-party coalition after a record five-month wait for a new administration. Zelenskyy's wife, First Lady Olena Zelenska, and Doris Schmidauer, Van der Bellen's spouse, will also host a discussion about the role of women in promoting peace and security during the trip. Austria, which was annexed by Nazi Germany in the run-up to World War II, declared neutrality after the war under pressure from Western allies and the Soviet Union. It sought a role as a mediator between East and West, developing ties with Moscow that outlasted the Cold War. The Austrian government has condemned Russia's invasion of Ukraine but also stressed the need to maintain diplomatic relations with Moscow. Vienna has sent humanitarian aid to Ukraine but no weapons. Former Chancellor Karl Nehammer was the first EU leader to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin face-to-face after the war started. Nehammer traveled to Moscow in April 2022 in a fruitless attempt to persuade the Russian leader to end the invasion. The Associated Press
