September 3, 2023 at 2:02 am EDT
Ukrainian oligarch Ihor Kolomoisky arrives in court in Kiev on Saturday. (Portal)
The Nobel Foundation will not invite ambassadors from Russia and Belarus to this year’s awards ceremony in Stockholm, reversing its earlier decision after backlash by officials in Sweden and Ukraine. Russia and its ally Belarus were barred from the event last year because of the Kremlin’s invasion of Ukraine. This year’s Nobel Prizes are expected to be announced in early October.
Ukrainian billionaire Ihor Kolomoisky, former governor of Ukraine’s Dnipropetrovsk region and former owner of a major bank in the country, is being held on bail of around $13 million by Ukrainian authorities on fraud and money laundering charges. The US imposed sanctions on him in 2021 “for his involvement in significant corruption” during his term as governor.
Here you will find the latest information on the war and its global impact.
Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson praised the Nobel Foundation’s decision to withdraw its invitations to Russia and Belarus. “The many and strong reactions show that all of Sweden clearly stands with Ukraine against Russia’s horrific war of aggression,” his office said in a statement Social media post.
Kolomoisky is accused of fraud and money laundering of criminally obtained property, according to the Ukrainian State Security Service, known as the SBU. The agency announced the allegations on Telegram and published photos that appeared to show authorities close to the oligarch, who previously owned PrivatBank of Ukraine and was governor of Dnipropetrovsk from 2014 to 2015. When U.S. sanctions were imposed on Kolomoisky in 2021, Secretary of State Antony Blinken expressed concern about his “current and ongoing efforts to undermine Ukraine’s democratic processes and institutions.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said the country’s armed forces continued to make progress in their counteroffensive after weeks of near stalemate. “Despite everything and no matter what anyone says, we are moving forward and that is the most important thing. We are moving,” he said on Saturday social media. White House spokesman John Kirby said this week that Ukraine has made “remarkable progress” in reclaiming territory in the southern Zaporizhzhia region.
About 80 percent of Ukraine’s nearly 13,000 schools have shelters to protect against war attacks. This was reported by the Ukrainian state news agency Ukrinform. The country’s second school year began on Friday amid war. Zelensky said on Friday that more than 3.7 million Ukrainian children had started the new school year, most of them in the country.
Two more ships successfully passed through a temporary grain corridor in the Black Sea. Zelensky said According to Portal, the total number of ships that have done so rose to four on Saturday. Since Russia withdrew from the Black Sea Grains Initiative in July, concerns about grain transport and global food security have worsened.
At least two people were killed and two others injured in an attack on a residential building in the town of Vuhledar. in Ukraine’s southeastern Donetsk region, the regional prosecutor’s office said on Facebook late Saturday. A couple in their 40s were killed in the attack; the couple’s 19-year-old daughter and a 53-year-old resident were among the injured, the public prosecutor’s office said.
A Russian attack on houses in Kherson killed an unknown number of civilians and injured at least four, said regional governor Oleksandr Prokudin on Saturday.
Four people were injured in another attack in the Dnipropetrovsk region. said local military administrator Serhiy Lysak. He posted photos on Telegram showing several damaged cars and a building with a destroyed roof and broken windows.
Russia risks “splitting its forces” as it tries to counter Ukraine’s counteroffensive. This was announced by the British Ministry of Defense. Such a move is considered undesirable in standard military doctrine. Russian forces tried to stop Ukraine’s southern counteroffensive while continuing their own offensive around Kupiansk in the country’s northeast, likely in an attempt to “distract Ukraine,” it said on social media.
The war in Ukraine stopped adoptions. Now some orphans are stuck in limbo: Wendy and Leo Van Asten first met “M and M” – a sibling pair from eastern Ukraine – when the children stayed at the couple’s home near Madison, Wisconsin, for four weeks in late 2018 as part of a placement program for Ukrainian orphans. and foster children with American families. The bond with the children was immediate, they said.
The couple immediately began the adoption process and maintained contact with M and M – whom they call by their first name initials out of affection and to protect their identity. But almost five years later, it is unclear whether the couple’s wish will ever come true, reports David L. Stern.
Ukrainian officials halted international adoptions until the end of the war. And many Western officials and analysts say the fighting could last for years – a prospect that fills families like the Van Astens with despair.