Section: Voice of America (USA)
Ukraine Continues Fighting Fires Near Defunct Chernobyl Nuclear Plant
Firefighters in Ukraine continue to battle a series of fires near the defunct Chernobyl nuclear power plant nearly a month after they broke out.The State Service for Emergency Situations said on April 27 that brigades were still working to extinguish fires in the Lubyanskiy, Paryshivskiy, Dytyatkivskiy, and Denysovytskiy forest districts in the...
UN: Consequences Remain Decades After Chernobyl Disaster
The United Nations says persistent and serious long-term consequences remain more than 30 years after the explosion and fire at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Ukraine.The world body is marking International Chernobyl Disaster Remembrance Day on April 26, the 34th anniversary of the accident that spread a radioactive cloud over large parts...
Trump, Putin Issue Rare Joint Statement Promoting Cooperation
U.S. President Donald Trump and his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, issued a rare joint statement Saturday commemorating a 1945 World War II link-up of U.S. and Soviet troops on their way to defeat Nazi Germany as an example of how their countries can cooperate.The statement by Trump and Putin came amid deep strains in U.S.-Russian ties over...
Senior Official Cited by Trump is Subject of Investigation
The senior Department of Homeland Security official who was thrust into the spotlight by President Donald Trump to describe the effects of temperature on COVID-19 has been the subject of misconduct allegations for his previous government work.A Department of Energy Inspector General investigation was still pending Friday based on evidence...
US, EU, Other WTO Countries Pledge to Keep Food Channels Open
The United States, the European Union and 20 other members of the World Trade Organization have agreed to keep the trade of food and agricultural products open in the face of restrictions designed to stem the spread of the novel coronavirus.In a joint statement dated April 22, the WTO members – which include Australia, Brazil, Canada and...
Orthodox Churches Hold Diminished Easter Services Amid Pandemic
Orthodox Christians observed the Easter holiday amid extraordinary coronavirus-related restrictions on services that forced many parishioners to watch services on TV or online. Church leaders have struggled to figure out how to observe the April 19 holiday — the holiest day in the Orthodox calendar — while avoiding spreading the coronavirus. Some...
UN, EU, US Welcome Release, Exchange of Prisoners in E. Ukraine
The United Nations, the European Union and the United States welcomed the release and exchange of prisoners in eastern Ukraine, which has been torn by a 6-year-old armed conflict.The U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said he remained hopeful this “humanitarian action” ahead of Orthodox Easter “will serve as a positive step toward more...
New Wildfires in Area Around Ukraine’s Chernobyl Plant
Three new wildfires have started in the radiation-contaminated evacuation zone around Ukraine’s wrecked Chernobyl nuclear power plant, the site of the world’s worst nuclear accident 34 years ago, emergency officials said Thursday.A statement from the Emergencies Ministry said the fires were small and posed no threat to facilities...
Ukraine, Russia-Backed Separatists Begin Prisoner Swap
Ukrainian forces and Russia-backed rebels in eastern Ukraine began a prisoner exchange on Thursday, according to the Ukrainian president’s office and separatists.The exchange comes as part of an agreement brokered last year at a summit of the leaders of Ukraine, Russia, Germany and France. The aim is to take confidence-building steps that...
Amid COVID-19 Pandemic, Russia’s Putin Missing in Action, Critics Say
In 1941, when German forces blitzed their way into the Soviet Union and destroyed the Russian air force in the western borderlands within 48 hours, then-Soviet dictator Josef Stalin retreated to his dacha and saw no one for several days. The memory of Stalin’s weeklong seclusion is now being invoked in the Russian capital by Muscovite...
