City, strong people. 59yearold canadian paul hughes came to kharkiv in early march 2022, shortly after the fullscale invasion of russia. Subsequently, he founded the hags charity fund, which sounds like a hug in english, but is an acronym for the words helping ukraine grass support. Together with likeminded people, he has been supporting the residents of the region for over two years. Firstly, we have a garage where volunteers repair cars, secondly, we run the smart program, which is an acronym for sports, music, recreation and technology, so we try to help displaced children living in shelters from kupyansk, lyman , bakhmuta, kramatorsk, kostyantynivka, raisins, different places we try to put a smile on their faces so they know that people from all over the world care about them. We also carry out evacuations or deliver humanitarian aid. Paul guus from the canadian city of calgary served in the Canadian Armed forces, then founded a Hockey Academy where he worked as a coach, and in 2011 started one of canadas largest public urban farms grow calgary, where volunteers grow vegetables for underprivileged townspeople. However, the man has been exclusively employed for over two years the work of the humanitarian headquarters in kharkiv, despite the beginning of the russian counteroffensive in the Kharkiv Region, paul is not going to return to canada. Our organization is called helping ukraine, not escape from ukraine. We help ukraine while in ukraine. Weve been here long enough. Our network is quite large now. We help many people, shelters, communities. Children from 15 shelters for displaced persons paul, together with other volunteers, take care of displaced people in kharkiv. The prosecutor from the american state of utah Nathaniel Sanders came to ukraine already on the fifth. For the first time crossed the ukrainianpolish border in july 22. In kharkiv he met with a husband and now helps Migrant Children with him. A little over two years ago, when the fullscale invasion began, i heard voices on the radio, and they reminded me of the children i heard when i lived in moscow. Right after college, i lived in moscow and taught english. I worked on an exchange program, and part of that program was meeting children who had returned from the United States. So these were children from all former soviet countries states, and then, hearing. The voices of people who were fleeing the invasion, who were from the east of ukraine, that is, mostly russianspeaking, i understood what they were saying, and the voices seemed familiar to me, so i felt the need to do something. After his first visit to ukraine, natenielel organized his own charitable organization. I found likeminded people in utah and we formed a small group called utah for ukraine. Since then, we have been trying to raise funds to help ukraine. We are also trying to raise awareness of events here in ukraine. Its fun an american, a member of the foreign legion with the call sign cossack, helps to spend time with Migrant Children. I helped orphans on christmas, easter and other holidays. Because i know what its like to be really poor and have nothing as a child. These kids just touched my heart. In the United States, says kozak, he once served in the armed forces. With the beginning of the fullscale invasion of russia into ukraine, he joined the first. National legion. After the games, he returns to the service with his children, because the situation at the front in Kharkiv Region difficult he says. The fact that we did not receive aid and the us dragged it along is very painful. Were running out of ammo and stuff, but things are getting back to normal now , so i think we can stop them. After playing in the fresh air , the children return to the humanitarian headquarters with sweets and small gifts. We work with children. Displaced people, they are going through a lot of trauma because of the war, they are children who just want to play, learn and have a positive experience. Once again during the day , the air alarm sounds. For residents of kharkiv this is a daily routine for a long time. Anna kostyuchenko, Pavel Sukhodolsky for voice of america from kharkiv. And to american news. Joe biden and donald trump agreed on the date of the first debate on the eve of the president ial election. They will take place historically early. On june 27, even before the democratic and republican parties officially announce them as the only candidates. Campaign. Meanwhile , the economy is in the spotlight this week. Joe biden, in communication with voters, focuses attention on the economic gains made by his administration jobs, and donald trump says he will cut bidens Infrastructure Spending and increase oil production. Last week , joe biden spoke to voters about the need for Technology Investment in the us midwest in wisconsin, where microsoft is investing 3. 3 billion in a new data center, which biden said, quote, is another example of private sector optimism. So far, we have raised 866 billion in the private sector across the country, almost a trillion dollars, historic amounts in such a short time, and that literally creating hundreds of thousands of new jobs, new factories for the production of semiconductors, electric cars and battery batteries and. The area where the new Microsoft Data Center is located is also the place where 6 years ago donald trump announced the investment of the Electronics Manufacturer foxcon on 10 billion dollars this complex was supposed to create 13 thousand new jobs for the state of wisconsin, but it was not built. Biden called it another unfulfilled promise by trump. In fact, he used to come here. With your senator ron johnson, literally holding a golden shovel, promising to build the eighth wonder of the world. You re joking . Look what happened they dug a hole with those golden shovels, and then they fell into it. Trump says biden is mismanaging the us economy, pointing to rising inflation. The economy is not doing well. We see inflation, its skyrocketing. They will not be able to reduce. In his campaign, trump opposes bidens spending on infrastructure, in particular on projects in the field of clean energy and technology. So upon taking office, i will immediately implement a moratorium on all new grants and handouts under joe bidens massive socialist bills, such as the so called deflationary bill. We plan to save all these funds. Biden argues that spending on infrastructure helps the economy. Also, roads, highways, and more will be made of american materials, built by american workers, and that will create goodpaying jobs. Trump says his jobs plan includes lifting restrictions on mining oil and protecting americans from the labor of illegal immigrants. What is my Employment Plan . My plan for jobs is to mine, baby, you cut the power, close the border, get rid of all the criminals they let into our country. An April Harvard caps harris poll found that inflation is the most important issue for us voters, with only one in three saying the economy is on the right track. Iryna chenkarenko, scott stearns, voice of america. Supreme commander of nato forces. In europe, general Christopher Cavoli named three lessons of the war in ukraine for the us and nato military. Among them is the importance of a quick victory at the beginning of the war in order to prevent a long drawnout conflict. Quickly learn tactical lessons, as well as the relationship between the countrys civilian and military command. General christopher cavollo emphasized this during a discussion at the Atlantic Council on may 17. The first lesson of war is to win in advance, quickly and powerfully, or find yourself in a protracted struggle. So, the first lesson is to develop a sufficient number of capacities, to reach a high Level Preparation so that you can be the first to win from the beginning, because from what we see in ukraine, if you dont, and you face a big adversary like russia, it can end up being a protracted struggle, and that struggle requires significant resources. In this case, you should be prepared that the road to victory will be long. I believe that russia will pose a longterm threat to the alliance and will pose problems for us for years to come. Moscow will implement its plans to expand the army. And has already announced plans to do it russia is already building a militaryindustrial complex. Russia quickly restores losses. At the beginning of may , nato exercises began in sweden. Quick response. Nearly 800 paratroopers from the United States, spain, hungary and italy are training together to deter any potential aggression. These are the first such exercises on the territory of sweden since the countrys accession to nato. My colleague Myroslava Gongadze tells from the test site in sweden. Swift response is part of the defensive 24 largest usled nato exercises in europe involving more than 17 us military personnel and 23 military personnel from more than 20 allied and partner countries. The exercises are aimed at strengthening natos deterrence capabilities, says the director of the us european command, major general. Nato deters any chronic threat that exists from the outside and, as general cavoli noted, similar exercises in the scandinavian countries contribute to deterring and strengthening nato. Christopher cavoli, head of us european command and supreme commanderinchief of the united armed forces of nato in europe since july 22. The military says that russian aggression against ukraine has dramatically changed the security environment in europe. There are two threats in the world right now that we know about theres the existing threat, which is china, and then obviously theres the threat of russia, and we see their aggression in ukraine. Nato is fully prepared for any deterrence or, if necessary, reinforcement of our partners in europe against any russian aggression. New threats forced finland and sweden to join the alliance and pushed nato member countries to increase defense spending. Sweden entered the. With a well equipped army, with the Largest Air Force in the nordicbaltic region. The countrys navy is the largest in the baltic, equipped with advanced submarines designed for shallow waters. We are a small country, we naturally have a small armed forces, but our units and our capabilities are strong within the potential that we have in our forces, and this will be a contribution to nato, and we will do it together with. Countries, and together we will be strong. Thanks to swedens entry, nato strengthens its defense position and strengthens its control over the baltic and arctic regions. This membership gives allies access to the strategically important polish peninsula, which is critical to countering russias military presence and enhances readiness to address security challenges in the north. Military personnel of the United States, spain, hungary and italy detachment. Training emphasize their importance in promoting cooperation and readiness to participate in joint operations. I believe that it is very, very important for the brigade, not just for the brigade but for all of nato because we can increase our communication between the Airborne Companies and we build and raise our standards, our skills and we can create better interoperability and we can increase our joint and multinational interaction and integration. Thank you to sweden for hosting us on this training ground. This is definitely something we desperately need. We take many lessons from the individual level to the command level. It is planned that Swift Response will last until may 31. These exercises are conducted in parallel with natos stadfast defender exercises, as well as national exercises such as spring strike in sweden, fvaadriga saos in germany and ducia24 in romania. Myroslava voice of america, sweden. We are bringing ukraine closer to nato, we want ukraines bridge to nato to be strong and well lit. He made such a statement this week in kyiv. Us secretary of state anthony blinken. He emphasized that the socalled bridge to nato will strengthen Bilateral Agreements on security cooperation. It is security agreements, urgent and longterm military aid, more weapons, ukraine can count on such results based on the results of the nato summit in washington, according to american diplomats William Taylor and john herbst. But they say you should not expect an official invitation, neither to the alliance, nor to the start of membership negotiations. This is definitely progress, but as president zelensky said, he understands that ukraine cannot join nato while the war is going on. However, there are things that can be done now, and this is precisely the idea of mosto c at some point the invitation will come, but the first step may be an invitation to begin negotiations towards membership. It may not happen during this summit, but it is possible later in the fall. I think that at the summit you will hear Firm Commitments on weapons. Some more steps to facilitate the transfer of weapons to ukraine. For now, unfortunately, i think we will see a repeat of the vilniyiv summit. These will be some minor measures regarding the ongoing cooperation between ukraine and nato. And this collaboration is a good contribution, but still relatively small. Would like to see, and working for it, but im not sure i ll be able to use the nato summit for major new arms packages for ukraine, more sophisticated weapons, or perhaps changes to the us rules on the use of weapons for strikes on russian territory. In my opinion, more important than nato membership is the policy of ensuring that ukraine could better defend itself and return its territory. Nato membership is a vital element of ultimate security. Which is about the same. And finally, how the norwegian arctic became the arena of the cold war between the russians and ukrainians. In barensburg, a norwegian mining town beyond the arctic circle, ukrainians lived side by side with russians for years. However, after the beginning of the great war, ukrainians left the city because it was impossible to stay. Why, iryna shinkarenko will tell. Barensburg is a mining town beyond the arctic circle. Russian flags and symbols of the soviet era are common here, such as a bust of lenin overlooking the harbor. But barensburg is not in russia, it is norway. The city is located on the norwegian archipelago of svalbard, more than 600 km north of mainland norway. By extraordinary legal status of the island group, people of any nationality can settle here. Russians and ukrainians have historically made up the majority of baras approximately 400 residents. Burga, but that changed in 2022, when many ukrainians left here. Kateryna shabradska, a ukrainian who left barensburg before the fullscale russian invasion of ukraine. She now lives in the nearby town of longyearbyen, the main norwegian settlement on svalbard. After the start of the fullscale war, many moved to longyearbyen from barensburg ukrainians 2022 changed everything. Didnt want to spend time there anymore because there were many problems in 2022. I felt it and knew it, and i said, what the hell, i dont want to communicate with russians anymore. Norwegian locals say that relations between the norwegian and russian settlements on the island were historically good, even during the cold war, but that changed in 2022, when joint cultural events were suspended and business ties between barensburg and longyearbyen were severed. Maybe its because the cold war wasnt a fullscale killing war, what were seeing in europe now is not what we saw during the cold war, its now a fullscale bombing nightmare that s really affected people here. Kateryna shabrayka says that she and the rest of the community are from about 40 ukrainians. In ulongira are doing Everything Possible to raise money to help the ukrainian military. Here we organized dinners, lunches, and held a big concert. This is how we work together. Almost a century ago, the svalbard treaty established sovereignty norway over these historic islands, made them open for visafree residence and prohibited military activities. Meanwhile , analysts state that russia is resorting to the socalled hybrid approach to increase its own influence. In the arctic through research, the intensification of maritime activities and even through tourism. Thus, in april, russia announced that it would send its own boat with tourists to the archipelago. When asked how it might affect their business, but. I dont think it would affect us, but of course, i understand that russian settlements want to continue their activities in the field of tourism. It is geopolitically important to support activities on svalbard. Norways presence on svalbard means it could potentially block the russian Northern Fleet from reaching the atlantic in the event of a conflict. For this reason, analysts say, russia keeps. On the island, mainly in barensburg, military actions are prohibited here, and this is why observers say that russia is taking a hybrid approach, gradually developing activities permitted by law, such as research, industry and tourism, it is increasing its maritime presence, ultimately aimed at achieving strategic goals, scientists present on the archipelago note the strengthening of russian rhetoric on svalbard. First, official statements. Russia, which has been very critical of norway, claiming that norway is militarizing the islands, carrying out nato mandates, and so on. Rather harsh wording, which is usually interpreted by people as very hostile. Russians dont even follow norwegian road rules. They drive cars in barensburg from with russian license plates, instead of the official norwegian license plates they must have. In may. Last year they staged a russian victory day procession that many locals said had militaristic undertones, the Russian Special consul in barensburg, who after an investigation was named by the norwegian broadcaster nrk as an operative an employee of Russian Military intelligence, declined the voice o