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The Russian invasion. The outside world's response

Zelensky invites Trump to Ukraine: "I need 24 minutes with him"

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy invites former US President Donald Trump to Ukraine. Zelensky announced this in NBC's program "Meet the press".  

Trump has on several occasions criticized the US's strong support for Ukraine, but Zelenskyi seems confident in his ability to persuade the Republican.  

- If he comes here, I need 24 minutes to explain to Trump that he cannot control this war, he says and continues: - He will not be able to create peace in this conflict because of Putin. 

 Trump has previously said he would create peace in Ukraine in 24 hours.

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The situation in Afghanistan  

The Taliban's opium ban threatens farmers 

Afghan farmers have lost more than a billion dollars in annual income after the country's Taliban rule banned opium cultivation. That's what AP writes, citing a new report from the UN. 

 

Hundreds of thousands of farmers depended on the income from opium cultivation for their survival until it was banned in April 2022. Afghanistan's opium industry was the world's largest, providing both the main raw material for heroin production in the US and European markets and up to 14 percent of the country's GDP. 

 

- Afghanistan is in great need of investments in sustainable sources of income that can give Afghans other opportunities than opium, says Ghada Waly, head of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime. 

 

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Suspected sabotage in the Baltic Sea  

Havsbotten new war arena: "I don't think we have understood"  

The explosions of the Nordstream gas pipelines and the suspected sabotage between Sweden, Finland and Estonia have caused both NATO and the Armed Forces to focus more on underwater warfare, DN writes in a report.  

 

Sweden's navy chief Ewa Skoog Haslum describes it as "the new arena". However, she calls for a national strategy for warfare on the seabed, saying that the Navy's resources are not enough to meet the needs.  

 

- It's sad to say, but I don't think people have really understood the importance of protecting what we have out on the seabed.  

 

Researcher Johannes Peters at the University of Kiel says there are indications that Russia has put a strong focus on preparing for underwater warfare in recent years.