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European Union governments have accused Russia of “weaponizing” migration by helping illegal migrants cross into the EU, stoking political tensions in countries such as Finland, Poland and Latvia. Latvian political observers say this tactic, in part, led to the gains of far-right parties in European elections this year. Henry Wilkins reports from Riga, Latvia
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Ukraine faces wildly different prospects under a potential Donald Trump or Kamala Harris U.S. presidency. But as their campaigns race to the finish line, neither candidate has laid out exactly how they plan to deal with Russia’s war on Ukraine. Experts say in that same space of time, the battlefield in Ukraine has itself radically changed, giving more power to Ukraine in determining its own fate. VOA White House correspondent Anita Powell reports from Washington.
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British Prime Minister Keir Starmer defended his government’s decision to suspend some arms shipments to Israel on Wednesday, saying the move was necessary to comply with international law. It could have wider consequences among European allies. Henry Ridgwell reports. Camera: Henry Ridgwell.
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London — British Prime Minister Keir Starmer defended his government’s decision to suspend some arms shipments to Israel Wednesday, saying the move was necessary to comply with international law.

“We absolutely recognize and support Israel’s right to self-defense and have taken action in support of that right of self-defense. … But in relation to licenses, this isn’t an Israel issue. It’s the framework for all licenses that have to be kept under review,” he said.

“We either comply with international law or we don’t. We only have strength in our arguments because we comply with international law,” Starmer told lawmakers in Parliament.

Israel has strongly criticized the move and said it would only serve to strengthen Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip. Israel invaded the Palestinian territory after Hamas militants killed more than 1,200 people and took 253 hostages in a cross-border terror attack on October 7.

Britain on Monday suspended around 30 of the 350 licenses for weapons exports to Israel after a legal review. Foreign Secretary David Lammy made the announcement in parliament on Monday.

“The assessment I have received leaves me unable to conclude anything other than that for certain U.K. arms exports to Israel, there does exist a clear risk that they might be used to commit or facilitate a serious violation of international humanitarian law,” Lammy told lawmakers, adding that the export bans include “equipment that we assess is for use in the current conflict in Gaza, such as important components which go into military aircraft, including fighter aircraft, helicopters and drones, as well as items which facilitate ground targeting.”

The British move will have little impact on the Israel Defense Forces’ operations, said Middle East analyst Yossi Mekelberg of the London-based policy institute Chatham House. “Most of Israel’s weapons and ammunition come actually from the United States and Germany. It amounts to nearly 99% of the arms supplied to Israel.”

But the symbolism of Britain’s move is significant, Mekelberg said.

“Suspension sends a clear message that you can be a friend of Israel, you can support Israel — including Labour [the ruling party] — supportive of Israel, especially after October 7, and rightly so. But at the same time to disagree fundamentally with the way Israel conducts the war and how it uses weapons,” he said.

“I think we can start seeing a change [in Britain’s approach], and I think what some of us wonder is if it will go as far as recognizing a Palestinian statehood. This probably would be the biggest step forward,” Mekelberg said.

Andreas Krieg, a fellow of the Institute of Middle Eastern Studies at Kings College London, said the political impact of the export ban would outweigh the practical implications.

“The U.K. might not be the strongest hard power in the Middle East, but it has significant soft power and influence. It shows that for the very first time that a very close partner and ally of Israel doesn’t trust the Israeli government, when they’re saying that they are complying with the laws of armed conflict,” Krieg told VOA.

“The fact that the U.K. is now saying that there are potential doubts is casting bigger doubts over Israel’s campaign and the complicity of other countries as well, including Germany and the United States, in aiding and supporting Israel’s campaign, particularly in Gaza, but also potentially in the West Bank,” he said.

“Other European countries might want to now revisit their arms export licenses and to what extent their weapons are being used in what could be seen as an illegal war, a partially illegal war in Gaza,” Krieg said.

Washington paused the export of large 1-ton bombs to Israel in May over concerns that they could be used in a ground invasion of the city of Rafah but has continued to supply billions of dollars’ worth of other weapons.

Germany, which supplies about 39% of Israel’s arms imports, has not said it plans to suspend any arms shipments.

Israel strongly denies breaking international law in Gaza and claims it targets only Hamas militants, whom it accuses of hiding in schools, hospitals and mosques and using human shields.

Critics accuse the Israel Defense Forces of conducting indiscriminate attacks against the civilian population and targeting basic infrastructure. The Hamas-run Health Ministry in Gaza says more than 41,000 Palestinians have been killed since the Israeli operation began, most of them women and children. Most of Gaza’s 2.3 million people have been forced to flee their homes.

The Israeli military says the death toll includes several thousand Hamas combatants. The U.S., the U.K. and other Western countries designate Hamas as a terror group.

Writing on the social media platform X, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu strongly criticized Britain’s move to ban some arms exports.

“Days after Hamas executed six Israeli hostages, the UK government suspended thirty arms licenses to Israel. This shameful decision will not change Israel’s determination to defeat Hamas, a genocidal terrorist organization that savagely murdered 1,200 people on October 7, including 14 British citizens.”

“Hamas is still holding over 100 hostages, including 5 British citizens. Instead of standing with Israel, a fellow democracy defending itself against barbarism, Britain’s misguided decision will only embolden Hamas. Israel is pursuing a just war with just means, taking unprecedented measures to keep civilians out of harm’s way and comporting fully with international law,” Netanyahu wrote on Tuesday.

In recent days, tens of thousands of Israelis have taken to the streets of Tel Aviv to protest Netanyahu’s handling of the war in Gaza and the failure to secure the release of the remaining hostages.

“I think there’s a growing divide between the Israeli public and Israeli national interest, and the Netanyahu government. So, siding or moving against the Netanyahu government is now seen less and less so as moving against Israel as a whole, or the Israeli public,” said analyst Andreas Krieg.

Meanwhile the European Union’s foreign policy chief Josep Borrell last week proposed sanctioning two unnamed Israeli government ministers, accusing them of having a “colonial agenda” in the occupied West Bank. Israel is conducting an ongoing raid against militants in the territory, focused on refugee camps in Jenin and Tulkarem. Israeli settlers are accused of forcibly seizing Palestinian land in the West Bank with the support of the IDF, which Israel denies.

“We are … witnessing a formal radicalization on the part of some members of the Israeli far-right for whom Gaza has always been a minor issue compared with the West Bank and Jerusalem. Maybe, they don’t care about the settlements in Gaza, since any return to calm would make it more difficult to pursue the colonial agenda they have for the West Bank, the expansion of the colonies,” Borrell told reporters in Brussels on August 29.

Any decision on sanctioning Israeli ministers would require unanimity among EU member states. Borrell said that threshold had not been met.
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copenhagen, denmark — Sweden’s Foreign Minister Tobias Billström, who steered the Scandinavian country along a sometimes bumpy road to NATO membership and stood tall on supporting Ukraine, stunned the political establishment Wednesday by saying he was leaving the Swedish government next week.

“It has not been an easy decision but something that I have thought about and processed for some time,” Billström wrote on X.

Billström became foreign minister in October 2022, when Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson formed a coalition government with his own conservative Moderate Party, the smaller Christian Democrats and the Liberals.

In May 2022, Sweden and neighboring Finland sought NATO membership, ending decades of post-World War II neutrality and centuries of broader non-alignment with major powers as security concerns in Europe spiked following Russia’s 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

After 18 months of delays, Sweden’s membership bid cleared the final hurdle in February Hungary gave its consent.

Turkey also objected to Sweden joining the alliance, but on January 23, Turkish legislators voted in favor. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan put forth a series of conditions including a tougher stance from Stockholm toward groups that Turkey regards as threats to its security, such as Kurdish militants and members of a network it blames for a failed coup in 2016.

Sweden became the 32nd member of the military alliance in Marc. Billström, 50, said on X that he had taken Sweden through “a sometimes challenging NATO process.”

On Facebook, Kristersson said that Billström had discharged his duties with “flying colors.”

Billström said on X that he would “leave politics completely. This means that I am also leaving my seat in the Riksdag,” the Swedish parliament. The 349-member assembly will convene next week after the summer recess.

Billström has not announced what he’ll do next and his replacement has not yet been named.
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rome — Workers mounted a crane Wednesday to secure Rome’s Constantine Arch near the Colosseum after a lightning strike loosened fragments from the ancient structure.

A violent thunder and lightning storm that felled trees and flooded streets in the Italian capital damaged the honorary arch late Tuesday afternoon.

Fragments of white marble were gathered and secured by workers for the Colosseum Archeological Park as soon as the storm cleared, officials said. The extent of the damage was being evaluated.

“The recovery work by technicians was timely. Our workers arrived immediately after the lightning strike. All of the fragments were recovered and secured,’’ the park said in a statement.

Tourists visiting the site Wednesday found some stray fragments that they turned over to park workers out of concern they might have fallen from the arch.

“It is kind of surreal that we found pieces,″ said Jana Renfro, a tourist from the U.S. state of Indiana, who said found the fragments about 3 meters (12 feet) from the base of the monument.

The group’s tour guide, Serena Giuliani, praised them for turning over the found pieces, saying it showed “great sensitivity for Roman antiquities.”

The honorary arch, more than 20 meters (nearly 70 feet) in height, was erected in A.D. 315 to celebrate the victory of Emperor Constantine over Maxentius following the battle at Milvian Bridge.
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london — The future of German military aid to Ukraine and support for Ukrainian refugees in Germany are being called into question after a surge in support saw the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party emerge victorious Sunday in elections in the state of Thuringia.

The AfD won with 32.8% of the vote, ahead of the Christian Democrats with 23.6%. The newly formed far-left BSW party was in third place with 15.8%. The AfD came in second in the neighboring state of Saxony, just behind the Christian Democrats.

Björn Höcke, the AfD leader in Thuringia, said it was a “historic victory.”

“First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you and then you win. And today, dear friends, we have won!” Höcke told cheering supporters Monday in the eastern town of Erfurt.

It’s the first state victory for Germany’s far right since World War II.

Rival parties, however, have vowed not to work in coalition with the AfD, meaning complex coalition talks could lie ahead for control of the state legislature.

Although widely predicted, the results have shocked many of Germany’s allies – not least Ukraine. Germany is Ukraine’s second-biggest donor of military aid, behind the United States. That is now in doubt, said Mattia Nelles, co-founder of the German-Ukrainian Bureau, a political consultancy based in Düsseldorf.

“Both the far-right and the far-left populist forces were campaigning on cutting German aid for Ukraine, and they were explicitly calling for a reduction in military aid,” Nelles told VOA. “They called on the government to finally pressure Ukrainians to start negotiating with Russia. They were for pressuring Ukraine into submission. And that is very unfortunate for Ukraine to have these very vocal forces gaining traction in these regional elections.”

In the short term, Nelles said the state election results won’t affect the federal government’s funding of aid to Ukraine, “but you already see a slight change in the rhetoric of the centrist parties [toward Ukraine]. We have four centrist parties, and some of them already took some of the narratives or the frames that the populist and far-right parties were using,” he added.

Germany is set to hold nationwide federal elections next year.

Finance Minister Christian Lindner of the liberal Free Democratic party – part of the ruling coalition – is pushing for aid to Ukraine to be halved in the next budget. His party gained less than 5% in the Thuringia state election and fears a repeat in the 2025 federal elections, noted analyst Liana Fix of the Washington-based Council on Foreign Relations.

“[They] are afraid that they will not get into parliament, which has happened already once before, that they were not able to cross the 5% threshold for the German parliament. So it’s really a sort of a fight, a battle for political survival, especially for the liberals who are pushing for this agenda of cutting the budget for Ukraine,” Fix said.

Immigration was a major issue driving votes for the far right, with much rhetoric directed at non-European, and especially Muslim, migrants. Germany, however, is also hosting more than 1 million Ukrainian refugees – and the financial cost was under the spotlight during the state election campaigns of both the far right and far left, said analyst Nelles.

“They were both – though on separate notes, different tonalities – campaigning on lesser aid or cutting of aid for Ukrainian refugees in Germany. The question whether and how they should be funded and whether they should be drafted or sent to Ukraine – that is a delicate issue,” Nelles said.

“We have males, Ukrainian males, that are legally eligible for the draft. So, there is growing pressure also on the male Ukrainian refugee population in Germany to push them back to Ukraine,” he added. “Germany is unable for good reasons to send males back to Ukraine. But the pressure on the government to do so is growing.”

The federal government has given no indication that it intends to cut support for Ukrainian refugees or send them back to Ukraine. Chancellor Olaf Scholz said last month that Berlin would support Kyiv with military aid “as long as necessary.”

Scholz’s Social Democrat Party highlighted Monday that German intelligence services had classified the AfD as an extremist party and said its victory in Thuringia must act as a “wake-up call.”
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rome — The Arch of Constantine, a giant ancient Roman arch next to the Colosseum, was damaged after a violent storm hit Rome, conservation authorities said on Tuesday. 

In a statement to Reuters, which first reported on the accident, the Colosseum Archaeological Park confirmed that the monument had been hit by lightning.  

The triumphal arch was built in the fourth century A.D. to celebrate the victory of Constantine — the first Roman emperor to convert to Christianity — over his rival, Maxentius.  

It is about 25 meters high and in the same pedestrian area where the Colosseum stands, a major tourist hotspot. 

“A lightning strike hit the arch right here and then hit the corner, and we saw this fly off,” a tourist told Reuters, pointing to a large block of stone on the ground. 

Reuters video images showed other blocks of stone and rubble lying around the monument and archaeological park staff  collecting them. 

“All fragments were recovered and secured. Damage assessments have already begun and the analyses will continue tomorrow morning,” the archaeological park said. 

The arch was hit on its southern side, where conservation work had started two days ago and which will now also focus on repairing the damage, it said.  

The accident took place during a heavy thunderstorm that felled trees and branches and flooded several streets of the Italian capital. 

The Civil Protection agency said 60 millimeters of rain fell on central Rome in less than one hour, about as much as would normally fall in a month during autumn. 

The freak weather was a so-called “downburst,” Rome Mayor Roberto Gualtieri said, referring a severe storm featuring powerful downward winds, the kind believed to have caused the sinking of British tech tycoon Mike Lynch’s yacht last month off Sicily.  

“The event that hit Rome is truly unprecedented, because it was so powerful and concentrated in a very short time and in some areas of the city, starting from the historic center,” Gualtieri said in a statement.  
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BUCHAREST, Romania — Romania, Hungary, Georgia and Azerbaijan launched a joint venture Tuesday to install a power line under the Black Sea aimed at bringing more renewable energy into the European Union from the eastern Caucasus.

The project, approved by leaders of the four countries in 2022, gained momentum after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine and spotlighted the EU’s reliance on Russian energy as prices sharply rose. The 27-nation bloc has since pushed to wean itself off Russian energy.

The cable would link Azerbaijan, which is seen as having substantial potential to generate power at Caspian Sea wind farms, to EU members Romania and Hungary via Georgia.

Government ministers from the four countries launched the joint venture at a meeting Tuesday in Romania’s capital, saying the project would help strengthen energy security and drive down electricity prices for consumers.

Romanian Energy Minister Sebastian Burduja said the project was of strategic importance for his country and the EU.

“If you look at the energy map of Europe over the past few months … you see that on the eastern flank essentially we are paying a very high price recently — and that’s because there is not enough diversification,” Burduja said.

Azerbaijanian Energy Minister Parviz Shahbazov said the harnessing of renewable energy would help tackle climate change issues. The undersea line is important for energy security, he said, “but at the same time it is going to provide the green energy … which is very high on the agenda of the international community.”

Bulgaria’s deputy energy minister also joined Tuesday’s meeting, and there were discussions about the EU member joining the infrastructure project. Burduja and Shahbazov said the next meeting on the project would be at a U.N. climate change meeting later this year in Azerbaijan.
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Berlin, Germany — EU chief Ursula von der Leyen has made her first picks for her top team, with the key economy vice-president job going to Italy’s far-right nominee, German newspaper Die Welt reported Tuesday.

Von der Leyen, who secured a second term as commission chief in July, is expected to unveil her proposed lineup following a Friday deadline for states to name their nominees.

Die Welt, citing senior EU diplomats and European Commission insiders, said she is set to give Raffaele Fitto from the far-right Brothers of Italy party the executive vice-president portfolio in charge of the economy and post-pandemic recovery.

The job would oversee how the bloc’s pandemic recovery fund worth hundreds of billions of euros is deployed.

Fitto is Rome’s minister for European affairs.

Others to be named EU vice presidents include Valdis Dombrovskis, from Latvia and currently EU’s trade chief. His role will be EU expansion and Ukraine reconstruction, according to the report.

France’s Thierry Breton, the bloc’s internal market commissioner, will take on industry and strategic autonomy according to Die Welt.

Spain’s Environment Minister Teresa Ribera has been chosen for a “transition” portfolio which will include ecology and digital affairs. 

The nominee for the EU’s foreign policy chief, Estonia’s outgoing leader Kaja Kallas, will also be named an executive vice president.  

Each European member state put forward nominees for von der Leyen’s 26-person team.

Slovakia’s Maros Sefcovic, currently an executive vice president, is set to remain as a commissioner in charge of inter-institutional affairs.

Czech Industry and Trade Minister Jozef Sikela will be in charge of energy, while Poland’s ambassador to the EU, Piotr Serafin, will handle budgetary issues.

After the Commission president names her line-up, the candidates undergo confirmation hearings in the European Parliament in September and October. 
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Moscow — Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Monday that young members of his family speak fluent Mandarin, though he told school children they should not forget the importance of English too despite the growing popularity of Chinese. 

Putin has two daughters with his ex-wife Lyudmila and they speak Russian, English, German and French. Putin, who divorced his wife in 2014, rarely speaks about his family but has at least three grandchildren, according to Russian media. 

“Some of my family members, the little ones, speak Chinese too – they speak it fluently,” Putin told pupils of Secondary School No. 20 in Kyzyl, Tuva, about 4,500 km (2,800 miles) east of Moscow. 

Amid a growing partnership between China and Russia, Mandarin has been growing in popularity across Russia as a foreign language of choice, a trend Putin said was due to developing contacts across economics, politics and society. 

Putin, who speaks fluent German but has also taken lessons to improve his English, said that pupils should not forget the importance of English. 

“English is a great language, it has given humanity a great deal in terms of combining knowledge and uniting people in the field of culture, and so on,” Putin said. 

Russian, English, Tatar, German and Chechen are the most widely spoken languages in Russia, according to the 2022 census. While Mandarin is spoken far less, it has been growing swiftly in popularity in recent years as a foreign language. 

Putin and China’s President Xi Jinping in May pledged a “new era” of partnership between the two most powerful rivals of the United States, which they cast as an aggressive Cold War hegemon sowing chaos across the world. 

China and Russia declared a “no limits” partnership in February 2022 when Putin visited Beijing just days before he sent tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine, triggering the deadliest land war in Europe since World War II. 

English is the world’s most spoken language with about 1.5 billion speakers, followed by Mandarin Chinese with about 1.1 billion speakers, and then Hindi, Spanish, Arabic, French, Bengali, Portuguese, Russian and Urdu, according to Ethnologue, a language research center.
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Ankara, Turkey/Washington — A nationalist Turkish youth group physically assaulted two U.S. soldiers Monday in western Turkey, the U.S. Embassy in Turkey and the local governor’s office said, adding that 15 assailants had been detained over the incident.

In a statement, the Izmir governor’s office said members of the Turkey Youth Union (TGB), a youth branch of the nationalist opposition Vatan Party, “physically attacked” two U.S. soldiers dressed in civilian clothes in the Konak district.

It added that five U.S. soldiers joined in after seeing the incident, and that police intervened. All 15 attackers had been detained and an investigation was launched into the matter, it said.

A White House spokesperson said Monday, Washington was “troubled” by the assault but added it was “appreciative that Turkish police are taking this matter seriously and holding those responsible accountable.”

The U.S. Embassy to Turkey also confirmed the attack and said the U.S. soldiers were now safe.

“We can confirm reports that U.S. service members embarked aboard the USS Wasp were the victims of an assault in Izmir today, and are now safe,” it said on social media platform X.

Earlier, the TGB posted a video on X showing a group holding down a man on the street and putting a white hood over his head, while shouting slogans.

The group said the man was a soldier on board the USS Wasp, an amphibious assault ship. The U.S. Embassy in Ankara had said earlier Monday that the ship was carrying out a port visit to the Aegean coastal town of Izmir this week.

“U.S. soldiers who carry the blood of our soldiers and thousands of Palestinians on their hands cannot dirty our country. Every time you step foot in these lands, we will meet you the way you deserve,” TGB said.

U.S.-Turkey ties have been strained in recent years by the U.S. alliance with Syrian Kurds that Turkey deems extremists, and over Turkey’s purchase of Russian S-400 defenses that prompted U.S. sanctions and removal from a F-35 jet program.

There has also been divergence over Israel’s war in Gaza, where over 40,000 people have been killed according to Gaza authorities, and over which Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan has sharply criticized Washington’s ally.

Earlier this month, the U.S. ambassador to Turkey said U.S.-Turkey relations are now “in a better place than we’ve been in a while” and noted the “useful role” Turkey played in a recent prisoner exchange between the United States and Russia.
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warsaw — Sava Trypolsky couldn’t wait for school to start. Days before the Ukrainian boy entered first grade Monday, his backpack was packed. Sitting on his bed in his home near Warsaw last week, he pulled out coloring pens, glue sticks and all manner of supplies emblazoned with Spider-Man, Minions and his favorite soccer player, Lionel Messi.

Sava was almost 5 when he fled his home in Cherkasy, Ukraine, with his mother and older sister soon after Russia’s full-scale invasion on Feb. 24, 2022. But the war has dragged on for more than 2½ years, and he is now a 7-year-old starting his educational journey.

For Ukrainian children, the last several years have been a time of severe disruption. First the COVID-19 pandemic brought online learning, and then war uprooted millions.

That disruption was still evident in Ukraine, where it was also the first day of school Monday. An overnight Russian drone and missile attack in Kyiv forced the cancellation of classes for some because of damage from the attack.

Many Ukrainians who fled to neighboring Poland never returned to a classroom at all, continuing their Ukrainian classwork remotely.

But as this new school year began Monday, a new Polish law makes school attendance mandatory for Ukrainian refugees. In cases where the kids don’t attend school, the government will enforce the law by withholding a monthly 800 zloty ($200) bonus that all citizens and refugees receive for each child under 18.

Only those entering the last year of high school are exempt from this new requirement. Poland’s Education Ministry said it was unrealistic for them to master the Polish curriculum in language and culture in time to pass final graduation exams by spring.

Sava can expect an easier time than many. Educators say kids his age learn Polish quickly. He has a best friend, Bart, going to his school, and a soccer group. Medals he earned while playing the sport decorate his room in Jablonna, a small community north of Warsaw.

“I’ll have fun,” he said beaming.

But his 16-year-old sister Marichka hopes to return to Ukraine for university and knows school can be hard for adolescents even without the pressure of being a refugee. She has one year left and opted to continue her home schooling.

“Some people are just mean, you know, and I’ve heard many stories about just being excluded or bullied,” Marichka said. “That happens in every country, it’s not just Poland, it’s just kids who try to grow up in this world.”

Prime Minister Donald Tusk said that it was important to bring Ukrainian youth into the system to avoid the formation of social “pathologies.”

“Since we do not know how many Ukrainian families will want to stay with us for longer, and perhaps forever, we are very keen for these children to be educated like their Polish peers,” Tusk said Friday.

Some Ukrainians have already returned home, and many others plan to. That has led many of them to live in Poland, but to keep kids out of Polish schools and do remote learning with schools back in Ukraine.

Jędrzej Witkowski, CEO of the Polish nonprofit Center for Citizenship Education, said that allowing online learning made sense during the initial crisis, but now Polish authorities can’t even track whether Ukrainian children are continuing with their education or dropping out. There isn’t reliable data or research that can measure the educational loss, he said.

“This would have been the fifth consecutive year of online learning,” Witkowski said. “We’re very happy with the move that the government has made.”

Poland has the second-largest population of Ukrainian war refugees in the West after Germany, and most are women and children. UNHCR estimated the number of Ukrainian refugees in Poland, a nation of 38 million, at slightly over 957,000 in June, the latest figures published on its website.

UNICEF and UNHCR — the United Nations’ children’s and refugee agencies — had expressed concern about the large numbers of children living in Poland but not attending schools in person, estimating the number at around 150,000 — a calculation based on administrative data and the number of Ukrainian kids with Polish identity numbers.

Other countries with large Ukrainian populations, like Germany and Italy, required school attendance from the start, said Francesco Calcagno, chief of education for the UNICEF refugee response office in Warsaw, which is working with the national government, local authorities and nongovernmental organizations to help get kids back into schools.

“Education is not just about academic achievement but also about fostering resilience, stability and hope,” Calcagno said. “Schools provide a crucial sense of structure and safety, which helps children from Ukraine to catch up on learning and supports their psychosocial wellbeing.”
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