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WASHINGTON — A prominent Ukrainian news outlet reported Wednesday it is facing “ongoing and systematic pressure” from the office of the Ukrainian president that is threatening the outlet’s work.

In a statement on its website, the online newspaper Ukrainska Pravda said officials are being blocked from communicating with the outlet’s journalists, its reporters are being denied access to official events and businesses are being pressured to stop advertising on its website.

In the statement, the outlet also highlighted a tense exchange between Ukrainska Pravda journalist Roman Kravets and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy during a recent press conference. During the interaction, Zelenskyy questioned the outlet’s editorial independence.

Ukrainska Pravda editor-in-chief Sevgil Musayeva told VOA it was important for the outlet to be honest with readers about the pressure it faces from the government.

“Ukraine is fighting for the right to exist but also for the right to be democratic, independent and transparent,” Musayeva said from Kyiv.

“And freedom of press and freedom of speech is one of [the] essential values of democracy. That’s why we will protect this value as much as we can,” Musayeva continued.

Ukrainska Pravda said it views the government’s actions as attempts to influence the outlet’s editorial policy.

The outlet has been facing this kind of pressure for about one year, but it has become even worse over the past two months, according to Musayeva. From now on, Ukrainska Pravda said, it will make public any attempts by the president’s office to pressure the outlet, according to the statement.

“Each such attempt only strengthens our motivation to expose corruption and mismanagement in the highest ranks of power,” the statement said. “We call on everyone who values freedom of speech and the independence of Ukrainian journalism to join us in defending these values.”

Media watchdogs — and Ukrainian journalists — have expressed concern about the state of press freedom in Ukraine in recent months amid Russia’s war on the country.

In June, Reporters Without Borders, or RSF, said press freedom was “shrinking” in Ukraine, with challenges that include rising political pressure, surveillance and threats.

“The pressure, threats and interference must stop,” Jeanne Cavelier, head of RSF’s Eastern Europe and Central Asia desk, said in the June statement. “Despite their admirable resilience after Russia launched its full scale invasion on 24 February 2022, the Ukrainian media landscape remains fragile.”

The Ukrainian president’s office, the Foreign Ministry and Ukraine’s Washington embassy did not immediately reply to VOA emails requesting comment for this story.

Musayeva told VOA she believes the pressure is in response to critical coverage Ukrainska Pravda has produced about the Ukrainian government, including on misconduct and corruption.

Ever since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, Musayeva said, there has been a sense of less tolerance for news stories critical of the government. Still, the outlet will continue to cover all aspects of government, good or bad, she said.

“We continue our critical coverage on some bad governance,” she said. “We still see that corruption didn’t disappear.”

Musayeva said she recognizes the importance for the media to cover positive stories about Ukraine.

“But at the same time, the role of independent media in democratic countries is to provide information for the people and truthful information for the people about the current situation,” she said.
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AiF cherry-picked the quotes, used them out of context, omitted key information and distorted The Washington Post report to make it fit the Kremlin propaganda. AiF also misattributed all quotes to a “senior Ukrainian official” while The Post cited multiple sources including non-governmental.
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LONDON — That long-held Wimbledon tradition of line judges dressed in elegant uniforms is no more. 

The All England Club announced Wednesday that artificial intelligence will be used to make the “out” and “fault” calls at the championships from 2025. 

Wimbledon organizers said the decision to adopt live electronic line calling was made following extensive testing at the 2024 tournament and “builds on the existing ball-tracking and line-calling technology that has been in place for many years.” 

“We consider the technology to be sufficiently robust and the time is right to take this important step in seeking maximum accuracy in our officiating,” said Sally Bolton, chief executive of the All England Club. “For the players, it will offer them the same conditions they have played under at a number of other events on tour.” 

Bolton said Wimbledon had a responsibility to “balance tradition and innovation.” 

“Line umpires have played a central role in our officiating setup at the championships for many decades,” she said, “and we recognize their valuable contribution and thank them for their commitment and service.” 

Line-calling technology has long been used at Wimbledon and other tennis tournaments to call whether serves are in or out. 

The All England Club also said Wednesday that the ladies’ and gentlemen’s singles finals will be scheduled to take place at the later time of 4 p.m. local time on the second Saturday and Sunday, respectively — and after doubles finals on those days. 

Bolton said the moves have been made to ensure the day of the finals “builds towards the crescendo of the ladies’ and gentlemen’s singles finals, with our champions being crowned in front of the largest possible worldwide audience.”

 
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BEIJING — China’s anti-dumping measures against brandies imported from the European Union are “legitimate trade remedy measures,” the commerce ministry said on Wednesday, a day after imposing the temporary curb.

French brands such as Hennessy and Remy Martin will face the strictures, adopted just days after the 27-nation bloc voted for tariffs on Chinese-made electric vehicles (EVs), sparking its biggest trade row with Beijing in a decade.

China’s commerce ministry said preliminary findings of an investigation showed that dumping of brandy from the European Union threatened “substantial damage” to domestic industry.

On Wednesday the ministry said the EU’s actions against Chinese EVs “seriously lack a factual and legal basis” and “clearly violate” World Trade Organization (WTO) rules.

China has protested strongly to the WTO, it added.

Trade tensions have surged since the European Commission said last week it would press ahead with tariffs on China-made EVs, even after Germany, the bloc’s largest economy, rejected them.

Another sign of rising trade tension was the ministry’s remarks on Tuesday that an anti-dumping and anti-subsidy investigation into EU pork products would deliver “objective and fair” decisions when it wraps up.

It also said it was considering a hike in tariffs on imports of large-engine vehicles, which would hit German producers hardest. German exports to China of vehicles with engines 2.5 liters in size, or larger, reached $1.2 billion last year.
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LONDON — Renewable energy sources are set to meet nearly half of all electricity demand by the end of the decade, but to fall short of a U.N. goal to triple capacity to reduce carbon emissions, an International Energy Agency (IEA) report showed on Wednesday.

The world is set to add more than 5,500 gigawatts (GW) of renewable energy capacity between now and 2030, almost three times the increase between 2017 and 2023, the IEA Renewables 2024 report said.

It said the increase is equivalent to the current power capacity of China, the European Union, India and the United States combined, but not enough to meet a target set at the COP28 U.N. climate conference.

For the world to triple capacity, governments need to intensify efforts to integrate renewables into power grids.

This requires the building and modernizing of 25 million kilometers of electricity grids and reaching 1,500 GW of storage capacity by 2030, the IEA said.

Solar photovoltaic (PV) is set to account for 80% of the growth in renewable energy capacity to 2030. The wind sector is also forecast to recover and double its rate of expansion to 2030 compared with 2017-2023.

Global solar manufacturing capacity is expected to be more than 1,100 GW by the end of 2024, more than double the estimated demand by then. This supply glut has helped to cheapen solar module prices but also means many manufacturers are experiencing large financial losses, the report added.

While the U.N. target is a challenge, national governments are hitting their goals, with 70 countries, accounting for 80% of global renewable power capacity, estimated to reach or surpass their renewable energy targets for 2030.

“Renewables are moving faster than national governments can set targets for,” IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol said.

“This is mainly driven not just by efforts to lower emissions or boost energy security: it’s increasingly because renewables today offer the cheapest option to add new power plants in almost all countries around the world.”
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