congratulations on the broadcast of the program of the ukrainian voice of america time, i am its presenter ostap yarysh, the minister of energy of the european union, they agreed to reduce gas consumption before the coming winter, they voted for such a step almost unanimously, only hungary was against the decision, and the president of the european commission, rusula foundation, took a decisive step before the threat of a complete shutdown gas supply by putin, she said, and we will talk more about what this decision means with radio liberty correspondent zoryana stepanenko, who joins us from brussels zoryan i congratulate you so zorya, how exactly did the minister of the registry agree to reduce gas consumption and how quickly, in principle, can this

happen now? i congratulate you. it will be ready in a few days. russia will completely stop supplies here, which, according to the leadership of the european union, it is quite likely that they agreed on the plan itself, how exactly will they actually save money and, in general, the proposal of the european commission presented in april of the games, the leadership of ukraine is arbitrarily reduces gas consumption by 15%, so as not to waste heat that will come in handy in the cold season and, accordingly, so that europeans do not freeze in their homes in the winter and industry does not stop if russia completely stops supplying gas here, the day before this plan was criticized by a number of eu countries and it would seem that there are almost no chances of its adoption. well, but it was saved from the thorn, as it actually happens when in this block in the european union they cannot reach an agreement among them among the exceptions of allocation yes to or in which to save ukraine that is not connected to the gas networks of other eu member states, such as cyprus,

malta, ireland, these exceptions apply to them , and in the end they reached a compromise offered to the european union hungary, she was the only one against well, but actually it did not affect the overall result of the service today we are sending a powerful signal not only to vladimir putin, who once again failed to divide the european union, but also to this most important decision for our citizens, today's decision will save us from dramatic consequences in the winter including the lack of gas or people jumping on it zoryan please also explain the importance of this decision, you know ostap well, saving gas will be killed is an unprecedented step of european solidarity, the german government said this today, adding that they will not allow putin to sow division among the members of the european union despite the fact

that gas is scarce, nevertheless, the fight for it within the eu is not arranged, the minister of foreign affairs of germany emphasized on this how to resist russian gas pressure colleagues in brussels was consulted today by the ukrainian minister of energy, halushchenko stopped the supply once and actually gave advice to his colleagues and emphasized the importance of getting rid of dependence as soon as possible and believes that there is a group that will manage, listen to my opinion. this winter will be the last when russia will put pressure on the european union using gas, of course it is needed time to diversify supplies of nuances and then, but considering the opinion of the assembly, especially together with zoryan, we also saw another important announcement from the side in great britain, today they announced the expansion of sanctions against russia, what do they concern? london today expanded and included in the

black list more than four dozen persons and companies , and now personal restrictions also apply to the heads of russian regions, well, in particular, the lipetsk , volodymyr, samara, volgograd , bryansk regions and not only regions. in general, i will say the total figure is up to 30 governors, and it also fell into this honorable, or rather not quite list, the so-called governor creates the russian the minister of justice is the nephew and businessman of alisher usmanov, who was sanctioned even earlier. well, now, accordingly, the ban on entry to the united kingdom and the freezing of their assets there applies to relatives, if they are ostape zoryana. thank you very much. i will remind you. it was zoryana stepanenko from brussels, russia. uses food and energy as a weapon of war, french president emmanuel macron said this during his visit to cameroon , stressing that he is concerned about the hybrid presence, disinformation and distorted forms of cooperation

which russia is planting on the continent and africa should be concerned, it is also noteworthy that these days the minister of foreign affairs of russia sergey lavrov went to africa among other countries. he visited uganda. uganda is one of the african countries suffering from a food crisis, however, after meeting with lavrov in in an interview with the voice of america, his colleague jecheo-dongo said that he considers the talk of hunger to be an attempt by the west to involve african countries in the conflict between russia and ukraine. opinion - this is a conflict, the position of uganda was and is neutral, gandhi does not need to join the sanctions measure or the sanctions of the east, russia and ukraine need to learn to live in peace with each other , learn to respect each other and learn to recognize that there is enough room for everyone in the whole world, listen, africans are not idiots, we are clearly made it clear that the west should not involve africa in this conflict, saying famine in africa, famine in

africa. i didn't even know that ukraine sells grain to africa until this issue arose, but they do as if it is an african affair forcing us to become part of the conflict, we choose our friends and enemies ourselves and no one does it for us and not only uganda is suffering from the food crisis, the record drought in africa has led to the fact that tens of millions of people in ethiopia and somalia and kenya are malnourished they are starving there, the situation was greatly complicated by the full-scale invasion of russia into ukraine, which caused food prices to rise, which in turn hit humanitarian organizations that help poor african communities as surviving african villages today, says yuri mamon, even from a distance you can see the situation in the region is difficult, when you get closer, you understand how much voice of america reporters saw with their own eyes in what conditions people live on the northern border of kenya, which suffers from droughts, neither water nor greenery, nor livestock, there are no families here the local

tribes have to survive on inedible berries a drought came and destroyed all our livestock and we depended on it now we are left with nothing all we can eat - these are wild berries for three days to to reduce their harm to the body local residents they say that they cause diarrhea in children, however, these berries compete for their survival she takes care of five small children alone the woman's husband is sick and unable to help them give the tape it's not enough raising two children her husband two years ago went to look for new pastures and water for their cattle in this and still has not returned the girl is afraid that these wild berries will soon run out too for now we feed on these wild berries if they run out we will die there will be nothing left to eat the drought in kenya was declared a national disaster in

september last year, according to the estimates of the local authorities, more than 3.5 million people are at risk of acute hunger and need humanitarian assistance , children and women suffer the most, officials say that the government's food aid and cash transfers are enough white css i have had cases when people came to us and stayed here because they did not receive anything from the government, so we literally emptied our own pockets and gave them something so that they could buy something to eat and return home abruptly the rise in food prices caused by russia's invasion of ukraine also affected humanitarian aid programs, which further worsened the situation and documents in the communities that we saw, ideally they should receive 100% of their ration, however, given today's interruptions in

food supplies, a deficit has arisen and we can provide them only 55% of the ration they need, the nearest medical center from this village, parapool, is more than 60 km away, most of these people cannot travel, because due to the drought, there are only livestock left according to their other source of income, currently these people mainly pregnant women and children who suffer from lack of knowledge are helped by benefactors, but only twice a month they will listen to this region. this is not a new phenomenon. experts say that such world events as russia's war in ukraine only exacerbate the problem. and many who is afraid that the hunger crisis in east africa against the background of other world problems will simply be forgotten yuriy mamon voice of america and we continue our issue at the end of last week in the united states of the states, new initiatives concerning ukraine appeared, in particular the resolution on the recognition of russia's actions as genocide against the ukrainian people, as well as the

bill on the creation of a us strategy in the black sea region. my kontramanova, you are a co-author of the resolution introduced in the senate committee on international relations on the recognition of russia's actions in ukraine as genocide, according to the political experts with whom i spoke on unlike the draft law, the resolution does not have a strong impact if this resolution is supported by the congress. what practical help would it provide to the ukrainians ukraine for us in this matter everything is clear, we held a hearing in the helsinki commission of the usa regarding the actions of russia in ukraine and unfortunately, the actions of the russians correspond to each point of definition of the term genocide we have a convention on genocide that was concluded at the international level, we had

independent studies conducted by the new linez institute and we see systematic actions of russia against of the civilian population are aimed at destroying ukrainian culture, they take ukrainians to russia, in particular unaccompanied children, to reeducate them, trying to destroy ukrainian traditions and culture , this is genocide, we draw attention to the fact that the international community is not one country, not the united states and not ukraine, but the international community recognizes its obligation to bring to justice those who commit these crimes, this is the purpose of our resolution so far 18 united states recognizes russia's actions require international communities, bringing to justice those guilty of this genocide, that is fedesective, if you correctly understand the procedure for the final origination by congress, the resolution must pass both the senate and the house of representatives, has a mirror

resolution already been created in the house of representatives, yes , there is already a similar resolution in the house of representatives, i think that this resolution broad support is not only a bipartisan initiative from the republican senator jimarish and me as a democrat, i think that the document will be supported by the majority come from the rhetoric voiced by president biden , the us administration also supports this position, so we are optimistic, we will speak with a single voice in the united states congress, i must tell you that i spoke with our european allies, as well as with allies from other countries, and i think that i am broad international recognition of the fact that putin's actions require international responsibility. you also signed a new pre -operational bill on the establishment of a u.s. strategy that undermines the strategy of the united states in the black sea region according to this draft law, the helsinki commission

held hearings on the black sea , hearings were also held in the main port city of romania in constanta, at these hearings it was determined that russia is trying to dominate the black sea and suppress trade conducted by neighboring states, in particular ukraine, so they can't cross the black sea, we want to make sure that the security of the black sea is an issue that worries the united states and our nato allies. we want to develop a strategy that will identify the challenges what is russia creating in the black sea? we must take measures to ensure free trade. obviously, it is necessary to work with all the countries of the black sea, but the voice of the countries that are our nato allies, including turkey

. we are very eager to find ways by which ukrainian agricultural products can enter the world market. this is important not only for ukraine as a sovereign state and its economy. today we are talking about the lack of of food security in the world, supplies from ukraine are the main source of food - it is part of our strategy to fight hunger in the world. so yes, there are several available routes, including through the black sea, we were looking forward to the implementation of the agreement concluded with russia under the auspices of turkey and the un, but when this agreement was concluded, russian troops attacked odesa, which clearly shows that putin cannot be trusted at all, we need to find ways to create a safe passage through the black sea, we need to demine this

route to make it clear to the russian military and military forces in the black sea that there is an international responsibility that shipping lanes must remain open and free which i wanted to ask you about what is your reaction as a senator to the russian shelling of the port in odesa odesa sport this is extremely disappointing but it is not surprising at all russia's atrocities no longer surprise us. they are cruel, they commit crimes against humanity and participate in genocide. here they tell the international community that we accept responsibility for the withdrawal of of ukrainian grain to the world market and then almost on the same day they do not pay attention, they tell us that this kremlin administration is not only cruel but also lying. they are trying to mislead the international community about their true intentions

to strangle ukraine and destroy its people and state, and this does not apply to only for military purposes, as we see it, and civilian people strikes on odesa took place immediately the next day after the signing of the agreement in istanbul, which was supposed to facilitate the release of ukrainian grain, what signal does this give to the democratic world regarding the possibility of resolving this conflict through diplomatic means. does it make sense to negotiate with russia now, asked mr. zelensky, the president of ukraine. we will always be ready for negotiations. we believe in diplomacy. we will never tear it apart. put an end to this conflict therefore we continue negotiations but at the same time putin cannot be trusted russia cannot be trusted they

will try to manipulate and use every opportunity in our military interests we cannot rely on the fact that they will abide by the agreements they have made then we must continue negotiations but our eyes must be wide open to have an enforcement mechanism in the shipping lanes of the black sea we will need international law enforcement agencies to make sure that these routes are safe, if we have already seen the actions of russia at the diplomatic level, then what do you think could be an effective way to release the ukrainian grain of sports right now in the black sea has several shipping lanes that may be accessible for this trade, they require demining, prior notification and a guarantee of protection, but we believe that it is already possible to identify new routes and agree on the carriers that will deal with this. the agreement concluded

in turkey allows inspections to be carried out. and economic issues are not military, so we will adhere to the agreement that was concluded in turkey and we will have safe lanes where these vessels will be able to move and it is grand, but what about independently guaranteeing the security of your ports and not seeking international guarantees and protection for this, first of all, i want to thank the biden administration for its leadership not only in the united states, demonstrating by its own example the provision of military equipment to ukraine , the administration secured similar military support for ukraine at the international level communities, i thank president zelenskyi for recognizing this

fact, the courage of the ukrainian people and their leaders inspires all of us, so we want to do everything it is possible to provide the necessary military equipment for the defense of ukraine, it was an unprovoked attack by russia, ukraine is the front line, but it is not the only line, we understand that if ukraine falls, putin will continue attacking other targets that do not have nato protection, but we expect that he will not stop there either with the preservation of sovereignty and democracy in the world, so we have to do everything in our power. i am optimistic about the ongoing negotiations that we are conducting. i believe that president zelenskyi is very effective in his communication with us, here were my i also spoke with the congress. last week, the first lady also visited the congress, we met with many leaders of the parliament and the government, so i think that there is an understanding of exactly what ukraine needs, there may be some disagreements regarding the terms and type of

weapons that are provided. but i believe that the support continues and we continue to provide ukraine with what it needs, more than 10,000 spectators gathered in krakow last weekend to watch the tennis match of the first racket of the world, ihor spion tik , and at the time, the second racket of the world, more than it was a charity match where more than 4,2000 euros were collected to help ukraine. the event was attended by several ukrainian sports stars, including former tennis player serhii stakhovsky , who is now actively involved in volunteer activities . country, what do we need here, we can collect money that will go to help ukraine, because we know that a lot of money was collected . activities that directly invest money in ukraine, this is

actually very important right now, uh, you signed up for the armed forces, uh, you made such a decision for yourself, how did you uh, what do you actually do in this process, a and b, at the beginning of april, i was rewritten as a prize-winner due to the fact that they cannot draft me. i have some young children, i can only be volunteers, and because of the same reason, i can have the right to leave, so somewhere at the beginning of april, i started such a volunteer medial, and the company constantly eats at zero. and i communicate he follows his boys we constantly bring what they ask of us, but mostly for such more specific things, and in fact, i try to somehow encourage my presence with my presence, but in fact i think that i mostly disturb them there, in principle, you took such an active position, uh , about the national after the revolution of dignity, why, why, what did

you feel? what is important to you, for me, starting from the 14th year and even before that, i don’t know maybe three or three athletes, we constantly perform. and for the national team, we constantly see our banner maybe we just have a different attitude to this and in the 14th year i was scared i was scared i was having a child and i also had an active career at that time i was high enough in the rating and i thought that well for me morally, it was, i will deal with the media part, i will tell the world, i will speak and glorify ukraine, tell about the fact that russia attacked, and now i did not have such a thing anymore. go what volumes of help you are you planning to collect and what are your plans further and in fact

the volumes this should probably be set by the yoke and we very realistically aimed at 1 million i don't know what you are realistically but we'll see after this event they will announce it as planned next is that i have to fly to america well , everything is understood be ivan24 but if we agree directly on where your help will go because now we have found out that a lot of large platforms hold a lot of funds and they do not come to ukraine when every dollar can save whose life this money is sitting on the accounts of large e- e chaovision as well as red cross unicef united nation and they just don't reach ukraine and it's not that shameful. it's just scary that this money could have saved someone. and it just didn't reach. that's the volunteer efforts of serhiy stakhovsky. we also talk about other volunteers, in particular here here in the usa after an unprecedented level of generous support in ukraine , the humanitarian organization of the united states started talking

about a gradual decrease in education, so ukrainian activists are looking for ways to keep the attention of the americans, then a full-scale war between russia them and the community of ukrainians in san diego, how even a relatively small community can play an important role in influencing politicians, khrystyna shevchenko will tell. mira ruben has been leading the house of ukraine in san diego for more than a year, or the ukrainian hut, as local ukrainians affectionately call this institution . the invasion of russia into ukraine , this small community of ukrainians is collecting help and actively trying to sweat, i.e., such questions are like this . congressmen and i would very much like the entire ukrainian diaspora to be involved in this. this is a terrible action . what are the results? they would not have signed it if it were not for our pressure.

the activists hold protests and rallies every week in the city center, but the measure says it is becoming more difficult to organize the community on the streets. there are fewer and fewer people, it is very difficult to convince people that it is necessary to come to the prosthetnem and go to a birthday party with a child. everyone has their own understanding of what a protest is and why. we are there, and there are people who will stand here for a month to of the last and there are people who do not appreciate the importance of these protests, the fact that in america we have democracy and that everything is achieved by going out into the streets, many of the ukrainian diaspora do not understand the citizen exactly, it also became more difficult to collect help, this is the composition of the organization here, tactical medicine, military defense ammunition, medicine for the hospital, we pack medicine, that is, these are whales that go to the front for one man to the front, two turnstiles, frequent gloves, hmm, bandages that can

provide first aid, a bulletproof vest, this is peacock pockets for stores, it’s also not enough and they ask for it a lot because it’s even lost, it’s such boot belts, the key belt system is called where do the stores also put weapons. volunteer oksana gordova sorts almost every day and sends aid lately, she says that everything is coming in donations fewer americans who came and helped a lot, brought a lot of help to the nation. unfortunately, it has become less . interest in events in ukraine has decreased, therefore the woman is convinced that it is important for public organizations to maintain the interest of politicians and society. one of the most effective ways, according to the measure, are calls to us legislators. many people do not understand

that they can pick up the phones to call a congressman and convey some important message there, and they do not believe that it is being recorded, someone is listening to it, and in fact it is, they are recording every conversation they are taking into account every email and if we are not talking about certain laws in the congresses now have very, very many bills , they don't know each congressman, i don't even know what bills are appearing, i am convinced that the continuous calls to legislators of americans of ukrainian origin in a certain way contributed to the unprecedented support of ukraine by the us authorities in general and the signing of the lend-lease in particular , that is, it is very important to take part in ukraine in american democracy because we live in this country, there is no diaspora somewhere, i don’t know where, where they don’t have this power. they live in this country with a lot of many of them have green cards. many of them are citizens and they do not use this opportunity to

reach the state. peace and other activists of the san diego community sometimes personally fly to washington to lobby the interests of the historical homeland in the us congress since the invasion of russia, a public organization the ukrainian hut has already transferred more than 50 tons of aid to ukraine , volunteers also continue to go to protests to maintain the attention of americans to the war in ukraine san diego khrystyna shevchenko bohdan shevchenko the voice of america and that's the end of it our issue. also join our briefings on the 18th on youtube and facebook where you can ask your questions. thank you for being with us. have a peaceful night and a peaceful morning. see you there. they patch holes from bullets and debris. there is always a need for equipment. they also strengthen the hull and give a foundation . like an iron one to be restrained by bullets with military equipment, we need

cars and put them on wheels and we will not stop as long as there are needs, so much we will work and do 24 hours a day, we have pumped up our sleeves, there are car repairers who are making their contribution, now this is the fire is pumped into our joint victory because the boys need a car ukraine is working so that ukrainians don't think about it so that they don't talk about it comes first anyway war war and our victory seven days a week from monday monday seven different spheres of human activity sports culture politics eight of express presenters, journalists, experts , opinion leaders in real time about the most current events through the prism of war every day, author's projects on espresso unconquered cities of

ukraine lviv, the city where more than 2,000 have been preserved historical architectural and cultural monuments, its center belongs to the world cultural heritage of unesco here at the monastery of st. onufry ivan fedorov founded the first printing house and printed the first ukrainian book apostol after the november order and the creation of the west ukrainian people's republic lviv became the capital and the heart of the ukrainian liberation movement in june 1941 on rynok square, the ukrainian national assembly proclaimed the act of restoration of the ukrainian state, after which the nazis began terror against the ukrainian insurgent army tried to take the city under their control, but the reds seized power despite repression