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the Pentagon   — The first Ukrainian pilots have completed F-16 fighter jet training at a military base in Arizona, with others soon to follow this summer.

“The first batch has graduated, and other Ukrainian pilots are finishing their training here by the end of August,” Arizona National Guard spokesperson Capt. Erin Hannigan told VOA.

The graduates include a handful of Ukrainian pilots who had trained at Morris Air National Guard Base in Tucson, according to a U.S. official who spoke to VOA on condition of anonymity because of security sensitivities.

Out of an abundance of caution for the pilots’ safety, officials declined to provide an exact number of how many had graduated or the number of those who remain in F-16 training.

The 162nd Wing at Morris is considered the Air National Guard’s premier F-16 training unit and houses the Air Force’s only school dedicated to training pilots from more than 20 countries on the fighter.

Kyiv pleaded for Western aircraft when Russia launched its full-scale invasion of their country in February 2022. In August 2023, U.S. President Joe Biden approved a plan for Western allies to send F-16s to Ukraine once pilot training was complete.

Last August, Ukraine was gaining momentum in the conflict against Russia, but that was before a monthslong delay by Congress to approve new military assistance for Kyiv.

Since then, Ukrainian officials reported that troops were forced to ration supplies as ammunition ran low. Analysts say Russia has capitalized on Kyiv’s disadvantage to make gains on the battlefield.

Last month, Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo said his country’s promised jets would be delivered to Kyiv by the end of the year. 
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Ukrainian officials say Russia’s invasion has turned thousands of Ukrainian children trapped in occupied territories into hostages, while others have been deported to Russia and forced into reeducation programs and adoption. Anna Chernikova reports from Kyiv on Ukraine’s efforts to bring them home. VOA footage by Vladyslav Smilianets.
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State Department — U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Wednesday reaffirmed the U.S. commitment to Moldova, pledging $135 million to enhance energy security and counter Russian disinformation during his visit to Chisinau.

During Wednesday’s visit, Blinken announced that up to $85 million in USAID funding will subsidize equipment to strengthen Moldova’s national power grid and facilitate greater electricity trade with Romania, Ukraine, and the broader European market. He also unveiled additional aid for Moldova, a pro-Western country facing renewed threats from Russia. 

“Today, I’m announcing that we’ll be working with our Congress to provide an additional $50 million to further advance these efforts from reforming the energy and agricultural sectors to pushing back and further against disinformation,” said Blinken during a joint press conference with Moldova President Maia Sandu. 

“That in turn will bolster the ability of Moldova to resist Russian interference, to hold free and fair elections to continue down the path to the European Union and Western integration to create more economic opportunity,” he said. 

Blinken’s trip comes amid concerns over Russia’s military presence in Moldova’s breakaway Transnistria region. Moldova has accused Russia of waging a hybrid war through election interference and disinformation campaigns aimed at toppling the government and hindering its EU aspirations. Russia denies these accusations. 

Sandu welcomed Blinken’s second visit in two years as “a strong sign of support.”  

“Through unity and with the support of our partners, we will stand by our people and move forward,” Sandu said during the press conference. 

She also expressed gratitude for U.S. support to both Moldova and Ukraine. Since Russia’s 2022 invasion, the Biden administration has directed billions of dollars in weapons assistance to Ukraine, which Sandu said “also makes Moldova safer and more resilient.” 

Historically, Moldova’s heavy reliance on outside energy resources has made the country vulnerable to external disruptions and price fluctuations, delaying its progress toward sustainable economic development. Russia’s aggression against Ukraine has further exacerbated Moldova’s energy challenges by driving up electricity and gas prices and creating sector instability. 

Since Russia’s 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the United States has provided Moldova with $774 million in assistance, including $300 million through USAID, to support energy security. 

NATO, Ukraine 

After Chisinau, Blinken is heading to Prague for NATO foreign ministers’ meetings, where “a substantial show of support for Ukraine” is expected, according to U.S. officials. 

On Wednesday, Blinken said the U.S. is working hard to deliver more air defenses to Ukraine as it defends itself against intensifying Russian attacks. 

But Blinken, along with other officials from the Biden administration, said Washington does not encourage or enable the use of U.S.-supplied weapons to strike inside Russia. 

“Ukraine has to make its own decisions about the best way to effectively defend itself,” Blinken said. ‘’We’re going to make sure that it has the equipment it needs.” 

This week, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg urged the alliance’s members to lift some of the restrictions on Ukraine’s use of Western weapons, potentially enabling their use for strikes directly on Russian soil. 

“The right to self-defense includes hitting legitimate targets outside Ukraine,” Stoltenberg said Monday at a NATO meeting in Sofia, Bulgaria. 

The United States will host a NATO summit in Washington from July 9 to July 11. 

Blinken said there will be “very strong deliverables” in terms of Ukraine’s further integration with the Atlantic alliance. 

Thirty-two countries have either completed or will soon complete bilateral security agreements with Ukraine.
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Reykjavik — A new volcanic eruption has begun on the Reykjanes peninsula in southwestern Iceland, the country’s meteorological office said Wednesday, shortly after authorities evacuated the nearby town of Grindavik.

“An eruption has started near Sundhnuksgigar, north of Grindavik,” the Icelandic Meteorological Office (IMO) said in a statement, almost three weeks after the end of a previous eruption that had been ongoing since March 16.

“The eruption plumes reach a height of at least 50 metres,” it added.

The nearby Blue Lagoon geothermal spa, Iceland’s biggest tourist attraction, said it had also evacuated its facilities on Wednesday.

The eruption was the fifth to occur on the peninsula since December.

The IMO had reported “intense earthquake activity” prior to Wednesday’s eruption.

In addition, it had reported the accumulation of 20 million cubic metres of magma in the magma chamber below Svartsengi, where a power plant that supplies electricity and water to around 30,000 people on the peninsula is located.

The Svartsengi plant was evacuated and has largely been run remotely since the first eruption in the region in December, and barriers have been built to protect it. 

Most of the 4,000 residents of the nearby town of Grindavik were permanently evacuated in November, prior to the eruptions in December, January, February and March.

Lava flowed into the streets of Grindavik during the January eruption, engulfing three homes. 

But a few die-hard residents had returned to live in neighborhoods less at risk from lava flow.

On Monday evening, the Met Office had said that “about 400 earthquakes” had been measured in the past seven days near the Sundhnuksgigar crater row.

Until March 2021, the Reykjanes peninsula had not experienced an eruption for eight centuries.

Volcanologists now believe a new era of seismic activity has begun in the region.
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Tbilisi, Georgia — Georgia’s parliament on Tuesday overrode the president’s veto of a controversial foreign agent law, despite protests at home and criticism in Western capitals, including a U.S. threat to impose sanctions.

The new measure is officially called the “Law on Transparency of Foreign Influence.” However, opponents have dubbed it the “Russian law,” a reference to Russia’s foreign agent law, which requires anyone who receives support from outside Russia, or is seen as acting under “foreign influence,” to register as a foreign agent. 

“I was watching the live broadcast of the vote with my mother. Till the last moment, we still had a hope. We hoped that their consciences wouldn’t allow it. But it happened, and I am really saddened. However, what gives me hope are the demonstrators,” said Nana Jikia, a student. “We want European future; we do not want to be a Russian province.”

The Georgian law requires civil society organizations, media and other entities receiving more than 20% of their funding from abroad to register as agents of foreign interests. The law primarily targets U.S. and European Union democracy assistance programs.

President Salome Zourabichvili vetoed the legislation on May 18, but it was widely expected that the ruling Georgian Dream party’s parliamentary majority would override the veto.

“There’s only one way forward for Georgia. For its sovereignty and freedom and liberty, and that is to remove this government democratically through next elections, to continue this protest, to have an overwhelming moral majority and, like 30 years ago in 1990 when communists were defeated even before elections, they have to accept that they have to give up power,” Giga Bokeria, head of the opposition European Georgia party, told VOA.

Georgian Dream reintroduced the law in April, a year after it abandoned in March 2023 after it sparked mass protests.

Protesters view the law as a move by the government to tilt the country toward Moscow, even though polls show more than 80% of Georgians support Georgia’s path toward EU membership and 73% endorse the country’s bid to join NATO.

General elections in October will determine whether the Georgian Dream party remains in power for a fourth term. Georgian nongovernmental organizations say the foreign agent law may hinder international organizations’ ability to observe the October vote. While the government claims the law promotes transparency, local NGOs and Georgia’s Western partners view it as targeting Western funding for Georgian civil society.

“Having no chances of victory in the upcoming general elections in October if they are conducted freely and fairly, [Bidzina] Ivanishvili” — Georgian Dream’s shadow leader — “is tightening his grip on power through harsh authoritarian measures and is openly driving the country into Russian influence,” former Georgian ambassador to the United States David Sikharulidze told VOA outside the parliament building in Tbilisi.

“It’s very much in line with Putin’s tactics,” he said.

“This law is a Russian law in essence and spirit, which contradicts our constitution and all European standards,” Zourabichvili said in her veto statement.

Zourabichvili, whose election as president in 2018 was supported by Georgian Dream, has increasingly found herself at odds with the party.

Apprehension over the domestic and foreign policy trajectory of Georgia’s government has grown since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Official Tbilisi refused to side with Ukraine publicly or to join sanctions against Moscow, while attacking Ukrainian officials publicly and echoing anti-Western rhetoric.

In addition, U.S. lawmakers have raised concerns about Georgia’s role in helping Russia evade Western sanctions.

For more than a month and a half, tens of thousands of Georgians have taken to the streets to protest the foreign agent law, the largest protests the country has seen since it gained independence from the Soviet Union in 1991.

“Georgian people have erupted in protest. They deserve more than just statements from the Western partners,” Sikharulidze said.

Last week, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced sanctions against those “responsible for undermining democracy in Georgia.”

“The Department of State is implementing a new visa restriction policy for Georgia that will apply to individuals who are responsible for or complicit in undermining democracy in Georgia, as well as their family members,” Blinken said in a statement. “This includes individuals responsible for suppressing civil society and freedom of peaceful assembly in Georgia through a campaign of violence or intimidation.”

Georgian Dream officials dismissed the visa restrictions as interference in Georgia’s internal affairs.

“The blackmail with visa restrictions are nothing but a crude attempt to limit the independence and sovereignty of Georgia,” the Georgian Dream party said in a statement, labeling the move “anti-Georgian.”

For their part, European Union officials have warned that adopting the foreign agent law would jeopardize Georgia’s bid for EU membership.

“The law of foreign influence is not in line with EU values. If the law is enacted, it will impact Georgia’s EU path,” said EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell.

Georgian officials have dismissed the critical voices in Washington and Brussels as part of what they call the “Global War Party,” which one Georgian Dream MP described to a British podcaster as a “‘force akin to the Freemasons.”
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WARSAW, Poland — Polish President Andrzej Duda has spoken on the phone with Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi to try to obtain the release of a Polish traveler who was sentenced to life in prison in the Central African country on espionage charges, an aide said Monday.

Congolese forces detained Mariusz Majewski, 52, in February and he later faced a military court in the restive nation, accused of spying.

The allegations against him said that he had “approached the front line with Mobondo militiamen,” moved along the front line without authorization and “took photos of sensitive and strategic places and secretly observed military activities.”

The Mobondo have been involved in intercommunal violence in the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s southwest since 2022.

Majewski was convicted last week and sentenced to life in prison. No details have been released as to where he is being held. 

Duda’s aide, Wojciech Kolarski, did not say what the outcome of the conversation between the two presidents was but stressed that the state had the obligation to take care of its citizens who find themselves in such dramatic situations overseas.

Majewski’s family says he is in poor health and insists that he is just a traveler.

Last week, Polish Foreign Ministry spokesperson Pawel Wronski said without elaborating that Majewski “is not a spy, he is a member of a travelers club” and was just following his “passion in life.”

Wronski said a chain of coincidental circumstances and events led to Majewski’s presence in Congo and his “behavior was the result of a lack of knowledge of local customs.”

Polish authorities are aware of the “very difficult political situation in Congo” and a recent coup attempt there but expressed hope that Majewski would not be implicated in a situation he has no connection to.

Poland does not have a diplomatic mission in Congo.

Earlier this month, the Congolese army said it had foiled a coup attempt and arrested the perpetrators, including some foreigners. Several U.S. citizens were among those arrested.
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PARIS — Rafael Nadal lost in the first round of the French Open to Alexander Zverev 6-3, 7-6 (5), 6-3 on Monday in what might turn out to be the 14-time Roland Garros champion’s last match at his favorite tournament. 

Nadal has indicated 2024 likely would be his last season before retirement, but he said Saturday that he is not 100% sure he won’t play again at the French Open. And he reiterated that after Monday’s defeat, only his fourth in 116 career matches at the place. 

When it ended, in anticlimactic fashion, with 22-time Grand Slam champion Nadal simply unable to play at his usual level after 1 1/2 years of hip and abdominal injuries, he thanked the raucous Court Philippe Chatrier crowd, saying was it “incredible the amount of energy” it provided throughout the 3 hours, 5 minutes of play. 

“It’s difficult for me to talk. I don’t know (if) it’s going to be the last time I am here. I am not 100% sure,” said Nadal, whose 1 1/2-year-old son, Rafael Jr., sat on his mother’s lap in the stands. “If it’s the last time, I enjoyed it.” 

It is the first time in his long and illustrious career that Nadal has been beaten in two consecutive matches on clay courts and the first time he has dropped a match earlier than the fourth round at the French Open. 

The match was played with the retractable roof shut, and the loud chants of “Ra-fa!” from most in the capacity crowd of about 15,000 echoed. 

Nadal turns 38 on June 3 and he has been dealing with hip and abdominal injuries since January 2023, limiting him to 15 matches and an 8-7 record since the start of last year. His infrequent play dropped his ranking to No. 275 and he was unseeded for the French Open for the first time. 

That is why he ended up facing the No. 4-seeded Zverev, the runner-up at the 2020 U.S. Open, a gold medalist at the Tokyo Olympics and the only man to reach the semifinals in Paris each of the past three years. 

Nadal’s other losses at Roland Garros came against Robin Soderling in 2010 and against Novak Djokovic in 2015 and 2021. 

“To be honest, I don’t know what to say. First of all: Thank you, Rafa, from all of the tennis world,” Zverev said. “It’s such a great honor. I’ve watched Rafa play all my childhood, and I was lucky enough to play Rafa when I became a professional. … Today is not my moment. It’s Rafa’s moment.” 

 
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