At the same time, he again did not condemn russia for aggression, he also avoided the word war and declared that the longer the ukrainian crisis lasts, the more damage it will bring to europe and the world the European Tour of the chinese leader is monitored by bohdan tsyupin. Hello, bohdan, please tell us what is the plan of sijin pings visit to europe, where is he going and with whom will he meet, and can we say that the issue of the russian war in ukraine will be one of the leading ones . Maria, well, we know that tonight in paris, the chinese leader is having dinner with french president Emmanuel Macron and other officials, and we also know that later as part of the chinese leaders state visit to france, there will be a trip to the south to the pyrenees mountains, where french president Emmanuel Macron will. Introduce his chinese guest to his homeland, so to speak, his ancestors or family . In response to the fact that not so long ago, when the french president was in china, he was also given a very boisterous reception, and the french president was taken to the chinese province where xijin pin comes from, so it is such a very pompous occasion, one might say. This is a state visit, but in fact it is overshadowed by the fact that europe is preparing to counteract the influx of chinese goods, in particular electric cars, as well as other goods, which europe suspects are so cheap and will win competition from european ones, because they receive subsidies from the chinese government, then the chinese. The head of this sixday tour of europe will visit serbia, and then hungary, and those those who observe these plans point out that in fact this is such a signal from beijing that instead of going to, say, italy, one of the leading economies in europe, or to germany, the chinese leader chose to go to those countries where the governments are very prochina, very happy about chinese investment, and just as china is friendly with moscow. As for the topics, that is, economic topics, the topics of the russian war against ukraine, marked by the fact that the chinese side does not mention the word war, the word aggression, it does not even mention the word russia, but from the europeans. It sounds like this. It is obvious that the International Situation requires eurochinese dialogue more than ever. I expressed this recently in a speech about our europe. We are at a turning point in history that requires us to undertake and solve problems relating to economic trade where the idea of separation would be harmful. And we have a responsibility to create a level Playing Field for everyone. We agree that europe and china share a common interest in peace and security. We count on china to use all its influence on russia to stop russias war of aggression against ukraine. President xi has played an Important Role in deescalating russias irresponsible nuclear threats, and i am confident that president xi will continue to do so amid ongoing Russian Nuclear threats. Bohdan, tell me what role china wants to play in the Peace Process in ukraine, and is it already known whether, for example, a chinese representative will participate in the peace summit regarding ukraine in switzerland . Well, as for what china wants, it is difficult to say, we can talk about what it says, for example, what chinese leader xi jinping said, in a statement in an article for the french press, he wrote that china is willing to cooperate with france with International Community for searches like there it is said, the ways of reason. Way out of the ukrainian crisis, let me remind you that the chinese representatives do not use the words war, aggression and russia in this situation, obviously for the reasons of their friendship with moscow, we know that the chinese leader calls putin his greatest friend, as far as participation in the peace conference is concerned , which will take place in the middle of next month in switzerland. There was a very interesting statement by the chinese leader in paris today, from which it is actually a little difficult to understand what beijing wants, because he talks about the desirability of a peaceful conference, but did not say what was meant by next months conference. Moreover, the chinese leader repeated that beijing is talking about a conference in which ukraine and russia would be represented and. Also, so at this point we dont know at what level and whether china will be represented at the so called peace summit in midjune in switzerland . Thank you, bohdan, it was voas european correspondent bohdan tsyupin. The European Union should direct the remaining funds to the defense complex funds for the recovery of countries after the covid pandemic. This idea was proposed by the government. Of poland during the pandemic, the eu created a fund of 725 billion euros. Of this amount, more than 400 billion have not been used. As the media reports, brussels is already discussing the possibility of directing these funds to the development of the militaryindustrial complex of the eu countries. The fund could potentially provide cheap loans for the purchase of weapons, or for a broader response to russian aggression, in particular to support the reconstruction of ukraine. Something the longtime president of the Czech Republic, petr pavel stated that prague has already managed to find more than a million Artillery Ammunition for ukraine in countries outside the eu. The search for shells for ukraine may become perhaps the most Important Mission in modern history. Czech investigative journalist orenjej kundra is convinced of this. My colleague Natalia Churikova asked him about how this Czech Initiative began, and how military equipment from the Czech Republic was at the very beginning of a fullscale. The invasion of russia strengthened the defense of kyiv. At the beginning of june , the first ammunition found and purchased abroad should arrive in ukraine eu at the initiative of the Czech Republic. At the beginning, it was announced about 800 thousand shells, and then it turned out that there could be a million of them. How the small Czech Republic managed to do what the entire European Union failed to do, which it promised ukraine in march of last year. It has not yet succeeded, because 800,000 or a million shells have not yet been delivered to ukraine as part of the initiative coordinated by the Czech Republic. In my opinion, the success will be when this weapon physically arrives, but some part is already on the way. In general, it succeeded because several czech government officials in the ministries of defense at the end of the 21st year, that is, before the fullscale second were able to see what many people did not realize, they saw that ukraine was under threat of attack and immediately began to act, they found out what the Czech Republic had in their warehouses and realized that this would not be enough, and they began to look for opportunities as necessary weapons can be bought all over the world with the help of various private companies, that is, in the beginning it was the foresight and determination of a few government officials, and the second important point is that the czech military the companies were quite. Developed, they traded arms in the 80s under the communist regime, and then in the 90s they continued to do this in africa, asia and south america. Previously, these arms dealers often found themselves on the wrong side, supported various procommunist regimes, did not help those who fought for freedom and democracy, but times have changed, but the knowledge and skills of the czech arms dealers served a good cause this time when the ministry of defense approached them, they. Quite quickly formed a picture of where and what in the world there is, and for how much and where it was possible to buy this weapon. How much would it cost to redeem it . Eh, vy jste vadyl taky ze. Great britain also has a similar aid project for ukraine, the governments there collected almost a billion dollars for military aid to ukraine, but, as opposition representatives recently stated, less than half of this money has already been distributed to performance of contracts. The opposition criticized the authorities for lack of flexibility and inflexibility. Can the czech project advance faster, because it is already about redemption ready in europe, there are currently many initiatives that are trying to either find the weapons themselves and buy them back, or to manufacture them, or to convince other countries to sell their weapons to ukraine. For example, one of them was led by germany, which is trying to find enough means of air defense for ukraine, so that it would be safer to live in ukrainian cities. The Czech Initiative concentrates on one type of weapon projectiles for. Artillery, because artillery is very important in this war. The job now is that we supply information where these weapons are now and how can it be bought, and other European Countries give money for it, either to the czech state or to private companies that are engaged in it. This happens in different ways, sometimes weapons are imported to the Czech Republic, and sometimes directly to ukraine. The British Initiative is aimed at supplying drones and some other types of weapons. I think that there is no competition here, and ukraine is now grateful for all the weapons it has. When czech president petr pavel announced this initiative at the munich conference, many people thought that the Czech Republic was taking such an initiative because the country is headed by a former general and highranking nato official, but as you found out, the initiative was actually born over a beer in kneipp, can you tell us how it was . As you say, and as i described in the magazine respect, this initiative was born in one of the kneips in the center of prague at prechristmas beer gatherings, because those employees of the ministry of defense who gathered there were old friends, they talked about Different Things about holiday plans, about the family, and then one of them showed the others an article in the russian zmi, where it was written that the Czech Republic supplies the fascist regime in kyiv with multiple weapons, when he showed it to two of his colleagues, they only laughed sadly. And if the Czech Republic could supply ukraine with a lot of highquality weapons, and they started working on it, and when this initiative had been going on for many months, president peter pavel announced it publicly at the munich security conference, before that Prime Minister peter fiala spoke about it at to the european council, but it was a closed meeting for the heads of the eu governments. There were some messages after that meeting, but there was no great resonance. The resonance arose when president pavel spoke about it at the munich conference, where a very sad and depressed atmosphere prevailed. That is, he was not the initiator, but supported this initiative, and thanks to this, other European Countries began to join the initiative. They saw that the czechs have the knowhow, found a way to find and purchase these weapons, and now more than 20 countries have joined this initiative. On saturday in new york , the russian youth of america held a march known as the immortal regiment. Under the pressure of Ukrainian Community participants abandoned soviet and russian symbols and called the march heroes of the second world war. They call the action itself apolitical. Ukrainian activists, as well as representatives of the russian opposition, which held its own rally nearby, do not agree with this. With posters stop racism, stop fascism and calls for no war, say Iryna Solomko and pavlo terekhov. The history of the Immortal Regiment Movement in new york began in 2015, when representatives of the russian youth of America Organization held the first action. Then they used the soviet and russian symbols, as well as flags. From the very beginning, the initiator and organizer of the movement was ihor kochan, the president of the association. The project reached the peak of activity in new york when, according to kuchin , about 2,000 people joined the action. Since 2015, ukrainian activist valentina badrakova, along with likeminded people, has protested against what she says is a tool of russian propaganda. There was just a statement by the president of russia that thanks only to russia, thanks to the russians to the russian people, then , i quote, this victory was won, thats why we ukrainians, representatives of other countries, belarus, georgia, americans were among us, we went out and held such a contraction, this is hypocrisy. To use the victory, to use the theme of the war, and to use it as a propaganda tool, to tell people that only the russians won and took part in the second world war. Then the actions were organized almost every year. They began to spread all these influences to other states, to other groups, in other states as well. And exclusively soviet symbols are used. And. Conducted only in 2022, as voice of america ihor kuchyn explained, precisely because of the tragic events that took place in ukraine. We knew from some representatives of the Ukrainian Community how sensitive this event was for them, and at that time we still had the name of the event immortal regiment. The Ukrainian Community was very responsive to this name. According to him, from the very beginning. The action is aimed at honoring the memory of veterans. Participants carry photos of their relatives. As for the soviet and russian symbols, the organizers say that we gave up on it back in 2016. We said ok, lets remove all this soviet symbolism. However, videos and photos from the action after 2016, including from 2021, show that its participants used soviet symbols, russian flags, and soviet military uniforms. That is why, when members of the Ukrainian Community found out that kochan was planning to hold an action again, they sent several appeals to the city hall to prevent this propaganda attempt. Action russian immortal regiment is a cultural tool a tool that russia uses to promote, as soft power, to promote russian narratives in the united states, we see that and we oppose it. Kochen is convinced that the action is political, he denies the connection with propaganda, he himself says, against the war. I do not support wars, i do not support any other wars. I pray for peace as an orthodox at home and at every liturgy. Our grandparents fought for a peaceful sky and that is what we have been talking about all these years. Its participants emphasize the political nature of the action. This is my grandfather dmytro hryhorovych petrashov. He went through the whole war, and i cannot but honor his memory. Why do you think this is . So few people, probably some kind of political controversy, i didnt want it to be like that, its all very important to me, its about the glory of my country, my country was the soviet union, and this is the glory of my country, we did it, and were trying to show it to everyone world, we did it. Oleksandr zaporozhtsev representative. New York Organization russian america for democracy in russia. He does not support kochins actions, that is why he decided with likeminded people stage a protest we, as an organization of democratic russians, do not want the usa to have such an organization that was previously sponsored by the russian putin government. Thats all, and we came to say no to the war that putin is currently waging on the territory of ukraine, because we are russians, we are not for putin, we do not want this war. Taranka recently, russian propaganda has really intensified in new york, in the last few months they have held three actions that promote russian culture, and the Ukrainian Community plans to continue to oppose this activity. Iryna from new york solomko, pavlo terikhov, voice of america. Our next story is about an american and a georgian woman who are fighting in Donetsk Region as part of the international legion. Together they survived more than one shelling and more than one injury. What motivates them to defend ukraine, he will tell. Evacuation flights with the wounded, he has served in the Us National Guard in baghdad, but the intensity of combat does not compare to that experience, nate says. I was in baghdad for four years, but here on my First Mission i felt more artillery on me than i did in all my time in iraq. Stepsister neta is a 29yearold doctor keti leshkasheli is from georgia, she was born in russia. Even had dual citizenship. In 2022, when the war started in ukraine, i simply threw away my russian passport and came to ukraine in march. She is a doctor by education. At the time when russia launched a fullscale aggression against ukraine, the girl was working in a clinic in berlin. Leshka shelly immediately resigned and was already in ukraine on march 5, 2022. To fight for ukraine, the girl says, she was motivated by the russian aggression against georgia in 2008. I was 13 years old then, i was nothing could not do i was a child, then i was already in georgia and saw what the russians did to the georgians. So. When i was already 27, i thought, since russia wants to do the same thing to ukraine, i cant stand by, i have to do something, so i thought okay, im a doctor, ill help in hospitals or something do. At first, the doctor joined the georgian legion, formed in 2014, but two months later, she transferred to the international legion. Katyas combat journey began in kharkiv oblast and continued in donbas. Where she is now. A woman evacuates the wounded from the battlefield. During such evacuations , the girl herself suffered several shrapnel wounds. In august 2023, she was treated in her native georgia, but after recovery , she returned to the front in ukraine. Katie and esi are two of our medics who are definitely braver than. In november 2023 , katyas bravery was recognized with the gold cross of the commanderinchief of the armed forces. This winter , she had to take maneita to the hospital. During the shelling of one of the evacuations, shrapnel from an artillery shell wounded the left hand and americans leg. I took him to the field hospital. It was very cold then, somewhere around minus 20, and his hand did not move at all. Because of the injury, he lost a part. During the year of service side by side with nate, they became like a family, says the girl. Nate is like an uncle to me, so calm and quiet, a real uncle. After several months of rehabilitation , net returned to the front. He is not worried because of the scars on his hand, he says that special breathing helps him restore calm during times of stress. The only way i know how to reduce stress in real time its a parasympathetic sigh, its like a little baby that s finished crying, you just do this. If your exhalation is longer than your inhale, this will naturally calm you down. The First International legion was created on february 27, 2022 on the initiative of the president. Vselensky. Currently , volunteers from more than 50 Different Countries defend ukraine in its ranks. Anna kostyuchenko, pavel sukhodolskyi for voice of america from Donetsk Region. In the us , propalestinian demonstrations continue on university campuses. If they continue, some analysts say it could affect the 2024 president ial election. How exactly, see in the plot. More than 20 propalestinian protesters were arrested by police and witnessed their tent camp at the university of virginia in solomitz dismantled last saturday. But such cases do not seem to deter protesters, many of whom have already voiced their demands during graduation ceremonies in some states, such as michigan. After being cleared by police on tuesday. The Columbia University building is captured protesters, the mayor of new york, eric adams, on sunday on the air of the abc tv channel, said that Law Enforcement officers would ensure peace during the graduation ceremonies. We will do our job if educational institutions decide to have graduations for students to celebrate this wonderful experience with their families, we will make sure it is done in a peaceful way. President joe biden , his campaign cochairman, addressed the protesters on thursday. Mitch landrew appeared on cnns state of the union sunday to highlight bidens main message. Everyone has the right to protest, but they must protest peacefully. If they protest violently, it must stop. There is no place for that. There is no place for antisemitism, no place for islamophobia. For his part, Presumptive Republican president ial nominee donald trump again criticized the propalestinian actions on sunday. He wrote on his social network true social. That biden is, quote, the root cause of all these horrible protests is a political strategy that trump is using to benefit his own reelection, says political scientist michael troughot. He wants protesters, especially students, to be arrested and removed from campuses, but he doesnt understand, or doesnt want to admit, that the president has little or no direct control over all of this. However, if the protests continue, they could affect elections in november, traogot says. I believe that the protests generally favor donald trump, because they contradict the views of a large part of his supporters. And they are more likely to. Mobilize, and on the other hand, they can reduce the turnout of young people, mostly democrats, who support joe biden. President biden is expected to talk about measures to combat antisemitism during a speech at the Holocaust Museum on tuesday. Trump this week will focus on speaking in a courtroom in new york as part of the criminal case against him and preparing for another meeting with voters on may 11 in new jersey. Iryna shenkarenko, veronika balderas and gleisya with voices. Download the voice of america mobile application. The application allows you to bypass blocking automatically thanks to the builtin vpn service. Read the news watch informative programs and videos, as well as listen to podcasts of the ukrainian voice of america service. We conclude with this. Maria prus worked for you in the studio. See other stories of the ukrainian service. Of america on our website in social networks, and also subscribe to our channel on youtube and telegram. Thank you for your trust, see you on the air. There are discounts represented by coco discounts in may nadlehit cream 150 g 20 in pharmacies plantain bam and oskad. There are discounts representing coco discounts in may on eurofast softcaps 20 in travel bam and savings pharmacies. Vasyl zimas big broadcast, this is a big broadcast, my name is vasyl zima and we are starting two hours of air time, two hours of your time. We will discuss many important topics today. Two hours to learn about the war. Now we will talk more about the war. Serhiy zgurets with us and what the world is about. And now , yuriy fizar will talk in more detail about what happened in the world, yuriy, good evening, please. Two hours to keep up with economic news. Time to talk about money in wartime. Oleksandr morchivka is with us. Alexander, congratulations, please. And sports news. Sports events from yevhen pastukhov for two hours in the company of favorite presenters. Thank you very much to elina chechenii for the information about cultural news, presenters, which have become familiar to many. Natalka didenko is ready to tell us about the weather on the day of advent, as well as the distinguished guests of the studio. Andriy parubiy, peoples deputy of ukraine, was also the chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of ukraine. Events of the day in two hours. Vasyl zimas big broadcast. Project for smart and those who care espresso in the evening. On may 8 wednesday, the espresso tv channel will broadcast a special project for Remembrance Day and victory over nazism, about the role of ukrainians in the second world war, about 10 years of the european tradition of commemorating Remembrance Day, about the red poppy and the first minute of peace, about the rejection of may 9 with parades and