Global Briefs: Ukrainians in the crosshairs

Fact Box Source: The World Factbook-CIA

Ukraine

Russia in early July intensified its drone attacks on Ukraine, attempting to wear down its opponents in a three-year war. Overnight attacks on July 7 killed 11 Ukrainian civilians and injured 80, and July 9 saw the largest drone attack to date, with the Kremlin launching more than 728 drones and 13 missiles. Another drone barrage two days later damaged a maternity hospital in Kharkiv, injuring nine people. The attacks came as U.S. President Donald Trump voiced increasing frustration with Russian President Vladimir Putin: “He talks nice, and then he bombs everybody in the evening. ... I don’t like it.” Trump on July 13 said he had agreed to send American Patriot air-defense systems weapons to Ukraine, paid for by NATO. He also said the United States would impose 100% tariffs on Russia’s trade partners if Putin did not agree to a ceasefire deal by September. —Jenny Lind Schmitt

Canada

Conservative Party legislators are ramping up efforts to stop the expansion of euthanasia for mental illness. At a press conference hosted on July 9 in Langley, British Columbia, lawmakers Tamara Jansen and Andrew Lawton sought support for a bill that would prevent the expansion slated for March 2027. “Canadians struggling with their mental health deserve care and support not a state-­sanctioned path to death,” Jansen said. The Right to Recover Act, which Jansen introduced in Parliament in June, would exclude mental illness as a “grievous and irremediable medical condition” that can legally qualify someone for Canada’s euthanasia program, known as MAID. The bill’s second reading is set for November. In 2023, Canada’s Parliament rejected a similar bill to block euthanasia for mental illness in a 150-167 vote. —Joyce Wu

Jennifer Geerlings-Simons Associated Press / Photo by Bentik Paulus

Suriname

On July 6 parliament elected Jennifer Geerlings-Simons, 71, as the country’s first woman president. A politician and former doctor, she ran unopposed after her National Democratic Party won a slender majority in May. The Dutch-speaking Caribbean nation has faced a debt crisis for over a decade, leading the previous administration to enact unpopular budget cuts and tax increases. But off-shore oil extraction set to begin in 2028 is expected to bring an economic boom. Geerlings-Simons has said she supports local content laws to help ensure the oil wealth will benefit Surinamese businesses. The former Dutch colony of 600,000 people is one of the poorest countries in South America. —Evangeline Schmitt

Fact Box Source: The World Factbook-CIA

Ethiopia

The Ministry of Defense held a formal celebration in early July for its first graduating class of naval officers since it became a landlocked country following Eritrea’s 1991 secession. The training program is part of recent efforts to revive the country’s strategic maritime power in the Horn of Africa. In January, Ethiopia tried to exchange official recognition of breakaway Somaliland’s independence for shipping goods through its ports and about 6 miles of beach to build a naval base. And in March, Ethiopia ended its naval cooperation with France in favor of one with Russia, which funded part of the country’s new naval headquarters. Djibouti, Somalia, and Eritrea remain united in refusing Ethiopia any sea access ownership. Djibouti President Ismaïl Omar Guelleh said, “We have clearly communicated to Addis Ababa that Djibouti is not Crimea.” —Amy Lewis

Fact Box Source: The World Factbook-CIA

Paraguay

President Santiago Peña announced July 14 the South American country would host a visit from the president of Taiwan in August. Paraguay is celebrating 68 years of friendship with Taiwan, and on July 5 a new round of bilateral free trade agreements went into effect. Relations between Paraguay and Beijing have worsened in recent months as China, which considers Taiwan part of its territory, has vied for regional influence. President Peña has repeatedly pledged to “stand with Taiwan” and earlier this year proposed hosting unofficial U.S.-Taiwan talks for the first time since 1979. According to Taiwanese officials, trade between the two countries has more than tripled since bilateral deals began in 2017. Paraguay is one of only 12 countries that maintains diplomatic ties with Taiwan. —Carlos Páez

Marko Perkovic Sanjin Strukic / Pixseli / Sipa USA via AP

Croatia

At the start of the country’s largest concert in history, held on July 5, Marko Perkovic, lead singer of the band Thompson, called for Europe to “return to its tradition and Christian roots.” But Perkovic also led nearly half a million attendees in a pro-Nazi salute used by the Ustasha puppet regime during World War II. The regime killed tens of thousands of Serbs, Jews, Roma, and anti-fascist Croats in concentration camps. Using the salute today in Croatia is a misdemeanor. Thompson’s hit song opens with the salute, but its lyrics describe defending Croatia during its war for independence in the early 1990s, a conflict in which Perkovic fought. Despite accusations of being a fascist, Perkovic says he is a patriot. Though banned from performing in many European cities, Thompson remains popular in Croatia. —Elisa Palumbo