Feed aggregator

Russia hit Ukraine's capital, Kyiv, overnight with the largest drone attack on the city since the start of the war. The attack came as Kyiv prepared to celebrate the anniversary of its founding on Sunday. Mayor Vitali Klitscho said one person was killed.   Ukraine's air force said it downed more than 50 drones, but it was not immediately clear whether all the drones were over Kyiv or around the country.    "The history of Ukraine is a long-standing irritant for the insecure Russians," Andriy Yermak, the head of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's office, said.  "Today is another sanction day," Zelenskyy said on Saturday. He said 220 companies and 51 individuals are being sanctioned, "most of them are Russian — who work for terror."   "When Russia started this aggression, they looked at the world as if they were looking at themselves in a mirror," he said. "They thought that supposedly everyone in the world was as cynical and despised people in the same way as the masters of Russia do. But the world is different — the world helps us protect life."  Meanwhile, the British Defense Ministry said in its daily intelligence update that Russian-state backed media and business groups want the Economic Ministry to authorize a six-day workweek "in the face of the economic demands of the war, apparently without additional pay."   The groups already have petitioned the Russian ministry for the longer work week, the British ministry posted on Twitter.  The update said Margarita Simonyan, described as a "leading Russian propagandist," recently called for citizens to work for two extra hours in munitions factories every day, after their regular jobs.   These calls for a longer work week without additional pay "echoes a Soviet-style sense of societal compulsion," the British update said, adding that the Russian "leadership highly likely identifies economic performance as a decisive factor in winning the war."  

Give us 5 minutes, and we'll give you the world. Around the clock, Voice of America keeps you in touch with the latest news. We bring you reports from our correspondents and interviews with newsmakers from across the world.

Give us 5 minutes, and we'll give you the world. Around the clock, Voice of America keeps you in touch with the latest news. We bring you reports from our correspondents and interviews with newsmakers from across the world.

U.S. President Joe Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy have reached an agreement in principle on legislation to increase the nation's borrowing authority and avoid a default. Negotiators are now racing to finalize the bill's text. McCarthy said the House will vote on the legislation on Wednesday, giving the Senate time to consider it ahead of the June 5 deadline to avoid a possible default. While many details are unknown, both sides will be able to point to some victories. But some conservatives expressed early concerns that the deal doesn't cut future deficits enough, while Democrats have been worried about proposed changes to work requirements in programs such as food stamps. A look at what's in and out of the deal, based on what's known so far: Two-year debt increase, spending limits The agreement would keep non-defense spending roughly flat in the 2024 fiscal year and increase it by 1% the following year, as well as provide for a two-year debt-limit increase — past the next presidential election in 2024. That's according to a source familiar with the deal who provided details on the condition of anonymity. Veterans care The agreement will fully fund medical care for veterans at the levels included in Biden's proposed 2024 budget blueprint, including for a fund dedicated to veterans who have been exposed to toxic substances or environmental hazards. Biden sought $20.3 billion for the toxic exposure fund in his budget. Work requirements Republicans had proposed boosting work requirements for able-bodied adults without dependents in certain government assistance programs. They said it would bring more people into the workforce, who would then pay taxes and help shore up key entitlement programs, namely Social Security and Medicare. Democrats had roundly criticized the proposed changes, saying they would lead to fewer people able to afford food or health care without actually increasing job participation. House Republicans had passed legislation that would create new work requirements for some Medicaid recipients, but that was left out of the final agreement. However, the agreement would expand some work requirements for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, formerly known as food stamps. The agreement would raise the age for existing work requirements from 49 to 54, similar to the Republican proposal, but those changes would expire in 2030. And the White House said it would at the same time reduce the number of vulnerable people at all ages who are subject to the requirements Speeding up energy projects The deal puts in place changes in the National Environmental Policy Act that will designate "a single lead agency" to develop environmental reviews, in hopes of streamlining the process. What was left out Republicans had sought to repeal Biden's efforts to waive $10,000 to $20,000 in debt for nearly all borrowers who took out student loans. But the provision was a nonstarter for Democrats. The budget agreement keeps Biden's student loan relief in place, though the Supreme Court will have the ultimate say on the matter. The Supreme Court is dominated 6-3 by conservatives, and those justices' questions in oral arguments showed skepticism about the legality of Biden's student loans plan. A decision is expected before the end of June.

Voters in Turkey are going to the polls Sunday to decide who will be the country's president. Sunday's vote is the second runoff vote for the presidency. Incumbent President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who has led Turkey for 20 years, fell just a few points short of winning the election in a first runoff poll earlier this month. The president's challenger is 74-year-old Kemal Kilicdaroglu, the candidate of a six-party alliance and leader of Turkey's center-left main opposition party. Kilicdaroglu is facing a formidable candidate in the 69-year-old Erdogan, who was able to survive the presidential election for the runoff despite Turkey's crippling inflation and the aftermath of a destructive earthquake three months ago. A victory Sunday for Erdogan would mean the beginning of his third decade as Turkey's leader. Under his watch, Turkey's government has become increasingly authoritarian. Polls indicate Erdogan remains just a few points ahead of his opponent. Voting ends at 5 p.m. and results are expected within hours. Some information for this report came from The Associated Press and Reuters.

Give us 5 minutes, and we'll give you the world. Around the clock, Voice of America keeps you in touch with the latest news. We bring you reports from our correspondents and interviews with newsmakers from across the world.

Give us 5 minutes, and we'll give you the world. Around the clock, Voice of America keeps you in touch with the latest news. We bring you reports from our correspondents and interviews with newsmakers from across the world.

Give us 5 minutes, and we'll give you the world. Around the clock, Voice of America keeps you in touch with the latest news. We bring you reports from our correspondents and interviews with newsmakers from across the world.

The United States conducted an airstrike on al-Shabab militants Friday in Somalia, according to U.S. Africa Command. The strike destroyed weapons and equipment "unlawfully taken by al-Shabab fighters," the U.S. Africa Command said Saturday. The command did not report where the weapons and equipment were stolen from. The strike against the militants, according to the command, was conducted near an African Union Transition Mission in Somalia forward operating base in Bulo Marer. The command said the strike was conducted "in support of the Federal Government of Somalia and the African Union Transition Mission in Somalia." The command's initial assessment of the operation was that no civilians were harmed or killed.

Give us 5 minutes, and we'll give you the world. Around the clock, Voice of America keeps you in touch with the latest news. We bring you reports from our correspondents and interviews with newsmakers from across the world.

Somalia's political leaders have agreed to reshape the country's political system after four days of meetings in the capital, Mogadishu. In a communique issued early Sunday, the National Consultative Council, which includes the federal leaders, including President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, Prime Minister Hamza Abdi Barre, and Deputy Prime Minister Salah Ahmed Jama, as well as four regional leaders and the mayor of Mogadishu, have agreed to introduce direct elections as early as next year and unify the election schedules, and endorsed establishment of a presidential system for the country. In a departure from clan-based power sharing, the leaders agreed that one-person-one-vote elections will take place once every five years. A 15-member national election and border committee will be formed to manage all local, regional and federal elections. The local council elections will be the first to take place on June 30 of next year. This will be followed that year by regional parliamentary and regional leadership elections on November 30, the communique read. The leaders have agreed that there will be only two political parties that compete for power in the country. The current political parties law does not limit the number of political parties. Agreement abolishes premiership Perhaps the most significant article in the agreement is the restructuring of the leadership system by abolishing the premiership. In its place, the leaders endorsed a presidential system, with the president and vice president of the country elected directly on a single ticket. The same applies to the regional presidents and their respective vice presidents. The endorsement of a presidential system will require a federal constitutional amendment, as the current constitution provides for a parliamentary system in which lawmakers elect a president, who then appoints a prime minister. Critics have argued for a long time that the parliamentary system brought endless political squabbles between the president and prime minister. If popular elections take place nationwide next year, that will end a controversial clan-based system known as "the 4.5," which has been used for power-sharing since 2000. That system allowed four main clans to have equal share in parliament, while a group of smaller clans got half of the share. The last election based on the 4.5 system brought Mohamud to power in May of last year. Minister for Interior, Federal and Reconciliation Ahmed Moallim Fiqi, who read the communique hailed the agreement as "one step forward." "This is a historic agreement which brings an end to the system used since 2000," he told VOA Somali. "It gives the Somalis the opportunity to have their say and entrust their vote with those representing them at different levels of local, regional and federal governments." The communique did not address what happens when the current president's term ends on May 15, 2026. But Fiqi said that next year's election will be considered as a "midterm" election, where those elected will hold their posts for two years, until 2026, when the election calendar for both local, regional and federal levels will be unified. Opponents call agreement 'unconstitutional' The new agreement was quickly criticized by some politicians who argued it would give term extensions to regional leaders whose terms in office currently end within months. "Tonight's communique by the National Consultative Council is an affront to Somalia's provisional constitutional and the supremacy of our national laws," said Mursal M. Khaliif, a member of the Federal Parliament. "Whatever it's called, this is an unconstitutional term extension for the Federal Member States and the Federal Government." The agreement was not signed by the president of the semi-autonomous region of Puntland, Said Abdullahi Deni. Puntland this week held local council elections in which the people voted to elect their representatives, an exercise the rest of the country is working to emulate next year if this agreement is implemented.

Give us 5 minutes, and we'll give you the world. Around the clock, Voice of America keeps you in touch with the latest news. We bring you reports from our correspondents and interviews with newsmakers from across the world.

Give us 5 minutes, and we'll give you the world. Around the clock, Voice of America keeps you in touch with the latest news. We bring you reports from our correspondents and interviews with newsmakers from across the world.

Iraq on Saturday presented an ambitious plan to turn itself into a regional transportation hub by developing its road and rail infrastructure, linking Europe with the Middle East. Once completed, the $17 billion project known as the "Route of Development" would span the length of the country, stretching 1,200 kilometers (745 miles) from the northern border with Turkey to the Gulf in the south. Prime Minister Mohamed Shia al-Sudani announced the project during a conference with transport ministry representatives from Iran, Jordan, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates. "We see this project as a pillar of a sustainable non-oil economy, a link that serves Iraq's neighbors and the region, and a contribution to economic integration efforts," Sudani said. While further discussions are required, any country that wishes "will be able to carry out part of the project,” the Iraqi parliament's transport committee said, adding the project could be completed in "three to five years." "The Route of Development will boost interdependence between the countries of the region," Turkey's ambassador to Baghdad Ali Riza Guney said, without elaborating on what role his country would play in the project. War-ravaged and beset by rampant corruption, oil-rich Iraq suffers from a dilapidated infrastructure. Its roads, riddled with potholes and poorly maintained, are in terrible condition. Those connecting Baghdad to the north cross areas where sporadic attacks are still carried out by remnants of the Islamic State group. Sudani has prioritized the reconstruction of the country's road network, along with upgrading its failing electricity infrastructure. Lack of fluidity Developing the road and rail corridor would allow Iraq to capitalize on its geographical position, with the aim of making the country a transportation hub for goods and people moving between the Gulf, Turkey and Europe. Work has already started to increase capacity at the commercial port of Al-Faw, on the shores of the Gulf, where cargo is to be unloaded before it embarks on the new road and rail links. The project also includes the construction of around 15 train stations along the route, including in the major cities of Basra, Baghdad and Mosul, and up to the Turkish border. The Gulf, largely bordered by Iran and Saudi Arabia, is a major shipping zone, especially for the transportation of hydrocarbons extracted by countries of the region. Zyad al-Hashemi, an Iraqi consultant on international transport, cast doubt on the plan to develop the country into a transportation hub, saying it lacks "fluidity." "Customers prefer to transport their goods directly from Asia to Europe, without going through a loading and unloading process," that would see containers moved between ships and road or rail, he said. Transport is a key sector in the global economy and Iraq's announcement is the latest in other planned international mega-projects, including China's "Belt and Road Initiative" announced in 2013 by its President Xi Jinping. The planned works in that project would see 130 countries across Asia, Europe and Africa connected through land and sea infrastructure providing greater access to China.

Turks vote Sunday in a presidential runoff that could see Tayyip Erdogan extend his rule into a third decade and intensify Turkey's increasingly authoritarian path, muscular foreign policy and unorthodox economic governance. Erdogan, 69, defied opinion polls and came out comfortably ahead with an almost five-point lead over his rival Kemal Kilicdaroglu in the first round May 14. But he fell just short of the 50% needed to avoid a runoff, in a race with profound consequences for Turkey itself and global geopolitics. His unexpectedly strong showing amid a deep cost-of-living crisis, and a win in parliamentary elections for a coalition of his conservative Islamist-rooted AK Party (AKP), the nationalist MHP and others, buoyed the veteran campaigner who says a vote for him is a vote for stability. Kilicdaroglu, 74, is the candidate of a six-party opposition alliance — and leads the Republican People's Party (CHP) created by Turkey's founder Mustafa Kemal Ataturk. His camp has struggled to regain momentum after the shock of trailing Erdogan in the first round. The election will decide not only who leads Turkey, a NATO-member country of 85 million, but also how it is governed, where its economy is headed after its currency plunged to one tenth of its value against the dollar in a decade, and the shape of its foreign policy, which has seen Turkey irk the West by cultivating ties with Russia and Gulf states. The initial election showed larger-than-expected support for nationalism — a powerful force in Turkish politics which has been hardened by years of hostilities with Kurdish militants, an attempted coup in 2016 and the influx of millions of refugees from Syria since war began there in 2011. Turkey is the world's largest host of refugees, with some 5 million migrants, of whom 3.3 million are Syrians, according to Interior Ministry data. Third-place presidential candidate and hardline nationalist Sinan Ogan said he endorsed Erdogan based on a principle of "nonstop struggle (against) terrorism," referring to pro-Kurdish groups. He achieved 5.17% of the vote. Another nationalist, Umit Ozdag, leader of the anti-immigrant Victory Party (ZP), announced a deal declaring ZP's support for Kilicdaroglu, after he said he would repatriate immigrants. The ZP won 2.2% of votes in this month's parliamentary election. A closely watched survey by pollster Konda for the runoff put support for Erdogan at 52.7% and Kilicdaroglu at 47.3% after distributing undecided voters. The survey was carried out May 20-21, before Ogan and Ozdag revealed their endorsements. Another key is how Turkey's Kurds, at about a fifth of the population, will vote. The pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) party endorsed Kilicdaroglu in the first round but, after his lurch to the right to win nationalist votes, it did not explicitly name him and urged voters rather to reject Erdogan's "one-man regime" in the runoff. More Erdogan Polls will open at 8 a.m. (0500 GMT) and close at 5 p.m. (1400 GMT). By late Sunday there should be a clear indication of the winner. "Turkey has a longstanding democratic tradition and a longstanding nationalist tradition, and right now it's clearly the nationalist one that's winning out. Erdogan has fused religious and national pride, offering voters an aggressive anti-elitism," said Nicholas Danforth, Turkey historian and non-resident fellow at think tank ELIAMEP. "More Erdogan means more Erdogan. People know who he is and what his vision for the country is, and it seems a lot of them approve." Turkey's president has pulled out all the stops on the campaign trail as he battles to survive his toughest political test. He commands fierce loyalty from pious Turks who once felt disenfranchised in secular Turkey and his political career has survived the failed coup and corruption scandals. Erdogan has taken tight control of most of Turkey's institutions and sidelined liberals and critics. Human Rights Watch, in its World Report 2022, said Erdogan's government has set back Turkey's human rights record by decades. However, if Turks do oust Erdogan, it will be largely because they saw their prosperity, equality and ability to meet basic needs decline, with inflation that topped 85% in October 2022. Kilicdaroglu, a former civil servant, has pledged to roll back much of Erdogan's sweeping changes to Turkish domestic, foreign and economic policies. He would also revert to the parliamentary system of governance, from Erdogan's executive presidential system, narrowly passed in a referendum in 2017.

The chants of "monkey!" at the Spanish soccer stadium echoed across the Atlantic, reaching people on the outskirts of Rio de Janeiro. That's where Vinícius Júnior, who is Black, grew up and launched his soccer career. Now, despite his global fame and millions, he was again the target of crude European racism. His city in multiracial Brazil was sickened and has rallied to his defense. Racism in the Spanish league has intensified this season, especially after Vinícius started celebrating goals by dancing. On at least nine occasions, people have made monkey sounds at Vinícius, chanted the slur "monkey!" and other racist slurs. Vinícius has repeatedly demanded action from Spanish soccer authorities. Vinícius' 2017 move to Real Madrid was the culmination of years of effort. One of the most popular clubs in global soccer paid about $50 million — at the time the most ever for a Brazilian teenager — even before his professional debut with Rio-based Flamengo. Relentless racism wasn't part of Vinícius' dream when he was growing up in Sao Goncalo. Sao Goncalo is the second-most populous city in Rio's metropolitan region, and one of the poorest in the state of Rio de Janeiro, according to the national statistics institute. At night in some areas, motorists turn on their hazard lights to signal to drug-trafficking gangs that the driver is local. It is also where the 2020 police killing of a 14-year-old sparked Black Lives Matter protests across Rio. Racism has once again fanned outrage. Rio's imposing, illuminated Christ the Redeemer statue was made dark one night in solidarity. The city's enormous bayside Ferris wheel this week exhibits a clenched Black fist and the scrolling words: "EVERYONE AGAINST RACISM." "My total repudiation of the episode of racism suffered by our ace and the pride of all of us in Sao Goncalo," the city's mayor, Nelson Ruas dos Santos, wrote on Twitter the morning after the incident. On Thursday, Spanish league president Javier Tebas held a news conference claiming that the league has been acting alone against racism, and that it could end it in six months if granted more power by the government. At the same time in Rio, representatives of more than 150 activist groups and nonprofits delivered a letter to Spain's consulate, demanding an investigation into the league and its president. They organized a protest that evening. "Vinicius has been a warrior, he's being a warrior, for enduring this since he arrived in Spain and always taking a stand," activist Valda Neves said. "This time, he's not alone." On Saturday, players from Vinícius' former club, Flamengo, took the field at the Maracana Stadium before a Brazilian championship match against Cruzeiro wearing jerseys bearing the player's name and sat on the pitch before kickoff in an anti-racism protest. In the stands, thousands of supporters made a tifo that read "everyone with Vini Jr." The first Black Brazilian players to sign for European clubs in the 1960s met some racism in the largely white society, but rarely spoke out. At the time, Brazil still considered itself a "racial democracy" and did not take on the racism that many faced. In the late 1980s, the federal government made racial discrimination a crime and created a foundation to promote Afro-Brazilian culture. At the time, many Brazilian players who might identify as Black today did not recognize themselves as such. Incidents of racism in Europe prompted little blowback in Brazil. In the decades since, Brazil's Black activists have gained prominence and promoted awareness of structural racism. The federal government instituted policies aimed at addressing it, including affirmative-action admissions for public universities and jobs. There has been heightened consciousness throughout society. Vinícius' own educational nonprofit this week launched a program to train public school teachers to raise awareness about racism and instruct kids in fighting discrimination. A teacher at a Sao Goncalo school that will host the project, Mariana Alves, hopes it will provide kids with much-needed support and preparation. She spoke in a classroom with soccer-ball beanbag chairs strewn about, and enormous photos of Vinícius on the walls. Most of the school's students are Black or biracial, and many have experienced racism, Alves said in an interview. This week, her 10-year-old students have been asking if she saw what happened to Vinícius because they don't fully understand. "He has money, he has all this status, and not even that stopped him from going through this situation of racism," said Alves, who is Black and from Sao Goncalo. "So the students wonder ... 'Will I go through that, too? Is that going to happen to me?'" As a boy, Vinícius started training at a nearby feeder school for Flamengo, Brazil's most popular club, before signing with its youth team. Sao Goncalo kids practiced there Wednesday afternoon. One of them, Ryan Gonçalves Negri, said he has talked about it with his friends outside the soccer school, and that Vinícius should transfer out of the Spanish league "urgently." "I would never want to play there," Negri, 13, said. "It's not for Brazilians who know how to score goals and celebrate."

Give us 5 minutes, and we'll give you the world. Around the clock, Voice of America keeps you in touch with the latest news. We bring you reports from our correspondents and interviews with newsmakers from across the world.

As China yearns for babies, the State Council has issued official "Guidelines for Facilitating the Building of the Basic Elderly Care System" and announced a "List of Basic National Elderly Care Services." The guidelines for 16 services come as a response to a demographic crisis marked by a ballooning elderly population, a declining birth rate, and a shrinking cohort of working-age citizens. China is not alone in facing this issue. A study published in October 2020 in The Lancet, a medical journal, warned of the "jaw-dropping" economic, social and geopolitical effects on nearly every country as fertility rates fall, people age, and populations shrink. Exacerbating the predicament in China is that while Beijing is now pushing couples to have as many as three children, the fallout from the one-child policy implemented in 1979 means those only children, now middle-aged, must care for their elderly parents. The list included a senior allowance for people aged 80 and older, income-pegged subsidies for seniors who need to make their homes barrier-free, public nursing home priority for elderly people with only one child, and special training with subsidies for family members caring for disabled elderly relatives. 'Torture to all of us' Shu Min, an only child in an eastern Jiangsu province city, is struggling to provide care for her father. He's in his 80s, has mild Alzheimer's disease, and in April 2021 fractured his hip in a fall. Since hip replacement surgery, Shu Min has shuttled him among different hospitals for rehabilitation because China's Health Insurance Bureau limits this kind of stay to about 20 days. "Every time when my father gets familiar with the environment, the doctors and nurses, we have to go somewhere else all over again," said Shu Min, who asked VOA Mandarin to use a pseudonym for fear of government harassment. "This process takes too much energy; this is a torture to all of us." One of China's official media outlets, Xinhua, reported that the guidelines are "to facilitate the building of the basic elderly care system, making clear that the focus through 2025 is on tackling difficulties that could hardly be overcome by families or individuals on their own involving older people incapable of performing self-care, those with disabilities, and those having no one to take care of them." "By 2025, China is expected to have a relatively sound institutional system in place, bringing its entire elderly population under coverage, according to the document," Xinhua reported on May 23. "Provincial governments are asked to formulate their own basic elderly care plans and lists on the basis," Xinhua added. "Region-specific lists should at least cover the items on the national list." Veteran Chinese media personality Ah Qiang, who used a pseudonym for fear of official reprisal, told VOA Mandarin in a phone interview that the list released May 21 will likely be categorized as a "nonpolitical task" by the local governments charged with enforcing it and probably ignored. Financially strapped by pandemic-related expenses in a crisis that saw a decline in revenue, local governments are prioritizing the fulfillment of mandatory "political tasks" such as "returning forests to farming," according to Ah Qiang. "Policies to help the people have never been a political task in China, so many of them are actually not implemented after they are issued," said Ah Qiang. Xinhua reported there were 280 million people aged 60 and older in China at the end of 2022, accounting for 19.8% of the population. The figure is expected to exceed 300 million by 2025, and 400 million by around 2035. China's National Health Commission described the situation in 2035, with 30% or more of the total population over 60, as a stage of "severe aging."  Shu Min is particularly angry about the guidelines for family members to attend caregiving training. She said that in her case, she and her father are the only ones left in her family. If she goes to training, who will care for him and do household chores? "Even if the family had more than one child, don't they have to go to work? Training for the disabled must be specialized training, this is no way to solve the problems. This really makes me angry, I'd rather them not mention this at all." Shu Min said all she wants now is a stable hospital environment so she doesn't have to keep moving from one hospital to another. She said the government-issued guidelines are just "a bunch of nonsense that sounds good-intentioned." She believes that for a country with a population of 1.4 billion, it is "absurd" that the government is only now focusing on eldercare shortcomings. "When the system is finally established, I don't know how many generations will have passed," Shu Min said. "I think for myself, my generation, there's no hope."

President Vladimir Putin on Sunday ordered stronger border security to ensure fast Russian military and civilian movement into Ukrainian regions now under Moscow control. Speaking in a congratulatory message to the border service, a branch of Russia's Federal Security Service, on their Border Guard Day holiday, Putin said their task was to "reliably cover" the lines in the vicinity of the combat zone. Attacks inside Russia have been growing in intensity in recent weeks, chiefly with drone strikes on regions along the border but increasingly also deep into the country, including on an oil pipeline northwest of Moscow on Saturday.   "It is necessary to ensure the fast movement of both military and civilian vehicles and cargo, including food, humanitarian aid, building materials sent to the new subjects of the (Russian) Federation," Putin said in a message posted on the Kremlin's Telegram messaging channel.   Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, Luhansk and Donetsk are the four regions in Ukraine that Putin proclaimed annexed last September following what Kyiv said were sham referendums. Russian forces only partly control the four regions. On Saturday, officials said three people were injured in Ukrainian shelling in Belgorod, a region that was the target of pro-Ukrainian fighters this week that sparked doubts about Russia's defense and military capabilities. The Kursk and Belgorod Russian regions bordering Ukraine have been the most frequent target of attacks that have damaged power, rail and military infrastructure, with local officials blaming Ukraine.   Kyiv almost never publicly claims responsibility for attacks inside Russia and on Russian-controlled territory in Ukraine but said that destroying infrastructure is preparation for its planned ground assault. Ukraine indicated on Saturday that it was ready to launch a long-promised counteroffensive to recapture territory taken by Russia in the 15-month war, a conflict that has claimed the lives of thousands and turned Ukrainian cities into rubble.

Give us 5 minutes, and we'll give you the world. Around the clock, Voice of America keeps you in touch with the latest news. We bring you reports from our correspondents and interviews with newsmakers from across the world.