Ukraine

Rights activists says migrants from Central Asian countries are being pressured into signing contracts with Russia's Defense Ministry as the Kremlin tries to bolster the pool of recruits to help fight its war against Ukraine.

The World Court will hear Russia's objections to its jurisdiction in a genocide case brought by Ukraine in hearings starting on September 18, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) said on August 22. Ukraine filed a case with the ICJ shortly after Russia's invasion began on February 24, 2022, which accused Moscow of falsely applying genocide law to justify the attack.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Sunday welcomed a recent Saudi-led summit on a peace settlement to end the fighting in Ukraine and called for further diplomatic efforts. Representatives from around 40 countries, including China, Germany, India and the United States, took part in last weekend's gathering in Jeddah, though Russia was not invited.

The United States is providing up to $200 million in additional military aid for Ukraine, two U.S. officials told VOA, in a package that is expected to include more rockets for HIMARS and more munitions for Patriot surface-to-air missile defense systems.

Several recruitment ads in the former Soviet republic showed Russian and Kazakh flags with the slogan, “shoulder to shoulder.” … Kazakhstan prohibits its citizens from joining military conflicts abroad for pay.

China on Friday (4 August) said it would send a senior official to Saudi Arabia for weekend talks on finding a peaceful settlement to the war in Ukraine, a forum that excludes Russia, in a diplomatic coup for Kyiv, the West and the Saudi hosts.

The recent wave of devastating Russian attacks targeting Odesa and other key Ukrainian port cities marks a “calamitous turn” in the 15-month war, a senior UN official told the Security Council on Wednesday. 

European Union foreign ministers on Thursday discussed a proposal by EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell to spend up to €20 billion ($22.4 billion) on weapons, ammunition and other military aid for Ukraine over four years. According to EU officials and diplomats, Josep Borrell proposed adding an annual contribution of up to €5 billion for Ukraine into an EU-managed fund called the European Peace Facility to support Ukraine as it fights a Russian invasion.

The International Centre for the Prosecution of the Crime of Aggression against Ukraine, ICPA, a new legal body that will investigate crimes committed during the Russian invasion of Ukraine, was launched on Monday in The Hague.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy urged NATO on Wednesday to send Ukraine a clear signal at a summit next month that it can join the military alliance when Russia's war on his country ends.